When two former friends from Ontario want to settle their massive, ongoing beef, maybe the only real way to do it is in an I Quit match in Toronto. Wouldn’t you know it, that’s exactly what awaits tonight on AEW Dynamite.
Adam Copeland and Christian Cage have clashed over the TNT Championship before, with Cage emerging victorious thanks to the aid of The Patriarchy. He dismissively sent Copeland to the back of the line, figuring that would be the end of it.
Copeland brushed himself off and jumped into the idea of working his way back to title contention with gusto thanks to his series of “Cope Open” matches. They didn’t really go on as long as he and AEW would have us believe, but it’s a fine narrative regardless.
If you didn’t think we were always headed back here, you must be relatively new to pro wrestling (so welcome!). An I Quit match in front of what is a hometown crowd for both men should be excellent.
It’s not the only title match on Dynamite tonight either. Eddie Kingston actually has several titles that confusingly are sometimes referred to as one. Only one of those three, the still fairly new Continental Championship, is at stake when Kingston faces Kazuchika Okada.
A villainous Rainmaker took some getting used to but seems like a stroke of genius for AEW. Will Okada break through this early in his time in the U.S.? We’ll find out tonight.
AEW Dynamite results from Toronto:
(please scroll down for more details on any match or segment in bold)
- Mercedes Moné is here, as is Willow Nightingale, but are they united even against Julia Hart and Skye Blue?
- Matthew and Nicholas Jackson want Alex Marvez to talk Japanese to Kazuchika Okada, or to learn how by next week, but the Rainmaker knows enough English to tell Eddie Kingston he’s coming for the title
- Kazuchika Okada def. Eddie Kingston by pinfall to become the new AEW Continental Champion, however …
- … after his victory, Okada sees Pac come out to the stage, insinuating he’ll be going after the Continental title
- Renee Paquette speaks with Swerve Strickland, who accuses Samoa Joe of running and ducking him but is in the mood to issue an open challenge for a fight tonight
- Paquette next speaks with Nightingale and Statlander about their Street Fight on Rampage, with Willow noting that she’s completely different in that environment; Moné stops by and exchanges thanks with Statlander but freezes out Nightingale (and Stokely Hathaway for that matter)
- Hook def. Chris Jericho by pinfall
- Adam Cole talks about how disappointed he is in Wardlow, so now the big man’s job is to protect the gold Undisputed Kingdom has, framing it as wanting what’s best for Wardlow
- Paquette grabs a minute with Jericho backstage, and he says Hook lived up to what he expected from the “future world champion”; next week, Jericho says he has a proposition for Hook
- Tony Schiavone calls Will Ospreay to the ring, and the Aerial Assassin says he’s changed and is now here for the betterment of AEW but needs some maple syrup from Canada in return; he also addresses Bryan Danielson claiming he couldn’t walk in Bryan’s shoes and tells Katsuyori Shibata he wants to face him next week
- A hype video is shown for the Adam Copeland-Christian Cage I Quit match later tonight
- Deonna Purrazzo and Thunder Rosa def. “Timeless” Toni Storm and Mariah May by pinfall
- Swerve Strickland def. The Butcher by submission, then cuts a promo on Samoa Joe which is answered in the flesh by the AEW World Champion, and then by Don Callis, which apparently sets up a match between Swerve and Konosuke Takeshita
- Adam Copeland def. Christian Cage in an I Quit match to become the new AEW TNT Champion
Mercedes Moné still has business with Willow Nightingale, which only gets more complicated
Please say hello to your new CEO. Mercedes says she’s still on a high from her debut in AEW last week, and goes on to talk about her near-career-ending injury 10 months ago when she was facing Willow Nightingale.
Cognizant that some people might not know exactly who she is, Mercedes shows a video package to fill them in. No, there are no Sasha Banks highlights in it.
She’s not here to lead a women’s evolution, as she’s done that before. Mercedes says she wants to lead a global revolution, facing the best women all over the world.
For now, it seems she wants to focus on Nightingale, but the lights go out when she does her mic drop, then come back up to find Julia Hart standing on the ramp. Skye Blue attempts an attack from behind, but both heels are easily repulsed.
Hart and Blue go under the ring for chairs but are neutralized by the arrival of Nightingale and Kris Statlander, both carrying chairs of their own. The lights go out and back on again, and it appears Willow was considering hitting Mercedes, which of course ticks off the CEO as she leaves.
Kazuchika Okada makes it rain gold against Eddie Kingston
Kingston has been talking about how Okada has never faced anyone like him, but an argument can be made that he’s as rooted in Strong Style as any current non-Japanese wrestler, so perhaps that’s not 100% true.
It’s also fun to see how some of Okada’s trademark mannerisms and bits still work even now that he’s a heel. We also see Matthew and Nicholas Jackson in the back, working as producers for the match as they promised Okada they would.
OK it’s not all business as usual with Okada as he’s a lot cockier than normal, but he’s bumping like the top level pro he is as Kingston hurls him around with suplexes. Eddie is getting plenty of support from the fans but there are some chants for the challenger as well.
Signature Okada dropkick? Check. But Kingston is able to nail the spinning back fist not long after for a near fall.
A running clotheslines has Eddie pulling down his straps, but Okada is able to gouge the champ’s eyes after a quick ref distraction. A spinning powerslam leads to a Rainmaker, and Okada is golden in AEW already.
Deonna Purrazzo, Thunder Rosa get one over on Toni Storm, Mariah May even though they aren’t completely aligned
The framing here is about how Storm and May are a proven team while Purrazzo and Rosa may not be on the exact same page. It’s not a problem in the opening minutes, and Rosa looks good in one of the longest matches we’ve seen from her on TV since she returned from her long injury layoff.
Ah, but things change when the Virtuosa has things rolling against May and Rosa tags herself in. That proves to be a tactical error as she eats a hip attack from the champ, but Thunder reverses a piledriver and gets the victory out of nowhere.
It doesn’t look like Deonna is 100% happy with things after the match, however.
Adam Copeland gets help to overcome The Patriarchy and makes Christian Cage quit
The fans enthusiastically sing along with Copeland’s theme a cappella even after the music stops, but the mood changes quickly when Cage makes his ring walk. There’s also a “holy s–t” chant that rings out in the early going.
It doesn’t take long for the two Canadians to fight into the crowd, where Cage dons a Bruins sweater and Copeland wears a Leafs sweater for an additional hometown pop. During picture-in-picture action, they battle out onto the concourse and then back toward the ring.
The crowd starts a “TLC” chant as a ladder comes into play, and both men are hurt when Copeland pulls Cage backward onto the steel. That gets a “this is awesome” chant going as well.
Now Copeland gets out a table, leaning it against the barricade. Cage leapfrogs a Spear and sends Copeland into the ringpost after a quick poke to the eyes.
Copeland ends up getting driven through the table when Cage jumps off the top rope, and he’s busted open as a result. They head back into the ring, where Cage catapults Copeland into a ladder laid across the ropes. The ref asks Copeland for a response but he’s not ready to quit.
Cage’s frog splash finds no one home, and Copeland grabs him in a crossface. The champ also isn’t quitting and gouges the challenger’s eyes to free himself.
During more picture-in-picture, Cage looks like he’s trying to walk out on the match, but Copeland catches up with him and catapults Cage off the stage. The champ also briefly gets thrown into a hockey net, as one does.
While they fight back toward the ring, Mama Wayne runs up and uses a hockey stick to hit a low blow on Copeland from behind. Cage breaks the stick over Copeland’s back and they head back inside the squared circle.
Cage unloads with the blade half of the stick and flexes to a chorus of boos. He jams the stick into Copeland’s throat, and the ref asks him several times if he’ll quit and still gets a quiet no.
Looking under the ring again, Cage slides several chairs into the ring. He produces one with barbed wire around it too, looking for a devastating Con-chair-to. Copeland rolls away at the last second and now he has the barbed wire chair, but Cage kicks it away.
Copeland runs Cage over with the hockey stick and tries choking him out, then takes the drawstring out of his tights to choke the champ. Nick Wayne and Killswitch pick that moment to jump in again, and they invite Mana Wayne to slap him.
Daddy Magic and Daniel Garcia run down to attack The Patriarchy, and Killswitch takes a DDT on the barbed wire chair. They also send Wayne flying to the floor, and Copeland climbs a ladder and dives to the floor onto both of them.
Garcia produces handcuffs, and the faces end up cuffing both Wayne and Killswitch to opposite corners. Mama Wayne sees more handcuffs and decides to make a run for it.
Cage is now left three on one, which makes things look grim for him. He’s handcuffed to another corner, where Copeland kicks him in the junk repeatedly.
Copeland gets in one shot from Spike, his nail-studded 2×4, and threatens another to finally make Copeland say “I Quit.”