Orange Cassidy has fought through grueling injuries and tough opposition to retain his AEW International Championship, but he ran into his fiercest opponent to date in the top-billed match of Wednesday's AEW Dynamite.

Did Swerve Strickland do what no other challenger had to that point by knocking off Cassidy to relieve him of the title or did the resilient champion find a way to eke out another victory against the Mogul Embassy leader?

Find out the answer to that and more with this recap of the June 7 episode.

Match Card

Matches announced in advance for the June 7 edition of AEW Dynamite:

• AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Swerve Strickland
• TBS Championship: Kris Statlander (c) vs. Anna Jay
• "Absolute" Ricky Starks vs. "Switchblade" Jay White (Juice Robinson and FTR are banned from ringside)
• Chaos (Rocky Romero, Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor) vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta)
• Texas Tornado tag team match: "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry and Hook vs. Preston Vance and Dralistico
• MJF promo
• AEW Collision main event announcement
  

AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy vs. Swerve Strickland

As his body continues to absorb tremendous pain at the hands of his opponents, Orange Cassidy again found a way to retain his AEW International Championship Wednesday, hooking the tights of Swerve Strickland to secure victory in a high-quality, high-energy match to start the show.

The titleholder overcame a game Strickland and again proved his toughness, fighting through a late match attack to seize an opening and use the tights in the same way his challenger had moments earlier.

A post-match beatdown brought out Sting and Darby Allin, who look set to rekindle their rivalry with the leader of the Mogul Embassy.

This was a good contest between two guys with momentum on their side and a finish that protected Strickland while advancing the story that Cassidy is feeling mounting pressure and desperation with every passing title defense.

The last two or so months have proved that starting a show with Cassidy is hardly a bad idea.

Result

Cassidy defeated Strickland to retain

Grade

B+

Top Moments

• Cassidy sported additional K-Tape, really selling the effects of his grueling title defenses in recent months.
• Cassidy delivered a running DDT from the ring apron to the floor and added a diving DDT back in the ring, but Strickland kicked out.
• Strickland uncorked the House Call and double stomp. He then hooked the jeans but still could not keep Cassidy down for three.
• Cassidy proved turnabout is fair play by hooking his rival's tights to retain the title, as commentator Excalibur put over the mounting desperation of the champion.

Trios Match: Chaos vs. Blackpool Combat Club

Blackpool Combat Club's Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli continued their winning ways, overcoming an early onslaught from New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Chaos faction of Rocky Romero, Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor to pick up a convincing victory.

The heels looked like total badasses in doing so, essentially shrugging off everything their opponents threw at them before putting them away decisively.

The post-match challenge by "Hangman" Adam Page, Matt and Nick Jackson for a tag match on next week's show sets up a high-profile main event and continues the war between BCC and The Elite.

Beyond that, this was a nice way to introduce the fans to the upcoming program between Bryan Danielson, who sat in on commentary, and NJPW's Kazhuchika Okada. That bout is rightly considered a dream match.

Booking The Rainmaker's faction against Danielson's here was a great excuse to plant the seeds for that feud, which should take shape in the coming weeks ahead of Forbidden Door on June 25.

Result

Blackpool Combat Club defeated Chaos

Grade

B

Top Moments

• A video package recapping Danielson's challenge to  Okada for Forbidden Door aired. Excalibur followed up by explaining who Chaos were for fans unfamiliar with Okada and his NJPW faction.
• Continuing the NJPW connection, Excalibur revealed Moxley and Castagnoli just returned from Japan, where they appeared on the promotion's Dominion card.
• Best Friends scored a close two-count on Moxley off Strong Zero.
• Moxley tapped Romero out with the bulldog choke, while Yuta pummeled Taylor with elbow strikes for the win.
• After the match, Page and the Bucks appeared on screen and challenged Moxley, Yuta and Castagnoli to a trios match on next week's show in Washington D.C.

MJF Promo

If you thought Adam Cole vs. MJF for the AEW World Championship was the direction things would head in the wake of Double or Nothing, you were right.

Cole interrupted the titleholder's promo Wednesday night and engaged him in a war of words, including mentions of Vince McMahon, Britt Baker and Cole's physique.

For fans who like insider digs, this probably hit harder than for those who like more traditional promos as it did little to establish any real issue between the two outside of general dislike.

MJF spiced it up with his admission that he was a Cole fan, but there will need to be more meat to this rivalry than what we saw here.

Still, it was a solid segment but like most of the champion's promos over the last four or so months, it went on way longer than it needed to. Wrapping things up at a crescendo rather than trying to get 10-15 minutes out of a promo segment should really be the goal.

Grade

B

Top Moments

• "You became the greatest world champion in the history of that organization and that is undisputed. A little wordplay for ya," MJF recalled Cole's momentous WWE NXT run as leader of The Undisputed Era.
  
• "Didn't you used to have the body and physique of a world champion?" MJF asked before delivering a follow-up line that can best be described as being "in bad taste." 
• "You know what they do to make MJF cool? They ring the freaking bell," The Devil said in a nice callback to Cole's scathing promo on Karrion Kross in NXT.
• Cole responded to insults about his body by suggesting he and MJF head backstage, take a drug test and determine who's natural and who's not.
• "No one respects you," Cole told the champ.

'Jungle Boy' Jack Perry and Hook vs. Preston Vance and Dralístico

The short-lived rivalry featuring the team of Jack Perry and Hook against Preston Vance and Dralístico came to a head Wednesday in a Texas Tornado tag team match.

The contest saw the babyfaces fight fury with fury, bloodying Vance before Jungle Boy tapped out Dralístico with a Snare Trap.

It was nice to see the callback to Perry and Hook's previous short-term partnership, but the heels have been so inconsistently used that it's impossible not to think this would have meant so much more had fans had any reason to care about Vance and Dralístico.

Instead, they came off as big bads of the week, introduced for a short period before being beaten back into irrelevancy. That doesn't help anyone involved, no matter how much some will claim it was a strong victory for the babyfaces.

Result

Perry and Hook defeated Dralístico and Vance

Grade

C+

Top Moments

• Perry attacked Dralístico, clawing at his mask in a move that is traditionally something a heel would do.
• Hook jumped off the guardrail and rocked Vance with a steel chain-wrapped fist, busting him open.
• The babyfaces teamed up on Vance, culminating with a chair shot from Perry and a T-Bone suplex from Hook through a table.
• Hook trapped manager Jose in Redrum and Perry applied the Snare Trap on Dralístico for the submission win.

Konosuke Takeshita Squashes The Competition; Kris Statlander Defends vs. Anna Jay

Konosuke Takeshita beat down, pummeled and squashed local competitor Damon Ace in an uncontested match before Don Callis cut a promo, again drowned out by the jeers of the crowd, in which he took credit for Kenny Omega's career successes.

It did not add much of anything to the story but kept Takeshita and Callis on-screen, so it's hard to argue against a few minutes devoted to showcasing a top-tier heel in this post-Double or Nothing landscape.

Then, Kris Statlander defended her TBS Championship against Anna Jay in a competitive match. Jay worked the head and neck during the commercial break, but the titleholder fought back and ultimately put her away for the successful retention.

Taya Valkyrie watched from backstage, continuing the tease that she will be the first real feud for Statlander that at least makes sense within the context of events at Double or Nothing.

Valkyrie has always been a better heel anyway, so putting her in that spot against a beloved babyface should only help to strengthen Statlander while positioning the former Impact Wrestling and AAA star in a role that better suits her.

Result

Takeshita defeated Ace; Statlander defeated Jay to retain

Grade

C+ for Takeshita's squash; C+ for the title match

Top Moments

• Backstage, Christian Cage avenged his loss to Wardlow at DoN by attacking Brock Anderson, the son of Arn, who interfered on behalf of The War Dog in the TNT Championship ladder match.
• The production team rolled the footage of Callis betraying Omega and the shocking turn of Takeshita while the latter picked up the victory in short order.
• Valkyrie, still frustrated over the way DoN went, watched from backstage as Statlander retained via Tombstone.

Ricky Starks vs. Jay White

Jay White did not need interference from Bullet Club Gold teammate Juice Robinson to ensure a victory in this week's main event, thanks to interference from Austin and Colten Gunn that left the AEW fans and commentary team befuddled.

With referee Paul Turner down, the former tag champs slid into the ring and wiped out Starks, allowing Switchblade to recover and deliver his Blade Runner finisher for the hard-fought, though tainted, win.

The outcome seemingly creates the separation between Starks that will allow him to go off and battle The Gunns in some form or fashion while White breaks off to combat FTR alongside Robinson.

In what universe Tony Khan and AEW brass think Starks would best be utilized in a feud with the second-generation heels is anyone's guess, though. He is better than that, an immensely talented performer who should be above heating White up for a run at the tag titles or with CM Punk.

As it stands, Switchblade picked up a big win and now sets his sights on a historic first Collision main event where he will share the ring with Punk in a moment that bodes well for him as he continues to find his footing in AEW.

Result

White defeated Starks

Grade

B+

Top Moments

• Earlier in the show, Tony Khan announced White would team with Robinson and Ring of Honor TV champion Samoa Joe against AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR and CM Punk in the main event of the Collision premiere on June 17.
• Late in the match, Starks obliterated Switchblade with a Spear and added the Rochambeau, but the latter led to a referee bump.
• The Gunns slid into the ring, delivered 3:10 to Yuma and set up White's victory via Blade Runner.

Overall Grade

There is a lot happening in AEW right now.

Maybe too much, but Tony Khan has done a solid job of differentiating what he is planning for Collision versus what he has in store for Forbidden Door, and this show proved it.

The main event was centered on promoting Collision, while Bryan Danielson and Kazuchika Okada's epic encounter at Forbidden Door was previewed at the same time as Blackpool Combat Club's feud with The Elite advanced by way of a challenge for next week.

We also saw the opening promo in a feud between MJF and Adam Cole that could be a headline bout at Forbidden Door on June 25 or even at All In on August 27 in London.

There are clearly plans in place, and the directions for several top stars are obvious.

The question, as has always been the case with Khan and Co., is whether things can stay on track long enough to get there in a way that keeps fans invested or—as was the case at Double or Nothing—dismayed by frustratingly rushed cards.

This week's show earned a solid thumbs-up, gave fans something to be excited about in the future and highlighted key players who will carry AEW through the summer.

Grade: B+