Seeing Andrade El Idolo in an AEW ring was something fans were calling for since his WWE release. Andrade has been much talked about since his WWE release, many expected him to return to Mexico.

With AEW confirming his signing the same night as his appearance, the arrival of El Idolo is certainly a shake-up for the already stacked roster. Things are shaping up nicely for AEW ahead of their show expansion in a few months.

Since then, details have emerged about the contract negotiations that took place ahead of Andrade signing.

Possibly driven by frustrations spilling over from his previous employment, Andrade insisted on having creative control over his matches. Including the ability to veto losses.

According to Wrestling Inc’s Raj Giri, AEW started negotiating with Andrade the week following his release. However, it took a while to iron out. Sources claim that the final details give El Idolo a modicum of creative control over his match finishes.

With a host of promotions showing interest in signing Andrade, business pressure surely swayed things in his favor. IMPACT was willing to give the control but only on a per appearance basis, while ROH was also sniffing at making a play for the Mexican star.

Update: SEScoops has learned that reports of Andrade having any sort of “creative control” in AEW are incorrect. We apologize for this error.

A match against current AAA Mega Champion (and current AEW and IMPACT champion) Kenny Omega already set for Triplemania. This means a feud could easily be set for all three belts should all companies be willing to work together.

In signing Andrade El Idolo, AEW are the ultimate winners. It will be interesting to see how Andrade settles, and who he sets his sights on first.

Red Velvet defeated The Bunny on AEW Dynamite on Friday night. During the match, however, she landed badly on a suicide dive spot to the outside. Although she popped up immediately after, many fans were concerned that the wrestler hailing from “Straight outta yo momma’s kitchen” was injured.

Velvet took to Twitter last night to say that she is fine and to thank those that had been checking up on her.

Red Velvet In AEW

Velvet is coming up on her 1-year anniversary in AEW. Her first match occurred on Dark on June 10th, 2020. She teamed with Kenzie Paige and was defeated by Brandi Rhodes and the Bunny/Allie. Velvet wouldn’t get her first win until October, but then things really turned around for her in terms of wins and losses. She went on a major win streak from mid-November until early March. Then she teamed with Cody Rhodes and lost to Jade Cargill and Shaquille O’Neal at Crossroads.

Red Velvet was officially signed to the promotion a few weeks after the mixed tag match with Cody against Shaq and Cargill. Cody Rhodes took to Twitter to announce that Velvet’s contract had been upgraded.

Velvet also recently celebrated her 29th birthday.

Vickie Guerrero shocked the wrestling world Friday night on AEW Dynamite when she introduced Andrade as her new client. The former WWE Superstar once known as La Sombra in Meixco is now known as Andrade El Idolo.

Andrade cut a brief promo on Dynamite telling viewers that he intends to be the new face of All Elite Wrestling. On Saturday, he posted a message on Instagram touting new goals, new opportunities and more success.

“The NEW ANDRADE EL IDOLO. New goals. New opportunities to achieve. More Success. Thank you so much for great introduction @guerrero_vickie thanks for the wonderful welcome @allelitewrestling @aewontnt Nuevas metas. Nuevos rivales. Recuerden lo valioso que son y lo muchos que luchan por cada una de sus metas. Ve y busca el éxito, el éxito no está en el locker room!”

Per Google Translate, the Spanish portion translates to, "New goals. New rivals. Remember how valuable you are and how many you fight for each of your goals. Go and seek success, success is not in the locker room!"

Andrade was released by WWE on March 21st. This came several weeks after he informed WWE management of his desire to leave. Andrade was not bound by the common 90-day no-compete clause and began talks with AEW President Tony Khan just days after becoming a free agent. According to Raj Giri, Andrade also negotiated with Impact Wrestling before closing a deal with AEW. He signed with AEW just a few days ago after the terms of his deal were finalized.

A lot of wrestlers have called the pandemic era wrestling a learning experience but it’s not the case for the former AEW champion Jon Moxley. The AEW star recently had an interview with Wrestling Observer where he opened up about his experience of wrestling in empty arenas in the past year.

Talking about whether he has learned anything from wrestling in empty arenas without fans, Mox mentioned how every company has figured out a way to make it work but claimed that he ‘didn’t learn s**t’:

“Honestly, no. I don’t wanna work in an empty building; I don’t wanna work in front of fake fans. If we have to do it, I mean, we and other companies too.

Everybody, from IMPACT, Ring of Honor, New Japan, even the ThunderDome and all that, Everybody figured out a way to make it work in wrestling and in other sports too. Like hockey and all them, you know? UFC. I mean everybody figured out a way to do it but like, honestly, I didn’t learn shit.”

Jon Moxley then explained that he wants to wrestle in front of fans and feel the adrenaline of it. The former WWE champion said that he wants to do it live in front of people and hear the crowd once again:

“I want real people. I wanna walk out of the arena, I wanna walk back through the locker room, hear the crowd outside the curtain, I wanna do it live one time. F*** the pandemic.

We figured it out, we got through it but once that’s over, I’m not, you know, I would love there to be, ‘You know, I learned a very valuable lesson’ but nah, I didn’t learn shit. I wanna do it live, live people, that’s what I want.”

Jon Moxley was the pandemic era champion for AEW after winning the title in February last year. He spent most of his record-setting 277 days run as the heavyweight champion of the company in front of no crowd.

AEW has signed a number of WWE veterans in recent times. The list includes names such as Christian and Big Show. Now the signing of Mark Henry has not only grown this list but it has also sparked a debate about the company focusing too much on veteran talents instead of younger stars.

The former world champion recently talked about this notion during the latest episode of Busted Open Radio. He first said that he loves the fans who are positive and willing to accept. However, he said that we also have to address the haters. Henry mentioned how he keeps hearing people complaining about WWE invading AEW with their veteran wrestlers.

Mark Henry then went on to explain the reason behind these hirings. He said that AEW is a new company and they need to bring in people who have experience. The world’s strongest man gave the example of making a corporate product. He explained that when you are building something you want to have people who have a lot of experience in that field:

“The reason you bring in those guys is AEW is a new company. You bring in people that have experience.  If you have Corporate America, let’s just say we’re Corporate America. We’re making tire irons, random somethings, we’re making spatulas. Are you going to let a guy who’s been making spatulas for three years be the boss, or are you going to bring in somebody who’s been making spatulas for twenty five years?  You’ve got to know what you’re doing to make the best product. So you haters out there, think about that message today.”

• Update On How Mark Henry’s AEW Deal Came Together

Mark Henry also talked about his position at AEW and explained that their job now is to fine-tune things. The former WWE star claimed that the company is successful already and their job now is to tighten everything and get everything tuned. Apart from this, Henry also discussed how they need to capture the older dynamic alongside young fans as well.

Former WWE Superstar Andrade made his AEW debut on Friday’s episode of AEW Dynamite. He is now known as Adrade El Idolo.

During a segment that saw Mark Henry speaking to Tony Schiavone in the ring, Vickie Guerrero interrupted and told Henry and Tony Schiavone to get out of the ring. She then introduced her new client, Andrade. He also cut a promo and vowed to be the new ‘Face of AEW.’

Andrade requested his release from WWE earlier this year, but at the time, the company didn’t want to give it to him. That changed days later and on the same night as the Fastlane pay-per-view event, WWE confirmed they’d granted his release. 

When he was let go, the belief was that he was under the standard 90-day non-compete clause as it would’ve prevented him from working for a major promotion or sign with anyone until that clause was up, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, WWE surprisingly gave him the release without such a clause. 

Andrade is scheduled to face Kenny Omega for the AAA Mega Championship at Triplemania in August.

Prior to joining WWE, he was a main eventer as La Sombra for years with CMLL where he held the World Title several times. 

Charlotte Flair Reacts To Andrade Making His AEW Debut

AEW President Tony Khan made his weekly appearance on Busted Open Radio on Friday to promote tonight’s episode of Dynamite on TNT.

During his discussion with Dave LaGreca and Mark Henry, Tony Khan announced AEW Dynamite in three weeks will take place on a Saturday night. The show will be live and will feature a big main event.

The Saturday, June 26th edition of AEW Dynamite will feature AEW World Champion Kenny Omega defending against Jungle Boy.

Jungle Boy earned the title shot by winning the Casino Battle Royale last weekend at AEW Double or Nothing.

This match was initially scheduled for next week’s show, but Tony Khan wanted to make the June 26th Dynamite a special one.

Kenny Omega and Jungle Boy now have a few extra weeks to prepare for their match. This is good news for both competitors, however Omega was not happy that he learned about his title defense being rescheduled from a ‘local wrestling tabloid.’

AEW Saturday Night Supercards

Tony Khan mentioned that Saturday Night Dynamites are typically newsworthy. Last time, Brodie Lee captured the TNT Championship from Cody Rhodes in Dramatic fashion.

Khan also AEW will hold quarterly Saturday Night Supercards in the future, a reference to the AEW specials that will air on TNT next year once Dynamite and Rampage move to TBS in 2022.

Serena Deeb defeated Riho in a well-reviewed match from the Double or Nothing Kickoff show this weekend. She’ll look to defend her NWA Women’s Championship against Kamille on an NWA PPV this weekend. She spoke to Jim Varsallone from the Miami Herald recently about her time in the AEW, NWA, and what working as a trainer for WWE taught her about wrestling.

Deeb also mentioned that the Double or Nothing crowd she performed in front of this weekend was the most special of her career.

“This was the most special crowd I’ve ever been in front of in my entire career,” Deeb said. “I truly feel that way. The people were just clearly so happy to be there and so happy that we made it through, things are starting to resume normalcy a little bit, and it was amazing.”

Serena Deeb on How Working as a Trainer Improved Her Ability as a Wrestler

Deeb was with WWE as a trainer from 2017-2020. She spoke during the interview about how she feels this experience made her a better wrestler.

“The time that I was coaching, it really opened my mind up in different ways to wrestling,” she said.

“Because when you’re coaching you have to not only tell people what to do and how to do it and all these things but you have to tell them why, why they’re doing it. There’s a lot of whys in wrestling and if you don’t understand why you’re doing something at the time you’re doing it, there’s a little bit of a disconnect. So now I think I’m putting the pieces of the puzzle together a little bit better, a little bit more sharply.”

She was asked about why she decided to take the coaching position with WWE in 2017. Deeb noted that she had been out of wrestling for about 2 years at that point. She got very immersed in yoga and began teaching. WWE approached her about being in the Mae Young Classic and offered her a coaching position after. She said that at the time, it just seemed like the right next step for her.

Deeb was released from the position in April of 2020. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise for her, however. She now says she’s having the most fun of her career.

“When I took the coaching job I did feel a little bit torn,” Deeb continued. “I felt a little bit conflicted. I didn’t feel like I was completely done wrestling. There was a little piece of me that still felt I had something to contribute in the ring. So, the way that the cards were dealt with everything in the past year it’s been such a blessing in disguise because I was able to get back in the ring.”

“Right now, I feel that I’m doing the best work of my career and having the most fun in my career and I’m really thankful the way everything’s turned out,” Deeb continued.

Serena Deeb On Her Influences, What Wrestling She Watches and Studies

Now with AEW and NWA, Deeb says she’s watching and studying more wrestling than ever before.

“Right now, I’m watching more wrestling than I’ve ever watched in my life, I’m studying more wrestling than I’ve ever studied.”

She continued to say that she’s watching a lot of Bret Hart and Eddie Guerrero matches. Dean Malenko and Lance Storm were also mentioned. She likes the technicians.

Deeb will defend her NWA Women’s Championship this weekend on PPV. She’ll face Kamille on the NWA: When Our Shadow Falls PPV on Sunday.

Don Callis has been a major player in the recent partnership between AEW and IMPACT wrestling. The cross-promotion heel Elite he has created is drawing heat from wrestling fans across the board.

Talking at the Double or Nothing post-show media scrum, AEW President Tony Khan addressed Callis’s position in AEW. Especially after his recent status change with regards to his position as an IMPACT Wrestling executive.

“He helps in Kenny’s segments, and he’s involved. He’s doing that here,” Khan stated. “There was a point where he’s been here every week. I think it makes sense. We’re doing TV. We’re going back live every week.”

With AEW getting back to a fully live weekly show, now that fans are allowed back into the arena, it does change the nature of things a bit. Without the ability to tape segments in advance, character availability is crucial.

“Kenny’s defending other titles. He’s got the Impact and AAA Titles. He’s (Callis) will be with Kenny wherever Kenny is. I think Kenny’s signed here for years, so Don will be here for years whether you like it or not.”

Don Callis is drawing the ire of many with his involvement with Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks but playing the heel role well. Looking at Tony Khan’s words, it is clear that Don Calis still has a big role to play with AEW.

Callis also has strong ties to NJPW, which is another company AEW have cross-promotion involvement with. Love or hate the character he plays, Don Callis is a connected man.

Mark Henry’s relationship with WWE began in 1996 when the company sponsored him in the Summer Olympics that year. The 49-year-old has now signed with AEW. His signing was announced officially during the Double or Nothing PPV broadcast.

According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Henry made his loyalty to Vince McMahon clear before speaking with Tony Khan. His contract with WWE had expired 6 months prior, however, and when it was not renewed, he made the decision to approach Tony Khan about employment. WWE did not counter what AEW offered him.

“(Henry) said he talked to Vince McMahon, spoke of his loyalty to McMahon, ahead of time even though he hadn’t been with the company, and wanted an office role, and McMahon didn’t offer him something to counter,” wrote Dave Meltzer.

Will Mark Henry Wrestle Again?

As was the case with Paul Wight’s signing, there are many wondering if we could see Mark Henry wrestle in an AEW ring. In April, Henry said he plans on wrestling again sometime this year.

“I’ll be 50 years old, and I want to be able to say I wrestled after I was 50 and had a good match,” said Henry on Busted Open Radio in April. “I wrestled in four decades, and that I was able to help somebody in the process or bring attention to somebody that nobody knew. So that’s the whole point in me doing it.”

AEW star Sammy Guevara recently appeared on Busted Open Radio to discuss the Inner Circle’s recent big win over The Pinnacle in the Stadium Stampede II.

The match which was the main event of the company’s latest Double Or Nothing PPV had a unique finish. While most of the match was pre-taped, the ending of the bout was performed in front of a live crowd.

During the interview, Guevara shared some interesting titbits about the production of the bout. He also revealed that the unique ending was his own idea:

“It was my idea to have the match go from the cinematic to end it into the live crowd. And they actually went with it, I was surprised too. Tony and Chris came up to me and said ‘that was a really good idea.’

I figured others went up to them and told them that idea,” said Sammy Guevara, “But apparently no one else did. They gave me credit for it, so that was really cool.”

• Sammy Guevara On The Reports Of His Dispute With Impact Officials

The Inner Circle member also discussed his bonding with the other group members. He claimed that he feels like all the members are his big brothers.

Sammy Guevara explained that at the beginning their closeness was only a storyline. However, as time has passed on, they all have become actual friends. He feels like they are in a good group of guys.

Shortly after Aleister Black was released by WWE yesterday, many fans voiced their opinion that he would make an excellent new leader of the Dark Order. The late Brodie Lee was revealed as the leader of the faction on the May 18th, 2020 episode of Dynamite. He would tragically pass away a little over 7 months later.

John Silver recently took to Twitter to say the Dark Order doesn’t want or need a new leader as they already had the best. Anna Jay responded to say she agrees.

No Replacing Brodie Lee

John Silver was on the Kurt Angle podcast recently. During the discussion, he also stated his belief that no one should replace Brodie Lee.

“Whatever Tony wants to do with this I’m okay with. I just didn’t really want anyone to be the next Exalted One. All that I wanted was for no one to replace him (Brodie). If they did have Erick Redbeard come in he’d just be a Dark Order member I wouldn’t want him to be the leader.”

During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Silver discussed the impact that Brodie Lee had on him.

“He was the man. He was such a happy good guy,” Silver said. “There was no negativity, he was always laughing, he would always have this big smile, especially with this big beard he had going on. But he’s just a good guy. He bought the ring jacket I have just because it would help me look more like a star if I had it. He also bought me matching gear that I wore at the Brodie show.”

All Elite Wrestling will launch a second weekly television series this summer called AEW Rampage. The 1-hour show will air Friday nights at 10pm (Eastern) on TNT.

We already know that Mark Henry will be part of the AEW Rampage broadcast team. AEW President Tony Khan says he has a “big announcement” about another major star who will be part of Rampage.

During the media scrum that took place following Sunday’s AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view, Khan says one of AEW’s top stars will be joining Mark Henry on commentary.

“I’m not necessarily gonna say he’s going to be the play-by-play or color analyst, but he’s going to be a big part of the show,” said Khan. “I have a big announcement. I don’t want to sound like it’s going to be an outside person. It’s somebody who’s one of our top stars that will be on commentary on the show. He’s a great commentator and a great wrestler. That might narrow it down, but I’m going to put him on commentary.”

There are only a handful of top in-ring performers who have done commentary. Based on the criteria laid out by Tony Khan, Chris Jericho seems like a likely candidate for this position.

AEW Rampage premieres Friday, August 13^th on TNT.

Things are looking good for AEW. Figures for the final AEW Dynamite before the PPV might have been the lowest in company history, but Double or Nothing set that right. Initial figures are showing that the show was the second most successful event in AEW’s history.

Double or Nothing 2021 had over 134,000 buys according to US streaming sources. This was announced by Dave Meltzer and the Wrestling Observer. The current record PPV for the company remains March’s Revolution which featured the much talked about barbed wire deathmatch.

This was the third Double or Nothing show and is one of the four main events each year. Looking at the figures, the 2021 show is 12% up on the same show in 2020. Coming at the end of a month of big announcements and marquee signings for the company, the consistent increase in viewership numbers all point towards a bright future.

What is interesting to note is that both Revolution and Double or Nothing took place on a Sunday evening. The next two core shows for the company, All Out and Full Gear, are being held on a Saturday. It will be interesting to see how these two shows compare.

On top of the great online sales numbers, Double or Nothing took place in front of a capacity crowd. This further confirms the growing interest in the AEW brand.

With more shows and special events planned in the coming months and years, AEW is certainly pushing thing forward at a fast pace.

AEW star Joey Janela has revealed that he is dealing with an injury that is expected to keep him out of action for the whole month of June.

The hardcore star posted a video on his Twitter to make the revelation. Though he did not provide a lot of details on his condition and just said that he is currently not medically cleared to compete.

Janela confirmed that he won’t be able to compete at some upcoming announced dates. He noted that he will not be able to wrestle at Saturday’s GCW show in NJ, though he will be doing commentary at the event.

The AEW star also mentioned that he will be missing the GCW show in Laramie, WY on June 19 but he is ‘almost sure’ that he will be cleared for the July 10 GCW show from Dallas, Texas.

• Joey Janela Says NXT’s Product is “Stale”

Joey Janela hasn’t been out of action for long and he wrestled at this past Friday’s episode of AEW Dynamite. Janela competed in a singles match against Adam Page and lost the bout.

There is no word yet on when or where he suffered the damage and the severity of his injury is not known yet. We will keep you posted on his health.

When Mark Henry signed with AEW, he also ended his 25 year-long run with WWE and closed a chapter of his long-standing relationship with his former employer Vince McMahon. During the latest episode of Busted Open Radio, the former world champion opened up about his decision to leave the company and the conversation he had with the Boss about it.

Henry first discussed how his decision to leave the company came about. The former champion explained that after the expiry of his contract, he started feeling like he could do more. He wanted to join the office and be in an executive position as well instead of being just a talent:

“I felt like I wanted to do more. I always wanted to do more. You know me, I’m a busybody. If I’m not doing what I know I can do, especially if I feel I can do it better than somebody else. If I can’t get that opportunity, I have to start looking for that somewhere else. And I did.”

Mark Henry then discussed having the conversation with the boss and he claimed that their talk was not negative. He explained that whatever he said to Vince was like a conversation between two brothers.

The world’s strongest man revealed the reply he got from Vince McMahon and according to him, the chairman told him that he was going to be successful:

“And man, it was just like the coolest thing. He was like ‘man, you know everything you need to know. You go and if you feel like you need to go, (I) don’t necessarily want it, but if you feel like you need to go, then go. I know you’re going to be successful.’ That’s what you want.”

Mark Henry made a surprise appearance at the AEW Double Or Nothing PPV this past Sunday. The company has since announced that he has signed a multi-year deal with the promotion as a commentator and coach.

• Mark Henry Talks About Signing With AEW, More On His Multi-Year Deal

Jon Moxley will host an upcoming episode of his wife’s podcast, Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette.

Renee is 9 months pregnant and set to deliver their baby soon. She will be very busy in the weeks while she figures out the whole “mom thing.” The former AEW Champion is stepping up to the plate to ensure Oral Sessions doesn’t skip a beat when she takes a week off.

Renee is asking her Twitter followers to send relationship and general ‘life’ questions to her “darling husband” by using the hashtag #AskMox.

This week’s episode of Oral Sessions features a conversation with AEW star “Powerhouse” Will Hobbs.

SEScoops wishes Renee Paquette good luck with the remainder of pregnancy.

In addition to being soon-to-be-parents, Jon Moxley and Renee Paquette will both be published authors in 2021. Renee’s cookbook, Messy in the Kitchen, is now available. Jon Moxley’s autiobiograpy, MOX, is now available for pre-order and will be released later this year. You can get both books from Amazon:

Last week’s edition of AEW Dynamite drew only 526,000 viewers and did a 0.20 in the Adults 18-49 demographic. This was the ‘go home’ show before Sunday’s AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view.

The low numbers can be attributed to Dynamite airing in a different time slot than usual. The show was pre-empted due to the NBA playoffs on TNT. Instead of airing Wednesday night in prime time, Dynamite aired Friday at 10pm (Eastern).

The NBA playoffs are still ongoing and AEW will be pre-empted again this week. Dynamite will air this Friday, June 4th at 10pm (Eastern) on TNT. Additional scheduling changes are expected in the weeks ahead.

AEW is advertising the following items for this week’s show:

• Christian Cage & Jungle Boy vs. Private Party
• Joey Janela vs. Hangman Page
• Mark Henry will discuss his new role with AEW
• Dustin Rhodes will face Nic Comoroto in a Bull Rope match
• New AEW Women’s Champion Dr. Britt Baker will have a Championship Celebration

• Mark Henry has signed a multi-year deal with All Elite Wrestling

• He will pull “Double Duty” as Broadcaster and in Talent Development

WWE legend Mark Henry is All Elite. The World’s Most Dangerous Man made a surprise appearance on Sunday’s AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view. As announced by Tony Schiavone, Henry will serve as a broadcaster and ‘coach.’

AEW sent out a press release on Tuesday providing more information on his roles.

Mark Henry joins the broadcast team for AEW Rampage, the new hour-long show premiering Friday, August 13th on TNT. Henry has transitioned from a hall of fame wrestling career to broadcaster. He is one of the regular hosts for Busted Open Radio on Sirius XM.

In addition to his new job analyzing the action on AEW Rampage, Henry is taking on some important functions behind-the-scenes. He’ll use his 25 years of experience in pro wrestling to coach and mentor AEW’s up-and-coming stars.

Last but not least, Mark Henry joins AEW as a talent scout. Henry brought several talented athletes to WWE over the years and will be a strong asset to AEW’s recruiting efforts.

Mark Henry on Signing With AEW

“I have been fortunate to experience a great deal of success in my pro wrestling career,” said Mark Henry. “From my own in-ring title runs and creative storylines, to identifying and scouting some of the top talent in pro wrestling business today, to my role as a broadcaster, I have long worked to stay ahead of the pro wrestling curve. The overall quality of professional wrestling has skyrocketed in the past few years, and I’ve been very impressed by the meteoric rise of AEW. I’m excited to join the broadcast team on AEW RAMPAGE, and I can’t wait to work with the incredible roster at AEW.”

Visit AllEliteWrestling.com to read the full Mark Henry press release, including quotes from AEW President Tony Khan.

Both Shanna and Awesome Kong’s bios were removed from AEW’s roster page over the weekend. According to a report from the Wrestling Observer, both wrestlers’ contracts expired recently and were not renewed by AEW.

43-year-old Awesome Kong (Kia Stevens) has not wrestled since January 2020. In total, she only wrestled 5x with AEW. Kong’s 1st match with AEW was a fatal 4-way won by Britt Baker at Double or Nothing 2019. Her second match was in the Casino Battle Royale at All Out 2019. Kong then wracked up 3 straight singles victories while being managed by Brandi Rhodes but would be removed from television shortly after.

In February 2020, Brandi Rhodes explained Kong’s absence and how it played into the formation of the short-lived Nightmare Collective.

“Awesome Kong was not physically feeling great. And she’s my friend so I would never want to ask somebody to work in a capacity where I know they’re going to hurt themselves so what then happened was more of a greater group discussion of ‘okay well what do we do here’ and the Nightmare Collective came to be,” Rhodes said on Wrestling Observer Live in February of 2020.

As for Shanna, the 38-year-old last appeared on Dynamite in a loss to Britt Baker in January. She had been performing on episodes of AEW Dark and Elevation. Shanna dropped her last match in AEW to Leyla Hirsch on April 7th (aired April 12th).

• AEW Spanish broadcaster Willie Urbina was caught mocking Hikaru Shida’s Japanese accent during Friday’s edition of Dynamite.
• Urbina was fired for the incident.
• Shida and Tony Khan have addressed the controversy.

An unfortunate incident took place during Friday’s edition of AEW Dynamite. During a commercial break, Spanish broadcaster Willie Urbina was caught mocking former Hikaru Shida and her Japanese accent.

Urbina was swiftly fired by AEW when they became aware of the situation.

Hikaru Shida has since taken to social media to address her brush with racism. The former AEW Women’s Champion said that she did not want to address the incident on Friday night when it occurred, because she did not want to bring it additional attention before Double or Nothing.

Now that the PPV has come and gone, she is speaking her mind. “I don’t give a shit what other people say about my race because I love it and I proud of it, and because I know which is fool. I don’t even feel anger. So don’t need to worry about me. Thank you.”

Tony Khan’s Reaction

AEW President Tony Khan also addressed the Willie Urbina incident at the AEW Double or Nothing post-show media scrum. Khan says there is ‘no excuse’ for his conduct.

“I was not happy with it, so after I heard what was said and having talked to the other commentators involved about what was said about her, who I also apologized to, I thought it was best for the company to make the decision that we made.”

AEW have been successful in luring big name stars to the promotion for both in-ring and non-active roles. They don’t come much bigger than Mark Henry. The Olympian and wrestling legend walked out at AEW Double or Nothing to great applause. Henry looks set to be part of the team headlining the upcoming AEW Rampage show.

Another wrestling legend, Chris Jericho recently took some time out to talk about Mark Henry’s arrival and what it means for the locker room.

“I think any time we can have a guy with the experience of Mark Henry, both in the ring and outside the ring, it just helps our company. That’s one of the things we need, we needed very much when we first started. It was basically me and Dustin Rhodes and Dean Malenko as the guys who had some actual decades of experience on live TV.”

Speaking during the AEW Double or Nothing Media Scrum, Jericho was full of praise for Mark Henry, and the impact he would have on the locker room. The pair are old friends who go way back, having faced off against each other numerous times through the decades.

Mark Henry has recently spoken about his desire to have at least one more wrestling match, but only after he turns 50 later this month. With Paul Wight also signed as a part-time wrestler, there is every chance we could see them either team up or face off against each other. Either way, the younger talent in the AEW locker room just got a huge boost to their ongoing wrestling education.

Anthony Ogogo wrestled in the biggest match of his wrestling career against Cody Rhodes at the Double Or Nothing PPV. Even though he lost the bout, the heavyweight star received praise for his performance.

The former boxing star recently had an interview with The Sportster where he claimed that he was offered a contract by WWE as well but explained why he turned it down and signed with AEW instead.

Ogogo revealed that WWE was offering him more money than AEW. However, he still turned down their offer because he believes in Tony Khan’s vision for him:

“[WWE] offered me more money than AEW. I didn’t join them because I believe in Tony Khan’s vision. I believed in Cody Rhodes’ vision. I believe in AEW’s vision. I love being a part of AEW,”

Anthony Ogogo On The Difference Between WWE And AEW Management

Anthony Ogogo went on to explain that at AEW he feels like the management cares about their wrestlers. While at WWE, it was all about the money:

“I love how the team give a f**k about their wrestlers. If I’m going through a tough time in a minute, I’m getting texts from the management asking me if I’m okay daily. They care about the people rather than the money,

The other place, they seem to care about money first and people if at all. We care about other people first because they know that a happy workplace creates good stuff.”

• Anthony Ogogo Says He Broke A Rib Training For AEW Double Or Nothing

Anthony Ogogo is a former Olympic boxer who had to retire after suffering a serious eye injury during a match in 2016.

He began his pro wrestling career in 2019. He was signed by AEW the same year as their first developmental wrestler.

AEW President Tony Khan talked to media after their successful Double Or Nothing event this Sunday. During the talk, he confirmed Lio Rush’s contractual status with his company.

The former WWE star made his AEW debut during the company’s latest PPV where he was revealed as the wild card entry in the casino battle royal.

Talking about the kind of deal they have, Khan revealed that Lio hasn’t signed any papers and the two parties are working on a handshake deal:

“I don’t have a pen to paper [deal], but Lio and I have a handshake [deal] that he can work here and do New Japan both, I think we have something good on a handshake, and I think he’s doing that on a handshake with New Japan too.”

Tony Khan then talked about the high flying star’s future with the company and said that he think Rush will come back. Though he revealed that Lio Rush has other commitments in the near future:

“I think he’s gonna come back. We’ll get to it, I’d like for Lio to come back. He’s also doing some stuff for New Japan, so he’s got some dates booked right now.

He was free for this, and I’m going to respect the calendar, so I’m not gonna go out and ask him to cancel indie dates to do stuff for us. And he’s got a pretty solid calendar, but he was free for this, and I wanted him to come.”

Apart from this, Tony Khan also revealed that he wanted to bring Lio Rush in for battle royal at All Out last year but the former NXT star was not free at the time.

Britt Baker picked up a big win at the Double Or Nothing PPV. Her victory was not only the culmination of her own journey to the top but it was also a response to the critics of the company’s women’s division.

During the post-Double Or Nothing media scrum, the new champion discussed how many people in the promotion have supported her and how the criticism has helped her get better as well.

Baker first admitted that it was hard to hear the criticism of her work. However, she explained that you have to have criticism if you want to get better:

“It’s just a growing and a learning process, and it’s hard. It’s hard to hear it in mass quantities, which I was. But you have to. Even if you’re the best in the business, you have to have criticism if you’re going to get better. I just happened to have a lot of it, so I got a lot better.”

Britt Baker On The Growth Of Their Women’s Division

Apart from this, Britt Baker discussed how AEW women’s division as a whole has been a target of criticism from the fans but now people have started praising them because they have experienced their growth:

“The division as a whole, I think most of the criticism, at the time, was the TV time. None of us, almost none of us had any TV experience. We were all learning and growing together as a division in front of your eyes.

And I think that’s kind of a bit our charm and why people are jumping on the bandwagon now. Cause it’s like ‘oh man, I remember when Britt Baker couldn’t hold a microphone. And now look at her.’ So I think that’s why a lot of people are along for the ride.”

• MJF: Britt Baker In The Pinnacle “Makes Complete Sense”

Britt Baker also talked about how Tony Khan believed in her when nobody else did and how people like Chris Jericho, Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega and others have helped her in getting better.

The role model defeated Hikaru Shida in a one-on-one match via submission at the Double Or Nothing PPV. She ended Shida’s year-long reign to become the new AEW women’s champion.