AEW Dynamite: Preview and predictions for Nov. 17, 2021

AEW Dynamite is back on Wednesday night and it will be broadcast live on the TNT Network from Norfolk, Va.

This week’s show will revolve around the fallout from the Full Gear pay-per-view, which was a night full of high-quality wrestling matches.

Some of the main highlights of the Full Gear card were the AEW debut of Jay Lethal, MJF making good on his word to beat Darby Allin via a headlock takeover, and of course, the crowning of the brand new AEW World Champion: “Hangman” Adam Page.

There was also a really fun match that was more of a fight than anything else between Eddie Kingston and CM Punk.  While Punk picked up the victory, there were spots in this match where a lot of the crowd actually booed CM Punk in favor of Kingston, which is a little hard to believe when thinking back to Punk’s debut almost three months ago.

AEW has already announced five matches for this week’s show, which will include a TNT Title match, a TBS Women’s Title Tournament match, and Tomohiro Ishii coming through “The Forbidden Door” to make his AEW debut, as he teams up with Orange Cassidy.

There is a lot to like and be excited about on this week’s Dynamite.

Let’s take a look at the five announced matches for AEW Dynamite and what to expect from each.

Bryan Danielson vs Evil Uno

Fresh off his win over Miro at Full Gear, the number one contender for the AEW World Title, Bryan Danielson, will go one-on-one with Evil Uno of the Dark Order.

Danielson has been an absolute workhorse since coming to AEW. That plan has paid off, as he is now lined up to get a shot at “Hangman” Adam Page’s newly won title.

The build to that match will begin here.

While Adam Page has never officially become a member of the Dark Order, there is no denying the fact that Dark Order has played a pivotal role in the evolution of Page, and they may have even been indirectly responsible for “Hangman” having the confidence to vanquish Kenny Omega at Full Gear.

So, it is no surprise that Danielson would start to go after members of the Dark Order on his way to his showdown with Page.

If there is one place where “Hangman” Adam Page has always been vulnerable, it is between his own ears, and Danielson will turn up the violence in this one to try to impact Page as much as possible. Winner: Bryan Danielson

The Acclaimed vs Dante Martin & Lio Rush

This match was born from a segment that kicked off the Full Gear Buy-In when Max Caster and Anthony Bowens came down to the ring and tried to recruit Dante Martin to join The Acclaimed.

Lio Rush, who has been acting as a mentor to Martin, was away dealing with a family matter, and The Acclaimed saw that as the proper time to try to lure Dante Martin to their team.

Martin answered The Acclaimed’s offer with fists, and now he and Lio Rush will get a chance to get their hands on Caster and Bowens inside the ring.

Another shadow that looms over this match is that Martin also has an offer on the table to join Team Taz.

The smart move for Martin is to stay with Rush for the time being. Team Taz has struggled to stay relevant ever since their feud with Sting and Darby Allin ended, and one could argue that Team Taz needs Dante Martin much more than Dante needs Team Taz.

This match should be another good showcase of young talent in AEW. While Rush has been around the block, he still moves well enough to keep up with the other three wrestlers involved in this match.

Rush and Martin need to go over here, possibly setting up a match against Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs that may include a stipulation of the winner getting the services of Dante Martin. Winners: Lio Rush & Dante Martin.

The Butcher & The Blade vs Orange Cassidy & Tomohiro Ishii

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s NEVER Openweight Champion, Tomohiro Ishii, will step through “The Forbidden Door” to team with Orange Cassidy as they take on members of the Hardy Family Office: The Butcher and The Blade.

In what seems like a never-ending feud, Matt Hardy scored a pinfall victory over Cassidy on last week’s episode of Rampage. So, the issues between the HFO and the Best Friends will continue for at least one more week.

While this feud has worn out its welcome, the bright side is that we will get to see the debut of Ishii, and the tag match features Butcher and Blade, who work really well together as a tag team, so the wrestling should be high quality.

Several things are almost guaranteed to happen in this match: the brass knuckles will make an appearance, Hardy will get involved, and the crowd will go crazy when Ishii makes his way down to the ring.

While NJPW products haven’t faired very well in the win-loss column in AEW, this feels like a spot for Cassidy and Ishii to pick up a crowd-pleasing win. Winners: Orange Cassidy & Tomohiro Ishii

Hikaru Shida vs Nyla Rose

In one of the quarterfinal matches of the TBS Women’s Title Tournament, an old rivalry will be renewed when Hikaru Shida battles Nyla Rose.

Rose and Shida had many a match for the AEW Women’s World Title and were the second and third AEW Women’s Champions, respectively. That said, this match could easily go either way and there shouldn’t be many complaints.

So, let’s look at the reasons why Rose is going to get the win here. Rose will have Vickie Guererro at ringside, and Serena Deeb may sit at ringside for this match as well; that is a lot of distractions for Shida to handle.

Shida and Deeb should continue their rivalry, and to do so, Shida needs to get knocked out of the tournament so she can focus on Deeb. And since Shida defeated Deeb to knock Deeb out of this very tournament, it makes sense that Deeb would want to return the favor here by helping Rose pick up the victory.

Plus, Shida was the AEW Champion before Britt Baker, so having her be the inaugural TBS Women’s Champion would be somewhat of a repeat of what we have already seen. Winner: Nyla Rose

Jay Lethal vs Sammy Guevara for the TNT Championship

Jay Lethal will make his in-ring debut in AEW when he challenges Sammy Guevara for the TNT Title. There should be plenty of excitement around Lethal coming to AEW. He is a veteran who is very capable in the ring and there are all sorts of intriguing matchups for him within the promotion.

One of those matchups is with Sammy Guevara.

Those who don’t follow Ring of Honor will be in for a treat, as Lethal can go, and we all know that Sammy Guevara puts on a show each and every time that he steps in the ring. That being said, Lethal needs to lose this match.

The TNT Title hasn’t been in Sammy Guevara’s hands long enough to entertain the thought of taking it off of him. As exciting as it is to have Jay Lethal be a part of the AEW roster, it’s hard to see exactly where he fits in right now.

But one thing is for sure, it isn’t as the TNT Champion. Winner: Sammy Guevara