AEW World Champion No. 1 Contender to Be Crowned on Jan. 22 AEW Dynamite
AEW World Champion Chris Jericho hasn't defended his championship since his match with Scorpio Sky [...]
AEW World Champion Chris Jericho hasn't defended his championship since his match with Scorpio Sky back in late November. But "Le Champion" won't have to wait much longer to find out who will challenge him for the gold next. AEW confirmed during a YouTube video on Wednesday that a four-man tournament for the No. 1 contender spot will begin this week, with Jon Moxley taking on Sammy Guevara and Darby Allin facing "The Bastard" PAC. The winners of those two matches will face each other on the Jan. 22 episode of Dynamite (which will take place during the Chris Jericho Rock 'N' Rager at Sea: Part Deux cruise) for a future title shot.
Allin was the first to get a crack at Jericho in a Philadelphia Street Fight back in October and put up a valiant effort despite having his hands taped behind his back for most of the match. Meanwhile Moxley has had his eyes on Jericho's title for weeks, going so far as to tease joining The Inner Circle before bashing Jericho's head in with a champagne bottle last week. Finally there's PAC, who has been obsessed with trying to get one more match with Kenny Omega in recent weeks and had repeatedly attacked Omega's friend Michael Nakazawa backstage.
Check out the full card for tonight's episode below.
- Jon Moxley vs. Sammy Guevara
- Darby Allin vs. PAC
- Diamond Dallas Page, Dustin Rhodes, QT Marshall vs. MJF, The Butcher and The Blade
- The Young Bucks vs. Hangman Page and Kenny Omega vs. Santana & Ortiz vs. Best Friends (Winner gets an AEW World Tag Team Championship match)
- Kris Statlander and Hikaru Shida vs. Awesome Kong and Mel
- Cody Rhodes responds to MJF's stipulations for match at AEW Revolution
AEW announced on Wednesday that the company had signed a new extension with WarnerMedia to remain on TNT through 2023 and launch a second weekly show.
"When we launched AEW one year ago, we wanted to start a revolution that would disrupt the wrestling business, but everyone said that it would take a strong weekly television partner to make AEW real in the eyes of everyone — above all, the fans," AEW president Tony Khan said in the release. "What virtually no one realized at the time was Kevin Reilly and TNT were committed to this very same movement from Day One, and their belief in us made it possible for AEW to think and act big from the start. Here we are, only three months into Wednesday Night Dynamite, and now we've been extended through 2023! We're now making the ultimate statement that the team of AEW and TNT is here to stay and to bring fans more of the great wrestling that the fans demand and deserve."
