AEW Dynamite Preview (April 27, 2022): Jerk vs. Jerk

All Elite Wrestling comes our way from the Liacouris Center in Philadephia. Last week, CM Punk defeated Dustin Rhodes in the opening match. Afterward, he hugged it out with The Natural and stared down The Cowboy. Smart Mark Sterling handcuffed Wardlow, per MJF’s kinky request. The Blackpool Combat Club made easy work of Dante Martin, Lee Moriarty, & Brock Anderson. Adam Cole was seen desperately trying to get his friends to play nice. Tony Khan announced the first-ever Forbidden Door PPV partnering with NJPW. Adam Cole interrupted TK to invite a special guest onto Dynamite, but it was just Jay White. The Butcher, a big scary man, was not big and scary enough to stop Wardlow. Eddie Kingston got some verbal shots in on Chris Jericho and his goons. Kyle O’Reilly defeated Jungle Boy to earn his place in the Owen Hart Tournament. MJF was seen handing a wad of cash to Jake the Snake. Hook defeated Anthony Henry and then accepted? a match with Danhausen. Scorpio Sky seemingly made amends with Frankie Kazarian. Sammy Guevara is a heel now, I guess? Britt Baker easily defeated Danielle Kamela to secure her spot in the Owen Hart Tournament. And finally, Darby Allin trapped Andrade El Idolo inside a coffin because of course he did.

This Week’s Headliner:

Scorpio Sky attempts to win back the TNT Championship tonight from Sammy Guevara in a ladder match. There is no doubt that this match will rule- both these guys were born to jump off ladders - but I’m still confused about who I’m supposed to be cheering for.

Scorpio Sky has been an absolute asshole for months. He broke up SCU, threw Darby Allin down several flights of stairs, and most heelish of all, he hangs out with Dan Lambert, who calls the AEW audience f*&^%$* stupid on the regular. But now he’s out here apologizing to Frankie Kazarian, and Lambert is disappointed in Sammy Guevara for upsetting the precious audience? And Sammy is a heel because why? He has a hot girlfriend and is young? I genuinely don’t understand what’s happening. I have heel turn whiplash. But hey, at least I’ll be distracted by some cool ladder spots!

The Title Scene:

Hangman Adam Page seemingly answered CM Punk’s call to battle for the World Championship when he greeted him after his match last week with an epic staredown. Punk is on commentary this week for FTR’s match (more on that below), so I’m sure we’ll hear his thoughts, but will we hear the champ (UPDATE: Probably not)?

reDRagon failed to capture the Tag Team Championships from Jurassic Express. O’Reilly did get a win over Jungle Boy in singles competition, but the team is still floundering a bit. But never fear, Adam Cole is here (baybay)! He wants everyone to get along, so tonight, The Young Bucks & reDRagon will join Adam Cole as the Undisputed Elite in a ten-man tag team match against Varsity Blondes, Dante Martin, Brock Anderson & Lee Johnson. I’m sure this one with be very orderly, and everyone will play by the rules.

The Women’s World Champion has been MIA since her match with Nyla Rose at Battle of the Belts. Now, I was very excited to see Britt Baker back on my TV, but the AEW writers HAVE to figure out how to make their current women’s champ as important as Britt Baker. I get it, she’s a pillar for a reason, and she truly brought new life to the championship, so featuring her on Dynamite even without a belt makes sense. Part of her appeal is her tenacity, but part of that is writing and the fact that they gave her real, genuine screen time every week. You don’t want to be out here proving Becky Lynch right AEW writers! Do better! Give Thunder Rosa, your CHAMPION, more screen time.

Jade Cargill is not only the TBS Champion, but she’s now 30-0! She’s on top of her game, and it looks like she’s creating a new faction with Keira Hogan and Red Velvet. Sure we want to know who’s next in line for a title shot, but what we really want to know is what’s going on with The Baddie Section?

Other things to keep an eye on:

- FTR fractures temporarily when Dax Harwood battles it out with Cash Wheeler for a coveted spot in the upcoming Owen Hart tournament.

FTR is a tag team. Now, you’re reading this and saying DUH, but think about it. They are a tag team’s TAG TEAM. They are not a random pairing of wrestlers that makes tag teaming work. Having them fight a singles match isn’t so weird because they do it every so often (usually against other tag teams to build to a tag team match), but pairing them against each other is super interesting because we’ve never seen it before. They know each other’s styles and in-ring tricks backward and forwards. It will be like watching Bruce Campbell beat himself up in an Evil Dead movie! And I genuinely don’t know who is going to win. Will it affect their friendship? Or will they be supportive? These are all scenarios we’ve never dealt with before! It’s exciting.

- Hikaru Shida & Serena Deeb put on incredible matches, and tonight we’ll see another one in the form of a Philly Street Fight. Will it be a good match? Yes. Will it get either of them closer to a championship match or even a match with a different person? Probably not.

- MJF is about to go broke hiring all these people to take out Wardlow. Lance Archer certainly stands more of a chance than all of Wardlow’s other opponents, but something tells me The Murderhawk Monster ain’t getting the win in this one. Wardlow has his sights set on MJF, and no one is getting in his way.

- Eddie Kingston embarrassed Daniel Garcia and threatened Chris Jericho with a literal whipping. I’m sure Chris Jericho has a few things to say about that.

- Danhausen wanted HOOK’s attention, and he got it. HOOK spoke. Outloud! Incredible. You know what they say, be careful what you wish for!

- Expect more Forbidden Door news/hype.

- Also expect Blackpool Combat Club being cool as hell.

Tune into AEW on TBS at 8pm ET — and join us in our live blog — to see how all this plays out.