AEW Dynamite airs tonight (July 8) with a live “Beach Break” event from The BayCare Sound in Clearwater, Florida. This is the second episode of Dynamite during the four week build to Redemption, which takes place on July 26.
This is really the end of MJF’s AEW world title reign
Tonight’s Beach Break show comes with a loaded card of matches that would fit right in on AEW pay-per-view. One such match is MJF defending the AEW world championship against Kenny Omega. This main event includes the stipulation that Omega can never challenge for the AEW world title
ever again if he loses, no matter who the champion is.
In a recent interview with Q101, AEW President Tony Khan said he did have “some reservations” about booking this stipulation when Cody Rhodes first did it in AEW back in 2019. Khan went along with the idea because Rhodes felt “pretty strongly” about doing it, but Cody’s loss did “create challenges” in the aftermath.
I suppose Khan doesn’t have those reservations anymore, because he just ran the same exact stipulation a few months ago when Hangman Page lost to MJF at Revolution. As a result, Page can never challenge for the AEW world title ever again. We have yet to see what booking challenges that may create, because Hangman has not returned to AEW programming.
The high risk stipulation is back tonight for Omega’s world title challenge, where Kenny is looking for redemption after MJF retained the belt against him earlier this year. For some reason Khan has seemingly rushed this match up from the Redemption pay-per-view in Montreal on July 26. I guess it’s okay to seek redemption at a show called Beach Break too.
Omega has foolishly told the Young Bucks that he needs to win this match on his own, but there are some folks who suspect Hangman Page could return tonight to get his revenge on MJF. In that case, maybe Max is the one who will be seeking redemption at Redemption. AEW is clearly building up something between Omega and Will Ospreay (who is challenging for the world title at All In), so I do expect that Kenny will prevail and win the gold tonight.
Is this the permanent end of Kenny Omega’s AEW world title chase, or is MJF about to drop the belt before AEW’s biggest show of the year? Tune into Dynamite Beach Break to find out.
The rest of the card
AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita defends the belt tonight against Kyle Fletcher. Plenty of folks expected this match to be held off for a PPV, but AEW’s roster depth is so strong that there’s no need to wait that long. Will The Conglomeration and /or Andrade El Idolo be around to fight off the 431 members of the Don Callis Family who will try to help Kyle take back the belt that his stablemate Okada lost?
Beach Break also features a Casino Gauntlet match where the winner earns a title match at Redemption against AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla. This match has staggered entries, with Athena and Maya World as the first two competitors, and ends as soon as there is a pin fall or submission. Athena and Maya seem destined to feud over the ROH women’s world title, so I don’t expect them to win. Mercedes Mone is challenging for the AEW women’s world title at All In London in August, so I think Willow Nightingale could return from injury here to win and add a much-needed babyface star to the world title mix.
The feud between Chris Jericho and Tommaso Ciampa gets its first official match tonight when they square off at Beach Break. Will Jericho bring back his Painmaker gimmick for this one, or is the old man in for a world of pain once Ciampa gets his very violent hands on him?
Other stuff to keep an eye on
– The Dogs, Gabe Kidd, and most of the Death Riders have joined forces to take out Jay White, the Bang Bang Gang, and AEW World Tag Team Champion Adam Copeland. How do Will Ospreay and AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley feel about the rest of the Death Riders picking this fight? Will Christian Cage eventually get over his issues with White in order to help Copeland?
– Darby Allin said TNT Champion Kevin Knight has dug his own grave after Don Callis refused to grant Darby a match for the belt. What crazy stunt will Darby pull off tonight to potentially injure or murder Knight until he gets what he wants? Is the end game a Coffin match at Redemption?
– Andrade wants to win the AEW world title, but in the short term will have to fight through his former Callis Family stablemates. Is it Lance Archer, Jake Doyle, or AEW National Champion Mark Davis’ turn to get their ass kicked by Andrade next after he beat Brian Cage last week? Will Don shell out the big bucks to hire the services of The Hurt Syndicate if his endless supply of random henchmen just aren’t good enough to stop Andrade?
– It sounds like Sheamus is gone from WWE and free to appear in AEW as soon as tonight. Which faction will Stephen Farrelly join if he officially does become All Elite?
– Are Thunder Rosa and Mina Shirakawa next in line to fall to AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champions Divine Dominion?
– Hikaru Shida is the new TBS champion after winning Survival of the Fittest last week. Will Kris Statlander be her first challenger, or does Stat first have to deal with CMLL World Women’s Champion Persephone?
– What is Swerve Strickland’s next move in AEW after losing to Will Ospreay in the Owen Hart Tournament and missing out on the AEW world title match at All In London?
– Will Jungle Man Jack Perry hit the ring tonight to let us know if he is still under contract with AEW?
– When will Matt Sydal return to action so that he can immediately lose to Ricochet?
– The Opps are kind of useless and ineffective without Samoa Joe around in AEW, but Katsuyori Shibata plans to change that perception by challenging Bandido for the ROH world championship.
– Lio Rush’s bizarre Blackheart gimmick is a big hit with AEW fans. What creative way will he come up with to scare the shit out of an AEW wrestler or three at Beach Break?
– Where the f*** are Britt Baker, Keith Lee, and Nyla Rose?
What will you be looking for on Dynamite?
