Swerve meets YUTA on Dynamite on TSN2
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AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland takes on the Blackpool Combat Club's Wheeler YUTA. Plus, the Young Bucks defend the AEW World Tag Team Championships against The Acclaimed and TBS Champion Mercedes Mone puts her title on the line against Hikaru Shida. You can catch AEW Dynamite LIVE at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2, streaming on the TSN App and on TSN.ca.
AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland (w/ Prince Nana) vs. Wheeler YUTA (w/ "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson) - After Bryan Danielson and Jeff Jarrett beat the hell out of each other in an anything-goes match in the main event of last Wednesday night's Dynamite, Swerve Strickland arrived on the scene to address his opponent in the main event of Aug. 25's All In pay-per-view. Congratulating Danielson on his victory, Strickland vowed to prove to him that he was the most dangerous man in pro wrestling ahead of their career-versus-title match. To do so, he challenged Wheeler YUTA to a match on Dynamite. YUTA was taken aback by the challenge - not because he was afraid of taking on the world champion, but because he felt disrespected to be treated as a mere stepping stone towards a bigger fish. YUTA is a three-time ROH Pure Champion and believes he can hold his own with the very best AEW has to offer. YUTA does have a pinfall victory over Kenny Omega to his name. Strickland and YUTA have met one time before with Strickland claiming a win on the Dec. 30, 2022 edition of Rampage. While it was Strickland who made the challenge, it's YUTA who might have more to prove here. It would certainly leave egg on Swerve's face to drop a match to YUTA ahead of his showdown with Danielson, but has he poked the bear in riling up YUTA? YUTA is coming off of an impressive victory over Rocky Romero on this past Friday's Rampage, while Strickland was given all he could handle in a World Title Eliminator match against Tomohiro Ishii on Collision. Emotions will undoubtedly run high in a match where both men are eager to prove a point. Will Swerve get his message across to Danielson or will YUTA prove the world champion made a mistake?
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AEW World Tag Team Championship match: The Young Bucks (Nicholas Jackson and Matthew Jackson) (c) (w/ Brandon Cutler) vs. The Acclaimed ("Platinum" Max Caster and "The Five-Tool Player" Anthony Bowens) (w/ "Daddy Ass" Billy Gunn) - Back on the June 19 edition of Dynamite, AEW World Tag Team Champions the Young Bucks met former champions The Acclaimed in a World Tag Team Title Eliminator. Even by cutting every corner they possibly could, Nicholas Jackson and Matthew Jackson couldn't put Max Caster or Anthony Bowens down. Bowens eventually planted Matthew Jackson with the Arrival before Caster followed up with the Mic Drop to grab the win and earn themselves a shot at the titles. That match will finally go down on Wednesday night with The Acclaimed having the opportunity to join the Bucks and FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) as the only multi-time tag champs in AEW history. The match will be of special interest to FTR who have found themselves to be at odds with Caster and Bowens in recent weeks. The Acclaimed have accused Harwood and Wheeler of being nowhere to be found when AEW needed them in the Blood & Guts Match against the Bucks and the rest of The Elite ("Hangman" Adam Page, "The Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada and "The Scapegoat" Jack Perry). It was Caster and Bowens who stepped up to help Mark Briscoe, Darby Allin and Swerve Strickland claim the victory. Harwood and Wheeler have levied an accusation the other way with FTR believing that they're more deserving of a title shot against their longtime rivals the Jacksons even if Caster and Bowens won a Title Eliminator. But The Acclaimed don't have time to waste any focus on FTR right now as they prepare for their biggest tag-team match in over a year. Caster and Bowens defeated the team of Swerve in Our Glory (Strickland and "Limitless" Keith Lee) on the 2022 Grand Slam edition of Dynamite to win the tag titles and held onto them for 140 days before dropping them to the Gunns (Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn). They've proven their championship mettle before and will look to do it again on Wednesday night. Of course, when dealing with The Elite, Bowens and Caster will have to contend with shenanigans on the outside, whether they be from Brandon Cutler or from other members of the faction. Any lapse in concentration could be enough to cost them the titles. Will the Bucks hang onto their gold or will Bowens and Caster become two-time champions?
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TBS Championship match: "The CEO" Mercedes Mone (c) (w/ "The Brickhouse" Kamille) vs. Hikaru Shida - On this past Saturday night's Collision, Hikaru Shida wrestled her first singles match in over a month and made quick work of Aleah James, defeating her in under two minutes. After the match, Shida met with Lexy Nair backstage and reiterated her desire to get on the All In card. To do so, she challenged TBS Champion Mercedes Mone to a match on Dynamite. Shida made the challenge with the intent to remind everybody what made her the only three-time AEW Women's World Champion. It's a risky match to take for the undefeated Mone, who has a date with bitter rival Dr. Britt Baker, DMD, set for All In in under two weeks. A loss here to Shida and the title match in front of 60,000 fans at Wembley Stadium goes up in smoke. Of course, Mone does have one ace up her sleeve in the form of Kamille. The former NWA World Women's Champion aligned with Mone last month and now serves as her muscle. Shida will undoubtedly have to know where "The Brickhouse" is at all times on Wednesday night. To date, no woman in AEW has held both the TBS Championship and the AEW Women's World Championship and Shida could become the first on Wednesday night. This also begs the question as to how Baker, a former AEW Women's World Champion in her own right, will react to Shida taking away the opportunity for her to become the first double champion. Will Shida return gold to around her waist or will Mone stay on course for a date with Baker in London?
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"Hangman" Adam Page vs. Jay Lethal (w/ Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh) - Jay Lethal is normally accompanied to the ring for most matches by the seven-foot giant Satnam Singh, but he might not even be enough to protect him on Wednesday night from the rage of an incensed "Hangman" Adam Page. The former AEW World Champion is motivated by only one thing right now and that's getting revenge on the current world champion, Swerve Strickland, for putting him and his family through hell for much of late 2023 and early 2024. Page thought he had a path to revenge through the Owen Hart Foundation Cup, but he lost in the final to Bryan Danielson. Hangman holds the match's special enforcer, "The Last Outlaw" Jeff Jarrett, to blame for his loss and he's gone out of his way to attack Jarrett on a number of occasions in recent weeks. An ally of Jarrett's, Lethal now finds himself in Page's sights. Page and Lethal are from strangers to one another, having done battle on numerous occasions over the years during their time in Ring of Honor. Lethal holds an all-time edge of 9-4 against Page, including 3-1 in singles matches. But the two men haven't faced off one on one in over seven years and much has changed since then. Even though Lethal is a multi-time world champion, Page will view him as little more than another obstacle in his way and will treat him as such. Can Lethal somehow pick up a win or will the angry cowboy leave his opposition in a heap?
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Three-way match for the No. 1 spot in the Casino Gauntlet Match at All In: "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy vs. Kyle O'Reilly vs. Roderick Strong (w/ Mike Bennett and Matt Taven) - Two members of the Conglomeration will be on opposite sides on Wednesday night as three men compete for a plum spot at All In. The third Casino Gauntlet Match will go down at this month's pay-per-view with the winner receiving a future shot at the AEW World Championship. The Casino Gauntlet doesn't have the same rules as a traditional gauntlet and that's why Orange Cassidy will meet stablemate Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong on Dynamite. In a traditional gauntlet match, a wrestler must progress through a series of opponents until defeating the last. But things are a little different in the Casino Gauntlet. Wrestlers will enter that match at random intervals, but the match will end with the first pinfall or submission. What that means, then, is that there might be people who were scheduled for the match who won't get into it should a pinfall or submission occur before their entry. What makes the prize for a win in Wednesday night's match is that it will guarantee Cassidy, O'Reilly or Strong a shot at All In. Traditionally, you would want to be the final competitor in a gauntlet, but in the Casino version, the No. 1 spot is advantageous since you would theoretically have the opportunity to end the match immediately. While there is no love lost between Cassidy and Strong, O'Reilly and Cassidy are in the same faction and O'Reilly and Strong have a lengthy and complicated history. The interpersonal dynamics of all those involved in this match on Wednesday night are sure to add another layer of complication to a bout where a competitor can lose without even being pinned or submitted. Which one of these three men will guarantee themselves a shot to earn an AEW World Championship match?
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PLUS:
- Claudio Castagnoli goes face to face with AEW Continental Champion "The Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada ahead of their title match next week
- "A film by "The Glamour" Mariah May" premieres
- We will hear from Hook