It's Wednesday night, and you know what that means.
Tonight, AEW Dynamite arrives in Atlantic City, New Jersey at the former site of Trump Plaza, in a venue that happened to host WrestleMania 4 and 5 in 1988 and 1989 respectively.
As is seemingly the case with every Dynamite every week nowadays, there are at least two segments on the show that could have easily been utilized on a pay-per-view event. With a World Championship Death Match and a brand new Forbidden Door signee kicking off the road to Revolution, wrestling fans are certain to be talking about whatever happens tonight on social media and beyond.
Here's everything you need to know before tonight's episode of AEW Dynamite:
Give Me Cowboy Shit or Give Me Death
Hangman Adam Page will defend his AEW World Championship for a third time tonight against only his second challenger. While the two matches with Bryan Danielson established Adam as a great bell-to-bell wrestler, Lance Archer is going to look to see how much fight the world champion has in him in a Texas Death Match. Having captured the IWGP United States Championship from Jon Moxley in a similar fashion several months ago, Archer, with Jake The Snake and Dan Lambert by his side, looks to solidify his place as in the man at the top of the mountain.
Adam, to his credit, has been chomping at the bit to prove his worth as a champion. Tonight, he's not looking for a 60-minute classic, he's looking to survive, and he plans on doing so with the AEW World Championship intact.
MJF: Better Than The Best?
Last week, Maxwell Jacob Friedman defeated CM Punk in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois, and technically, he did it twice. Despite the fact that both wins were full of shenanigans, Maxwell Jacob Friedman picked up the biggest victory of his career and handed CM Punk his first loss since the former WWE Champion returned to professional wrestling. Tonight, MJF is scheduled to Grace Atlantic City with his presence and he will surely have a lot to brag about. The question is, how far behind him will CM Punk be?
Inner Circle Holds A Team Meeting As Cracks Continue To Show In Their Foundation
Chris Jericho, The Influencer, formed the Inner Circle on the very first episode of AEW Dynamite. In the years since then, the group has grown stronger together but the individuals in the group also have their own goals that may no longer hit the overall need of Chris Jericho’s faction.
As Eddie Kingston has formed doubt in the mind of Santana and Ortiz in recent weeks regarding whether or not Chris Jericho is holding them from the AEW World Tag Team Titles and Sammy Guevara branching out on his own by defeating Cody Rhodes in a great Ladder Match to become the Undisputed AEW TNT Champion, Chris Jericho has decided to hold a team meeting with all of the Inner Circle so they can all be on the same page once again.
Can The Newest Addition To AEW Kick Open The Forbidden Door And Kickstart A Revolution?
On AEW Rampage, it was revealed that Tony Khan would have a major announcement tonight. On social media following Rampage, Tony Khan revealed that a new Forbidden Door signee would officially sign with the company tonight. Not only that, Tony Khan further revealed that this person would face Isiah Kassidy for the right to qualify for the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match to be held in March at AEW Revolution.
This person, according to Tony, will be slamming the door shut on his past, and Tony, as he told Sports Illustrated, believes that this intrigue will only be good for AEW.
“It’s going to be a big reveal on Dynamite. It sets up this week’s Rampage and puts a lot of irons in our fire. We have created an environment in AEW where people routinely expect great wrestling matches, and we have the wrestlers to live up to those high expectations.”
Perhaps getting lost in the shuffle and all of the intrigue is Isiah Kassidy. Kassidy was afforded this opportunity by Tony Khan because of his performance in the TNT Championship match against Sammy Guevara. Just because somebody new is walking through the door doesn't mean that Isiah, who has been in AEW from the start, is willing to lay down and have the opportunity taken from him.
Only one performer can qualify for the upcoming Ladder Match and we will find out who that is tonight.
All of these segments are only what is announced for the card tonight. In the background, Bryan Danielson is still waiting for an answer to his proposal to Jon Moxley, Adam Cole just promised this past Friday that he will become World Champion in the near future, and the entire women's division continues to step up and further improve themselves each passing week.
Here is the current lineup for the February 9 episode of AEW Dynamite.
AEW Dynamite (2/9)
- AEW Championship Texas Death Match: Hangman Page (c) vs. Lance Archer
- Inner Circle Team Meeting
- MJF Speaks
- Qualifying Match For Face of the Revolution Ladder Match: Isiah Kassidy vs. new signee.
Fightful has live coverage of AEW Dynamite every Wednesday night as it airs on TBS. We will also have a podcast breaking down all the action after the show goes off the air on our YouTube channel.
