TJRWrestling AEW Dynasty 2024 Preview
The first-ever AEW Dynasty PPV features Samoa Joe-Swerve Strickland for the World Title, a Bryan Danielson-Will Ospreay dream match, and more.
John: I like the lineup for AEW Dynasty for the most part. The match quality will be strong for most of the four-hour main PPV. I don’t know if it’s going to be the best PPV of the year because Revolution from last month will be hard to top, but they certainly have a lot of talent on the card.
Some of my favorite wrestlers in AEW like Konosuke Takeshita, Claudio Castagnoli and Jon Moxley (to name a few) aren’t on the card, so it is a bit flawed, but you can’t get everybody on the show when the roster is as big as what AEW has. They also chose not to debut Mercedes Mone here and instead are waiting until Double or Nothing next month, which makes sense Double or Nothing is one of AEW’s biggest PPVs of the year.
Joining me for the preview is our AEW Collision reviewer Gino Lewis. If you need info on how to order AEW Revolution on PPV, check out AEW’s website for info on how to watch it in your country. There are different options depending on where you live. I usually use AEW’s Youtube channel. It works very well.
Gino: Sunday will be the debut of Dynasty, AEW’s second Pay Per View of 2024. The lineup is stacked like we see for most AEW PPV’s. The buildup to the show hasn’t been particularly strong. It felt there were a lot more heated rivalries for Revolution back in March. That won’t really matter come Sunday as the show should be carried by tremendous matches all night long.
There are four bouts that really stand out; Will Ospreay vs Bryan Danielson, Swerve Stickland vs Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship, Young Bucks vs FTR in a Ladder Match for the AEW Tag Team Championship and Pac facing Okada for the Continental Championship. There is a lot of negativity surrounding AEW but the PPV’s usually deliver in a big way. Dynasty should be no different.
Orange Cassidy & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Shane Taylor & Lee Moriarty (ZERO HOUR PRE-SHOW)
Gino: I don’t mind thrown together matches on Zero Hour. All four men are good performers so this should be decent enough for a pre-show. I like Shane Taylor, but I think he loses more than anyone in AEW. He’ll have lost on Collision, Dynamite, Battle of the Belts and Zero Hour in a 15-day span after this match.
Winners: Orange Cassidy & Katsuyori Shibata
John: In all my years of writing about this company, one thing I know for sure is to pick Orange Cassidy to win PPV matches because he is one of Tony Khan’s favorites and should get the win here. Shibata is very good while Taylor & Moriarty don’t seem to win very often.
Winners: Orange Cassidy & Katsuyori Shibata
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Trent Beretta vs. Matt Sydal (ZERO HOUR PRE-SHOW)
Gino: Trent’s heel turn has potential. He’ll get a win here. Sydal always has competitive matches. He should make Trent look good in defeat. Trent will be facing Orange Cassidy soon possibly at Double or Nothing. Trent and Orange getting wins on Zero Hour makes sense. It was smart not to rush into their match.
Winner: Trent Beretta
John: Trent recently turned heel and Sydal is in AEW to put people over, so it’s pretty simple. It should be a win for Trent as they continue to build him up for a showdown with Orange Cassidy soon. I can’t say I care that much about the Best Friends breaking up, but I do hope Trent does well because he is good performer.
Winner: Trent Beretta
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Winner Take All Trios Tag Team Championships: The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn vs. Jay White & The Gunns (ZERO HOUR PRE-SHOW)
Gino: I hope this is the blow off for the underwhelming Bang Bang Scissor Gang storyline. It’s been a better program now that they are facing each other than it was when they were teaming up. Even if I didn’t love the storyline, the match should be pretty good. I’m glad AEW is doing a unification match. Jay White has become the most underutilized wrestler in AEW as evidenced by his presence on Zero Hour. I’d like Acclaimed and Billy Gunn to win so Jay can move away from the Trios scene. I don’t think that’s going to happen.
Winner AND NEW AEW Trios Champions: Bullet Club Gold (Jay White & The Gunns)
John: They are unifying the AEW & ROH Trios Tag Team Titles because I guess Tony Khan realized they have way too many titles between the TNA & ROH brands. I don’t watch ROH, so I truly have no idea how much White & The Gunns defended those titles. The Acclaimed and old guy Billy winning would be a happy moment for the fans, so I’ll go with them. With that said, The Acclaimed used to be so popular with the fans and now just rely on the scissor thing to get a reaction. I’d like to see them get hot again. As for Jay White, he really isn’t being used well in the last six months or so. It’s like Tony K got new toys in Ospreay & Okada, so White gets pushed aside. Too bad.
Winners: The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn
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FTW Championship: Hook (c) vs. Chris Jericho
Gino: I’d describe the buildup for this as clunky. Hook dominated Jericho recently so a rematch on PPV feels a bit out of place. Perhaps this should have taken place on Zero Hour. As great as he is, Jericho has done it all in AEW and could use a break to freshen him up. He normally has long feuds so there is a chance he wins this bout. Dropping the FTW Title could help Hook move on to bigger things. That said, I don’t think a long rivalry with Jericho at this point of his career will elevate Hook. He should get the win.
Winner and still FTW Champion: Hook
John: The segment on Dynamite this week didn’t work that well, at least in my opinion. Jericho knocked Taz down in the ring and Taz looked like a feeble old man while his own son Hook didn’t even check on him. I guess it was done to get heat on Jericho, who was a babyface for most of the last year, but now it’s time to be a heel again. Hook should win and keep his meaningless title. However, I think Jericho cheating to win is a possibility as well. I don’t really care that much about the title or the story.
Winner: Hook
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AEW International Championship: Roderick Strong (c) vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Gino: I mentioned earlier that AEW was smart not to rush an Orange Cassidy vs Trent Beretta match and put in on this show. I don’t like how they rushed into this match. It seemed too early in the storyline to have Strong turn on O’Reilly. They could have told a much better story if they waited until Double or Nothing to have this match. They have so much history with each other. It was a miss not to capitalize on the ridiculous Neck-Strong gimmick Roddy had along with Kyle coming back from a very serious neck injury. It could be that this will be the first in a series of matches. I do think it will be a great match that I am looking forward to watching. Strong dropping the title doesn’t seem likely.
Winner and still AEW International Champion: Roderick Strong
John: It feels like AEW has done this sort of storyline before where two former friends can’t get on the same page, so it leads to a match. The heel Strong wanted Kyle to be in his group, Kyle said no because he wanted to be on his own and here we are. Strong really hasn’t held the title very long. I think Strong could get some help from his friends in The Undisputed Kingdom, which should lead to Strong keeping the title. This is yet another meaningless title that I don’t care about much.
Winner: Roderick Strong
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TBS Championship: Julia Hart (c) vs. Willow Nightingale
Gino: There has actually been a long rivalry between these two. I can’t say a lot of it has stood out. Even this match has taken a back seat to Mercedes Mone who will challenge for the TBS Championship at Double or Nothing. Speaking of Mone, I think it is a mistake to not have her wrestle her first two months in AEW if that what happens. AEW would have been smart to have a storyline reason why that is taking place. I have a bad feeling Julia Hart has an injury and this will be very short with a fluky finish. She barely did anything in her match on Dynamite Wednesday. Willow winning is the right call either way. I hope Julia is okay and this is a decent contest.
Winner AND NEW TBS Champion: Willow Nightingale
John: They have at least tried to tell a story with this feud since Hart is the heel who plays mind games and has Skye Blue as an ally. Willow hasn’t been a champion in AEW before, so the story is about if she can finally get there. There’s also Mercedes Mone waiting in the wings because her first match in AEW will be at Double or Nothing against whoever the TBS Champion is. I criticized that booking idea because Mercedes going after the secondary women’s title is lame. I guess I’ll go with Willow winning, but my interest in this match and story is low.
Winner AND NEW TBS Champion: Willow Nightingale
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Adam Copeland, Eddie Kingston & Mark Briscoe vs. The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King & Buddy Matthews)
Gino: This should be a lot of fun. We might not see a lot of tags. Copeland, Kingston and Briscoe are an odd-pairing. This match is an example of getting a lot of people on the card in a good way. It is thrown together but AEW deserves credit for announcing it a few weeks ago instead of last minute. It’s given them a little time to develop a rivalry.
The storyline should continue after the match too. I think we’ll see Copeland defend his TNT Championship against Buddy Matthew, Brody King and Malakai Black in the near future. Maybe even Kingston and Briscoe. Malakai or Eddie would be a great opponent for Copeland at Double of Nothing. House of Black needs the win more as they are the established team. Kingston also recently lost the Ring of Honor Championship to Briscoe. I can see that playing into the outcome.
Winners:The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King & Buddy Matthews)
John: Copeland is the TNT Champion who is not defending his title on this PPV because he’s in this tag team match. Kingston and Briscoe also have titles that are not AEW titles because half the roster in this company needs a title. What I’d like to see is Black pinning Copeland to set up a TNT Title feud between them that ends with Black winning the TNT Title. However, it’s well-known that Black hasn’t wrestled many singles matches in his AEW run so far, so it is a stretch to expect this company to push Black into a singles feud. I’ll go with House of Black getting the win.
Winners: The House of Black
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AEW Continental Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Pac
Gino: If you would have told people this bout was happening two months ago, most would have assumed Okada would be the face. Pac the heel. That’s not the case but both are doing well in the role they are in. Pac is pissed he’s been overlooked for opportunities and willing to take on the best which is Okada. It works as a simple story. Especially with how great they are in the ring. Okada winning is an obvious result. I can see the match getting enough time where it seems like Pac could win. Okada was so brilliant selling how beat up he gets in long matches for New Japan. AEW might get it’s first taste of that Sunday.
Winner and still Continental Champion: Kazuchika Okada
John: I have enjoyed Okada’s AEW run so far. I know that some people might want to see him as a babyface that is pushed strongly, but I think being a heel associated with The Young Bucks is a good way to show off his personality a bit. Okada has had some good one liners while doing backstage segments, so that’s great to see. I’m sure that at some point he’ll get that babyface push and the fans will love it. Since it’s early in his AEW run, I think this is the right way to use Okada.
Pac comes and goes too often for my liking. I don’t know if it’s due to injury sometimes or just taking breaks so he can stay in England for long stretches of time. I’m not sure why it happens. It just seems like he’s active for months and then gone for months at a time. Anyway, this should be a very competitive match between two talented veterans that can really do it all in the ring. I think Okada winning is the likely result. I’d be surprised if he lost.
Winner: Kazuchika Okada
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AEW Women’s World Championship: “Timeless” Toni Storm (c) vs. Thunder Rosa
Gino: Thunder Rosa earned her title shot with a win over Mariah May a few weeks ago on Dynamite. She really shouldn’t have needed to earn a title shot because she was supposed to get one upon her return when she relinquished the belt in 2022. It still made sense to have earn it as she is an honorable babyface. The buildup has been decent. Thunder seems to have the crowd behind her. Toni Storm is still killing it with her over the top character. She has an excellent gimmick that might be running its course. A title change soon would be a good idea. While this could go either way, I don’t think it’s happening at Dynasty.
Winner and still AEW Women’s World Champion: Toni Storm
John: It is getting to the point where AEW needs to turn Toni Storm babyface because it’s tough to boo her since she has by far the most interesting character in the women’s division. That’s because most of the women’s division wrestlers have no characters at all and very few storylines. I just think the fans are having a hard time booing Storm. Whether the turn happens because Mariah May attacks her out of jealousy, I don’t know. That seems like it would work. Rosa is easy to root for as a babyface that came back from a lengthy injury absence and I wouldn’t mind a Rosa win, but I just feel like Storm retaining makes a lot of sense.
Winner: Toni Storm
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Ladder Match for the vacant AEW World Tag Team Championships: The Young Bucks (Matthew & Nicholas Jackson) vs. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler)
Gino: The fourth match in the rivalry between the two best tag teams in AEW history. It really is a big-time match. The stakes are high where the winning team will become the first ever three-time AEW World Tag Team Champions. Fuel was added to the fire when the Bucks aired the backstage footage of CM Punk and Jack Perry from All In although that has widely been seen as a big mistake by Tony Khan and AEW. There is a good chance we’ll see “Scapegoat” Jack Perry return and help The Young Bucks win the titles. This bout could steal the show.
Winners AND NEW AEW World Tag Team Champions: The Young Bucks
John: This will be one of the best matches on the show. I think it could be said that a Ladder Match takes FTR out of their element and perhaps favors the Bucks, but these teams are so good I’m sure they’ll be able to adapt just fine. They’ve had the three matches so far with FTR up 2-1 so is it time for the Bucks to tie it up? I think so. They’ll probably get 20+ minutes here and it should be an excellent match.
There is a popular theory that Jack Perry might return to AEW in this match to help The Young Bucks win while Perry would join The Elite group with the Bucks and Okada. I think that makes a lot of sense. Since The Young Bucks showed the CM Punk-Jack Perry “fight” footage, the Bucks made it clear that Perry is their buddy, which certainly teases the idea that Perry will help them win. I think FTR winning would be fine and I certainly wouldn’t mind that. I just think for the story going on, The Young Bucks winning as the heel EVPs would be entertaining. I don’t mind the Bucks in this role. They are doing a good job.
Winners AND NEW AEW Tag Team Champions: The Young Bucks (Matthew & Nicholas Jackson)
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Will Ospreay vs. Bryan Danielson
Gino: Tony Khan books a lot of “dream matches”. Most of them aren’t but this one is a dream match of dream matches. You really can’t find too many wrestlers in the world better than these guys. For that reason, there wasn’t much need to build a storyline behind it. I think it could have helped.
The match was announced about six weeks ago and they barely interacted. That may have been by design. It really doesn’t matter much in this case. Fans of AEW don’t need a story for a match of this magnitude. Just finding out who is better is enough. A series of matches between them with Bryan winning here is possible but I think Ospreay getting the victory is extremely likely.
Winner: Will Ospreay
John: It seems like Bryan Danielson has had a lot of time off since this match was announced. Bryan is married with two young kids at home so I get it. I just think AEW announced this match so early that I thought there would actually be a story going into it. Instead, it’s really just a case of AEW saying “here’s a dream match” and pretty much that’s it. Danielson is over a decade older than Ospreay, so he wants to prove he’s still arguably the best in the world while Ospreay wants to show that he’s the best in the world.
I think AEW is going to push Ospreay strongly throughout the spring and summer so that he’s in a featured position at the All In London show in late August in his home country of England. That could be the night where Ospreay wins the AEW World Title for the first time. With that in mind, I don’t think Ospreay should lose a match before that show. We also know that Bryan has no problem putting somebody else over, so that’s what this should be as they compete for 20-30 minutes, have a bunch of near finishes and it’s an Ospreay win to end it. I’m excited about this match.
Winner: Will Ospreay
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AEW World Championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Swerve Strickland
Gino: Without a doubt the best storyline in AEW so far this year has been Swerve’s chase of the World Title. We should get the payoff of that at Dynasty. Samoa Joe has been terrific as the menacing champion who has put Strickland in his place every time. He doesn’t need a long title reign at this stage of his career. It’s the right time to pass the torch to Swerve and let him run with it. He won the crowd over while acting as despicable as a heel can. His talent truly earned most AEW fans respect and admiration. The crowd is completely behind him. A title change here will feel like a big deal. Hopefully it will give the company some positive buzz it could so desperately use.
I will say there is a small chance Hangman Page could return and screw Swerve out of the title. He did say he’ll make sure Swerve never becomes Champion. I don’t want that to happen. This feels like the right time for a new Champ.
Winner AND NEW AEW World Champion: Swerve Strickland
John: I’m a big fan of Swerve Strickland and I’m so happy for him being in the main event for the AEW World Title. This is a match that Swerve should win. Samoa Joe has held the AEW World Title for nearly four months and has done well as champion, but as Gino said above, he really doesn’t need some six to eight month title reign at this point in his career. Swerve went from being a cocky, dirty heel against Hangman Page last year to a guy that the fans love because of how hard he works and his determination to become the AEW World Champion. I know “finish the story” is what WWE pushed with Cody Rhodes, but it feels like the same sort of thing with Swerve in terms of having the fans behind him in a big way.
I don’t know if AEW had a long term plan to turn Swerve Strickland face and put the AEW World Title, but they have done a nice job of listening to the fans. The crowd picked this guy, they want to see him as the AEW World Champion and I think it needs to happen. I think it will happen too. It should be a great moment.
Winner AND NEW AEW World Champion: Swerve Strickland
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BONUS TOPICS!
The Match I’m Looking Forward To The Most
Gino: Ospreay vs Danielson. It could easily be the match of the year. Swerve and Joe will have a tough time following that but the moment I’m looking forward to most is Swerve winning the World Title. I’ll be disappointed if it doesn’t happen.
John: It’s definitely Ospreay vs. Danielson, but I am looking forward to Joe-Swerve to see if Swerve becomes AEW World Champion.
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The Match I Care About The Least
Gino: Jericho vs Hook.
John: Julia Hart vs. Willow Nightingale.
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Longest Match
Gino: Will Ospreay vs Bryan Danielson at over 30 minutes.
John: Ladder Match – The Young Bucks vs. FTR around 25 minutes.
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Shortest Match
Gino: Julia Hart vs Willow Nightingale. I think Julia is injured like I mentioned in the match preview.
John: Hook vs. Chris Jericho about ten minutes.
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Excitement Level on a Scale of 1-10 (1 being low, 10 being high)
Gino: 8.25. The matches should be spectacular. It doesn’t feel like any major feuds or storylines are ending except for Swerve’s Championship chase. My excitement level could be a little higher if there were. I’m still very excited for what should be an awesome night of wrasslin!
John: I’ll go with 8 out of 10. Like with most AEW PPVs, the match quality is really strong throughout the card. I think what hurts it a bit compared to Revolution last month is we had the Sting retirement story in that show and there was so much anticipation about what he would do in his last match, which was fantastic. In this case, there is anticipation about if Swerve can win the World Title and I love the Danielson-Ospreay match, but I think some of the stories are lacking as usual with AEW. With that said, I tend to rate most AEW PPVs at 8 out of 10 or higher and you know the top matches will get plenty of time on this four-hour PPV show. It should be fun to watch.
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In Closing
I’ll be back with a review of AEW Dynasty on TJRWrestling.net on Sunday night.
You can also tweet me @johnreport and Gino is on Twitter/X @GeenoEvel86 too. If you want to send an email, send it to me at mrjohncanton@gmail.com as well. Thanks for reading.