Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s live coverage for "AEW Dynamite" on April 2, 2025, coming to you live from the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, Illinois!
Days before they square off in a match for the AEW Word Championship at AEW Dynasty, Swerve Strickland and titleholder Jon Moxley will be meeting in the ring as the former joins forces with Willow Nightingale for the first time ever and the latter joins forces with his Death Riders stablemate Marina Shafir in a Mixed Tornado Tag Team Match. Strickland defeated Ricochet at AEW Revolution on March 9 to secure his title shot against Moxley this coming Sunday, while Nightingale and Shafir have encountered one another a handful of times over the course of the past few weeks as the issues between Nightingale, Cope, Jay White, and The Death Riders continue to boil over.
Speaking of Cope, he will be competing in a match of his own as he goes one-on-one with one third of the reigning AEW World Trios Champions and Death Riders member Claudio Castagnoli. This will mark the first time the two men have met each other in singles action in an AEW ring, having previously encountered one another in a trios match at the "Dynamite" Fight For The Fallen special on January 1, a Twelve Men Tag Team Match at the "AEW Collision" Maximum Carnage special on January 18, and a tag team Brisbane Brawl at AEW Grand Slam: Australia on February 15.
Before she defends the AEW Women's World Championship against Megan Bayne at Dynasty, Toni Storm will be colliding with Bayne's ally Penelope Ford. Bayne and Ford emerged victorious over Storm and Thunder Rosa during last week's edition of "Dynamite", with Bayne ultimately being the one who pinned Storm in the closing moments of the bout to secure the win.
Additionally, Will Ospreay will be making his return tonight with something on his mind to share. The official brackets for this year's Men's and Women's Owen Hart Cup Tournament are also set to be unveiled tonight, with the aforementioned Ospreay, Jay White, "Hangman" Adam Page, TBS Champion Mercedes Mone, Ring of Honor Women's World Champion Athena, Kris Statlander, Thunder Rosa, Jamie Hayter, and Billie Starkz having all declared their participation in their respective tournaments.
