Category: AEW

Matt Sydal Done With Impact Wrestling, Reportedly Has Offers From WWE And AEW

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Matt Sydal’s contract with Impact Wrestling ended on January 1, 2019, according to Dave Meltzer on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio.

Meltzer reports that Sydal is now a free agent and has contract offers from both All Elite Wrestling and WWE. There’s apparently no word yet on Impact Wrestling coming to terms on a new contract with Sydal.

Matt Sydal was taken out of the Warrior Wrestling event earlier this month due to a knee injury. Sydal announced he scheduled knee surgery to repair some torn cartilage, however, Sydal later tweeted out that the original date of the surgery was postponed because of insurance issues. In another tweet, Sydal noted that he should be back in the ring by March or April.

Sydal has seen success in wrestling promotions all around the world, including the WWE. In 2007, Sydal introduced himself as “Evan Bourne” and showed off his impressive high-flying offense to the WWE Universe. He teamed up with Kofi Kingston in 2011 and “Air Boom” would eventually become WWE Tag Team Champions. Sydal also won Championship gold in New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he is a two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion and a one-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion. In Impact Wrestling, he is a former Impact Grand Champion and Impact X Division champion.

Source: WrestlingINC

“The Road to Double Or Nothing” Cody Rhodes Reveals Latest Signing For AEW

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As seen above, All Elite Wrestling Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes revealed the premiere episode of “The Road to Double Or Nothing” on his YouTube channel tonight.

The video reveals that AEW has signed up & coming indie star “Jungle Boy” Nate Coy (Jack Perry). The 21 year old is the son of actor Luke Perry of 90210 fame. He made his debut on the California indie scene back in 2015. It was rumored that AEW had offered a two-year deal but Jungle Boy brought his father and their lawyers to the negotiations, deciding on a shorter deal. The length of the deal has not been confirmed.

Regarding the big AEW Double Or Nothing event on May 25 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Cody said he’s not sure who he will wrestle yet. There will be a Double Or Nothing Ticket Announcement Party on Thursday, February 7 at 6pm local time from the MGM Grand Hotel. The party will be streamed live online.

Cody also talks about Chris Jericho signing with AEW and how AEW is looking to build the roster up with fresh talents.

Source: WrestlingINC

https://twitter.com/MattJackson13/status/1088622504896122880

Backstage News Chris Jericho And Kenny Omega Almost Signing With Impact Wrestling

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Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega almost ended up signing with Impact Wrestling, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Impact Co-Executive Vice President Don Callis, who is good friends with Jericho, was reportedly very close to signing Jericho and Omega to contracts before All Elite Wrestling brought their offers to the table.

Jericho recently revealed that his AEW contract is the best deal of his pro wrestling career. Omega is expected to sign with AEW once his New Japan Pro Wrestling contract expires on January 31, however his signing has not been confirmed.

The Observer notes that before AEW was the plan, the idea was for Omega to keep working for NJPW and then do 30 dates per year for Impact. Jericho would have worked for Impact while working another year for NJPW since he would have had so much input on his creative plans. Jericho recently confirmed that he will continue to work with NJPW in the future.

Jericho recently spoke about signing with AEW on his “Talk Is Jericho”podcast and discussed his talks with Impact. Jericho praised Callis and Scott D’Amore for what they’ve done with the company, adding that he really enjoys the product these days.

“I’ve gotta tell you guys, man, I’ve been really impressed with Impact over the last year,” Jericho said. “I thought Don Callis and Scott D’Amore have really turned things around in that company, and I really, really enjoy it. And I thought long and hard about doing some shows there. I even had a meeting with Scott and Don in Toronto, and Ed Nordholm. The offer they made was a great offer. That’s something that’s funny when I hear all these companies are vying for the talent, for the free agents – WWE, AEW, Ring of Honor, New Japan, and someone mentioned MLW. Dude, what about Impact? They’ve got money. They were going to spend some money on Chris Jericho. We had some great matches planned. Jericho vs. Sami Callihan maybe, or with Johnny Impact, Brian Cage, Rich Swann. I’d love to work with Rich Swann. I did honestly talk to Impact and really, really thought about going there. And then Tony Khan came in with this offer, that’s the biggest offer I’ve ever been offered in my career.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Kenny Omega Says He Will Be Wrestling On A Large International Platform, Comments On AEW

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Kenny Omega appeared at the Tokyo Sports Awards earlier this week and wished good luck to All Elite Wrestling.

“I cannot tell the future. I would like to say good luck to AEW. It is going to be amazing. I am interested because it is a group of friends of mine. Since they are my friends, I have no choice but to support,” Omega said, according to a Google newspaper translation from Japanese to English.

Omega also said he won’t be on the Tokyo Sports stage next year, for New Japan, but that he “would still be putting on Match of the Year performances on a large international platform,” according to a translation by Chris Charlton.

It’s believed that Omega will sign with AEW over WWE once his NJPW contract officially expires at the end of this month. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has reported that Omega already turned down an offer from WWE.

Source: WrestlingINC

Cody Rhodes Says AEW Won’t Be Hiring Writers Anytime Soon

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Over the last week, we’ve heard many of the names that will comprise All Elite Wrestling’s active roster. From Cody and The Young Bucks to Hangman Page and Chris Jericho, the roster is taking shape and fans can expect a solid product in the ring.

But there hasn’t been as much discussion about the behind-the-scenes personnel involved with AEW. Outside of Billy Gunn being a producer, we haven’t heard much else about the agents, production staff or writers.

There’s a good reason for that as Cody Rhodes said that the promotion isn’t looking to hire writers any time soon. Cody had an interview with sescoops.com where he said the “wrestlers are the writers” and talent doesn’t need to be micro-managed.

“We’re talking bullet points, we’re talking an overall knowledge of the business, and hey, let them go out and play,” said Cody. “Take a look back at the wrestling you and I love. For the most part, they’re all grown men and women doing what they were hired to do. They’ve cut their teeth, they’ve paid their dues and now they’re going to go out there and play their music. I would very much like a presentation that mirrors that. We don’t need to micro-manage and we certainly don’t need to script a great deal of the product we’re planning.”

Cody said he has good relationships with lots of available writers/producers out there including Eric Bischoff, Bruce Prichard and Jim Cornette. But for now, he plans on keeping things in-house and let the talent be the driving forces behind AEW Creative.

“This is probably going to be an unpopular thing to say, but I will say it. There won’t be a writer hired for All Elite Wrestling any time soon,” admitted Cody. “Because wrestlers are the writers. We’re the writers. Like I said with guys going out there and playing their own music, believe me – the day comes that I see ‘this is something we can really benefit from’ – absolutely, but I knew 40 writers in WWE and about four of them actually did anything. The reason I remember them and value them, they helped produce pre-tapes, they were team players, so right now that’s one thing we’ve gotten a lot of questions about. We’re keeping it very in-house for now.”

Some of this could be due to budget concerns or it could be, as Cody said, many writers don’t actually do much to impact the product. As of now All Elite Wrestling has just one event on its schedule with Double or Nothing in May, so there is also not likely a need for a writing team at this time.

Source: WrestlingINC

The Elite Make Surprise Appearance At Bar Wrestling Event (Video)

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Members of The Elite made a surprise appearance at Bar Wrestling in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.

It all happened at the Bootleg Theater during the main event after SCU laid out an open challenge which was answered by RockNES Monsters and Watts.

Both referees got knocked out at one point in the match and Joey Ryan intervened to stop Watts from hitting Scorpio Sky with a chair. Joey got attacked for doing so and Hangman Page came out to save him. The two rivals then put their differences aside  … by making Watts grab their penises.

RockNES Monsters returned to the ring afterward and attacked Joey/Page from behind, but Cody and Brandi Rhodes came out to make the save. Brandi hit the Bionic Spear and Cody hit an outside dive while wearing his dress clothes.

Watts re-emerged and hit Cody with a big boot … then The Young Bucks hit the ring.

The full match showing SCU end things with a victory will be available soon on Pivot Share.

According to SoCalUncensored.com (where the group’s name came from), Cody told the crowd during a post-match speech that they were all signed to AEW … then Brandi made him fire them.

This appearance is the first for the group after announcing their new promotion All Elite Wrestling.

Watch the video below.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

Jim Ross On If AEW Will Get A TV Deal

WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently weighed in on the formation of All Elite Wrestling on The Jim Ross Report. Specifically, Ross speculated that a TV deal is more or less in place for AEW come Fall 2019. Ross suggested that AEW will most likely be most comparable to New Japan Pro-Wrestling in terms of roster size and an athletic presentation. Also, Ross talked about the advice he imparted on AEW President Tony Khan.

According to Ross, the AEW rally most likely would not have happened if a television deal was not basically done already.

“I don’t think you go on and do a big presentation like those folks, the Khans, AEW, did on Tuesday if you’re not pretty damn set on your television outlet. So I think the television outlet is more set than people probably know and maybe they’re not ready to know or need to know right now.” Ross added, “maybe there’s an I not dotted, or T crossed or whatever, but getting on a basic cable channel to me is imperative.”

In Ross’s learned view, a TV deal is essential for AEW’s success. ‘Good Ol’ J.R.’ went on to say that he thinks AEW will be on a major network come Fall 2019.

“The issue is television is king. That’s your heartbeat. That’s your heartbeat and I’m of the belief, maybe I’m wrong, that a television deal is, I guess the politically correct term is ‘imminent’. I think a TV deal is basically done. Why would you do all of this celebration and this thing on Tuesday and all that without having more? You’ve got your [ducks in a row]. You’re showing us that you have your ducks in order or getting there on talent. And so I’m believing they’re not going in half-cocked here. Why would you have this major announcement, this huge event, or huge company, all that’s going to happen, if you didn’t have TV pretty much locked up? So I’m sure the paperwork, the ink’s not dry, and all those good things. Could be possibilities or they’re still negotiating some finer points, whatever, but I believe, come this Fall, that AEW is going to have a very prominent television partner that’s going to give this team the opportunity to be successful.” Ross noted, “I do think that the TV’s more in place than they are ready to announce right now and I understand that too.”

Also during the podcast, Ross stated that NJPW is probably the closest thing to what AEW will be as a promotion with an emphasis on athleticism and a real sports presentation.

“New Japan does a real nice job of having a small roster in number that remains special,” Ross said. “They do a real nice job of keeping their guys separate, keeping some exclusivity to the rivalries. That is [an] athletically oriented presentation. If there is anything I would suggest and I don’t know because I have not discussed it with anybody. Probably New Japan is going to be the closest analogy to what I perceive AEW might be, and I stress ‘might be’ because I don’t know. You can do more things, develop more talent, and do it in a reality based manner that people don’t roll their eyes every 30 seconds because they’re watching that damn wrasslin’ again. There’s credibility to it and at least the presentation bell-to-bell is going to feel like you’re watching kind of a perverse legitimate sporting event.”

Additionally, Ross shared that he met up with Khan for drinks and told the young billionaire that pro wrestling promotions require talent and a television deal to be successful.

“Alex [Marvez] and I have been friends for years, since the WCW days. And he introduced me to Tony and we had a [pro] wrestling fan chat and had a few drinks. But I said, ‘if somebody was ever going to do a pro wrestling company, the foundation is not a mystery. It’s all about television and talent.” Ross explained, “you can’t have one without the other.”

Check out this edition of ‘Slobberknocker Audio’ here https://www.westwoodonepodcasts.com/pods/the-jim-ross-report/ or via the audio player below at the link below.

https://omny.fm/shows/the-ross-report/aew-breakdown-with-pro-wrestling-sheet-s-ryan-sati/embed

Source: WrestlingINC with credit to The Jim Ross Report

AEW In Talks With “A Number Of Interested Parties” Over TV Deal

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All Elite Wrestling’s inception will continue to dominate wrestling media headlines throughout the year, particularly with so many questions still be to be answered about the upstart promotion.

Television remains the biggest of these. AEW may live or die on their ability to score a deal, and with Impact Wrestling’s recent struggles in the TV market, they face a tough task to find a station offering the required levels of exposure.

AEW President Tony Khan spoke on Sean Waltman’s X-Pac 12360 podcast earlier this week, though he was unable to go into any specifics on the matter. Here’s what he had to say:-

“There’s interested parties … a number of interested parties … it’s gonna be great for everybody. Like I said, I want it to be great for the fans. And I want every week, I want people to be excited about what this week is gonna bring in wrestling. Whether you’re a kid in school, or you’re at work and you want something to look forward to at night, I want it to be a big part of everyone’s week. I think for the talent, I just think this is a great opportunity for everybody to create something. “

This sounds promising. It was speculated last week that Khan would use his considerable media connections to score a favourable TV deal, and with networks like TBS/TNT mentioned, the early signs are encouraging. Securing a contract that’s even in the same ballpark as WWE’s upcoming Fox agreement seems like a pipe dream, though.

Big name signings will increase AEW’s bargaining power in these negotiations. Chris Jericho may not be enough on his own, though the acquisition of Kenny Omega may help convince networks that AEW is a viable commodity.

Source: WhatCulture

Backstage News On WWE’s Deals For The Young Bucks & Hangman Page, Kenny Omega’s Status

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Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks and Hangman Page turned down WWE offers in order to be a part of the new All Elite Wrestling promotion, headed by Jacksonville Jaguars co-owner Tony Khan.

Triple H reportedly had worked hard and offered unique deals in hopes of signing all four, according to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. According to Meltzer, Page’s deal was to work NXT for main roster money. Page was to have been pushed as one the top stars on the brand.

WWE also had a unique three-year deal for the Bucks, which would have been for the same amount of money as A.J. Styles. The WWE deal included having their Being The Elite show airing weekly on the WWE Network. It also had a unique six-month window that would have allowed them out of their contracts if they weren’t happy.

It was noted that The Elite had roughly 12 hours of discussions with Triple H, and they praised him for how things were handled. Apparently Triple H also saw the humor in the Being the Elite episode where the Bucks superkicked Kazarian, who was dressed like Triple H, repeatedly as their way of publicly turning down the WWE offer.

As noted, Kenny Omega’s contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling expires at the end of the this month and he is expected to sign with AEW after February 1st, when he is a free agent. It was reported in The Observer that the word is that Omega has already turned down WWE’s offer.

Source: WrestlingINC

Pro Wrestling Illustrated Reveals “Wrestler Of The Year” And “Woman Of The Year” For 2018

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In a close vote, Becky Lynch topped Ronda Rousey for 2018’s “Woman of the Year”, as voted by the readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Lynch received 40 percent of the vote, four percent better than Rousey. Asuka and Tessa Blanchard were distant runners-up.

Rousey being selected number one in PWI’s “Woman’s 100” led to Lynch posting some disparaging tweets about PWI – and Publisher Stu Saks in particular. Even though Lynch appeared happy while posing for the PWI cover of the awards issue with the Woman of the Year plaque, she complained about her #11 placement in the “100” throughout much of the photo shoot.

Rousey achieved a near-record 87 percent of the vote in being named “Rookie of the Year”. The widest margin of victory in the 46-year history of the PWI awards was enjoyed by The Giant (Big Show), who garnered 88 percent of the vote for “Rookie of the Year” in 1996.

AJ Styles was named “Wrestler of the Year” for the third straight year. Styles now has earned a total of seven Achievement Awards. Styles earned 46 percent of the votes in the “Wrestler of the Year” category, followed by Kenny Omega (17 percent), Cody (8 percent), and Seth Rollins (7 percent). He also was voted “Most Popular” for the second straight year. The only other wrestler to receive WOTY honors for three straight years is Ric Flair (1984-1986).

Styles and Becky also topped Wrestling Inc.’s Best of 2018 for “Male Wrestler of the Year” and “Female Wrestler of the Year”, respectively.

PWI’s annual year-end issue can be purchased in print or digital formats at pwi-online.com.

Source: WrestlingINC