Opps challenge Death Riders on Dynamite on TSN2

The Death Riders defend the AEW World Trios Championships against the Opps. Plus, the Hurt Syndicate puts the AEW World Tag Team Championships on the line against the Gates of Agony and Mercedes Mone takes on Athena. You can catch AEW Dynamite LIVE on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on TSN2, the TSN App, and TSN.ca.

AEW World Trios Championship match: The Death Riders (AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler YUTA) (c) (w/ "The Problem" Marina Shafir) vs. The Opps (Samoa Joe, Hook and "The Wrestler" Katsuyori Shibata)

The first thing you will notice about Wednesday night's trios title match is that "The Bastard" PAC is not in it. PAC incurred an injury during last week's match with Swerve Strickland and is not medically cleared to wrestle on Dynamite. He will be replaced by Death Riders stablemate, the AEW World Champion Jon Moxley. In terms of official record-keeping, Mox is not considered an AEW World Trios Champion right now, but he will be recognized as such if the Death Riders retain. That could be a big "if." On last week's Dynamite, the Death Riders and Opps did battle throughout the show. Mox got the better of Katsuyori Shibata, putting him away with the Bulldog Choke in a non-title match to start the evening. Then, in the main event, Hook and Samoa Joe picked up a victory over Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler YUTA when Hook choked YUTA out with Redrum, his version of his father's famed Tazmission. The victory was a pyrrhic one, though. Marina Shafir entered the ring after the match and delivered a chair shot to Joe that gave Castagnoli an opening to deliver a Neutralizer to Hook on top of a chair. After the match as Shibata tended to Hook, Joe threw down the gauntlet and challenged the Death Riders for their trios titles. The match comes at a time when Moxley has much on his plate. He was able to survive the challenge of Swerve at Dynasty thanks to the surprise intervention of the Young Bucks (Nicholas Jackson and Matthew Jackson). But the contenders are still lining up. Moxley knows that he must defend his title against the winner of the Owen Hart Cup at All In and the likes of Will Ospreay, "Hangman" Adam Page and Maxwell Jacob Friedman have all let it be known that they have designs on that title. And what about the Bucks? The Jacksons offered Moxley some added protection by proposing an alliance between the Death Riders and The Elite. He rebuffed the idea last week, but might he reconsider with foes mounting on all sides? Wednesday's match will mark the ninth defence of the trios titles since the Death Riders captured them at All In at Wembley Stadium last August. They've been able to turn away all comers up to now, but is that set to change on Dynamite?

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AEW World Tag Team Championship match: The Hurt Syndicate ("The Almighty" Bobby Lashley and "The Standard of Excellence" Shelton Benjamin) (c) (w/ Montel Vontavious Porter) vs. The Gates of Agony (Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun)

Since arriving in AEW, Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin have made it clear to MVP that they want top competition. Champions everywhere they've wrestled, the duo became AEW World Tag Team Champions on the Jan. 22 Dynamite by defeating Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen). They've barely broken a sweat in their three title defences to date, but Lashley wasn't happy with the way that their match went down at Dynasty. Taking on the Learning Tree team of Big Bill and Bryan Keith, Lashley and Benjamin seemed to have the match in hand. When action spilled outside and Bill found himself leaning against the barricade, Maxwell Jacob Friedman popped out of nowhere to clock Bill with the Dynamite Diamond Ring. Bill would eventually stumble back into the ring where he ate a spear from Lashley. On Dynamite last week, Lashley expressed his extreme displeasure with MJF, letting him know that he hadn't seen what he had done until after the match and that he absolutely didn't ask for his help. An old friend of MVP's, Friedman has decided he wants in on the Hurt Syndicate after MVP made an offer last month without consulting the other two members. But the door has been shut for now with both of Lashley and Benjamin indicating that they can't trust the former AEW World Champion. Still, Porter has encouraged Friedman to keep trying, suggesting he find a way to ingratiate himself with Lashley and Benjamin. Rest assured, Lashley and Benjamin hope that MJF stays out of their way on Wednesday night when they take on the Gates of Agony of Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun. Few competitors can match the strength and intensity of the Hurt Syndicate, but the Gates of Agony will certainly give them a run for their money. Liona and Kaun were in action this past Saturday night on Collision and defeated their opponents in exactly 66 seconds. Former ROH World Six Man Champions alongside Brian Cage as the Cage of Agony, Liona and Kaun head into Wednesday night's match as winners of five straight. Their last loss came on the Jan. 25 Collision when they fell to the Hounds of Hell (Brody King and Buddy Matthews). Can the Gates of Agony make the most of a giant opportunity?

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Owen Hart Foundation Tournament semi-final match: TBS Champion, New Japan Strong Women's Champion and Undisputed British Women's Champion "The CEO" Mercedes Mone vs. ROH Women's World Champion "The Fallen Goddess" Athena

When the brackets for this year's Owen Hart Cut were released, this was a potential matchup that people circled. On Wednesday night, the unstoppable force meets the unmovable object as the undefeated Mercedes Mone takes on the "Forever Champion" Athena. While this won't be the first ever meeting between the two women, it will be their first match in over six years and their first ever singles encounter. There is more riding on this match than simply a spot in the Owen final, which is a prize in itself. Mone made things personal several weeks ago. On the Mar. 19 edition of Dynamite, Mone successfully defending the TBS Championship against Athena's Minion, Billie Starkz. The following week, she offered a backhanded compliment to Starkz, noting that she put up a good fight, but whomever it was who trained her should be ashamed of themselves. Athena took umbrage with this and a war of words began to brew on social media. The time for talking is now over and the two will settle things in the ring. If you haven't been following Ring of Honor lately, know that Athena has been an absolute buzz saw. Athena defeated Mercedes Martinez for the ROH Women's World Championship at Final Battle 2022. Since then, Athena has made 27 successful title defences, as well as picked up wins in 34 straight Proving Ground or Title Eliminator matches. Athena's lone singles blemish since becoming ROH champ was in the 2023 Owen semis when she fell to Willow Nightingale. Back at this stage of the tournament for a second time via a win over Harley Cameron, Athena wants to ensure it doesn't end like 2023's did. Standing in her way, though, is Mone, perhaps the only woman as red-hot as Athena. Since arriving in AEW last May, nobody has been able to defeat Mone. The Boston native, who will be wrestling in her hometown on Wednesday night, is 21-0 and advanced to the semis with a win over Julia Hart at Dynasty. Coincidentally, Mone's last defeat also came at the hands of Nightingale, who beat her for the New Japan Strong Women's Championship in May of 2023. Buoyed by what should be a very partisan crowd, Mone hopes to continue to ride the undefeated wave and reach the final to set up a date with the winner of Jamie Hayter versus Kris Statlander. The winner of the Owen final goes on to challenge "Timeless" Toni Storm for the AEW Women's World Championship at All In. Already having an impressive collection of belts, will Mone take the next step towards another or will Athena make strides towards become a double champion herself?

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Owen Hart Foundation Tournament semi-final match: "The Aerial Assassin" Will Ospreay vs. NEVER Openweight Champion "The Alpha" Konosuke Takeshita (w/ Don Callis)

Konosuke Takeshita's reign as a double champion came to an end at Dynasty when he dropped the AEW International Championship to archrival Kenny Omega. Still the NEVER Openweight Champion, Takeshita has a path to once again wear a second belt by winning the Owen Cup and setting up a date for an AEW World Championship match at All In. He took the first step towards that goal by beating Brody King this past Saturday night on Collision in what was a brutal encounter. The victory was a sweet one for his manager Don Callis, who has designs on an all-Don Callis Family final with Kyle Fletcher in the semis on the other side of the bracket thanks to a victory over Mark Briscoe at Dynasty. Getting to the final might be easier said than done because standing in his way is a man he has no love lost for and one who Callis doesn't care for much, either, in the form of Will Ospreay. Ospreay was a charter member of the Don Callis Family. It was Callis who led Ospreay to a memorable victory over Omega for the IWGP United States Championship at Forbidden Door 2023 in Toronto. But as Ospreay's ideals and Callis's began to diverge, Ospreay wanted out and Callis obliged, seemingly amicably. As it turns out, it was far from it. Callis sought revenge on Ospreay by poisoning former allies Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) against him. The feud between Fletcher and Ospreay was violent and bloody with both men coming out of it different than when they entered. Before that, though, it was Takeshita who Callis used to torment Ospreay. Takeshita took away Ospreay's AEW International Championship at last fall's WrestleDream in a three-way match that also included Ricochet. Still, in the one singles match the two men have had previously, it was Ospreay who holds a victory. He defeated Takeshita in a nearly 22-minute match at Revolution in 2024. Since the 2025 Owen was announced, Ospreay has been insistent that his coronation as AEW World Champion will happen at All In and the only way for him to do that is by winning this tournament. There's nobody who would like to take that away from him more than Callis and he will be willing to do everything at his disposal to make sure that Ospreay comes out a loser. While Callis acknowledges that the Family is currently experiencing an injury crisis with Davis and Brian Cage sidelined, his reach and his pockets are deep. When Ospreay steps into the ring on Wednesday night, it's highly unlikely that he will be facing off against only Takeshita. In order to make his All In dream come true, can Ospreay outwit Callis and escape Takeshita?

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Owen Hart Foundation Tournament quarterfinal match: "Hangman" Adam Page vs. ?

It's impossible to talk about "Hangman" Adam Page without wondering about his headspace. Driven over the edge by his blood feud with Swerve Strickland, Page retreated from the man he was to become jaded, bitter and violent. He alienated friends and foes alike, not seeing a difference between the two. He did things he didn't even know he was capable of, namely burning down the childhood home of Strickland. Page was so far gone that there was cause to wonder if the honourable man who once was there would ever return. After a year of brooding, things seemed to change when he defeated former mentor Christopher Daniels in a Texas Death Match on the Jan. 18 edition of Collision. Daniels announced after the match that he was retiring from in-ring competition and it hit Page like a ton of bricks. For his part, though, Daniels thought it was worth it if it helped bring the old Hangman back. In the weeks since, Page has grappled with his resentment for Strickland. Realizing that it consumed him, Page is seemingly coming closer to letting it go. Two weeks ago on Dynamite, as Page vowed to keep Strickland away from the AEW World Championship, the Hangman was stunned by Swerve's admission that he deserved everything that Page did to him. His actions merited Page's vengeance. Completely taken aback, Page didn't even know how to respond. Days later at Dynasty as Strickland faced Jon Moxley for the title, Page made his way down the ring to seemingly make good on his promise to cost Swerve the title with referee Paul Turner waylaid. As he prepared to lay out Strickland with a Buckshot Lariat, he seemingly had a change of heart and hesitated. The pause allowed for the rest of the Death Riders to attack Page, but he fought back and took Moxley out with a Deadeye. Moxley would eventually retain his title with help from the Young Bucks, who later claimed that they did what they did for the Hangman. Hangman tried to approach Strickland this past Wednesday night, but only Prince Nana was in his locker room. He told Nana that he wasn't trying to help Swerve at the pay-per-view. As it seemed like Nana was about to offer an apology for his part in Page and Swerve's feud, Page cut him off and left. It's with that background that Page makes his bow in the 2025 Owen on Wednesday night against a mystery wild-card opponent. Page reached the Owen finals last year, defeating Jeff Jarrett and "Switchblade" Jay White en route to ultimately falling to "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson. Looking to become a two-time AEW World Champion, Page prepares to step into the unknown at an inherent disadvantage. Can Hangman earn himself a date with Kyle Fletcher in the semis or will the wild card use the element of surprise to get the better of the cowboy?