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Welcome to this week's Dynamite Preview Roundtable. This week's Dynamite promises Trios action, a match facing off young prodigies and the next Labour of Jericho. Read on to find out what our contributors expect from this week's AEW Dynamite. This week's contributors are:
- Craig William (@CraigPWMusings)
- Gareth Ford-Elliot (@RHWGareth)
- Dan Humphrey (@WrestlingRhymes)
- Peter (@PeterEdge7)
- Sergei Alderman (@SergeiAlderman)
How does the culmination of Chris Jericho’s road to MJF go down as he faces off with Wardlow?
[Craig] He will probably win somehow, that’s what I guess will happen. However, I hope he doesn’t and MJF forces him to put his in-ring career in AEW on the line to face him at All Out. I hate the idea of Jericho beating Wardlow, Wardlow should be as protected a wrestler as there is out with their champions. I’d then have Jericho lose to MJF and step away from in-ring competition.
Jericho’s contribution to the establishment of AEW and is possibly under-appreciated because of it. However, since losing the championship and the fabulous Stadium Stampede match in 2020, he hasn’t really had the same positive influence on the company and the roster. It feels like he is taking more than he is giving now.
[Gareth] I’ve expected them to be a lot cleverer with these Labour of Jericho matches and whilst they haven’t been a disappointment, I don’t really have faith in anything super interesting. Jericho to win by making Wardlow crash into MJF, or something like that, is my prediction.
That wouldn’t be bad. It could build the tension between Wardlow and MJF further, for their future feud. A Judas Effect after the distraction is an okay way of 50-year-old Jericho defeating AEW’s “next big thing”. Sure, it lacks creativity, I hope for something better. But it’d be… fine. I agree with Craig, though. If Wardlow wins in a twist to the story, I’d be very happy.
[Dan] I would love for Wardlow to win this one, and as I said in the post-show Roundtable last week I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. The big sexy brute looked superb in his destruction of Jericho last week and he really needs a big win after defeats against the likes of Cody and Jake Hager. As the Hangman Page story has shown, AEW love putting an extra little bit of anxiety into their babyface storylines, and Wardlow winning here would make us all think that MJF had won, meaning the eventual face-off with Jericho will have extra ‘oomph’ behind it.
I’m actually going to stick my neck out and openly predict that Wardlow will win. There…now I’ve jinxed it.
[Peter] Jericho winning is the only thing that makes sense at this moment. Wardlow will be fine unless it’s a squash, which it won’t be. Wardlow will look strong in his offence before Jericho gets the win. Would not be surprised if MJF’s diamond ring has a say in the ending though, whether it be an accidental punch on his Pinnacle teammate costing Wardlow the match or in the post-match in which Maxwell bloodies up his All Out opponent.
[Sergei] The story of this match must not be Jericho beating Wardlow. It needs to be instead Friedman costing Wardlow the match because he outsmarted himself and/or he didn’t have faith in his man and his attempt to ensure the win backfires. I said it on the pod: this would be a fantastic time for a ref to catch a heel blatantly cheating and call for AEW’s very first disqualification decision.
Do we see or hear from Malakai Black on Dynamite, after his destruction of Cody last week?
[Craig] I hope so! Black’s entrance, aura and destruction of Cody last week was a heck of a statement from Black himself and AEW. The former NXT Champion has been given the star signing by AEW and it is paying off. Black’s monstrous entrance onto the scene in AEW is the reward of a couple years of really canny booking of former WWE talent. By not adopting the TNA approach of deifying any and all former WWE talent, AEW have allowed their selves the rare opportunity to make someone by putting them on a plain above the rest.
[Gareth] I’d like to say yes because an angle like that should be capitalised on. However, there’s perhaps a long game with Black, so I guess we’ll see. It looks as though Buddy Murphy is coming to AEW, judging by the video he released on Twitter. It looks like he could join ‘The House of Black’. So, perhaps we get a tease of that?
[Dan] I think AEW have to follow up on the spectacle that Malakai Black delivered last week, even if it is with some sort of promo/video package. As Gareth says it looks like a House of Black stable could be on the horizon, but I’d leave Malakai as looking dangerous on his own for a couple of weeks at least.
The one direction they may go with this is that Brandi Rhodes has teased appearing with Red Velvet this week, and she was also very vocal on Twitter after Black’s destruction of Cody. I’m not sure I want to see an interaction between Malakai and Brandi…but it would certainly be a way of continuing that story.
[Peter] An AEW booking trope is to see a key player speak backstage while a video package shows highlights of a pivotal event of the week before (see Santana and Ortiz’s interview last week) so I would not be shocked if we saw Malakai cut an interview with Cody’s boot that he stole after the main event in his possession with a possible hint to All Out and his role on that night.
Who comes out on top in the Impact Tag Team Championship match, and what will be the permutations of that match?
[Craig] This is an odd setup, I don’t see any obvious plan or intention here. However, it’s a positively fantastic match; Evil Uno and Stu Greyson haven’t had much of a chance to wrestle as a tag team on Dynamite for a while and that’s a shame because they are a thrilling in-ring act. My hope is that the Bucks screw them and that somehow leads to Uno and Stu challenging the Bucks at All Out after all. I’d prefer them to climb the rankings in some manner to get to the Bucks. By beating each of the Top 5 directly, perhaps?
[Gareth] I would love to see Uno and Grayson pick up the win. There’s lots of exciting matches for them in Impact and with Bound For Glory looking to be a multi-company affair, they could hold the titles until then.
Even better, Uno & Grayson vs Young Bucks at All Out for both title belts, giving Bucks the win and a hilarious return to Impact would be very funny. However, Good Brothers will probably just win as The Elite continue to rub Dark Order’s noses in the mud.
[Dan] I can’t really see The Dark Order winning this one, but if they don’t then it feels like their involvement in this entire storyline has to just drift away which would be odd. It’s very likely to include various Elite-based shenanigans and it still feels like The Dark Order vs The Young Bucks is the match for All Out, but I’m not sure how they get there if Uno and Grayson lose tonight.
Either way I’m looking forward to the match. Stu Grayson has been in imperious form in the ring recently (my MVP from the ten man tag) and Evil Uno has gotten himself over hugely with the live crowd and will likely get a huge pop here as well.
[Peter] An Uno and Grayson win would be great on so many levels. It would see more crossover appearances from AEW to IMPACT which has been sorely missing, especially on the women’s side (I want my Jordynne Grace vs Leyla Hirsch match-up please) plus Evil Uno winning gold will make me so happy. But with potential dissension in the ranks after the events during the Hangman Page beatdown last week, my feeling is the events on Dynamite could cause extra tension.
Is there anything else on the card or show that you are looking forward to?
[Craig] The Super Elite are in such wonderful form as heels at the moment, I am very intrigued to see how Omega and the Bucks perform as a trio. I’m expecting amusing heel shenanigans galore punctuated by some superb state of the art ring work. I’m also looking forward to any continuation of the Adam Page story, if possible.
[Gareth] I am super excited for Daniel Garcia vs Darby Allin. I doubt it’ll go long but it’s going to absolutely bang. Nyla Rose vs Kris Statlander could be great also. Omega & The Bucks vs Dante Martin & The Sydal Brothers should be super exciting also.
American Top Team’s Dan Lambert is schedule to appear in an angle involving Lance Archer, bringing “backup”. I have no idea who that backup could be but I’m super excited to see. We’ll also hear from Christian Cage and I’m hoping he’ll announce, as number one contender, a match against Omega at the Chicago Rampage show.
[Dan] From Gareth’s excellent summary of the other highlights of the show (what a pro he is) I’m hoping that Kris Statlander gets a win over Nyla Rose and gives us a women’s title feud to look forward to. Red Velvet is clearly the ‘interim’ challenger to Britt Baker’s title, and assuming D.M.D does the job at Rampage, she needs something big to look forward to for All Out. Statlander is very popular with the AEW crowd and now that she is affiliated with Best Friends that gives her another dimension. If AEW are going to insist on keeping the Doctor as a heel, then I think they could do a lot worse than their resident alien as her next opponent.
[Peter] Seeing Daniel Garcia in a singles match will be fun. Curious to see if Darby Allin makes any mention of a certain Chicago based wrestler that is rumoured to be joining All Elite Wrestling. I expect that we will get a glimpse to who the Bucks will face at All Out in the shape of the Lucha Brothers. Britt Baker will probably make an appearance in her home town to hype up her match with Red Velvet on Rampage and it’ll be fun to hear how loud the fans will be for her. I also have a gut feeling something big will be announced with eyes on Rampage on Friday. The AEW surprises are coming thick and fast right now and are expected to continue in the next two months so why not have a big shocking event tonight.
[Sergei] That trios match sounds like pure fire. I can’t think of another three wrestlers who would embody the purity and goodness of high-speed aerialism better than Dante Martin and the Sydals, making them the perfect foil for the heel Elite.
Also, Darby Allin is going to make Daniel Garcia into the hot new thing with one match. Watch and see if he doesn’t!