Tag: AEW

Tony Khan Says AEW “Is Now Stronger Than Ever Before,” Vows Fans Won’t Be Disappointed With Big Business

During an interview with TVInsider.com, AEW President Tony Khan hyped up the “Big Business” edition of Dynamite tonight. 

The episode is expected to feature the debut of Mercedes Mone. He said, 

“I promise I will not disappoint the fans tonight. There has been an influx of huge names, and tonight is the biggest show yet. When we launched AEW, it was the first time in many years that so many resources and such a strong roster of wrestlers have come together to form a new challenger promotion. After five years, AEW is now stronger than ever before. Our roster continues to get deeper and better. This has become a popular destination that top stars seek out. This is the perfect time to continue expanding and growing. That is what tonight is all about. AEW Big Business. With such a strong group of wrestlers in AEW today, we’ve come so far from the beginning of 2019. Now we have what I believe is the best roster in pro wrestling today. There are still so many great stars out there we are always looking to add and strengthen the group. I think we will continue to try to strengthen whenever we can add someone’s skills to make AEW better. I think that constant innovation and the perpetual strides toward always wanting to get better are a big part of the spirit of AEW. I think tonight’s Big Business show on TBS will showcase that innovation and fighting spirit.”

Report: Miro & CJ Perry Split, AEW Stars’ Marriage Reportedly Ended Late 2023

AEW’s Miro and CJ Perry are reportedly splitting up after over seven years of marriage. 

According to TMZ, the two “broke up once and for all” last winter, despite Miro’s social media posts about visiting Perry in the hospital as she suffered a severe infection that required multiple surgeries and almost cost Perry her arm. TMZ said their relationship was “on-again, off-again” for years, and they simply drifted apart.

TMZ reached out to representatives for Perry, who confirmed the split to the outlet. The former WWE star also provided a brief statement on the matter.

“Miro and I have made the difficult decision to separate after many wonderful years together, and have decided to move on as friends, and hopefully onscreen characters somewhere down the road,” Perry told TMZ.

The couple has yet to officially file for divorce. In the aftermath of their breakup, however, Miro has reportedly moved back to Bulgaria. The AEW star has been absent from the promotion since AEW Worlds End, when Miro defeated Andrade El Idolo and Perry aligned with her husband onscreen. With his extended absence, Miro’s future in AEW is unclear.

There is some hope for closure, as Perry expressed her desire to work together again as friends. However, it’s safe to say that future is very uncertain.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Collision Preview 3/9/2024

AEW taped Collision from Duluth, Georgia on Thursday night for tonight’s show on TNT.

  • The Elite (Kazuchika Okada & The Young Bucks) in trios action
  • Atlanta Street Fight: Mark Briscoe, Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal vs. House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King & Buddy Matthews)
  • Chris Jericho vs. CMLL’s Titan
  • Bryan Danielson vs. Shane Taylor
  • Mistico vs. Angelico
  • Mariah May vs. Trish Adora
  • Toni Storm presents the first-ever Toni Award

AEW Rampage Preview 3/8/2024

AEW Rampage tonight on TNT.

  • TBS Championship: Julia Hart (c) vs.  Robyn Renegade
  • Orange Cassidy & Trent Beretta vs. Kip Sabian & The Butcher
  • Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Action Andretti
  • Top Flight (Darius Martin & Dante Martin) vs. Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) vs. Komander & Bryan Keith

Kenny Omega Provides An Update On His Recovery From Diverticulitis

Kenny Omega recently took to Twitch to provide an update on his recovery from diverticulitis.

While the AEW wrestler was originally set to compete at the Worlds End 2023 pay-per-view event, he was pulled two weeks before the show due to being hospitalized and diagnosed with diverticulitis.

You can check out some highlights from the Twitch stream below:

On how he’s doing so far: “I know how I feel physically. I’ve been through the ringer in terms of injuries and getting banged up and all of that. I kind of know now what I feel like, and I can come back (from physical injuries). This is the first time I’ve ever been put out with a sickness. It’s hard to really know what’s going on in the inside when you feel a little bit of pain, but you don’t actually know the inner workings of what’s going on. I would love to say, ‘Hey guys, I’m on track to coming back next week, next month, a half of year.’ I don’t have that confidence this time. When they’re explaining to me that I was 24 hours away from a terrible blood infection and possibly dying, this is like news to me. I’ve never heard of anything like that. ‘I wasn’t close to dying, are you kidding me? No way.’ The doctors are there to ensure my safety and educate me as to how important this is.

“I don’t want to talk out of my ass too much and say I’m going to for sure be back, and I’ll be back at a certain date or time because I don’t know. I will say, after watching Dynamite, and getting a feel of the lay of the land. If I can come back, I feel like I have to. We may never get an environment like that again. I don’t know if I would call it fun, more of a responsibility. I have a responsibility to mix it up with these guys that call themselves the best. I used to be that guy and have confidence. Now, instead of being that guy with a chip on his shoulder, now, it’s my job to be a gatekeeper. You want to call yourself the best? F**king prove it, b*tch.”

On the ups and downs of his recovery: “Do I need surgery? I still don’t know. It’s been really touch and go. I was feeling great for a week or two. When you feel terrible, a week or two feels like a long time and it feels like you have momentum and you’re going to push to the finish line, which is to come back. For two weeks, I was feeling great. I ran into a bit of a roadblock and I had to get some emergency treatment again. Well, I wouldn’t say it’s two steps forward, two steps back, but maybe it’s one and a half steps back. I’m better than where I was, but I’m not sure how much improvement I made.

“When I see these guys, whether it be on pay-per-view or Dynamite, Raw, SmackDown, NXT, anybody. It makes me want to get back into that ring shape. I’m doing this weird balancing act of trying to manage the pain or sickness and trying to train. I’m trying to make sure things don’t get too out of hand. If suddenly I’m healed and cleared, I want to hop back in. I don’t want to be like, ‘I haven’t done a thing in four or five months’ or whatever it is. I’ll be disappointed, and you guys will be disappointed. The bar is so high. I don’t want to come back being below that bar. I want to try the best I can.”

Source: eWn

AEW Collision Taping Uses New Announce Team, Kevin Kelly Reportedly Has Been Released

AEW commentator Kevin Kelly has been removed from the promotion’s roster page, while he was also not present at the recent “AEW Collision” tapings.

At the tapings for this Saturday’s “Collision” show, Kelly was missing from the broadcast team, with Nigel McGuinness and Tony Schiavone manning the two-man booth. Kelly has been part of the Collision commentary team ever since he joined AEW last year. The former WWE backstage interviewer and MLW commentator was a part of NJPW’s English broadcast team prior to joining AEW.

There’s no news as to the reason why Kelly was removed from the roster page or the “Collision” show, but the speculation is that it could be because of Kelly’s recent comments directed at fellow AEW commentator Ian Riccaboni. Kelly claimed on X that Riccaboni “libeled” him and revealed that he has been “pushed aside.” Kelly last commentated on the March 2 episode of “Collision” alongside Nigel McGuinness and Tony Schiavone. 

According to Wade Keller of PWTorch, Kelly has been released by AEW. The report states that his social media posts, in which he accused Riccaboni of sabotaging his career and engaging in libel, ultimately led to his departure from the promotion.

Kelly was the first commentator of the “Collision” show with McGuinness, while the likes of Riccaboni, Jim Ross, and Caprice Coleman have also called “Collision” action occasionally when Kelly was calling NJPW last year. 

Kelly had an eight-year stint with NJPW, during which time he was also part of the ROH commentary team, which is incidentally part of AEW now.

Source:s Wrestling Inc. and eWn

Matt Hardy’s AEW Contract Expires This Month

Matt Hardy could become a free agent soon.

According to a report from Fightful, Hardy’s AEW contract is set to expire this month. The multi-time tag team champion signed with AEW back in March 2020.

Hardy and AEW have been discussing his contract situation, but it’s unknown if the deal will be extended.

Additionally, Jeff Hardy’s AEW contract was set to match Matt’s deal in length. However, back-to-back injuries and inactivity have reportedly added time to Jeff’s contract. Jeff debuted for AEW in March 2022.

Matt has only wrestled once this year, teaming with his brother and Mark Briscoe in a winning effort against Kip Sabian, The Butcher, and The Blade on the January 3rd edition of AEW Rampage.

Source: eWn

Kazuchika Okada Makes Official AEW Debut, Replaces Kenny Omega & Adam Page In The Elite

While huge announcements are customarily reserved for Tony Khan in AEW, The Young Bucks exerted their EVP authority on “AEW Dynamite” and were about to break some huge news themselves before Eddie Kingston interrupted them, leading to a fight. As the Bucks set Kingston up for the EVP Trigger, none other than “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada hit the ring to make the save — or so it seemed, before Okada turned on Kingston and was announced as the newest member of The Elite.

That group, of which the Bucks are founding members, was newly free of “Hangman” Adam Page and Kenny Omega. Prior to the exchange with Kingston and Okada’s debut, Matthew and Nicholas Jackson declared that Page was “suspended indefinitely from The Elite without pay,” for contact with officials at Revolution, and that Omega was outright fired from The Elite for not making any of his dates of late, “for no good reason.” Omega, of course, has been out since mid-December battling diverticulitis, while it’s been reported that Page is taking time off following Revolution.

After finishing up with New Japan Pro-Wrestling at “The New Beginning In Sapporo” on February 24th, Okada returns to AEW, this time as a full-time competitor, having competed for the promotion three times prior in 2022 and 2023. He leaves NJPW a seven-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, a NEVER Openweight 6-man Tag Team Champion (with Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii), a four-time winner of the G1 Climax tournament, and a two-time winner of the New Japan Cup. Those accolades may have had AEW fans prepared to welcome him to the company as a hero, but his instantaneous alignment with the EVPs seems to have flipped that script right at the start.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Dynamite Preview 3/6/2024

AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS from the Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia.

AEW announced took to X on Tuesday, revealing that this will be a new look and a new season of AEW Dynamite.

  • Fallout from AEW Revolution
  • Kyle Fletcher vs Will Ospreay
  • Kris Statlander vs. Riho

AEW Reportedly Suspends Sammy Guevara For In-Ring Incident

Last month, during a match taped for “AEW Rampage,” Jeff Hardy reportedly suffered a concussion. However, despite AEW having concussion protocols in place, the match continued, with Sammy Guevara landing his finisher on Hardy to end the bout. According to a new report from Fightful Select, Guevara was suspended following the incident.

It’s unclear when the suspension was enacted, as Guevara wrestled an “AEW Collision” match against Powerhouse Hobbs 10 days after his match against Hardy. Additionally, while it’s obvious Hardy shouldn’t have had any more physical contact, it’s not clear if Guevara ignored communication from the referee or if there was another specific reason why he was suspended. The report states that Guevara is currently serving the suspension and it’s not publicly known how long he’ll be kept out of the ring.

This isn’t the young star’s first AEW suspension. Guevara has previously had physical confrontations backstage with fellow wrestlers Andrade El Idolo and Eddie Kingston, the latter of which also resulted in a suspension. Kingston and Guevara later made amends, while El Idolo eventually wound up returning to WWE.

Guevara recently returned from an injury of his own, which kept the former TNT Champion out of action for several months at the end of last year. Since returning, he’d been involved in the storyline pitting himself and onscreen mentor Chris Jericho against The Don Callis Family, though that saga has since come to its conclusion. Guevara’s most recent onscreen appearance was on the February 24 episode of “Collision” that featured his match against Hobbs.

Source: Wrestling Inc.