Tony Khan Talks AEW TV Deal With TNT, Reveals An Upcoming Tag Team Tournament For Their Weekly Show, Women’s Tag Titles

All Elite Wrestling’s founder and president Tony Khan recently appeared on The Steve Austin Show to speak with legendary WWE Hall of Famer, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Among a variety of subjects Austin discussed with Khan, he showed great enthusiasm on tag team wrestling’s role moving forward in AEW.

Khan emphasized how “super-focused” he and the rest of the AEW staff are on the company’s tag team division, and he has plans to establish a tournament to showcase what these teams have to offer audiences.

“When we launch our weekly television show in the Fall, we are going to be doing a tag team tournament that is going to have some of the greatest tag team wrestling matches ever on television,” Khan said. “We are going to be starting that, which is going be one of the main focuses on our TV. There are going to be teams that are going to compete for a first-round bye in that tournament, which is a big deal, and we have got some of the best tag teams in all of pro wrestling competing for our Tag Team Championships coming up in the Fall.”

For now, AEW staff and fans alike have their attention on the persisting feud between The Lucha Bros. and The Young Bucks. Khan reminded listeners that it was back in February when this rivalry between the two teams first began in AEW. He sees parallels between The Lucha Bros./Young Bucks feud and the Eddie Guerrero/Art Barr feud from the AAA World’s Collide event back in 1994.

“What is exciting about the match between The Young Bucks and Lucha Bros is that we have been working on this issue for a long time,” Khan explained. “If you look back to when we first went to Las Vegas for the ticket on-sale party, when we announced the on sale date for the pre-sale code for the Double or Nothing sale, we went to the MGM, which was right after the Super Bowl… The Young Bucks had said that they thought they were the best tag team in the world and the Lucha Bros showed up. They are the AAA Tag Team Champions – that’s cool to me because I am a huge fan of wrestling and I remember When World’s Collide PPV very fondly, with Eddie Guerrero and Art Barr kind of changing the game down in Mexico. I thought that this was more of a modern tag team classic [between Lucha Bros and The Young Bucks], and we have tried to establish this issue in so many ways.”

Khan also touched on some of the details regarding AEW’s premier on TNT this Fall. When it came to making a decision on which television network to pursue, Khan reached out to a friend that could help make everything come together seamlessly.

“[TNT was a good choice for AEW because] my friend, Kevin Reilly, is the president of TNT and TBS. It’s going to start in the Fall,” Khan stated. “There will be specific details on that very soon, and it’s going to be really exciting for pro wrestling to return to TNT in prime time, weeknights, for a 2-hour live wrestling show. I can’t tell you the day of the week, but I think it’s going to be the best pro wrestling show anyone has ever done. All Out is going to be our last pay per view going into it.”

Khan looks forward to seeing everyone’s hard work pay off during the the final show before their TV debut.

“We have set up this issue with Chris Jericho and Hangman Page and we are going to continue setting up these huge issues; And now we have set up another big event with Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley.”

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s podcast finally returned this week with a new episode and AEW President Tony Khan was the featured guest.

During the interview, Khan revealed AEW will have Women’s Tag Team belts down the road to go with the planned Women’s Championship.

“I want to focus on a serious main event picture,” he explained. “Both in the singles and the tag team, and then when we establish the women’s singles — ya know, this may be the first time that it gets announced, but just so you know — eventually we will establish a Women’s Tag Team title and focusing on the Women’s singles and the Women’s Tag Team title.”

“I’m not gonna pretend we’re not gonna do it when we talk about being serious about tag team wrestling,” Khan continued. “As we focus on having the best World Championship in singles and tag team, men and women, that’s gonna be the focus of our promotion when I talk about wins and losses mattering.”

Listen to the interview at the link below.

https://player.fm/series/11715/236348315

Source: The Steve Austin Show via Wrestling Inc.

ROH Re-Signs Jonathan Gresham, Adds Maria Manic To Women Of Honor Division

Ring of Honor has signed Jonathan Gresham to a new deal, and has also added Maria Manic to the women of honor division, according to PWInsider.

Gresham, 31, appeared occasionally for the promotion before signing his first deal with ROH in 2017. He’s now being relocated to Baltimore where he’ll take more of an active role in the ROH Dojo.

Debuting in 2015, Manic has made a name on the indie circuit, facing both women and men.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

 

Scarlett Bordeaux Granted Release From Impact Wrestling

Impact Wrestling has granted Scarlett Bordeaux’s request to be released from her contract.

The company tweeted saying: “Impact Wrestling confirms that it has released Scarlett Bordeaux from her commitments to Impact. We wish her every success in her future endeavors.”

https://twitter.com/IMPACTWRESTLING/status/1140983100140335106

After a brief run with Impact from 2014-2015, Bordeaux returned to Impact in July of 2018, sporting a “Smokeshow” gimmick that gained a lot of attention. She quickly became one of the company’s more popular acts after being featured regularly on their TV show. One of Impact’s most viral videos was her giving Scott Steiner a lap dance. Over time, however, she started to wrestle more frequently on the program, including against men. She beat Glenn Gilbertti (Disco Inferno) in her debut match.

Bordeaux recently requested her release from the company. Although the contract was due later this summer, Bordeaux’s deal was set to reportedly pay her per appearance and wasn’t a guaranteed contract. She was among a few members of the Impact roster to request their release, including boyfriend Killer Kross.

As we previously reported, Scarlett’s boyfriend Killer Kross has also been wanting out of his contract over financial related reasons.

So far, the company has not been willing to grant his request.

During a recent interview, Kross talked about how Scarlett’s situation with Impact was worse than his and that she was still living at home because of how little she was making with the company.

Sources: Pro Wrestling Sheet and Wrestling Inc.

WWE RAW Preview 6/17/19

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California with the final hype for WWE Stomping Grounds.

* Who will don the stripes for Rollins vs. Corbin at WWE Stomping Grounds?

* Fatal 5-Way Match to determine Samoa Joe’s U.S. Title challenger at WWE Stomping Grounds

* Daniel Bryan is a Wild Card

* Crate expectations for R-Truth

* “Top Guys” once again

* Could a Woman’s Right bring us “Becky No Belts”?

The Lucha Bros’ Mystery Partner For AEW Fyter Fest Match Revealed

The Laredo Kid has been confirmed as the mystery partner for Rey Fenix and Pentagon Jr. in the six-man match against The Elite at AEW Fyter Fest.

Fyter Fest, from AEW and CEO Gaming, will take place on Saturday, June 29 from Daytona Beach, Florida. It will air for free on B/R Live. Below is the current card:

Hardcore Match
Jebailey vs. Michael Nakazawa

The Elite (The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega) vs. Rey Fenix, Pentagon Jr. and Laredo Kid

Cody Rhodes vs. Darby Allin

Jon Moxley’s AEW in-ring debut vs. Joey Janela

“Hangman” Adam Page vs. MJF vs Jungle Boy vs. Jimmy Havoc

Nyla Rose vs. Riho vs. Yuka Sakazaki

Christopher Daniels vs. Cima

Source: Wrestling Inc.

NJPW Announces G1 Climax 29 Matches

New Japan Pro Wrestling announced all of the bouts taking place for the 2019 G1 Climax Tournament. The announcement was made during night four of the Kizuna Road tour.

The tournament, which starts in Dallas, Texas, features a stacked card featuring Kota Ibushi v. KENTA, Kazuchika Okada v. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Will Ospreay v. Lance Archer, EVIL v. Bad Luck Fale and SANADA v. Zack Sabre Jr.

Here is the complete schedule for the G1:

7/6: Night 1 – Dallas, Texas – A Block
* Kota Ibushi v. KENTA
* Kazuchika Okada v. Hiroshi Tanahashi
* Will Ospreay v. Lance Archer
* EVIL v. Bad Luck Fale
* SANADA v. Zack Sabre Jr.

7/13: Night 2 – Ota, Tokyo – B Block
* Hirooki Goto v. Jay White
* Juice Robinson v. Shingo Takagi
* Tetsuya Naito v. Toru Nano
* Tomohiro Ishii v. Jeff Cobb
* Jon Moxley v. Taichi

7/14: Night 3 – Ota, Tokyo – A Block

* Hiroshi Tanahashi v. KENTA
* Kota Ibuishi v. EVIL
* Kazuchika Okada v. Zack Sabre Jr.
* Will Ospreay v. SANADA
* Lance Archer v. Bad Luck Fale

7/15: Night 4 – Sapporo – B Block

* Tetsuya Naito v. Taichi
* Jeff Cobb v. Jon Moxley
* Juice Robinson v. Hirooki Goto
* Tomohiro Ishii v. Jay White
* Toru Yano v. Shingo Takagi

7/18: Night 5 – Korakuen – A Block

* Kota Ibushi v. Will Ospreay
* Hiroshi Tanahashi v. Zack Sabre Jr.
* EVIL v. SANADA
* Kazuchika Okada c. Bad Luck Fale
* KENTA v. Lance Archer

7/19: Night 6 – Korakuen – B Block

* Tomohiro Ishii v. Jon Moxley
* Hirooki Goto v. Tetsuya Naito
* Juice Robinson v. Jeff Cobb
* Toru Yano v. Jay White
* Shingo Takagi v. Taichi

7/20: Night 7 – Korakuen – A Block

* Kazuchika Okada v. Will Ospreay
* Kota Ibushi v. SANADA
* Hiroshi Tanahashi v. Lance Archer
* KENTA v. EVIL
* Zack Sabre Jr. v. Bad Luck Fale

7/24: Night 8 – Hiroshima – B Block

* Tomohiro Ishii v. Tetsuya Naito
* Jon Moxley v. Shingo Takagi
* Jeff Cobb . Jay White
* Hirooki Goto v. Taichi
* Juice Robinson v. Toru Yano

7/27: Night 9 – Nagoya – A Block

* Kazuchika Okada v. KENTA
* Hiroshi Tanahashi v. SANADA
* EVIL v. Zack Sabre Jr.
* Will Ospreay v. Bad Luck Fale
* Kota Ibushi v. Lance Archer

7/28: Night 10 – Nagoya – B Block

* Tetsuya Naito v. Jon Moxley
* Juice Robinson v. Tomohiro Ishii
* Jeff Cobb v. Taichi
* Hirooki Goto v. Toru Yano
* Shingo Takagi v. Jay White

7/30: Night 11 – Takamatsu – A Block
* KENTA v. SANADA
* Will Ospreay v. Zack Sabre Jr.
* Kazuchika Okada v. Lance Archer
* Hiroshi Tanahashi v. EVIL
* Kota Ibushi v. Bad Luck Fale

8/1: Night 12 – Fukoaka – B Block

* Tetsuya Naito v. Juice Robinson
* Jeff Cobb v. Shingo Takagi
* Tomohiro Ishii v. Hirooki Goto
* Taichi v. Jay White
* Jon Moxley v. Toru Yano

8/3: Night 13 – Osaka – A Block

* Hiroshi Tanahashi v. Kota Ibushi
* Kazuchika Okada v. SANADA
* Will Ospreay v. EVIL
* Zack Sabre Jr. v. Lance Archer
* KENTA v. Bad Luck Fale

8/4: Night 14 – Osaka – B Block

* Tetsuya Naito v. Shingo Takagi
* Jon Moxley v. Jay White
* Hirooki Goto v. Jeff Cobb
* Juice Robinson v. Taichi
* Tomohiro Ishii v. Toru Yano

8/7: Night 15 – Hamamatsu – A Block

* Kazuchika Okada v. EVIL
* Kota Ibushi v. Zack Sabre Jr.
* Will Ospreay v. KENTA
* Hiroshi Tanahashi v. Bad Luck Fale
* SANADA v. Lance Archer

8/8: Night 16 – Yokohama – B Block

* Jeff Cobb v. Tetsuya Naito
* Tomohiro Ishii v. Shingo Takagi
* Hirooki Goto v. Jon Moxley
* Juice Robinson v. Jay White
* Toru Yano v. Taichi

8/10: Night 17 – Budokan – A Block

* Kazuchika Okada v. Kota Ibushi
* Hiroshi Tanahashi v. Will Ospreay
* KENTA v. Zack Sabre Jr.
* EVIL v. Lance Archer
* SANADA v. Bad Luck Fale

8/11: Night 18 – Budokan – B Block

* Tetsuya Naito v. Jay White
* Hirooki Goto v. Shingo Takagi
* Juice Robinson v. Jon Moxley
* Tomohiro Ishii v. Taichi
* Jeff Cobb v. Toru Yano

The finals take place on August 12 at the Nihon Budokan.

Source: Wrestling Inc. 

Lucha Brothers Defeat The Young Bucks For The AAA Tag Team Championship In Mexico

Last night in Mexico at AAA Verano de Escandalo, the Lucha Brothers defeated The Young Bucks and won the AAA World Tag Team Titles.

The Young Bucks back in February defeated Pentagon Jr. and Fenix to win the AAA World Tag Team Titles. They also had retained the titles at last month’s AEW Double or Nothing before losing last night.

https://twitter.com/luchalibreaaa/status/1140428413792137216

https://twitter.com/luchalibreaaa/status/1140430529046691841

Source: Wrestling Inc.

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Scarlett Bordeaux Comments On Being Grabbed And Groped By Fan At AAA Event

At Saturday night’s AAA event, Impact Wrestling star Scarlett Bordeaux was groped by a fan during her match. What happened was while she was getting back up from her feet, a fan at ringside grabbed her from behind. The footage of the incident was shared by Luchablog on Twitter, which you can watch below:

Bordeaux was in a six-woman tag match with Lady Shani and Taya Valkyrie and opponents Chik Tormenta, La Hiedra, and Tessa Blanchard.

After watching the footage because while the matched happened she didn’t notice, Bordeaux commented about the incident. She thanked Lady Shani who was the one that pulled her away from the fan. There was security near.

Bordeaux wrote: “It is NEVER okay to touch a performer without their consent. I didn’t realize what happened until I watched the footage afterwards being so in the moment after a dive with my back turned otherwise I would have reacted much differently. Thnx to @LadyShaniAAA for having my back.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

MLW Announces Savio Vega Coming To Promotion This Summer

Major League Wrestling announced that this Summer, Savio Vega is coming to the promotion. MLW shared the announcement on their official Twitter page.

https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1140083070101544960

Vega has wrestled for many promotions, most notably in the ’90s for WWE. Vega was part of The Nation of Domination and before his departure was part of Los Boricuas. He had rivalries with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Goldust, and The Disciples of the Apocalypse.

His more recent promotions include BSP, World Wrestling League, and Game Changer Wrestling.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Mike And Maria Kanellis Sign New Multi-Year WWE Contracts

Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that Mike and Maria Kanellis have signed new WWE contracts. Sources say they recently inked multi-year deals and were happy with their final offers.

Maria Kanellis recently made it known that she and her husband were nearing the end of their deals with a tweet on May 27 saying: “Contracts are up in 3 weeks. Just saying…”

Mike and Maria signed with WWE in 2017. They’re currently featured on 205 Live.