Tag: AEW

AEW Reportedly Changes Plans For Roster Split

There is believed to be a roster split in AEW with the idea of building their reported Saturday show, AEW Collison, around CM Punk as a way to separate him from those who don’t like him. 

Thus, AEW will have to have some sort of roster split for Punk to have people to work with.

Punk is slated to return on June 17th, 2023, at the United Center in Chicago for the debut of the show. 

In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com wrote the following,

“Punk will be the star of Collision most weeks, but he will be on Dynamite at times when needed. Those with unresolved issues with Punk would be on Collision the week he’s on Dynamite,” Meltzer wrote.

Meltzer added that there will be less of a split with the women’s roster due to a lack of depth. Plans are said to be “up in the air” and nothing is final. The idea is still to get people to resolve their issues.

Source: eWrestlingNews

AEW Will No Longer Air Dark & Dark: Elevation

Ahead of AEW launching its Collision show, a two-hour program on TNT starting June 17, 2023, the company has nixed its two streaming shows.

On YouTube, AEW had been airing Dark and Dark: Elevation every Monday and Tuesday. That is no longer the case, as reported by Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Podcast. He wrote,

“AEW Dark and Dark Elevation have ended for the time being. This in part has to do with AEW signing a new deal for AEW Collision to air on Saturdays. Part of the new deal is that AEW Wrestling content will exclusively air on WBD. As of today, this doesn’t include ROH.”

Source: eWrestlingNews

AEW Dynamite Preview 5/3/2023

AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS and emanate from the CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.

  • The Elite (Kenny Omega, Young Bucks) to speak
  • Four Pillars Tag Team Match: AEW World Champion MJF and Sammy Guevara vs Jungle Boy and Darby Allin
  • Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Bandido & Orange Cassidy vs Angelo Parker, Matt Menard, Jake Hager, and Daniel Garcia of the Jericho Appreciation Society.
  • Saraya vs Willow Nightingale
  • Ricky Starks vs Juice Robinson
  • Tres de Mayo Trios Battle Royal – Dark Order (Evil Uno, Alex Reynolds, & John Silver) vs. The Acclaimed (Billy Gunn, Anthony Bowens, & Max Caster) vs.Powerhouse Hobbs, QT Marshall, & Aaron Solo vs. Lucha Bros & Vikingo vs. Kip Sabian, The Butcher & The Blade vs. Ari Daivari & The Varsity Athletes (Josh Woods & Tony Nese)

Details On Plans For AEW Brand Split

AEW will launch Collision on June 17th, 2023 with it airing on TNT as a two-hour program airing every Saturday night. 

It will be built around CM Punk as a way to separate him from those who have issues with him and vice versa dating back to the All Out incidents.

Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that The Elite will remain on Dynamite while Punk and FTR will be used on Collision.

“If the idea is a talent split, with one group working Wednesday and another working Saturday, because Rampage is likely to be taped on Wednesday, that would mean it would have the Wednesday night crew predominately. The Saturday crew will be headed by Punk and FTR, and the Wednesday crew by The Elite and BCC,” Meltzer wrote.

AEW Rampage Preview 4/28/2023

Tonight’s AEW Rampage will have a special start time of 5:30 PM ET. on TNT.

  • Ricky Starks & Shawn Spears vs. Bullet Club Gold (Jay White & Juice Robinson)
  • Cash Wheeler vs. Jay Lethal
  • Anna Jay vs. Ashley D’Amboise
  • Naturally Limitless (Dustin Rhodes & Keith Lee) vs. TBA
  • We’ll hear from The Outcasts
  • The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass address the people

Details On Roderick Strong’s WWE Departure, Surprise AEW Debut

AEW shocked the wrestling world on Wednesday night with Roderick Strong’s surprise debut on “Dynamite” in Sunrise, Florida. He had requested his WWE release last May, hadn’t been seen on WWE programming since August, and as of mid-March, was reportedly still under contract. So for him to show up on “Dynamite” to run in and save Adam Cole from the Jericho Appreciation Society was something almost no one saw coming. Very quickly, Fightful Select reported some details to try to help give context to what was a very left-field debut.

The most recent information that Fightful had was that the AEW talents they spoke to were “pleasantly surprised” that Strong had signed. On the WWE side, the newest information was that 2K Games had been told not to include Strong in the “WWE 2K23” video game, that other WWE talent had never been updated on his status, and he had not been at the WWE Performance Center “in quite some time” even though he was fully cleared to wrestle. The report also noted that Strong’s WWE run started its downward slide when Paul “Triple H” Levesque lost power in “NXT,” as he was behind Strong’s push as the center of a revitalized cruiserweight division.

Strong has been wrestling since 2000, breaking into the business when he was 16 years old after years of training under Jim Neidhart. After initially getting on the map for his work in the IPW promotion in Florida, he made a name for himself in Ring of Honor, where he was a mainstay for over a decade before signing with WWE in 2016.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Dynamite Preview 4/26/2023

AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS and emanate from the FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida.

  • AEW TBS Championship: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Taya Valkyrie
  • AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy(c) vs. Bandido
  • Pillars Tournament Final: Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara
  • The Butcher & The Blade (w/ Kip Sabian) vs. Konosuke Takeshita & Kenny Omega (w/ Don Callis)
  • Dax Harwood vs. Jeff Jarrett
  • We’ll hear from Adam Cole
  • We’ll hear from Tony Khan
  • We’ll hear from Wardlow and Arn Anderson

AEW May Have Canceled Dark: Elevation

It appears that AEW Dark: Elevation is no more. 

The show has aired on the company’s YouTube channel and FITE TV since it premiered in March 2021. 

This week’s episode was billed as a “best of” show with no new matches airing. It was FITE that noted the series was coming to an end with the following description for it:

“The Special and final episode of Elevation – it’s Best of Elevation airing on FITE! The episode is throwing it back to some of the best matches that have graced our Monday nights over the years!”

AEW has yet to comment on the future of the program. You can watch the episode here: 

Source: eWrestlingNews

Concern That Thunder Rosa May Need Surgery

Former AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa has been out of action since last year after suffering a back injury.

In an update on Rosa’s status, Fightful Select is reporting that she has still not been cleared to return to the ring. Additionally, there is some fear that she may require back surgery to fix the lingering issues.

Thunder Rosa is currently doing Spanish-language commentary for AEW.

Source: eWrestlingNews

AEW Rampage Preview 4/22/2023

This week’s AEW Rampage will air at a SPECIAL TIME of SATURDAY at 10pm ET/9pm CT.

  • AAA Mega Championship: El Hijo del Vikingo (C) vs. Dralistico
  • Jon Moxley vs. Christopher Daniels
  • Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett and FTR vs. Varsity Athletes and Slim J
  • We will hear form The Hardy’s, Hook and Isiah Kassidy
  • We will hear from TBS Champion Jade Cargill
https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1649382481957916679