Tonight’s Dynamite is the final pitch before Forbidden Door, and AEW needs to nail the landing β the card is stacked but the storytelling has to close the loop tonight or the PPV energy falls flat. Rio Rancho gets a Forbidden Door go-home show, which means NJPW fingerprints all over the broadcast and the stakes dialed up on every segment. The pressure is real: send the crowd home buzzing or spend the weekend playing catch-up.
AEW International Championship Match: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Ricochet
The International Title picture has been heating up and this is a legitimate showcase match the night before the big show β Takeshita has been an absolute unit of a champion and Ricochet brings the kind of highlight-reel offense that makes International Title matches feel special. Watch how this one ends more than how it’s fought; the finish could tell us everything about where the belt is headed at Forbidden Door.
WAW Pick: Takeshita retains, likely with some interference or post-match drama to keep the Forbidden Door thread alive.
Will Ospreay vs. El Phantasmo
Two guys who know each other from their NJPW days stepping into an AEW ring together is exactly the kind of Forbidden Door crossover content that makes this week feel different from a regular Wednesday. ELP has been sharp lately and this is his chance to remind everyone why he belongs in these conversations β but Ospreay is Ospreay, and right now that means he’s probably the best wrestler on the planet on any given night.
WAW Pick: Ospreay wins clean, but ELP makes him work for every second of it.
Jack Perry vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
This match on paper is an absolute gift β Perry’s physicality against ZSJ’s surgical joint manipulation is a dream stylistic clash, and both men have enough edge right now to make it feel like something with teeth. Jack Perry has been working to cement himself as a genuine main event-level threat and a strong showing against one of the best technical wrestlers alive does exactly that.
WAW Pick: ZSJ taps Perry out in a competitive match that still manages to make both guys look dangerous.
Swerve Strickland vs. Daniel Garcia
Swerve doesn’t take a night off, and Garcia has been on a run that demands people start taking him more seriously as a top-tier talent rather than just a guy who can cut a promo and do a dance. The question isn’t really whether Swerve wins β it’s whether Garcia gets enough here to walk into Forbidden Door weekend with momentum.
WAW Pick: Swerve wins, but Garcia earns his respect the hard way.
MΓstico & Brodido (Bandido & Brody King) vs. TBD
The Forbidden Door undercard is where NJPW and AEW’s tag division blend together, and MΓstico bringing Bandido and Brody King together as a unit is one of the more interesting Forbidden Door-adjacent wrinkles heading into the weekend. This match exists to establish them as a credible force and to get the lucha-influenced crowd fired up going into Sunday.
WAW Pick: MΓstico and Brodido pick up the win and look dominant doing it.
MJF shows up. Orange Cassidy has been calling him out publicly and consistently, and the Forbidden Door go-home show is the exact kind of stage MJF cannot resist making his own β don’t be shocked if Maxwell Jacob Friedman walks out tonight not because he’s been booked to, but because he simply decides the moment is his. Whether it’s to finally acknowledge Cassidy or just to remind everyone who the AEW World Champion is, the Salt of the Earth crashing Rio Rancho feels like exactly the kind of move that’s too good not to make.
