Category: AEW

Tony Khan Confirms Samoa Joe Has Joined Both ROH And AEW

Tony Khan recently spoke with the media following Ring Of Honor’s Supercard Of Honor show about signing Samoa Joe.

The former WWE Superstar debuted at the end of the event, and Khan made it clear that he’s excited to have him on the roster for both of his promotions.

“I am very excited to have Samoa Joe in both Ring Of Honor and All Elite Wrestling,” he exclaimed. “I think his timing was impeccable, and I’m sure the champ (Jonathan Gresham) agrees. But I am very excited, and we are going to hear from him shortly, and you’ll get to hear from him as well. But I know I am very excited about having Samoa Joe in AEW. Samoa Joe is going to be on Dynamite on Wednesday, and it was great to have him here on Supercard.

“I thought it made a great night of great wrestling a bit more special. And it was a really cool moment to see Samoa Joe in the ring. I think with Jonathan Gresham and Lee Moriarity. A few different generations of great wrestlers, and great Ring Of Honor stars. All people that potentially could be competing also in AEW. I am very excited about a great championship match to end a great PPV tonight.”

Jonathan Gresham joined Tony Khan in being pleased about the situation. He admitted that there are people on the roster that he sees as originals, with Joe being one of those. He is also pleased to have these veterans passing on their knowledge to the next generation of talent.

“For me, I am just very excited,” Gresham said. “From the locker room to people that are making special appearances. Like tonight, Samoa Joe. Christopher Daniels is in this locker room, Jay Lethal is here, B.J. Whitmer is here. To me when I became conscious to how wrestling can be, in my mind, how wrestling should be, I call these men, these great men, the originals. They still possess the fire and the spirit of what I believe wrestling is built upon.

“Having them here in this company, to teach the next generation, to help us understand how to be pro wrestlers, it means the world to me. I am exactly where I am supposed to be, and I am very happy these guys are coming back to an umbrella that has someone who cares so passionately about the sports and the essence of this business. Tony Khan, and Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, and all these guys are keeping the business of pro wrestling alive, and I am happy to be part of it.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Tony Khan Says Samoa Joe Is All Elite, Joe Set For AEW Dynamite

Samoa Joe is now All Elite.

Joe made his surprise return to ROH at the end of Friday’s Supercard of Honor XV event. The main event saw Jonathan Gresham defeat Bandido to become the Undisputed ROH World Champion, but Gresham and Lee Moriarty were attacked by Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal after the bout.

Lethal, who turned on longtime friend Matt Sydal earlier in the night after defeating Moriarty, challenged Gresham to an immediate title match but Gresham denied him because of his earlier actions. This led to Dutt hitting Gresham and Gresham getting beat down. Moriarty tried to help Gresham but he failed, and that’s when Joe came out. Joe faced off with Lethal, then choked Dutt out.

In an update, ROH announcer Ian Riccaboni noted on commentary that Joe would be appearing on AEW Dynamite this Wednesday.

Furthermore, AEW President and new ROH owner Tony Khan took to Twitter to declare that Joe is All Elite. Khan confirmed Wednesday’s Dynamite appearance for The Samoan Submission Machine, who has the longest ROH World Title reign of all-time at 645 days when he held the strap from March 22, 2003 – December 26, 2004.

Supercard of Honor XV marked Joe’s first ROH appearance since June 2015. He is a one-time ROH World Champion, a one-time ROH Pure Champion, and was inducted into the inaugural class of the ROH Hall of Fame earlier this year.

WWE released Joe from his contract back on January 6. He was believed to be under the standard 30-day non-compete clauses that most WWE NXT talents have, which would’ve made him a free agent on February 5 when the clause expired.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Rampage Preview 4/1/22

Tonight’s AEW Rampage episode on TNT was taped earlier this week at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbus, South Carolina.

* We will hear from Kris Statlander

* We will hear from AEW TNT Champion Scorpio Sky, Dan Lambert and Paige VanZant

* The Young Bucks vs. Top Flight

* House of Black vs. Fuego Del Sol, Evil Uno and Stu Grayson

* Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Qualifier: Jamie Hayter vs. Skye Blue

* Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Keith Lee

* Appearances by Sammy Guevara, Tay Conti and others

Toni Storm Debuts On Dynamite, Qualifies For Owen Hart Tournament

Toni Storm is officially ALL ELITE! The 26-year-old Australian made her AEW debut on this week’s edition of Dynamite when she was revealed as The Bunny’s mystery opponent in an Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Qualifier Match. Storm advanced to the first round of the tournament when she pinned The Bunny after hitting her with a Storm Zero.

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1509342329861283841

Ahead of Dynamite, Fightful Select reported that Storm had been in talks with AEW and is very close to signing a deal. Apparently, multiple AEW stars have been pushing for AEW boss Tony Khan to sign the former WWE Superstar.

Storm parted ways with WWE via mutual consent in December 2021. According to Bodyslam.net, a source close to the situation revealed Storm just “up and quit”. In fact, she boarded a plane home, which she paid for herself, right after competing in a triple threat match at a live event. “Worked a triple threat at a house show last night and then paid out of her own pocket to fly herself home.”

Storm is engaged to New Japan Pro Wrestling star Juice Robinson. The couple announced their engagement back in October. Robinson and Storm’s relationship status was confirmed in the summer of 2020. The Mae Young Classic winner revealed that the two of them had been seeing each other for a while after Bea Priestley, who is now NXT UK’s Blair Davenport, posted photos of the two of them together on social media. Storm and Davenport are close friends.

Source: TheSportster

AEW Dynamite Preview 3/30/22

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite on TBS will air live from the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina.

Tonight’s show will feature the first qualifying match for The Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament with The Bunny taking on a mystery wrestler to be revealed on the show. That same mystery wrestler will be signed by the company tonight.

AEW President, CEO, General Manager & Head Of Creative Tony Khan noted on Twitter that he will be announcing matches for Dynamite throughout the day.

AEW has announced the following line-up for tonight as of this posting:

* Darby Allin vs. Andrade El Idolo

* FTR vs. The Gunn Club

* Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Qualifier: The Bunny vs. mystery wrestler who will be signed by AEW on tonight’s show

* Jon Moxley vs. Jay Lethal

The Hardys Announced For AAA’s TripleMania XXX

The AEW involvement in AAA’s TripleMania XXX events in 2022 will now include the Hardys

Announced at a press conference held in Tijuana on Tuesday afternoon, Matt and Jeff Hardy will compete at the second TripleMania XXX event in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico on June 18. They will take on former Ring of Honor star Dragon Lee and former CMLL star Dralistico, themselves a brother tag team.

The Hardy Boyz become the eighth and ninth AEW stars to compete on one of the three TripleMania XXX shows taking place in 2022. Andrade, Penta El Zero Miedo, Rey Fenix, Sammy Guevara, Tay Conti and the Young Bucks are all scheduled for the first TripleMania XXX event in Monterrey on April 30. The Young Bucks will headline the event against Fenix and AAA Mega Champion Hijo del Vikingo.

Missing are AEW team FTR, who are the current AAA World Tag Team Champions. It is unknown if they will be added to the Tijuana event or TripleMania XXX in Mexico City this October. Last week the Young Bucks declared they’d be returning to AAA as AAA World Tag Team Champions, indicating a potential title match with FTR soon on AEW TV.

This will be Jeff Hardy’s first appearance in AAA and Matt Hardy’s second; he previously competed in AAA’s Lucha Libre World Cup in 2015, where he, Johnny Mundo (John Morrison), and Mr. Anderson reached the finals as Team USA before losing to Team AAA (Alberto El Patron, Myzteziz and Rey Mysterio).

The brothers also have competed for lucha libre promotion The Crash, where they won the promotion’s tag team titles in 2017.

In addition to the Hardy Boyz vs. Dragon Lee and Dralistico, TripleMania XXX in Tijuana will feature the semi-finals of the ongoing mask vs. mask tournament featuring El Canek vs. Psycho Clown, LA Park vs. Villano IV, Blue Demon Jr. vs. Rayo de Jalisco Jr. and Penta vs. Ultimo Dragon. The losers of each match will move onto the semi-finals, and the losers of the semi-finals match will then compete in a mask vs. mask match at TripleMania XXX in Mexico City this October.

At today’s press conference, AAA President Dorian Roldan revealed that all the winners in the first round of the mask tournament at TripleMania XXX Monterrey will take part at TripleMania XXX Tijuana. No other matches were announced. As with AAA TripleMania XXX Monterrey, AAA TripleMania XXX Tijuana will air on FITE TV, with English and Spanish commentary.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Miro Working On New “East New York” TV Series

AEW star Miro is currently working on a new TV series in New York City.

Miro revealed on Twitter and Instagram this week that he has been living in Brooklyn, and working on a pilot for a new project. His IMDB page shows that he is filming for a TV series called “East New York,” which is currently in pre-production.

The IMDB page also says Miro plays a character called Nikolai Dushkin, which Miro confirmed on Instagram.

“Super excited about this upcoming pilot. Living in Brooklyn has definitely opened my eyes about living in a city, walking to a gym and groceries. #Dushkin,” he wrote on Twitter.

Miro then added in a follow-up on Instagram with the same photo, “Living in Brooklyn for couple of weeks. Very excited about shooting this great pilot!!! Meet Nikolai Dushkin….. and pickles, of course”

The “East New York” cop series also features Richard Kind, Jimmy Smits, Olivia Luccardi, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Kevin Rankin, Amanda Warren, C.S. Lee, Lavel Schley, Edmond Laryea, Oryan Landa, Fred Tolliver Jr., and Ruben Santiago-Hudson.

IMDB notes that the series is being filmed for CBS. Below is the synopsis:

“Follows the recently promoted police captain of East New York, Regina Haywood, who leads a diverse group of officers and detectives, some of whom are hesitant to deploy her creative methods of serving and protecting.”

It was revealed earlier this month that Miro signed a new four-year contract extension, which will keep him with AEW until at least early 2026. He has not wrestled since losing to Bryan Danielson at AEW Full Gear on November 13. Miro had been dealing with a hamstring injury for a while, but word is that he’s been cleared to return for quite a while.

https://twitter.com/ToBeMiro/status/1508462267838439424

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Toni Storm Expected To Sign With AEW Very Soon, Ember Moon Also In Talks

AEW’s women’s division is about to get a serious injection of talent.

WWE went hard when it came to releasing wrestlers last year. More than 80 people were wished well in their future endeavors by the time 2021 was all said and done. Some of those wrestlers have since found work elsewhere, whether that be in AEW, Impact Wrestling, or by booking dates on the independent circuit. However, there are still a number of released stars who remain unattached.

One of those unattached stars will presumably find a home in AEW before the end of today. It was revealed on Rampage last week that The Bunny will face off against a mystery opponent tonight on Dynamite. The Bunny and the new signing will do battle in the first qualifier for AEW’s upcoming Owen Hart tournaments.

Speculation on who exactly tonight’s new signing will be has been rife, and a frontrunner has emerged with less than 24 hours to go. According to Fightful Select, Toni Storm has been in talks with AEW and is very close to signing a deal. Apparently multiple AEW stars have been pushing for Khan to make Storm All Elite, and even if she isn’t the wrestler making her debut tonight, she will likely be a part of AEW very soon.

Right behind Storm is Ember Moon who is also reported to have been speaking extensively with AEW. Moon, who now goes by Athena, doesn’t appear to be as close to signing a deal as Storm, but there is a chance she’s the one who debuts tonight. Athena has been picking up a number of indie bookings in the meantime, marking her return to the ring for the first time since leaving WWE by losing to AEW’s Thunder Rosa.

Even though some fans are calling for AEW to slow down when it comes to new signings, the promotion definitely needs to continue bolstering its women’s division. The addition of Moon and Storm would add a lot of experience and depth to the division if Khan can get those signings over the line. Other free agents we could see debut on Dynamite a few hours from now include Tegan Nox and Mia Yim.

Source: TheSportster

Tony Khan And MJF Reportedly Clash Following Audacious Interview

Tony Khan was reportedly unhappy with MJF following the latter’s interview with Ariel Helwani.

AEW’s locker room may not be as harmonious as it seems on the surface.

According to a recent Fightful Select report, AEW president Tony Khan got into a “heated argument” with MJF following the latter’s controversial conversation with Ariel Helwani on The Ariel Helwani Show last week. TK reportedly chastised one of his company’s most exciting young stars for failing to obtain permission from AEW’s media department before participating in the interview.

During his aforementioned appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, MJF opened up about his AEW contract status. When asked if he would consider signing an extension to his current AEW deal MJF said there was “no chance” of that happening. He then specified that it would have to be “an absolutely astronomical number” and even then he likely wouldn’t sign because he wants to test the market.

Per Fightful, AEW sources said there would not have been an issue with the content of the MJF/Helwani interview if the wrestler has gone through the proper channels prior to the interview taking place.

In the same interview, MJF complimented WWE’s revamped developmental program NXT 2.0. “There’s so many charisma machines on that program. There is. I don’t know why you’re laughing,” MJF gushed as Helwani chuckled at his suspiciously excessive praise. “They had a make out competition this past Tuesday. Gripping television.”

UPDATE:

In an update from Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer, the issues that arose between Khan and MJF “are now said to be settled.”

Meltzer noted that although the story is true, “there was no fight” or physical altercation between MJF and Khan.

During the interview, MJF confirmed that his AEW contract expires on January 1, 2024, and admitted that he’s not afraid to “stir the pot” until then.

“So when you’re as talented, as over, and as much of a draw as me, if I want to I can bite off Tony Khan’s fingers. He knows where his bread is buttered,” MJF said. “And if that offends somebody in the locker room, which I know it does, oh well, cry about it. Get more over than me. Oh wait, that’s right, you can’t. Because I’m literally the best talker in the business, and one of the best wrestlers in the history of the business bell to bell.”

MJF emphasized that he’d end up “wherever the money is” after his AEW contract expires in 2024.

Sources: TheSportster and Wrestling Inc.

AEW Rampage Preview 3/25/22

Tonight’s AEW Rampage was taped earlier this week from the HEB Center in Cedar Park, Texas and will air on TNT at 10/9C.

Dustin Rhodes vs. Lance Archer
Alan “5” Angels & 10 vs. reDRagon
Nyla Rose In Action
QT Marshall Certificate of Accomplishment to Hook
FTW Championship Match: Ricky Starks (c) vs. Swerve Stricklan