Tonight’s AEW Rampage on TNT at 10/9c.
Former AEW Women’s World Champion Jamie Hayter hasn’t competed in a match since May when she lost her title to Toni Storm at Double Or Nothing. Since then, she’s been sidelined with an injury suffered around that time and while talk of her recovery timeline has stayed relatively quiet, it’s very possible she may not be back in time for AEW’s biggest show to date.
According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there have been conversations that she won’t be ready as AEW travels to London for All In at the end of August. The highly anticipated Wembley Stadium show currently has no matches announced, but with over 74,000 tickets sold, AEW will have all eyes of the wrestling world on it to see what kind of show it’s able to put on at such a great scale.
Hayter is one of the few British wrestlers on the AEW roster, so it makes sense that Tony Khan would like to book one of the hometown heroes from the U.K. on the show. This is one of the reasons why the likely inclusion of Will Ospreay at All In is such an attractive option.
Hayter had been feuding against The Outcasts at the time of her injury, with the women’s faction credited for causing it on television. That still opens up the possibility for all sorts of vengeance upon her return, especially with Toni Storm still walking around with that belt around her waist. A confrontation between Hayter and Saraya — both from the U.K. — would have been massive at Wembley, and is something the latter admitted she wanted to happen. But all of those may be off the table as All In swiftly approaches and Hayter’s return looks no closer.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Jack Perry’s recent heel turn may have awakened the sleeping giant that is Extreme Championship Wrestling, with the newly-crowned FTW Champion berating the now-defunct company on the July 26 edition of “AEW Dynamite.” After defeating his former tag partner HOOK a week prior, Perry took aim at the iconic hardcore promotion and one of its biggest stars Taz (who’s also HOOK’s father), before being interrupted by AEW producer and former ECW wrestler Jerry Lynn.
With AEW President Tony Khan publicly expressing his love of ECW throughout the years, one of the company’s greatest performers — tag team legend and WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray – believes he could be the perfect person to help take Perry to the next level.
“If the story went down the ECW road and I showed up in the right town … there’s monster business to be done there,” Bully said on “Busted Open.”
“This is not me blowing smoke up my own ass … if you announced that Bully Ray, or even Tommy Dreamer to the matter, were showing up on ‘AEW Dynamite’ on whatever week it was, to come face-to-face and confront Jack Perry, you’re doing over a million viewers. Guaranteed.
“Tommy fits the part the best. Him and Taz were the bestest of best friends, Tommy was Taz’ best man at his wedding. The story is so deep, it’s there if you want to go down the ECW road. If you do go down that ECW road, you will make Jack Perry a bigger star at the end of this story than you can with any other talent that’s in ECW right now.”
Dreamer and Bully Ray have both remained active in recent months, while the likes of Rob Van Dam and Rhyno have also been suggested as potential opponents for Perry on social media. The likelihood of Taz being the ECW legend to topple Perry is minuscule, with the former world champion continuing to reiterate his retirement from in-ring competition.
Source: Wrestling Inc. with credit to “Busted Open”
Back in December, Dustin Rhodes did an interview where he revealed that his contract with All Elite Wrestling would be expiring in July of this year. At the time, Rhodes said,
“I made the decision, the end of July, my contract is up and I’m going to be done in-ring, or at least tone way down. I don’t know if that’s going to be it because when we say we’re retiring, we always comeback and you never say never, but that’s what I’m looking for, an end date for my in-ring wrestling career.”
According to a report from Fightful Select, Rhodes’ contract actually expires in September of 2024.
As of this writing, there is no word on whether an extension was signed or if another issue extended the terms of the original contract.
Source: eWn
AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS from the MVP Arena in Albany, New York.
After The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn were unsuccessful in winning the World Trios Titles on Saturday night’s AEW Collision, Gunn unlaced his boots, took them off and left them in the center of the ring. Gunn was pinned after Malakai Black hit him with a side kick to the head.
After being pinned, Black whispered something in Gunn’s ear, before the House of Black themselves made their own exit from the ring. It was after this, Gunn began to unlaced his boots.
As Gunn was beginning to unlace his boots, the fans started a “You still got it!” chant, while Max Caster and Anthony Bowens looked on with confusion. After Gunn walked off, Anthony Bowens grabbed Gunn’s boots from the center of the ring.
Source: eWn
I believe it’s just a story line angle. Whether or not Gunn has wrestled his last match, it’s very likely that we will learn more about this development in the coming weeks on AEW television.
Tonight’s AEW Collision Live from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey tonight at 8/7c on TNT.
Tonight’s AEW Rampage on TNT
Nick Aldis departed from Impact Wrestling after the Slammiversary 2023 pay-per-view event, where he lost to World Champion Alex Shelley in the evening’s main event. He is now once again a free agent.
Before his Impact return at its April 16th Rebellion pay-per-view event, where he was on a short-term contract with the promotion, he had interest from WWE but wasn’t brought in.
As previously reported, WWE has expressed interest in signing Aldis again and Aldis’ name has been discussed internally among WWE management as a potential producer for the company.
Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Aldis has yet to sign with anything.
“Aldis has no new deal in place and is said to be interested in both AEW and WWE. Aldis did clean jobs on the way out to Alex Shelley in the title match and Eric Young on TV. Aldis is a free agent right now and had agreed to work here through this week,” Meltzer wrote.
Source: eWn
Bryan Danielson broke his arm during a match with Kazuchika Okada at last month’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door II pay-per-view event.
The American Dragon recently took to Twitter to provide an update, revealing that he underwent surgery “about two weeks ago.” He wrote,
“Also, to give everyone an update before #AEWDynamite, I got surgery on my arm about two weeks ago, where they put in a steel rod and 9 screws. Surgery went well and I’m on the road to recovery. Thank you all for the support, and check out #BloodAndGuts tonight!”
Source: eWn
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