Dark Order member Alex Reynolds has provided another update on his condition after getting ‘knocked out’ during the main event of this week’s AEW Dynamite.
In a statement issued Friday afternoon, Reynolds thanked everyone who has reached out to him this week. He wrote on social media:
“Hey guys, just wanted to thank you for all the concerns for my health. It means the world to me. I truly believe the ref and our doctor handled the situation great on Wednesdays show. Injuries happen in wrestling, but I feel completely safe with our team here. Thanks again and I’m looking forward to seeing you soon.”
The incident took place during the 4-way tag team match that closed the show. Reynolds was injured while taking a series of moves from Private Party, which you can see below.
At Full Gear on November 7th, 2020, Matt Hardy and Sammy Guevara’s feud will continue with an Elite Deletion match. According to comments made recently on Wrestling Observer Radio, this will be a cinematic match taped ahead of time.
“This will be a cinematic match,” said Dave Meltzer on the show. “I don’t know if they are going to do it at the Hardy compound, I didn’t ask. But I know that it’s going to be a taped match and it’s not going live.”
The feud between Guevara and Hardy has been somewhat plagued by injuries. Hardy was busted up on an episode of Dynamite after Guevara tossed a heavy chair at his head. Then at the All Out PPV, Hardy was knocked unconcisous after both wrestlers jumped off a lift through a table. The match was re-started after Hardy was cleared to continue.
“I know that the original idea was to do it at Hardy’s house,” Meltzer continued. “I don’t know that they are or they’re not, I haven’t asked that one yet. That was the plan for this feud going back to March. At the beginning, they couldn’t do it there. So, that may be what this is, the plan they always had and finally getting to do this match.”
“Hardy and Sammy Guevara at the Hardy Compound was an idea that they had dating back well before the pandemic,” he continued. “The idea of them doing a cinematic match was always planned.”
AEW Full Gear Card
The following matches are now confirmed for AEW Full Gear, which takes place Saturday, November 7th from Jacksonville, FL at Daily’s Place.
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley vs.Eddie Kingston (I Quit Match)
AEW Tag Team Champions FTR vs. The Young Bucks
AEW World Heavyweight Title Tournament Finals
Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara – Elite Deletion Match
Serpentico is All Elite. The popular independent wrestler confirmed the news to Inside The Ropes earlier this week.
The high flying star spoke to the site and discussed his signing with AEW. The “Snakeman” says he’s beyond grateful to work for a company that cares about their talent.
“SNAKEMAN is ALL ELITE! I’ve been under a deal for a few months now. This is going to sound like I’m playing favorites because I work for the company now but I’m beyond grateful to work for a company that cares so much for the people that work for them. Before signing I was already made to feel at home.”
He added that everyone in AEW has been very welcoming. Unlike other places he’s worked, he feels that you can approach anybody for advice and that is welcomed.
Serpentico made his AEW debut back in March. He has been a regular for AEW Dark since then and has made a number of appearances on Dynamite too.
The newest AEW star has already made his PPV debut for the promotion as well and he faced Joey Janela in a singles match at the All Out Buy-In.
Alex Reynolds was rendered unconscious last night during the Dynamite main event. He was hit with a leg-drop/splash combo off the top-rope by Private Party during the match that knocked him out.
According to comments made on Wrestling Observer Radio, however, Reynolds was feeling fine after the match.
“He left on his own and the word from after the show was that he was feeling great afterwards, whatever that means,” Bryan Alvarez said. “I don’t know how you feel great after that.”
Alvarez would continue to mention that those involved in the match didn’t notice that Reynolds was injured.
“When you see it, it’s inconceivable, but if you watch everybody else in the match, like nobody notices.”
Fans on Twitter noted that Cody came out to check on him after the show went off the air:
Reynolds and his longtime partner, John Silver, were wrestling with a chance to face the tag-team champions at Full Gear. The Young Bucks won the match and will take on the champions at the PPV.
Silver and Reynolds are often featured on episodes of Being the Elite as well. They are the recruitment specialists for the Dark Order. The duo has teamed together since 2011 and are former PWG and CZW tag-team champions.
AEW Dynamite aired from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville. It was announced that Jon Moxley will defend the AEW World Championship against Eddie Kingston in an I Quit match at Full Gear.
DYNAMITE EXCLUSIVE "I'm gonna beat & torture you until I get my friend back or I end you" – @JonMoxley.
"I never quit and NOTHING in my life, and I'm not gonna quit on the 7th. You're gonna have to go to a very very dark place…and you know what Jon…I live in that place" – @MadKing1981
Wardlow def. Jungle Boy to advance in the AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament
Kenny Omega def. Sonny Kiss to advance in the AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament
Fenix def. Pentagon to advance in the AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament
Hangman Page def. Colt Cabana to advance in the AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament
Britt Baker def. Kilynn King
Young Bucks def. Private Party, Reynolds & Silver, Butcher & Blade to earn a shot at the AEW Tag Team Championships at Full Gear
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Wardlow Advanced In The AEW World Title Tournament
Wardlow battled Jungle Boy in the first round of the AEW World Title eliminator Tournament.
Match Recap: Wardlow started off the match in control and sent Jungle Boy flying across the ring. Jungle Boy slapped Wardlow in the face and followed it up with a Dropkick to the knee. Jungle Boy sent Wardlow outside and went for a Crossbody. Wardlow caught Jungle Boy and Powerbombed him into the steel ring post.
Back in the ring, Wardlow stomped Jungle Boy down and went for the cover but he was able to kick out at two. Wardlow showed off his power and launched Jungle Boy across the ring a couple more times. Wardlow connected with a Gutwrench Powerbomb for another near fall.
Wardlow turned Jungle Boy inside out with a Clothesline but he once again was able to kick out at two. Jungle Boy sent Wardlow out of the ring and connected with a Suicide Dive. Jungle Boy followed it up with a Tornado DDT in the ring for a near fall.
Jungle Boy connected with a Hurricanrana off the top rope and then hit a Backstabber. Jungle Boy made his way back to the top rope and hit a Knee Drop for another two count. Wardlow hit Jungle Boy with the F10 and followed it up with another one for the pinfall victory. Wardlow advanced in the tournament.
Kenny Omega Advanced In The AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament
Kenny Omega (Photo: AEW)
Kenny Omega was originally supposed to face Joey Janela in the AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament but Janela couldn’t compete due to coming into contact with someone with COVID-19. Sonny Kiss replaced Joey Janela in the match.
Match Recap: The bell rang and Kenny Omega immediately hit Sonny Kiss with the One Winged Angel for the pinfall victory. After the match, Omega shared a hug with Sonny Kiss and exited the ring.
Fenix Advanced In The AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament
Rey Fenix faced Pentagon Jr. in the first round of the AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament. Eddie Kingston joined commentary for the match.
Match Recap: Fenix and Pentagon shook hands and then locked up in the middle of the ring. Fenix and Pentagon traded Arm Drags and then Pentagon applied an Ankle Lock in the middle of the ring. Fenix escaped but Pentagon caught him with a boot to the midsection.
Pentagon and Fenix then traded chops in the middle of the ring. Pentagon took off his glove and hit Fenix with a chop that echoed throughout Daily’s Place. Fenix went for a springboard Splash but Pentagon caught him with a Superkick. Fenix rolled to the ring apron and Pentagon joined him.
Fenix escaped and booted Pentagon to the outside. Rey hopped to the top rope and hit a corkscrew Splash. Back in the ring, Fenix ran across the top rope but Pentagon tripped him up as Dynamite went to a commercial break.
When Dynamite returned, Pentagon hit Fenix with a boot to the face and followed it up with a Slingblade for a near fall. Fenix battled back and hit a Hurricanrana off the middle rope. Pentagon went for a Powerbomb but Fenix escaped and hit a Superkick for a near fall.
Pentagon crotched Fenix on the top turnbuckle and joined him up there. Fenix connected with a Spanish Fly and went for the cover but Pentagon was able to kick out at the last moment. Fenix then connected with a Destroyer for the pinfall victory.
The card for AEW Full Gear is starting to take shape. During Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite, three new matches were confirmed for the upcoming pay-per-view.
First, the main event is now set. AEW Champion Jon Moxley will defend against Eddie Kingston. This won’t just be a traditional singles match. The rule book will be out the window for this one, as the two men will square off in an “I Quit Match.”
Jon Moxley cut this promo on Dynamite talking about his longstanding relationship with Eddie Kingston:
Next up, we now have #1 contenders to the AEW tag team titles. AEW held a fatal 4-way tag team match on Dynamite featuring Private Party vs. John Silver and Alex Reynolds vs. The Butcher and The Blade. In the end, Nick and Matt Jackson were victorious. The Bucks will now go on to face FTR for the AEW Tag Team Titles at Full Gear in what’s been billed as a “tag team dream match.”
Finally, the feud between Matt Hardy and Sammy Guevara continues. They’ll battle once again at Full Gear – this time, in an “Elite Deletion Match.”
The following matches are now confirmed for AEW Full Gear:
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley vs.Eddie Kingston (I Quit Match)
AEW Tag Team Champions FTR vs. The Young Bucks
AEW World Heavyweight Title Tournament Finals
Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara – Elite Deletion Match
Darby Allin challenges for the TNT Championship
Full Gear pay-per-view will take place on Saturday, November 7, 2020, at the Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place. The event will stream live on the BR Live platform in the United States and on FITE internationally.
The semi-finals of the World Title Eliminator tournament are set.
The first batch of matches in this tournament took place on Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place on TNT.
Those matches saw Penta El Zero M vs. Rey Fenix, Kenny Omega vs. Sonny Kiss, Colt Cabana vs. Hangman Page, and Wardlow vs. Jungle Boy.
The winners of those bouts were Fenix, Omega, Wardlow, and Page.
AEW World Title Eliminator Semi-Finals
Now, Fenix will battle Omega while Wardlow is slated to take on Page in the semi-finals of the tournament. The purpose of this tournament is to crown a new number 1 contender for the AEW World Championship.
AEW has already announced when the semi-finals will take place. It will take place next week on Dynamite, which is on October 28th.
The AEW All Out pay-per-view event will take place on Saturday, November 7th, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place.
The finals of this tournament will go down at this show although there’s been no word yet on when AEW will actually book the tournament winner against the champion, who is currently Jon Moxley.
Joey Janela was scheduled to work this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, but was pulled at the last minute.
About an hour before the show went live on TNT, All Elite Wrestling announced in a post on social media that Janela had been removed from his scheduled bout against Kenny Omega due to COVID-19 concerns.
“AEW and Joey Janela learned today that he had exposure to a known COVID-19 positive person at an independent show. For that reason we are pulling him until such time as he is cleared to return consistent with our protocols.”
This bout was part of several planned matches as part of the World Title Eliminator tournament. AEW later announced that Janela would be replaced by Sony Kiss in this contest.
Penta El Zero M vs. Rey Fenix, Colt Cabana vs. Hangman Page, and Wardlow vs. Jungle Boy were also part of the first round matches on this show.
The news comes after Janela faced AJ Gray at Game Changer Wrestling’s The Last Resort show in Silverado, California this past Saturday.
Also on Wednesday, Gray announced that he tested positive for COVID-19. Gray wrote that his positive COVID-19 test was taken on Monday.
The following are previews for tonight’s AEW and NXT broadcasts:
AEW Dynamite
Chris Jericho and MJF will meet for a steak dinner in a segment dubbed, Le Dinner Debonair.
Fatal 4-Way Tag Title Match: The Young Bucks vs. Private Party vs. Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & John Silver) vs. The Butcher & The Blade. The winners face FTR for the AEW World Tag Titles at Full Gear.
AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament (1st Round):
Penta El Zero M vs. Rey Fenix
Kenny Omega vs. Joey Janela
Hangman Page vs. Colt Cabana
Wardlow vs. Jungle Boy
NXT
AEW Tag Team Champions Breezango vs. Undisputed Era (Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish)
Triple Threat: Kushida vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Velveteen Dream
Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza vs. Isaiah Scott, Jake Atlas, and Ashante Adonis.
Kris Statlander tore her ACL during a tag match on AEW Dynamite back in June. At the time, the alien from the Andromeda galaxy had become one of the top-ranked competitors in her division. She spoke to the Wrestling Inc Daily podcast recently and gave an update on her condition. Unfortunately, Statlander believes she’ll be out of action for another 8 months or so.
“I’m doing pretty good. I think from what I’ve heard overall is that I might be a little bit ahead of others where I’m at right now, but I still have a real long way to go before I can re-debut basically and get back in the ring before I’m debuting again obviously, and I’m going to want to be training a little bit before,” Statlander said. “So I’ll be able to get in the ring before you’ll see me back on TV. It could be another eight months or so.”
Statlander also spoke about her injury which occurred during a suicide dive attempt. She was teaming with Hikaru Shida and taking on Nyla Rose and Penelope Ford.
“I just did a suicide dive, and the way I landed, I guess, was not perfectly right. You can actually see the dive on TV when I heard it, but all you see is me quickly grab my leg when I go down, and then the camera’s off of me. But it doesn’t even look like I did anything super insane, or it doesn’t look very noticeable. ‘Oh, she messed up her leg there.’ You cannot tell at all. So I had no idea what happened. I just kind of felt a little ‘pfft’ in my leg. It didn’t even hurt that bad either. I was just like, ‘oh boy.'”
Statlander had just defeated Penelope Ford in singles competition at the Double or Nothing PPV the previous month before her injury. She unsuccessfully challenged Nyla Rose for the title at the Revolution PPV in February as well.
AEW has released new top-5 rankings ahead of tonight’s episode of Dynamite.
AEW Men’s Singles Division
AEW World Champion: Jon Moxley (20-0) TNT Champion: Cody (19-2-1)
Brian Cage (9-1) (+1)
MJF (9-1) (+1)
Lance Archer (13-2) (-2)
Brodie Lee (8-2)
Shawn Spears (14-2) (previously unranked)
After Jon Moxley successfully defended the AEW World Championship last week on Dynamite, his opponent dropped 2 spots in the rankings. Lance Archer had been ranked #1 before his title shot, but he drops to #3 with the loss.
Archer dropping in the rankings moves both MJF and Brian Cage up one spot. Cage now sits in the #1 spot in the division.
Several unranked wrestlers will compete in a tournament beginning tonight on Dynamite. Fenix, Pentagon, Colt Cabana, Jungle Boy, Hangman Page, Kenny Omega, and Joey Janela are all unranked but with a chance to earn a shot if they can win the upcoming tournament.
TNT Champion Cody retained the title last week after going to a time limit draw with unranked Orange Cassidy. They will meet again on next week’s show.
#5 Shawn Spears has also replaced Scorpio Sky in the final ranked spot. Spears and Sky seem to have a bit of a rivalry going on Dark as well. Spears defeated Christopher Daniels on Dark last night but continued the attack after the match until Sky made the save. Spears would also come to the ring during Sky’s match on Dark last night as well.
AEW Women’s Division
AEW Women’s Champion: Hikaru Shida (18-1)
Nyla Rose (11-2)
Penelope Ford (9-5) (+1)
Abadon (5-1) (+1)
Big Swole (10-5) (-2)
Dr. Britt Baker (5-6)
After dropping a title match to Hikaru Shida last week, Big Swole drops from the #2 spot to the #4 spot. Her drop in the rankings moves Penelope Ford and Abadon up one spot each.
#5 Dr. Britt Baker DMD is in action tonight Dynamite. Her opponent has yet to be announced, however.
On Dark last week, #1 Nyla Rose and Vickie Guerrero let it be known that they want another crack at the title.
AEW Tag Team Division
AEW Tag Team Champions: FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (12-0)
Young Bucks (7-3) (+1)
Best Friends (17-7) (-1)
The Natural Nightmares (8-2)
Butcher and the Blade (10-5)
Santana & Ortiz (8-5)
After FTR successfully defended the tag belts against the Best Friends on Dynamite last week, Trent and Chuckie T drop one spot in the rankings to #2.
#1 The Young Bucks will have a chance to earn a tag title shot tonight on Dynamite. They take on Private Party, Silver & Reynolds, and #4 The Butcher and the Blade tonight with the winner facing FTR at Full Gear.
Eddie Kingston has revealed that The Bunny is now a member of his “family” in All Elite Wrestling. Kingston made the announcement during this week’s episode of AEW Dark.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the family is back together,” said Kingston. “You’ve got my best friend Pentagon, you’ve got Fenix—the best tag team in the universe. […] You’ve got the big Butcher, you got the jacked-up Blade, and look at this beautiful specimen right here. Look who’s back? The Bunny. And now that we’re all together, everybody’s going to pay.”
By aligning herself with Eddie Kingston and his stable, The Bunny is once again with The Butcher and the Blade. She originally debuted as the team’s valet. Bunny would later become a part of the Nightmare Family, where she formed a tag team with Brandi Rhodes and accompanied QT Mashall ringside.
However, with this new defection, it appears as though The Bunny may no longer be a part of the Nightmare Family, subsequently breaking up her team with Brandi, the Nightmare Sisters. The pair took part in AEW’s recent Women’s Tag Team Cup Tournament. They were almost victorious, making it all the way to the finals on the 8/22 episode of Dynamite. They ultimately lost to tournament winners Diamante and Ivelisse.
If you use any quotes from this article, please provide a H/T to SEScoops.
Darby Allin says that he and Steve-O have something planned for Dynamite tomorrow night. Allin will challenge for the TNT Championship coming up on November 7th at Full Gear.
Allin posted a short video featuring him and Steve-O talking about this upcoming episode of Dynamite.
“Hey everybody, I’m Steve-O,” the Jackass star begins the video. “And we all know that Darby Allin is going to be competing for the TNT Championship on November 7th and clearly, there is something really wrong with him because before that match he is going to do this…”
The camera then pans down to reveal a body bag with the words “Face of TNT” on it.
“All kidding aside, this has bad news written all over it,” Steve-O continued.
Darby Allin’s video with Steve-O can be viewed in the Tweet below:
This isn’t the first time Steve-O has been involved with wrestling. Along with Chris Pontius, he appeared on an episode of WWE RAW from 2006. They ended up getting physically involved with Umaga during the show and the Samoan Bulldozer didn’t take kindly to them not selling moves enough to his liking.
“The Samoan Drop, I’ll tell you, it hurt. Like, I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t breathe,” Pontius later said of the experience.
“So now the match is supposed to be over, but I don’t know that I have to play dead,” Steve-O added. “So, I keep moving around and I’m like, ‘Oh!’ and he’s not done beating me up. Now, he’s going to hit me with a f–king elbow that actually knocked me into a blackout. And I showed this to Jason Ellis and he said, ‘Dude, that is not a WWE elbow. That is an MMA [elbow]’, and I’m begging him, like, ‘Please stop doing this to me!’ But that means that he has to keep doing it because I’m moving around. I don’t remember leaving the ring and they just cut to commercial.”
AEW star Colt Cabana recently discussed the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the affect it is having on live pro wrestling. On the Art of Wrestling podcast, Cabana talked about how his style of performance is not attuned to a setting without live fans in the arena.
“I think my wrestling has taken a tad of a hit, you know?” Colt Cabana began on the podcast. “I was just starting to move forward. My last match was this really fun match, you could watch it on YouTube, it was myself and Peter Avalon in Utah.”
Colt Cabana on ‘No-crowd’ Wrestling
Cabana elaborated further, saying “I’d never been to Utah! The crowd for Utah in this match on [AEW] Dark was going crazy for me! I felt this real connection to the fans and something that I have lived off of for years is a true connection to the wrestling fan.”
Colt would then relay how it felt with the pandemic hitting and the lack of fans being available live in the arena. “I felt the momentum going, ahen we shut down and then when we wrestle? It’s in front of nobody, there are no fans.”
Cabana would finish by making some intriguing comments regarding AEW Champion Jon Moxley. Whilst in context it may be a complement to the Champion, there’s potentially scope to put Cabana in the title picture down the line?
“And I’m not really the wrestler who thrives in front of no fans. Maybe Jon Moxley and his style is. So it’s a perfect time for Jon Moxley to be the AEW champion. But for me? It put me on ice. It put me on ice big time. So if that’s the worst of my worries? It’s fine.”
AEW recently announced a single-elimination tournament to determine a new #1 contender for the promotion’s world championship. AEW has confirmed that the entire 1st round of the tournament will take place on this week’s Dynamite.
Here are the 1st round matches that will take place on Dynamite this Wednesday night:
Penta El Zero M vs Rey Fenix
Colt Cabana vs Adam “Hangman” Page
Kenny Omega vs Joey Janela
Wardlow vs Jungle Boy
Additionally, the following has also been confirmed for this week’s Dynamite:
The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) vs. The Butcher And The Blade (The Blade & The Butcher) vs. Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & John Silver) – winner receives a tag-team title shot.
Dr. Britt Baker DMD vs TBA
Chris Jericho and Maxwell Jacob Friedman have a steak dinner.
The finals of the AEW tournament will take place at Full Gear on November 7th, 2020. Former tag-team champions Kenny Omega and Adam “Hangman” Page are on opposite sides of the bracket. If they were to face each other in the tournament, it would not take place until the finals.
AEW’s is advertising a season’s pass for upcoming shows at Daily’s Place:
Tickets for this Wed, Oct 21st & 3 additional live Dynamites available NOW with outdoor physically-distanced seating in compliance w/state/local regulations + CDC guidelines.
Season pass ONLY available via Email: ticketing@boldevents.com or Call 904-633-2000 pic.twitter.com/bBDDDPrHu8
Former WWE Producer Lance Storm hasn’t been too impressed with how All Elite Wrestling has been utilizing one of its latest signings, Miro.
Storm shared his thoughts on AEW’s use of the former WWE Superstar during a recent appearance on the Figure Four Daily podcast. He revealed how he’s personally “not a fan” of Miro’s current character direction. Storm did, however, acknowledge how he’s not necessarily representative of AEW’s target audience.
He argued how, if AEW were able to put on shows with full arenas, fans “would get a far better feel on how the Miro presentation is working.” Storm explained how the lack of live fans means pro wrestling is missing a vital “barometer to which you gauge what was working.”
Real Life Interests Weakening On-Screen Characters
Lance Storm explained how he’s always been a fan of powerhouse wrestlers like Miro, juxtaposing his current gimmick with how Rusev was portrayed in WWE. To him, showcasing real life interests with onscreen characters can potentially weaken a wrestler’s gimmick.
“Tying him up in a wedding angle and playing video games, which may be who he really is, I’m not a big fan of. I think it’s very much like when they did the personality type profile thing with Finn Balor in NXT when they showed him playing with his Legos. I’m like, ok, he may really play with Legos, but the demon Finn Balor shouldn’t be playing with Legos. I thought he was a cool badass and now I think he is a guy that plays with Legos.”
Although he knows Miro has interests outside of pro wrestling, Storm would rather see them kept separate from his AEW character.
He explained how he’d much rather see a “big badass Miro” instead of the version “hanging out with Kip Sabian playing video games.”
Storm then stressed how he is aware he may not be the kind of viewer AEW is targetting. He acknowledged how he’s barely in the over 50+ demographic versus the younger demo that is so crucial to AEW’s ratings.
AEW EVP and Star Cody Rhodes recently tweeted an infographic with some of the company’s major stats in the United Kingdom.
All Elite Wrestling is currently broadcast on ITV4, a channel that is much more widely accessible on Freeview than WWE is on BT Sport (a paid channel). Cody wrote “this is some really positive/staggering data & research about our friends across the pond! @ITV / @AEW. Thanks to our incredible fans for such a successful first year of #AEWDynamite. We can’t wait to take the team over and wrestle there.”
Cody Rhodes on AEW’s UK Success
Here’s some of the bullet points from the infographic:
AEW Dynamite is beating the first-run broadcast of all its competitors in the UK for audience volume
Dynamite’s audience is 5 times that of NXT, double that of SmackDown and almost double of RAW
It is also almost double the audience of Impact Wrestling; which had been airing in the same slot as Dynamite and also free-to-air channel.
Dynamite benefits from reaching considerably more people than any of its competitors.
Full episodes of Dynamite on ITV4 have reached 2.8m people, based on five plus consecutive minutes of viewing.
This is some really positive/staggering data & research about our friends across the pond!@ITV / @AEW ????
Thanks to our incredible fans for such a successful first year of #AEWDynamite
Former WWE Agent and AEW on-screen Coach Arn Anderson recently discussed the FTR tag team on the ARN podcast.
This week’s episode of the podcast was an ‘Ask Arn Anything’ edition of the show. Co-host Conrad Thompson opted to give the podcast this format every other week as Anderson has been involved in the industry at many levels; from the NWA and WCW all the way to the last decade where he worked as an agent for WWE.
One the questions posed to Anderson involved the FTR tag team. Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood are hugely influenced by the team of Arn and Tully Blanchard, and Conrad asked Arn Anderson if he believed the group would ever ‘split’ and have singles runs. The reasoning being that the Brainbusters ‘split’ themselves and had singles runs.
Arn Anderson on FTR
“Backing up a little bit, Tully and never split up” Arn Anderson began on the podcast. “We went separate ways because of business decisions, but it was [cordial]. We never got into a feud or anything of that nature. These guys [FTR] are committed to being a team. I think being the best team, when it’s all said and done? That ever lived.”
Arn Anderson would then make a huge claim about the AEW Tag Team Champions. “I think that’s a very achievable goal for them. And I think it’s a admirable one, because if they do become that team and they do survive the test of time? That’ll mean they’ve been in some incredible tag matches with some of the best teams alongside them of their era.”
Anderson would finish by stating that he doesn’t see the team ever splitting up. “I don’t see them splitting up, I think their goals are too consistent. I think their friendship is too consistent and they really are tight close friends. And to be honest with you? I don’t want to see them split up. I think the sum of the parts is more valuable than them individually.”
Do you agree with Arn Anderson? Do you think that FTR could end up the greatest tag team of all time? Let us know in the comments
Before the pandemic hit, AEW had planned a “Blood & Guts” match for a special episode of Dynamite. The match was supposed to take place inside 2-rings covered by a steel cage on March 25th, 2020 in Newark, New Jersey.
With fans not being allowed at shows, however, the decision was made to put off holding the match. The Young Bucks were recently interviewed by 411Mania and noted that they spent a lot of money purchasing the structure and still plan to use it, however.
“Obviously, the blood and guts steel cage match never happened. And we spent a lot of money building that structure. (LAUGHTER) But the good thing about it is that at least we now have it. So, we can pull the trigger on that at any time. I feel like we are saving that for fans. I think that is the biggest reason we haven’t done it,” said Nick Jackson.
AEW did hold a big team vs team match in May at Double or Nothing. Members of the Elite squared off with the Inner Circle in the Stadium Stampede match. Matt Jackson spoke about how the pandemic has helped the promotion to think outside the box.
“You got to remember without this pandemic, there may have never been a Stadium Stampede match, there may have never been that crazy tag team brawl match that we had with Butcher and The Blade. We really have had to think outside the box and one big thing that was said, if we are going to do this in front of nobody, let’s do things we have always wanted to do but wouldn’t have worked as well if there were people out there,” Matt Jackson said.
Ben Carter has had a very eventful last couple of months. He made his AEW debut in September, competing on an episode of Dark and in a match against Scorpio Sky on the late night Dynamite special. In late September he then tested positive for COVID-19.
Carter had reportedly draw interest from both AEW and WWE but it appears the young up-and-comer is headed to WWE.
Miro noted on a recent video game stream that AEW “had lost” Ben Carter to “the Dark Side”.
“We lost Ben Carter. Ben Carter is lost. He’s gone to the dark side,” said Miro. “I mean, good luck to Carter. All the best to him. I was really impressed with his stuff.”
Shortly after debuting for AEW, Carter spoke with Fightful about having played against Fulham F.C, the football club Tony Khan is the President of.
“I met him when for the first time when I wrestled Ricky Starks on AEW. It’s crazy that Tony [Khan] is basically the equivalent of Vince McMahon. Because he’s so easy to talk to and the fact that I’ve played soccer, at a high level all my life, I’ve actually played against [the Fulham Academy] when I was playing for my [island of Jersey], we went over and played [Fulham], the sports director of [Fulham]. So, I’m having these back and forth conversations just spitting football with him.”
AEW’S use of Kenny Omega has been a frequent point of contention for some fans of the young promotion. According to recent comments from the Young Bucks, however, the next year of Dynamite will feature Omega in a bigger way.
“I think year two’s going to be all about Kenny Omega,” said Nick Jackson. “He’s been very … what’s the word I’m looking for … I guess “unselfish,” and he’s ready to explode. So I would keep my eye on him.”
Nick Jackson also listed Darby Allin as someone who coud really breakout further over the next year.
“Another one off the top of my head would be Darby Allin. He’s got so much potential to be such a massive star for AEW that we have to use him in the right way, and he’s definitely going to be a top player.”
Matt Jackson would say that Hangman Page will continue to be a major player in the promotion’s near future.
“I still think it could be ‘Hangman’ Adam Page,” said Matt Jackson. “The guy’s a star. He’s a sensitive dude who thinks about every little nuanced thing. He’s so interesting, and he puts so much thought into his stuff, and he’s one of my favorite people to collaborate with. He’s going to be a huge mega star. Obviously he’ll be a world champion one day. I don’t know if it’s this year; maybe it is. I don’t know.”
The full interview with The Young Bucks can be read here.
Eddie Kingston has certainly made an impact in AEW in the short time he’s been with the promotion. He answered Cody’s open challenge for a TNT title shot in July and has since become a pivotal part of the show. Kingston attacked Jon Moxley following the main event of Wednesday’s Anniversary show. He then cut a promo that continued after Dynamite went off the air.
“Excalibur, you want to talk bad about me again? I’ll rip your tongue out of your face,” Kinston said to the commentary team.
“This is what you want huh? Big bad Jon Moxley. Ladies and gentlemen boo me all you want but this son of a b*tch sold out. He said to me the day he signed that contract to go to the land of the sports entertainers, you low life, you told me that the inmates were going to run the asylum,” Kingston said.
Kingston continued to bash Moxley for having worked in sports-entertainment while he was a pro-wrestler.
“You son of a b**ch, you’re going to pay for leaving me behind,” Kingston continued.
Footage of Kingston’s promo can be viewed in the tweet embedded below.
A fan urged AEW President Tony Khan to the promo on a future episode of Dynamite. Khan assured him that Kingston’s promo will receive a wider audience.
Of course. While I hugely value the socially distanced fans wearing protective masks who attend our shows, cheer from their seating pods & add so much to the show & inspire the wrestlers in their matches, bless you all, I also assure you that promo wasn’t only for the live house
All Elite Wrestling just celebrated the 1-year anniversary of Dynamite on TNT. Tony Khan spoke to Bleacher Report this week and revealed that several other networks were interested in carrying the show before they reached a deal with Turner Sports.
“It was a long process,” he said about finding a television partner. “It was probably about a year from when I started pitching the show to when it got picked up. There were other networks interested in it, but I think we ended up at the best possible place for us.”
Khan continued, “TNT is where I always wanted to go. From a marketing standpoint, there was such a great promotional push around the debut and they [TNT] were so happy with the results that we got a four-year contract extension all within the first four months. It was a very successful debut, but it was a long road to get there.”
Khan has been a lifelong wrestling fan. He was an avid ‘fantasy booker’ in his teen years and always dreamt about having a wrestling show on TNT. “I’ve been writing shows in notebooks, Microsoft Word files and even Word Perfect going back to 1995.”
TV Rights Fees
AEW has actually produced more episodes of Dynamite in the pandemic-era than before it. With live crowds restricted in most places, the TV rights AEW receives for Dynamite plays a more important role in the company’s bottom-line.
Khan also spoke about how just because they can have packed crowds in Florida now, doesn’t necessarily mean they will do so.
“Live events have changed in the past year, more so probably than in all the previous years combined. TV rights now more than ever are the most important revenue stream. Now all of a sudden, things are possible to do legally. That doesn’t mean you should try to pack the place.”
The full interview with Tony Khan can be read here.
AEW scored another win over NXT this week with its Dynamite Anniversary special. Both shows were up this week and benefitted from less competition.
AEW widened the gap over NXT, but expectations were higher since this was a heavily promoted episode. Dynamite viewership was up 9.7% from last week, while NXT increased 1.9%. Here’s the breakdown, courtesy of ShowbuzzDaily:
AEW: 826,000 viewers, 0.30 rating (15th on cable for the night)
NXT: 651,000 viewers, 0.17 rating (51st on cable for the night)
For comparison, Monday’s Raw featuring Night 2 of the 2020 Draft averaged 1.855 million viewers with a 0.57 in the key demo.
You can find full results and our takeaways from both shows below:
Cody recaptured the TNT title from Brodie Lee on a recent episode of AEW Dynamite. He was the inaugural holder of the title and defended it 8 times before dropping it to Brodie Lee in August.
Cody sat down for an interview with AEW’s Canadian broadcast partner, TSN, and talked about the success of the title. He even teased that the promotion could introduce a “TSN title” somewhere down the line.
“It’s really so rare and makes me really happy to be partners with our partners here in the States and in Canada – there should be a TSN title now that we’re talking!” Cody said to TSN.
Cody On The Success Of The TNT Title
He also spent time talking about the success of the TNT title. He noted that they never envisioned it as a mid-card belt.
“It was never intended to be middle of the pack and a lot of people thought, ‘Oh, it’s a workhorse belt’ or ‘Oh, it’s a television belt.’ No, it’s this. And the reality is, it’s none of those things. It’s the first time a network partner wanted a title in their own likeness and looked at a bunch of people they thought would be great fits for it. I can’t wait to tell the full story of it one day.”
Cody also said that the title has exceeded the expectations that had for it.
“I don’t want to jinx it, but it’s superseded what we anticipated and I think it’s superseded the general expectation,” Cody said. “I don’t want to blame people if they want to put identities on things before they happen and that’s just because WWE has been unopposed for 20 years, so they might be used to how WWE does things, but the TNT title was never going to be a midcard title.”
TNT Title Statistics
Cody become the inaugural champion at Double or Nothing 2020 by defeating Lance Archer in the finals of a single-elimination tournament. He then defended it 8 times against Jungle Boy, Marq Quen, Ricky Starks, Jake Hager, Sonny Kiss, Eddie Kingston, Warhorse and Scorpio Sky.
Brodie Lee defeated Cody for the belt on the Saturday Night Dynamite special in August. Lee then successfully defended the belt against Dustin Rhodes and Orange Cassidy. He would then drop it back to Cody on October 7th.
Cody fought to a time limit draw with Orange Cassidy this week. They will face each other again in 2 weeks.
