Category: AEW

AEW Hit With Class Action Complaint For Allegedly Violating The Americans With Disabilities Act

A plaintiff has filed a class action complaint against All Elite Wrestling, LLC (AEW) for allegedly violating the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).

According to Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics, the plaintiff claims that the Shop AEW website isn’t accessible to visually-impaired people.

The plaintiff has filed the lawsuit “for declaratory relief, injunctive relief and compensatory damages—including statutory and punitive damages—against defendant named herein, and alleges based upon the personal knowledge of plaintiff, the investigation of counsel, and upon information and belief.”

The filing notes that the plaintiff attempted to purchase products on the Shop AEW website in April, but was unsuccessful. The plaintiff wants a jury trial.

The lawsuit is similar to what WWE dealt with a few years ago. WWE had settled the WWE Shop lawsuit out of court for an undisclosed amount of money in December 2020.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Confirms First Game Will Be Called Fight Forever, Other New Details Revealed

New character models were shown off, and it was confirmed the game will also be coming to PC.

AEW continues to work on its first-ever console game, and while we still don’t know exactly when we’ll be able to get our hands on it, some additional information was revealed on Wednesday. During a presentation led by Dark Order’s Evil Uno on Twitch, it was confirmed that the game will be called Fight Forever. Rumors that would be the game’s name surfaced last month when fans were asked to chant it for the game during a Rampage taping.

A short new trailer for the game debuted during the presentation in which two more wrestlers were shown. Kris Statlander and Nyla Rose, the first female performers to be shown off in-game since the reveal of Hikaru Shida. Statlander can be seen making her entrance and then performing a few moves on Rose in the clip which you can check out below.

While it had already been confirmed that Fight Forever would be available on current and last-gen consoles, Uno has now added PC to that list. The game will arrive on PC at launch alongside the console version. Still no mention of a Nintendo Switch version which might mean, just like WWE 2K22, there won’t be an AEW game on the Nintendo platform, at least not yet.

More and more little details about Fight Forever have been making it out into the wild lately, suggesting its launch might be as close as has recently been hinted at. There’s a chance the game is here by September of this year, and Kenny Omega has confirmed the goal is to get the game out there before the end of 2022. No official date just yet which is understandable as neither AEW nor Yuke’s will want to commit to an exact date until they know they can deliver the game by then.

Speaking of Yuke’s, the longtime wrestling game developer has been attached to the project from the very start. However, despite mention being made of a publisher being on board in various reports, there has still been no official word on who exactly that publisher is. Until that information is confirmed, it’s unlikely we will get anything close to a confirmed release date.

Source: TheSportster

AEW Dynamite Preview 5/4/22

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite on TBS will air live from the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore, Maryland as the road to Double Or Nothing continues.

AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page is expected to be back this week after missing last Wednesday’s show due to COVID-19. He is currently feuding with CM Punk for their main event title match at Double Or Nothing.

AEW has announced the following line-up for tonight’s show:

* The Varsity Blondes call out The House of Black

* The Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta) vs. The Butcher, The Blade and Angelico

* Wardlow vs. MJF’s mystery opponent (expected to be W. Morrissey, known as Big Cass in WWE)

* Chris Jericho vs. Santana in a Grudge Match

* ROH Women’s World Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. ROH Interim Women’s World Champion Mercedes Martinez to determine the undisputed champion

* Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Fish in a qualifying match for The Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament

* Rey Fenix vs. Dante Martin in a qualifying match for The Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament

AEW To Premiere New Show On TBS

AEW apparently has a new TV show coming soon to TBS.

The RingLeaders.TV site, which is owned by WarnerMedia, issued an e-mail to members today to gauge feedback on the potential name of the new AEW series.

“A new AEW show will be premiering soon on TBS! We want to know what you think Season 1 should be named. Let us know your thoughts. We can’t wait to hear what you have to say!,” the e-mail stated.

The e-mail then listed the following potential names for fans to vote on:

* AEW: To The Top
* AEW: Fight To The Finish
* AEW: All Access
* AEW: Breakout
* AEW: Uprise
* AEW: The Climb
* AEW: To The Mat
* AEW: Road to The Belt
* AEW: Friends and Enemies
* AEW: On The Ropes
* AEW: Grit and Glory

It was noted by Fightful Select that there have been numerous pitches for AEW-related reality shows with some of the wrestlers, and that Darby Allin has already filmed content for one of them. There are other AEW talents who have filmed content for sizzle reels, and at one point there was interest in Adam Cole, Britt Baker and Swerve Strickland.

No other details were provided on this new series, and AEW has not announced plans for a new show as of this writing, but we will keep you updated.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Rampage Preview 4/29/22

Tonight’s AEW Rampage episode on TNT was taped earlier this week from the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA.

 Darby Allin vs. Swerve Strickland in a qualifier for The Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament as the opener

* AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill, Red Velvet and Kiera Hogan vs. Trish Adora, Skye Blue and Willow Nightingale

* Keith Lee vs. Colten Gunn

* Face-to-face confrontation between Hook and Danhausen

* ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe defends against Trent Beretta in the main event

Top IMPACT Star Deonna Purrazzo Comments On AEW Debut On Next Week’s Dynamite

ROH Women’s World Champion and IMPACT star Deonna Purrazzo will be making her AEW debut on next week’s Dynamite.

It was announced on last night’s Dynamite that Purrazzo will wrestle ROH Women’s Interim World Champion Mercedes Martinez.

Purrazzo has reacted to the announcement via Twitter, as seen below.

Purrazzo and Martinez also engaged in a Twitter interaction later.

Ever since AEW President Tony Khan purchased Ring of Honor last month, Purrazzo has been teasing her arrival on AEW TV.

Last October, Purrazzo explained why she was eager to wrestle against or tag with Dr. Britt Baker, her best friend in real life.

“To have that crossover with women and possibly wrestle someone like Britt or tag with someone like Britt, who is my best friend in real life,” Purrazzo told  Busted Open Radio. “It would just be very special for us, I think as friends, but for women’s wrestling too. And that’s the whole point of all this. It’s to grow and evolve women’s wrestling. We haven’t had a lot of those firsts yet, so any time you can kind of get your hands on that and claim it as your own, I think it’s important these days.”

For what it’s worth, Purrazzo signed a contract with IMPACT Wrestling in October 2020. At the time, Josh Mathews revealed via Impact Press Pass that Purrazzo had agreed to a long-term deal with the company.

Deonna Purrazzo lost the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship to Taya Valkyrie at Saturday’s Rebellion pay-per-view.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Teases Sneak Peek At Its New Game, Kenny Omega Confirms 2022 Launch Goal

A better look at AEW’s first-ever console game next week, and further confirmation that it might be here this year.

AEW higher-ups revealed very early on into the promotion’s existence that it was already working on the company’s first-ever console game. It might have let the cat out of the bag a little early in that regard as AEW is now three years old and the game still isn’t here. In fact, it doesn’t even have a release date attached, nor have we seen any gameplay beyond a couple of very early, very short clips featuring Jungle Boy and Darby Allin, along with a few others.

The wait could soon be over, though. It was teased yesterday, and then confirmed on Dynamite, that fans will get a sneak peek of the new game via All Elite Arcade on May 4. “Follow AEW Games Twitch for Notifactions! Tune in at 11 a.m. on May 4th for Console Game sneak peak,” the tweet reads. Excalibur made the same announcement live on Dynamite a few hours later.

Hopefully the sneak peek will be something more akin to a trailer than the test footage we have seen so far. If the timeframe reportedly connected to the game is accurate, then it’s probably safe to assume a better look at what the game is actually going to be is coming. It was reported a short while ago that a September 2022 release might be possible, and now Kenny Omega has confirmed the aim is to get the game out there before the end of the year.

https://twitter.com/AEWGames/status/1519359481137741824

“We’re working real hard on trying to get something that is presentable, trying to get something that is gonna be complete, ASAP and hopefully that means this year,” Omega said during an appearance on Put Your Quarters On The Glass. He also pointed to new materials being revealed soon, which was likely a reference to the announcement made on Twitter and then Dynamite last night as his podcast appearance came before the news broke.

News surrounding AEW’s first console game appears to be emerging more and more frequently, strongly suggesting a full reveal is in the offing. There were even reports earlier this month that fans in attendance for a Rampage taping were asked to perform chants that were recorded for the game. It’s also believed Tony Khan revealed the game will be called Fight Forever while those chants were being recorded.

Source: TheSportster

AEW Dynamite Preview 4/27/22

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite on TBS will air live from the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the build for Double Or Nothing continues.

* Lance Archer vs. Wardlow

* Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb in a Philly Street Fight

* The Young Bucks, Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish vs. The Varsity Blondes, Dante Martin, Brock Anderson and Lee Johnson

* AAA & ROH World Tag Team Champions FTR face off against each other in a qualifier for The Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament, with CM Punk on commentary

* AEW TNT Champion Sammy Guevara defends against Scorpio Sky in a Ladder Match

TBS And TNT No Longer Developing New Scripted Programming

Warner Bros. Discovery has decided to cut new scripted programming from both TBS and TNT for the time being, according to a report from Variety.

WarnerMedia was recently merged with Discovery, and they are already making changes. AEW was not mentioned in the report, and it is not known if the move will affect AEW, live event programming or reality shows in any way. Last year WarnerMedia was hiring a “Director, Scripted Development & Programming” for AEW and it was noted that four AEW series were in development, which included “Rhodes to the Top.”

It is unclear what is going to be happening with ongoing scripted shows on TBS and TNT, such as Snowpiercer. Warner Bros. However, scripted content on both TBS and TNT had been slowing down anyway in recent years. TBS was only airing four scripted shows prior to this report, while TNT has just two.

When it comes to AEW, the company has a deal that runs through 2023, that was originally signed back in 2020. AEW commentator Tony Schiavone recently spoke about the Discover/Warner Media merger. He told his What Happened When podcast that he does not believe AEW needs to have any immediate concerns. For him, AEW is a viable product for Discovery to consider.

“From the people I’ve talked with, no,” Schiavone responded when asked if AEW should have any concerns. “For me on the surface, yes, because I know what happened before [with WCW]. But I think we have a viable enough product that if Discovery says, ‘We don’t want wrestling,’ we could end up somewhere else.

“The Khans are pretty plugged in. That’s what’s different about this era is that if Time Warner/Discovery doesn’t want us, we still have a business. I think there’s always some concern, but we’ve built up a very good relationship with Warner Media.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Hangman Page Off AEW Dynamite Tonight Due To COVID-19

A familiar face will be missing from AEW Dynamite tonight in the form of Hangman Page.

The AEW World Champion announced on Twitter this morning that he will not be at the show after he has fallen ill with COVID-19. Hangman Page still implored fans to enjoy the show despite his absence.

“Dynomite is tonight at 8pm on TBS but i will not be on there because my face is full of covid snot, sorry,” Page tweeted, intentionally misspelling Dynamite. “Please enjoy regardless.”

Hangman Page had not been scheduled for AEW Dynamite prior to this morning, though it was expected there would be a follow-up to a stare-down Page had with CM Punk last week following Punk’s victory over Dustin Rhodes. Punk himself will appear on AEW Dynamite tonight, doing commentary for the Owen Hart Cup qualifying match between FTR members Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood.

AEW Dynamite will take place tonight in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

https://twitter.com/theAdamPage/status/1519301733679312903

Source: Wrestling Inc.