AEW Dynamite Preview for August 16, 2023
The biggest event in All Elite Wrestling history, ALL IN: LONDON, is so close and it is already quite the stacked event, but there’s still more road to travel before we get there, and the next stop on that road is a return to Nashville for AEW’s debut at the Bridgestone Arena! This Wednesday night Chris Jericho will give his answer to Don Callis, the AEW World Champion and his ALL IN: LONDON challenger will discuss their bout, and The Young Bucks will battle The Gunns in the perpetual debate of who is the best brother tag team! Plus, Dr. Britt Baker and the returning Bunny will fight it out for the fourth spot in the AEW Women’s World Championship match going down at Wembley, Darby Allin and Nick Wayne will be in tag team action against The Gates of Agony, and Orange Cassidy will defend his AEW International Championship against Wheeler Yuta!
AEW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…
Orange Cassidy(c) vs. Wheeler Yuta
Six months ago Wheeler Yuta stepped into the ring with his former trainer, his former friend, Orange Cassidy and attempted to wrest the then-AEW All-Atlantic Championship from Cassidy’s grasp. It was a bout months in the making, the result of Wheeler turning his back on The Best Friends unit and aligning with The Blackpool Combat Club, and it would end in Cassidy’s favor. To this day, with 28 championship defenses to his reign, there are many who still consider this the best bout of Cassidy’s title run.
But being the opponent who took the champion to their limit doesn’t actually mean anything if you don’t win said championship, and that is where Yuta was at following their title fight. Each moved on with their life, at least for a short period of time, The BCC went to war with The Elite at Anarchy in The Arena and inside Blood & Guts, but along the way Yuta and company tangled with Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta in Trios matches. Orange continued to build his legacy, making history as the most prolific champion AEW has seen to date, defeating every single challenger that stepped up, no matter the cost to his body along the way.
But inevitably the paths intertwined once again as, in the aftermath of Claudio Castagnoli’s ROH World Championship match against PAC at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2023, The Best Friends’ issues with Death Triangle would bring Orange Cassidy into the fray, and lead to issues between The BCC, Death Triangle, and The Best Friends. Escalation, there is always escalation, and it came with The Luchas winning a three way tag bout over their foes, then Trent pinning Penta in a Three way with Moxley, and then the epic Parking Lot Fight between Best Friends and BCC in Jacksonville. In that last one, Cassidy and Yuta would have that moment where a showdown felt inevitable, but instead it was a group assault by The BCC on Cassidy that left the International Champion, as well as Trent and Chuck Taylor, battered on the concrete at Daily’s Place.
It’s also why Orange was all alone when Wheeler, Moxley, and Claudio surrounded the ring following Cassidy’s championship victory over Johnny TV last Friday on RAMPAGE, but instead of assaulting the man 3-on-1, the former 2-Time ROH Pure Champion issued a challenge to Cassidy to face him this Wednesday night in Nashville, and put the International Championship on the line!
Through his reign as International Champion, Orange Cassidy has found a way to beat opponents