SEScoops

Category: AEW

  • Tony Nese Calls 205 Live ‘Wrestling Purgatory’

    Tony Nese Calls 205 Live ‘Wrestling Purgatory’

    Tony Nese admits he feels 205 Live was a road that led to nowhere.

    Nese competed in the Cruiserweight Classic and was eliminated by Brian Kendrick. He made his main roster debut back in Sept. 2016. He won the Cruiserweight Championship at the WrestleMania 35 Kickoff show back in 2019. Tony Nese held the title for 77 days.

    Tony Nese Admits He Felt 205 Live Was A Dead End

    Nese was released from his WWE contract back in June. He had spent the majority of his time being lost in the shuffle on 205 Live.

    Speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Nese shared his belief that 205 Live felt like an endless loop that wrestlers couldn’t get out of.

    “We would always say that we were in this wrestling purgatory. Even though I was there, when it comes to the company’s decisions, I’m on the outside looking in too. This is all speculation, but it seemed like they had an idea for the show. It was Triple H’s idea, it was his baby. He wanted the show to have a yearly tournament, win/loss records, all that stuff. He wanted it to be a different feel. As soon as it was announced that the cruiserweights would be a part of RAW, that was where Vince was like, ‘No, it’s my show now.’ All that other stuff went out the window.”

    Nese recently appeared on AEW TV and Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio reported that he signed with the promotion. Nese has since confirmed the report.

    On the Oct. 27 episode of AEW Dynamite, Nese was shown in the crowd. He was observing the TNT Championship match between Sammy Guevara and Ethan Page. Guevara defeated Page to retain his title. It’ll be interesting to see if Nese will eventually challenge for the TNT gold.

    H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcribed quotes

  • Jon Moxley Compares Modern Wrestling To Marvel Universe

    Jon Moxley Compares Modern Wrestling To Marvel Universe

    Jon Moxley believes there are similarities between modern wrestling and the Marvel Universe.

    Moxley has been having quite the ride since leaving WWE. He has competed for promotions such as NJPW and GCW but his main home is AEW. Moxley has made it clear that his passion for the wrestling business has been renewed since leaving WWE.

    Jon Moxley Explains How Wrestling In 2021 Is Similar To Marvel Universe

    Moxley appeared on the Throwing Down podcast and he said the wrestling industry used to be about trying to trick the audience into thinking real fights are going on. He then compared wrestling today to Marvel.

    “That is not the case anymore in 2021. There’s real fighting, which is what you do, and there’s this. Fans are very passionate about it, but they know it’s — nobody’s being fooled into thinking they’re watching a legitimate thing, that’s a completely different separate sport now in 2021. What it is now is like the Marvel Universe, for instance. In real life, no one can shoot f-ckin’ spiderwebs out of their fingers or whatever, but in the Marvel Universe, there’s a guy that can and that’s accepted and you know that. So when he shoots somebody in the face with a spiderweb, Spider-Man, you totally accept it. So in pro wrestling, it’s like you have to understand the universe and then once you accept it like this is this fictional universe we’re living in, then you’re into it.”

    Jon Moxley is participating in the AEW World Heavyweight Title tournament. He advanced to the semifinals where he will meet Orange Cassidy. Many expect him to take on Bryan Danielson in the finals at AEW Full Gear. Time will tell if things will shape up that way.

    H/T to Wrestlezone.com for the transcribed quotes

  • Kayla Harrison Calls Pro Wrestling a “Fake Sport” Full of Nerds and Losers

    Kayla Harrison Calls Pro Wrestling a “Fake Sport” Full of Nerds and Losers

    MMA star Kayla Harrison doesn’t sound like she had a great experience at AEW Dynamite last month.

    Harrison is coming off a huge victory at Wednesday night’s PFL World Championships, where she became the 2021 Women’s Lightweight Champion.

    The Olympic Gold Medalist recently spoke to Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald and mocked professional wrestling. She called it a “fake sport” full of nerds and losers.

    “It’s just so easy, it’s just a bunch of nerds and losers who couldn’t hack it in my sport, so they decided to go and do a fake sport,” she said. “I can’t believe I let Dan talk me into it, it’s just boring, it would be too easy to crush them. ”

    Kayla Harrison Says She Does Real Sport

    Kayla Harrison claimed she does real sport with real winners and she doesn’t need anyone to tell her who she needs to beat up or when:

    “I am sorry, AEW, it’s just that I do a real sport with real winners and losers and it’s not scripted. No one is going to tell me whose ass I am going to kick, if I’m going to kick, I’m going to kick whose ass I want to kick.”

    Kayla Harrison also took some shots at Chris Jericho, saying that she would chew the former world champion and spit him out faster than one can say AEW. Though she admitted that Jericho did put out a great song.

    American Top Team is currently feuding with the Inner Circle. They are expected to collide in a Minneapolis Street Fight at the upcoming Full Gear PPV. Though it’s yet to be confirmed which members of the group are going to wrestle on the show.

    You can check out Kayla Harrison’s harsh words about pro wrestling here:

  • FTR to Attend AAA Taping with Vickie Guerrero as their Manager

    FTR to Attend AAA Taping with Vickie Guerrero as their Manager

    AAA Tag Team Champions FTR will appear at the Lucha Libre AAA taping in Mexico without Tully Blanchard as their manager.

    Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer reports that Vickie Guerrero will act as FTR’s manager on the November 4th AAA taping. It is unclear why Blanchard will not manage the team for the show.

    Meltzer also shared that AAA wants FTR in a tag title match against The Lucha Bros and Dragon Lee & Dralistico. The promotion intends to have the match take place at Triplemania Regia On December 4th. However, AAA hasn’t confirmed the match will happen.

    FTR Feud with the Lucha Bros.

    FTR is in an ongoing feud with the AEW Tag Team Champions, the Lucha Bros. The rivalry started when Andrade El Idolo challenged the Lucha Bros. to defend the AAA Tag Team Championship against his “masked friends.” Idolo’s friends were FTR in disguise, and they defeated The Lucha Bros at AEW Dynamite on October 16th. On October 27th, The Lucha Bros. challenged the FTR to an AEW Tag Team title match at Full Gear on November 13th.

    AEW Full Gear 2021 Card

    Besides the AEW Tag Team Championship match, AEW announced two confirmed matches for the Full Gear card. The World Title Eliminator Tournament will also take place at Full Gear. However, it’s unclear who will be in the finals. AEW World Champion Kenny Omega will defend the title against Hangman Adam Page in the main event. Page earned the title opportunity after winning the Casino Battle Royal at AEW Dynamite on October 6th. The other match confirmed that AEW is advertising is Tayconti will challenge AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker.

    It’s unclear if FTR’s AAA Tag Team Championship will also be on the line in their match against the Lucha Bros at Full Gear. However, FTR will have the opportunity to claim both the AAA and AEW Tag Team Championship in two weeks.

  • Tony Khan On The Falling Rampage Ratings

    Tony Khan On The Falling Rampage Ratings

    Tony Khan has been flaunting the AEW ratings for the past few weeks. Though one thing that fans think AEW should be worried about is the falling ratings of Rampage.

    The AEW president recently had an interview with Monaco Streaming Film Festival. He continued talking about these metrics and what they mean for his company.

    Discussing the viewership ratings of Rampage, Tony explained that their audience is great relative to the time slot and explained how it took them time to build the current audience of Dynamite:

    “It took us two years for Dynamite to hit #1 of the week, and it only took us two [week] for Rampage to do that. Our second episode has hit that. It’s a challenge Friday nights at 10 o’ clock to get good viewership.

    We’ve seen great audience though, relative to the time slot. We’re still being top in the slot, and I really believe with our fan base, they follow us.” said Tony Khan, “As long as we promote it and keep delivering great matches, they follow us practically everywhere we go because they really love AEW,”

    The AEW owner continued by saying that he wants to keep finding ways to give fans great content without oversaturating. He feels that they are in a sweet spot with the amount of wrestling for everyone.

    Tony Khan then mentioned the phrase he recently coined in watch your wrestling. He said that he wants people to find what they like and enjoy that.

    Tony Khan Doesn’t Want To Make These Mistakes Made by WCW
  • CM Punk Unfamiliar With Bobby Fish’s Work: “I Wasn’t Watching NXT”

    CM Punk Unfamiliar With Bobby Fish’s Work: “I Wasn’t Watching NXT”

    CM Punk takes on Bobby Fish tonight on AEW Dynamite. Ahead of their match, Punk tells DAZN that he’s not too familiar with Fish’s work. He didn’t watch NXT, or much wrestling at all, during his 7-year hiatus from the ring.

    “I wasn’t paying attention to NXT or wrestling whilst I was gone,” Punk said. “I knew who he was and the group he was in but I can’t say I’ve watched him too extensively.”

    “Looking at him now, he’s definitely an impressive person. I was there and to see him mix it up with Danielson a couple of weeks ago and it got the gears grinding here. He’s somebody I can’t wait to share the ring with.” 

    Punk also commented on not being included in the AEW World Title Eliminator tournament that is currently ongoing. He noted that while he was disappointed not to have the opportunity, he knows his chances will come in time.

    “Looking at the field and seeing the names that that that were in it, I definitely think I could have fit in there. It’ll come. You know, it’s not my time but it’ll come at a later date.”

    CM Punk vs Bobby Fish

    Bobby Fish will come into this match with a 4-2 record in AEW. He dropped his first match in the promotion to Sammy Guevara with the TNT title on the line. Fish would get his first AEW victory against Lee Moriarty the following week on Rampage. The next night on another edition of Saturday Night Dynamite he was defeated by Bryan Danielson. Since then, he’s rattled off 3 straight wins on episodes of Dark.

    As for CM Punk, he’s 4-0 since debuting in AEW. He’s rattled off wins over Darby Allin, Will Hobbs, Daniel Garcia, and Matt Sydal.

    Other matches scheduled for tonight’s show from Boston’s Agganis Arena include:

    • TBS Championship Tournament (1st Round)
      Hikaru Shida vs Serena Deeb
    • AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament First Round Match
      Jon Moxley vs #10 (Dark Order)
    • The Elite (Adam Cole, Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) (w/Don Callis) vs. The Dark Order (Colt Cabana, Evil Uno, John Silver & Stu Grayson)
    • CM Punk vs Bobby Fish
    • TNT Championship
      Sammy Guevara (c) vs Ethan Page

  • Tony Khan Doesn’t Want To Make These Mistakes Made by WCW

    Tony Khan Doesn’t Want To Make These Mistakes Made by WCW

    AEW President Tony Khan recently appeared at the Monaco Streaming Film Festival. During the event, Khan spoke about growing AEW’s roster and mistakes WCW made in the past that he doesn’t want AEW to replicate. In particular, Khan feels that WCW burned through big matches and often had unsatisfactory match-endings, such as disqualifications or matches ending with run-ins.

    “I think WCW built one of the greatest rosters ever in wrestling, and they were competing with WWF in the ’90s. And I thought one of the mistakes they made is they had so many exciting matches in WCW and it was like week, after week, after week they burned through them,” Khan said. “But not only did they burn through them, there were very unsatisfying conclusions. A lot of them ended in disqualification or something that wouldn’t make me that hungry to watch a rematch.”

    Khan has also been very complimentary of WCW in the past. He noted during the interview that it is easy to talk about mistakes made with the benefit of hindsight.

    “Despite all of this, I can talk with the benefit of hindsight about the business mistakes WCW made. They also rose to incredible heights and proved that it’s possible for a wrestling company to do this.”

    Tony Khan and former WCW President Eric Bischoff have had an up-and-down public relationship. Bischoff has appeared on AEW programming and Khan has been complimentary of Bischoff’s contributions to wrestling in the past. Khan seems to have offended Bischoff recently, however, when he Tweeted that Ted Turner didn’t know “1% about wrestling” than he did. Bischoff has since made several comments critical of Khan and AEW.

    Eric Bischoff Claims Tony Khan Manipulates Ratings Data To Make AEW Appear Competitive

    H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.

  • Tony Khan Was Pitched WWE Backstage Format For AEW Rampage

    Tony Khan Was Pitched WWE Backstage Format For AEW Rampage

    AEW boss Tony Khan says he turned down a pitch to have Rampage run in the format of WWE Backstage.

    Rampage airs every Friday night on TNT at 10 p.m. ET. It’s a one-hour show that usually features three matches. Typically, the show airs right when WWE SmackDown wraps up.

    Tony Khan spoke to Gavin Bridge at the Monaco Streaming Film Festival and revealed that he had been pitched having Rampage in the style of a talk show like WWE Backstage.

    “I didn’t agree with [WWE] Backstage at all. I didn’t think it was a good format. I had actually been pitched to do a format like that with AEW and I refused because I don’t think wrestling fans want to see that format. Wrestling fans when they tune in to watch their wrestling show, they want to watch wrestlers wrestle and Backstage, to me, should be like a lower-budget streaming type show.”

    Khan added that WWE Backstage had a very talented cast, but the ill-conceived format likely doomed the show.

    “I don’t know if it had the legs to carry as a TV show, even though the people involved with it were awesome and a lot of them work for me now and are huge stars.”

    AEW’s flagship show is Dynamite. That show will be moving to TBS in Jan. 2022. Rampage will be staying on TNT. Just a couple of months into its existence, Rampage had to compete with the final half-hour of SmackDown. Rampage beat SmackDown in the head-to-head key demo for that half-hour but fell short in overall viewership.

    H/T to Fightful for the transcribed quotes

  • CM Punk Initially Considered MJF Swerve For AEW Debut

    CM Punk Initially Considered MJF Swerve For AEW Debut

    CM Punk admits that he was open to the idea of doing a swerve for his AEW debut.

    Most agree that AEW pulled off Punk’s debut perfectly. The company dropped several hints about CM Punk making his promotional debut on the second episode of Rampage. As a result, AEW was able to sell out the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Fans weren’t disappointed as Punk made his way down the aisle to a thunderous ovation.

    Ahead of the big debut, some fans speculated the possibility of Punk’s theme song playing only for MJF to make his entrance and troll the crowd for massive heat.

    Appearing on Z100 New York, Punk claimed that the MJF swerve was actually in consideration.

    “Lowest hanging fruit in that aspect. That, of course, did cross my mind. Once I realized that was the thought on everybody’s mind, to me, it wasn’t the right thing to do yet. Not yet.”

    Punk has yet to feud with MJF but the general consensus is that it’s only a matter of time. A recent sheet of potential AEW Full Gear matches leaked. Tony Khan said these matches are simply ideas. On the bout sheet was Punk vs. Wardlow, who is MJF’s bodyguard.

    MJF is currently in a feud with Darby Allin. While it hasn’t been announced, many expect that match to take place at the Full Gear PPV on Nov. 13. It’s a match that was also seen on Khan’s bout sheet.

    H/T to Fightful for the transcribed quotes

  • Bryan Danielson Prefers Less Matches To Maintain Quality

    Bryan Danielson Prefers Less Matches To Maintain Quality

    Bryan Danielson is going with the quality over quantity approach.

    Since making the move to AEW, Danielson has been a part of some stellar matches. He’s had barn burners with Kenny Omega, Minoru Suzuki, Nick Jackson, Bobby Fish, and Dustin Rhodes. For Danielson, the key is ensuring that he isn’t forced to water things down due to spreading himself thin.

    During an interview with WEEI in Boston, Bryan Danielson said that AEW has been doing things right by featuring him in less matches.

    “I’m a little more judicious, but, realistically, the big thing that has changed, and this was a choice when I re-signed my last WWE contract and when I came to AEW, and one of the benefits of AEW, is that I need to be doing less matches because I like to go hard. If you tell me, ‘Go a little bit lighter today,’ it’s easy to say but in practice it doesn’t work like that. I don’t care if there are 20,000 people like at Arthur Ashe Stadium or if there are 85 people, and I’ve wrestled in front of less than a 100 people many times, the people still pay their money to see the show and you want to give them a great show. It’s hard for people like me to pull back. Really, it’s about doing a less number of matches per year and focusing on the quality of those matches and making sure I give the live crowd something they are happy they paid their money to see.”

    Danielson is currently participating in an AEW World Heavyweight Championship tournament. He has advanced to the second round thanks to his victory over Dustin Rhodes. He will be meeting Eddie Kingston next.

    H/T to Fightful for the transcribed quotes

  • Charly Arnolt Teases Working With AEW

    Charly Arnolt Teases Working With AEW

    Broadcaster Charly Arnolt was with WWE from 2016 until earlier this year, when she decided to leave for ESPN.

    Arnolt recently took part in an autograph session with East Coast Autographs and spoke about possibly appearing for AEW.

    “I am a huge fan of Tony Khan,” she said during the appearance. “I’m a huge fan of Cody Rhodes and his wife Brandi. I have to imagine that whatever they are putting together over there is gold. I will make it a point to tune in and, who knows, maybe one day I’ll make a cameo or more than a cameo.”

    Charly Arnolt is not the only former WWE announcer who has expressed interest in All Elite Wrestling. Renee Paquette recently said she’s never spoken to Tony Khan about working for AEW, but she’s “certainly open to the opportunity.”

    Arnolt & Tony Khan

    Charly Arnolt has been friends with AEW President Tony Khan for many years. In fact, she knew TK before she joined WWE.

    “I’ve known Tony for years and years,” she added. “I was friends with Tony even before I took my job with WWE. Long-standing relationship right there.”

    According to Arnolt’s Wikipedia bio, she was invited by Tony Khan to attend a WWE Smackdown show in 2016. It was there that she met WWE Director of Talent Relations Mark Carrano and Michael Cole. This led to her hiring with WWE. At the time, she had been working as a sports reporter in the Indianapolis area.

  • Update on Tony Nese’s Status With AEW

    Update on Tony Nese’s Status With AEW

    Former WWE Superstar Tony Nese appeared in the crowd during AEW’s Saturday Night Dynamite broadcast from Orlando this weekend. He was billed as, “one of the hottest free agents in pro wrestling.”

    The 36-year-old grappler from Long Island, New York would later make his AEW in-ring debut over the weekend at the latest set of Dark tapings from Universal Studios in Orlando, FL.

    Tony Nese is All Elite

    Nese’s situation with AEW was addressed recently on Wrestling Observer Radio. According to Dave Meltzer, Tony Nese has signed with the promotion. This has not been made official, however, and it is being speculated that this is due to an angle AEW has planned.

    “On the show on Saturday, they showed him in the stands so obviously he’s signed,” said Meltzer. “But they won’t announce it because probably they are doing something. They did the Dark tapings yesterday in Orlando and he wrestled, I think he wrestled in more than one match. He’s signed, that’s the deal.”

    Nese signed with WWE in 2016 to take part in the Cruiserweight Classic. He would later become a regular with the 205 Live brand.

    Nese won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship on the WrestleMania 35 Kickoff Show in New Jersey. He defeated Buddy Murphy to win the title. Nese would hold the championship for 77 days before dropping it to Drew Gulak.

    He was released from WWE on June 25, 2021.

  • Eric Bischoff Slams CM Punk: “He Should Be Embarrassed”

    Eric Bischoff Slams CM Punk: “He Should Be Embarrassed”

    Former WCW President Eric Bischoff has gone off on CM Punk.

    Bischoff has made appearances on AEW TV in the past but he isn’t very chummy with Tony Khan at the moment. Bischoff has been none too pleased after Khan’s recent comments about not repeating the same mistakes WCW made. The former WCW boss has also laid into CM Punk for saying his return was bigger than the nWo formation.

    Eric Bischoff Believes CM Punk Isn’t As Hot As He Thinks He Is

    On his 83 Weeks podcast, Bischoff blasted CM Punk for telling fans to wait five years from now to see just how big his impact and others were long-term for AEW.

    “This is what lit my fuse, I wasn’t going to comment on any of this until Punk came out and said ‘It’s going to take five years for the effect of this talent to really show up significantly in the ratings,’ are you f***ing kidding me? Does anybody other than an uninformed wrestling fan who loves CM Punk, is anybody going to believe that nonsense? It’s going to take five years?”

    Bischoff continued, “Dude, you’re going to be getting AARP mail, because it happens soon as you start getting close to 50 they start pounding you with this s–t. I let that one go but then to come out a couple weeks later, after in my opinion he should be embarrassed, and for the ratings to take the dive the way they did after his debut, suggests to me that he ain’t as hot as he’s trying to make people think he is. If he was, the numbers would be much bigger.”

    While Bischoff may have been ticked off by Punk’s nWo comments, he may also be taking jabs due to Punk’s known hatred for Hulk Hogan. Back in September, Punk told Barstool Sports that he still views Hogan as a “piece of sh*t.” Bischoff and Hogan have been good friends for decades.

    Bischoff hasn’t been impressed by AEW’s head-to-head numbers with WWE. He has criticized Tony Khan for gloating about the key demo. He believes AEW has been spinning the narrative.

    H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcribed quotes

  • Number 10 Says He ‘Absolutely Hated’ Wearing A Mask On Debut

    Number 10 Says He ‘Absolutely Hated’ Wearing A Mask On Debut

    Preston ‘Number 10’ Vance can now instantly be recognized by his signature mask. Though according to the AEW star, he hated wearing it at first. The Dark Order member recently spoke to Dynamite Download. He talked about things such as being included in the AEW world title eliminator tournament and more.

    The former WWE star discussed how he had never wrestled under a mask before joining AEW. Vance explained that this is why he hated wearing it in the promotion. He also claimed that he didn’t understand his character at first:

    “When I got signed, I hated the mask, absolutely hated it. I didn’t understand the character, but I wasn’t going to say no, obviously. I didn’t understand. On the Indies, I never wore a mask; I wasn’t this dark creepy person. That’s just not me. I’m like, ‘What the hell am I doing?’”

    Number 10 Says He Now Loves The Mask

    Preston “Number 10” Vance
    Preston “Number 10” Vance

    Though things have changed significantly since then. Number 10 said it has become another element of his character and he now absolutely loves this part of his persona:

    “Now, I absolutely love it. It’s just another element to your image. Now you’re not just a body guy. Whether you’re a heel or babyface, you’re either a real life super hero or a real life villain. It’s really cool.”

    Preston Vance continued by mentioning how he loves fan art and lets fans create all his gear. He explained that it keeps people connected to his character.

    The Dark Order star wrestled for companies such as MFPW, Evolve and WWE before his AEW signing. He made his first AEW appearance as a member of the faction during the May 5, 2020 episode of AEW Dark that can be seen below.

    H/T to Fightful for the transcribed quotes

  • Tony Khan Shares TNT’s Reaction To Rampage vs. SmackDown

    Tony Khan Shares TNT’s Reaction To Rampage vs. SmackDown

    AEW founder Tony Khan has revealed TNT’s reaction to Rampage and WWE SmackDown going head-to-head.

    Rampage takes the 10 p.m. ET slot every Friday night. This follows SmackDown, which is typically on from 8 p.m. ET through 10 p.m. ET. Things were a bit different on Oct. 15. That’s because SmackDown was forced to move to FOX Sports 1 due to a scheduling conflict with MLB. WWE decided to add an extra half-hour to SmackDown, competing with Rampage.

    As expected, SmackDown had the clear edge in overall viewers. The talk of the town, however, has been the fact that AEW beat WWE in that half-hour in the key demo. It’s been a polarizing discussion as some feel it’s a massive win for AEW, while others believe people are trying to spin things since SmackDown was clearly ahead in overall viewership.

    Tony Khan Says TNT Is Thrilled With Rampage’s Numbers

    No matter how you feel about the situation, TNT appears to be quite happy with how the head-to-head battle played out. Appearing on Busted Open Radio, Tony Khan discussed TNT’s positive reaction to the numbers for Rampage.

    “I thought it was even more impressive given that I was forced to take a couple breaks. It was really great of TNT to work with us, I thought, on short notice to push our breaks back, so we could have that match uninterrupted. To me, it’s not up to us when the show is on. In this case, somebody moved aggressively into our timeslot and it was really important for us to do a good number and win the night. And we did. I really wanted to rally the fans and put some attention on it. I also really believed we were going to win, and we did. We’ve done really well in the demo, which is the thing advertisers and the TV networks use to rate the shows. I know TNT was over the moon and very excited about what we did.”

    The head-to-head madness didn’t stop there. FOX ran an encore presentation of SmackDown against a live episode of Dynamite on Oct. 23. On Oct. 29, WWE will run Talking Smack, which is going head-to-head with Rampage.

    H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcribed quotes

  • Chris Jericho On If He Pitched Idea To Unmask Juventud Guerrera In WCW

    Chris Jericho On If He Pitched Idea To Unmask Juventud Guerrera In WCW

    The SuperBrawl VIII was an important event for the careers of Juventud Guerrera and Chris Jericho. It saw the latter unmasking the former in order to keep his WCW cruiserweight championship.

    These two wrestling veterans recently sat down together on an episode of Talk Is Jericho podcast. They discussed their time in WCW among other things.

    During the episode, Juvi asked Jericho if he was the one who pitched the idea of his unmasking. Replying to it, Chris explained that it was all Eric Bischoff,

    “It wasn’t me at all. I had no power or anything at that point. You and I worked many times and Eric went through this idea that luchadors should lose their mask and you were a handsome guy. I was never really asked or consulted.

    We were working and it was, ‘You’re going to have this match with Juvi and you’re going to take his mask.’ I was like, ‘Really?’ ‘Yes, that’s what Eric wants.’” said Chris Jericho, “I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

    Y2J explained how you develop influence as you go up the ladder in any company but at the time he was not an important enough star in WCW to be pitching ideas.

    Chris Jericho joined WCW as a cruiserweight star in 1996. Jericho was never really seen a main event talent during his three-year-long run with the company and he only won the cruiserweight title and the TV title during his time there.

  • Eric Bischoff Claims Tony Khan Manipulates Ratings Data To Make AEW Appear Competitive

    Eric Bischoff Claims Tony Khan Manipulates Ratings Data To Make AEW Appear Competitive

    Eric Bischoff and Tony Khan have been having a bit of a public back and forth recently. It started earlier this month when Tony Khan sent out a Tweet stating that Ted Turner didn’t know 1% of what he does about wrestling.

    Former Turner employee, Eric Bischoff, appears to have taken offense to these comments. He noted on his 83 Weeks podcast that Khan should be quiet about WWE and focus on his own show. Khan then appeared on Busted Open Radio and said that he didn’t ask to go head-to-head with Smackdown on Friday night.

    WWE and AEW Are Not Head-to-Head Competition

    Recently on his 83 Weeks podcast, Bischoff noted that AEW and WWE are not in head-to-head competition with each other. He also accused Khan and AEW of “manipulating ratings data” to make AEW appear competitive with WWE.

    “AEW is not in head-to-head competition,” Bischoff said. “They are just not. They are in the same industry. Now, you can say, ‘Well they came at us, they extended that half hour into our time slot and that was an aggressive move’, and that would be a fact. But to somehow spin that and try to suggest that you are a more popular product, you are a more successful product, you are winning some kind of a ratings war that only exists in the minds of dirt sheet writers and people that want to try to spin reality, that’s not right.”

    Bischoff then continued to say that Khan’s claim that AEW is winning a ratings war because of certain demos is not correct. He referred to it as “data gymnastics.”

    “All I’m suggesting is, rather than claiming you’re competing against, and somehow you’re competing favorably because you’re comparing a percentage of your demos on your Wednesday night show to a percentage of the demos on Monday Night RAW, notice they don’t talk about SmackDown too much. But on Monday Night RAW, when they go against Monday Night Football, which probably has the highest concentration of male 18-49 year old than just about anything else on TV in any given week, is a false equivalency. It just isn’t real. It’s data gymnastics.”

    Chris Jericho Responds To ‘Cosplay Competition’ Remark From Eric Bischoff

    Eric Bischoff has been active on Twitter as of late responding to fans commenting on this issue. In some cases, he has been congratulating people for getting blocked by certain wrestling journalists.

    H/T to WrestlingNews for transcriptions.

  • Britt Baker, Tay Conti & Jade Cargill Trade Shots On Twitter

    Britt Baker, Tay Conti & Jade Cargill Trade Shots On Twitter

    Britt Baker will defend her AEW Women’s World Championship against #1 contender Tay Conti at Full Gear next month. Conti came out to make the save after Baker continued to attack Anna Jay after their match on Rampage Friday night. Then on AEW Saturday Night Dynamite, Baker cut a promo on Conti stating that “All [Conti] has done since arriving in AEW is show everyone [her] ass.”

    Baker’s promo led to responses from both Conti and #2 contender in the AEW Women’s division, Jade Cargill.

    Conti opted to compare how certain parts of their actions figures look in her response:

    https://twitter.com/TayConti_/status/1452079742501404675

    Jade Cargill, who received a first round bye in the TBS Championship Tournament, responded to an earlier Tweet from Baker as well.

    Baker then answered back with the following:

    “Your tweets are as bad as your promos. I was the baddest bitch on the block before you even decided you wanted to play wrestler. No one mentioned “looks” but that’s literally all you have so I get it. If that was an attempt to body shame my ass, go ahead and kiss it.”

    Cargill then answered back with a couple more Tweets.

    “BODY SHAME!?! The Queen of talking about everyone else is playing the victim. Brittney please, I can’t help that God blessed me with great looks!”

    Jade Cargill will face the winner of Red Velvet vs the Bunny in her first match in the TBS Championship tournament.

  • Jim Ross Criticizes WWE’s “Stale” Booking

    Jim Ross Criticizes WWE’s “Stale” Booking

    AEW broadcaster Jim Ross recently stated he believes WWE’s booking has gotten stale. The 69-year-old made the comments on his Grillin Jr. podcast recently. He did also mention, however, that WWE does appear to be trying to build new stars.

    “I think the WWE’s booking has just gotten a little stale,” Ross said. “They’re trying desperately, as you see on NXT and so forth, to get younger. I think Big E, he’s not a young pup but he’s a new face in that role, and I think that’s what they’re trying to do. It’s like starting the race a little late in the game, it’s going to take a little while to catch up and develop young stars.”

    Ross then continued to compare WWE’s booking with AEW’s. He spoke about how many of the names on AEW programming aren’t necessarily young, but they are being presented in a fresh environment against new opponents.

    “[AEW] is fresher,” Ross continued.”“Even though they see Adam Cole, they haven’t seen him in this environment. They haven’t seen Adam Cole against CM Punk yet or Bryan Danielson yet. All these matches are there at Tony Khan’s disposal whenever he wants to use them. Tony Khan has done a great job of getting these talents who aren’t necessarily young, but new and fresh, and therefore, their marriages/matches with other guys is going to be fresh.”

    JR also noted on Twitter that he was impressed with Bryan Danielson’s match against Dustin Rhodes on Dynamite this Saturday night. The American Dragon picked up the victory and moved on in the AEW World Title Eliminator tournament. Danielson will face Eddie Kingston in the semi-finals.

    Jim Ross Battling Skin Cancer

    Unfortunately, “Good O’l JR” recently revealed on social media that he has been diagnosed with skin cancer. He had recently underwent a CT scan and the results confirmed a cancer diagnosis. No treatment protocol has been recommended as of yet, but Ross noted he will most likely need radiation.

    SEScoops wishes all the best to Jim Ross and a speedy recovery.

    Jim Ross Diagnosed With Skin Cancer

    H/T to Wrestling Inc. for transcriptions.

  • Tyler Breeze On Which AEW Debut Sparked Back His Love For Wrestling

    Tyler Breeze On Which AEW Debut Sparked Back His Love For Wrestling

    Tyler Breeze had soured on wrestling a little bit after having to compete in front of no fans during the pandemic, but a major AEW debut reignited his love for the sport.

    The former WWE star recently had an interview with Into The Danger Zone podcast. He mentioned how they do this for the entertainment of people and claimed that the lack of crowd had soured him.

    Breeze then talked about Adam Cole’s AEW debut during the All Out PPV. He explained how hearing people go nuts for it sparked his love for wrestling again:

    “What kind of sparked it again was watching [Adam] Cole debut on AEW. When he came out, dude, hearing people go nuts and people go crazy and everything else, I went, ‘Oh, that’s why we do this.’”

    Tyler Breeze also talked about his release from WWE during the interview and the former NXT star revealed his immediate reaction to getting the call.

    Da Party was a WWE group consisting of Xavier Woods, Adam Cole, and Cesaro alongside prince pretty. Cole has previously claimed that leaving the gaming group was the hardest part of his WWE departure.

    H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcribed quotes

    Tyler Breeze Say He “Was Preparing To Get Fired The Day I Got Hired”
  • Tay Conti Reveals Forbidden Door Dream Matches

    Tay Conti Reveals Forbidden Door Dream Matches

    Fans have gotten to see a number of dream matches in recent times that wouldn’t have been possible without the opening of the forbidden door. Tay Conti has revealed her own picks for dream matches outside her current promotion.

    The AEW star recently had an interview with Pro Wrestling Illustrated. She discussed things such as her life before wrestling, how she got into the business, and more.

    During the interview, Conti also revealed her forbidden door dream matches, naming a couple of Japanese wrestling veterans among others:

    “Ok, first of all Asuka, my dream match. Her match with Sara [Del Ray] my old coach [made me like] ah I wanna do it. I would say Giulia from Stardom, and [Meiko] Satomura.”

    Tay Conti is a Brazilian professional wrestler who first started her career in WWE in 2016. She signed with AEW in August last year after getting released by WWE as part of the coronavirus budget cuts.

    The 25-year-old is currently the #1 ranking female star in AEW. As a result, she will be getting a shot at the AEW women’s world champion Britt Baker at the upcoming Full Gear PPV. You can check out the other announced Full Gear match here.

  • Tony Nese Makes In-Ring Debut For AEW During Dark Taping

    Tony Nese Makes In-Ring Debut For AEW During Dark Taping

    Tony Nese has made his in-ring debut for AEW after making his first appearance for the company during last week’s episode of Saturday night Dynamite.

    The premier athlete made his debut during the latest AEW dark tapings from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. He faced Fuego Del Sol in a singles bout in his debut match for the promotion:

    This wasn’t the only match Nese wrestled in during the night. AEW usually tapes 4 Dark episodes in one set. The former WWE star also competed in a second match against DeMarcio James during the taping.

    The former cruiserweight champion had a 5-year stint with WWE. He wrestled on shows such as Raw, 205 Live, and Main Event during his time with the promotion.

    Tony Nese was released from his WWE contract as part of the budget cuts in June. He has been making indie appearances after his non-compete clause expired.

    The high-flying star made his first appearance for AEW during Saturday’s episode of Dynamite. He was shown in the crowd during the opening match of the night between Bryan Danielson and Dustin Rhodes.

    There aren’t any details available about his deal with the promotion. So it’s hard to say if his appearance was one-off or if Tony Nese is going to stick around for a feud.

    CM Punk Appears After AEW Dynamite (Video)
  • Daniel Garcia Is A Huge Fan Of Bryan Danielson, Talks Similarities In Style

    Daniel Garcia Is A Huge Fan Of Bryan Danielson, Talks Similarities In Style

    Daniel Garcia admits that he admires Bryan Danielson.

    Danielson made his AEW debut at the All Out PPV back in September. Since that time, Danielson has competed in some highly-praised matches with the likes of Kenny Omega, Minoru Suzuki, Nick Jackson, Bobby Fish, and Dustin Rhodes.

    Garcia, who recently signed a full-time deal with AEW, spoke to Jon Alba and said that Danielson is near the top of his list in terms of favorite wrestlers.

    “He’s maybe my favorite wrestler of all time. At least top three. He’s somebody who I’ve studied for years, even before I knew that I was studying wrestling, just by watching him. I would pick up little nuances that he does. I feel like our wrestling styles aren’t as similar as some people like to say they are, but I feel like our, the little things that we do, are a lot more similar than a lot of people would like to notice.”

    A feud between Garcia and Danielson certainly isn’t far-fetched. Garcia had been going after AEW’s top stars before he even signed a contract. Daniel Garcia has already mixed it up with CM Punk, Jon Moxley, and Darby Allin.

    Garcia has created his own faction with 2point0. The trio has been known to attack their rivals from behind. Garcia has yet to pick up a signature win but now that he’s got himself an AEW contract, that might change soon. Of course, Garcia is only 23 years old so there isn’t a rush.

    H/T to Fightful for the transcribed quotes

  • Adam Cole Talks Challenges Of Being Cheered As A Heel

    Adam Cole Talks Challenges Of Being Cheered As A Heel

    Adam Cole recognizes the challenge that comes with being cheered as a face, but he never wavers from the task at hand.

    Cole is easily one of the most beloved heels in the wrestling industry. It seems every time his music hits, the crowd pops big. They also love to yell, “Adam Cole, Bay Bay” in unison.

    No Boos? No Problem For Adam Cole

    When your goal is to be the bad guy, it can be tough when the fans don’t want to boo you. For Adam Cole, however, it isn’t an issue at all. Appearing on the AEW Unrestricted Podcast, Cole explained how he’s able to thrive as a heel despite having the crowd on his side.

    “It has been a thing that I’ve gone through for a few years, and I take it as a giant compliment. My match with Jungle Boy is a prime example. So, in the beginning, they’re excited for the entrance. They want to do the ‘boom,’ and they want to do ‘Adam Cole, Bay Bay’ and they’re into me at the start of the match, but my theory and my thought process is, if I have enough time, I’ll get them to change their mind.”

    Cole has realigned himself with The Elite. As of late, he’s been feuding with Jurassic Express, Bryan Danielson, and Christian Cage. Cole has been getting pinfalls over Jungle Boy as of late and many believe it’s only a matter of time until he gets his comeuppance.

    On the Oct. 23 episode of AEW Dynamite, Cole and The Young Bucks threw Jungle Boy off the stage and through a table.

    H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcribed quotes

  • CM Punk Appears After AEW Dynamite (Video)

    CM Punk Appears After AEW Dynamite (Video)

    Following last night’s edition of AEW Dynamite from Orlando, CM Punk and several others appeared in front of the live crowd. PW Insider is reporting that following Dynamite going off the air, Cody Rhodes remained in the ring after defeating Malakai Black in the main event and kickstarted a post-show segment.

    Rhodes asked the fans if they had a good time and also noted that his father was buried in Orlando. He then called out Brodie Lee Jr. (-1), Fuego Del Sol, Griff Garrison, and TNT Champion Sammy Guevara. He was then interrupted by the Acclaimed who rapped about Cody and Fuego and also blamed Tony Khan for them not being on Dynamite again. This brought out Tony Khan who said that the people didn’t pay to see the Acclaimed, they paid to see CM Punk. Punk’s music then hit and the babyfaces took on the heels in a melee.

    Fuego hit a tornado DDT on Max Caster and Punk hit the GTS on Anthony Bowens. Brodie Jr. then pinned Bowens with the crowd chanting along with the count.

    Footage of the post-event segment can be viewed in the Tweets below:

    https://twitter.com/djstarion/status/1452114630990565380
    https://twitter.com/Dougsdtr/status/1452107093348134914

    Earlier in the evening, CM Punk came out to rescue Anthony Greene. Bobby Fish had just defeated Greene in singles action but continued the attack after the match. Punk vs Fish has been booked for this Wednesday’s Dynamite.