AEW hosts Rebel Heart special tonight at Akins Ford Arena

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AEW Dynamite airs tonight (Sept. 9) with a live show emanating from Akins Ford Arena in Athens, Georgia. This is the second episode of Dynamite during the four week build to All Out, which takes place on Sept. 26 in Chicago. Get ready for one of the most emotional shows in AEW history Tonight’s “Rebel Heart” episode of Dynamite is about supporting Rebel aka Tanea Brooks and joining the fight against ALS, which she was terminally diagnosed with earlier this year. When this special episode of Dynamite was announced a while back, many AEW fans wondered if Tony Khan would finally bring Britt Baker back to be part of it, given her real life friendship with Rebel. Baker did indeed return to AEW at the All In pre-show, where she joined forces with CMLL World Women’s Champion Persephone. Baker made an immediate impact by helping Persephone beat Maya World to become the new TBS champion. That leads to tonight’s show, where Rebel returns to AEW as part of Baker’s “The Waiting Room” talk show, along with guests Hikaru Shida and Persephone. Emotions will be running high as Rebel gets on the mic to tell her story and address her fight against ALS. Baker, Shida, and Persephone are then booked in a trios match later in the show against Hyan, World, and Thunder Rosa. This is Baker’s first wrestling match since November 2024. She may have come back to AEW as a heel, but DMD will likely be cheered like a big babyface during tonight’s broadcast with Rebel by her side. In addition to honoring Rebel tonight, it’s also important for AEW to honor the life of Andy “The Butcher” Williams, who died over the weekend after collapsing at an indie show. Perhaps that tribute for The Butcher will continue into this weekend’s Collision episode, but Dynamite has overruns that go north of 30 minutes at times, so there should be plenty of time tonight to support Rebel and remember The Butcher, in addition to the usual pro wrestling fare for building anticipation for the All Out pay-per-view later this month. This is going to be one of the most emotional episodes of Dynamite in its history given these circumstances. So tune in tonight to see what Rebel has to say in “The Waiting Room,” and how AEW remembers The Butcher. The rest of the card AEW World Champion Will Ospreay takes on The Dogs’ David Finlay in a title eliminator match, which is AEW’s way of trying to make a non-title match sound fancy. Finlay has no chance to win, so the real intrigue comes if Gabe Kidd wants to badly injure Ospreay after the match. Will Jon Moxley stop that from happening again, or does the fact that Jon has a shot at Will’s title at All Out mean it’s open season for the Death Riders to injure his neck again? If the Death Riders and/or Dogs do attack Ospreay, will a potential new member of the expanded United Empire faction run out to save his ass? Swerve Strickland and New Level defend their AEW world trios championship against The Conglomeration’s Orange Cassidy, Kyle O’Reilly, and Roderick Strong. After Kofi, Swerve, and Austin Creed successfully retain their titles, will it become clear which team is gunning for their belts at All Out? Maybe it’s Hangman Page, Bandido, and Brody King looking to reclaim their belts? What about Ricochet and The Demand? Sting’s son Steven Borden makes his official Dynamite in-ring debut in a tag team match alongside Darby Allin against two Don Callis Family thugs, Mark Davis and Josh Alexander. This is Josh’s return match after months on the sidelines due to injury, so it will be interesting to see if Tony Khan gives the win to Sting Jr.’s debut or The Walking Weapon’s return. If the Callis Family goes over, does that mean Alexander is next in line for a shot at Darby’s TNT championship? Finally, a Tables match of Young Bucks vs. Kevin Knight and Kyle Fletcher is also booked for tonight. Knight and Fletcher don’t really want to be partners, so they are already at a disadvantage heading into the bout. Do the Bucks plan to also do a Ladders match and a Chairs match in the coming weeks as they prepare for AEW’s version of a TLC match at All Out against FTR and AEW World Tag Team Champions Adam Copeland and Christian Cage? If Knight and Fletcher lose, will AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada scold them for letting down the Callis family? Other stuff to keep an eye on – Thekla can’t stand dumb bitches like AEW Women’s World Champion Mercedes Mone. Will the two stars come to blows tonight after Toxic Spider kept her distance from The CEO last week while trashing her on the mic? – Andrade wants to defend his AEW National Championship each week, and Tommaso Ciampa wants to win a new title. It sounds like these guys were made for each other. – MJF says Will Ospreay will never see it coming when he gets his revenge. But what will the One True Champion do in AEW to kill time between now and then? – The Brawling Birds will defend the AEW women’s world tag team championship at All Out in a Chicago Street Fight against the former champs, Divine Dominion. Will the two teams be attacking each other with plunder and random objects until its time to officially fight? – Things have escalated very quickly between Chris Jericho and Nick Wayne. Is the idea to book Jericho vs. Wayne at All Out? – Do the Motor City Machine Guns plan to pick up a bunch of wins against low and mid card teams to put themselves in position to challenge for the AEW world tag team championship right after All Out? – Where the f*** is Keith Lee? What will you be looking for on Dynamite?