AEW Dynamite

This week, AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland comes face-to-face with challenger Christian Cage. Former Best Friends collide as Orange Cassidy faces Trent Beretta. Plus, TNT Champ Adam Copeland defends against Brody King.




– We shoot to a live cold open, with Adam Copeland arriving backstage. He seems down or distracted. He is asked about his TNT Championship match tonight against Brody King. He talks about having a different feeling tonight. He tells the camera to zoom in, Iron Sheik style, and says he just got off the phone with Tony Khan. His match with King tonight is now a No DQ match.

Orange Cassidy vs. Trent Beretta

We're starting off with a bang in the ring, as Orange Cassidy's theme hits as we shoot inside Rogers Place following the regular intro video and theme music for AEW Dynamite on TBS. The "Freshly Squeezed" one heads to the ring as Excalibur and Tony Schiavone welcome us to the show.

The Best Friends theme hits and out comes Trent Beretta to a ton of boos from the Edmonton crowd. The bell sounds and off we go with our opening contest, as these two meet in the middle and start slugging it out. Trent rolls out to the floor, trying to avoid Cassidy, but Cassidy hits a suicide dive through the ropes to take him out at ringside. Fans chant "Freshly Squeezed" as he throws him into the steel ring post.

A countdown clock appears on the top right corner of the screen, counting down 54 minutes until AEW Champion Swerve Strickland and Christian Cage have their face-to-face confrontation to promote their upcoming title tilt at AEW Double Or Nothing 2024. Meanwhile, Trent takes over on offense and takes it to Cassidy at ringside.

The two fight back-and-forth some more and then Trent tries throwing Cassidy over the guard rail, only for him to land on his feet and put his hands in his jean pockets, in trademark fashion. Cassidy starts to take back over on offense as they fight up through the crowd, heading up the stairs and battling it out through the aisles right in front of fans. Cassidy hits a suplex to Trent on the floor.

They battle back to the guard rail, and with Trent standing on top of it, Cassidy sweeps his legs and Trent's back blasts into it on the way down. Ouch. Back in the ring, Cassidy hits an Orange Punch for a big pop, but is slow to get up. As he begins to, we hear loud boos out of nowhere from the crowd. The camera pans over and shows Don Callis making his way down to the ringside area. Schiavone reminds us he left with Cassidy last week.

On that note, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as our opening contest continues. When we return, we see Cassidy and Trent trading shots back-and-forth in the middle of the ring as Callis joins Excalibur and Schiavone on special guest commentary. He talks about seeing potential in Cassidy and having a talk with him about business and taking things to the next level.

Trent settles into the offensive lead in the match, but Cassidy hits a tornado DDT out of nowhere to shift the momentum back in his favor. He grabs Trent by the hand and helps him sit up and then does the wimpy-kick routine, which gradually turns into vicious kicks and stomps. Cassidy drops down and swarms him with ground and pound. Cassidy takes down the elbow pad, but Trent blasts him with a big shot before he can do anything.

As the action continues, Trent takes over into a comfortable offensive lead, where he hits two back-to-back pile drivers on Cassidy, and doesn't seem interested in pinning him as much as he is in hurting him. He backs up and mocks Cassidy before charging at him with a running knee strike. He takes the top turnbuckle pad off as the ref checks on Cassidy. The ref turns around and catches him.

While dealing with that, Cassidy takes the turnbuckle off the corner behind him. Trent charges at him and Cassidy trips him face-first into the exposed steel. He covers him and gets the win. Good opener to kick off this week's show.

After the match, Trent attacks Cassidy from behind on the floor at ringside. Fans chant "Assh*le!" as he hits a jumping pile driver on Cassidy on the steel ring steps. He then catapults Cassidy face-first into the ring frame. Trent grabs a box but Callis and Kris Statlander runs over and stops him from doing anything. Callis leaves with Cassidy again.

Winner: Orange Cassidy

– We go to "earlier today" footage that shows The Young Bucks with a camera crew in their car, arriving to the building in Jacksonville, FL., where Tony Khan's offices are located, due to him not being able to travel. They have an issue with someone who they call a mark and then they pull up and blatantly park in Khan's spot. They exit the car and we fade away.

– From there, we shoot to footage of The Elite's attack of Kenny Omega last week. We then see exclusive footage of "The Scapegoat" Jack Perry addressing Omega backstage after their attack last week. He says they're gonna continue on their mission without him. Excalibur hypes Kenny Omega's advertised "important announcement" coming up next. We head to another commercial break.

– When we return, we see Omega in a hospital bed in the emergency room where Omega talks about business he has as an AEW EVP to handle. He announces at AEW Double Or Nothing 2024 there will be an Anarchy in the Arena bout, with The Elite versus Team AEW. Two names Omega has in his head for that team are FTR. The other two will reveal themselves to The Elite later tonight, sooner than they might think.

– Back inside Rogers Place, we see Tony Schiavone on the entrance ramp. He introduces his guest at this time, women's contender Serena Deeb. Out she comes. Schiavone brings up her AEW Women's World Championship opportunity at AEW Double Or Nothing 2024. She explains how much it means to her after what she went through.

She says for those who don't know, she suffered three unprovoked seizures. "Timeless" Toni Storm comes out and gets in her face, leading to Deeb blasting her with a single punch that knocks her out cold. That's how the brief interview segment wraps up and then we move on.

– Backstage, Rocky Romero checks on Orange Cassidy and asks how he's doing after the attack by Trent earlier tonight. He then says he just got off the phone with Tony Khan back in Jacksonville. He says if he wins his match tonight against one-third of the AEW Trios Champions, Jay White, then he and Cassidy and another partner of their choosing will earn a shot at the AEW Trios Championships.

He suggests getting things back on track with Trent, among other possibilities for partners, but Cassidy isn't interested in mending fences with Trent. We cut back inside Rogers Place where we hear Excalibur and Don Callis on commentary as Mariah May makes her way down to the ring for our next match of the evening. Harley Cameron's entrance tune hits next and out she comes. Schiavone re-joins the duo on commentary.

Mariah May vs. Harley Cameron

The bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with this one, which features Harley's Dynamite in-ring debut. Saraya is at ringside chirping away as Harley settles into the early offensive lead. May fights back, but Harley takes over again. She heads over to Saraya at ringside to be baby'd and then goes back to work on Mariah as we head into a mid-match commercial break.

When we return, we see some more back-and-forth action and then May finishes this one off with a Storm Zero for the pin fall victory. After the match, Saraya attacks May. She and Harley beat her down until Mina Shirakowa runs out to make the save. They tease another kiss, but don't this time. They do another champagne toast, though!

Winner: Mariah May

– Backstage, the newest member of the AEW broadcast team is standing by with "The Bastard" PAC. She asks him about the possibility of seeing Death Triangle back in action. He says he's not concerned with Death Triangle at this point and time.

As he continues to talk, up walks the Bang Bang Gang, who cut him off. They say Death Triangle is dead and then talks about how PAC is coming off a loss against Kazuchika Okada. They gloat that White is someone who knows how to beat Okada.

– The commentators then throw it to a video package featuring comments from Malakai Black and The House of Black, addressing Adam Copeland, complete with photos of him at home with his wife and kids, before talking about how there's a side of Copeland they're bringing out of him lately, which is the real version of him. We head to another commercial break.

– When we return from the break, we see an over-the-top, "The Elite are going to CHANGE THE WORLD" video package. When it wraps up, we see The Young Bucks with headsets on and their feet up at a desk saying, "Wow, what a good piece of promotional material." We then see them get a piece of paper handed to them, informing them that the Swerve and Christian face-to-face is up next.

– We return inside Rogers Place where we hear the familiar sounds of Swerve Strickland's theme music. Out he comes by himself, with no Prince Nana. He heads to the ring in a giant over-sized coat with his AEW Championship in his hands. He settles in the ring and immediately gets on the mic. He says he's in a foul, pissed off, fighting mood. He says here's why. We see footage of Christian's attack on him last week.

Swerve says when you become champion, people want a piece of you, figuratively and even quite literally, referencing Christian chopping off a chunk of his hair after the attack last week. He tells Christian he doesn't want to wait. He tells him to get his scuffed up boots, his dingy jacket, dumb turtle neck and his Addam's Family-looking crew and get out here. His theme hits and out he comes with The Patriarchy by his side.

Cage gets heat by saying in a couple hours the Canucks are gonna stomp out the Edmonton Oilers. He says just like he stomped out Swerve last week before tearing out one of his dreads. He says he's decided he's gonna take something of Swerve's every single week leading up to their match, where he will ultimately take what he wants, which is Swerve's AEW Championship.

Cage threatens another attack, but Swerve says he didn't come alone. The Mogul Embassy comes in the ring. Swerve says he'd love for Christian to get in the ring right now so he can beat his ass like Kendrick Lamar is doing to Drake. He flat out dares Cage to come in the ring and take something from him. Swerve says Christian always says "I Quit" when he's in a tough position.

Out of nowhere, we see Brian Cage attack Swerve from behind. The rest of The Mogul Embassy join in on the attack and all three beat down the AEW Champion and their former leader. Cage is shown smiling at ringside. A ton of referees run down but The Mogul Embassy run them off. Cage military presses Swerve and launches him over the top and out to the floor.

They clear off the commentary desk and bring over the ring steps in front of it. They hit a two-man double power bomb off the top of the ring steps to put Swerve through the commentary desk, which explodes into a thousand tooth picks. Cage's theme music hits and he and The Patriarchy head to the back as the former Mogul Embassy members stand over Swerve in the pile of rubble at ringside.

– Backstage, we see The Young Bucks applauding and calling that a "nice piece of business." Up comes Christian Cage and The Patriarchy who thank The Young Bucks. They say this is the start to a very fruitful business relationship. The Young Bucks talk to themselves, questioning if what just happened to Swerve would be considered a "b*tch move" the way Swerve referred to The Elite attack of Tony Khan.

– We go backstage again, where the newest member of the AEW broadcast team is with her guest at this time, TBS Women's Champion Willow Nightingale. She is asked how she is feeling after her Manitoba Massacre last week. She points out her black eye and says she's not feeling too well physically, but is emotionally.

She talks about Mercedes Mone and addresses the injury she suffered the last time they wrestled and hypes their rematch coming up at AEW Double Or Nothing 2024. After that, the brief backstage interview wraps up and we return back inside Rogers Place for our next match of the evening.

Jay White vs. Rocky Romero

Romero gets the advantage early, using his speed to hold White at bay, even hitting an impossibly quick suicide dive. Back in the ring, Romero goes for Forever Lariats but eats a lariat from White as we head to commercial.

Back from commercial break and White is in firm command, stretching and pummeling Romero. Romero counters a suplex and hits a Tornado DDT off the ropes. They fight to the outside where Romero hits a huge attack and rolls WHite back in the ring. Diving Crossbody gets a nearfall for Romero. Romero counters a Sleeper Suplex with a rollup for a nearfall. White counters Sliced Bread. Romero counters Blade Runner. Romero rolls up White for a nearfall. Romero hits a Running Sliced Bread. White counters Sliced Bread. White hits a Suplex. White hits Blade Runner for the pinfall.

Winner: Jay White

– Once the Samoa Joe video package wraps up, we head to another commercial break. Upon returning, we hear Chris Jericho's new theme music. Out comes "The Learning Tree" Chris Jericho and the first pupil to sit under said-tree, Big Bill. The FTW Champion and one-half of the former AEW World Tag-Team Champions are in action in our next match of the evening.

"The Learning Tree" Chris Jericho & Big Bill vs. Mo Jabari & Harlon Abbott

The newly formed duo settle inside the squared circle for scheduled tag-team action. Already in the ring are their opponents, the most local-enhancement-sounding local enhancement duo in local enhancement talent history -- Mo Jabari & Harlon Abbott. The bell sounds and off we go. Bill and Jabari kick things off for their respective teams. Big Bill dominates straight out of the gate.

Abbott tags in and actually gets a pretty big pop, but Big Bill quickly starts beating him and Jabari down in two-on-one fashion by himself. Jericho tags in, the two hit some double-team offense and then Jericho connects with his Judas Effect finisher for the pin fall victory. Afterwards, Jericho gets on the mic with his cheesy super positive style of talking as "The Learning Tree."

He purposely mistakenly calls this Calgary, instead of Alberta, prompting loud boos and "You f*cked up!" chants from the crowd. Jericho says it was an honest mistake. He says the good thing about mistakes are that you learn from them, just like "The Learning Tree." He talks about his new "For The World" Championship and thanks Big Bill, "The Giant Redwood," for doing such a super job tonight.

Tony Schiavone informs Jericho that HOOK will return next week on Dynamite. Jericho gives one final super cheesy "Thank you!" Isn't that The Young Bucks' new EVP gimmick, by the way? We head to another commercial break after this. Coming up next is our main event of the evening, a No DQ match for the TNT Championship between Adam Copeland and Brody King.

Winners: "The Learning Tree" Chris Jericho & Big Bill

– After opening the show the past couple of weeks, and even starting off this week's show with a cold open live backstage interview, "The Rated-R Superstar" emerges to close out this week's show with our No Disqualification TNT Championship main event of the evening. He settles inside the ring and the lights in the Rogers Place go out.

No Disqualification Match For The AEW TNT Championship: Adam Copeland (c) vs. Brody King

The theme for Brody King hits and fire pyro explodes as the big man from The House of Black emerges and slowly makes his way down to the ring. The lights go out half-way down the ramp, and we see the glow from a spotlight and cell phone lights in the crowd. King settles inside the squared circle and his entrance tune wraps up. The bell sounds and off we go with this no rules title tilt.

King and Copeland lock up and King slaps a side head lock on the champ. He squeezes down on it as Copeland stomps on the feet of his larger opposition. He frees himself and hits the ropes, but runs into a big clothesline from The House of Black member. The two lock up and this time Copeland slaps on a side head lock. King shoots Copeland off and into the ropes and then elbows him down to the mat.

He looks for a pile driver or power bomb, but Copeland gets away from him and backs into the ropes. He looks up at him nervously as King smirks back at him. King goes back to work on Copeland, again enjoying a comfortable early offensive lead, as we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as our final match of the evening continues in the ring.

When we return from the break, we see the two brawling at ringside. King charges at Copeland, but Copeland moves and King crashes and burns into the barricade with a ton of momentum, hurting both of his knees in the process. Copeland grabs a chair and blasts King with it over and over again as the crowd in Edmonton comes to life. The two fight on the ring apron and Copeland drops King face-first on the steel chair.

Back inside the ring, we see Copeland with a chair that he blasts King with again. The chair gets wedged into the corner. He gets a hold of a pipe, or cross-bar, as Excalibur refers to it. We see King covered in blood, which is free-flowing from his face now. King hits a desperation clothesline that levels Copeland. As King continues to spill blood all over the ring, he comes back to life as we head into another mid-match commercial break.

As we return, we see King on the ring apron outside of the ring ropes, barely hanging on as Copeland tries to knock him down through a table set up below. King, still completely covered in blood, avoids being knocked off and fights his way back into the ring. Both guys brawl and each end up laid out. They're both down and recovering as fans break out in a loud "This is Awesome!" chant.

Excalibur plugs plenty of action still to come. It's 9:55pm EST. and we learn that we still have the conclusion of this main event, we will hear from The Young Bucks, Kazuchika Okada and Jack Perry, plus Mercedes Mone will respond to Willow Nightingale. Excalibur also reminds us AEW Collision and AEW Rampage air back-to-back on TBS, not TNT, this coming Saturday night. We see a spiked pile driver on the corner from a bloody King to Copeland.

Copeland hoists King up on his shoulders while standing on the ring apron outside of the ring ropes. The fans explode expecting him to put him through the table, but instead he connects with a Death Valley Driver on the hard part of the ring apron. The fans chant "Holy sh*t! Holy sh*t!" Copeland hits his Spear on King through the ropes to put him through the table, same as he did to Mick Foley at WrestleMania (minus the fire). Copeland gets the win.

Winner and STILL TNT Champion: Adam Copeland

– After the match wraps up, King immediately attacks Copeland with a clubbing lariat. He goes to work on him with ground and pound, which brings out Kyle O'Reilly to make the save. The two fight King off and knock him out of the ring. Copeland's music plays again to end the post-match scene as a super bloody King retreats to the back.