Ricochet meets Bandido for the Dynamite Diamond Ring and a shot at the AEW World Championship. Plus, Continental Classic action continues in both leagues. You can catch AEW Dynamite on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on TSN2, the TSN App, and TSN.ca.
Dynamite Diamond Ring match: ROH World Champion Bandido vs. AEW National Champion Ricochet (w/ Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun)
For the first time ever on Dynamite, the Dynamite Diamond Ring is set to be awarded to somebody not named Maxwell Jacob Friedman. The six previous times that the ring has been up for grabs, MJF won it on each occasions. But the former AEW World Champion did not compete in last week’s battle royale leaving the ring up for grabs to a new duo. On last week’s Dynamite, ROH World Champion Bandido and AEW National Champion Ricochet outlasted Shelton Benjamin, Josh Alexander, Ace Austin, Max Caster, Anthony Bowens, Luchasaurus, Mark Davis, Brody King, Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun to finish as the final two men standing. As is tradition, the last pair standing now meets in a singles match to determine the winner of the ring. And there’s an added twist to the match - not only will the winner get the ring, he will also earn an AEW World Championship match on the January 14th Maximum Carnage edition of Dynamite. For both Ricochet and Bandido, that means a chance to become a double champion. For the latter, it’s the opportunity to become a double champion again as Bandido and King held the AEW World Tag Team Championships from August to November. Wednesday night’s match is an interesting one because it’s a first ever meeting between the two men. The bout should be a good one with both men possessing styles that are complementary of one another and could result in a very even encounter. The determining factor could be who’s not in the ring, though. Ricochet will undoubtedly be accompanied to the ring by his Demand stablemates, the GOA (Liona and Kaun), and that could spell trouble for Bandido. He can ill afford to shift focus at all from Ricochet in the ring, but the GOA’s presence alone is enough to give Bandido pause. Which of these two men will claim both prizes on offer?
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Continental Classic Blue League match: IWGP World Champion “The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita (2-0-1, seven points) vs. “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy (2-1-0, six points)
With only two matches remaining in the Continental Classic for both men, Konosuke Takeshita and Orange Cassidy look to make a final push on Wednesday night as they square off. A win by either man would put him in a strong position to advance from the Blue League as a top-two finisher. Takeshita is coming off of a time-limit draw in his last tournament match against CMLL World Heavyweight Champion Claudio Castagnoli in what was only the second ever bout between the holders of Japan and Mexico’s top championship. On this past Saturday’s Collision, Cassidy picked up his second straight win in the tournament with a victory over Mascara Dorada. While Takeshita and Cassidy have faced off on a number of times in the past, Wednesday night’s match will only be their second singles bout. The first came earlier this year on the Feb. 26th edition of Dynamite when Takeshita successfully defended the AEW International Championship over Cassidy, putting him away with Raging Fire. All told, Cassidy and Takeshita are 2-2 all-time in their previous matchups with Wednesday night’s bout set to be the rubber match at least for the time being. With a title-versus-title match against Yota Tsuji on the horizon at next month’s Wrestle Kingdom, can Takeshita stay focused enough at the task at hand and pick up a key win over Cassidy on Dynamite?
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Continental Classic Gold League match: “Jungle” Jack Perry (1-2-0, three points) vs. “The Bastard” PAC (2-1-0, six points)
Two men coming off of massive wins look to stay in the mix to advance from the Gold League when Jack Perry meets PAC in Continental Classic action on Dynamite. Perry’s tournament began on Matchday 2. The former AEW World Tag Team Champion was not originally an entrant in the tournament, but was called into action as a substitute when Darby Allin was injured in his first match against Kevin Knight. Because Allin lost that match, Perry inherited the defeat and started in an 0-1 hole. After losing to former Elite stablemate Kazuchika Okada in his first match on Dec. 10, Perry bounced back this past Saturday on Collision with a win over Mike Bailey. On three points from three matches, Perry is still alive, but has little margin for error at this point. The Death Riders’ PAC opened up his C2 with a victory over Bailey, getting the Laval, Que. native to tap out to the Brutalizer. In his second match against Okada, PAC again turned to the Brutalizer, but before he could lock in his effective submission, the reigning tournament champion reversed it into a pinning predicament to pick up the win over a disbelieving PAC. Coming off of that dispiriting loss, PAC went on to pick up a huge win last week on Dynamite when he defeated the man many consider to be the tournament favourite in Kyle Fletcher. On six points and in a four-way tie with Fletcher, Bailey, Okada and Knight, PAC knows that his fate remains in his own hands. Wins over Perry on Wednesday and Knight in his final match will guarantee a top-two spot for the Brit. Can PAC continue his march towards the final or will Perry use his newfound momentum to pick up another victory?
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Continental Classic Blue League match: CMLL World Trios Champion Mascara Dorada (1-2-0, three points) vs. Roderick Strong (0-3-0, no points)
Roderick Strong is out to save face at this point. The former ROH World Champion has lost all three of his Continental Classic matches to be the first of the 12 competitors eliminated from the tournament. As he prepares to take on Mascara Dorada on Dynamite, his goal now is to make sure he doesn’t go winless in his final two matches. While he put up admirable showings in all three of his previous bouts, Strong fell by pinfall to Konosuke Takeshita, Orange Cassidy and, most recently, Jon Moxley. It’s been a bitter pill to swallow for a man who takes a great deal of pride in his work as a professional wrestler. Still, Strong has faced adversity on a number of occasions in the past and has grown from them. What’s left in front of him now is the opportunity to play spoiler, starting with Dorada on Wednesday night. With one win through his first three matches, Dorada can max out on nine points meaning that he will need to take care of his own business and require some help from other results to advance in the tournament. Like Jack Perry, his margin for error is razor-thin. After beginning his tournament with a submission loss to Moxley, Dorada picked up a big win in his second match over Claudio Castagnoli. Not only was it a consequential victory in terms of the C2, it was a pinfall win over the CMLL World Heavyweight Champion and could put him in line for a shot at the Swiss Cyborg’s title down the line. The high from that victory was short-lived, though, with Dorada falling again last Wednesday in a defeat by Cassidy. Anything less than a win against Strong on Dynamite almost certainly ends Dorada’s tournament. Wednesday night’s match is the first ever bout between the two men. The only time they’ve previously shared a ring was on last week’s special return edition of AEW Dark when they teamed with Cassidy for a trios victory over Mark Andrews, Kid Lykos I and and Kid Lykos II. Can Dorada stay alive and compound Strong’s misery or will “The Messiah of the Backbreaker” finally get his first C2 win?
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Maxwell Jacob Friedman returns to action
On last week’s Dynamite, MJF made his return to AEW after a three-month absence to announce that he was cashing in his AEW World Championship match contract earned in the Casino Gauntlet to make the title match at Worlds End into a four-way bout. Samoa Joe will now defend his AEW World Championship against three former champions, instead of just two, in Friedman, “Hangman” Adam Page and Swerve Strickland. Before that pay-per-view, though, Friedman will make his return to competition on Wednesday night. The last time MJF was in an AEW ring was at September’s All Out PPV in Toronto when he was on the losing end of an absolutely brutal Tables ‘n’ Tacks Match against Mark Briscoe. A battered and bloody Friedman vowed not to return until he was once again at championship-calibre. On Wednesday night, we’ll get our first look at whether or not “The Salt of the Earth” is.
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AEW Women’s World Champion Kris Statlander and Jamie Hayter meet face-to-face
The buildup to the AEW Women’s World Championship match at Worlds End between titleholder Kris Statlander and challenger Jamie Hayter has been largely respectful, but will that change on Wednesday night? The two women will meet face-to-face one last time ahead of Saturday’s match. It will be the final chance for both Statlander and Hayter to get into the other’s head and, perhaps, plant some seeds of doubt ahead of the title contest. Just what does each woman have to say on Dynamite?
