Category: AEW

Chris Jericho Attacked By Kenny Omega At An Indie Event (VIDEO), Jericho Comments

AEW’s Chris Jericho made a rare appearance at an indie show on Friday … and his “Double or Nothing” opponent made him pay for it.

It all went down at Southern Honor Wrestling’s Event in Canton, Georgia when Jericho interfered in a match by attacking two wrestlers with a chair.

Much to the surprise of Y2J … Kenny Omega’s music interrupted the beatdown and he attacked Jericho by hitting him in the ring with a Dragon Suplex.

Omega then gave his signature taunt to the crowd for a big pop, but he was attacked from behind by one of the local wrestlers. After he fought back, Jericho got involved again before more wrestlers hit the ring and a brawl broke out.

Watch how it all unfolded, as well as the post-match promo from Kenny, below.

Chris Jericho commented about Friday night’s brawl with Kenny Oemga at the above mentioned Southern Honor Wrestling event. On Instagram, Jericho said he wanted to remind everyone what the hottest match in wrestling is right now. He also “apologized” to Sunny Daze, who he attacked before Omega made the save.

“So, Kenny Omega & I made a little pit stop at the Southern Honor Wrestling show in Canton, Georgia last night in front of 1,000 CRAZY fans, to remind the world that the HOTTEST match in the entire wrestling biz is only 3 weeks away at the MGM Grand! Oh, and sorry about that metal chair to your enlarged melon, Sunny Daze.”

Sources: Pro Wrestling Sheet and Wrestling Inc.

Backstage News On Bill Goldberg’s WWE Return, WWE Reportedly Concerned About Goldberg And AEW

WWE may have signed WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg for the June 7 Saudi Arabia show to keep him from All Elite Wrestling.

It was noted in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE reportedly approached Goldberg for the show, figuring he was the one star left who could potentially bring back lapsed fans if he were to work with AEW. The situation was compared to how Vince McMahon, without the benefit of hindsight, left the door open in the 1990s for WCW to sign names like WWE Hall of Famers Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Roddy Piper.

WWE officials did have a concern that Goldberg would eventually sign with AEW, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

There’s no word yet on who Goldberg will face in Saudi Arabia, but a Lesnar vs. Goldberg match has been rumored.

Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker had been expected for the Saudi show, but Goldberg came out of the blue. Goldberg is believed to be making major money from the new contract with WWE. The Saudi shows usually bring a big payday to the wrestlers, as high as seven figures for some, but the fact that Goldberg rarely wrestles says a lot. There’s no word yet on if Goldberg’s deal is just for the Saudi show, or for more dates, but WWE could have made a strong offer to Goldberg if they are serious about keeping him away from AEW.

Randy Orton joked about Goldberg’s pay for the Saudi Arabia show this week, as seen below:

Source: Wrestling Inc.

David Arquette To Face Luke Perry’s Son Jungle Boy

Joey Ryan’s Bar Wrestling promotion has announced Jungle Boy (Jack Perry) vs. former WCW World Champion David Arquette for their “It’s Gonna Be May” event on Wednesday, May 8 in Los Angeles.

There is a unique story behind this match as Jungle Boy is the son of the late actor Luke Perry, who unexpectedly passed away at the age of 52 on March 4. Perry had encouraged his son to further his pro wrestling career and could be seen at some of his indie events. Arquette and his sister, actress Patricia Arquette, were friends with Perry for more than 30 years. Luke was the one by Arquette’s side after his bloody deathmatch with Nick Gage that went wrong back in November.

“I’m thinking, ‘I just got cut in my neck, and if that’s my jugular, I’m going to die.’ Pretty quickly after that I exited the ring and had someone look at it. Luke is a dear friend of mine, and his son, who is a fantastic wrestler named Jungle Boy, was wrestling on the same show. We’ve been friends for over 30 years, so Luke is the one I went to see to look inside the wound. He looked and said no, so I knew I didn’t cut a main artery or vein. I could feel something was wrong with my neck, but I wanted to finish the match and tell a complete story,” Arquette told Sports Illustrated last year after the bloody incident.

Arquette continues to take regular bookings on the indie scene following his comeback in 2018. Jungle Boy is making a name for himself on the indies and recently signed with AEW.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Dean Ambrose Shares Video Hyping The Return Of Jon Moxley, Will He Be At AEW’s Double Or Nothing?

Say goodbye to Dean Ambrose, and say hello once again to Jon Moxley … because the former WWE Champion just shared a video hyping his return to his former moniker.

The video was uploaded just minutes after midnight on May 1. Ambrose’s WWE contract expired on April 30, making him a free agent. Moxley continues to trend on social media, more than two hours after the video was released.

There’s obvious speculation on this promo being for Moxley joining another wrestling company, especially due to the high production values and other hints in the video.

Ambrose published a video on Tuesday night that begins with him sitting restless in prison before breaking out. This would seem to be a pretty obvious reference to him leaving WWE.

There are hash marks shown in the video as Moxley is breaking out of prison. The portion that is lit adds up to 25, which could be a teaser for Double Or Nothing. Double Or Nothing takes place on Saturday, May 25 from Las Vegas.

Some people have speculated that Moxley is initially in an asylum at the start of the video, and it’s Jon Moxley escaping from the Ambrose Asylum.

There are dice shown in the video and that has been the main symbol in promotional material for Starrcast in Las Vegas, which also takes place on May 25 (the event runs from May 23 – 26). The numbers on the dice shown are 2 and 5.

It’s believed that Moxley would be able to appear at Double Or Nothing as he is not under a non-compete clause from WWE because those usually apply to releases. His contract expired.

In another note on the speculation, AEW Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes has “liked” the Moxley promo on Twitter.

The account that the promo was tweeted from, @JonMoxley, is the @DeanAmbrose account that Ambrose had been using, but he changed the handle, which is why the official WWE Twitter account is currently following it. It will be interesting to see if they are still following him tomorrow. The account was created in March 2012, but this is the first tweet from the account in many years.

https://twitter.com/JonMoxley/status/1123438186410205184

 

Cody Rhodes Talks AEW, Filling Out Roster, Estimates The Percentage Of WWE Talent That AEW Would Sign & More

We’re less than one month away from AEW’s first official event, Double or Nothing. The startup promotion is still going through its growth phase and that means adding new talent to the roster.

Cody joined Jim Ross on The Ross Report to talk about the new guys and girls who will fill out the AEW roster.

“I know from a talent number we are nearing 40 talents under a certain type of contract with us. So, there is more talent than a lot of people know, because you know, slow and steady on our road to Double or Nothing on May 25th ,” said Cody. “We don’t want to just put a splash page down on everybody. We want you to slowly learn about them. That is the biggest thing for me; the road to Double or Nothing series that I put on the Nightmare Family YouTube channel, where we also announced your [Jim Ross] arrival. And even those that know you [Jim Ross] so well for so many years I still wanted to treat it like it is everyone’s first day, and tell me who this is, which is especially helpful to the guys with these younger guys.

While Cody is no Vince McMahon in terms of being fascinated with wrestlers’ physiques, he did reveal that those in charge at AEW went on a “hoss hunt.” They are looking for wrestlers 6’2″ and above who can turn heads with their looks and also perform in the ring.

“We went on this big hoss hunt and we want to find some big boys,” stated Cody. “You can’t replace that if that makes any sense? If you see one of those guys or girls that walk by an airport that makes you turn your head, that is still a part of wrestling – that going to the circus scene and you look at them and say, ‘damn, what do you do?’ I believe that is going to help us. We have a young and light-heavyweight roster, but to add that buffet to big, bigger, I want it all.”

Even though many of Cody’s friends such as The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega hold executive positions, that doesn’t mean all of his friends are going to just be given jobs. He talked about having to say no to many of his friends who came knocking on his door.

“I don’t know if I had a hard time to say no as much as I have been able to say that the door is unlocked, but it’s kind of up to them to kick the door down,” admitted Cody. “The best example of all that is when I left WWE, I did that full year before I fully signed on for one year with Ring of Honor. I did a full year of every indie under the sun. The best one, the worst one, the most niche one, the most mom and pop, I did all of that. That is the type of thing that kind of thing that helped me gravitate towards Matt and Nick Jackson and getting into New Japan and the first Tokyo Dome show I did and things of that nature.”

Cody didn’t just rest on his laurels or his family connections to get where he is today, he worked his tail off. He wants the same from AEW talent and, in a way, he echoes Vince McMahon in that he wants prospective AEW talent to grab the brass ring.

“People know what opportunities exist and it all lies on putting in the work,” said Cody. “You have to put in the work, and I swear by that. My wife is the same way. In this era of entertainment in general; content is king. It’s no longer, ‘oh this great show is coming on and has a great marketing appeal, and it’s all marketing.’ Now the sizzle and the substance have to match otherwise you get a big drop-off and we want our sizzle and substance to match. To answer your question, it hasn’t been hard to say no because most people know to not ask unless they are out there doing the work. It hasn’t been hard for me yet.”

Along the lines of his gimmick, AEW strives for only elite talent. Thus, Cody says that many current WWE performers wouldn’t even be accepted into AEW.

“Honestly, I’ve kind of jokingly said that it is five percent and I’m talking Jim Ross, Cody Rhodes and Chris Jericho, maybe a few others,” Cody replied on the percentage of WWE talent that would be accepted in AEW. “It’s not the same. Having that equity with WWE is wonderful, but like I have been talking, you have to be able to cut it and meet the standard that people have into their bell-to-bell contest. That number may increase, being that this opportunity that exists for the boys and girls to make more money, whether here [AEW] or there [WWE], for the boys and girls to have options. That number may increase.

“If they can play, they are going to play, but right now the recruitment was more about…I use the term ‘Tier 1.’ It was more about freshness, if that makes sense. I want to build a new class of guys. I have been there before where nobody has my back, nobody is my ally, and I don’t want to get into sour grapes over it but I know that it is one of the things that I look forward to the most once we really get into the schedule is the fact that these fresh faces…take Darby Allin for example who was just announced. I don’t want them to feel like they were set up and that was it. I want them to feel that they were set up to win and set up to succeed and then they went out there and hit it out of the park, so yeah.

“WWE at the moment I would say five percent at the current makeup, and that may increase. But right now there are a lot of faces you have never seen, and a lot of people you would be surprised once you do see them.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Joey Ryan Teases Signing With WWE And Announces Farewell To Indies

Joey Ryan wrote on Twitter that his time on the independent circuit is coming to an end. Ryan even has a new “Farewell” tour shirt available at Pro Wrestling Tees.

As previously reported, WWE had talks with Joey Ryan last week to work in their developmental system after they found out he was free from his Lucha Underground contract. In the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that WWE’s offer was “nothing special” and wouldn’t be for the main roster. It is more of a case of signing him so that he wouldn’t be available for other promotions.

In The Wrestling Observer Newsletter last week, it was reported that WWE had asked Ryan to move to Orlando to wrestle in NXT for a few years before transitioning into a coaching position.

Ryan had been expected to sign with AEW, as he was a big part of All In last September and he has been regularly featured in the Being The Elite series. In his tweet, Ryan used #RAW, which could always be to swerve fans. Ryan also posted his schedule on the indies this month, which consists of 16 dates.

Ryan had a WWE tryout back in 2013. After the tryout, Ryan, who is 39 years old now, told Wrestling Inc. that the only feedback he received was that he was too old.

“I mean, it was what it was,” Ryan told us in 2013. “I don’t even know how to really describe it because it didn’t have a whole lot to even do with professional wrestling. It was more just conditioning and they focused very little on professional wrestling and very little of the drills they ran that had to do with professional wrestling. We did hours and hours of rolls and cardio and then like a minute on promos. So it was like, really different than I thought it was because I thought they’d want to focus more on seeing everyone’s acting abilities or everyone’s personalities, but they really didn’t. It was more like, let’s just have a look at everybody and see what we like. I don’t even know if there was any kind of measuring stick to be like, well if he does this well or they do this well then we’re going to have our interest in them.

“It was more kind of just them having a look at everybody and just getting everybody in one room and making their decisions based on what they personally liked or not. My only feedback from them really was that they feel like I’m too, which was kind of confusing to me, they feel like I’m too old and experienced to be in developmental. I’m in my 30s now, but my age and experience didn’t change from when they invited me to the camp, so I didn’t really understand that. To them, they’re in control of how they do their system. So that was my feedback. They just didn’t feel like it was the right time in my life to be in developmental. They’re not bringing anybody straight onto TV at the moment because they’ve got a full roster themselves. So it was what it was.”

You can check out Ryan’s tweets below:

https://twitter.com/JoeyRyanOnline/status/1123010635216736258

https://twitter.com/JoeyRyanOnline/status/1122929803638624257

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Reportedly Interested In Signing Joey Ryan, But Likely Going To AEW

WWE officials have had talks with Joey Ryan about coming to work in their developmental system.

Ryan was not given an official WWE offer as of earlier in the week, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, but he was contacted after the company got word that he was a free agent when he was let out of his Lucha Underground contract. Ryan was asked if he would be willing to move to Orlando, wrestle in WWE NXT for a few years, and then move into a coaching position.

The Observer notes that Ryan is expected to end up with All Elite Wrestling, but he’s not currently under contract with them. Ryan currently owns a home in Los Angeles and earns far more money working the indies than he would with an average NXT salary. The Observer adds that Ryan would have absolutely taken WWE’s offer if he was 29 years old, but at 39 he’s probably not interested in taking a pay cut to start with WWE, or anyone else offering far less than what he’s already making.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

All Elite Wrestling CEO Tony Khan Discusses TV Deal, And More In New Interview

AEW President and CEO sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Jacksonville, FL one month before Double or Nothing. Tony gives us an idea of what we can expect from All Elite Wrestling and also covers of number of topics like a TV deal, how he signed Goldust (Dustin Rhodes), his 5-year plan for the company, being compared to WCW, wins and losses counting in AEW, whether or not he wants to be an on-air personality and much more!

Source: Trevor Decker News

Tony Khan was a big fan of ECW, and was therefore asked if he would like to see AEW have a similar ‘edgy’ style:

“I think we are doing some very edgy things and I think what you see on our social media is not necessarily what you will see in our television product which I do expect to be much more advertiser friendly than ECW. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t push the envelope sometimes, that doesn’t mean that you won’t see really exciting high spots. A lot of what made ECW great was the work and we’re going to have the best caliber in ring stuff in the world.”

Many people have been comparing AEW to WCW. On the topic of the comparisons between the two promotions, Khan had the following to say:

“I don’t want to compare us to any other wrestling company. We’re AEW and we’re doing something very different. What’s great is what we will offer, which will bring people back to 20 years ago, and there will be a major alternative. There will be a second company with great production values and great exposure, it’ll be easy to watch and give you shows with the top wrestlers and the best matches on a regular basis. That’s something that hasn’t been readily available to people outside of WWE in a long time, almost 20 years.”

Khan also spoke about how he wants the touring schedule for his performers to be light, something that WWE doesn’t have:

“For us, I want to offer a quality of life and a work/life balance that is the best and is unparalleled in the business for the best quality of life. What that means is less time on the road, but still working regularly, still performing on pay-per-view and on television in the future. I believe you don’t need to spend 6 days on the road to make a good living as a wrestler or 5 days on the road per week necessarily”.

Khan was also asked if he wanted to be an on-air personality for the company:

“I have thought about it and I’m not going to do it. We have some of the greatest on-air performers in the world and look, I am who I am in the promotion. I am the president and the CEO and the founder of this company but it’s not going to be me all over TV and I’m not going to be doing a lot of interviews or backstage segments on television.”

He also discussed AEW’s television deal:

“I have negotiated some things and I am very excited about what we are doing. I do think it’s very important to give wrestling fans a better quality of life. I think 20 years ago was honestly in many ways not nearly as good of a time to be a wrestling fan. There was not nearly as much wrestling out there and available if you were really looking for it. If you are really looking for great wrestling now there has never been a better time to be a wrestling fan.”
He also spoke about where he wants All Elite Wrestling to be in five years time:

The 5-year plan for AEW is that we will have built up a brand, we will have built up a roster, we will have established ourselves as a top brand in wrestling for people who want fast paced exciting action and want a product that is more of a sporting based product. I’ve talked a lot about how I want wins and losses to matter because at the end of the day, that’s why you’re having the match. There’s going to be a winner and a loser and it matters. It should matter to your standing in the company and it should matter to your standing in your chase for the championship which at the end of the day is what everyone is trying to attain”.

Finally, Khan was asked if he would like to see former WWE Champion, CM Punk, sign for the promotion:

“He’s a great talent and a great performer, I don’t know if that was Phil in the ring, but he’s great. I’m from Illinois and I grew up around Chicago sports and he’s obviously very popular there.”

Thanks to WrestleZone for the transcription.

The Undertaker And Kurt Angle Pulled From Starrcast II

WWE is reportedly “exercising its right to withhold talent from any events deemed not in the company’s best interests” by pulling The Undertaker and Kurt Angle from Starrcast II.

Event organizer Conrad Thompson told Sports Illustrated a deposit was made to Undertaker before announcing his inclusion in the event back in February. Shortly after, however, he was contacted by The Dead Man’s management team who told him WWE said he couldn’t appear at the event.

Taker’s deposit was returned after the two sides spoke.

“I had a friend discuss the situation with Vince McMahon, and I was assured the ‘heat’ wasn’t on me or my event but rather that The Undertaker shouldn’t be doing personal appearances outside of WWE,” Thompson told Sports Illustrated. “I was assured that damages would be covered, a suitable replacement offered, or some sort of compromise to make everyone happy.”

Adding, “I suggested Vince McMahon, Hunter, or Stephanie McMahon … and I said I would donate 100 percent of the proceeds to Conor’s Cure and match the donation personally, which would turn a negative into a positive for everyone involved.”

Unfortunately, Thompson was told he couldn’t book main roster Superstars. He then tried to book Shawn Michaels, but HBK reportedly backed out due to “the close proximity of Starrcast and AEW.”

“I asked to keep Kurt Angle and announce Shawn Michaels as the replacement for The Undertaker,” Conrad explained. “I offered to book everyone ‘through the office.’ I wanted to play by the rules but I felt like I already had, since each of these guys were actively marketing themselves for outside appearances via booking agents or their own social media. I have checked in daily for a week now and nothing is changing.”

According to SI, Kurt Angle and Undertaker both signed new WWE deals after taking the booking which allowed their employers to keep them from appearing at Starrcast II.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

New AEW Signings Revealed, Who Is The Librarian?

Four new All Elite Wrestling signings have been revealed in the latest episode of the “Being The Elite” series, seen at this link. Plus, Who is The Librarian?

AEW has signed the following talents:

* Private Party – tag team from New York City from House of Glory

* Peter Avalon – heel wrestler from California, mainly Championship Wrestling from Hollywood

* Leva Bates – the former Blue Pants of WWE NXT

Regarding Bates and Avalon, the storyline is that The Young Bucks believe Avalon is The Librarian character that has played out on Twitter while Cody Rhodes is going with Bates as The Librarian.

You can see tweets on Bates and Avalon below:

https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/1120367022242705410

https://twitter.com/MattJackson13/status/1120367298676609024

Source: Wrestling Inc.