All Elite Wrestling has filed two new trademarks possibly related to a working agreement between AEW and NJPW as well as other promotions. The US Patent and Trademark Office website show filings by AEW on February 8th, 2021 for the terms “Forbidden Portal” and “Forbidden Door.” Tony Khan has been using both terms as of late to describe talent from AEW, NJPW, and Impact appearing on each other’s programs.
Both filings are listed as being for: “Entertainment services, namely, an ongoing multimedia program featuring wrestling distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; Entertainment services, namely, an ongoing series featuring wrestling provided through a global computer network.”
“I just had to open myself, and that comes from being here with you IMPACT Wrestling! Doing these paid ads, I’ve learned so much about myself. I’ve opened myself up to new experiences, and look at all the great things that have happened. We did a great rating for Dynamite this week with IMPACT people there. We had people from New Japan, who knows who is going to be there next week?”
The opening of the “forbidden door” has led to NJPW’s KENTA being on Dynamite for the last two weeks. Impact’s Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows are also regularly on Dynamite now. Jon Moxley will face KENTA on New Japan Strong later this month. Additionally, Matt Hardy and Private Party are now regularly appearing on Impact Wrestling as well.
TV ratings are in for for the February 10th editions of AEW Dynamite and NXT. Both shows were “in the mud” this week due to extensive news coverage of former US President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial. 19 of the top 20 shows on cable were cable news on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.
Here’s the Wednesday Night War breakdown for February 10th, courtesy of ShowbuzzDaily:
AEW: 741,000 viewers, 0.29 rating, 21st in demo
NXT: 558,000 viewers, 0.12 rating, 62nd in demo
AEW was down 12.2% in viewership and 9.4% in the A18-49 demo. NXT was down 8.52% in viewership and 20% in the demo.
If there is a silver lining to be found, AEW Dynamite was the #2 non-news program on cable, behind only Challenge on MTV. They outdrew the NBA’s Lakers vs. Thunder game, which was competitive and went into overtime (Lakers won 114-113).
You can check out our Results and Takeaways from both shows here:
Tama Tonga recently addressed Kenny Omega and the Bullet Club reunion angle in AEW and Impact. Tonga was on his “Tama’s Island” podcast and addressed the angle as well as KENTA showing up on Dynamite last week.
“I was so surprised, I didn’t no nothing, I didn’t know anything,” Tonga said about KENTA showing up on Dynamite.
“KENTA is there for one reason and one reason only, Moxley,” Tonga continued.
“That US title belt belongs to KENTA. That’s the only reason that he’s there.”
Tonga then continued to say he doesn’t believe reports about a working agreement between AEW and NJPW having been reached.
“That sounds like a lot of horses**t to me, man,” Tonga said about a “forbidden door” being opened.
“Is the door wide open? Hell no, the door is not wide open. Is it cracked open? Maybe, maybe this can be something but is it open? Hell, no.”
Tama would continue to say that the situation with Moxley and travel restrictions due to the pandemic are what led to the current situation with AEW and NJPW. He would say the situation could lead to the two organizations working together in the future, however.
“Can this lead to the door opening more? Yes, it’s like building trust.”
Following the main event of last night’s AEW Dynamite, Kenny Omega, Don Callis and the Good Brothers spoke about recent comments made by NJPW Bullet Club members, Jay White and Tama Tonga.
“I actually feel bad because they’re our brothers over there,” Callis said.
“The bottom line is when the 3 brothers here left the Bullet Club, it was actually a good thing because it created opportunity for some mid-card guys to move up the chain and fly the flag.”
Callis then compared it to a baseball fantasy camp.
“I think we’ve done something really good here, this is a nice thing that we’ve done. We’ve created opportunity here. Those guys are good guys but you don’t replace Michael Jordan.”
Callis then pretended not to know who the NJPW Bullet Club members are.
“I think the Bullet Club guys in Japan are great, I’m not familiar with what the names are just yet but they are flying the flag so I’d like to put a stop to all these bad feelings.”
Callis then encouraged fans to purchase Bullet Club merchandise to help the faction out.
“I’d like to encourage all the fans out there, please buy the merch. Let’s get them back in the top-40 on Pro Wrestling Tees.”
Cody Rhodes may have suffered a shoulder injury on Dynamite last night. Rhodes was favoring his shoulder during his tag match with Lee Johnson against Peter Avalon and Cezar Bononi.
The injury could be just storyline-driven, however, and the reason for Johnson appearing to step-up and get the win for his team. Nightmare Family coach Arn Anderson discussed the interview on “Coach’s Corner” after AEW Dynamite.
“Cody dinged his shoulder up pretty early on,” Anderson said. It looked like the injury occurred as Rhodes landed after a suplex from Bononi. “It handicapped him for the last half of the match,” he continued. “He did fight through it and Lee Johnson now is going to take the flag and stick it right in the middle of the ring.”
Arn Anderson on Lee Johnson
Arn Anderson then continued to talk about Johnson, who picked up his first win on Dynamite.
“Back when this pandemic started and a lot of the talent couldn’t be here, and they couldn’t travel, that kid was the first one here just asking for a chance. Then you started to see this kid’s got talent,” Anderson said.
“I’m going to spend some time with Lee Johnson. I’m going to devout some time and some knowledge to Lee Johnson. Remember that name, because you are going to be hearing it again and again.”
You can watch Arn Anderson’s Coaches Corner segment below:
#CoachsCorner Arn (@TheArnShow) breaks down @BigShottyLee Johnson's first win, and are we going see the next generation of the Anderson family soon?
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff returned for his 83 weeks podcast and during the latest episode of the show, he made some interesting comments about the current state of AEW.
The former SmackDown Executive Director was talking about Chris Jericho’s comments about TNA in 2011 where Y2J had called the company out for not believing in themselves and wasting their resources.
Bischoff said that these comments could come back to haunt the former AEW Champion in future because his company has flatlined in the past year:
“I think it’s going to come back to bite him in the ass is what I think, AEW last week they did about 800,000 viewers, they opened the door with 1.5 million viewers and haven’t been able to crack 1 million since or if they have it’s been only on 1 or 2 occasions. They’ve essentially flatlined at 7 or 800,000 viewers on average for the last year and a half.
“That’s an observation that could, unless something turns around in the next 18 months, come back to haunt someone like Chris.” said Eric Bischoff, “Quite frankly, AEW has flatlined and it’s been that way essentially for a year.”
The former WCW official continued to say that it’s easy to talk about a business you are not in. He mentioned how Chris Jericho had never run a business when he made the statement and he was making them from a position of a talent.
What do you think about Eric Bischoff’s comments about the current state of AEW? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
AEW has officially announced the signing of indie star Lee Johnson after the high flying star picked up his first victory in the company during this week’s episode of Dynamite.
The announcement was made by President Tony Khan himself, who mentioned how Cody Rhodes was the one who first recommended his name in April and how the indie star has worked hard since then:
Lee Johnson has wrestled a number of matches for AEW in the past year and the former indie star has competed against talents such as Rey Fenix, Colt Cabana, Eddie Kingston and more in recent months.
This week’s episode of Dynamite then saw the Nightmare Family member teaming with his mentor Cody Rhodes to take on the team of “Pretty” Peter Avalon and Cezar Bononi.
Johnson actually picked up the victory for his team in this bout. Lee got the hot tag during the match and he hit a cutter on Avalon as soon as he got in the ring.
His pin attempt was broken up by Cezar Bononi but Bononi got taken out by Cody Rhodes. Johnson then avoided a double knee from Avalon and rolled him up for the win. This was Lee Johnson’s first victory in AEW.
“Hollywood Hunk” Ryan Nemeth picked up a win over Marko Stunt on AEW Dark last night. He is scheduled to take on PAC on tonight’s show. Nemeth recently spoke to Chris Van Vliet about how he ended up working in Jacksonville. He noted that he has a lot of friends from his time in NXT that are now in AEW including the Huber family.
“Being there is kind of like a huge reunion,” Nemeth said about AEW. “I have so many friends from NXT or other parts of wrestling. Walking in the locker room felt like home. I went to AEW to see Amanda Huber (the late Jon Huber/Brodie Lee’s wife) because I knew there was going to be a birthday for Brodie Jr, I thought I would surprise her and say happy birthday, I used to babysit him in Tampa.”
“I wanted to say hi to her, I also secretly had my gear with me. They asked me “since you’re here do you want to wrestle?” And I said sure. I think it went well, I blacked out but I think I won (laughs). I was honored to debut on Dynamite. It felt great to be back in the ring. During shutdown I have been doing a lot of wrestling but not in front of a live crowd. It’s been a lot of stunt work or coordinating for TV shows. AEW are super into promoting creativity, very motivational and positive environment.”
Nemeth’s older brother, Dolph Ziggler, has been jokingly ribbing him online about his time in AEW. He spoke about his relationship with Dolph during the interview as well.
“We grew up wrestling for the same school together. But I will say I’ve spent my entire wrestling career looking and dressing the exact opposite of him. He had blond hair, I dyed mine black. He wore pants, I wore shorts. No matter what I do, for a decade, any time I’m in a match, the Internet says I’m a carbon copy of him. But we’ve had pretty different lives.”
Nemeth has been a vocal supporter of the #MeToo movement. His upcoming movie “Heel” deals with sexual assault in pro-wrestling.
“The plot of the film deals with sexual assault in the world of indie wrestling. It comes from a very real place. I was ambushed with stories about assault. That’s why I took a break from wrestling. It was really close to home for me. I can’t speak on behalf of these people. Legally, imagine the trouble I would be in if I did speak on behalf of victims. But I can use art to encourage conversations about these things. I love wrestling and the people in it but there are some bad eggs that do bad things and get away with it. There is not one solution to it, but it’s one that I can try to help with. I would love it to expand to a feature or a series.”
You can view the full interview in the player below:
Britt Baker was the first female athlete signed by AEW. She will also be participating in the women’s title-eliminator tournament upcoming on Dynamite. Baker spoke to the Bleacher Report recently about wanting to be the one to lead AEW’s women’s divisions to more TV time and potential main event matches.
“I just want to help lead the women’s division to more TV time and the main event eventually,” Baker said. “We’re getting there, but this is a business, and we need to stay strong. For a long time, the women’s segments weren’t doing well, but now we are getting to a point where the fans want more women’s matches.”
Recently, Baker has been hosting “The Waiting Room” segments on Dark and Dynamite. She also talked about those segments during the interview.
“That was Cody [Rhodes] who came up with the idea for the show,” Baker said. “Him and Tony [Khan] developed the whole concept of it, what we will talk about, and the opening monologue. Reba is ridiculously funny, and we just flow together. It’s a lot of fun because we have a lot of freedom with it while we advance storylines.”
Baker continued to talk about Rebel’s involvement in the segments.
“When we did a vignette in my office, they [AEW] were trying to limit the travel as much as possible. She was a makeup artist for AEW, and we are really good friends. It was Cody’s idea to use her as the makeup artist who gets bullied, and it was just so good that we had to keep Reba around. I don’t want to share the spotlight with anybody. It’s all about me, but Reba is there to have my back.”
Baker addresses several other subjects during the interview including her upcoming action figure, working with Tony Schiavone and more.
AEW will be holding their Women’s Title Eliminator Tournament over the next few episodes of Dynamite. The tournament begins this week with a match between Leyla Hirsch and Thunder Rosa. That bout will kick off the US side of the bracket, with the Japanese side being produced by AEW Women’s World Champion Hikaru Shida.
According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio, the Japanese brackets of the tournament was already taped at the Ice Ribbon Dojo in Japan. These tapings took with no audience on a closed set. Ice Ribbon was founded in 2006 by AEW star Emi Sakura; AEW Champion Hikaru Shida started her career with the promotion back in 2008.
It has not been confirmed how the tournament matches from Japan will be featured. Hikaru Shida is currently over in Japan helping to produce the content.
Meltzer stated that he was told by AEW President and CEO Tony Khan that “he is working on something cool.” Beyond that we have no details on how the rest of the tournament will be shown.
All Elite Wrestling returns to Jacksonville, FL tonight with an all-new episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT.
This week’s show will feature the in-ring debut of NJPW star KENTA, the first match in the Women’s World Title Eliminator tournament, a TNT Championship defense by Darby Allin, Chris Jericho teaming with MJF and much more.
The following items are advertised for AEW Dynamite:
AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and KENTA vs. IWGP United States Champion Jon Moxley and Lance Archer
TNT Champion Darby Allin vs. Joey Janela
Chris Jericho & MJF vs. The Acclaimed
Thunder Rosa vs. Leyla Hirsch (Women’s World Title Eliminator Tournament)
Cody Rhodes & Lee Johnson vs. Cezar Benoni and “Pretty” Peter Avalon
PAC vs. “Hollywood Hunk” Ryan Nemeth
Plus, we’ll also hear from Sting and “Hangman” Adam Page.
Check back here later tonight for our AEW Dynamite Results and Takeaways feature.
The “Forbidden Door” is the phrase used to describe the metaphoric barrier between All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling. According to AEW President Tony Khan, he’s the forbidden door and that door is now wide open. Fans should expect a lot more crossover in the months ahead.
Khan and Tony Schiavone returned to Impact Wrestling this week with their latest ‘paid advertisement’ on the program. Khan says that everywhere he goes, people have been asking when he’s going to open the forbidden door. People want to know, when is New Japan going to come to AEW?
He’s been telling people that he doesn’t know where or what the forbidden door is. “And then I figured it out. The Forbidden door is me! I am the forbidden door!” Khan emphatically stated.
“I just had to open myself, and that comes from being here with you IMPACT Wrestling! Doing these paid ads, I’ve learned so much about myself. I’ve opened myself up to new experiences, and look at all the great things that have happened. We did a great rating for Dynamite this week with IMPACT people there. We had people from New Japan, who knows who is going to be there next week?”
Tony Khan: “Let’s Do This Every Week”
Khan continued, “One thing I do know? The Forbidden Door has been opened. I can’t wait for this week’s main event tomorrow night on AEW Dynamite. One of the biggest matches ever on Dynamite, Falls Count Anywhere, anything goes.”
He then made a huge statement regarding the future of AEW Dynamite allowing talent to ‘cross borders.’
“I just have to say, thank you Kenny [Omega]. Thank you Don Callis, nobody ever expected me to say that. But thanks to you two and everything you’ve done in AEW? You’ve opened me up, you’ve changed me, and you’ve opened the Forbidden Door. I love it, I want to do more big ratings, I wanna have more people show up! Let’s do this EVERY WEEK.”
Tony Khan finished by confirming that the Forbidden Door swings both ways; with IMPACT Wrestling set to see more of the AEW President inside the IMPACT Zone with All Elite talent. You can see this week’s “paid ad” in the player embedded below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxBvL88SkR4
AEW & NJPW
Tony Khan has been outspoken about his desire to work with New Japan Pro Wrestling. Over the past several weeks, we’ve seen the groundwork of a full-blown inter-promotional war coming into focus.
The conclusion of last week’s AEW Dynamite saw the surprise appearance of KENTA, who is feuding with AEW star (and IWGP United States Champion) Jon Moxley. They will square off later this month (2/26) at NJPW’s New Beginning USA event.
This heated feud is just one element of the AEW-NJPW storyline that’s unfolding. Also in play – Bullet Club in AEW and NJPW, AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and IWGP World Champion Kota Ibushi teasing a program.
The main event of Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite will see Jon Moxley and Lance Archer teaming up against AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and KENTA. AEW has billed Moxley as the reigning IWGP United States Champion, another example of relations improving between the two promotions.
The possibilities for the coming together of these promotions is almost limitless. Thus far, we have seen Tony Khan bring AAA, the NWA, Impact Wrestling and now NJPW to AEW programming. Originally it was rumored that the NJPW/AEW ‘deal’ was purely for New Japan to get use of Jon Moxley. As mentioned, the former WWE Superstar is the current IWGP United States Champion, and with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic New Japan wanted to still have use of one of their prized assets. This meant that Moxley would have to work in the United States under the NJPW banner; something that would involve striking a deal with All Elite as he is contracted to only appear on major promotions for them in the US, much like Chris Jericho.
It appears as though the deal has now been completed, with a huge shift in the momentum for the 2nd and 3rd biggest pro wrestling promotions in the world coming together. Once again AEW have managed to make Dynamite, IMPACT and even NJPW Strong appointment viewing.
All Elite Wrestling is set to release two new music albums next month.
Producer Mikey Rukus announced that a “Double AEW Album Release” is scheduled for Friday, March 5th.
One of the albums will feature theme music from AEW’s top women’s competitors. These are the songs we’ve heard on AEW programming.
The other album will be comprised of “8-bit” remixes of popular AEW theme songs. What exactly does an 8-bit theme song sound like? Unrelated to these official AEW releases, producer J.D. Spears has composed a bunch of 8-bit entrance themes on his YouTube channel. Listen here to get an idea of what the official Cody Rhodes 8-bit theme might sound like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7tGTJuFG6A
Below you can find the announced tracks for each album. Mikey Rukus noted on Twitter that these track lists are incomplete, so expect a few more songs to be added to each album by release day.
AEW has confirmed that ‘The Icon’ Sting will be appearing on this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite. The former WCW and WWE Superstar has made sporadic appearances for the promotion ever since the ‘Winter Is Coming’ episode of Dynamite back on December 2nd 2020.
Sting’s appearances thus far have mainly seen The Icon confront Team Taz and stand alongside TNT Champion Darby Allin. It was confirmed recently that Sting will be taking part in a Streetfight at the AEW Revolution PPV. That show will be taking place on March 7, 2021 at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida.
All Elite sent out a tweet to reveal that Sting will be speaking to Tony Schiavone this Wednesday on Dynamite. “We are on the road to #AEWRevolution and this Wednesday on #AEWDynamite, @tonyschiavone24 interviews @sting! Watch Dynamite at 8/7c on @TNTDrama.”
It is unknown at this point what the interview will entail, although it may be time for AEW to shed some light on why Sting has chosen to align himself with the aforementioned Darby Allin; perhaps the fact that the mysterious characters have a common enemy in Team Taz? Or could it be more?
AEW star Jon Moxley and KENTA of New Japan Pro Wrestling will share a ring at least twice this month. According to Moxley, it’s almost time for KENTA to pay for all the trash talking he’s done.
This Wednesday on AEW Dynamite, Moxley and Lance Archer team up against AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and KENTA. The match is historic for multiple reasons. Most notably, it’s the first time a talent contracted with NJPW will wrestle for AEW.
The match will serve as an ‘appetizer’ to the main course – when Jon Moxley defends the IWGP United States Championship against KENTA at NJPW New Beginning USA on February 26th.
Jon Moxley Ready for KENTA
Jon Moxley recently spoke with New Japan Pro Wrestling about the upcoming title defense. The master of the Paradigm Shift / Death Rider says it’s almost time for KENTA to pay for all his trash talking.
“People like to talk a lot of trash, and people are running around with briefcases, and contracts, and they’re fighting over the right to be the United Stated champion and hold that belt or whatever,” said Moxley. “I still hold that belt, so that’s my belt. You’re going to have to beat me in the ring for it.”
Moxley continued by saying that running your mouth can make you a lot of money in this business. It can also bring upon you a world of pain you might not be able to handle.
“When I get into the ring with KENTA, sh*t’s going to go down, and he’s going to have to answer for all this stuff that he said with his mouth,” he said. “And you know, your mouth can make you a lot of money in this business, but your mouth can really cause you a lot of pain and torture and pain, blues, and agony in this business you know when you overstep your boundaries with the words that come out of your mouth.”
You can watch Jon Moxley’s comments about KENTA in the player embedded below:
The updated lineup for the Nightmare Family is below:
Cody Rhodes
Dustin Rhodes
Brandi Rhodes
Diamond Dallas Page
Arn Anderson
QT Marshall
Lee Johnson
Billy Gunn
Austin Gunn
Colten Gunn
Aaron Solow
Nick Comoroto
Two matches on Dark this week will feature Nightmare Family teams. SCU will take on Lee Johnson and Aaron Solow. Additionally, Nick Comoroto will team with the Natural Nightmares to take on Vary Morales and the Jersey Muscle Society.
Christian returned to the ring for the first time in almost 7 years at the Royal Rumble (not counting his “match” with Randy Orton last June). Edge and Christian embraced in the ring as fans grew excited about the possibility of them teaming up once again. Dax Harwood was recently asked online about a fantasy FTR vs Edge & Christian match. Perhaps surprisingly, Harwood doesn’t sound like he was much of a fan of the team. He noted that he considers them “pretty overrated.”
They wouldn’t have been able to keep up with us in 2001, much less 2021.
Harwood’s partner, Cash Wheeler, recently praised Christian heavily online, however.
Nothing really. Can believably be world champion in the main event or working with the newest guy on the roster in the opening match. Can do serious, comedy, angry, goofy in the same segment. Excels in any match. Regular. Tag. Ladders etc. All at the highest level. https://t.co/deefso5jBR
His personality. His footwork. His psychology. His ring positioning. His mind for the business. His ability to elevate his opponents unselfishly & make them look better than they are. His passion. His willingness to help younger talent. His seamless mic work. But that’s it really https://t.co/I8D8pJRhA7
Edge recently commented on him and Christian both being back in a WWE ring in 2021. He spoke to the Sporting News about Christian’s Royal Rumble return.
“I was one of the few that was privy to the fact that he got cleared a few months ago. We didn’t know he was going to be in the Rumble until Friday, though,” Edge said. “I was in the midst of driving down to his house from North Carolina to stay for the weekend. And then we found out and we’re like “OK, well, we’ll drive over to the rumble together then.”
Lots of big things happening in this company. Make sure you witness it personally!
Many wrestlers deal with body image issues. Dax Harwood of FTR recently opened up about problems he’s had with his weight. The former AEW World Tag Team Champion reveals that he has battled the eating disorder bulimia.
Harwood took to Instagram to post side-by-side photos of himself along with comments about his condition:
“Getting real for a second, I’ve always struggled with my weight,” Harwood wrote. “At one time, I was actually bulimic. My highest weight was 282lbs, which on a 5’10” frame is not very “attractive”; nor healthy. I’ve tried every diet, but they rarely worked because I’m so afraid of food. I was scared of going backwards.”
Harwood then spoke about how “Body Transformation Specialist” Ferlan Bailey helped him achieve his fitness goals.
“With the help of my friend @ferlanbaileyifbbpro, he’s put me on a healthier path and continues to guide me along even when I question him,” Harwood continued. “More than a coach, he’s a great human being. If you have dietary or workout needs, this is the guy for you! Thank you Ferlan, for all your help. Now all you Internet fans can go back to talking about my dad bod and loose skin!”
Harwood and tag-team partner Cash Wheeler are currently in a program with Jungle Boy and the Jurassic Express in AEW. The team was not permitted to wrestle in the battle royal to determine new #1 contenders to the tag belts last week due to their post-match assault on Jungle Boy two weeks ago.
You can see Dax Harwood’s photos and inspirational message here:
WWE legends John Cena and Batista appeared in commercials that aired during Sunday’s NFL Super Bowl game.
John Cena appeared in an ad for the Mountain Dew Major Lemon soft drink. As seen below, fans are encouraged to count the number of Major Lemon bottles that appear in the ad for a chance to win $1 million.
Batista appeared in an ad for Rocket Mortgage along with comedy great Tracey Morgan. “Watch Tracy Morgan, Dave Bautista and Liza Koshy in our Super Bowl LV commercial prove that from murder hornets to buying a home, certain is better – way better.”
https://youtu.be/EMgA-y2nRWE
AEW Stars at Super Bowl LV
Several people from All Elite Wrestling (AEW) were in attendance for the big game. AEW President Tony Khan, Le Champion Chris Jericho, Cody and Brandi Rhodes were all on site for the festivities.
Former IMPACT Wrestling performer Taya Valkyrie recently spoke to the Highsports Wrestling Network. Valkyrie discussed a number of topics during her time on the show, including the two promotions where she is likely to end up: AEW and WWE.
Taya Valkyrie’s husband John Morrison currently works for WWE, so it was believed that she may have left IMPACT to join him in the company. With the comments Taya made during this interview, it appears as though she has a few performers in both companies that she wants to work with.
“Well, I really enjoy both products” Taya Valkyrie began. “Obviously, I’m a wrestling fan, always have been. There’s a lot of people that get into wrestling [that] are wrestling fans, surprise, and honestly, I don’t know what’s gonna happen next for me because as a lot of people don’t realize is that I have been signed for about eight-and-a-half years from AAA into Lucha Underground into IMPACT.”
Taya Valkyrie on Free Agency
“This is actually my first-ever time in my career as a free agent,” revealed Valkyrie. “So, it’s a really important time for me to really think about what’s important for me, for my family and make the best decision moving forward for my career. So, we will see. It will all play out, don’t worry.”
Valkyrie finished by naming the specific performers in both companies that she would like to get in the ring with.
“Well, I have never wrestled Kris Statlander” Valkyrie stated. “I’ve never wrestled her. Is that weird? There’s somebody like that too that I’ve never wrestled before. I don’t know. Even someone like Britt Baker, I’ve only ever been in a tag match with her for like — I think we were against each other for like two seconds. There was never any sort of actual, you know, interaction there so I would love to face both of them,” said Valkyrie.
“I would love to face obviously some people like Charlotte and Sasha Banks and I have wrestled Io [Shirai] before one time in STARDOM and I would like to wrestle her again. So those are kind of my current top chicks if I had to pick.”
Where would you like to see Taya Valkyrie end up? WWE or AEW? Let us know in the comments
AEW’s ‘Le Champion’ and Number #1 contender to the Tag Team titles Chris Jericho recently appeared on the Hollywood Raw podcast. The former AEW Champion discussed a number of topics during his time on the show, including when his Championship was stolen.
The incident occurred back in September 2019 after Chris Jericho won the AEW Championship at All Out. “It’s such a long story” Jericho began on the podcast. “Yeah, in retrospect, I’m pretty sure it was a big sting, because it’s… Long story short, I was on a charter plane that had the land in Tallahassee because there was a storm, so we went to get something to eat. Rather than wait for the plane, I got a limo to come grab me with something to eat and drive us home. I think when we got dropped off for something to eat, which was not the place I wanted to go, it was a place that the guy suggested.”
Chris Jericho on ‘The Sting’
“Maybe when he came inside to look for me, even though I was sitting right there and I saw him, that maybe his buddy came and grabbed it out of the back because there was some other stuff” Chris Jericho continued. “There was a thing of flowers that was into that, that I gave my wife that had shattered on the ground. I think it was just a big sting. ‘Hey man, we got this belt in here, come steal it.’ Then when they realized what they had and the fact that like, what are you going to do with this thing? You can’t sell it anywhere.”
Jericho finished by pointing out that the thieves wouldn’t be able to actually sell the belt itself. “It’s like stealing a ’59 Les Paul from Keith Richards” Jericho stated.
“It’s worth 500 grand, but who’s going to buy it? Everyone knows Keith Richards lost the Les Paul. You know what I mean? I think when they realized that they couldn’t do anything with it, they just kind of left it on the side of the road for somebody to pick up and turn in to the police department. It was just really weird. The police were taking pictures with the belt and posting it on Twitter and then they deleted it. It was just a very strange situation for this title that was barely 12 hours old.”
Joey Janela will challenge Darby Allin for the TNT Championship next week on AEW Dynamite. Janela recently took to Twitter to fire back at fans who are critical of him receiving a TNT title shot.
“When other people do things it’s fine but when it involves Joey Janela it involves a lot of fans crying! Probably because I look a lot like you but the difference is I get to wrestle on tv, have a super hot Girlfriend, eat lobster whenever the fuck I want & don’t care!” Janela Tweeted.
The complaints regarding Janela receiving a title shot aren’t really about his abilities, however. Rather some fans feel his win/loss record in the promotion doesn’t warrant a title shot in storyline. The story is that Darby requested the match, however, and that’s why he’s getting the title shot.
“Why does Joey Janela get a TNT title shot, When’s the last time Joey got a win on tv” is the phrase of the of the last 2 days. It’s not like CODY did an open challenge series for the belt with RANDOM dudes Lmfaooooo…
DARBY wanted this match, and THE BAD BOY IS BACK! @aew
A likely storyline reason as to why Darby requested the match with Janela is the long history the two have against each other. Daring back to 2017, they have been in 11 matches together, including 6 one-on-one singles matches across 6 different promotions.
Darby Allin vs Joey Janela Singles Match Stats:
8/4/2017: Darby Allin defeated Joey Janela (Scenic City Invitational Tournament)
AEW Dynamite scored a decisive win over NXT this week in the Wednesday Night War. Both shows were unusually close last week, but Beach Break helped propel Dynamite back to a comfortable margin of 200,000+ viewers over NXT.
Here is this week’s breakdown, courtesy of ShowbuzzDaily:
AEW: 844,000 viewers, 0.32 rating (A18-49), 3rd in the demo on cable for the night
NXT: 610,000 viewers, 0.15 rating (A18-49), 51st in the demo on cable for the night
Beach Break featured several high-profile matches that were promoted weeks in advance. Chris Jericho and MJF won the tag team battle royal to earn a title shot against the Young Bucks at Revolution, Penelope Ford and Kip Sabian’s wedding [predictably] ended in chaos and the 6-man tag main event delivered in a big way. The show closed with the surprise debut of NJPW star Kenta, who will be in action next week.
NXT featured an appearance by WWE legend and Royal Rumble winner Edge, so the viewership drop is disappointing. The show also saw Dusty Rhodes tag team classic tournament matches and more.
Check out our results and takeaways articles from both shows:
AEW star and ‘Le Champion’ Chris Jericho recently had AEW President Tony Khan on his Talk Is Jericho podcast. The main premise of this week’s episode was discussing the last few months of AEW Dynamite and PPV tapings.
The last couple of months have seen AEW have to shift gear and produce content whilst under the COVID-19 situation and the restrictions that entails. Tony Khan was quick to say how the production, planning and creative output from the performers really helped to elevate the show.
Chris Jericho on Stadium Stampede
“Stadium Stampede, that was your [Tony Khan’s] initial idea” Chris Jericho began on the podcast. “‘Let’s do something in the stadium, we have this stadium at our beck and call. We were forced to be creative, in spite of the pandemic.”
The Stadium Stampede match took place on May 23rd back at AEW’s Double or Nothing PPV event. The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz) took on Matt Hardy and The Elite (Adam Page, Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) inside of the TIAA Bank Field stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.
Chris Jericho also discussed the logistical aspects of creating the Stadium Stampede match back in 2020. “Once again the Stadium Stampede is still one of my favourite matches I’ve ever had, I don’t care what anybody says” Jericho stated. “It was everything that wrestling is to me, and we did it all in 12 hours.”
Jericho finished by praising how AEW managed to turn around such a big production in a short space of time. “That’s like a major Hollywood production that we filmed in like eight hours” Jericho stated. “But my point is, we really came together to put on these great shows and try something different.”
Do you think that we’ll get another Stadium Stampede match this year? Do you want to see Chris Jericho and The Inner Circle back in the bout? Let us know in the comments
With ONE Championship signing a deal with TNT, Vitor Belfort has called out Chris Jericho for an inter-promotional match. Belfort challenged Jericho during an interview to promote ONE’s debut event on TNT on April 7th.
“With myself being with ONE, and on the same network, I think it’s time for [AEW CEO] Tony Khan to give me Jericho, and I can whip Jericho’s butt. We can really make that fight happen,” Belfort said to SCMP MMA.
Chris Jericho responded by pretending to not know who Belfort is.
The former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion has appeared on Dynamite previously. Belfort was a member of Mike Tyson’s entourage that confronted Jericho on an episode of Dynamite last spring.
“I think this is what the audience wants, we can draw a lot of audience for AEW and ONE. It’s time to cross-promote and bring these two together. ONE has a lot of top athletes, including myself, and we can make some big fights in both,” Belfort said.
“It’s gonna be phenomenal. Think about me and Chris Jericho doing a ONE fight and going over there, imagine how many fans wanna see that – him making his debut in ONE, and me making my debut in AEW.”
