Ospreay meets Hobbs on Dynamite on TSN2
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Will Ospreay meets Don Callis Family stablemate Powerhouse Hobbs. Plus, the Young Bucks takes on Best Friends in an AEW World Tag Team Championship Tournament semi and Thunder Rosa faces off with Mariah May for a shot at the AEW Women's World Championship. You can catch AEW Dynamite LIVE beginning at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2, streaming on the TSN App and on TSN.ca.
Will Ospreay vs. Powerhouse Hobbs - It's a literal battle of Wills on Wednesday night as Don Callis Family stablemates Will Ospreay and Will Hobbs face off on Dynamite. The match marks Ospreay's third bout with members of his own faction, having previously defeated Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita. But Hobbs represents a different kettle of fish for the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Over the course of his career, Ospreay has seldom taken on competitors with the power possessed by Hobbs. Among Ospreay's previous opponents, perhaps only Jeff Cobb and Bad Luck Fale are even in Hobbs' class when it comes to pure strength. The match comes at an interesting juncture as he and "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson are engaged in a game of oneupmanship ahead of their match at the Apr. 21 Dynasty pay-per-view. On the Mar. 16 edition of Collision, Danielson defeated Katsuyori Shibata in a hard-fought dream match. Not to be outdone, Ospreay vowed to avenge a 2017 loss against Shibata and take him on himself to prove that he could do whatever Danielson could. On last week's Dynamite, Ospreay got his victory over Shibata. With Ospreay obviously laser-focused on Danielson, he can ill-afford to look past Hobbs. Open the door slightly ajar for the big man and he'll make Ospreay pay regardless of whether or not he's an ally. Hobbs enters the match as a winner of 11 straight singles matches and will be looking to make it an even dozen. And what about Callis? With two of his clients involved in the match, he will not accompany either man to the ring and will instead sit in with Excalibur, Tony Schiavone and Taz on commentary so as not to show partiality to one man over the other. Can Ospreay stay undefeated in AEW with Danielson on the horizon or will Hobbs stay hot and pick up a signature victory?
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AEW Women's World Championship No. 1 contendership match: Thunder Rosa vs. Mariah May (w/ Luther) - AEW Women's World Champion "Timeless" Toni Storm has an open dance card for the Dynasty PPV and she will find out who is set to fill it on Wednesday night when Thunder Rosa meets the undefeated Mariah May. The matchup is an interesting one for a number of reasons. Most notably, when "La Mera Mera" was sidelined with a back injury that kept her out of action for over 18 months, she was still the AEW Women's World Champion. It's a title she never lost. Since returning to action at the end of 2023, Rosa is 8-0 and has designs on getting back her title. To do that, she will have to get through May, who is 6-0 in singles action since her arrival in AEW. What makes this an intriguing matchup for May is her relationship with Storm. While it's clear that May looks up to the world champ and believes the two to be close, it's not clear how reciprocated the feeling is on Storm's end. Though she obviously sees value in having May around, whether or not her respect for her is genuine remains to be seen. Is she an actual friend or just a means to an end to help keep the title around Storm's waist? And May is not the only one of the two women to have had a relationship with Storm. Prior to her injury, Rosa actually teamed with Storm on several occasions as "ThunderStorm." Will Rosa get another shot at getting back her championship or will "The Glamour" set up a match with her mentor?
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AEW World Tag Team Championship Tournament semi-finals match: The Young Bucks (Nicholas Jackson and Matthew Jackson) (w/ AEW Continental Champion "The Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada) vs. Best Friends ("Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy and Trent Beretta) (w/ "The Kentucky Gentleman" Chuck Taylor) - No team in AEW has ever won the AEW World Tag Team Championships on three occasions, but the Young Bucks are on their way. Executive Vice Presidents Nicholas Jackson and Matthew Jackson need just two more victories to win back the titles that most recently eluded them at last month's Revolution when Sting and Darby Allin retained the belts in Sting's final match. The Bucks advanced to the semis with a win over Private Party (Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy) on last week's Dynamite. The win for the Jacksons came after Private Party famously pulled an upset over them in the tournament to crown inaugural AEW World Tag Team Champions back in 2019. Standing in their way will be Orange Cassidy and Trent Beretta, who will be intent on capturing the titles for the first time. With Chuck Taylor still on the shelf, Cassidy has stepped in to take his place alongside Beretta. To reach the semis, Cassidy and Beretta defeated the ROH World Tag Team Champions Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) last Wednesday night. While Cassidy is a two-time AEW International Champion and successfully defended his title on a record number of occasions, Beretta has yet to taste gold in AEW. In fact, Beretta is 0-14 in title matches during his AEW tenure. He would like nothing more than to finally break that streak at Dynasty, but he and Cassidy will need to get past the Bucks first, knowing full well that the Jacksons will do whatever it takes to pick up a victory. Can the EVPs advance to the final or will Best Friends earn their shot at their first AEW World Tag Team Championships?
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AEW Trios Champion "Daddy Ass" Billy Gunn (w/ "Platinum" Max Caster and "The Five-Tool Player" Anthony Bowens) vs. ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion "Switchblade" Jay White (w/ Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn) - The breakdown of the Bang Bang Scissor Gang couldn't come as a surprise to anybody, but that doesn't mean that Billy Gunn and The Acclaimed aren't steamed about it. On the Mar. 13 edition of Dynamite, the super group that - let's be honest - felt tenuous at best to begin with imploded when Jay White laid the Gunn patriarch out with a chair when he, Caster and Bowens attempted to get King Switch to abandon his plan to continue to beat down Darby Allin after defeating him in their match. White and Gunn's sons, Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn (who have a checkered history of their own with their father), made things even more personal this past Friday night on Rampage when they broke into the elder Gunn's home and began to trash the place before fleeing up hearing Gunn and his wife return. On Saturday night's Collision, Gunn, Caster and Bowens made it clear that there would be no fun and games when it comes to getting revenge on Bullet Club Gold. Singles matches for Gunn are a rarity these days. He hasn't wrestled in singles action since the fall of 2022. With the potential ring rust factored in, White will have to be a heavy favourite on Wednesday night. Can Gunn spring the upset or will White get another one over on Gunn?
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PLUS:
- AEW World Champion Samoa Joe and Swerve Strickland (w/ Prince Nana) sign their contracts for the title match at Dynasty
- Chris Jericho calls out Hook