AEW Dynamite preview features potential WWE star appearances on July 29

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AEW Dynamite airs tonight (July 29) with a live show emanating from Masonic Temple Theater in Detroit, Michigan. This is the first episode of Dynamite during the five week build to All In London, which takes place on August 30 at Wembley Stadium. I think I know which released WWE stars are showing up in AEW AEW Redemption was All Elite’s weakest pay-per-view event of the year. This is partially due to the very predictable nature of several matches, which came off like unimportant filler before All In. In fact, the most surprising aspect of the PPV was that none of those free agents who were released by WWE in April showed up to officially join AEW. The free agent list includes stars like Kairi Sane, Aleister Black, Zelina Vega, Santos Escobar, and Wyatt Sicks, with New Day and Jeff Cobb expected to hit the market very soon as well. Even though there were no free agent surprises at Redemption, I’m willing to look like an idiot and double down on guessing we’ll see at least two of these ex-WWE stars show up on Dynamite. That’s because tonight’s show takes place in the Motor City of Detroit, which is the perfect place for the Motor City Machine Guns to appear. Where do Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin fit into AEW right now with the promotion’s biggest show of the year coming up at Wembley Stadium in one month? I’ve been underwhelmed by AEW World Tag Team Champions Christian Cage and Adam Copeland’s last two PPV matches, so I’m all for loading up the tag title match at All In with more challengers besides the Young Bucks. Who knows, maybe FTR will also have to return to AEW and join the tag team championship mix tonight. Is it time for some of the released WWE stars to begin showing up in AEW, or is Tony Khan passing on signing every single one of them? Tune into Dynamite tonight to find out. The rest of the card AEW World Champion Kenny Omega will speak on Dynamite, and he has some explaining to do after ending Redemption with a One-Winged Angel on Will Ospreay. Bruv had just turned on Jon Moxley’s Death Riders and stopped them from killing Kenny with a plastic bag. Omega even shook Ospreay’s hand before taking him out. Was the world champ simply sending a warning shot to the man who is challenging for his belt at All In, or is Kenny about to go full on heel for this match? Willow Nightingale is the new AEW women’s world champion, and there will be a celebration of her victory tonight on Dynamite. What kind of scheme does “The CEO” Mercedes Mone have in mind for ruining the celebration and erasing the smile off Willow’s face? Will the two stars engage in a promo battle to explain why their championship match at All In matters so much? Dynamite includes three championship matches, with the most likely title change happening when Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, and Kyle O’Reilly defend the AEW world trios championship against The Demand. Will Ricochet officially add some new members to his faction if they can help him win championship gold from The Conglomeration ahead of All In? AEW National Champion Andrade El Idolo makes his first title defense tonight in a three way match against “Jungle” Jack Perry and Nick Wayne. Perry and Wayne don’t like each other, and that issue may prevent them both from catching whatever opportunities fall out of the sky to win this match. The more interesting thing to keep an eye on might be the post-match segment, because there needs to be an angle to set up Andrade for a big match next week at Grand Slam Mexico. TBS Champion Maya World is scheduled to defend her title against CMLL World Women’s Champion Persephone. Is the clock already ticking on Maya’s Cinderella run now that it’s no longer her birthday and Persephone is likely figured into creative plans for Grand Slam Mexico? Finally, the Young Bucks and AEW World Tag Team Champions Adam Copeland and Christian Cage are advertised for a sit down interview with Renee Paquette. Is Nick Jackson magically okay after there was so much kayfabe concern about him potentially suffering a concussion at Redemption? Other stuff to keep an eye on – Swerve Strickland, Hangman Page, and MJF all have to return to AEW programming ASAP for a match at All In, right? – Chris Jericho and Tommaso Ciampa have one win apiece after The Painmaker drilled a hole in the Psycho Killer’s head at Redemption. Will the rubber match be saved for All In? Is it time to add more bodies to this feud? – What does Artist of Stardom Champion Thekla have to say after dropping the AEW women’s world title at Redemption? Will KAIRI show up in AEW to make Thekla and the Sisters of Sin pay for talking so much shit about Stardom this summer? – Will the Death Riders try to murder Will Ospreay after he attacked them at Redemption? Which star is coming after Moxley’s AEW continental championship at All In? – How do the Brawling Birds plan to earn a title shot against AEW World Tag Team Champions Divine Dominion at All In? Let’s hope it doesn’t involve any more terrible segments with Mick Foley barking like a dog. – TNT Champion Kevin Knight never really stood a chance against Kenny Omega at Redemption. Now that Omega is off The Jet’s plate, is it time for Darby Allin to go back to trying to blow this guy up? – Speedball Mike Bailey won a 6-way ladder match at Redemption and now gets to challenge AEW International Champion Kyle Fletcher at Grand Slam Mexico. How many of Don Callis’ 513 family members will try to attack and injure Bailey on Dynamite and/or Collision in Detroit? Will things get weird between Fetcher and Kazuchika Okada at some point tonight? – What kind of violent gimmick match do The Dogs and Bang Bang Gang plan to fight each other in next after their Double Chain match at Redemption was a bit of a dangerous mess? – Does anybody in AEW remember that they can pay The Hurt Syndicate a shitload of money to hurt people? Bobby Lashley’s group may have to lower their asking price given the apparent lack of interest in their special service. – Rhino is another former WWE star who is from Detroit and expected to show up in AEW this week. Collision airs live tomorrow night, so perhaps that’s where he will pop up to put someone over after landing the gore. – Where the f*** are Britt Baker, Nyla Rose, and Keith Lee? What will you be looking for on Dynamite?

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WWE released a whole bunch of wrestlers shortly after WrestleMania 42, and many of their 90 day non compete clauses have recently ended. The current free agent list includes stars like Aleister Black, Santos Escobar, Motor City Machine Guns, Kairi Sane, Wyatt Sicks, and Zelina Vega, with the New Day also escaping from the WWE circus any day now. A lot of wrestling fans, myself included, have been anticipating that some of these stars will soon sign with AEW. For example, I thought Motor City Machine Guns would appear on Dynamite in Detroit last night, but it didn’t happen. I haven’t learned my lesson, so I still think there’s a decent chance that Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley will instead show up on tonight’s (July 30) special live Thursday episode of Collision, which is also in Detroit. But what if the AEW roster is too loaded with talent to sign these ex-WWE stars? In an interview with ROAR Around The Ring, President Tony Khan was asked about his thought process on bringing in some of these free agents to AEW. Khan said he has to be “very considerate” on decisions like that, because it’s quite tricky to find enough TV time for all the big stars who are already on the AEW roster. “If you look at how many great wrestlers there are in AEW…every week different wrestlers wind up fighting for top spots, so there’s a lot of competition in AEW right now. So we have to be very considerate about who we sign, and about who comes in to compete, because right now there’s already so many great wrestlers competing for these spots on TV and on pay-per-views.” Reading between the lines, that sounds like a wrestling executive who isn’t interested in splurging on the current crop of free agents. Is it possible that he just signs the New Day and nobody else? Yeah, maybe that’s exactly what he will do. Does Tony Khan’s answer change your prediction on which current free agents will sign with AEW? Let me know in the comments below, Cagesiders.