AEW announced the eight men and eight women who will compete for the Owen Hart Foundation Cup on last night’s episode of Dynamite.

The tournament finals will take place at Double or Nothing in May. The winners will get World title matches at the biggest show of the year, All In Texas in July.

APRIL MADNESS

The Owen Cup action will kick off at the Dynasty pay-per-view on Sunday in Philadelphia. Here are the first-round matchups for the men’s bracket:

·      Will Ospreay vs. Kevin Knight (at Dynasty)

·      Konosuke Takeshita vs. Brody King

·      Mark Briscoe vs. Kyle Fletcher

·      “Hangman” Adam Page vs. Wild Card

Ospreay and Knight teamed up to beat Blake Christian & Lee Johnson. King scored a victory over Lance Archer.

If you’re wondering why Knight is in the tournament despite losing his AEW debut to Jay White, the Death Riders attacked and injured “Switchblade” before Dynamite.

Here are the women’s first-round matchups:

·      Mercedes Mone vs. Julia Hart (at Dynasty)

·      Kris Statlander vs. Thunder Rosa

·      Jamie Hayter vs. Billie Starkz

·      Harley Cameron vs. Athena

WHOMPING WILLOW

Swerve Strickland teamed with Willow Nightingale to beat Jon Moxley & Marina Shafir in a mixed tornado match. Willow pinned Shafir after a powerbomb.

After the match, Moxley drilled Willow with the Paradigm Shift DDT. Swerve will go after Moxley’s World title at Dynasty.

Women’s World champion “Timeless” Toni Storm defeated Penelope Ford with the Storm Zero piledriver.

Storm will defend her title at Dynasty against Megan Bayne.

Bryan Keith & Big Bill won a squash match, as they will get a shot at The Hurt Syndicate for the AEW tag team title.

Cope defeated Claudio Castagnoli in the main event. Cope will team with FTR to challenge Claudio, PAC, & Wheeler Yuta for the AEW trios title at Dynasty.

After the match, the Death Riders attacked Strickland and dragged him to the ring. Claudio powerbombed Swerve onto a pile of broken glass, but Strickland sat up and laughed at Moxley.