Former WWE NXT Superstars Ever-Rise are set to debut on AEW Dynamite tonight.
As seen below, AEW has announced that Matt Lee (fka Matt Martel) and Jeff Parker (fka Chase Parker) are now going by 2.0, and have joined the company. They will debut tonight on the Homecoming edition of Dynamite on TNT, which airs live from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville.
2.0 have aligned with Daniel Garcia, and will go up against Jon Moxley, Darby Allin and Eddie Kingston in six-man action tomorrow night.
2.0, known as 3.0 before signing with WWE in January 2019, were released from the company back on June 25. They had developed a following of fans on social media, and were endorsed by various WWE Superstars, including Kevin Owens. Ever-Rise worked the weekly NXT show at times, but also had several appearances on WWE 205 Live.
NJPW star Hiroshi Tanahashi appeared via video on tonight’s AEW Dynamite: Fight for the Fallen.
Tanahashi said he’s won many championships in his career, but the IWGP US Championship has thus eluded him.
Tanahashi said the winner of the match between the current champion, Lance Archer, and NJPW star Hikuleo will face him next. A date has yet to be announced, however the match will take place in Japan. Archer won the title last week in a Texas Deathmatch against Jon Moxley.
Archer won last night’s match and commentary noted he’ll travel to NJPW so Tanahashi can challenge for the title. No word on when that will happen.
On next week’s edition of AEW Dynamite, Chris Jericho will face his former WCW colleague Juventud Guerrera for the first time in 22 years.
Lucha Libre legend Juventud Guerrera will appear on TNT for the first time in 20 years and make his All Elite Wrestling debut when he goes one-on-one with his former WCW colleague Chris Jericho on next week’s episode of Dynamite.
Guerrera’s imminent arrival was announced by MJF following the main event of this week’s Fight For The Fallen edition of AEW’s flagship show.
Chris Jericho had just defeated Nick Gage in the second of five matches that he must win in order to be granted a grudge match against his bitter enemy/former protege, MJF. In what is being referred to as “The Labours Of Jericho,” MJF chooses all of Jericho’s opponents and decides the stipulation of each match. Last week, Jericho defeated “The Chairman” Shawn Spears in a match in which Spears could legally use a steel chair, but Jericho could not.
At the end of this week’s Dynamite, Jericho was sat in the ring drenched his own blood having just won a deathmatch against a man who specializes in them. After the bell, an irate MJF, who had been on commentary throughout the match, leaped from his seat, grabbed a microphone, and revealed next week’s stipulation: to win the match, Jericho must hit his final move off of the top rope.
MJF then reminded Jericho of a moment the two men shared while exchanging insults during a 2019 edition of Dynamite. During that encounter, Jericho implied that MJF was conceived after his parents watched Jericho beat up Juventud Guerrera on WCW Nitro. Guerrera was then announced as Jericho’s opponent next week.
Juventud Guerrera (real name, Eduardo Aníbal González Hernández) began his wrestling career in 1992 in his native Mexico. Guererra made his WCW debut on August 26, 1996 edition of Monday Nitro, and became the promotion’s Cruiserweight Champion soon after.
Chris Jericho last wrestled Juventud Guerrera shared a ring together 28 times during their time in WCW. They last faced each other on the February 18, 1999, edition of WCW Thunder.
Chavo Guerrero Jr. is All Elite, making his AEW debut during night two of Fyter Fest. Last night’s special episode of Dynamite saw Guerrero announced as the advisor to Andrade El Idolo. Guerrero appeared and said that while he’s excited to be part of AEW and praised the talent, none of them were on El Idolo’s level. That brought out PAC and Death Triangle, and Guerrero tried to recruit Penta and Fenix to no avail.
Guerrero returned to the ring in April at Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 6, defeating Rocky Romero. He was last seen at Impact Wrestling in September of 2019 and has been working in Hollywood for the last few years, working on shows like Young Rock and GLOW.
Malakai Black ( fka Aleister Black) made his debut on Wednesday night during AEW Dynamite. He attacked Cody Rhodes to a massive reaction.
Aleister Black has made his decision… he’s officially going All Elite. No longer known as Aleister Black, he’s not even going by the name Tommy End –which we all thought was a moniker he would take after his WWE release. Instead, Black debuted on AEW Dynamite as Malakai Black.
The live crowd there to watch his AEW debut were in shock, but also extremely vocal, blaring their enthusiasm for a signing that most fans universally seem to think is a fantastic move by Tony Khan. The President of AEW hinted he had other things up his sleeve. Apparently, this was one of them.
As often happens in AEW, a new arrival made his debut by attacking Cody Rhodes. Make of that what you will, Black’s arrival seems to have caught a number of fans off guard. There was a lot of chatter about where Black might go. AEW was certainly among the possible destinations. But, after news that his wife Zelina Vega signed a multi-year contract with WWE, some thought that might be the opening to bring Black back into the WWE fold. He had other plans.
Interestingly, this might be a case where Black was released from his 90-day non-compete clause early. Based on when he was let go, he shouldn’t have debuted so soon.
Black teased earlier on Wednesday that something might be coming. He released a vignette in which he said, “My name isn’t Tom. My name is Malakai.” Obviously, that’s the name he’s now going by in AEW.
Outside of the fans in attendance being stoked for Black’s debut, social media was quick to voice their excitement, many saying this is exactly the right spot for Black who will be used properly and could become a massive star. We can only hope this turns out to be the case.
Black didn’t necessarily get a fair shake in WWE and he’s got an extremely creative mind and passion for the business. It appears AEW is going to try and tap into that and they’ve put him up against one of their biggest names right out of the gate.
Tonight’s AEW Dynamite: Road Rager episode airs on TNT at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida.
* QT Marshall vs. Cody Rhodes (South Beach Strap Match)
* MJF to announce stipulations for Chris Jericho to get through to have a match with MJF. If they have a match and Jericho loses — he has to leave MJF alone forever.
* Andrade El Idolo vs. Matt Sydal
* The Young Bucks (c) vs. Penta El Zero Miedo and Eddie Kingston (Street Fight for the AEW World Tag Team Championship)
* Jake Hager, Santana, and Ortiz with Konnan vs. Wardlow and FTR with Tully Blanchard
* Kris Statlander and Orange Cassidy vs. The Bunny and The Blade
* Ethan Page and Darby Allin have a sit-down interview with Jim Ross
Rebel dislocated her knee on Wednesday night while competing in a tag match alongside Britt Baker.
Rebel dislocated her knee towards the end of a match on Dynamite this week, forcing her to watch on from the sidelines as her partner picked up the win.
It’s shaping up to be a bad week for freak injuries in women’s wrestling. Tuesday night on NXT, a stiff roundhouse kick to the head appeared to knock out Mercedes Martinez and resulted in the match coming to a premature end. 24 hours later, Rebel suffered a knee injury that meant she couldn’t finish her match on Dynamite.
Unlike Martinez, Rebel was competing in a tag team match. That meant her partner Britt Baker could take the reigns and finish the match by herself. The AEW Women’s Champion even managed to win, beating Nyla Rose and Vickie Guerrero by forcing the latter to submit to her finisher, the Lockjaw. It might stop Guerrero from screaming excuse me for a week or two as well.
As for Rebel, AEW officials tended to her at ringside before she was helped to the back. Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp provided updates on her condition, revealing that Rebel was in good spirits backstage despite dislocating her left knee. A pretty painful injury by all accounts but it sounds like Rebel handled it like a trooper.
As for how long the injury will keep Rebel on the sidelines, that is yet to be revealed. Dislocations can be simple or they can be tricky. If the incident did no additional damage then it might have been as simple as popping it back in, although that would have likely been incredibly painful. However, it may have damaged ligaments or otherwise which could mean Rebel is out of the ring and maybe even off TV for a while.
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