Kenny Omega recently clarified that AEW’s agreement with NJPW is not a full-blown talent exchange. He spoke with Talk Sport recently about what fans can expect from the agreement reached between the two promotions.

“So you talk about the ‘forbidden door’ and people talk about it being open. It’s been ‘kicked open!’ or ‘blown open!’ Do I look at it as this gigantic door in the distance… I feel like it’s opened a crack and there’s this heavenly light shining through,” Omega said.

Omega then clarified that a few wrestlers will go from one promotion to the other but it won’t be a full talent exchange.

“A couple things slip through the cracks, you know what I mean? You might get a guy here or there sneaking in from one side to another, but it’s not going to be a full talent exchange where it’s a free-for-all going both ways.”

He continued to say that the agreement is hampered by international travel restrictions.

“It’s more the traveling restrictions and the things that make traveling between countries difficult is actually what is hurting us. But, in the same way, it helped this whole thing become a possibility because now we’ve been able to take a step back and take a look at the world we’ve realized there’s something a lot bigger than company pride or competing with everyone else around you trying to make yourself the number one brand.”

In response to a fan question on Twitter, Omega also recently stated that he believes Brock Lesnar is one of the best performers in history.

The full interview with Kenny Omega is here.

AEW star Anna Jay will be out of action for the next 6-12 months due to injury. According to AEW, the Dark Order member will require shoulder surgery.

Anna Jay has been replaced in the AEW Women’s Title-Eliminator tournament by Madi Wrenkowski, a student and protege of Thunder Rosa.

AEW announced the news on Monday. Anna Jay commented on her injury, stating that she’s super upset about the situation, but will come back stronger than ever.

Anna Jay & The AEW Women’s Eliminator Tournament

Fans began suspecting something was up with Anna Jay on on Monday. She was conspicuously absent from AEW’s promotion for this week’s Women’s Eliminator tournament matches. She also did not appear on this week’s Being The Elite.

Wrenkowski trained out of the Hybrid School Of Wrestling in San Antonio. She made her pro-debut in 2019 and has competed on AEW Dark previously.

Tonight’s show on YouTube will feature the semi-finals of the Japanese side of the bracket and two 1st round matches from the American side of the bracket. The scheduled matches are below:

• AEW Women’s Title-Eliminator Tournament (1st Round American bracket)
  Tay Conti vs Nyla Rose
• AEW Women’s Title-Eliminator Tournament (1st Round American bracket)
  Britt Baker vs Madi Wrenkowski
• AEW Women’s Title-Eliminator Tournament (2nd Round Japanese bracket)
  Emi Sakura vs Yuka Sakazaki
• AEW Women’s Title-Eliminator Tournament (2nd Round Japanese bracket)
  Aja Kong vs. Ryo Mizunami

Kenny Omega has provided new details regarding the AEW video game that is currently in development.

During his recent interview with TalkSport, AEW’s World Champion provided some updates on the game’s progress. He also revealed the timetable for its eventual release.

Omega first explained how they are trying to make a game that will be enjoyable for casual and hardcore gamers alike.

When is the AEW video game coming out?

The AEW video game is currently scheduled to be released during the first quarter of 2022.

“I would say in a perfect world, give it about a year’s time,” said Omega. “We’re working really hard and we’re lucky to have two teams. One in America and one in Japan, working on this almost around the clock.

He continued, “We do know that time is of the essence. We can’t let this sit around forever and people want a game like, yesterday. We do want to release something as soon as we feel it’s ready and representative of what our brand should be and what will make fans happy.”

More on the AEW video game

AEW wants to create a game fans will love, but do not want to keep people waiting forever. They want to avoid a Street Fighter 5 or Cyberpunk situation. Those games were delayed repeatedly.

Apart from this, Kenny Omega also talked about the technical aspects of the game. They are working diligently to capture the essence of the different wrestling styles represented by AEW’s roster.

There’s much more to the interview. If you’re interested in AEW’s video game, visit TalkSport to read all the quotes from their chat with Kenny Omega.

Click below to learn more about the AEW video game:

• Kenny Omega Details What Fans Can Expect From AEW Game

GCW Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport returned this weekend for the fifth instalment of the event. The main event of the show saw two former WWE Superstars face off, as Jon Moxley took on Davey Boy Smith Jr.

Here’s the full results from the card that took place on FITE TV. The replay of the show is available to purchase here.

• Calder McColl vs Bad Dude Tito – McColl took the win via submission

• Calvin Tankman vs Nolan Edward – Calvin Tankman took the win via TKO

• Kal Jack vs Superbeast – Kal Jack took the win via submission

• Royce Isaacs vs Alex Coughlin – Royce Isaacs took the win via submission

• Rocky Romero vs Simon Grimm – Rocky Romero took the win via submission

• Chris Dickinson vs JR Kratos – Chris Dickinson took the win via submission

• Jeff Cobb vs Tom Lawlor – NJPW star Jeff Cobb took the win via submission

• Jon Moxley vs Davey Boy Smith Jr. – The former AEW Champion defeated Davey Boy Smith Jr via KO

Davey Boy Smith Jr. wrote the following about his loss to Jon Moxley:

WWE Hall of Famer and co-host of Busted Open Radio Bully Ray recently discussed the upcoming Exploding Barbed Wire DeathMatch in AEW. It was confirmed on this week’s AEW Dynamite that Kenny Omega will be defending his Championship against Jon Moxley in the FMW classic match type at AEW Revolution.

“The match can work if you do it the right way” Bully Ray began. “If they try to do too much? It’s not gonna work. There’s a way to do it and it revolves around how you toy with the psychology leading up to it. It revolves around how many times you actually fall into the exploding barbed wire. It also revolves around what that means in the match.”

Bully Ray on Exploding DeathMatch

“One of my biggest problems with Last Man Standing matches is that talent will prostitute the count” Bully Ray continued. “When a ref starts counting early? You know the guy is gonna get up by two; but a little later he’s gonna get up by four, then a little later he’s gonna get up by six, a little later by eight and then you know whatever the finish is. If I’m doing a Last Man Standing match? I never want the count to be to be prostituted”

• Sami Zayn On Reason Behind Name-Dropping AEW On Raw Back In 2019

Bully Ray finished by discussing how he would approach the bout from a phycological standpoint. “I don’t want it to be used too much in this match. You build to the exploding barbed wire, you go into the barbed wire one to two times the get cut up, then you fall into the exploding stuff, and then you get a finish” Bully stated. “Don’t overdo it, because then it becomes overkill. You want to leave this match with just enough so these people would want to see it again.”

Sami Zayn did something that was unexpected live on WWE TV just days after All Elite Wrestling held their first pay-per-view Double or Nothing event back in 2019.

He name-dropped AEW during a segment on Monday Night Raw, which would be the first time the rival promotion’s name was mentioned on WWE programming.

The first and unfortunately the only edition of the Electric Chair segment saw Sami Zayn taking unfiltered questions from members of the audience and answering them while sitting on an apparently real electric chair. The segment aired on the May 27, 2019 episode of Raw, just two days after Double or Nothing.

Sami Zayn recalled the segment in an interview with Sportskeeda, stating that he anticipated that questions about the AEW would be submitted by the audience as the debut of the promotion was topical at the time, but to his surprise nobody went for the low-hanging fruit.

“So it was right on everybody’s mind. It was super, super fresh and I think they had just announced this TV deal. They had just announced that this wasn’t just going to be a pay-per-view. This is going to be a competitor and all this sort of stuff. And they tell me that we’re doing this segment where it’s legitimately, you know, unplanned questions and anybody could ask anything. So at the time this was the number one topic in the wrestling world. So you kind of expected to be asked about it,” Sami Zayn said.

Zayn revealed that the idea behind the Electric Chair segment was that it was supposed to an unscripted and unpredictable segment. Seeing the questions he got, Zayn felt that it doesn’t have the risky vibes that was the point of the experimental segment. So instead, he took it upon himself to mention AEW on the otherwise lifeless segment.

“As I was out there, I was like, this doesn’t have these vibes, these questions are too sterile. So I felt like it was upon me, it was incumbent upon me, to sort of make it controversial. And the fact that we’re talking about it now, all this time later, you know I hate to say I was right, but I kind of think I was right to do it,” Sami Zayn explained.

While Sami Zayn was able to elicit a reaction of shock by viewers, it wasn’t so favorable for him backstage and the Electric Chair segment was nixed just after its debut.

AEW has announced that a special featuring the women’s title eliminator tournament match will be broadcasted on Bleacher Report for free.

President Tony Khan announced that the match between Thunder Rosa and Riho as part of the US semi-finals will air for free on Sunday, February 28. Khan tweeted, “The #AEW Women’s World Championship Eliminator Tournament USA semifinal bout featuring former AEW Women’s World Champion Riho vs. former NWA Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa streams on Bleacher Report on February 28th on a free Sunday Special, one week before Revolution PPV!”

It should be noted that Bleacher Report is available worldwide as opposed to BR Live, which is the only available in the US. Khan noted that streaming on Bleacher Report will provide great exposure of AEW to non-fans via Bleacher Report’s 9.4 million Twitter followers along with 14.8 million Instagram followers.

Thunder Rosa won against Leyla Hirsch in the US quarterfinal round on the February 10 edition of AEW Dynamite, while Riho defeated Serena Deeb on last week’s episode. Four matches from the Japanese bracket have been aired on YouTube.

Four more matches will be broadcasted via YouTube on Monday, February 22: Tay Conti vs. Nyla Rose and Dr. Britt Baker vs. Anna Jay of the US bracket, along with Yuka Sakazaki vs. Emi Sakura and Ryo Mizunami vs. Aja Kong of the Japanese bracket.

The winners from the remaining US quarterfinals will face each other on the February 24 episode of Dynamite. The emerging winner will then face the winner of the Thunder Rosa vs. Riho match on March 1. Finally, the finalists from the US and Japan brackets will have a match on the March 3 episode of Dynamite. The winner will get to face Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women’s Championship on March 7 at the Revolution PPV.

AEW World Champion Kenny Omega believes it is possible that WWE and AEW could work together one day.

Back in December, Triple H had said that WWE is “open for business” when asked about possibly working with other promotions. Omega says he believes Triple H, and that WWE and AEW could work together someday. He detailed his thoughts on the matter in a recent interview with Talk Sport.

“I think Triple H is still being one of the boys for the better part of his career. I’m sure a big part of how he runs his business and how he looks at WWE, NXT and all those things he has a finger in, I really do think he does it for the sake of fans as well.”

“So when he does say things like he’s open for business, I do think if there is a situation which could maybe eliminate some of the worries and fears from the other people that have a say in making these things happen, I do see it being a reality.”

Omega continued to say, however, that it took a pandemic for AEW/Impact/NJPW to come together, so he’s not sure what it would take to add WWE to the mix. He hopes that WWE knows that at least one EVP in AEW would fight “tooth and nail” to make it happen, however.

“But, for us with IMPACT, New Japan, it took a global pandemic for this to actually happen [laughs]. So who knows what it would take for it to happen on their end, but as long as they know at least on the AEW side they’ve got more than one EVP looking to make this a better and brighter place for every wrestling fan young or old and possibly the disenfranchised fan, the fan that used to be a fan but isn’t a fan anymore.”

“We want to make this a fun thing for everyone and if that includes working with literally everyone, which I think would make everyone happy, then I’m all for it and I would lobby very hard for it, fight tooth and nail to make it happen.”

The full interview with Omega can be read here.

Former AEW World Champion Jon Moxley recently stated that he thought he and Brodie Lee would have formed a great tag-team. Moxley was interviewed by Metro UK and said he felt he and Lee could have had a full run as tag-team together.

“I had an idea to eventually one day – I like tag team wrestling, you know? And there’s so many great tag teams here that I wanna get to work with. ‘But it’s like, OK, I’m gonna need a suitable partner, not just any random guy. I want a full, actual good tag team run with a good partner, make a real run at having a run in this tag division.”

“The guy I was thinking about doing it with was Brodie Lee. He was a good friend, and I wrestled him so many millions of times, our styles would have complemented each other very well.”

Moxley and Brodie Lee wrestled each other countless times in WWE, especially during the Shield and Wyatt Family runs from 2014-2017. Outside of WWE, they met in 3 singles matches. The first was on an EVOLVE show in 2010 that went to a no-contest. Then on January 7th, 2011, Jon Moxley successfully defended the CZW Championship against Lee. Their last match against each other was on the Double or Nothing 2020 PPV last May when Moxley successfully defended the AEW World Championship against Lee.

The full interview with Metro UK can be read here.

Following his release from WWE last spring, Matt Cardona wrestled two matches in AEW. He teamed with Cody and defeated John Silver & Alex Reynolds on the August 5th edition of Dynamite and then teamed with the Natural Nightmares and Scorpio Sky at All Out 2020 and defeated 4 members of the Dark Order.

Cardona is now with Impact Wrestling and appears to be building a feud with his former longtime tag partner and friend, Brian Myers. He spoke to Chris Van Vliet recently about why he is no longer in All Elite Wrestling.

“After the release day, I was in contact with so many people and promotions. The AEW thing worked out first, and that was only for a couple of dates,” Cardona said.

“AEW was awesome, it was fun, it was great but I was in such a long-term relationship, I didn’t want to jump into another relationship with anybody, really. To be honest, I was enjoying the free time at home, building the podcast, and time just kind of flew by.”

“Before I knew it, I got a text, it was the Friday before Hard to Kill, saying ‘hey, do you want to come to work tomorrow?’ I was like ‘you know what?'”

“I like to be able to bounce around and do whatever I want to do right now,” he continued.

Cardona’s comments can be heard in the player below:

Jon Moxley will face Kenny Omega in an exploding barbed-wire deathmatch at AEW Revolution on March 7th. He recently appeared on Wrestling Observer Radio and spoke about the upcoming match.

Moxley talked about how he’d always been a fan of such matches but never thought he’d get to do one in AEW. He wouldn’t say whose idea having the match in AEW was, but did note that it was something that was brought to him rather than something he pitched to management.

“When this was brought to me, quite some time ago actually, I’m not going to turn that down,” Moxley said on the show.

“One thing that I absolutely cannot stand is the thought of promising something and not delivering it to fans. So if I tell you some wild stuff is going to go down, I’m going to deliver on it.”

Later in the show, Moxley said he had the following to say to Tony Khan about the match.

“So now, I made it very clear to Tony, don’t put me in these situations unless you want me to go full-on, full tilt. Be careful of what you wish for because I’m not in the business of under-delivering on promises these days to people. And they know that so in a situation like this, the gloves are off.”

Jon Moxley On Pitching Ideas In WWE

Moxley then continued to talk about other times in his career when he has pitched ideas and had them turned down.

“There were many, many times over the years where I’d say these things like ‘I’m going to put you through Hell in a Cell!’ and whatever they had me say but in my mind I’m like ‘No, I’m not, I’m not going to do any of this stuff. This is stupid, we know exactly what’s going to happen, it’s the same stupid Hell in a Cell.'”

“I felt like I was always over-promising what I was allowed to actually deliver and I pitched so much stuff over the years,” Moxley continued.

Moxley also spoke about pitching an idea for a Hell in a Cell match and getting rejected by WWE management.

“Something simple like tearing the canvas off and exposing the boards,” Moxley mentioned he pitched for a Hell in a Cell match once.

“They looked at me like I’m f***ing stupid,” he said of Vince, Hunter, and Stephanie’s reaction. “They didn’t get it at all. Vince was like ‘I don’t think people are going to get it’. They looked at me like I’m an idiot. Hunter’s rolling his eyes.”

Pro wrestling legend Terry Funk recently reacted to the AEW Revolution main event news. Although it is unfair to just label Funk as a ‘hardcore’ wrestling legend, he was part of some of the most brutal matches over his illustrious career.

One of the bouts that Terry Funk took part in was the Exploding Barbed Wire DeathMatch; much like the one that will main event AEW Revolution between AEW Champion Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley.

Terry Funk on DeathMatch

Terry Funk was made aware of the Revolution main event and the person running his Twitter account notified followers of his reply. “Just talked to Mr. Funk & he’s doing okay. He just wanted to wish Jon Moxley & Kenny Omega the best of luck in their exploding barbed wire match” Funk reportedly began.

It was also noted that Funk made a playful jab at WWE. “He says the match is a good way for AEW to wake up Vince with a good kick in his ass. He wants you to know he’s pulling for you!”

• Update On Sammy Guevera’s Creative Differences With Impact Wrestling

AEW Revolution takes place on March 7th from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida. Here’s the current card for the event:

• AEW Championship Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch – Kenny Omega (c) vs Jon Moxley
• AEW Tag Team Championships – The Young Bucks (c) vs Chris Jericho and MJF
• Streetfight – Team Taz vs Sting And Darby Allin
• Hikaru Shida vs The Winner Of The AEW Women’s Championship Eliminator Tournament
• Face Of The Revolution Ladder Match – Winner gets a shot at the TNT Championship
• Big Money Match – Hangman Page Vs. Matt Hardy

Sammy Guevara was reported to have been sent home from a recent set of Impact Wrestling tapings held in Nashville. According to a report from Slam Wrestling, Chris Jericho had come up with the idea of Sammy going to his friend Don Callis’ wrestling promotion following his leaving the Inner Circle in AEW. Guevara evidently disagreed with the creative direction his character would take in the promotion and once the dust cleared, he went home and did not take part in the tapings.

The incident was addressed recently in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The report states that Sammy came in for the tapings held from 2/9 to 2/11.

“We don’t know the details of the creative past he was going to win three matches at the tapings that just took place,” wrote Dave Meltzer. Sammy then is said to have suggested to Impact that he win the X-Division title and never lose it before returning to AEW, which Impact rejected.

Sammy Guevara Makes An Impact

It seems as though everyone involved in the situation has smoothed things over with each other. Still, Jericho and Callis were the ones who came up with the idea and likely weren’t thrilled with how everything went down.

“Chris Jericho was the one who put the angle together with Don Callis. It made Jericho look bad to Impact because he and Callis came up with the idea and then Guevara didn’t want to do it,” Meltzer continued.

Jericho then made a comment on AEW this week that Sammy had been making a lot of bad choices as of late, and some have taken that as an inside jab at the situation.

Meltzer continued to say there were those in Impact quite upset with Sammy.

“Scott D’Amore told Guevara that they didn’t need him when he arrived in Nashville if he doesn’t follow the plans that had already been agreed to. Impact was really mad about AEW sending talent over, them putting plans in place and then the talent wouldn’t do what was planned.”

While the creative had seemingly been agreed on, a source within Impact said that the creative was bad and Sammy was not wrong to disagree with it.

Sammy Guevara tweeted the following on Friday morning, apparently in response to this report circulating about his brush with Impact Wrestling:

Tessa Blanchard has been a free agent since leaving IMPACT Wrestling on June 25th 2020. There were reports of Blanchard being racially abuse to talent in her past, and Tessa addressed these in an Instagram post back in September.

“I’ve been away for a while” Tessa Blanchard wrote last year. “The main reason for that is to focus on my wedding & honeymoon. The past few months I’ve gotten back to the basics & been focusing on the relationships I have with family, friends & myself.”

“Racist? That’s not me” Blanchard continued. “That’s never been me, I don’t have a history of being that way, I don’t have a history of using that language & that’s the end of it, it’s just not who I am. & I’m tired of being called & my family seeing me be called something so hateful.”

Tessa Blanchard To AEW?

It has been rumored since Blanchard left IMPACT that she may be going to either AEW or WWE/NXT. On the AEW side, commentator Tony Schiavone indicated that there’s no talks in place currently.

Speaking on the AEW Dynamite post-show, Schiavone said “I don’t think that’s happening.” That was specifically when Schiavone was asked if he had any knowledge of AEW wanting to sign Tessa Blanchard. “At least not anytime soon. I would have heard that [if she’s coming over].”

• Kenny Omega Vs John Moxley Deathmatch Announced For Revolution

With Tessa’s past it may be more likely that WWE would be interested in signing her. WWE have shown through prior dealings that they are more inclined to take on talented individuals with potentially problematic pasts.

AEW has announced that Kenny Omega will be defending his AEW World Championship against Jon Moxley in an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch at the upcoming Revolution PPV.

The main event of this week’s episode of Dynamite saw the former AEW Champion teaming up with Rey Fenix, and Lance Archer to defeat the trio of Eddie Kingston, The Butcher, and The Blade.

Mox however, got attacked by the Good Brothers after the match. Kenny Omega then came out with a mic while Gallows and Anderson were holding Jon.

The current champion showed some papers to his rival and revealed that the former WWE star slipped a rematch clause into their title match agreement.

Omega said that Moxley will get his rematch but he will choose the stipulation for it and he chose an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch.

Updated Revolution Match Card

The world title match is the sixth bout that has been announced for the Revolution PPV taking place on March 7. After the latest announcement, below is the updated match card for the show:

• AEW Championship Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Jon Moxley
• AEW Women’s Championship: Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Winner Of AEW Title Eliminator Tournament
• AEW Tag Team Championships: The Young Bucks (c) vs. Chris Jericho and MJF
• Street Fight: Sting and AEW TNT Champion Darby Allin vs. FTW Champion Brian Cage and Ricky Starks with Taz
• Face of Revolution Ladder Match: Cody Rhodes vs. Penta El Zero M vs. Scorpio Sky vs. 3 Contestants TBA
• Singles Match With Winner Getting His Opponents 2021 Quarter One Earnings: Matt Hardy vs. Hangman Page

AEW Dynamite Results (2/17): Death Match Set For Revolution, Brian Cage Attacks Sting

AEW has released new top-5 rankings for its men’s, women’s, and tag-team divisions. 

AEW Men’s Singles Rankings

AEW World Champion: Kenny Omega (1-0) 
TNT Champion: Darby Allin (2-0)

1. Jon Moxley (2-0) 
2. PAC (3-0) (+1)
3. Cody Rhodes (2-0) (-1)
4. Rey Fenix (3-1)
5. Miro (2-0) (-1)

The only movement in the men’s singles rankings this week saw #2 PAC move up one spot over #3 Cody Rhodes. PAC defeated Ryan Nemeth last week while Rhodes injured his shoulder in a tag-team win with Lee Johnson over Cezar Bononi and Peter Avalon.

We still don’t have a World Title match announced for Revolution on March 7th. One would expect #1 Jon Moxley to receive a rematch against Omega but that has yet to be announced. TNT Champion Darby Allin is not scheduled to defend his belt on the show. He’ll be teaming with Sting against Team Taz in a street fight.

AEW Women’s Singles Rankings

AEW Women’s Champion: Hikaru Shida (1-0) 

1. Red Velvet (4-0)
2. Britt Baker (3-0)
3. Tay Conti (5-1) (+1)
4. Serena Deeb (2-0) (-1)
5. Thunder Rosa (3-1)

The only movement in the women’s division this week sees #3 Tay Conti move up past #4 Serena Deeb.

Everything in this division is about the women’s title-eliminator tournament at the moment. The tournament kicked off on Dynamite last week with #5 Thunder Rosa defeating the unranked Leyla Hirsch. The tournament will continue tonight when #4 Serena Deeb takes on former AEW Women’s Champion, Riho.

AEW Tag Team Rankings

AEW Tag Team Champions: The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) (0-0)

1. Chris Jericho & Maxwell Jacob Friedman (3-0)
2. Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) (3-0) (+1)
3. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (1-0) (-1)
4. Santana & Ortiz (3-1) (+1)
5. The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster) (3-1) (-1) 

#3 FTR is not going to like the fact that #2 Jurassic Express has now moved ahead of them in the rankings. The only other movement in the rankings this week sees #4 Santana & Ortiz move ahead of #5 the Acclaimed.

Last week on Dynamite, #1 MJF and Chris Jericho defeated #5 The Acclaimed. On tonight’s show, #4 Santana and Ortiz will face The Young Bucks for the AEW World Tag Team Championships. Whoever leaves that match as champions will then face MJF and Jericho at Revolution.

AEW Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes recently spoke to New York Post. The former TNT Champion discussed a number of topics during the interview, including a potential ‘cinematic’ match against Sting.

‘The Icon’ Sting signed for AEW and debuted back on December 2nd at the ‘Winter Is Coming’ episode of AEW Dynamite. With Sting’s advanced age (for pro wrestling) and history of spinal issues? At 61 years old, he will be somewhat limited as to what he can do in the ring.

Cody Rhodes on Cinematic Matches

Cody Rhodes discussed this and the possibility that he may be able to face the former WCW legend in a match.

“To me, the cinematic matches, they really don’t have a current definition” Cody began. “I’ve seen the Stadium Stampede and I’ve seen the [WWE] Boneyard [match]. I’ve seen various different ways to present cinematic. And really cinematic just means with different camera cuts.”

“It can mean a lot of things” Cody Rhodes continued. “But ask me that question again in a few months; because I want the opportunity to stand across from the Stinger and I think he knows that. It’s almost kind of itching at me under my skin that if there is somebody I wanted to beat? It’s the face of TNT’s hottest period and run.”

Sting will be teaming with Darby Allin to take on Team Taz at AEW Revolution in March.

Tony Khan is open to the possibility of AEW working with WWE.

Khan appeared on the WrestleFetish podcast this week and discussed AEW’s “open borders” policy. All Elite Wrestling currently has partnerships with Impact Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling. We are just scratching the surface of what these alliance will yield, but fans are wondering what other companies could get involved.

The elephant in the room is WWE, the world’s largest and most profitable wrestling promotion. Tony Khan was asked if AEW would be receptive to working with WWE or NXT. He was very receptive.

“They are more than welcome,” Khan said about working with WWE. “As I have said, the forbidden door is open anytime. Just come and knock. If they were to knock on the door, then I would certainly be willing to let them in.”

Tony Khan Open To Working With WWE

The hosts were surprised by Khan’s answer. They referenced WWE’s ‘invasion’ of WCW Monday Nitro at the height of the Monday Night Wars. Eric Bischoff did not permit WWE Superstars to appear on Nitro that fateful night, but things would be different if WWE or NXT talent showed up at an AEW event.

“Come in, please!” Khan continued. “I would love that. I would love that. Come to Jacksonville, I’m begging you. I would love it.”

WWE’s Position

WWE knows AEW is making waves by partnering with Impact and New Japan. Triple H recently stated that people have ‘misperceptions’ about WWE’s willingness to work with other promotions.

“Are we open to the right business opportunities? Yeah, at any given time we’re open to things,” he said during the NXT Takeover: WarGames post-show media event. “It just depends on what they are and if they’re beneficial to us in the long-term.”

Triple H referenced the “best for business” attitude, stating that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is “open to anything” if it makes business sense.

“Open for business, I think Vince says that a lot and I’ve been around him long enough that if it’s the right thing and meaningful to business, he’s open to anything.”

• Huge Star From NJPW Will Be Working With AEW & IMPACT

Doors between wrestling promotions are swinging open all over the place these days, it seems. Now, an AEW tag-team who recently challenged for the Impact tag-team titles is calling out the tag champs from ROH.

This started when Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy sent a message to Matt Hardy on Twitter after failing to win the Impact titles at No Surrender.

Matt Hardy then asked the team what they plan on doing to make up for the loss.

Private Party then asked for another chance. They asked to take on the ROH tag champs, the Foundation’s Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham.

“It would be a start. Bring me the ROH Tag Titles & find out who Jay Lethal’s there to see,” Hardy responded.

Jay Lethal then responded to both Hardy and Private Party.

More problems appear to be brewing between Private Party and Matt Hardy. This may stem from Hardy’s new interest in working with Hangman Adam Page.

Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham

The Foundation’s Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham are just 7 days shy of tying Cesaro and Chris Hero for the 3rd most days spent with the ROH tag titles. The 426 days they have spent with the titles is the longest single-reign in the titles’ lineage. Granted, the promotion was shut down for 6 months during their reign.

The reports of Sammy Guevara turning down a spot at the latest Impact tapings and being sent back home made a lot of headlines yesterday.

Many believed that the behaviour might have landed the young star in hot waters with both the companies but that’s not the case, at least with AEW, according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Radio.

Meltzer claimed that one person from impact told them that the spot Sammy turned down was something he ‘should’ve turned down.’

He also revealed that there is no heat on the Cuban star from AEW’s side. The two companies also has no heat due to the incident, though Impact officials are not happy with Guevara.

For those who don’t know, Sammy Guevara was apparently booked for a spot at the latest Impact tapings, with the storyline playing off of him quitting the Inner Circle on last week’s Dynamite.

• Sammy Guevara Reportedly Rejected Planned Storyline In Impact Wrestling

However, the AEW star didn’t like the ideas Impact officials had in store for him when he got to the tapings and he wanted the creative plans to be changed.

This led to Guevara taking his complains to AEW officials and the Impact officials did the same. Sammy Guevara eventually went back home and Impact used Black Taurus in the spot they had planned for him.

There is no word yet on what were the exact creative plans that led to the whole situation but we should get a better idea after this week’s episode of Impact.

Cody Rhodes has made it known that it’s entirely possible for AEW and WWE to work together, even though the chances of that happening are slim. 

All Elite Wrestling has established a working relationship with not only Impact Wrestling, but also NJPW. 

This is something the AEW Executive talked about while doing an interview with The New York Post. He made the comments on a potential AEW – WWE crossover when asked about having wrestlers from the likes of NWA, NJPW, and Impact on Dynamite. 

He thinks the All In show showed that the business can let go of various old rules. All In was an independent wrestling show with production help from ROH that was started off a bet that he couldn’t hold a show with 10,000 fans in attendance. He noted that there is no reason why AEW couldn’t work with NJPW and thus the same with WWE. 

“There’s no reason that there couldn’t be a potential WWE crossover one day,” Rhodes said. “And I don’t mean that’s a thing that’s been discussed or happening, but none of those rules that exist for other places exist for us. Wrestling is really this universal industry. The territory reference that you made, that’s fairly accurate, but the part of it that’s most accurate was there was a genuine trust.”

He brought up how Eddie Graham and Vince McMahon Sr. traded talent all of the time. The reason for this was to keep wrestlers fresh. 

“Wednesday Night War or not the main thing we have to do for fans for the rest of this run – and I want this company to be around forever — is keep it fresh. It can’t ever get stale. Our doors are open if the business is right, if the moment is right, if the time is right. Our bridges are down. I’ll be the one curmudgeon AEW guy to make sure it’s all good.”

WWE moved NXT to the USA Network in the same time slot as Dynamite when AEW reached a television deal with TNT. Since that time, AEW has won the majority of the ratings war in both total viewership and nearly all demos except for +50.

Sammy Guevara was reportedly sent home from the recent Impact tapings in Nashville. According to a report from Slam Wrestling, Guevara rejected a storyline that would have seen the 27-year-old debut in the promotion.

Chris Jericho is said to have come up with an idea for Guevara to appear in Impact Wrestling. This would take place after he quit the Inner Circle on Dynamite. Guevara, however, is said to have contacted Impact directly with complaints about the creative direction. Impact then contacted Jericho and Tony Khan about Guevara’s comments. It’s not known what Guevara’s complaints were or what he said to Impact.

It doesn’t appear as though Jericho was happy about whatever Guevara said to Impact, however. Jericho is then said to have reached out to his longtime friend, Don Callis, about “banning Guevara” from the premises. Jericho is then believed to have sent Guevara a text instructing him to head home and not attend the tapings in Nashville.

*Update*

The issue was covered recently on an episode of Wrestling Observer Radio.

“AEW and Impact are still working together. From an AEW standpoint, there’s not any heat on Sammy for what he did. From the Impact side, I’m sure there is. That’s just what the deal is,” said Dave Meltzer.

There had been speculation amongst fans online that Guevara could turn up in Impact Wrestling. Evidently, there were plans for this to happen at one point.

At the conclusion of last night’s No Surrender broadcast, Impact announced that NJPW Juice Robinson and David Finlay are coming to the promotion. Private Party and Matt Hardy have been in Impact for the last month. Kenny Omega frequently appeared on the show throughout December and January.

It was revealed during last night’s IMPACT No Surrender event that Juice Robinson and David Finlay would be heading to the promotion this week. Alongside KENTA, that makes three mainstay NJPW stars that have appeared on both AEW/IMPACT programming over the past few weeks.

It’s now common knowledge that All Elite and IMPACT have a working relationship; this began on-screen at the December 2nd ‘Winter Is Coming’ episode of AEW Dynamite. Kenny Omega and Don Callis aligned at the end of that show and Omega began appearing on IMPACT television.

It does appear however that there’s even more to come. Dave Meltzer confirmed on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that NJPW star Kazuchika Okada will be part of the ongoing partnerships between NJPW, AEW and IMPACT. Meltzer also noted that he does not know where Okada will be appearing first; but he stated that he is coming to either AEW or IMPACT.

Kazuchika Okada in TNA

This is another interesting wrinkle in the ‘Forbidden Door’ storyline that seems to be engulfing the major promotions outside of WWE. When Okada was originally in the TNA promotion back in 2010-2011. Whilst there Okada was used as a lower card performer, with a ‘Kato’ gimmick from The Green Hornet.

The way that Kazuchika Okada was used by TNA was so appalling that NJPW cut all ties with the promotion shortly after, vowing never to work with Total Nonstop Action again. Reportedly in 2017, representatives of the now IMPACT Wrestling spoke to New Japan officials. Members of the IMPACT team actually apologised for the way Okada was used earlier in the decade. It’s likely that the people who apologised weren’t even involved in his booking at that time.

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If Kazuchika Okada were to make an appearance at an AEW or IMPACT show? It could be a huge power move for all involved. Okada is classed as one of the greatest IWGP Heavyweight Champions in history; there’s plenty of dream match scenarios that could occur if the ‘Rainmaker’ comes to the United States.

AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida took to Twitter recently to announce the Japan side of AEW’s women’s title-eliminator tournament brackets. Shida will call the action for the tournament matches hosted in Japan as well.

Women’s Title Eliminator Tournament Japan Bracket:

1. Yuka Sakazaki vs Mei Surunga (February 15th, 2021 Show on YouTube)
2. Veny vs Emi Sakura (February 15th, 2021 Show on YouTube)
3. Maki Itoh vs Ryo Mizunami (February 15th, 2021 Show on YouTube)
4. Aja Kong vs Rin Kadokura (February 15th, 2021 Show on YouTube)
5. Quarter-Final: Winner #1 vs Winner #2 (Date TBD)
6. Quarter-Final: Winner #3 vs Winner #4 (Date TBD)
7. Semi-Final: Winner #5 vs Winner #6
8. The winner will then face the winner of the American side of the bracket in the tournament finals.

In a series of Tweets, Shida introduced some of the competitors that will take part in the Japanese half of the tournament:

The American side of the bracket is as follows:

1. Thunder Rosa defeated Leyla Hirsch (2/10/21)
2. Serena Deeb vs Riho
3. Tay Conti vs Nyla Rose
4. Britt Baker vs Anna Jay
5. Quarter-Final: Winner #1 vs Winner #2
6. Quarter-Final: Winner #3 vs Winner #4
7. Semi-Final Winner #5 vs Winner #6
8. The winner will then face the winner of the Japanese side of the bracket in the tournament finals.

Former WWE Superstar CM Punk has his eye on a few of All Elite Wrestling’s top young stars.

On Friday afternoon, Punk held an #AskPunk Q&A session on Twitter. Unsurprisingly, he was asked about AEW. User @HEELPags wrote, “What current wrestler in AEW would he most like to work with IF he ever came back?”

CM Punk named five AEW wrestlers that he sees having potential. Whether this means ‘potential’ to work with, or ‘potential’ to have successful careers, is open to interpretation. He named:

• Powerhouse Hobbs of Team Taz
• AEW TNT Champion Darby Allin
• Brian Pillman, Jr. of the Varsity Blonds
• Ricky Starks of Team Taz
• Jungle Boy

These are great picks, as all 5 men are extraordinarily talented with bright futures.

CM Punk recently celebrated 7-Years since leaving WWE. He will soon appear in the pro wrestling series Heels, starring Stephen Amell, on the Starz premium cable network.

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