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AEW DYNAMITE PREVIEW 6/22: Final Forbidden Door hype, Penta vs. Malakai in All-Atlantic Qualifier, more

BY FRANK PETEANI, PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR

June 21, 2022

Hiroshi Tanahashi to appear on AEW Collision
PHOTO CREDIT: Hiroshi Tanahashi Twitter
SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

ALL ELITE WRESTLING DYNAMITE PREVIEW
JUNE 22, 2022
MILWAUKEE, WI. AT THE UW-MILWAUKEE PANTHER ARENA
AIRS ON TBS NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT, 7:00 p.m. CDT
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR

AEW Announcers: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross

Last Week

  • Chris Jericho defeated Ortiz in a Hair vs. Hair match.
  • Wardlow defeated 20 Plaintiffs.
  • NJPW’s Will Ospreay defeated Dax Harwood of FTR.
  • Miro defeated “All Ego” Ethan Page to advance to the match for the All-Atlantic Championship.
  • Toni Storm defeated Dr. Britt Baker.
  • The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) defeated Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) in a Ladder Match to win the AEW Tag Team Championship for the second time.

Arena

AEW returns to the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena in Milwaukee, WI. for this week’s Dynamite and Rampage tapings. Its last appearance was on August 25, 2021. The arena opened in 1950 and has hosted WCW and WWF PPVs including SuperBrawl II, which I covered for PWTorch VIP members on Pro Wrestling Then and Now.

Four matches are advertised thus far along with two talking segments.

Chris Jericho & Lance Archer vs. Jon Moxley & Hiroshi Tanahashi

Jon Moxley will face NJPW’s Hiroshi Tanahashi for the Interim AEW World Championship at Forbidden Door. They had a face-off last week, but the proceedings were interrupted by Chris Jericho and the Jericho Appreciation Society. Chris took issue with not being in Moxley’s position and talked about beating Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 14. After Tanahashi told Jericho to shut up the Appreciation Society attacked him and Moxley in addition to Desperado and Lance Archer from NJPW’s Suzuki-gun faction. Jericho then introduced Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti as the newest members of his group and announced a Trios match for Forbidden Door. He and Sammy will team up with Suzuki-gun’s leader Minoru Suzuki to face Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta (Blackpool Combat Club), and NJPW’s Shota Umino (former protegee of Jon Moxley).

Frank’s Analysis: There was a lot to unpack from the segment last week. There’s a lot to unpack from the setup of this PPV to the show itself. It’s exhausting quite frankly. I have no doubt this match will be fun to watch tonight, as well as the Trios that was announced. I watch New Japan though, so I know the characters. You can’t say the same for all AEW viewership, which took a dip last week. People say it has to do with Punk and MJF not being there, but I’m not buying it completely. I think they have alienated people and that’s not a good sign for a company that has only been around for three years.

All-Atlantic Championship Qualifier: Penta Oscuro vs. Malakai Black

The All-Atlantic Championship four-way match continues to take shape as Penta Oscuro goes one-on-one with Malakai Black of the House of Black. As I mentioned earlier, Miro defeated Ethan Page last week and earned his spot while two weeks ago, Pac defeated Buddy Matthews. As of the posting of the article, it’s down to either Clark Connors or Tomohiro Ishii as the representative from New Japan.

Penta and his Death Triangle cohorts have been involved with Malakai and his House of Black faction for quite some time. The House defeated the Triangle in a Trios match at Double or Nothing.

Frank’s Analysis: Putting my lack of investment into this championship aside, I had Miro winning this. I’ll stand by that since that was my first choice. I do see a path for Malakai to do so as well. To be quite honest nobody really sticks out as a winner. For all we know this thing could be earmarked for Pac. I expect Ishii to represent New Japan. Something tells me a New Japan talent will win an AEW Championship. If Tanahashi doesn’t win the interim world title, don’t sleep on Ishii or whomever represents New Japan. Why wouldn’t a Japanese wrestler or representative of New Japan win an All-ATLANTIC title? (Grabbing paper towels to wipe up the sarcasm)

Trios Match: Orange Cassidy & Roppongi Vice vs. The United Empire’s Will Ospreay & Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis)

The crossovers between New Japan and AEW continue here in Trios action as IWGP U.S. Champion Will Ospreay teams with his United Empire cohorts Aussie Open to take on Orange Cassidy and Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero & Trent Beretta). After Ospreay defeated Dax Harwood of FTR last week, The United Empire came into the ring to celebrate with Ospreay. Harwood’s partner Cash Wheeler and Roppongi Vice backed up Harwood when Orange Cassidy made his return to Dynamite. Cassidy and Ospreay had a stare down. Later it was announced that Ospreay would take on Cassidy at Forbidden Door for the IWGP U.S. Championship.

Cassidy last appeared on AEW television when he took part in the Face of the Revolution ladder match at Revolution back in early March. Ospreay made his in-ring debut for AEW on the losing end of a Trios match to Trent Beretta and FTR.

Frank’s Analysis: I think I understand Ospreay having a match with Cassidy, but at the same time they could have done better. Yes, I get Cassidy is popular and people watch him on YouTube, yada yada yada, but I could have easily picked two or three better opponents for what I consider a money guy from New Japan. Swerve Strickland? Pac? Penta? Anyway, as far as this Trios match there’s not a lot to it other than setting up the ultimate match at Forbidden Door.

Toni Storm vs. “The Problem” Marina Shafir

This coming Sunday at Forbidden Door, Toni Storm has the chance to become AEW Women’s Champion when she challenges Thunder Rosa. Enroute to that match she will have to solve a “problem” when she takes on Marina Shafir.

Two weeks ago, Shafir challenged Rosa to a title match on Dynamite. After coming up short Shafir attacked Rosa in a post-match attack when Toni Storm made the save. Toni slowly handed the title belt to Rosa with a little bit of “pause” in her motion. Last week, Toni defeated former champion Dr. Britt Baker after telling Tony Schiavone about her desire to be champion in a backstage interview. After the match, Rosa came out and held up her title belt, pointing at Toni.

Rosa has been the champion since defeating Dr. Baker back in March at the St. Patrick’s Slam edition of Dynamite.

Frank’s Analysis: I have no doubt about the outcome of this match. Shafir feels flat as a pancake, but that might not be entirely her fault. I feel kinda bad for her. Anyway, I’m curious to see if they decide to do a title switch at Forbidden Door. I’m not saying they have to have Toni win right now, but I’m not saying Rosa has to retain either. It’s an interesting spot. I think I have Toni win if I’m doing the booking.

Bryan Danielson to Address Forbidden Door and Blood & Guts

As Torch assistant editor Zack Heydorn reported, AEW announced that Bryan Danielson will appear on Dynamite to address Forbidden Door and Blood and Guts. See his report for more details.

We last saw Danielson at Double or Nothing, where he was on the losing end of Anarchy in the Arena. He was challenged to a match at Forbidden Door by New Japan’s Zack Sabre, Jr. The challenge was issued at New Japan’s Dominion event on June 12.

Christian Cage Addresses Actions Towards Jungle Boy.

Christian Cage betrayed and attacked Jungle Boy after Jurassic Express lost their tag team championship to The Young Bucks last week. Christian had been the unofficial manager or mentor of the team since coming up short in his attempt to defeat Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship last summer (he did defeat him for the Impact Championship). At the November PPV Full Gear, Christian and Jurassic Express defeated Adam Cole and the Bucks in a Falls Count Anywhere.

Jurassic Express had been the champions since defeating The Lucha Brothers in January. Small “droplets” of hints had been dropped recently of tensions between Christian and Jungle Boy. We hear from Christian and will perhaps get an explanation for his actions.

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

CATCH-UP: 6/21 AEW DARK TV REPORT: Jay Lethal vs. Blake Christian, Caster vs. Aeon, Statlander in action, more

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