AEW Dynamite preview (June 7, 2023): This could be the end of Orange Cassidy’s title reign

Dynamite airs tonight (June 7) with a live show from Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This is the second episode of Dynamite during the four week build towards Forbidden Door, which takes place on June 25.

AEW finally found a star who can beat Orange Cassidy

Nobody in AEW has been able to beat Orange Cassidy in a one-on-one match going all the way back to last October. That’s the story being told as the AEW International champion keeps defeating opponent after opponent who challenges him for the gold.

In many cases, Cassidy has been matched up with opponents who never had much of a chance to beat him. I’m talking about folks like Kyle Fletcher, The Butcher, Lee Moriarty, QT Marshall, Trent Seven, and Dralistico. Cassidy was also a pretty big favorite in a Battle Royal at Double or Nothing where he successfully fended off the challenge of 20 other competitors at once.

But things feel different than usual heading into tonight’s episode of Dynamite. Cassidy will defend the belt against Swerve Strickland, who is the final man Cassidy eliminated in order to win that aforementioned Battle Royal. But Swerve isn’t some jabroni who is only here to make the champ look good. AEW appears to have a plan to push Swerve, and winning a high stakes match like this is exactly what he needs in order to make a big move up the ladder in the promotion.

Swerve has the numbers game on his side as the leader of the Mogul Embassy faction. However, Sting and Darby Allin made sure to have Cassidy’s back last week when the numbers became too overwhelming to handle. Are Darby and Sting the key to prolonging Orange’s title reign beyond tonight, or is it finally time to crown a new champion?

The rest of tonight’s lineup

Unlike Cassidy, Kris Statlander’s reign as TBS champion isn’t really in danger of coming to an end tonight. She puts the belt on the line against Anna Jay, who is coming off a loss against Julia Hart last month, as well as a house show loss against Statlander just a few days ago.

The dream match of Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada will actually happen at Forbidden Door. Before we get there, though, their respective factions will go at in in trios action. Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta) is the favorite to win against CHAOS (Trent Beretta, Rocky Romero, Chuck Taylor) on tonight’s Dynamite.

Ricky Starks gets his rematch with Jay White tonight. In an effort to avoid another disqualification ending, this time Juice Robinson and AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR are banned from ringside. Does this mean Jay White has a new member of Bullet Club Gold waiting in the wings, ready to interfere on his behalf?

JungleHOOK reunites tonight for a tag team match against Dralistico and Preston Vance. This match came about after La Faccion Ingobernable interrupted what was supposed to be a rare in-ring interview with HOOK. Jungle Boy made the save with a steel chair, so here we are. Oh, and it’s a Texas Tornado match, because why not? Earlier this year, Boy promised to win singles gold in AEW in 2023. With that in mind, can FTW Champion HOOK trust that his partner won’t smash that steel chair into his back next time?

We are going to hear from AEW World Champion MJF tonight. Will he make it clear there’s no way in hell he’s taking part in the Forbidden Door pay-per-view, or will AEW President Tony Khan force him to put the title on the line at that event?

Speaking of Khan, it wouldn’t be an episode of AEW Dynamite without one of his major announcements. This time he will reveal the main event for the premiere episode of AEW Collision on June 17 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Is CM Punk going to wrestle on his first show back in AEW?

Other stuff to keep an eye on

- Last week’s episode of Dynamite went off the air with Adam Cole and Britt Baker sharing a kiss after they defeated the team of Chris Jericho and Saraya. Is this the end of the feud between Cole and Jericho, or will Chris find a way to extend it through the summer?

- The Elite are trying to pick up the pieces after they were screwed over by Don Callis and Konosuke Takeshita at Anarchy in the Arena. Callis says Takeshita is the best athlete he’s ever met and they will destroy The Elite. As a result, it looks like Kenny Omega is searching for a friend to help in the war against Callis, Takeshita, and Blackpool Combat Club. Omega is also defending the IWGP U.S. Heavyweight title against Will Ospreay at Forbidden Door, so his plate is full at the moment.

- Daddy Ass is bummed out about being pinned by AEW World Trios Champions House of Black at Double or Nothing. Max Caster and Anthony Bowens tried to cheer him up and reassure Ass that he is going to hold championship gold again. But what happens if they fail to deliver on those words?

- TNT Champion Wardlow beat Christian in a ladder match at Double or Nothing, and now he is daring Luchasaurus to come after him next.

- AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm says nobody in the AEW locker room is good enough to carry her bags. Will anybody backstage step up to the champ and try to prove her wrong?

- The Dark Order feel like Hangman Page abandoned them when he recently rejoined The Elite. Can Page salvage his friendship with the Dark Order, or is it too late?

- Matt Hardy now controls Ethan Page’s contract. But is it worth it for The Hardys to waste more time on Page when their primary goal is to win the AEW world tag team titles?

- Given that Forbidden Door is a joint pay-per-view presented by both AEW and NJPW, several wrestlers from NJPW should be showing up on AEW television throughout this month.

What will you be looking for on Dynamite?