It's Wednesday, and you know what that means!
AEW Dynamite is live from Fairfax, VA. tonight at 8/7c on TBS and HBO Max.
The usual Sum 41 tune plays to get this week's show officially off and running. Excalibur welcomes us to the show, accompanied by Taz and Tony Schiavone on commentary.
TNT Championship
Kevin Knight (c) vs. MJF
They run down the lineup and mention there being four title matches on tonight's show. A video airs to show the events that led to what will be our first match of the evening.
With that, we see the recent history between MJF and reigning TNT Champion Kevin Knight. Back live, Excalibur and Schiavone welcome Taz back as MJF makes his way to the ring.
Out next is the defending champion, Knight. Justin Roberts begins the formal ring introductions for this championship contest. MJF interrupts him, forcing Roberts to add an insult to Fairfax in his announcements.
The bell sounds and off we go. After some good back and forth action, we head to a quick 90 second break. When the show returns, we see things pick up inside the ring.
In the end, Knight managed to secure the victory to retain his title after delivering a low blow to MJF. MJF attacked afterwards, but was beaten down by AEW World Champion Darby Allin.
MJF then got on the microphone and demanded another shot at his "Triple B," only for Allin to tell Kevin Knight he'll get the next shot if he gets past Brody King tonight.
King comes out and says when he beats Allin, Knight will face the new AEW World Champion Brody King. That's how the eventful opener and post -match scene wrapped up.
Winner and STILL TNT Champion: Kevin Knight
Cage & Cope Accept FTR's Challenge
Backstage, Renee Paquette interviews Cage and Cope. Renee asks Cage out his fractured arm, and he says he is fine. She then asks them about FTR wanting to add the “I Quit” stipulation to their Street Fight at Double or Nothing.
Cage accepts, and Cope says he accepted quickly for someone with his history of “I Quit” matches in AEW. Cage says he didn’t quit and walks away. The show moves on from there.
The Brawling Birds vs. Emily Jaye & Jordan Blade
Hayter and Blade start the match. Hayter delivers elbow strikes to both of them and slams Blade into the corner. Hayter and Windsor exchange tags and both chop Blade in the corner.
They drop Jaye with a double back elbow, and then do the same to Blade. Hayter takes Blade down and delivers right hands as Windsor goes after Jaye on the outside. Hayter and Windsor hit Blade with Two Birds One Stone and Windsor gets the pin fall.
Winners: The Brawling Birds
Backstage With Thekla & Skye Blue
Backstage, Thekla and Skye Blue says there are a lot of dumb bitches in AEW. Blue says joining the Triangle was the best thing to happen to her in AEW, and Thekla tells Hayter and Windsor to stay as a tag team because she handles them one on one.
AEW International Championship
Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Ace Austin
Okada backs Austin into the corner and stomps him down, but Austin comes back with a drop-toe hold. Austin kicks Okada in the back and gets a one count before dropping him back down with a dropkick.
Austin delivers shots to Okada and follows with a Death Valley Driver. Austin delivers an enzuigiri and dropkicks Okada through the ropes. Okada comes back with a kick to the midsection and drops Austin with a DDT on the floor.
On that note, the show shifts gears and heads into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues. When the show returns, Callis has his feet up on the commentary desk gloating.
Meanwhile, in the ring, Okada begins widening the gap between himself and Austin. Things culminate with Okada hitting a tombstone piledriver and a Rainmaker for the win. Afterwards, Konosuke Takeshita comes out and stares Okada down. We head to another break.
Winner and STILL AEW International Champion: Kazuchika Okada
Swerve Strickland Is Coming For Bandido
A vignette airs that shows a gun slinger walking through a town in the style of an old western. Like the Bandido "Wanted" vignette from the past. The man comes across the Bandido "Wanted" poster and picks it up. We see it is Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana. He lights it on fire and smiles. We head to another break.
Death Riders & Will Ospreay
The Death Riders are in their dojo when Will Ospreay shows up. Jon Moxley asks him if he got cleared, and Ospreay say no and he is going to support his boys in Japan for their big title match.
Moxley tells Ospreay to drop everything in his mind, body, and soul, even his feelings about Moxley. Moxley says when he starts something, he sees it all the way through to the end.
And he asks for the same in return. Ospreay walks further in and asks where the ring is, and Moxley says they start from the ground up and kicks the camera crew out.
Cope & Cage RPG Vice
FTR and Stokely make their way to ringside for the next match. Cage and Romero start the match with a lock-up. Cage backs Romero into the corner, but they have a clean break. Romero goes after Cage’s arm, but Cage comes back with shots and delivers a reverse DDT for a two count.
Cope tags in, and he and Cage double-team Romero before Cope gets a two count. Romero kicks Cope in the chest and tags in Beretta. Beretta drops Cope with a double knee drive and goes for the cover, but Cope kicks out at one.
Beretta chops Cope in the corner, but Cope sends him across the ring and drops him with a right hand. Cope trips Beretta into the ropes and tags in Cage, who stands on Beretta back to choke him over the middle rope. Cope delivers a cross-body, and Cage slams Beretta into the barricade.
Cage delivers a right hand to Romero, and then grabs Cash Wheeler, but Beretta slams Cage’s arm into the ring post. Kyle O’Reilly, Orange Cassidy, and Roderick Strong appear at ringside, and then Cassidy hits Stokely with his popcorn bucket. FTR and The Conglomeration go at it and brawl through the crowd.
Beretta drops Cage with an elbow strike as the show heads to a commercial. Back from the break, Cage drops Romero with a back suplex in the ring. Beretta tags in and knocks Cope to the floor, and then Romero tags back in. RPG Vice double-team Cage and Romero goes for the cover, but Cope breaks it up. Romero delivers chops and kicks to Cage and puts him up top.
Romero takes Cage back down and applies a cross arm-breaker, and then Beretta tags back in. Cage delivers shots to both of them, and then Romero tags back in. Cage delivers a back elbow, but Cage gouges his eyes and drops him with a spinning DDT. Cope and Beretta back in, and Cope delivers a back-body drop and a flapjack. Cope throws Beretta down and follows with an Impaler DDT.
Romero tries to break up the cover, but Cope dodges and Romero hits Beretta. Romero and Beretta double-team Cope, but Cage shoves Beretta into the ropes. Cope goes for the cover, but Beretta, but Romero breaks it up. Cage knocks Romero to the floor, but Beretta dodges a Spear and gets a roll-up with his feet on the ropes.
The referee catches him, but he kicks Cope in the face. Beretta charges out, but Cope tosses him into the air and Cage drops him with a Spear. Cope hits a Spear of his own and gets the pin fall.
After the match, Cope applies a cross-face to Beretta with a piece of a steel chair, and Cage tells Beretta to say it. Beretta says, “I Quit” as Cope keeps the hold applied, and then Cage calls him a “little bitch.”
Winners: Cope & Cage
Backstage With Chris Jericho & The Demand
Backstage, Renee interviews Jericho. Jericho says imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and Ricochet has been following his career closely, but not close rnough. The Demand attack Jericho and Ricochet asks him if this is what he wanted.
Jericho tells him to “eat shit,” and they continue beating him down before slamming him into a table. Ricochet fakes a Ricosault and lands on his feet before telling Jericho that he isn’t even worth it.
AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship
Divine Dominion (c) vs. Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander
Shida dropkicks Kross into the corner, and then delivers forearm strikes to both of them. Kross comes back with a strike, and then drives her shoulder into Shida numerous times in the corner.
Kross throws Shida across the ring and drops her with a shoulder tackle. Bayne tags in and they drop Shida with a double shoulder tackle. Bayne throws Shida down, but Shida backs her into the corner and delivers a knee strike. Shida delivers a kick and goes for another knee strike, but Bayne catches her and slams her down.
Shida comes back and goes after Bayne’s eyes. Shida grabs her kendo stick, but Statlander stops her from using it. Statlander pulls Shida out of the way as Bayne goes for a cross-body in the corner, and then Shida suplexes Statlander into Bayne.
Bayne comes back with a shot and tags in Kross. Dominion double-team Statlander, but Statlander comes back with a kick to Kross and low-bridges Bayne to the floor. Kross delivers an elbow strike, but Statlander delivers a shot of her own and goes for Wednesday Night Fever.
Kross sends Statlander into the ropes, and Bayne kicks her in the head. Kross keeps Statlander grounded as the show heads to a commercial. When the show returns, we see the action still in progress.
Statlander delivers shots to Bayne and Kross and takes them down with a double hurricanrana. Statlander drops Bayne with a spinning lariat, and then Kross and Shida tag in. Shida delivers elbow strikes, but Kross sends her away with a big shot. Shida delivers a dropkick and runs the ropes, but Bayne grabs her hair.
Shida counters with a knee strike to Bayne, and then sends Kross into Bayne in the ropes. Shida sends both of them to the floor and delivers a double dropkick. Shida gets Kross back into the ring, but Kross kicks her in the head.
Statlander tags in and delivers shots to Kross, but Bayne cuts Statlander off and tags in. Bayne and Kross double-team Statlander and slam her down for Bayne to get a two count. Kross tags back in, and the match breaks down for a bit. Statlander connects with a 450 splash on Bayne and Kross and goes for the cover, but Kross kicks out at two. Shida tags in and delivers a diving meteora to Kross before following with the Falcon Arrow for a two count.
Shida goes for the Katana, but Bayne drops her with a suplex. Bayne kicks Statlander in the face as Kross suplexes her. Shida gets slammed to the mat and Kross gets the pin fall.
Winners and STILL AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champions: Divine Dominion
Backstage With Andrade El Idolo & MJF
Renee interviews Andrade El Idolo and Don Callis backstage, but MJF interrupts and tells Idolo he has ruined the company. Idolo asks him how he knows, and then MJF runs him down.
He says he lost the match against Allin that led to Allin becoming the AEW World Champion. They argue with each other, but Callis calms them down and says they need to focus on business.
Rush vs. Steve Fuerte
Fuerte goes for a handshake, but Rush delivers an elbow strike. Rush slams Fuerte into the LED board and stomps him down. Rush gets Fuerte back into the ring and chops him down into the corner.
Rush follows with elbow strikes, and then stomps on his chest. Rush delivers the running dropkick in the corner and gets the pin fall. After the match, Rush grabs a mic and remind everyone that when you mess with the bull, you get the horns.
Winner: Rush
Backstage With The Opps
Backstage, Renee is with The Opps. Samoa Joe says they intend to reassert their dominance in AEW. Joe hypes up Katsuyori Shibata, Anthony Bowens, and Hook, and then says their way to the top deals with strategic acquisition.
Joe says he hopes Will Ospreay isn’t suffering from Stockholm Syndrome with the Death Riders, because they saved him from the Riders before. Joe says if Ospreay is looking, he has a spot waiting for him in the Opps.
AEW World Championship
Darby Allin (c) vs. Brody King
It's main event time!
Following the ring entrances and pre match ring introductions, the bell sounds to get this one started. We see a show of sportsmanship is followed by Darby charging King in the corner, looking for the same quickness with which he won the title two weeks ago.
He ends up taking the challenger to the mat with a Code Red from the turnbuckle, but only gets a two count for his efforts. King leaves the ring as Darby goes for a dive, only to be dropped to the floor by the big man.
He brings Allin to the guardrail, setting him up on a chair before charging at him, but the champ catches him with a drop toe hold, sending Brody face first into the chair. He pulls the chair away, setting it up to sit King upon for some more strikes before going up top for a missile dropkick.
Brody falls from the chair to the floor as we go to what is touted as our final ad break of the evening. The show returns and we see Brody takes the champ out with a uranage onto the floor before clearing off the announce table. He pulls the lid of it off, propping it against the barricade as we see Kevin Knight watching from the crowd. Darby is back on his feet, going for a sleeper hold on the challenger, until Brody sends both of them crashing through the table cover.
The crowd is electric for this as we see MJF watching backstage, and the ref checks on both men until Brody gets to his feet. He brings Darby back up as well, but the champ fights back with some strikes. This spills over to the announce table, where Brody ends up catching Darby with a sleeper hold.
Darby manages to break free just enough to fight back with a Code Red, driving King onto the table which does not give. Darby manages to slowly make his way back to the ring, with Brody getting back on his feet only to be sent back into the desk with a dive by Darby. Darby gets back in the ring once more, climbing up the turnbuckle, but King intercepts, dropping him into a tree of woe for a cannonball.
He brings Allin to his feet for a massive lariat and the cover, but the challenger only gets a two count. Darby tries to fight back but is soon laid out with another lariat, but this only gets a nearfall as Darby manages to save his title with a shoulder up. Darby manages to dodge the big man in the corner, landing some chops before King launches him over the top rope to the outside, where he collides with a camera op on his way to the floor.
This gives the challenger an opening as he goes after Darby on the outside. Brody pulls the mat off the floor as Darby crawls to the guardrail, and as he charges at the champ we see Darby narrowly get out of the way, forcing King to go crashing through instead.
Darby gets back in the ring as Brody slowly follows, and they fight it out on the apron until Brody looks for a suplex to the outside, with Darby sending him to the exposed concrete instead with a sunset powerbomb. He climbs the turnbuckle for a Coffin Drop, crashing onto the challenger as the ref begins the count.
From there, Darby slides back into the ring as the count reaches eight and then nine before King slides in, only to be blindsided with a Coffin Drop! Darby rushes back up top for one more Coffin Drop for the win. With the victory, Darby Allin remains your AEW World Champion.
Once the match wraps up we see Darby celebrating as Brody King eventually gets on his feet to show some respect to the champ. Commentary runs down the card for AEW Collision and next week’s AEW Dynamite as we cut between Darby recovering from the battle we just witnessed and Kevin Knight staring down the man he challenges next week for the world title. That's how things wrap up. Thanks for joining us!
Winner and STILL AEW World Champion: Darby Allin
