AEW Dynasty – Predictions
When people hear the word “Dynasty” they think of such things as; the Michael Jordan-led Bulls, The 1960s Boston Celtics, the power couple of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, or the New York Yankees. After this Sunday, April 21st, people will associate the word with St. Louis, Missouri. Not because of the city’s pro sports teams, but because it will play host to the newest addition to All Elite Wrestling’s Pay Per View lineup, AEW Dynasty. The past few months for Tony Khan and his young promotion have been somewhat rough. Two of their biggest stars are sidelined, ratings have been declining, and Chris Jericho continues to latch on to any act he can find to keep himself relevant.
However, no matter what’s going on outside of the ring, All Elite PPVs are always worth watching if you’re looking to see some good pro wrestling matches. TK has cooked up a nine-match card for the roughly six thousand fans (Yikes) that will be in attendance this weekend at the Chaifetz Arena. Technically ten matches if you include the match taking place on their usual PPV pre-show, Zero Hour. However, if a match doesn’t warrant a spot on the main card people are paying to see, we here at Talent Alone refuse to acknowledge it. It’s similar to how Tony Khan and the Jacksonville Jaguars most likely deal with the memory of Urban Meyer’s 13-game stint as head coach. Pretend it never even happened.
The more important aspect of this show is that it marks the official kick-off of year two of Talent Alone’s pro wrestling prediction competition. For the details on how last year’s battle unfolded, make sure to check out our special edition of the Talent Alone Pro Wrestling Podcast we released this past week. In short, Adam won and I lost. Now, just a mere two weeks after WrestleMania 40, we are back with more spicy picks on who will get their hand raised once the dust settles this Sunday. Which wrestlers will feel the joy of victory or the agony of defeat in front of, once again, roughly six thousand paying customers. It’s time to find out. As the reigning champion and czar of predicting wrestling match outcomes here at Talent Alone, Adam is going to get things started.
AEW Dynasty Predictions
Will Ospreay vs Bryan Danielson
ADAM: Starting off the year right son! The number one overall draft pick in Match of the Year candidate has us watching one of the greatest in-ring workers of all time (by my vote, the greatest) against Assassin’s Creed boy in a bout that is sure to be impressive and hard-hitting. Would love to pick D-Bry (or as he is known now B-Dan) but a fun stat I found during the research process for this article is that since Wrestlemania 30, Bryan Danielson is 0-62 in Pay-per-view matches.
WILL OSPREAY
MIKE: Bryan Danielson crossing names off his bucket list of opponents as he winds down his career has given us a lot of good matches. This one will be no different. Ospreay’s booking has had some flaws, like having long matches with lesser competition just for the sake of having a good match. Overall though, they’ve kept his momentum up and maintained the image that he is a big deal and a future world champ. A big win over one of the best to ever lace up a pair of boots will be a big boost on his journey to becoming a cornerstone of AEW’s roster.
WILL OSPREAY
AEW World Championship:
Samoa Joe (c) vs Swerve Strickland
MIKE: Samoa Joe is a pro’s pro. He’s reliable whenever called upon, excels at most of, if not all, facets of his craft, and still comes across as one badass motherfucker. With all that said, his title reign has felt like it would be short lived from the second it started. Time to crown a new champ and cement a new guy at the top. Swerve has the potential to be the kind of fresh new face that will bring in more fans and make Tony Khan a lot of money. Don’t fumble the bag here. If the main event of All In this year isn’t Swerve vs Ospreay for the big belt, I’m going to join David Tepper in dumping beer on Jaguars fans.
SWERVE STRICKLAND
ADAM: My East Coast Colleague here has the right of it. Swerve is the young (33 y/o) future of the company. Joe is the old guard of wrestling. The belt had to be taken off MJF after they killed the gimmick (see: our podcast on the matter) and now they have the rightful heir to the top belt that such modern greats like Chris Jericho have held.
SWERVE STRICKLAND
AEW Tag Team Championship Ladder Match
The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson & Nicholas Jackson) (c) vs FTR (Dax Hardwood & Cash Wheeler)
ADAM: I hope the Bucks’ release of the infamous Punk footage taught FTR a lesson, only LOSERS associate with a BULLY who nearly killed the whole AEW locker room one by one.
THE YOUNG BUCKS
MIKE: Don’t take the bait. Don’t take the bait. Don’t take the- ALL PUNK DID WAS SPEAK THE TRUTH! You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t force it to have a basic understanding of how to increase the business of a pro wrestling company. Who’s the horse in that metaphor? Take a guess. There are multiple correct answers.
Would be weird to see the evil EVP Young Bucks lose another high-profile match. Someone will interfere to cost FTR the match. Probably somebody who’s only noteworthy right now because of glass and an actual main event star mentioning him on a podcast.
THE YOUNG BUCKS
AEW Women’s World Championship
“Timeless” Toni Storm vs Thunder Rosa
MIKE: Thunder Storm!! That could be the name for these two if they formed a tag team. Or the name of a 1980’s porn star. Either or. Rosa could use the belt more right now, but is it a good move to put the belt on someone just because their character is struggling?
“TIMELESS” TONI STORM
ADAM: It’s kind of a shame that Rosa’s run got cut short by injury but her character has fallen flat since the cage match with Britt (who is apparently in witness protection). I would love to leave the belt on Toni but I think we get a big return or debut to challenge for the belt at the end of this match and I see that working better on Thunder Rosa than Toni Storm.
THUNDER ROSA
TBS Championship
Julia Hart (c) vs Willow Nightingale
ADAM: It feels like they’ve been looking for just the right thing to do with the TBS belt since Jade got called up to the Majors (suck it AEW) and I thought it would be Julia. Her persona and run has been good and maybe thats enough but I think they want to bump the belt up a notch by putting it on Nightingale and vs Mercades Mone. Please retire Stokely Hathaway.
WILLOW NIGHTINGALE
MIKE: Once hundreds percent agree Nightingale vs Moné is on deck. Disagree that it will be enough to bump this belt up a notch. Hey, let’s bring in the biggest women free agent on the market and have her challenge to be the champion of a cable station most known for Big Bang Theory reruns.
WILLOW NIGHTINGALE
ADAM: WE at Talent Alone want to reaffirm our faith and love of the Ska genre and, in light of recent blurbs, would like to issue an official apology to the Bare Naked Ladies for our take down of their hit #1 show, The Big Bang Theory.
AEW Continental Championship
Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Pac
KAZUCHIKA OKADA
ADAM: WELL fuck can’t top that one.
KAZUCHIKA OKADA
AEW International Championship
Roderick Strong vs Kyle O’Reilly
ADAM: Will Kyle O’Reilly join the Undisputed Kingdom? Will The Tortured Poets Department win Album of the Year? Is Civil War Secretly about Femal Trauma because Alex Garland? The answer to all three is “Maybe.”
RODERICK STRONG
MIKE: I tuned into AEW Dynasty and a 2010’s ROH main event broke out. Don’t see a point in making the change if they still have hopes to make the Undisputed Kingdom a top act in the promotion.
RODERICK STRONG
Adam Copeland, Eddie Kingston & Mark Briscoe vs House of Black (Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews & Brody King)
MIKE: I am once again asking Tony Khan to give the House of Black a strong push towards the top of the card. Winning this match would be a start.
HOUSE OF BLACK
ADAM: House of Black vs the House of Grey amirite? Okay let me push back for a second, how does giving HoB a win here push anyone up the card? They’re facing three guys that aren’t really ever at the top of the card in AEW and they’re literally not involved in the match on this card that involves two different Trios Tag belts. I agree with the result but none of it matters and were all hurdleing toward oblivion, eat Arby’s.
HOUSE OF BLACK
FTW Championship
Hook(c) vs “The Lionheart” Chris Jericho
ADAM: I promise to be positive about AEW shows throughout the year because we have a bad habit of being down on them as a result of Brawl Out and the rest of the Punk-saga. I say that to say this, please stop it with the Jericho stuff. Dude has firmly lost it and should be in more of just a backstage role. Okay had to get that off my chest. Sorry, I’ll be more positive in non-Washed NJPW Merchant matches.
HOOK
MIKE: Some would think giving Hook a big win over a legacy star like Jericho is the plan. However, we’re probably going to get a flip flop of this championship that’s not an actual championship while Jericho goes on his podcast to talk about how he’s a wrestling genius. “Kids in the business today just don’t understand long term storytelling” *Proceeds to sniff own fart*
CHRIS JERICHO
