Category: AEW Dynamite

Backstage Report Details Reactions To AEW All In Footage Being Aired

Wednesday night’s “AEW Dynamite” featured the controversial decision to air real security footage from the backstage altercation between CM Punk and Jack Perry at last year’s AEW All In pay-per-view. Now that the dust has settled, a new report from Fightful Select provides some insight into the reaction to the video from within AEW and WWE.

The response from industry insiders regarding the footage was referred to as “tepid,” with the attitude backstage in AEW reportedly deflating following the segment. However, it’s said that was largely due to the knowledge of the inevitable online backlash rather than offense over what was shown. Some AEW performers expressed their opinion that the TV time devoted to the Punk-Perry drama could have been better utilized by someone else, but the segment was intended to promote the upcoming rematch between the Young Bucks and FTR.

Matt and Nick Jackson introduced the clip onscreen and were said to have been fine with the segment; as was FTR, who are friends with Punk and responded to the clip with a promo of their own. As for the idea behind playing the footage, it was said to have come from AEW CEO Tony Khan following Punk’s interview with Ariel Helwani last week.

Inside WWE, the decision to air the footage was referred to by some as a “self-own,” while others informed the outlet that they simply didn’t care about the development. It was stated that Punk isn’t receiving any kind of blowback from the video internally, and people inside the company are more concerned with recovering from the hectic week surrounding WWE WrestleMania 40. One source who has spent time in both WWE and AEW downplayed the segment’s controversy, stating that it was the same kind of promotional ploy used by WWE and WCW during the Monday Night Wars.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Dynamite Preview 4/10/2024

AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS and emanate from the Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, West Virginia.

  • AEW World Championship Eliminator Match: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Dustin Rhodes
  • TNT Championship: Adam Copeland (c) vs. Penta El Zero Miedo
  • Mariah May vs. Anna Jay
  • Chris Jericho, HOOK, & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Shane Taylor Promotions (Anthony Ogogo, Shane Taylor, & Lee Moriarty)
  • Matthew & Nicholas Jackson will reveal backstage footage from AEW All In at Wembley Stadium
  • Toni Storm to toast Thunder Rosa
  • Mercedes Mone expected to appear

AEW Dynamite Preview 4/3/2024

AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS from the DCU Center in Worcester, MA.

  • Will Ospreay vs. Powerhouse Hobbs
  • AEW Women’s Title Eliminator: Thunder Rosa vs. Mariah May
  • AEW World Tag Team Championship Tournament Semifinal: Young Bucks vs. Best Friends
  • Billy Gunn vs. Jay White
  • Contract Signing for AEW World Title Match at Dynasty with Samoa Joe and Swerve Strickland
  • Chris Jericho calls out Hook

AEW Dynamite Preview 3/27/2024

AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS from the Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

  • Will Ospreay vs. Katsuyori Shibata
  • Swerve Strickland vs. Konosuke Takeshita – The winner will be ranked #1 as the updated rankings will also be released
  • AEW Tag Team Championships Tournament Quarterfinals: The Young Bucks vs. Private Party
  • AEW Tag Team Championships Tournament Quarterfinals: Best Friends vs. Undisputed Kingdom
  • TBS Championship Number One Contender Match: Anna Jay vs. Willow Nightingale vs. Skye Blue vs. Kris Statlander. Mercedes Mone’ will be on Commentary – The winner will earn a title opportunity at Dynasty on April 21 in St. Louis, MO.

AEW Dynamite & Rampage Preview 3/20/2024

AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS from the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, followed by a special live Wednesday night episode of Rampage.

Dynamite

  • TNT Championship – I Quit Match: Christian Cage (c) vs. Adam Copeland
  • AEW Continental Championship: Eddie Kingston (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada
  • We’ll hear from Mercedes Mone
  • Deonna Purrazzo & Thunder Rosa vs. Toni Storm & Mariah May
  • Chris Jericho vs. Hook

Rampage

  • Street Fight: Kris Statlander & Willow Nightingale vs. Julia Hart & Skye Blue
  • AEW Tag Team Championship Tournament Wildcard Match: Best Friends (Orange Cassidy & Trent Beretta) vs. Don Callis Family (Kyle Fletcher & Powerhouse Hobbs)

Mercedes Mone Makes Thunderous AEW Debut In Dynamite: Big Business Opening Segment, Saves Willow Nightingale, Drops Julia Hart At End Of Show

Mercedes Mone is officially All Elite, and “The CEO” has arrived in AEW.

Mone made her debut to open “AEW Dynamite: Big Business” in Boston, to raucous “CEO” chants from her hometown crowd. Mone thanked the crowd for having her back for the past two years and giving her the courage and strength to be there. She said she will be creating “so many moments” with the fans because every single fan is the reason she is now in AEW.

“If you only knew how much tonight means to me… how much wrestling means to me,” Mone said. She also shouted out her childhood hero, Eddie Guerrero. She said he always gave her hope that she too could wrestle one day. She looked to the heavens in the middle of the ring and thanked him. Mone also mentioned leading a women’s evolution, and that her dreams made her become the first-ever woman to main event a pay-per-view, in the same building “Dynamite” was being held in, TD Garden.

https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1768065551962718437

Mone said she has been watching “Dynamite” week after week, and she can’t wait to tear it up with every woman in the locker room. Mone specifically called out Willow Nightingale, as the crowd booed, and said they have unfinished business. Mone suffered a serious ankle injury while facing Nightingale during the finals of the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship tournament. The match’s finish reportedly had to be changed on the fly, with Nightingale becoming the first ever NJPW Strong Women’s Champion. It had been rumored for weeks that Mone would make her debut, and the rumors were fueled by AEW President Tony Khan branding the show “Big Business.” Mone reportedly has been signed to the company since the beginning of 2024.

Capping the “Big Business” episode of “AEW Dynamite,” Willow Nightingale fought off a game Riho in the main event before the lights went out and she was confronted by House of Black’s Julia Hart and attacked from behind by Skye Blue. With the crowd chanting “CEO,” the newest addition to AEW’s roster, Mercedes Mone, emerged from the back to make the save, dropping Blue on the ramp and delivering a boot to the face to Hart before taking her down with the Mone Maker.

Mone’s involvement after the main event means she bookended the show, after kicking things off in spectacular fashion, featuring a new song and an updated look, while sending the crowd into a frenzy. Her debut was long-rumored, and heavily implied since the announcement of “Big Business,” but that took away nothing from the crowd’s enjoyment, and they bought right in, imploring her to make the save for Nightingale, and rejoicing once again when she came back out, wardrobe change and all, ready to take care of business, fittingly.

Nightingale, who finished Riho after a Doctor Bomb, was Mone’s last opponent, besting her at New Japan Pro-Wrestling STRONG Resurgence back in May of 2023 to capture the vacant NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship. In that match, Mone suffered an ankle injury that she later revealed was feared to be career-threatening for a time. The former Sasha Banks was reportedly set to win the title that night, with her injury forcing the outcome to be changed on the fly.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Dynamite ‘Big Business’ Preview 3/13/2024

AEW Dynamite ‘Big Business’ will air live tonight on TBS from TD Garden in Boston, MA.

  • Mercedes Mone is expected to make her AEW debut.
  • AEW World Championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Wardlow
  • Riho vs. Willow Nightingale
  • Eddie Kingston, PAC and Penta El Zero Miedo vs. The Elite (Kazuchika Okada, Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson)
  • Darby Allin vs. Jay White
  • Hook and Chris Jericho vs. Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona)

Tony Khan Says AEW “Is Now Stronger Than Ever Before,” Vows Fans Won’t Be Disappointed With Big Business

During an interview with TVInsider.com, AEW President Tony Khan hyped up the “Big Business” edition of Dynamite tonight. 

The episode is expected to feature the debut of Mercedes Mone. He said, 

“I promise I will not disappoint the fans tonight. There has been an influx of huge names, and tonight is the biggest show yet. When we launched AEW, it was the first time in many years that so many resources and such a strong roster of wrestlers have come together to form a new challenger promotion. After five years, AEW is now stronger than ever before. Our roster continues to get deeper and better. This has become a popular destination that top stars seek out. This is the perfect time to continue expanding and growing. That is what tonight is all about. AEW Big Business. With such a strong group of wrestlers in AEW today, we’ve come so far from the beginning of 2019. Now we have what I believe is the best roster in pro wrestling today. There are still so many great stars out there we are always looking to add and strengthen the group. I think we will continue to try to strengthen whenever we can add someone’s skills to make AEW better. I think that constant innovation and the perpetual strides toward always wanting to get better are a big part of the spirit of AEW. I think tonight’s Big Business show on TBS will showcase that innovation and fighting spirit.”

Kazuchika Okada Makes Official AEW Debut, Replaces Kenny Omega & Adam Page In The Elite

While huge announcements are customarily reserved for Tony Khan in AEW, The Young Bucks exerted their EVP authority on “AEW Dynamite” and were about to break some huge news themselves before Eddie Kingston interrupted them, leading to a fight. As the Bucks set Kingston up for the EVP Trigger, none other than “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada hit the ring to make the save — or so it seemed, before Okada turned on Kingston and was announced as the newest member of The Elite.

That group, of which the Bucks are founding members, was newly free of “Hangman” Adam Page and Kenny Omega. Prior to the exchange with Kingston and Okada’s debut, Matthew and Nicholas Jackson declared that Page was “suspended indefinitely from The Elite without pay,” for contact with officials at Revolution, and that Omega was outright fired from The Elite for not making any of his dates of late, “for no good reason.” Omega, of course, has been out since mid-December battling diverticulitis, while it’s been reported that Page is taking time off following Revolution.

After finishing up with New Japan Pro-Wrestling at “The New Beginning In Sapporo” on February 24th, Okada returns to AEW, this time as a full-time competitor, having competed for the promotion three times prior in 2022 and 2023. He leaves NJPW a seven-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, a NEVER Openweight 6-man Tag Team Champion (with Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii), a four-time winner of the G1 Climax tournament, and a two-time winner of the New Japan Cup. Those accolades may have had AEW fans prepared to welcome him to the company as a hero, but his instantaneous alignment with the EVPs seems to have flipped that script right at the start.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Dynamite Preview 3/6/2024

AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS from the Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia.

AEW announced took to X on Tuesday, revealing that this will be a new look and a new season of AEW Dynamite.

  • Fallout from AEW Revolution
  • Kyle Fletcher vs Will Ospreay
  • Kris Statlander vs. Riho