World Champion Swerve Strickland & his title challenger Wil Ospreay will team on the final AEW Dynamite before Sunday’s Forbidden Door PPV.
Strickland & Ospreay will face Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona on tonight’s Dynamite. Ospreay, the International Champion, will challenge Strickland on Sunday, June 30 at Forbidden Door.
The men’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament continues tonight with a Jay White vs. Rey Fenix quarterfinals matchup.
BCC’s Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta will team against LIJ’s Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi & Titan on the show. Moxley defends the IWGP World Heavyweight title against LIJ’s Tetsuya Naito at Forbidden Door.
Women’s World Champion Toni Storm will team with her Forbidden Door opponent Mina Shirakawa, and Mariah May against Saraya, Harley Cameron, and Anna Jay.
Zack Sabre Jr. will have a tune-up match tonight against Kyle O’Reilly. Sabre is set to face Orange Cassidy at Forbidden Door.
An appearance by MJF, plus promos from TBS Champion Mercedes Mone & Daniel Garcia are also set for the show.
It’s Wednesday, and you know what that means. Dynamite is live from Buffalo, New York four days away from Forbidden Door as MJF made his entrance. Excalibur, Taz & Tony Schiavone were on the call.
MJF Town Hall
MJF barely got a word out when hometown hero Daniel Garcia made his entrance. Garcia thanked him for his help last week before getting in MJF’s face. He said he would do something that no one else has ever done – say nice things about MJF. Garcia put over MJF’s accomplishments before bringing up a conversation the two had several months back. MJF told Garcia that he was more than a background player, and told him that if he earned enough wins, he’d give Garcia a title shot.
Garcia got that shot, but it was the most embarrassing moment of his career. That moment inspired him to go on the run of his career and earn the respect of the people. He wanted to be more than a pillar, he wanted to be the backbone of AEW’s future. Garcia then warned MJF that if he talked crap about Buffalo, he’d have the whole city on his head.
MJF shamelessly shilled his upcoming appearances at Forbidden Door and Collision in the Memphis area before getting to his next point. MJF got into Garcia’s face before thanking him for praising his nice words. MJF said that no one was good enough to take his spot, but Garcia was close. MJF didn’t give Garcia that World Title shot out of pity or because Garcia was a big star that thought he deserved one, MJF gave Garcia that shot because he earned it.
MJF saw a lot of himself in Garcia, two undersized talents from New York with chips on their shoulders. He beat Garcia all those months ago without breaking a sweat, but noted how much better Garcia has gotten since then. MJF then made the challenge: MJF vs. Daniel Garcia at All In: Wembley.
Before Garcia gave his answer, Will Ospreay made his entrance. Ospreay joked around with Garcia before offering him an International Title match next week in Chicago, with the AEW World Title on the line as well once Ospreay won it at Forbidden Door. Garcia accepted, with the announcers noting how Ospreay upstaged MJF. Ospreay left, and before Garcia could answer MJF, MJF told him to focus on next week and left.
(A very interesting segment, setting up next week’s main event and two possible directions for MJF at Wembley Stadium. After some solid and consistent work on the weekend shows, Garcia finds himself in the mix with a couple of top guys here. This feels like an attempt to elevate a true AEW homegrown guy to the upper echelon of the promotion, and Garcia has the crowd connection for it to work if it’s done well. MJF took some pointed shots at Ospreay in past weeks and was clearly unhappy with the interruption this week. Meanwhile, Ospreay is already assuming victory against Swerve Strickland, which will no doubt play a role in their tag match tonight.)
Swerve Strickland was backstage with Prince Nana. Strickland told Will Ospreay that he was putting the cart before the horse in offering World Title shots before he’s even won it. Strickland said that Ospreay had a focus issue and needed to fix it before their tag match tonight against the Gates of Agony.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi & Titán) defeated Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta) by disqualification
(An awesome trios match here with two factions set up against each other at Forbidden Door. The finish was a bit surprising, as I assumed Titán or Yuta would just eat the fall, but it set up the big brawl that brought Naito out and the staredown between Danielson & Takagi.)
Bryan Danielson was at the desk, scouting his Forbidden Door opponent Takagi. Excalibur explained the history of Los Ingobernables de Japon, with Tetsuya Naito forming the Japanese offshoot of the original CMLL group headed by Rush. Castagnoli & Takagi started as Danielson noted that Takagi once held the IWGP World Title that Moxley holds now. Takagi won the opening exchange with a hip toss before Yuta & Takahashi tagged in.
Takahashi outpaced Yuta, leading to Titán tagging in and hitting a head-first tope before getting Yuta back in the ring for a nearfall. Yuta scored with an enzuigiri and tagged in Castagnoli, but Titán came back with a flurry of kicks. Castagnoli caught a crossbody and turned it into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker as we went to commercial.
Moxley sent Takahashi into the barricade as we came back from the break. Titán fought off Castagnoli but got cut off by Moxley as he crawled for a tag. Titán did a Matrix bend to avoid a lariat before getting the tag to Takagi. Takagi ran wild, scoring with a brainbuster on Yuta. Former Kamikaze USA members collided, as Moxley and Takagi got into a lariat battle that Takagi won. Takahashi and Yuta tagged in, with Takahashi getting the upper hand with the Dynamite Plunger. Takahashi hit a Hiromu-chan Bomber, but as he set up for the Time Bomb 2, Moxley laid into him with a chair for the disqualification.
A Pier Six brawl broke out before Tetsuya Naito’s music hit. Naito made his typical lackadaisical entrance, annoying Moxley to the point where he charged him on the ramp. The IWGP champion and challenger brawled to the back. Meanwhile, Takagi brought Yuta into the ring before hitting the hammer-and-anvil elbows to his head. Danielson made the save and stared Takagi down.
Owen Hart Foundation 2024 Men’s Tournament Quarter Final Match – Jay White defeated Rey Fenix
(A solid enough match here, with White getting a clean win on a credible name in Fenix.)
The winner of this match will wrestle the winner of the Jeff Jarrett/Wild Card match in the next round.
After some shenanigans with both teams’ taunts, referee Rick Knox banned everyone from ringside. This almost caused White to get caught with a roll-up, but he kicked out at two and laid in some shots to Fenix’s midsection. Fenix caught White with headscissors and a high springboard armdrag before hitting a huge dive to the outside. White cut Fenix off on a springboard attempt on the apron before hitting a neckbreaker out of powerslam position as we went to a commercial.
Fenix caught White with a superkick and a rope-run head kick before hitting a frog splash for a nearfall. Fenix got another nearfall with a rolling hurricanrana before White cut him off with a DDT. White hit a brainbuster for a nearfall. White kicked out of a roll-up before hitting a high-angle uranage for a nearfall. Fenix and White fought for position before White caught Fenix with the Blade Runner for the win.
After the match, The Patriarchy came out after having made their intentions for the Trios Titles clear in the past few weeks. They went to the ring, but after a staredown between Christian and White, the Patriarchy backed away.
The Young Bucks were backstage. Nicholas Jackson made it clear that The Acclaimed took advantage of his hot temper to win last week, but promised the result would be different when the titles were on the line. Matthew Jackson announced that the Wild Card in the Owen Hart Memorial Tournament would be representing the Elite, and when they won the AEW World Title at Wembley Stadium, The Elite would have complete control of AEW.
(Given the World Champion is currently Swerve Strickland, this makes Hangman Page my betting line favorite to be the Wild Card. Given his history with both Swerve & The Bucks, that would make the most sense. But what if Will Ospreay wins the World Title? Could Ricochet be on the table for next week as a (non-Strickland) swerve? Also, credit to AEW for really loading up the TV after Forbidden Door, with a big Dynamite in Chicago leading to the Owen Cup Finals in Calgary the week after.)
The Acclaimed Town Hall
The Acclaimed made their entrance before the break. After the break, Max Caster bragged about their win over the (repeatedly bleeped) Young Cucks. Anthony Bowens said there would be no excuses when they won the titles and became the two-time AEW Tag Team Champions. They went to scissor when The Young Bucks & Kazuchika Okada interrupted. Okada told them to “scissor me, bitch.”
Nicholas Jackson challenged the Acclaimed to a trios match at Forbidden Door. Billy Gunn said that while he would like to kick their asses, he happened to know a President. The President of New Japan Pro Wrestling, and Okada’s greatest rival, Hiroshi Tanahashi appeared on the video board to tell Okada that he was coming to fight The Elite. Scissor Ace was coming to Forbidden Door, as Tanahashi & The Acclaimed vs. The Elite was made official for Forbidden Door.
(A fine spot for Tanahashi, as he’s far past a big-time singles match at this stage of his career. It’s funny that Billy Gunn made the Tanahashi announcement, as those two had a stinker of a singles match on a New Japan US show way back in 2017. This trios match at Forbidden Door should be a fun time.)
Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy, & Kyle O’Reilly were backstage with Renee Young. Briscoe hyped his TNT Ladder match and Orange Cassidy vs. Zack Sabre Jr. in his own special way. O’Reilly tried to hype his match with Sabre tonight in Briscoe fashion but wasn’t confident in it. Briscoe brought it home, telling Sabre that he was nothing but fish and chips and that Cassidy would whoop his ass. This was fun.
Mariah May, Mina Shirakawa & Toni Storm defeated Anna Jay, Harley Cameron & Saraya
May walked out with Storm, then went back to enter with Shirakawa and do the Club Venus dance with her. Shirakawa had Jay in firm control before choosing to tag in May instead of Storm. May was conflicted when going for a tag, which allowed Jay and Saraya to yank her partners off the apron as we went to a commercial.
Storm got the hot tag as we came back, hitting a hip attack on Saraya before Shirakawa tagged herself in. Cameron hit a backstabber on Shirakawa to get a nearfall. We got a move train before Shirakawa hit the Glamorous Driver MINA for the win.
After the match, May offered both women champagne flutes. They all danced before Shirakawa grabbed the bottle of champagne. Shirakawa went to hit Storm with it, but Storm ducked and May took the champagne bottle to the face. Storm was furious as referees came in to assist May.
We got a video package hyping Mercedes Mone vs. Stephanie Vaquer. We got footage of Mone’s surprise appearance in Arena Mexico last Friday. Mone said that she wasn’t afraid to kick the Forbidden Door down and get the title that was meant for her. Vaquer was offended at Mone’s arrogance and said that she would become the double champion at Forbidden Door.
We cut to Mercedes Mone in the back. She went to Mexico to see Vaquer defend her title, but Vaquer was nowhere to be found tonight. She heard that Vaquer had a match on Collision – against Lady Frost – and that the TBS Champion would have to make her way to TNT to see it first-hand.
The Learning Tree Town Hall
Chris Jericho, Big Bill, & Bryan Keith came to the ring. Keith’s arm was in a sling after Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata & Hook jumped them on Collision. Big Bill said that Keith was out for Forbidden Door, and that Joe, Shibata & Hook took advantage of that by challenging them to a trios match at Forbidden Door. Jericho took the mic, and after saying that he was here for the young guys to enter the Jericho Vortex, he said that it wasn’t fair that they hurt Keith.
Jericho said that they found another partner, one who was one of the toughest men in Japan. They got a video from their partner but haven’t watched it yet. Jericho introduced his partner, a fellow Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Famer. Minoru Suzuki appeared on the screen, but he declined the offer to team with Jericho. He wanted to wrestle Jericho one-on-one for the FTW Title, much to Jericho’s surprise.
After the video ended, Joe, Shibata, & Hook walked out. Joe said that this was awkward, and that the Learning Tree didn’t have enough branches. Shibata held up his phone to say that Jericho sucked. Jericho paintbrushed Joe, leading to a fight and the babyfaces clearing the ring.
(This Jericho character has been hit or miss, but this segment was a lot of fun. Jericho assuming Suzuki accepted his offer, only to find out live that he was being challenged to a title match was very funny. I keep waiting for the Shibata phone gimmick to jump the shark, but luckily it hasn’t.)
Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Kyle O’Reilly
(This was a solid technical battle between these two, although it didn’t have a lot of highspots for the crowd to react to. The post-match had a lot of bodies, and hopefully it ends in those bodies in some Zero Hour matches for Forbidden Door.)
The stars were out for this one. Orange Cassidy was on commentary, and Roderick Strong, The Kingdom, and NJPW STRONG Champion Gabe Kidd were watching from the crowd. The two scrambled for position on the mat, nearly catching each other in armbars before separating. The two traded holds at Gabe Kidd & Roderick Strong vs. The Infantry was announced for Rampage on Friday. Sabre caught O’Reilly with a neck crank and a bicep stomp as we went to a commercial.
Sabre caught O’Reilly with an Octopus Hold as we came back from the break, but O’Reilly cranked on the ankle to get out. O’Reilly peppered Sabre with kicks, but Sabre caught O’Reilly with a kick to the arm. O’Reilly caught Sabre with a knee lift to the chest before the two had a submission exchange that ended with an O’Reilly side suplex. The two traded kicks before O’Reilly caught Sabre with a knee on a double leg attempt. After another scramble on the mat, Sabre caught O’Reilly in a Fujiwara armbar for the win.
Kidd and Strong had a bit of an argument in the crowd as Cassidy came to the ring. Strong and the Kingdom checked on O’Reilly as Sabre and Cassidy stared each other down. Shane Haste & Robbie Eagles came to back up their stablemate Sabre. Tomohiro Ishii came to the ring to back up his friend Cassidy. Meanwhile, Kidd hopped on the apron barking at anybody who would listen. We got a tense staredown as everyone backed away.
Swerve Strickland & Will Ospreay defeated Gates Of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona)
(This was a typical Can They Co-Exist tag. The crowd was into it, but it was very formulaic. The post-match was great, with Strickland not standing for Ospreay’s games anymore and laying him out. An energetic Dynamite on the whole, and a solid go-home show for Forbidden Door.)
The Gates jumped Strickland and Ospreay as the bell rang, with Ospreay catching Kaun with an inverted monkey flip once he got his feet under him. Ospreay almost caught Strickland with a misdirected boot, leading to Liona clotheslining them both as we went to a commercial.
After the commercial, Strickland fought off the Gates, but Liona yanked Ospreay off of the apron as Swerve went for the tag. The Gates hit a double main-event spinebuster, but Strickland evaded a shotgun dropkick, sending Kaun into Liona. Ospreay got the hot tag and hit a double handspring kick before getting a nearfall with a standing Shooting Star Press. Liona cut off Ospreay on the top rope, allowing Kaun to hit a top rope Jackhammer for a nearfall that Strickland broke up.
Strickland sent Liona to the floor before hitting a Swerve Stomp to the floor. Ospreay hesitated on a Tiger Driver attempt, leading to an incidental boot from Ospreay to Strickland. Liona caught Ospreay with a Pounce for a nearfall. Strickland came back in with a boot to Kaun that may have been meant for Ospreay, but the champs worked together. Liona was too strong to take down with a Poisonrana, but a Strickland boot sent Liona over. Liona kicked out of an OsCutter, but after Strickland popped Kaun’s arm, Ospreay hit the Hidden Blade on Liona for the win.
After the match, Ospreay snatched the World Title from Strickland again, but this time Strickland dropped him with a House Call to stand tall as the show ended.