AEW Dynamite preview (June 28, 2023): Jungle Boy has some explaining to do

Dynamite airs tonight (June 28) with a live show from FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, Ontario. This is the first episode of Dynamite during the nine week build towards All In, which takes place later this summer.

Jungle Boy has some explaining to do

The handsomest tag team in wrestling broke up at Forbidden Door when Jungle Boy laid out FTW Champion HOOK. Boy will appear on tonight’s episode of Dynamite to presumably explain his actions.

Earlier this year, Jungle vowed to win singles gold in AEW in 2023. HOOK’s title isn’t officially recognized by the promotion, but it could still be the primary reason why Boy turned on him. HOOK has something Jungle wants, so he has gone to the dark side to try to take it away from him.

However, it probably goes deeper than that. Boy has previously called HOOK his best friend and counted on him to be in his corner for an IWGP world title match at Forbidden Door, a fight that Jungle went on to lose. HOOK did miss Jungle’s match a couple nights before at Rampage, and Boy was caught off guard when the audience booed him during that show.

Jungle may very well feel like nobody truly cares about him anymore, so now it’s time to flip them all off and only look out for himself. Jungle was betrayed by Christian and Luchasaurus last year, and failed to win the AEW world championship earlier this year, so maybe the frustrations have been mounting, and Boy finally snapped.

Whatever the reason for his decision, Jungle Boy now stands out as the first major threat to HOOK’s undefeated record in AEW. HOOK is primarily matched up against low or mid card talent on the AEW roster, so he will have to step up his game if he wants to kick Boy’s ass.

The rest of tonight’s lineup

Adam Cole and AEW World Champion MJF are set to appear tonight, most likely for a talking segment. They are being forced to team up as part of the Blind Eliminator Tournament, and neither man is happy about it. We should learn the rest of the tournament details tonight, including the full bracket of teams and maybe a schedule for when the matches will take place. The winning team gets to challenge FTR for the AEW world tag team titles.

Sting and Darby Allin vs. “The Painmaker” Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara is booked for Dynamite. Jericho and Guevara lost to Sting and Darby in a trios match at Forbidden Door, and one more loss here against the undefeated Sting could accelerate Sammy’s departure from the Jericho Appreciation Society. But what kind of shape is 64-year-old Sting in after taking some brutal bumps in the sloppy PPV match?

Jon Moxley goes one-on-one with Tomohiro Ishii tonight. Ishii helped The Elite defeat Blackpool Combat Club at Forbidden Door, so Mox will be looking to leave some scars on his body. Will Eddie Kingston, The Elite, or the rest of BCC get involved during the fight?

The first round of the women’s Owen Hart tournament continues tonight with Britt Baker vs. Ruby Soho. The winner advances to take on Skye Blue in the next round. Baker won the tournament last year, but she could be in danger here if AEW wants to match up Skye Blue against a heel in the next round.

Other stuff to keep an eye on

- Bryan Danielson proved he’s the best in the world by defeating Kazuchika Okada in the main event of Forbidden Door. Bryan fractured his arm in the process, though, and may be out of action for multiple months.

- AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy still has the gold after surviving a four way match at Forbidden Door against Shibata, Zack Sabre Jr. and Daniel Garcia. Will any of these men come looking for a singles match against the champ?

- TBS Champion Kris Statlander has been piling up the wins ever since she returned to AEW and beat Jade Cargill for the title, including a recent victory against Taya Valkyrie. When will Jade return to take back what’s hers?

- AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defeated Willow Nightingale at Forbidden Door. Britt Baker or Hikaru Shida are probably looking for the next title shot. Is there any update on the status of former champions Jamie Hayter and Thunder Rosa?

- The Gunns defeated the Hardys last week and injured Jeff, which conveniently lines up with Jeff’s required absence from AEW’s current tour of Canada. The Gunns also picked up a win over CM Punk’s team at Collision and may have joined Bullet Club Gold in the aftermath.

- Christian recently helped Luchasaurus win the TNT Championship but is now talking as if he’s the true champion. This story has been confined to Collision thus far, but it may spill over to Dynamite at some point.

- Daddy Ass and The Acclaimed are still winning trios matches, so I assume that means they want a rematch against AEW World Trios Champions House of Black.

- Don Callis is obsessed with destroying Kenny Omega and The Elite, so he is recruiting more wrestlers to join his family alongside Konosuke Takeshita.

- Is Keith Lee ever going to get a singles match against Swerve Strickland, or has that ship sailed?

What will you be looking for on Dynamite?