News Ticker

(Updated) ALL ELITE WRESTLING DYNAMITE PREVIEW 4/6: Joe! Joe! Joe!, Hardys vs. Butcher & Blade in Tables Match, Bucks vs. FTR, Christian vs. Cole, Owen Tournament Qualifiers

BY FRANK PETEANI, PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR

April 5, 2022

Samoa Joe officially signs with AEW
PHOTO CREDIT: Tony Khan Twitter
SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

ALL ELITE WRESTLING DYNAMITE PREVIEW
APRIL 6, 2022
BOSTON, MA. AT THE AGGANIS ARENA
AIRS ON TBS NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EST, 7:00 p.m. CST
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross

Last Week

  • CM Punk defeated Max Caster of the Acclaimed. After the match he declared his intentions to become AEW World Champion.
  • Jon Moxley defeated Jay Lethal.
  • AAA Tag Team Champions FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) defeated The Gunn Club (Austin & Colten Gunn).
  • The Jericho Appreciation Society were attacked backstage by Eddie Kingston and Santana & Ortiz. They turned things around and dragged them to the ring and further attacked by the J.A.S.
  • Bryan Danielson defeated Wheeler Yuta.
  • AEW Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa established her intentions as new champion following an attack by Nyla Rose on the previous edition of Dynamite.
  • Toni Storm, making her AEW debut, defeated The Bunny in an Owen Hart Foundation tournament qualifying match.
  • Andrade “El Idolo” defeated Darby Allin.

Arena

AEW returns to the Agganis Arena in Bosto, MA. The second-ever edition of Dynamite emanated from this arena back in October of 2019. The only other pro wrestling event to take place here was the 11th edition of TNA’s Slammiversary back in 2013.

Three matches, Owen Hart Tournament qualifying matches, and a debut were announced.

Samoa Joe Debuts

Samoa Joe made an appearance at Ring of Honor’s Supercard of Honor this past Friday, coming to the aid of Jonathan Gresham and Lee Moriarty after they were attacked by Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt. Following those proceedings, Tony Khan announced via Twitter that Samoa Joe is All Elite. He makes his debut tonight.

Joe was released by WWE in January of this year, months after relinquishing the NXT Championship, which he won from Karrion Kross. Joe had been released in 2021 after spending most of the previous two years as an announcer on Raw. He wrestled briefly in late 2019 until the onset of the COVID pandemic.

Frank’s Analysis: I’m not breaking any news, nor do I think I’m a contrarian when I say it’s exciting to see Joe in AEW. They are loaded with talent, but he is different from most of the wrestlers they have there. I would (think) he comes in as a babyface, and maybe works Moxley and Danielson out of the gate? Cole and the Elite? The possibilities are there no matter what side he works.

Tables Match: Matt & Jeff Hardy vs. Butcher & Blade

Matt & Jeff Hardy square off against the AFO’s Butcher & Blade, former protegees of Matt Hardy when he ran the HFO.

Things have been going on for quite some time between both parties, with the latest chapter happening last week. After AFO leader Andrade “El Idodo” defeated Darby Allin, Butcher & Blade as well as Jose the Assistant went after Sting, who was checking on Darby. Fellow AFO members Private Party joined in on the festivities when the Hardy brothers made the save.

Two weeks ago, the Hardys along with Sting & Darby defeated Butcher & Blade and Private Party in a Tornado Tag match. The Haryds have a long history with matches of this sort, with the most historic being a series of TLC (Tables, Ladders, and Chairs) matches against Edge & Christian and the Dudley Boyz in the early 2000s in the WWE.

Frank’s Analysis: I have no doubt we’re going to be entertained by this match and I don’t see anything other than a win for the Hardys. I just hold my breath for Matt & Jeff as they’re not spring chickens and left to their own devices, they can’t help themselves. Ironically, I just relived their triangle ladder match from WrestleMania 2000 against Edge & Christian and the Dudleys. I’m no doctor but it’s hard not to think about the negative effect those excessive extreme bumps had on their lives.

AAA Tag Team Championship: FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (AAA & ROH champs) vs. Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)

The AAA Tag Team Championship will be on the line as FTR defends against former champions the Young Bucks.

This is a Part II between these teams. The Bucks defeated FTR at the 2020 Full Gear PPV for the AEW Tag Team Championship. It ended a two-month reign for FTR, who captured the AAA Tag Team Championship from the Lucha Brothers on Dynamite in October of last year. Ironically, FTR ended a two-plus year reign for the Lucha Brothers who captured the AAA tag titles from the Bucks in June of 2019, following a failed attempt at the 2019 Double or Nothing.

FTR recently fired Tully Blanchard as their manager. They are still technically in the Pinnacle, led by MJF, and are caught in the middle of the issues between MJF and Wardlow, whom is still under contract to MJF but is being paid to “stay home.” They challenged the Bucks to a match on last week’s show, who accepted on Rampage after they defeated Top Flight.

Frank’s Analysis: I could see MJF inadvertently costing FTR the titles. Bucks are due for a title, at least I think, so why not do a title change here. It’s not like FTR has been defending the AAA titles and they won the ROH championships anyway. FTR are going to be doing something with MJF and Shawn Spears at some point once they split from the Pinnacle.

Christian Cage vs. Adam Cole

Adam Cole goes one-on-one with Christian Cage.

Last week, Cole and ReDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) had a championship celebration after stealing the belts from actual AEW Champion “Hangman” Adam Page and tag champs Jurassic Express. Cole said they weren’t in the building because they were embarrassed at how easy it was for them to steal the belts, but they can’t steal something that belongs to them. Page and Jurassic Express (w/Christian) came out and eventually retrieved their titles.

At the 2021 Full Gear, Christian and Jurassic Express defeated Adam Cole and the Young Bucks in a Falls Count Anywhere Trios match. Christian defeated Ethan Page on the March 4 edition of Rampage. (Cage defeated Page on Rampage. Vince McMahon would have a canary if he was running this company.). Cole recently challenged the other Page at Revolution for the AEW Championship but came up short.

Frank’s Analysis: I’m still curious what’s going on with Christian. If the intention is to keep him as a mentor to Jurassic Express, that’s fine if he’s going to eventually turn on Jungle Boy, whom I assume is earmarked for a singles push. I’m in a wait and see. I don’t think Christian signed on just to be a mentor to a tag team. There’s still some capital there, and I’m sure they’ll use it.

Owen Hart Tournament Qualifying Men’s & Women’s Matches

Qualifying matches will continue tonight for Owen Hart Tournament, which will commence on the May 11 edition of Dynamite. Toni Storm and Jamie Hayter have qualified thus far on the women’s side. Nobody has qualified on the men’s side yet. As of this writing, AEW is not specific who will wrestle Wednesday’s show.

*** Update ***

Earlier today. AEW announced that Samoa Joe will take on Max Caster of the Acclaimed in qualifier for the men’s tournament. Former AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida takes on Julia Hart on the women’s side.

Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Thank you for reading!

Related Articles

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

ALL CONTENT © TDH COMMUNICATIONS INC. 2024