Ospreay meets Archer on Dynamite on TSN2
Will Ospreay takes on Lance Archer. Plus, "Hangman" Adam Page meets Darby Allin in a first-time singles match and Kris Statlander challenges Willow Nightingale in a CMLL Women's World Title Eliminator Match. You can catch AEW Dynamite LIVE at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2, streaming on the TSN App and on TSN.ca.
"The Aerial Assassin" Will Ospreay vs. "The Murderhawk Monster" Lance Archer - Will Ospreay is a man on a mission right now. On the July 17 edition of Dynamite, Ospreay lost his AEW International Championship to Maxwell Jacob Friedman in an hourlong spectacle when MJF used his Dynamite Diamond Ring in the final seconds to pull off the victory. Ospreay was incensed to lose his title in that manner, but grew even angrier last week when MJF literally threw the title in the garbage and introduced the AEW America Championship in its place. Ospreay stormed down to the ring to interrupt Friedman's title presentation and informed him that their rematch is officially booked for All In at Wembley Stadium on Aug. 25. He also retrieved the International Championship, a title he had defended with esteem, from the trash. As motivated as Ospreay is right now, he will have a huge task on his hands on Wednesday night when he takes on a familiar foe from his New Japan Pro-Wrestling days in the form of Lance Archer. Ospreay and the monstrous Archer have done battle on numerous occasions over the years in singles, tag-team and multi-man matches with the former a member of CHAOS and later the United Empire and the latter part of Suzuki-gun. The two had a memorable encounter on the opening night of the 2018 G1 tournament with Archer coming out on top in a nearly 20-minute match. Ospreay is 2-1 in singles matches against Archer with their last bout coming at Dominion 2023 when Ospreay picked up the win to become the No. 1 contender to the IWGP United States Championship. Both men present a difficult proposition for the other with Ospreay's speed and finesse against Archer's strength and brutality. If Ospreay turns even an iota of his focus past Archer and on to Friedman, that will be all the opening Archer needs to make him pay. Which man will emerge from what promises to be an intriguing encounter?
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"Hangman" Adam Page vs. Darby Allin - As hard to believe as it might be, in the five years of AEW's existence, Adam Page and Darby Allin have never faced off in a singles match before. That all changes on Wednesday night. The match comes fresh on the heels of last week's Blood & Guts Match where Allin and the rest of Team AEW (Swerve Strickland, Mark Briscoe, Max Caster and Anthony Bowens) defeated Page and The Elite (Kazuchika Okada, Jack Perry, Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson) when Allin forced Matthew Jackson to quit by threatening to light Perry on fire. Before he did that, though, he also got Jackson to agree to grant Allin a shot at Perry's TNT Championship at All In. Allin's week got even better on Friday night when he won the 20-man Royal Rampage battle royal to claim an AEW World Championship shot at the Grand Slam edition of Dynamite from Arthur Ashe Stadium in September. Page's week was not as good. After returning to AEW after an extended absence earlier this month, Page's sole aim is getting revenge on Strickland, the man who made his life and his family's life a living hell for much of late 2023 and earlier this year. While Strickland seems to be a changed man, Page hasn't forgotten about the person who broke into his home and entered the room of his sleeping son. The former AEW World Champion is consumed by revenge and that has brought a new streak of viciousness out in the Hangman. This past Friday night during the Royal Rampage match, Page appeared to attack Jeff Jarrett and dole out a brutal beating. He blamed Jarrett for costing him the final of the Owen Hart Foundation Cup against Bryan Danielson and the shot at Strickland at All In that came with it. Absolutely consumed by the desire for vengeance, Page will certainly view Allin as just another obstacle in his way. Is Allin's recent string of luck about to run out against a deranged Hangman?
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The Conglomeration (ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe, "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy and "The Stone Pitbull" Tomohiro Ishii) (w/ Kyle O'Reilly) vs. Roderick Strong, "El Toro Blanco" Rush and The Beast Mortos (w/ Don Callis, Kyle Fletcher, Mike Bennett and Matt Taven) - An interesting trios match is set for Wednesday night as the Conglomeration's Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy and Tomohiro Ishii takes on a motley crew of the Undisputed Kingdom's Roderick Strong, Rush of the Don Callis Family and the Beast Mortos. Perhaps it's a case of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" for the latter three men, but the addition of Mortos to Strong and Rush's enmity against the Conglomeration is an intriguing one. A former AAA Latin American Champion, Mortos brings a surprising agility to his power and makes for a difficult matchup for Briscoe and Ishii. Strong and Briscoe are coming off of an incredibly hard-fought match at last Friday night's ROH Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view where Briscoe held onto his ROH World Championship. With so many combustible elements at play within the match, it's easy to forget that members of the Don Callis Family and the Undisputed Kingdom will be skulking around outside the ring during it, which spells bad news for the outnumbered Kyle O'Reilly seconding his stablemates. It's very likely that what will happen inside the ring will spill outside and when that happens, all bets are off. Which of these trios leaves Wednesday night with a win?
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CMLL Women's World Title Eliminator Match: Willow Nightingale (c) vs. Kris Statlander (w/ Stokely Hathaway) - On July 13 at New Japan Pro-Wrestling and CMLL's Fantastica Mania show in San Jose, Willow Nightingale defeated Lluvia and Viva Van to claim the vacant CMLL Women's World Championship. In doing so, she became the first women to have held titles in all of AEW, NJPW and CMLL and only the second person to do so after Chris Jericho. One person who isn't happy for her success is former best friend Kris Statlander, who laid out Nightingale with an F5 onto a pile of equipment backstage at last week's Dynamite. In doing so, she challenged Nightingale to a World Title Eliminator on this week's show. Should Statlander win the match, she earns a match for the CMLL Women's World Championship. Nightingale has never backed down from competition before and proved that on this past Saturday night's Battle of the Belts when she defeated Deonna Purrazzo in a World Title Eliminator Match. Of course with the personal history between Statlander and Nightingale, Wednesday night's match has the potential to be considerably more heated. The bout will be Statlander's second crack at Nightingale since she turned on her longtime friend at Double or Nothing after Nightingale lost the TBS Championship to Mercedes Moné. In the semifinals of the Owen Hart Foundation Cup earlier this month, Nightingale picked up the win over Statlander, much to the consternation of Stokely Hathaway. Both Hathaway and Statlander vow that this time will be different. Can Nightingale once again get the better of her ex-partner or will Statlander set herself up for a shot at Nightingale's gold?
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PLUS:
- "The Glamour" Mariah May sits down with Renee Paquette
- We will hear from TBS Champion "The CEO" Mercedes Moné (w/ "The Brickhouse" Kamille)
- "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson appears live