AEW Dynamite preview (Apr. 12, 2023): Keith Lee hasn’t done this in a very long time

Dynamite airs tonight (Apr. 12) with a live show at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panther Arena. There are more than six weeks to go until AEW’s next pay-per-view on the calendar, Double or Nothing, which is scheduled for May 28.

Keith Lee hasn’t done this in a very long time

Last week, Chris Jericho said he didn’t appreciate Adam Cole’s lengthy post-match celebration following his victory against Daniel Garcia. It was a disrespectful gesture that made Garcia look like a punk.

Keith Lee couldn’t help but interrupt Chris to point out his hypocrisy. Lee argued that Jericho is the poster child of disrespect, and he challenged the Demo God to a fight. That singles match takes place on tonight’s episode of Dynamite.

What stands out the most to me about this match is that Keith Lee has not wrestled a singles match since late October 2022. Even then, it was just a 14 second squash match against Serpentico. That means Lee has not wrestled a competitive singles match since late April 2022, when he beat Colten Gunn in about six minutes. It’s been nearly one year since Keith Lee has done something like this. Is he up to the task?

Even if Lee is ready to go 10 minutes with Jericho, it might not matter because Swerve Strickland has it out for the Limitless One. Strickland’s Mogul Affiliates just joined forces with Brian Cage’s The Embassy, so that’s a lot of numbers working against Keith Lee tonight.

The rest of tonight’s lineup

Speaking of Strickland, he has a singles match tonight against Darby Allin. The merger of Mogul Affiliates and The Embassy came at Darby’s expense, leading to this match. Sting better be there with his baseball bat if Darby hopes to survive this fight in one piece.

AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy puts his title and singles winning streak on the line tonight against Buddy Matthews. Cassidy and the Best Friends came up short last week when challenging for House of Black’s AEW world trios titles, so it’s time to return the favor.

TNT Champion Powerhouse Hobbs defends the gold tonight against Silas Young. The winner here is obvious, it’s just a matter of how long it takes Hobbs to put away The Last Real Man. Will Wardlow finally return to TV afterwards to get revenge on QT Marshall and Hobbs for screwing him out of the title and breaking into his car?

Tonight’s lone women’s match is Riho & Skye Blue vs. Toni Storm & Ruby Soho. Riho is coming off a loss to AEW Women’s World Champion Jamie Hayter, while Blue just signed an official deal with AEW. Meanwhile, The Outcasts have made their intentions very clear; one of the members of the group will be winning that belt from Hayter sooner rather than later.

Michael Nakazawa and Brandon Cutler are all that’s left of The Elite right now. Blackpool Combat Club members Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli are on a warpath and will probably send them to the hospital after tonight’s scheduled tag team match between these four men is over. Will Bryan Danielson be on hand to show us what other tools besides a screwdriver he’s been teaching his kids how to use to fix up the house?

AEW World Champion MJF’s presence on this show is mandatory, per Tony Khan. The champ likely has to blow off a lot of steam after MJF Day was ruined by the likes of Jungle Boy and Sammy Guevara last week.

Other stuff to keep an eye on

- TBS Champion Jade Cargill is trying to get her lawyer to ban Taya Valkyrie from using the Road to Valhalla finishing move. Those efforts have failed thus far, and Jade even ran away from Taya during a physical confrontation last week.

- FTR chose AEW over WWE and won the AEW world tag team titles last week with a victory over The Gunns. Perhaps we’ll find out tonight when a rematch is coming, or if new challengers already have the belts in their sights.

- FTW Champion HOOK defeated Ethan Page multiple times last week, thanks to an assist from Matt Hardy. Hardy might be freeing himself of The Firm ahead of his brother Jeff’s potential return to AEW.

- Luchasaurus and Christian are back in AEW. It looks like Lucha is going to receive a renewed push as a monster heel. However, the same thing could have been said about Lance Archer a couple months ago, and he can’t find any TV time right now. At any rate, the angry dinosaur’s first victim should feel his wrath very soon.

- Ricky Starks walked right into a Bullet Club trap last week when Jay White crashed his match against Juice Robinson. White is now officially signed with AEW, and Ricky will need a friend to help him deal with this new threat.

- Daddy Magic, Cool Hand Ang, and Jake Hager turned on Daddy Ass and The Acclaimed. The babyfaces were dumb to not see this one coming, especially given the way they blatantly mocked JAS last week. A tag team or trios match should be announced soon to settle this issue.

- Mark Briscoe’s friendship with Jay Lethal means he now has to deal with a whole lot more Jeff Jarrett in his life. Ouch.

- Is Anna Jay a changed woman after Julia Hart spit the poison black mist in her face last Friday night?

- Where the f*** is Miro?

What will you be looking for on Dynamite?