Appearing for an interview on The Rich Eisen Show with AEW World Champion Chris Jericho to promote the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot film, Smith also touched on his SmackDown appearance that he and Jason Mewes were scheduled to make.
Talking about their AEW appearance, Kevin said:
“You know how big it was? It was big enough enough that like, me and Jay (Jason) were lucky enough to be involved, Chris invited us to be involved with the debut match on TNT. We were supposed to go do WWE, me and Jay the very next day which was Friday. And then the morning after, cuz we were on the AEW show – it trended, like they was a lot of coverage and stuff. The next morning we were told that the WWE was like you can’t come on anymore. They cancelled it.”
Smith added that the cancellation felt really weird to him. “Can you believe it? It felt really weird, man. There’s a line drawn in the sand, they pushed us onto the one side of it.” Rich Eisen added that the duo were “hit with a figurative chair”.
Chris Jericho was asked if the news of the cancelled appearance was great to hear. Chris agreed, and said, “Like I said, just by the fact that we exist, made WWE angry cuz they’ve been the monopoly for so long. Now, are we competition? Like it’s figurative we are. But for us, it’s an alternative, it’s an option.” Chris added that some people are proclaiming that this is the “wrestling wars”, but AEW is not at war with WWE or Superbowl or anyone.
You can watch the full interview embedded in the video above.
If you are using quotes from this article, please credit SEScoops for the transcription.
The October 9th episode AEW Dynamite aired live from the Agganis Arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Here are 6 takeaways from the show:
Private Party Advanced In The World Tag Team Championship Tournament
Dynamite kicked off with a 1st round matchup of the AEW World Tag Team Championship Tournament between the Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy).
Kassidy ducked under a Superkick from Nick and posed in the ring. Nick got pissed off and spit his gum in Isiah’s face. Matt and Nick connected with a Gutbuster/Neckbreaker combo on Kassidy and then isolated him in the corner of the ring.
Isiah battled back and took out Matt Jackson with a Moonsault outside the ring. Back in the ring, Marq Quen tagged in and hit Nick with a Crossbody outside the ring. Quen followed that up by flipping onto Matt and then hit another flip onto Nick as the crowd went crazy.
Quen climbed to the top rope and hit Nick with 450 Splash for a near fall. Matt tagged in and hit Quen with a Superkick. The Young Bucks delivered a couple of Superkicks to Kassidy and then Matt followed it up with a Powerbomb on the entrance ramp.
Back in the ring, Nick perched Quen up on the turnbuckle and connected with a Powerbomb. Nick applied the Scorpion Death Lock but Marq was able to get to the bottom rope to break the hold.
The crowd chanted “this is awesome!” as Nick Jackson hit Quen with a Double Stomp. Quen tried to tag Kassidy in but Nick dragged him off the apron. Nick connected with a Spear and went for the cover but Quen kicked out at two.
Kassidy finally tagged back in and hit Matt and Nick with a Dropkick off the top rope. Kassidy followed it up with a Double Hurricanrana as Justin Roberts announced that there were 10-minutes remaining in the match. Matt hit Kassidy with three Northern Nights Suplexes in a row and then hit a double Northern Lights Suplex on Private Party for a near fall.
Matt hit Kassidy with a Buckle Bomb and followed it up with a Sharpshooter. Isiah fought through the pain and reached the bottom rope to break the hold. Quen tagged in and Private Party hit Gin & Juice on Nick Jackson. Marq then hit Matt with a beautiful Shooting Star Press for another near fall. Matt set Quen up for the Meltzer Driver but Kassidy knocked Nick off the apron. Quen then countered into a roll-up for the pinfall victory. Private Party advanced to the semi-finals in the AEW Tag Team Tournament.
AEW’s tag team division is stacked and they showed that off with an excellent opening match on Dynamite. I really like how the Young Bucks took the loss here. They are regarded as the best tag team in the world and did not need to become the first AEW Tag Team Champions. Matt and Nick Jackson just helped make Private Party become stars to the national audience and that is awesome to see in a new promotion.
Jericho, Hager, Guevara, Santana & Ortiz Are Known As Inner Circle
AEW Champion Chris Jericho came down to the ring with Santana & Ortiz, Sammy Guevara, and Jake Hager. Jericho bragged that AEW Dynamite was the highest-rated premiere in TNT history and claimed it was all because of him.
The crowd played along and broke out in a loud “thank you, Jericho”. Chris told them to shut their mouths and sit down. Jericho said that Guevara looked like a Spanish God and called him one of the greatest performers he has ever seen for his age.
Jericho stated that Santana and Ortiz are nastier than they ever been and he personally recruited them to AEW. Chris turned his attention to Jake Hager and called him the toughest MMA fighter in the world today as the crowd chanted “we the people!”. Jericho interrupted and told the crowd that “we the people!” sucks and it is dead and buried. Chris added that it was a stupid idea from bad creative and all that is gone.
The crowd chanted “AEW!” as Jericho boasted that Hager was undefeated in MMA. Jericho claimed that makes Hager the toughest man in the entire professional business. Jericho announced that their stable name is Inner Circle and added that they are in charge now. Jericho called Cody a stupid son of a bitch and stated that he doesn’t like his family.
Jericho called Dusty Rhodes a jerk and vowed to kick Dustin Rhodes’ ass tonight. Jericho added that he is going to beat the ever-living shit out of Cody at AEW Full Gear and then he is going to have a little bit of the bubbly to celebrate.
I loved this promo. Jericho remains as electric as ever and it awesome to see him cut an unscripted promo that blows anything you would see on RAW or SmackDown out of the water.
Jimmy Havoc squared off against Darby Allin tonight on AEW Dynamite. The winner of the match will face Chris Jericho next week for the AEW Championship.
Allin controlled the match early and rolled up Havoc for a two count. Darby followed it up with an Arm Drag and then an elbow to the face. Allin Dropkicked Havoc to the corner of the ring and Jimmy rolled to the ring apron.
Havoc bit Allin’s fingers and then Suplexed him to the floor outside the ring. Havoc brought Allin back into the ring and went for the cover but Darby kicked out at two. Havoc applied a Sleeper Hold in the corner of the ring and transitioned into a Suplex that sent Allin out of the ring.
Back in the ring, Havoc connected with an elbow to the face and went for the cover but Darby was able to kick out. Havoc hit a Death Valley Driver into the turnbuckle for another near fall.
Jimmy planted Allin with the Tiger Driver 98 but Darby once again kicked out. Allin returned the favor and bit Havoc’s hand. Darby followed it up with a Stunner and then the Coffin Drop for the pinfall victory. Allin will face Chris Jericho for the AEW Championship next week on Dynamite.
Emi Sakura and Bea Priestley faced AEW Women’s Champion Riho and Britt Baker tonight on Dynamite.
Sakura and Riho started things off by locking up in the middle of the ring. Riho went for a Crossbody but Sakura caught her and slammed her to the mat for a near fall. Sakura grabbed Riho by the hair and launched her across the ring.
Priestley hit Riho with a cheap shot as the referee wasn’t paying attention and Sakura capitalized with a Body Slam. Bea tagged in and knocked Baker off the ring apron. The two then battled outside the ring and Priestley sent Britt into the barricade. Baker battled back and unloaded some right hands to Bea’s face.
Sakura and Priestley planted Britt with a Suplex but then turned around into a Crossbody from Riho off the apron as Dynamite went to a commercial break.
When Dynamite returned, Sakura tagged in and hit Baker with a chop. Sakura followed it up with a Backbreaker and then a Crossbody in the corner of the ring. Sakura connected with a Senton and went for the cover but Britt kicked out at two.
Baker planted Sakura with a Cutter but Emi shrugged it off and hit another chop. Riho hit Sakura with a Double Stomp and Britt followed it up with a Neckbreaker but Emi kicked out at two. Britt then locked in a Crossface/Mandible Claw for the submission victory. After the match, Bea Priestley and Britt Baker brawled in the ring before referee Aubrey Edwards separated them.
Shawn Spears (w/ Tully Blanchard) battled Jon Moxley this week on AEW Dynamite. PAC joined commentary for the match. PAC bitched about Jimmy Havoc and Darby Allin getting championship opportunities before him.
Moxley controlled the match early and hit an Elbow Drop for a two count. Jon leveled Shawn with a Clothesline and Spears rolled out of the ring to regroup. Moxley went after him and sent Spears into the barricade.
Tully tried to interfere but Moxley chased him around the ring. Moxley sent Spears back into the barricade before rolling him into the ring. Spears distracted the referee and Blanchard capitalized by shoving Jon into the steel steps.
PAC boasted about only being pinned once in two years and continued to complain about being relegated to the commentary booth. Spears slammed Moxley onto the barricade with a Death Valley Driver.
Spears connected with a Powerbomb and went for the cover but Moxley kicked out at two. Shawn knocked Moxley out of the ring hit him with a Suicide Dive. Moxley battled back with a Suicide Dive of his own and then rolled Spears back into the ring.
Moxley hit a Clothesline in the corner and followed it up with a flurry of chops and knee strikes. Jon took down his knee pad and hit a running knee for a near fall. Spears and Moxley traded chops in the middle of the ring. Moxley got the better of the exchange and knocked Spears to the canvas with a Clothesline. Spears connected with a Neckbreaker over his knee for a two count. Moxley then hit the Paradigm Shift for the pinfall victory.
After the match, Kenny Omega came down to the entrance ramp with a barbed wire bat and broom. Omega threw the bat to Moxley on the ramp and started trash-talking with him as the crowd chanted “holy shit!”. PAC hit Omega with a chair in the back of the head before returning backstage. Moxley stood over Omega with the bat but opted not to attack him to conclude the segment.
Dustin Rhodes and Hangman Adam Page squared off against Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara in the main event of this week’s Dynamite. Jake Hager was ringside for the match.
Sammy and Dustin started the match off but Jericho quickly tagged in. Dustin booted Jericho out of the ring and beat him down against the barricade. Rhodes sent Jericho over the barricade and then turned his attention to Guevara in the ring.
Dustin leveled Sammy with a Clothesline and tagged in Page. Hangman hit a Clothesline in the corner and followed it up with another Clothesline that turned Guevara inside out. Hangman connected with a Fallaway Slam and then delivered a Crossbody to Jericho outside the ring.
Back in the ring, Hangman hit Sammy with a chop to the chest and tagged Rhodes back in. Dustin punched Sammy in the face and sent him flying into the turnbuckle. Dustin stomped on Sammy a couple of times before tagging Page back in.
Page connected with a Shooting Star Press and went for the cover but Jericho broke it up at two. Hangman planted Sammy with a Body Slam and made his way to the top rope. Jericho distracted Page and Guevara capitalized with an Enziguri for a two count as AEW went to a commercial break.
When Dynamite returned, Jericho was in control and hit Page with a knee to the back of the head. Guevara tagged in and bashed Dustin off the apron before Hangman could tag out. Sammy hit Page with a Double Stomp for a near fall before applying a Chin Lock in the middle of the ring.
The crowd got behind Hangman as he battled to his feet. Hangman broke the hold with a Belly to Back Suplex and slowly made his way to the corner. Jericho tagged in and once again prevented Page from tagging out. Jericho taunted Page and slapped him across the face.
Jericho went for the Lionsault but Page got his knees up at the last moment. Guevara tagged in and applied a Waist Lock in the middle of the ring. Hangman leveled Guevara with a Lariat and finally made the tag to Dustin.
Rhodes booted Guevara in the midsection and connected with an Atomic Drop. Jericho got in the ring and walked right into another Atomic Drop. Dustin climbed to the top rope and hit Jericho and Sammy with a Crossbody as the crowd went nuts.
Dustin sent Sammy to the outside and Hangman hit him with a Moonsault off the top rope. Hager leveled Page with a Clothesline and Jericho tagged in. Dustin rolled up Jericho for a two count and then fired up the crowd.
Rhodes set up Jericho in the corner for Shattered Dreams but Sammy ran into the ring. Dustin planted him with a Powerslam but then Hager got into the ring and hit a Clothesline as Sammy distracted the referee. Jericho hit Rhodes with the Judas Effect for the pinfall victory.
After the match, Inner Circle beat Rhodes down in the corner of the ring. Hangman Adam Page got into the ring but Hager immediately Clotheslined him back outside. Hager followed him out there and got a chair to the face for his troubles. Page and Hager battled all the way up the entrance ramp as Jericho and Sammy continued to beat Dustin down.
The lights in the arena went out and Cody appeared in the ring. Cody planted Guevara with the Cross Rhodes and started trash-talking with Jericho. Santana and Ortiz rushed the ring and attacked Cody. MJF sprinted down the entrance ramp and entered the ring with a steel chair. MJF beat hit Santana, Ortiz, and Jericho with the chair as the crowd went crazy. MJF posed for the crowd and then turned around into a Codebreaker from Jericho.
Jericho grabbed the chair as the Young Bucks rushed the ring. Matt and Nick knocked Santana and Ortiz to the outside and hit them with dueling Suicide Dives. Jericho retreated with the AEW Championship as Cody looked on with a chair in the ring.
Darby Allin skateboarded down the entrance ramp and leveled Jericho with a knee to the face. Allin hit Jericho with the skateboard and joined Cody, Dustin, and the Young Bucks in the ring as the crowd chanted “AEW!”. Jericho shouted that he will see Darby next week. Jericho grabbed a microphone and said that the Inner Circle is taking control. Jericho added that he will see Allin next week in Philadelphia and it will be his funeral.
AEW delivered another very solid episode of Dynamite this week. Private Party versus the Young Bucks was absolutely the match of the night. I highly doubt that Allin will win the title next week but there is no denying that the crowd is behind him. Darby has a big future in AEW and is an entertaining character. AEW showcased their tag team and women’s division tonight and also did a great job of progressing storylines as we build towards Full Gear on November 9th.
I would describe Dynamite as refreshing and fun as hell. There were two title matches announced for next week during tonight’s broadcast. Jericho will defend his AEW Championship against Darby Allin and Riho will put the AEW Women’s Championship on the line against Britt Baker. For a wrestling promotion that is just starting out, I’m not sure you could do it much better than AEW has with the first two episodes of Dynamite.
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho took a shot at WWE while doing his first in-ring promo on AEW’s weekly television show, Dynamite.
Jericho was cutting a promo in the ring where he officially announced his new stable that includes Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana, and Oriz. The name of the stable is the Inner Circle.
During the promo, Jericho went around where he introduced everyone and put them over. Once he got to Hager, the former Jack Swagger, he took a pause as the fans were chanting “We the people!” in reference to Hager’s gimmick in WWE.
This led to Jericho responding with, “‘We the people’ sucks and it’s dead and buried. It was a stupid idea from bad creative and all of that’s gone.”
Jericho also mentioned these stablemates have made his “list.”
Jericho would end his promo by shifting it to his next feud, which is against Cody Rhodes. This is where he stated that he would “beat the ever-living s—” out of Rhodes, which didn’t get censored.
There is a new #1 contender to the AEW World Title held by Chris Jericho and that’s Darby Allin.
During Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite in Boston, MA at the Agganis Arena on TNT, All Elite Wrestling held a #1 Contender’s Match between Darby Allin and Jimmy Havoc.
As seen on the show, Allin ended up winning it. As a result, Allin has earned the right to challenge Jericho for the AEW World Title on next week’s episode of Dynamite.
On this same show, Jericho worked a tag team match by teaming up with Sammy Guevara to take on Dustin Rhodes and “Hangman” Adam Page.
AEW will be going head-to-head with NXT that will air at the same time on TNT. NXT is expected to load up the show as well.
This match takes place on the October 16th episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA. Also slated on this show will see the first title defense from AEW Women’s Champion Riho.
All Elite Wrestling will be announcing more matches and segments for this episode in the coming days.
Jericho makes his next title defense on PPV when he wrestles Cody Rhodes at the upcoming Full Gear pay-per-view event next month.
AEW Dark premieres tonight on All Elite Wrestling’s official YouTube channel. The new weekly digital series is hosted by Tony Schiavone. New episodes drop every Tuesday night and feature matches taped at the previous week’s AEW Dynamite show.
The four matches scheduled for tonight’s broadcast are as follows:
The Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent) & The Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) vs. The Lucha Brothers (Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix), Angelico & Jack Evans Britt Baker & Allie vs. Penelope Ford & Bea PriestleySCU (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) vs. The Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus & Marko Stunt)Darby Allin vs CIMA
AEW Dynamite #2 Lineup
AEW also has the following matches scheduled for Wednesday’s Dynamite:
#1 Contenders Match For AEW World Championship Darby Allin vs Jimmy Havoc
Shawn Spears vs Jon Moxley
AEW Tag Team Title Tournament (1st Round) the Young Bucks vs Private Party
Dustin Rhodes & Hangman Page vs Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara
Tony Khan commented after Dynammite last week that a show such as AEW Dark was likely in the works:
“They will be aired and I think as we go on we’ll smooth it out and we’ll develop, that it’ll be a new franchise I actually think we can get out of the good wrestling from these tapings.”
The location for the eleventh week of AEW Dynamite has been announced.
AEW (All Elite Wrestling) announced on Monday via Twitter that the promotion would be holding a TV event on TNT at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas.
For fans who plan on attending, tickets for that show will go on sale this Friday at 11 am CST / Noon Eastern at AEWTix.com.
“Dallas Fort Worth / MetroPlex get ready #AEWDynamite is coming to town Wed, Dec 11th to the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas. Tickets starts at $20 and go on sale this Friday, Oct 11th at 11am CST / Noon ET – http://AEWTIX.com.”
At All Elite Wrestlings’ New York Comic Con Panel, Jon Moxley addressed the press and talked about his career in AEW and how AEW has improved things for its wrestlers.
Moxley also gave his opinion on AEW’s competitors – namely WWE, who he thinks has a “stupid” schedule which he believes the company will eventually change. He also thinks the entire industry is benefiting just from the existence of AEW because companies are raising the payments that wrestlers receive in order to lock the wrestlers down.
“I think everybody’s going to start doing better than they’re doing right now,” Moxley told Cageside Seats. “You’re seeing wrestlers who are getting more money from WWE because they are trying to lock everybody down. Which is great – it should have been like that all along! I think they’re gonna start reducing their schedule too, which is good, because their schedule’s stupid. Makes no sense.”
“So I think you’re gonna see a better quality of life for the guys in the competition so to speak, just because of the existence of AEW.”
On an another topic, Moxley revealed who he would never want to face again – and it’s none other than New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Toru Yano.
Moxley was on an undefeated streak at this year’s G1 Climax 29 Tournament, which was eventually broken by Toru Yano on the Day 12 of the tourney. Moxley says he doesn’t want to be in the ring with Yano again and described his match with him as the worst night of his life. “I never wanna experience that horror again,” Moxley said.
If you’re going to use any quotes from this article, please credit Cageside Seats along with SEScoops for the transcription.
The President of All Elite Wrestling Tony Khan has revealed that the company’s All Out and Double Or Nothing events are going to return yearly.
Double Or Nothing which was the inaugural event held by the promotion took place on May 25, 2019 at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Khan believes that the event will be a “tradition” and will always be held during the Memorial Day weekend in Sin City.
Speaking in an interview with Wade Keller of PWTorch, Khan said, “Double or Nothing is always going to be Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas. I think that’s a tradition that’s going to outlive all of us.”
Along with Double Or Nothing, the company’s recently held All Out PPV will also be an annual tradition. The event took place on August 31, 2019 at the Sears Centre Arena in Chicago. Khan thinks that we will see All Out events for a long time.
“All Out is always going to be in the Chicago area, Labor Day weekend,” Tony said. “I think that’s a tradition that can live a long time.”
Furthermore, Khan also gave his thoughts on AEW’s upcoming Full Gear PPV event. He expects Full Gear to do well and if everything goes as expected it can be a quarterly PPV event from the company. “Full Gear is the next big quarterly pay-per-view we’re on. If Baltimore really gets….we’ve sold a lot of tickets. Hopefully, Baltimore can be a great market for us too. I expect Full Gear to be a huge brand.”
Full Gear will be taking place on November 9 at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho vs. Cody for the AEW World Championship have been already announced.
Cody Rhodes took to Twitter earlier today to announce that AEW will air previously unaired matches on Tuesday nights beginning next week. AEW Dark will begin this Tuesday hosted by Tony Schiavone. The show will feature unaired matches filmed before or after Dynamite airs live on TNT.
Cody sent the following out on Twitter to announce the news:
There were 4 matches taped Wednesday night in Washington that didn’t make air on the debut episode of Dynamite. Those matches were as follows:
Darby Allin vs CIMA
The Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent) & The Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) vs. The Lucha Brothers (Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix), Angelico& Jack Evans
Allie & Britt Baker vs. Bea Priestley & Penelope Ford
SCU (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) vs. The Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus & Marko Stunt
Tony Khan mentioned during the post-event media scrum on Wednesday that plans were in the works to air the dark matches from that week.
“They will be aired and I think as we go on we’ll smooth it out and we’ll develop, that it’ll be a new franchise I actually think we can get out of the good wrestling from these tapings.”
Another match has been announced for the second AEW Dynamite episode on TNT.
On Friday, All Elite Wrestling revealed that a big time tag team match will feature Sammy Guevara and AEW World Champion Chris Jericho vs. Dustin Rhodes and “Hangman” Adam Page.
The promotion is coming off a successful debut on TNT with their premiere episode of AEW Dynamite that marked the first week that the show went head-to-head with WWE NXT on the USA Network.
The Dynamite premiere drew 1.409 million viewers for the original airing on TNT. The replay, which aired right after the Dynamite premiere went off the air at 10pm ET, drew 423,000 viewers on TNT, according to PWTorch. With the replay, the show drew 1.832 million viewers
Cody Rhodes and Chris Jericho got into a brawl at the New York City Comic Con on Friday.
It all happened when Rhodes made a surprise appearance as Jericho was doing a scheduled appearance. Once Rhodes approached Jericho, the two AEW (All Elite Wrestling) stars started to exchange words before the brawl broke out.
This is the latest angle between the two top stars.
This comes after Jericho and his new stable attacked Rhodes on Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT following the main event that saw Jericho, Ortiz, and Santana beat Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks in a six-man tag team match.
Omega was taken out of the match by Jon Moxley, who attacked him.
Rhodes is slated to challenge Jericho for the AEW World Title at the Full Gear pay-per-view event.
AEW presents Full Gear on Saturday, November 9th from Baltimore’s Royal Farms Arena. The show will air on B/R Live, which is Bleacher Report’s streaming service, traditional PPV outlets, and FITE TV in international markets.
Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW will premiere their second TV show on TBS as a part of their Sunday night line-up soon.
This program is described as an edited highlight version of the AEW Dynamite show that airs earlier in the week on TNT. As of this writing, there’s no word yet on when the AEW TBS show will premiere.
AEW Dynamite made its premiere this past Wednesday night by going head-to-head with WWE NXT on the USA Network and crushed in viewership.
Back in September, it was reported that AEW was in talks for another TV show that at the time was thought to be a studio show, similar to the new WWE Backstage show, which premieres on FS1 next month.
WarnerMedia’s Brett Weitz, who is the general manager for TNT, TBS and truTV, confirmed the reports at the time while doing an interview with The Wrap.
AEW Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes went on record recently by noting that although the third hour of AEW content was being considered, he indicated that it may be filmed with the weekly Dynamite tapings. It would likely be dark matches and possibly air on B/R Live, instead of TNT.
Tony Khan took part in a post-event media scrum from AEW Dynamite. During the interview, he was asked if he had any benchmarks going into the show that he was able to check off.
“Yeah, like all of them,” Khan responded. “Everything I was hoping we could do, I think we did with this. The one thing I don’t know yet is the ratings but I’m really happy with the way the show came off and I’m really happy with the early feedback I’ve gotten.”
“I think as far as where we are at creatively, I think we’re in a great place, and I’m not surprised by that,” he continued.
SEScoops was on-hand backstage and posted the following video of Khan discussing Wednesday night’s show:
Tony Khan Interview Highlights
Khan also spoke about Chris Jericho’s faction during the scrum:
“I thought the stable that we’re going to learn more about, they looked really good together, didn’t they?” Khan asked.
“It looked like a stable to me,” Khan continued. “The way they walked, the way they talked, the way they acted, they seemed like guys with a plan.”
Khan would continue to say there are many free agents he might want to sign but he’s not going to let the media know who they are. He would also mention that the promotion is hoping to air the dark matches taped from the event.
“They will be aired and I think as we go on we’ll smooth it out and we’ll develop, that it’ll be a new franchise I actually think we can get out of the good wrestling from these tapings.”
He noted that the dark matches will likely be available free online eventually.
Khan also confirmed that in addition to being a wrestler on AEW’s roster, Awesome Kong works full-time backstage as well. She worked as a producer on Wednesday night.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman was victorious over Brandon Cutler on the debut episode of AEW Dynamite Wednesday night. Following the show, however, MJF was not in a good mood as he explained he was concerned for Cody Rhodes after he was assaulted by Chris Jericho and his new faction.
MJF’s post-event media scrum can be viewed in the player below:
Maxwell Jacob Friedman On Chris Jericho:
“I’m not in a good mood at all,” MJF started off the interview with. “My best friend just got completely bludgeoned in the middle of the ring and I had no idea it was going on because I was back in the locker room after my match and I had no clue, I just found out after the fact.”
“What should have been a night of me celebrating the fact that I just proved to the whole world that I am, in fact, better than literally everybody now I have to be concerned for my friend because Chris Jericho is a scumbag.”
“Because Chris Jericho is passed his prime and decided to take that out on my friend, Cody,” MJF continued.
MJF would continue to say Jericho is a great athlete and one of the greatest wrestlers of all time but did not need to stoop to the level that he did.
The interview ended up taking a sour turn when one reporter asked MJF if he decided to get revenge on Jericho by being the one who threw a hot dog wiener into the ring.
“Give me one reason not to slap you,” MJF said after staring at the guy for some time.
Nyla Rose was not happy following her loss on Wednesday night to Riho on the debut episode of AEW Dynamite. Rose made herself available for a post-show media scrum but ended up storming off from the interview shortly after.
Rose refused to answer a question regarding the popularity of her opponent from Wednesday night and would leave the interview area entirely not long after being asked what is next for her now that she’s dropped the inaugural AEW women’s world title match.
Video of Rose storming off from the AEW Dynamite post-show media scrum can be viewed in the player below:
Nyla Rose Storms Off From Interview
Reporter: “Are you surprised by the reaction that Riho gets from people and crowds like this?”
Nyla Rose: “Who’s got a better question?”
Reporter: “What’s next?”
Nyla Rose: “I don’t know what’s next. Everything that’s happened since I signed with this company hasn’t been quite what’s promised. Women’s triple threat match, who comes sauntering down to the ring? Awesome Kong. Women’s title match, why on Earth is..”
Rose then grew increasingly frustrated, mumbled something about an “EVP” and then stormed off from the interview room.
All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan divulged information over how AEW handle health insurance for its talent during a post-AEW: Dynamite media scrum following their successful premiere on Wednesday night.
“Of the people you saw tonight, a large percentage of them are insured with AEW because they work full-time for AEW,” Khan said. “This is my fifth show I’ve done in 2019, and most people haven’t been on all five shows. Of the people that have been on all five shows, most of them are full-time and have full-time benefits.”
He then explained that one of AEW’s top stars, Jon Moxley, isn’t covered by AEW. Instead, he receives healthcare from his former employer, WWE. This is because of his wife, Renee Young, who is a full-time WWE employee.
“Jon Moxley actually does get healthcare, but he gets it through his wife [Renee Young] who is a full-time employee elsewhere,” he stated. “But Kenny [Omega] does get healthcare and is a full-time employee as are a lot of people. Kenny is a part of my office and he works a full-time job. There’s other people like Britt Baker who’s full-time job is a dentist, and she’s come in and wrestle I wanna say four of the five shows.”
Khan added that there are some people working for AEW who have only done a couple of spots this past year, and so aren’t classified as full-time employees. He confessed it was a “complicated answer.”
All Elite Wrestling’s Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF) took part in a post-show media scrum following the conclusion of Wednesday’s premiere of AEW: Dynamite. During the scrum, MJF spoke about his victory over Brandon Cutler as well as his future ambitions in competing against Chris Jericho.
“It felt great [to pick up the victory tonight]. It felt like every single bit of work that I have put into this industry has finally, finally come to fruition. I got to show the world what the future looks like. I got to show the world what the future of what All Elite Wrestling is, and the future of AEW is MJF.”
He spoke about tapping out Cutler in short order, calling himself a “top tier athlete” because of it. “[…] I proved what I’ve been saying since day one, and yet, people’ boo’ me. What they should be doing is looking in the mirror and wondering, ‘Why do I boo MJF? Is it because I’m jealous? Is it because I can never be MJF?’ Yeah, yeah it is.”
Future Goals
When it comes to his next goal in AEW, MJF is quick to mention the current AEW World Champion, Chris Jericho:
“Chris Jericho [is who I would want to face next] because he decided to do something that was absolutely inhumane and absolutely unnecessary,” Friedman stated.
He also addressed his friendship with Cody Rhodes, claiming that he would never face off against him as he is a “brother” to him.
“I would never in a million years put my hands on my big brother. Ever! When I say I’m going to be the future face of this company, it is because the face of this company right now is Cody Rhodes. And once he’s done, then it’s my time to shine. It’s really that simple.”
So-Cal Uncensored member Christopher Daniels took part in a post-AEW: Dynamite media conference after AEW’s premiere concluded. During this conference, Daniels addressed the rise of All Elite Wrestling, calling the promotion the future of the business.
“The first night but not the last night of greatness. AEW is the future of this business. It’s already changed the future of the pro wrestling world. It already changed. It’s different now than it was a year ago and we know it. We know it,” Daniels stated.
“You saw the people out there? That’s just the first full house of many full houses that are to come. And that feels great to me. 26 years in the business, I was fortunate enough to be a part of Ring Of Honor when it started, I was fortunate enough to be a part of TNA when it started, now I’m at the ground floor of something that has 100 times more excitement behind it than either of those companies did at that time. And I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Daniels explained that everybody on the AEW roster has got something to prove and are putting everybody on notice. “We deserve to be on national television, we’re gonna be on national television. Dynamite is here to stay—first night is not the last night!”
AEW: Dynamite defeated WWE NXT during their first-ever head-to-head this past Wednesday.
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) World Champion Chris Jericho spoke with Complex Sports about Dynamite’s victory over WWE NXT in this week’s ratings. This Wednesday saw the two promotions go head-to-head for the first time in a battle that AEW won.
“They started this,” Jericho stated. “Everything that they’ve done has been reactionary to us. We’re not in a war with anybody besides ourselves…all that matters is our show.”
He extrapolated his point, explaining that “They [WWE] kinda started this war, and the very first night they got destroyed. Big deal, it’s our first debut, but they have to come back and say ‘it’s a marathon and not a one-night sprint.’ Whoever said it’s a one-night sprint? It’s not a war for us. Now, we’re placed in one, and we’re gonna kick ass.”
His thoughts follow WWE’s statement on Dynamite’s premiere. They congratulated them for their win before adding that fans “can expect Wednesday nights to be a competitive and wild ride as this is a marathon, not a one-night sprint.”
Jericho and his tag team partners Ortiz & Santana defeated The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega in 6-man tag team action. The fallout of this match saw the debut of Jake Hager in AEW.
You can see a clip of Jericho’s comments in the embedded tweet below.
"We're not in a war with anybody besides ourselves…all that matters is our show."
@AEWrestling World Champion @IAmJericho comments on the first night of head-to-head competition between AEW & NXT.
The first week of the WWE NXT vs. AEW Dynamite war is in the books.
Wednesday’s edition of WWE NXT averaged 891,000 viewers, which is down from the 1.006 million viewers that the show drew last week on the USA Network, according to ShowbuzzDaily.
AEW Dynamite that aired during the same time slot on TNT pulled in 1.409 million for the premiere episode. Thus, AEW won the night.
To compare, this week’s RAW drew 2.570 million viewers (from last week’s 2.210 million viewers), which was the season premiere of the show. The overnight ratings from Nielsen had AEW at a 0.7 and NXT at 0.5.
In case you missed the WWE NXT show, you can check out the 6 takeaways from it here.
WWE and AEW will attempt to increase viewership with next week’s episodes, which should be interesting to see what number it pulls in.
The shows had to go up against that Basketball Wives did 1,233 million viewers, Tucker Carlson Tonight with 3,580, and Anderson Cooper 1,482. The biggest competition was an MLB Wild Card Game on ESPN that drew 3,969 million.
Matches that took place on the NXT show included NXT Champion Adam Cole def. Matt Riddle and NXT Tag Team Champions The Undisputed ERA (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) def. The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford).
Top matches on AEW included PAC def. Hangman Page and Chris Jericho, Ortiz & Santana def. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) & Kenny Omega.
Following the premiere episode of AEW Dynamite, WWE issued a congratulatory statement regarding the debut of the weekly television show.
The statement reads like, “Congratulations to AEW on a successful premiere. The real winners of last night’s head-to-head telecasts of NXT on USA Network and AEW on TNT are the fans, who can expect Wednesday nights to be a competitive and wild ride as this is a marathon, not a one-night sprint.”
WWE made big changes to their business once the launch of AEW (All Elite Wrestling) and the news that the rival promotion had reached a television deal with TNT.
Wednesday marked the first night of the Wednesday Night Wars between NXT and AEW Dynamite.
AEW had a sold-out crowd over 14,000 fans in Washington, D.C., at the famed Capital One Arena on TNT. On the flip side, WWE aired NXT from Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University on the USA Network,
NXT Champion Adam Cole vs. Matt Riddle and NXT Tag Team Champions The Undisputed ERA (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) vs. The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) were the top two matches for the NXT broadcast. The show also featured the returns of Finn Balor and Tommaso Ciampa.
For AEW, PAC vs. Hangman Page and Chris Jericho, Ortiz & Santana vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) & Kenny Omega were billed as the top matches. Jake Hager (Jack Swagger) made his debut at the end of the show.
A new Jay and Silent Bob movie is scheduled to be released and Chris Jericho plays a major role in the film. Kevin Smith (Silent Bob) and Jason Mewes (Jay) were on-hand last night for AEW Dynamite. During the show, Mewes and Smith got into a verbal spat with Jack Evans & Angelico. Before the show, they were seen wearing the brand new AEW World Tag Team titles, however
AEW released the following photo of Jay and Silent Bob with the titles:
Jay and Silent Bob will have to give up those titles following the completion of the AEW World Tag Team Championship tournament. The finals of tournament is scheduled for the October 30th edition of Dynamite.
1st Round:
The Young Bucks vs Private Party
Lucha Bros vs Jurassic Express
Best Friends vs SCU
The Dark Order receive a bye
“Look at the pure joy on my face! I had a true blast at #AEWDynamite tonight! Big thanks to our #JayAndSilentBobReboot co-star @IAmJericho for having us at the @AEWrestling television premiere! Hope you’re all celebrating by cracking open bottles of the Bubbly!” Kevin Smith Tweeted about last night.
Christopher Daniels is a big Kevin Smith fan and noted he was happy he got to speak with him last night.
I was happy that I got the chance to tell @ThatKevinSmith how much I appreciated his work, how much fun being on COMIC BOOK MEN a few years back was, and hopefully he ends up being a fan of #SCU when it’s all said & done! https://t.co/PsM7SYebEu
A lot of things happened last night on the premiere episode of AEW Dynamite. Perhaps not the most important of those is that someone tossed a hot dog wiener into the ring during the closing moments of the show. The incident led Chris Jericho to address the crowd and also to crush the wiener in his hand.
Chris Jericho picked up the win for his team in last night’s main event on Dynamite. In the show’s closing moments, it appeared Jericho aligned himself with several heels on the AEW roster. Sammy Guevara, Santana & Ortiz, Jericho, and the debuting Jake Hager took out the Elite and stood tall as a unit to end the show.
The first episode of AEW Dynamite featured some interesting
matches including the 6 man tag main event which ended in a big brawl and the
AEW debut of the former WWE World Champion Jack Swagger.
In the post-show media scrum, the company president Tony
Khan talked about the various aspects of their debut show and also revealed
that Jack Swagger has been signed to them for a while.
Khan revealed that Swagger, who also uses the name Jake Hagger has been signed to them for a while now and both the parties had successfully kept it secret till now:
“You know what’s pretty cool about secret keeping is
that Jake’s been signed for like a really long time, Jake’s been signed to us
for like a really long time now. Jake can clearly keep a secret and so can we.
For quite awhile now Jake was signed.”
The AEW President then went on to confirmed that Swagger’s signing with the promotion will not affect his MMA schedule and he has adjusted his schedule to be able to do both.
Apart from this Tony Khan also talked about Jack Swagger joining Chris Jericho, Santana & Ortiz and Sammy Guevara calling this group a stable.
When asked if he is confirming their status as a stable, Tony Khan claimed that the way they acted seemed like a stable to him. They seemed like guys with a plan but we will have to wait and see.
AEW made their TV debut with an explosive episode of Dynamite, which featured some great matches such as Pac vs. Adam Cole and the 6 man tag match in the main event as well as the debut of the former WWE World Champion Jack Hagger.
Though this wasn’t all the action that took place during the night. Cody Rhodes had promised dark matches to the crowd attending the show and the company delivered on their promise with not one, but 4 dark matches both before and after the event.
The first dark match which took place after the 6 men tag main event concluded, saw the Lucha Brothers teaming up with Jack Evans, and Angelico.
These four faced and defeated the team of Private Party and
The Best Friends. Orange Cassidy was also seen wandering in the ringside for
this bout.
The second match was a women’s division match after the crowning of the first-ever AEW Women’s Champion and it saw Britt Baker and Allie teaming up to defeat Penelope Ford and Bea Priestley.
The fans got to see SCU in action as well and the trio faced
the team of Luchasaurus, Marko Stunt, and Jungle Boy in another 6 man tag match
and they defeated Jungle Boy and his friends.
Though this wasn’t all the live-action fans saw as Darby Allin also competed during the night and he defeated CIMA in a singles match before the show went on air.
