Tonight’s episode of AEW Rampage is the final show before this weekend’s All Out. Tonight’s show airs on TNT at 10 PM ET/7 PM PT:
* AEW World Trios Championship Tournament Semifinal Match: Best Friends (Orange Cassidy, Trent, Chuck Taylor) vs. Dark Order (Hangman Page, John Silver, Alex Reynolds)
* Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti vs. Ruby Soho & Ortiz
* Ricky Starks vs. QT Marshall
* Mark Henry has a sit-down interview with Jade Cargill and Athena
It appears that Kyle O’Reilly underwent neck surgery on Thursday.
On his Instagram account, the AEW star posted a photo of himself laying in a hospital bed along with another picture that indicates that he had neck fusion surgery.
The last time O’Reilly wrestled was on the June 8 episode of Dynamite and he last appeared on the 8/3 show where he and Bobby Fish and Adam Cole turned on The Young Bucks.
There is no word on how long O’Reilly will be out of action but the nature of the surgery would indicate that he will be out at least for several months. WWE star Edge and Hall Of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin underwent neck fusion surgeries many years ago and they were out for many months.
O’Reilly’s tag team partner, Bobby Fish, has finished up with the company because both sides did not come to terms on a contract renewal. O’Reilly and Adam Cole are under 5-year deals.
Source: WrestlingNews.co
Raj Giri is reporting that Malakai Black has asked for his release from AEW but it was not granted. Giri said the following on Twitter:
“I heard an AEW star requested their release, and follow up sources indicate it was Malakai Black. He reportedly has repeatedly shown concerns about his mental health due to personal life and demoralization due to the booking and handling of his character. (1)”
There has been no public comment from AEW or Black on this story but it is worth noting that Black is one of the names that Triple H pushed in NXT and WWE has reportedly reached out to several AEW talent in recent weeks. Dave Meltzer reported the following in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter about people who were contacted:
“Regarding the talent approached by WWE, as we noted last week it was multiple people, generally the people who had worked with Paul Levesque in the past in NXT. Several told AEW which led to the legal letter sent to Levesque, Stephanie and Nick Khan. There was at least one person who asked for his release, which hasn’t been granted and the person has a long time left on his deal.”
Several of the ex-WWE talent signed with AEW have years left on their deal.
Source: WrestlingNews.co with credit to Raj Giri
One-half of ReDRagon, Bobby Fish, might be on his way out of AEW.
AEW has been struggling with several instances of backstage drama and disputes. For example, Eddie Kingston and Sammy Guevara got into a physical altercation backstage that led to Kingston being briefly suspended from the company. There are also several rumors that AEW Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa is facing genuine resentment from Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter.
Now it seems that contract news is joining the fray of stories coming out of the AEW locker room. The latest subject of speculation is the Undisputed Bobby Fish.
A report posted from Fightful Select writes that AEW will not be renewing Bobby Fish’s contract with the company. Though it’s unclear exactly when his contract is up, it will likely be within the next month. Fish has been absent from AEW programming for the last few weeks due to injury; it’s now unclear whether Bobby Fish will return to TV before his contract expires.
Bobby Fish made his AEW debut on October 6 2021 in a match against Sammy Guevara for the TNT Championship. He then aligned with his former teammate in NXT, Adam Cole, and the Young Bucks. When Kyle O’Reilly jumped ship to AEW, he and Bobby Fish immediately reunited as a tag team. When the Undisputed Elite split up, Fish predictably stayed on the side of Cole and O’Reilly.
Fans speculated that the Undisputed three would have a trios feud against the Elite now that Kenny Omega has returned from injury. However, all three have been on the shelf with injuries for the last few weeks. At the moment, there’s a strong possibility that fans have already seen O’Reilly, Cole and Fish in the ring together for the last time.
Source: TheSportster
The final episode of “AEW Dynamite” before the All Out pay-per-view will take place tonight at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. (Chicago area)
-Toni Storm & Hikaru Shida vs Britt Baker, D.M.D. & Jamie Hayter
-Jake Hager vs. Bryan Danielson
-World Trios Tournament Dynamite Final: Will Ospreay & Aussie Open vs. The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega to determine who moves on the tournament finals at All Out
-Jon Moxley will speak
Samoa Joe could be returning to the AEW ring sooner than later, according to PWInsider.
PWInsider reports that the Peacock series “Twisted Metal” has now wrapped shooting, which means Joe could be returning to the ring soon. Based on the PlayStation video games, the series will see Joe in a dual role with Will Arnett as the character Sweet Tooth. Arnett is the voice, while Joe will be the physical appearance of the clown. The series also stars Stephanie Beatriz, Neve Campbell, Thomas Haden Church, and Anthony Mackie.
Joe last wrestled at the ROH Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view, where he defeated Jay Lethal. Joe is the current ROH World Television Champion. He has held the title since defeating then-champion NJPW star Minoru Suzuki on the April 13 episode of “AEW Dynamite.”
After his WWE release on January 6, Joe signed with both AEW and ROH. He made his AEW in-ring debut on the April 7 episode of “Dynamite.” He won his debut match against The Acclaimed’s Max Caster and qualified for the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. Joe made it finals of the tournament but lost against Adam Cole at Double Or Nothing.
Before his AEW debut, he had made his return to ROH on April 1 at Supercard XV, where he saved Jonathan Gresham and Lee Moriarty from Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt. Supercard XV was ROH’s first event since being acquired by AEW CEO Tony Khan on March 2.
Along with his “Twisted Metal” role, Joe voiced King Shark for the upcoming DC video game, “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.”
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Fightful Select reported that FTR won’t be part of the first version of the AEW: Fight Forever video game.
The former AEW Tag Team Champions originally made it to the “model phase” of the game but were pulled this past Spring. FTR was told of the decision and wasn’t too happy about it because wrestlers being part of video games usually also comes with a significant bonus.
All Elite Wrestling and THQ Nordic announced the game earlier this month.
No official release date is still confirmed, but it is listed as December 31, 2022, on Amazon. The game is available for pre-order on Amazon for PC, Xbox, PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch with a price tag of $59.99.
FTR will team up with Wardlow vs. Jay Lethal & Motor City Machine Guns in a trios match at next Sunday’s AEW All Out.
Source: WrestlingNews.co
Tonight’s AEW Rampage episode on TNT was taped earlier this week from the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
AEW President, CEO, General Manager & Head of Creative Tony Khan took to Twitter last night and announced that exclusive backstage footage of CM Punk will air on tonight’s Rampage. The footage will show the aftermath of Punk’s loss to new Undisputed AEW World Champion Jon Moxley on Wednesday’s Dynamite.
AEW has announced the following line-up for tonight’s Rampage:
* Exclusive backstage footage of CM Punk will air, showing aftermath of his loss to AEW World Champion Jon Moxley on Dynamite
* AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill will speak
* AEW TNT Champion Wardlow defends against Ryan Nemeth
* Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo vs. Ruby Soho and Ortiz
* House of Black vs. The Dark Order in a match for the tournament to crown the inaugural AEW World Trios Champions. The winners will face the Best Friends in the next round
* ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli defends against Dustin Rhodes
It’s now been two days since Jon Moxley defeated CM Punk to become Undisputed AEW World Champion in one of the more dominating World Championship matches in recent memory, and as the shock wears off, fans are wondering just how this whole thing came together and what’s happening next. Luckily a new report is here to confirm some details and provide an update on what fans can expect. In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer seemed to confirm that another Punk-Moxley match will be happening soon, while also backing up previous reports that revealed a Moxley-Punk TV match wasn’t originally in the cards.
“A rematch between the two will headline All Out on September 4 in Chicago,” Meltzer said. “The announcers gave Punk a backstory of perhaps coming back too soon. He limped out of the ring, and no doubt the story of the Chicago match is that he goes in injured. This was not the original plan as far as doing the television match and this type of match.
“It wasn’t a ratings ploy, although the timing was such that they definitely wanted to boost ratings, as much as Moxley becoming the real champion as he personally hated the interim thing, and it being a way to tell a different story. Some didn’t like the short match. Others did. Some felt it would hurt doing a PPV rematch just 11 days later, and others felt the nature of how the match was done, being kept short and having an injury, puts more doubt and helps the PPV. Anyway, that answer to at least an extent will be determined shortly after the show.” It’s unknown when the Punk-Moxley rematch will be announced. Exclusive backstage footage of Punk following his loss is scheduled to be shown tonight on “AEW Rampage.”
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Warner Brothers Discovery has given a new directive to All Elite Wrestling.
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that “word has gotten to the promotion from WBD that they’d like the language toned down. As best we can tell, they have said nothing about the blood.”
Unlike WWE, AEW does not script its promos but gives bullet points to its wrestlers. Many wrestlers use the words “sh**” and “bi**h during their promos and other curse words.
During his memorable promo on the August 17 episode of AEW Dynamite where he called out Hangman Adam Page, which wasn’t planned, before setting up his match with Jon Moxley, Punk said “sh**” multiple times.
WarnerMedia and Discovery completed a multi-billion dollar merger between the two companies this past April. AEW President Tony Khan previously stated that he felt very good about the future of the promotion and their working relationship with Warner Bros Discovery following a meeting in May.
AEW reportedly takes in just under $45 million annually for its television rights. They will be going into contract talks before their deal expires in 2024.
Source: WrestlingNews.co
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