AEW Dynamite airs tonight (Sept. 16) with a live show emanating from Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. This is the third episode of Dynamite during the four week build to All Out, which takes place on Sept. 26 in Chicago.
55-year-old Chris Jericho is trying to stop another hot, young star in AEW
One of the reasons why AEW fans soured on Chris Jericho a couple years ago is due to the perception that he held down young talent, whether that was from beating them in matches or just getting too much TV time. I’ll leave it up to you to judge whether that criticism was fair
or not. Regardless, the fact that babyface Jericho lost his first three matches to Ricochet and The Demand after returning to AEW this year was probably part of his strategy to change that perception and/or keep the fans from booing him.
Jericho finished that feud by winning Stadium Stampede at Double or Nothing and then getting his singles win back on Ricochet at the end of May. He moved on to a program with Tommaso Ciampa, where Jericho lost the first match before getting his win back at the Redemption PPV in July.
Chris didn’t have much going on heading into All In at the end of August, where he was dumped into the Casino Gauntlet match. However, he’s quickly started up a story with Nick Wayne since then, and they have their first singles match tonight on Dynamite.
Unlike Ricochet (37) and Ciampa (41), the 21-year-old Wayne fits the definition of a young, rising star in AEW star who desperately needs wins over stars of Jericho’s magnitude to break through and get over with the fans. It’s very clear what Wayne’s potential is after watching him tear the house down with ROH World Champion Bandido in a 4.75 star match last month at Death Before Dishonor.
Is 55-year-old Jericho’s job now to put Wayne over and help turn him into a star, or stop Nick in his tracks while quickly moving on to bigger and better things in AEW? Tune into Dynamite tonight to find out.
The rest of the card
AEW World Champion Will Ospreay teams up with Francesco Akira and AEW National Champion Andrade tonight in a trios match against Gabe Kidd, AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley, and PAC. Akira is the obvious job guy if the Death Riders are going over, but Mox is butting heads with his teammates when it comes to their strategy for how to deal with Ospreay. Jon has been able to keep them all on the same page for now with his leadership skills, but what happens when they are in position to injure Ospreay’s neck again? Will Mox give the green light this time now that he is challenging for Ospreay’s title at All Out?
Sting’s son Steven Borden is back in the ring tonight after winning his Dynamite debut last week against two of Don Callis’ 593 family members. This time he’s teaming up with TNT Champion Darby Allin and AEW World Tag Team Champions Adam Copeland and Christian Cage in an 8-man tag team match against Kevin Knight, FTR, and Kyle Fletcher. This match came about after FTR interfered in last week’s main event to help Knight and Fletcher beat the Young Bucks, only for Borden and Allin to run in and chase the heels away. Can Sting Jr. work his magic once again en route to another win, or is he in way over his head this time going up against some of the best tag team wrestlers in the world? Will the Young Bucks be there to make sure FTR loses their first match back in an AEW ring since May?
AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champion Jamie Hayter goes one-on-one tonight with Lena Kross. Divine Dominion is getting a rematch for the Brawling Birds’ belts at All Out, so the heels’ priority here might be more about hurting the champs ahead of the PPV rather than winning this match.
Other stuff to keep an eye on
– Willow Nightingale returned to Dynamite last week to interrupt Thekla and AEW Women’s World Champion Mercedes Mone, so now it looks like we’re probably heading to a 3-way title match at All Out. Do Willow and The CEO get to beat up Thekla’s Sisters of Sin between now and the PPV?
– Tommaso Ciampa is looking ahead to All Out and says it’s time to win another title. Does that mean he plans to attack either TNT Champion Darby Allin, AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada, AEW National Champion Andrade, or One True Champion (lol) MJF at some point tonight?
– Britt Baker won her AEW return match last week with an assist from Rebel (not Reba). Is it Thunder Rosa or Maya World’s turn to get one over on Baker and TBS Champion Persephone tonight to set up a title match at All Out? Where does Hikaru Shida fit into the picture?
– Hangman Page, Brody King, and Bandido want to win back the AEW World Trios Championship from Swerve Strickland and New Level, but Ricochet and The Demand think they should be next in line. Is Tony Khan’s plan to get everyone on the All Out PPV by booking a 3-way trios title match?
– Are the Motor City Machine Guns already lost in the shuffle in AEW?
– Which AEW star is going to hire the Hurt Syndicate to use their special people-hurting services to save Keith Lee from “consciousness explorer” Darius J. Wright?
– Where the f*** is Samoa Joe? He teased that he might be back in time for All In last month, so I assume that means his AEW return is just around the corner.
What will you be looking for on Dynamite?
