Category: AEW

Eddie Kingston Was Reportedly Suspended For Backstage Altercation With Sammy Guevara

Eddie Kingston was reportedly suspended recently for getting into a verbal dispute with Sammy Guevera.

According to Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer, Kingston “was secretly suspended from AEW” a few weeks ago after a backstage incident involving Guevera. However, Kingston has already finished serving the suspension imposed upon him by AEW President Tony Khan.

Fightful Select later confirmed Meltzer’s report, noting that the word backstage was that “Guevara made a comment about Kingston’s physique,” which prompted Kingston to take a swing at Guevera. “We’ve not confirmed that with anyone that witnessed it, and reached out to both parties,” the report noted.

Fightful added that due to Kingston’s absence from recent AEW tapings, at least one segment to build up to his once-planned All Out match against Guevera has been scrapped. It’s unknown if the match will be finalized during next week’s All Out go-home shows.

Kingston and Guevera have been feuding on AEW TV since the latter helped Chris Jericho defeat Kingston in a Barbed Wire Everywhere Match last month. Thereafter, on the August 3 episode of “AEW Dynamite,” Kingston interrupted a Guevera/Tay Melo video package to challenge Guevera to a match at All Out. When Guvera accepted the challenge at the August 10 “AEW Rampage” tapings, Kingston appeared via video screen and said he was going on a vacation. This was followed by Ruby Soho & Ortiz challenging Guevera & Tay to a future match.

Interestingly, the segment where Guevara accepted Kingston’s challenge never aired on the August 12 “AEW Rampage,” and no reference to the match has been made since. One can assume this was due to Kingston serving his suspension.

Guevara & Melo will defend their AAA Mixed Tag Team titles against Ortiz and Soho this week on “AEW Rampage.” If the Kingston vs. Guevera match is still planned for All Out, Kingston could potentially return soon. According to Fightful, it is unknown if the “situation has since been rectified, or the status of the match moving forward.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW’s Chief Legal Officer Has Contacted WWE About Alleged Contract Tampering

It might not be a war, but the healthy competition between WWE and AEW appears to have been ramped up since Vince McMahon retired and Triple H took over as head of creative. Tony Khan has admitted wrestling fans who had grown disillusioned with WWE would naturally be tuning back in to see what’s changed, even admitting there has been an improvement in the quality of his rivals’ product since The Game took over creative.

Outside of the quality of the shows, the biggest talking point since WWE’s backstage changes has been which wrestlers will be going where. Triple H has been bringing people back left and right, leaving some fans wondering if they now regret becoming All Elite. There have even been reports WWE approached someone currently under contract with AEW, presumably to gauge their interest in coming back.

It’s still unclear if that actually happened, and the wrestler approached has not been named. However, according to PWInsider, the topic has been taken very seriously behind the scenes in AEW. Khan held a company-wide meeting hours before Dynamite on Wednesday, and one of the many topics apparently discussed was the alleged approach by somebody from WWE.

According to the report, talent at the meeting were informed that AEW’s chief legal officer Megah Parekh sent an email to Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan. The email warned WWE’s co-CEOs against tampering with contracted AEW stars in the future. Parekh might not be a name many fans are familiar with, but apparently she is effectively Khan’s number two in AEW.

Approaching a talent who is under contract with a rival company is obviously a big no-no. Depending on what exactly is discussed, of course. If someone within WWE did do what they have been accused of, and plan on doing it again, it’s hard to imagine they would do it so overtly that they would leave themselves open to legal action. As for who that talent might be, that will be left to fans’ imaginations for the time being.

Source: TheSportster

Jon Moxley Handily Defeats CM Punk To Become Unified AEW Champion, Update On All Out Main Event

CM Punk returned to AEW two weeks ago after a spell on the sidelines, seemingly setting up a showdown to crown the one true champion at All Out. That wasn’t the plan as was revealed shortly after. Punk and Interim Champion Jon Moxley’s unification match was announced for Dynamite instead. Wednesday’s Dynamite, and now AEW once again has just one World Champion.

That man is Moxley, and the surprises kept on coming before and after the match. The first surprise was that not only was AEW not saving what was arguably one of the biggest matches in its short history for a PPV, but it didn’t even save it for Dynamite’s main event. Moxley’s music hit midway through the show, indicating the match was about to begin at the halfway point.

Both Punk and Moxley proudly held their respective titles aloft as the announcers promised multiple times that AEW would stick with the action for as long as it takes. A sign to some that the match might go the full second hour and other scheduled bouts would need to be pushed. It was the exact opposite of that. Moxley beat Punk shockingly quickly, solidifying himself as AEW’s one true champion.

CM Punk appeared to re-injure his leg in the closing stages of the very short match.

Punk hit Moxley in the side of the head with a well-placed roundhouse kick during the early goings, and even though it sent Mox to the mat, Punk also went down like a shot too. As soon as Punk landed, he clutched his standing leg, the same one he injured. That opened the door for Moxley to take the advantage, dominating Punk from there on in which wasn’t long at all.

Mox took his title and celebrated in the crowd as Punk was helped to the back. What remains unclear hours after the match is whether Punk’s injury was legitimate or not. This whole situation has been entirely unpredictable and a little bit bizarre from the moment Punk returned. 

Despite Jon Moxley winning the AEW World Championship unification match in dominant fashion on “AEW Dynamite” this week, the planned main event for the upcoming All Out PPV has supposedly remained unchanged. According to Dave Meltzer on the latest “Wrestling Observer Radio,” the match slated to headline the show next Sunday is still Moxley vs. CM Punk for the AEW World Championship, though it’s unknown if any stipulations will be getting added.

It had been reported before the unification match happened that the two men would meet for the unified title at All Out, which many fans expected to be their first collision in AEW, but after the way their encounter was booked on “AEW Dynamite,” doubts began to creep in. While some sort of outside angle or controversial finish was widely expected to setup a rematch at the PPV, that was not the case, as Moxley picked up the victory clean. Punk connected with a kick at the start of the match, then began selling a foot injury — the reason he’s been off television for several months, and the reason Moxley became Interim Champion in the first place. 

From there, Moxley focused on the foot and secured a quick, clean win in just over three minutes, to the surprise of everyone watching. Punk was helped to the back by doctors, while Moxley cut a passionate promo about how it’s his time, but no official announcement or angle was done to set up a potential rematch. With the PPV taking place on Sunday, September 4, that leaves just one more episode of “AEW Dynamite,” as well as two episodes of “AEW Rampage,” for Tony Khan to get the match booked if it is, in fact, still taking place.

Sources: TheSportster and Wrestling Inc.

Motor City Machine Guns To Debut For AEW At All Out

Legendary Impact Wrestling and ROH tag team The Motor City Machine Guns will team up with Jay Lethal at AEW All Out.

Prior to this Wednesday night, fans understood the Wardlow and FTR to be lined up for a six-man tag team match at AEW All Out against Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, and Satnam Singh. However, after Lethal defeated Dax Harwood on Dynamite, Dutt got on the mic to claim they’d never said who would represent their team at the PPV. Rather than Dutt and Singh, it will be The Motor City Machine Guns, Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley, joining Lethal.

Despite their tremendous talent, it’s possible for fans who’ve only followed WWE, WCW, and AEW to have not had The Motor City Machine Guns land on their radar. Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin are quite arguably the greatest tag team in Impact Wrestling history, in addition to stints in New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor. They’re a fast-paced, high-flying team. Yes, they may have lost a step athletically since they first started being featured together fifteen years ago. The duo has the experience and ring savvy to still perform at high level, though, including staging one of the best matches of the night at the recent Ric Flair’s Last Match PPV opposite The Wolves.

It has yet to be seen if the pair will become AEW mainstays, be more associated with ROH, or if this will be a one-off booking. Nonetheless, the idea of them teaming with Jay Lethal has a great deal of promise.

Earlier this summer, FTR’s Cash Wheeler went on the record to say he wanted to face The Motor City Machine Guns. While this trios contest won’t be quite the same as a straight-up tag team match, Jay Lethal is an elite in-ring talent, and Wardlow is a good talent with a lot of momentum, not to mention a powerhouse who thrives on pulling off feats of strength working multiple opponents simultaneously. Add up these factors and the new line-up for this match is more promising than when it appeared Sonjay Dutta and Satnam Singh were involved.

The All Out card had just started taking shape in earnest. While there are still significant puzzle pieces to fill in, Wardlow and FTR vs. Jay Lethal and The Motor City Machine Guns offers and additional bout that might threaten to steal the show on September 4.

Source: TheSportster

Thunder Rosa Injured, Interim AEW Women’s Champion To Be Crowned At All Out

AEW Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa is unable to defend her title due to an injury … but she’s not relinquishing the gold. Instead, AEW will crown an interim AEW Women’s Champion at the promotion’s upcoming All Out pay-per-view.

During a backstage interview with Tony Schiavone on this week’s edition of AEW Dynamite on TBS, Rosa revealed that she will be taking some time off to recover from an injury. As a result, Toni Storm, and Jamie Hayter, former AEW Women’s Champions Britt Baker and Hikaru Shida will compete in a four-way match at All Out on September 4.

AEW Dynamite Preview 8/24/22

AEW will air live tonight on TBS, and emanate from the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, OH.

As of this report, AEW is advertising the following for tonight’s show.

  • –AEW Undisputed World Championship Match: CM Punk (c) vs. Interim Champion Jon Moxley
  • -Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. vs. KiLynn King
  • -AEW World Trios Championship Tournament – Quarterfinals: Death Triangle vs. Will Ospreay & Aussie Open
  • -Dax Harwood vs. Jay Lethal
  • -Billy Gunn vs. Colten Gunn
  • -Chris Jericho and Daniel Garcia will go face-to-face
  • -Ricky Stars speaks

STARDOM Teases ‘Super Big Foreign Wrestlers’ For Upcoming Show

All sorts of things are happening right now in World Wonder Ring Stardom. The promotion is set to have talent appearing on New Japan shows in the United States for the first time starting in October, followed by a joint show with New Japan, called Historic x-Over, in November, where the first-ever IWGP Women’s Champion will be crowned. And the latest announcement seems to suggest a big player could be involved in the tournament to crown the first champion.

Early this morning, Stardom made the following announcement on Twitter.

“Urgent notice,” Stardom tweeted. “Super big foreign wrestlers from overseas decided to participate in the [IWGP Women’s Championship tournament]!! Scheduled to be announced at Korakuen Hall on 8/27!”

Shortly after the announcement, Japanese Twitter user Shigeo provided his own translation that confirmed the news, while also providing an additional comment from Stardom promoter Rossy Ogawa. Shigeo’s translation referred to the teased foreign wrestler as “an unbelievably famous non-Japanese Joshi wrestler.”

Stardom provided no other hints at who the mystery talent could be. One name that will likely receive a ton of speculation is AEW star Toni Storm. Storm previously worked for Stardom from 2016 to 2018, winning the World of Stardom and SWA Undisputed Women’s Championships, as well as the 2017 Cinderella and 5Star Grand Prix tournaments. While no known working relationship exists between AEW and Stardom, a July report suggested the two sides were discussing a plan to work together, and Storm was named as a talent Stardom would be interested in using. Storm is currently scheduled to challenge for the AEW Women’s World Championship at AEW All Out on September 4, taking on the current champion — and Storm’s tag team partner — Thunder Rosa.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Rampage Preview 8/19/22

Tonight’s AEW Rampage continues at the West Virginia Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center, airing on TNT at 10/9C.

  • We Hear From ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli
  • Penelope Ford vs. Athena
  • AEW World Trios Championship Quarterfinal: Trustbusters (Parker Bordeaux, Slim J, and Ari Daivari) w/Sonny Kiss vs. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, and Orange Cassidy)
  • FTW Championship: Hook (c) vs. Zack Clayton
  • AEW World Tag Team Championship: Swerve In Our Glory (Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland) (c) vs. Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen)
https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1560676718565904384

Update On MJF’S AEW Status

The future of AEW star Maxwell Jacob Friedman — or MJF as he’s better known — has been up in the air for quite some time. The 26-year-old has been open about the possibility of jumping ship to WWE when his AEW contract expires in 2024, and his backstage issues in recent months have been well-documented.

MJF has been absent from AEW television since the episode of “Dynamite” that aired on June 1. His last appearance saw him take to the mic and air his grievances with Tony Khan for spending millions on ex-WWE superstars while leaving him in the lurch. The promo culminated with MJF begging Khan to fire him before calling him a “f***ing mark.” It’s been radio silence ever since.

However, it appears that MJF could be heading back to television in the near future, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. No specific date has been reported as of this writing, though it’s speculated that he could return in the coming weeks as AEW will soon be negotiating a new television deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, and the September TV ratings could be crucial in securing acceptable terms.

The report noted that AEW’s ratings have been down in recent times and the wrestling world has undergone significant changes following the retirement of Vince McMahon. WWE has a lot of momentum right now, so AEW needs “all hands on deck” as soon as possible.

Elsewhere, the report noted that MJF versus CM Punk could be on the cards when the former returns to action. Punk tried to confront MJF following the aforementioned shoot promo on June 1, potentially setting up another angle between them. However, given that CM Punk is reportedly unhappy in AEW at the moment, there is no telling what will happen.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

REPORT: There is “a ton of backstage drama” involving many top AEW stars

AEW World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk made headlines this week after he went off script and called out Hangman Adam Page on Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite. Page was never planned for the segment to answer Punk’s challenge to a rematch.

As previously reported, there was a concern that Punk wouldn’t show up for the event. After his promo about Page, he shifted his focus to calling out Interim World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley.

In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that right now, there is “a ton of backstage drama involving many of the top guys that has gotten much worse in recent weeks.”

Meltzer suggested that AEW President Tony Khan have a meeting with the top stars to address the issues before things get worse. 

Punk will take on Moxley in a title unification bout on next week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, a match that many believed would be the main event of All Out next month in Chicago.

Meltzer also reported that Colt Cabana’s AEW status is an issue between Page and Punk.

Source: WrestlingNews.co