Category: AEW

John Morrison Makes AEW Debut As Johnny Elite

Under the ring name Johnny Elite, former WWE Superstar John Morrison made his AEW debut on the May 18 edition of AEW Dynamite on TBS, during which he lost to Samoa Joe in the first round of the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament after being revealed as The Joker.

AEW Dynamite “Wild Card Wednesday” kicked off with the first of two Joker’s in the men’s and women’s Owen Hart Cup tournament. Johnny Elite (John Morrison) was the Joker in the men’s tournament facing, Samoa Joe. Johnny was greeted with a massive pop from the audience. Samoa Joe couldn’t care less. The two veterans started the match off with a series of strikes before diving into some more of their flashy moves.

A solid opener then ensued between the two veterans, who had, remarkably, never gone one-on-one before. They were evenly matched for the majority of the contest. Johnny got a lot of his stuff in, but it wasn’t enough to put the big man away. Joe got the win after nailing Johnny with a brutal Muscle Buster for the 1-2-3, advancing to the second round of the inaugural Owen Hart Foundation Tournament in the process.

After the match, Jay Lethal, Sanjay Dutt, and Satnam Singh attacked the Ring Of Honor Television Champion, hitting his shoulder with a lead pipe. Dutt got a few stomps in on Johnny during the attack.

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1527077285089759232

Prior to Morrison’s AEW debut, speculation regarding the identity of the Joke was rampant, with many fans expecting to see the likes of Cesaro and Johnny Gargano. Those two are yet to set foot in an AEW ring, but few will be disappointed with Morrison, who is a very good professional wrestler.

Whether Morrison has signed with AEW remains to be seen, but we’ll be sure to keep you posted.

As you might recall, John Morrison was released by WWE on Thursday, November 18 along with several of his now-former colleagues. According to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis informed the eight talents that they were being released due to budget cuts (although as we reported, WWE generated $256 Million in revenue the previous quarter).

Source: TheSportster and AEW Twitter

AEW Dynamite “Wild Card Wednesday” Preview 5/18/22

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite broadcasts live from the Fertitta Center in Houston, Texas. AEW is promoting the show as “Wild Card Wednesday”.

AEW has announced the following line-up for tonight:

  • Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Semifinal: Adam Cole vs. Jeff Hardy
  • Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Quarterfinal: Ring of Honor World Television Champion Samoa Joe vs. “The Joker”
  • Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Quarterfinal: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Rey Fenix
  • Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Quarterfinal: Dr. Britt Baker vs. “The Joker”
  • AEW Champion Hangman Page vs. Konosuke Takeshita (CM Punk will be a special guest commentator)
  • Wardlow must take 10 lashes from MJF (It’s one of the requirements laid out for Wardlow to get a one-on-one match against MJF at Double or Nothing)
  • A face-to-face confrontation between Chris Jericho and William Regal

AEW Rampage Preview 5/13/22

For the second week in a row, this week’s Rampage will air in the early timeslot of 5:30pm ET due to the NHL Playoffs airing at 6:30pm.

AEW Rampage will continue to air in different timeslots this month due to coverage of the NHL Playoffs and the NBA Playoffs on TNT.

The May 20 episode will air at 7pm ET due to the NBA Playoffs airing at 8pm.

You can see the card for AEW Rampage below:

Jade Cargill & The Baddies appear

Death Triangle (PAC, Penta Oscura, & Rey Fenix) vs. AFO (Butcher, Blade, and Marq Quen)

Shawn Spears vs. Bear Boulder

TNT Championship Match
Scorpio Sky (c) vs. Frankie Kazarian

Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Quarterfinal Match
Ruby Soho vs. Riho

Hikaru Shida Removed From AEW’s Owen Hart Tournament, Replacement Announced

A segment taped ahead of time for this week’s Rampage revealed Shida is injured and can’t compete in the cup.

There has also been a slight shake-up in AEW‘s Owen Hart tournament on the women’s side of things, one that won’t be announced officially until this week’s Rampage airs.

As is usually the case in AEW, this week’s Rampage was taped ahead of time. That means spoilers are out there, and among them is the reveal that Hikaru Shida will no longer be a part of the tournament. As reported by PWInsider, Tony Schiavone has taped a segment with Jade Cargill and The Baddies, one of whom is Red Velvet, Shida’s first round opponent.

During that segment, Schiavone will reveal Shida is still suffering from injuries sustained during her Street Fight against Serena Deeb two weeks ago. Velvet will now have to take on Kris Statlander in her first round match on next week’s Rampage. Statlander never had the chance to compete in a qualifying match but will have the opportunity to compete in the tournament and progress should she beat Velvet next week.

Whether Shida is actually injured or not remains unclear. Shida is currently in Japan, and even though her last official match was the street fight in AEW, the former AEW Women’s Champion boasted that she had wrestled almost three hours worth of matches in just three days. If that’s where she sustained an injury, if she really does have one, that likely won’t sit well with AEW.

The men’s and the women’s tournaments will continue over the coming weeks, both culminating at Double Or Nothing. Owen’s widow Martha Hart will be at the event to present both winners with trophies. There are also still two Joker spots to fill. Mystery opponents who will compete in the men’s and women’s tournaments.

Source: TheSportster

AEW Dynamite Preview 5/11/22

The Road to Double Or Nothing will continue tonight as AEW Dynamite airs live on TBS from the UBS Arena at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.

Tonight’s show will be headlined by the first matches in The Owen Hart Foundation Men’s and Women’s Tournaments. The contract signing and stipulation reveal for Wardlow vs. hometown star MJF will also take place, while FTW Champion Ricky Starks will defend his title against AEW World Tag Team Champion Jungle Boy.

* Danhausen makes in-ring debut vs. Tony Nese

* Jericho Appreciation Society victory speech

* MJF vs. Wardlow contract signing and stipulation reveal

* CM Punk vs. John Silver

* FTW Champion Ricky Starks defends against AEW World Tag Team Champion Jungle Boy

* The Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Opening Round: Toni Storm vs. Jamie Hayter

* The Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Opening Round: Adam Cole vs. AAA & ROH World Tag Team Champion Dax Harwood

* The Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Opening Round: Jeff Hardy vs. Darby Allin

AEW Rampage Preview 5/6/22

The May 6th edition of AEW Rampage will air from the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. The tapings took place after Dynamite aired live from the same venue on May 4th. It has also been announced that the show will have an earlier start time of 5:30pm [4:30pm central].

  • Riho vs. Yuka Sakazaki – Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament qualifier.
  • Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. and Jamie Hayter vs. Ruby Soho and Toni Storm.
  • Hook vs. JD Drake.
  • Jay Lethal vs. Konosuke Takeshita.

AEW’s New Reality Series Reportedly Greenlit Before Discovery-Warner Media Merger

The new AEW reality series that is coming soon was greenlit to be created prior to the Discovery – Warner Media merger, according to Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.

It was recently revealed that a new show would be coming after Dynamite later this year. This is expected to be reality-based and will look at the backstage inner workings of the promotion. Many fans felt this was a great sign that Discovery is prepared to push more wrestling-related content.

While it shows that Discovery is happy to continue airing new wrestling content, this is not something they have created. The show was already greenlit to take place before they merged with Warner Media, so it is hard to gauge whether or not this provides any glimpses as to the future for the company with Discovery.

Originally, Rhodes to the Top had been signed on for a second season, prior to Discovery being involved. But due to Cody and Brandi Rhodes leaving the company, that is obviously canceled. The time slot still needed to be filled though, and that is what is happening with this new show. It is unclear whether or not it will focus on another couple from the roster, such as Adam Cole and Britt Baker, or if it will be a more general outlook on the promotion.

There could be some good news on the way, as Meltzer mentioned that they are working on other projects. There are different shows in development right now, and that is a sign that Discovery could be adding further wrestling-related content. When it comes to the new reality series, an email was recently sent from The RingLeaders.TV site that is owned by Warner Media. This was to get fans to vote on a poll that would name the show.

The options to choose from were:

* 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

Source: Wrestling Inc.

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