Dynamite: A Canadian Homecoming

Adam Bazzana

New AEW Continental champion Kazuchika Okada at AEW Dynamite on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, Ontario. Photo by Steve Argintaru, Twitter/Instagram: @stevetsn
New AEW Continental champion Kazuchika Okada at AEW Dynamite on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, Ontario. Photo by Steve Argintaru, Twitter/Instagram: @stevetsn

Once again, as Boris would say, Greetings and salutations! Dynamite was a hometown affair for its main event which featured Adam Copeland taking on Christian Cage in their homeland of Canada in an ‘I Quit’ match for the TNT Championship. We also saw Eddie Kingston defend his Continental Championship against “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada, Hook take on Chris Jericho, Toni Storm and Mariah May take on Deonna Purrazzo and Thunder Rosa, and more!

Mercedes Moné Speaks

Dynamite began with AEW’s new signing Mercedes Moné joining Tony Schiavone in the ring to address the crowd. She spoke about how much she missed all the aspects of wrestling, like the fans and being in the ring. She brought up the fact that she is coming back from a near career-ending injury against none other than Willow Nightingale, and that she was kicking butt in NJPW and Stardom before it happened. She stated that minor setbacks set up major comebacks and that she wanted to come to AEW to start a global women’s revolution and face the best women from all around the globe. After telling Julia Hart and Skye Blue to leave Nightingale alone and stay out of her business, the arena went dark, and Hart and Blue appeared with chairs, ready to strike. It was then that none other than Willow Nightingale and Kris Statlander came out with their own set of chairs to defend Mercedes, causing the lights to go out again and revealed Hart and Blue to be gone.

AEW CONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Eddie Kingston (c) vs Kazuchika Okada

Since the match was being fought under Continental rules, there was no outside interference allowed meaning Okada’s fellow Elite members Nick and Matt Jackson would be in the producers chair with Tony Khan for the match. Kingston started off the match with some momentum, hitting Okada will some solid chops causing him to roll out of the ring. After chasing Okada on the outside and back into the ring, Kingston was taken by surprise by a quick strike from Okada, who quickly took control of the match. He hit Kingston with a DDT outside the ring, as well as a solid drop kick and some splashes in the corner, and as Kingston was falling to the mat after the splash, he still found the strength to flip Okada the bird. Seemingly giving himself some energy from the gesture, Kingston was able to counter Okada and nail him with some machine gun chops in the corner into a suplex, followed by a sliding elbow strike that Okada kicked out of at two. After receiving a few more chops from Kingston, Okada countered him with a drop kick, and then landed a nasty neckbreaker on Kingston that he barley kicked out of. Then, just as Kingston was starting to gain some momentum back, Okada grabbed hold of the ref so Kingston could not pick him up, and while the ref was getting his bearings back Okada raked Kingston’s eyes. Kingston still managed to hit Okada with an Enziguri, but missed his Uraken which Okada capitalized on, slamming Kingston down and then setting up a Rainmaker which connected and spelled the end for Kingston.

Winner and new AEW Continental Champion: Kazuchika Okada

While Okada was celebrating in the ring, Pac came out to the top of the entrance ramp to stare Okada down before slinking back into the locker room.

We then saw Swerve Strickland backstage with Renee, and gave insight as to what his intentions were with the chain he had been walking around with. It was for Joe, so Strickland could make up for Joe trying to embarrass him and choke him out two weeks ago. He also then issued an open challenge for later on tonight.

After returning from the break, we saw Renee again, this time with Willow Nightingale, Kris Statlander and manager Stokely Hathaway. Willow mentioned that after her fight against Julia Hart and Skye Blue she would have participated in the most street fights amongst female wrestlers on the AEW roster, and the duo promised they would be the end of Hart and Blue. Then, Mercedes Moné walked in and thanked Statlander for having her back earlier, while giving Nightingale the cold shoulder when it came time to give thanks.

Hook (c) vs Chris Jerhico

Jericho had said last week that he wanted to fight Hook to see what he was made of, and boy oh boy did he find out. Hook, seemingly taking a page out of Brock Lesnar’s book, took Jericho to suplex city, hitting him with a T-Bone suplex to start the match and not relenting the whole way though. There were glimpses of Jericho controlling the pace at times during the match, but for majority of it Hook was running the show. Hook followed up the opening suplex with more until Jericho could counter, and he instantly tried getting Hook into the Walls of Jericho. After Hook reversed the move, he delivered more suplex’s to Jerhico until he was able to get Hook with a boot in the face, followed by a Lionsault. After Hook kicked out of a two count, Jericho escorted him to the top rope in the corner and began hitting Hook with headshots. Hook countered one of them however and sunk Redrum in from the top rope. After Jericho fought his way to the middle of the ring and fought his way out, he once again tried setting up the Walls of Jericho. Once again, Hook countered, this time by rolling through and covering Jericho, which led to a pinfall, and a victory for Hook.

Winner: Hook

After the match, an exhausted looking Jericho stood up and gave Hook props for his performance.

We were then treated to Adam Cole addressing Wardlow about his failures in capturing the AEW World Championship from Samoa Joe, telling Wardlow his new role was to make sure that the rest of the Undisputed Kingdom hangs on to the belts they currently hold.

We then caught up with Renee as she spoke with Chris Jericho, who spoke about his respect for Hook, and the fact that he had a proposition for him on next weeks Dynamite

Will Ospreay calls out Shibata

Will Ospreay then came out to talk with Tony and the crowd to an emphatic reaction from fans packed into the Coca-Cola Coliseum. He apologized to Canadians for being a “naughty boy” last time he was here for Forbidden Door and said he’s changed and is here for the betterment of AEW now. He gave kudos to upcoming opponent Bryan Danielson, who he will face on the AEW Dynasty pay-per-view on April 21, about Danielson’s win against Katsuyori Shibata this past Collision. He then responded to Danielson saying he couldn’t walk in his shoes by agreeing with him, saying Danielson’s shoes were too small, and that in Japan Ospreay was a successful star, unlike Danielson. He said Danielson’s wrestling in Japan was great, but Ospreay elevated all wrestling in Japan, and to prove he can do what Danielson does but better, he challenged Shibata to a match on next weeks edition of Dynamite, and invited Danielson to watch along from home to “see what the billy GOAT is all about.”

Mariah May and Toni Storm vs Deonna Purrazzo and Thunder Rosa

Fans did not have to wait for this match to start as Purrazzo and Rosa wasted no time rushing into the ring to bring the fight to Storm and May, and by the time the bell rung Purazzo and May were going at it in the ring while Rosa and Storm were trading blows outside of it. It was a very back and forth match, until Luther intervened and helped Storm get the upper hand on Rosa. It was then that viewers in Canada watching on TSN2 were treated to some technical difficulties, as the picture in picture commercials did not happen, but rather full screen commercials started playing, taking us out of the match. When the match returned, Rosa was in the corner being held back by May as Storm was stomping her down. Storm and May began to get a rhythm going, with Storm delivering a backbreaker to Rosa before tagging May in who kept Rosa in the corner, gave her a few shots and then tagged Storm back in so she could give Rosa some more punishment. Rosa managed to counter a Storm shoulder strike, and climbed to the top rope before hitting a crossbody on both Storm and May. Purrazzo was finally tagged in and saw some action, and started dealing with May easily, until they were back in the corner, and Rosa tagged herself back in, much to the surprise and anger of Purrazzo. After May took Purrazzo out with a headbutt, Rosa had to deal with her and Storm used the distraction to suplex Rosa and hit her with a running hip attack in the corner. As Storm performed a piledriver, Rosa was somehow unaffected and countered, rolling Storm up and getting the pinfall.

Winners: Deonna Purrazzo and Thunder Rosa

Swerve Strickland vs The Butcher

The man that answered Swerve’s open challenge from earlier was The Butcher. They squared up to each other and Swerve started things off with a headbutt and a diving uppercut to Butcher’s spine. Butcher was able to recover and hit Swerve with a half-nelson backbreaker, but Swerve was not too affected by it and responded with some kicks to Butcher’s head. After Butcher hit Swerve with a clothesline, he quickly shot back up and dropkicked Butcher, then immediately followed up with a House Call. Climbing to the top rope, Swerve hit a Swerve Stomp, and finally finished off Butcher with a modified armbar, making him tap out.

Winner: Swerve Strickland

Once the match was over, Swerve had words for the crowd and for Samoa Joe, saying he wanted to use the chain and tie it around Joe’s neck and choke him out, but that his chain would not work against Joe’s “big ass neck.” He said he take out Joe’s security one by one until he got to him, causing Joe to come out. He said the logical thing to do was ignore Swerve, as Joe had already beaten him and Swerve had once again fallen down the championship ladder. After agreeing to give Swerve another shot, Joe was interrupted by Don Callis, who was booed so loudly his words were drowned out and very hard to hear. Callis couldn’t believe Swerve was still being offered title shots, and said that Konosuke Takeshita was the one who should be fighting Joe, adding in that AEW was not Swerve’s house, but the Don Callis family’s house. Swerve accepted a match against Takeshita and said once he was done with him, he’d be right back to Joe.

AEW TNT CHAMPIONSHIP: Christian Cage (c) vs Adam Copeland

The main event saw two Canadians duking it out in front of their home crowd, and Copeland even paid homage to the Toronto Maple Leafs by coming out in blue pants with Maple Leafs all over them, as well as the Calgary Hitmen logo (the Hitman made their name and logo in honor of Bret “Hitman” Hart). The match was an I Quit match, meaning there were no disqualifications and no pinfalls or submissions, with the match only ending when one wrestler states “I Quit.” Cage had said he would fight the match alone, and came out without the Patriarchy. Copeland started off by sending Cage into the turnbuckles violently and instantly trying to set up his spear. Cage rolled out of the ring, and Copeland sent him over the barricade. With that, the fight went mobile as they began fighting in the crowd, ending up in the penalty boxes in the arena. Seeing fans wearing hockey jerseys, Copeland put a Boston Bruins jersey on Cage before donning a Leafs jersey himself, and the men began exchanging straight right hands.

After jerseying Cage and beating up on him a little more, Copeland led him through the stadium, occasionally tossing him into the steel railings and barricades in the stands. Eventually they made it all the way out to concessions, where Cage made a quick escape by rushing into the women’s washroom in hopes of a minute of rest. Copeland rushed him out, and all the way back to the ring. Copeland set up a ladder horizontally balanced on the announce table and barricade, and delivered a neckbreaker to Cage onto the ladder, stunning both men. He then threw Cage stomach first into the ladder while it was inverted before going to get a table. Back outside the ring, Copeland attempted a spear through the table which Cage countered and sent Copeland face first into the post ringside, which busts open Copeland’s forehead. Cage dove from the top rope to the outside and took Copeland through the table. After taking a ladder to the face, Copeland barley moved out of the way of Cage’s frog splash, and the two then both went for spears on each other at the same time, leading to a collision in center ring. Cage seemed to be done with it all at this point, sliding out of the ring and attempting to walk up the ramp back into the locker room. Copeland catches him, and after throwing him off the stage, grabs a hockey net which he drops Cage on stomach first, and then shoves him right into the net.


As he is dragging Cage back to the ring, Copeland stops to hype up the crowd and it is then that Mother Wayne hits Copeland with a lowblow via wooden hockey stick. Cage takes this opportunity and breaks the stick over Copeland’s back, before getting him back into the ring and continuing to beat up on him. Cage tried setting up a con-chair-to with one steel and one barb wire wrapped chair, but Copeland manages to escape. After cross checking Cage in the face, Copeland used the string from his pants to choke Cage out, and right as it seems he is ready to quit Nick Wayne and Killswitch come and break it up and start beating on Copeland. It seems as if Copeland expected this however, as right after the Patriarchy comes out Daddy Magic and Daniel Garcia made their way to the ring to help. After turning the tides, Copeland and co. use handcuffs to keep Wayne, Killswitch and Cage in different corners of the ring. After kicking Cage below the belt multiple times, Copeland uses Spike, a piece of plywood filled with nails Copeland had made, for an emphatic low blow against Cage, who still wont quit. Copeland then lifts Spike high in the sky to come down on Cage’s head. Right before he does, Cage screams out that he quits.

Winner and new AEW TNT Champion: Adam Copeland

Copeland finished off the win by going to all members of the Patriarchy, still handcuffed in corners of the ring, and flipping them all the bird and giving them all a piece of his mind before walking out of the ring with his new belt.

TOP PHOTO: New AEW Continental champion Kazuchika Okada. Photo by Steve Argintaru, Twitter/Instagram: @stevetsn

RELATED LINKS

https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2024/03/21/the-six-gets-hit-with-a-stick-of-dynamite-and-a-side-of-rampage-in-aews-return-to-toronto/

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