Christian Cage made his highly anticipated in-ring debut for All Elite Wrestling on Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite on TNT.
The former WWE star battled Frankie Kazarian in a singles match from Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place during the opening segment. The bout had a slow-building start with Kaz working as the heel. In the end, Cage made a comeback and won the match with his killswitch finisher.
All Elite Wrestling set up this contest last week in a backstage segment where Cage was confronted by SCU member, who asked Cage when the “work” portion of his catchphrase was going to become a reality. This led to Cage telling him that while he planned to wrestle the following week, he didn’t have an opponent so Kaz offered to fill that spot and the contest was made official.
Christian had been retired due to a history of suffering concussions. The process of him returning began after last summer’s unsanctioned “match” with Randy Orton on an episode of Raw.
At the time, Christian was on a list where he was banned from doing anything physical on television. Cage went to the University of South Florida Concussion Center to see where he was at and whether he could return to in-ring action.
He was eventually cleared and made his return to action this past January at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view where he worked the men’s rumble match. He didn’t come to terms on a deal with WWE so he talked with AEW President Tony Khan and the two agreed to a multi-year deal. He made his promotional debut at the Revolution pay-per-view event earlier this month.
