Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts is one of the wrestling legends who has had a resurgence in recent times.

The Wrestling Veteran was one of the top stars of the golden era. However, he disappeared from the public eye later on as battled with addiction and other demons. While he kept making sporadic appearances for WWE, the Hall of Famer got a real second chance when AEW brought him in as a TV regular in 2020.

The wrestling legend opened up about his AEW debut on the latest episode of his Snake Pit podcast. Roberts explained that he was blown away by people’s reactions. When he touched the ropes, he felt like he was at home again:

“Incredible reaction. If you go back to that picture, you can see that all the fans are standing too.” said Jake Roberts, “That doesn’t happen very often anymore. When I walked out there and that rush hit me – Oh my God.

Then whenever I touched the ring apron. I could just feel it come right back through me, man. I felt like I was at home again. It had been so long. It had been so long. It’d been 20 years since I’d been in the ring. To go out there and have that type of ovation happen, to be doing it in the ring with Cody, it couldn’t have been any better.”

Jake Roberts made his AEW debut during the March 4, 2020 episode of AEW Dynamite. He interrupted a promo of Cody Rhodes. He claimed that he had a client coming to AEW, which turned out to be Lance Archer.

You can re-live the incredible moment below:

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If you use any quotes from the article, please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription

Former WWE and AEW star Bobby Fish has spoken about the lack of “direction” in the latter promotion.

Fish worked for years as part of NXT and the Undisputed Era before his release from the gold brand in August 2021.

In October of last year, Fish joined AEW where he reunited with Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly, but chose not to re-sign with the company when his deal expired in August of this year.

Direction

Fish made a big splash when he arrived in AEW, which made his abrupt departure from the promotion this year all the more surprising.

Speaking with The Wrestling Perspective’s Podcast this week, Fish was asked about his AEW run, and said he “would have liked a little more direction.”

Fish was quick to say that AEW, like any other promotion, will never get everything right and that thinking they would is an unfair assumption.

NXT

Before coming to AEW, Fish spent four years of his career in WWE NXT, where he is a former NXT Tag Team Champion.

Speaking about his time in the Undisputed Era, Fish said he and the group worked closely with Triple H and NXT Head Writer Joe Belcastro.

Fish is especially proud of his work in WarGames, saying he was a huge fan of the iconic structure during his youth and it was an honor to compete inside.

It was also said that the UE were given bullet points rather than a script to follow, and the group’s success in promos earned them the nickname ‘one-take UE’ amongst the production team.

Fish added that the WWE can be criticized for being overproduced and micromanaged, but it was nothing they dealt with much.

Kenny Omega has been a household name for years thanks to his in-ring skills as he is considered one the best pro wrestlers on the planet. Omega has always competed at a high level whether that be in New Japan Pro Wrestling or AEW. In that time, he has faced numerous top opponents all over the world.

The former AEW World Heavyweight Champion also doesn’t shy away from competing on less popular shows. Omega decided to compete during the latest taping event for AEW Dark, held on Saturday from Universal Studios. 

In Action

Omega worked the set of tapings when he wrestled Hagane Shinno in singles competition. It’s unclear when the episode of AEW Dark with Omega will air. 

Omega is set to team up with The Young Bucks and square off against Death Triangle in their next match in the best-of-seven series with Death Triangle, for the AEW Trios Titles. The two teams will clash in a No Disqualification Match on the December 21 Dynamite episode. If necessary, the sixth bout will be a Falls Count Anywhere contest. 

We will have spoilers on the homepage later tonight. You can check out some tweets of Omega’s appearance below: 

Last Saturday, Athena defeated Mercedes Martinez for the ROH Women’s Championship at Final Battle. The hard-hitting affair fits with the new version of Athena that fans have seen the last few months.

The ROH Women’s Championship is the second title Athena has held since being released from WWE. She is currently the Warrior Wrestling Women’s Champion. In WWE as Ember Moon, she was the NXT Women’s Champion and NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion with Shotzi Blackheart.

Athena to Defend ROH Championship

It was announced today that Athena will defend her ROH Championship against Miyu Yamashita. The match is for Prestige Wrestling at their Vendetta show on Saturday, January 21. The show will be live-streamed on IWTV at 7 PM PST.

Yamashita tweeted that she is “very honored” to be facing Athena.

Yamashita is currently signed to TJPW. She is a three-time Princess of Princess Champion and current Pro Wrestling EVE champion. She was ranked #12 on PWI’s Women 150 this year. Yamashita faced Thunder Rosa for the AEW Women’s Championship in July.

• AEW Star Undergoes Surgery

This will mark the first time Athena has wrestled Yamashita.

Griff Garrison is on the mend after undergoing the knife. 

The AEW star announced on Friday evening that he had surgery by tweeting that he “had to go under the knife,” but added that he’d be back in no time. The post also featured a picture of himself in a hospital bed. As of this writing, it’s unclear what the surgery was for and how long he’ll be out of action.

Garrison’s Last Match

Garrison has not wrestled since the AEW Dark taping in October, where he and Brian Pillman lost to QT Marshall and Cole Karter. 

Garrison entered the pro wrestling business in 2016 after graduating from the Fire Star Pro Wrestling Academy in Greensboro, NC.

In 2020, Garrison started making appearances for AEW as he made his promotional debut on the June 10th edition of Dark, where he lost to Jimmy Havoc in a singles match.

Garrison was paired up with Brian Pillman Jr. in AEW, where they have found success as a tag team known as The Varsity Blonds. Both Pillman and Garrison were on tiered deals before

The tag team lost the rights to the “Varsity” name to Josh Woods and Tony Nese in October. As a result, they’re now simply The Blonds.

We wish him a speedy recovery.

It is December 16th, do you know what that means? It is Brodie Lee’s birthday.

The former TNT Champion passed away in December 2020 at just 41 years old. His wife, Amanda Huber, works on the promotion’s Community Outreach program. His son, Brodie Lee Jr., portrays -1 in Dark Order. Today would have been Brodie’s 43rd birthday.

Brodie Lee was known as Luke Harper in WWE during his time with the promotion. He was a part of The Wyatt Family, as well as the tag team The Bludgeon Brothers with Erick Rowan. Former Wyatt Family member Braun Strowman took to Twitter to send a happy birthday wish and noted that everyone misses him.

WWE & AEW Pay Tribute to Brodie Lee

AEW’s official Twitter sent out a tribute to Brodie earlier today and said that The Exalted One will never be forgotten.

WWE remembered Harper on his birthday as well. Jon wrestled as Luke Harper in WWE from 2012-2019.

Former WWE Champion Big E was close friends with Jon Huber and wished his friend a happy birthday.

WWE had a live event in Rochester, New York earlier this month and Seth Rollins honored Brodie in his hometown.

Brodie Lee’s final match was on October 7th, 2020. He dropped the TNT Championship to Cody Rhodes in a Dog Collar match. AEW celebrated the life of The Exalted One on the December 30, 2020 edition of Dynamite from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville.

What are some of your favorite moments of Brodie Lee/Luke Harper’s professional wrestling career? Let us know in the comments section below.

Chris Jericho has his next movie project lined up as he is set to lead cast in a wrestling-themed horror movie, “Dark Match.”

Deadline reported today that Jericho will star with Ayisha Issa (Transplant), Steven Ogg (The Walking Dead), Sara Canning (The Vampire Diaries), Michael Eklund (Wynonna Earp) and Jonathan Cherry (Goon) in the movie. 

The Dept. 9 Studios film, which recently wrapped in Edmonton, Canada, is written and directed by Lowell Dean (Wolfcop) and is produced by John MacDonald who also serves as one of the executive producers along with Jericho. Don Depoe and Michael Feehan, who are also Dept.9 producers, are joined by Rhonda Baker (The Grudge) and Michael Peterson.

The Synopsis

The movie sees a small-time wrestling company accept a high-paying gig in a backwoods town, only to discover when they arrive that the community is run by a mysterious cult leader with devious plans for their match.

Jericho previously starred in Terrifier 2 which was released in October that saw him portray a nurse. It became a hit at the box office, grossing $11.5 million.

The ROH Final Battle event was headlined by Jericho defending the ROH World Title against Claudio Castagnoli which saw Jericho drop the championship back to Claudio. 

Wrestling fans can expect All Elite Wrestling’s flagship shows to have a new look and feel in the very near future.

In recent months, Warner Bros. Discovery and AEW President Tony Khan decided it’s time to change the overall look and presentation of Dynamite and Rampage. Those changes will be rolled out at some point in January, according to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

AEW’s recent hiring of Michael Mansury is a big part of this initiative. Mansury previously worked as WWE’s VP of Global Television Production and will serve as Tony Khan’s new Senior Vice President and Co-Executive Producer.

Mansury is considered a “tremendous asset” who is universally well-liked. He worked for WWE from 2009 through 2020. At one time, he was being groomed to be Kevin Dunn’s successor. Many felt he’d replace Dunn whenever Vince McMahon stepped away from WWE, but Mansury didn’t wait that long.

One WWE source told the Observer, Mansury rose ‘too quickly’ through the ranks, which led Dunn to feel threatened and ‘covertly’ make his life very difficult.

AEW’s New Look and Feel

What will this “new look and feel” entail? AEW’s television productions involve many elements, including the the set and staging, lighting, graphics and video packages, music, camera angles, audio, and more.

Dynamite has undergone subtle changes since premiering in October 2019, but it sounds like we’ll be seeing the most significant shakeup to date in just a matter of weeks.

AEW recently brought in Renee Paquette, who has enhanced the broadcast team and by extension, the presentation of the shows.

With AEW’s next round of TV deals approaching, it makes sense for the company to freshen things up now in hopes of being in a better position during negotiations.

Dax Harwood says 2022 was the greatest year of his life and it was capped off by a match he calls his masterpiece.

FTR is widely regarded as one of the greatest tag teams in the world and they’ve held the gold to prove it. Some would argue that All Elite Wrestling could have featured them more prominently this year, but Harwood and Wheeler’s excellence is undeniable. Their tag team record currently stands at 7-3-1 for the year and they’re 6-0 in trios matches.

As the year winds down, Harwood took a chance to look back at the highs and lows of the past twelve months and ponder what the future holds for pro wrestling’s Top Guys. It wasn’t an easy year, but that’s part of what made it so rewarding for him.

2022 and Looking Ahead to 2023

On Friday, December 16, Dax Harwood posted a touching message on social media reflecting on how proud he is of FTR’s work this year and their latest classic against the Briscoe Brothers last weekend at ROH Final Battle.

2022 brought a wide range of emotions, including anger, frustration, joy and pain. He doesn’t know what next year will bring, but he’s grateful for the fans who have supported FTR through it all. He gives his word that he’ll do everything in his power to make sure fans are as entertained as ever.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Uncle Dax FTR (@daxharwood)

Miro is looking forward to making a return to AEW television in the near future, but for now, he’s just waiting and doing everything he can to do so. 

Miro’s last match in AEW happened when he teamed with Sting and Darby Allin to defeat The House of Black at AEW All Out 2022. Fans have wondered when they would see him again since that time. 

Miro commented on his AEW status while  speaking to MUSE TV at the premiere of “Disney+’s National Treasure: Edge of History.”

The Latest

“It’s not up to me, I’m doing everything I can and from then on, I’m just sitting and waiting for the opportunity.”

It was previously reported that Rusev was eager to compete and awaiting conversations around his creative direction, as he has only wrestled four times this year. 

Samoa Joe did reference Miro following his win at last Saturday’s ROH Final Battle 2022 event as he noted that if Miro wants to step up to him, he will gladly take the challenge.

He was released by WWE in April 2020, debuting in AEW as Miro in September of that year. He first aligned with Kip Sabian before going on to become a one-time TNT Champion. 

Saraya wants to see a women’s tag team division in All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

As Saraya prepares for a tag team match of her own, she was recently interviewed by Forbes to talk about a variety of topics. One such topic being the potential of seeing a pair of AEW Women’s Tag Team Titles in the promotion one day.

The former WWE star explained that, while she doesn’t like there to be too many titles in professional wrestling, she does believe there’s room for women’s tag titles. Especially as it would give some women who aren’t on the show already a chance to get some TV time.

“I’m always for an all-women’s show, for sure. I feel like there could be a tag division we could get going as well,” said Saraya. “Like [women’s] tag team championships.

“I don’t think we should load wrestling with a ton of championships, but there is space for a women’s tag division, too. There are a lot of women we have backstage that are not on the show, and that could give them an opportunity to be on the show.

“There is always so much we could do with the women, and people don’t realize how much talent we have backstage.”

Saraya recently signed with AEW back in September after her contract with WWE expired. Following a string of injury woes keeping her from the ring, she was finally able to return to action against Britt Baker at Full Gear in November, successfully defeating Baker.

Chris Jericho’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Rager cruise is gearing up to set sail once again. The fourth Jericho cruise, dubbed Four Leaf Clover, will take over the Norwegian Perl once again.

It all goes down February 2-6, 2023 when the Jericho Cruise sails from Miami, FL to Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas. You can visit the cruise website for booking information and more details of what to expect on board.

Four Leaf Clover will feature 4 days of wrestling matches presented by AEW and the main event has now been signed.

Chris Jericho and Danhausen, collectively known as Jericho Hausen, will face The Gunns (Austin and Colton Gunn). More matches will be announced in the weeks ahead.

More Details on the next Jericho Cruise

• Master of Ceremonies Chris Jericho
• Guest Of Honor Mark Henry
• Guest Cruise Director Mickie James
• Guest Hosts Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson
• Goodwill Ambassador Ted Irvine

There will also be live music, comedy shows, podcasts and more.

Wrestlers on board include:

• Matt Cardona
• Nick Aldis
• Moose
• “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan
• Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake
• Mike Rotunda
• Dan Lambert
• Jonathan Gresham
• Jordynne Grace
• Swoggle
• Brian Myers
• Rocky Romero
• The Boogeyman

Live music from acts including:

• Fozzy
• Quiet Riot
• Royal Bliss
• Raven
• Priss
• Kuarantine
• Guardians of the Jukebox

Live Podcasts from:

• Talk is Jericho
• The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast
• Dan Lambert’s World Title Time Machine
• Talk ‘n Shop

Wednesday’s Winter is Coming edition of AEW Dynamite featured a surprise upset that many fans are comparing to the 1-2-3 Kid’s memorable win over Razor Ramon from May 1993.

After losing the ROH World title to Claudio Castagnoli this past weekend at Final Battle, Chris Jericho said he wanted a tune-up match against a ‘jobber’ – insider wrestling lingo for a competitor who rarely wins their matches.

Jericho got his wish in the form of Action Andretti, a competitor we’ve seen on AEW Dark, but was largely unknown to the AEW audience. It was an exciting match with several close calls, but in the end, Andretti stunned Jericho (and everyone else) by scoring a surprise victory via roll-up.

Jericho was in utter disbelief over the loss. Later in the show, he was shown backstage throwing a tantrum. No matter how he refuses to accept the outcome, a win is a win.

Update on Action Andretti’s Win

How did Action Andretti go from a relatively unknown to pinning Chris Jericho live on national television?

As it turns out, this match and the shock outcome have been planned for months – and it was all set up by Chris Jericho. On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer explained how it all went down.

Back in October, Andretti wrestled QT Marshall on a match that aired on AEW Dark. Jericho was watching the match backstage and was blown away by the young high-flyer. Jericho saw the potential for Andretti to be a star, but he just needed a break. Jericho had a few ongoing storylines in the works, but he decided then that he wanted to wrestle Andretti on the big stage when his schedule cleared up.

Shortly after the match concluded, AEW President Tony Khan announced on social media that Action Andretti is All Elite and earned himself a contract with the promotion.

H/T F4WOnline

Saraya is neither confirming nor denying the reports that Sasha Banks will make her debut for AEW next month as her mystery partner.

The former Paige debuted for AEW at September’s Dynamite: Grand Slam and had her first match at Full Gear, defeating Britt Baker.

This also marked Saraya’s first match since a neck injury suffered at a December 2017 WWE Live event ended her in-ring career.

Sasha Banks

During that infamous WWE Live event, Saraya’s injury happened after she took a kick to the back of the head by Sasha Banks.

It was reported this week that Banks is ‘done’ with WWE, after being suspended in May for walking out of an episode of Raw.

During an interview with Forbes, Saraya responded to speculation that the former Raw and SmackDown Women’s Champion could team with her in AEW.

“I feel like anytime there’s a mystery, everyone always goes straight for Mercedes (Sasha Banks). They’re like—straight away—it’s her! There’s plenty of women out there, I’m not going to say yes or no to anybody, but there’s a lot of exciting prospects for a potential tag partner.”

Saraya.

Saraya and a mystery partner will face AEW Women’s World Champion Jamie Hayter and Britt Baker on the January 11, 2023, episode of AEW Dynamite.

Banks in Japan

Banks could be in AEW soon enough, but that’s not the only promotion with an eye on the Boss.

It has been reported that Banks is set to appear at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4, one week prior to the Saraya tag match.

Bushiroad, the parent company for both New Japan and STARDOM, have reportedly reached a deal for Banks to have a handful of matches a year for them.

Banks’ per-appearance contract will make her the highest earner per appearance in Bushiroad history.

Chris Jericho said he was going to get a tune up on Dynamite when he wrestled an enhancement talent. He far underestimated his opponent.

Action Andretti was the lucky one to face “The Ocho” in his first match since dropping the ROH World Championship last Saturday at Final Battle. Andretti would not allow Jericho to look past him. He forced offense and even forced Jericho to wrestle in picture-in-picture.

Nine and a half minutes later, Andretti shocked the AEW Galaxy when he upset the former champion. He drew comparisons to the 1-2-3 Kid. He took notice.

Who is Action Andretti?

After that performance, fans on Twitter were calling for Andretti to be signed. Minutes later Tony Khan tweeted out the #AllElite graphic with “Congratulations! It’s official! Action Andretti is ALL ELITE!”

For those fans that watch Dark, Andretti is someone they’ll recognize. Back in October, he had a tag team match against Tony Nese and Josh Woods. The next night, he would have a seven minute match against QT Marshall.

• MJF on His AEW Title Match Against Ricky Starks on Dynamite: “This is a Chance for People to Witness History”

He regularly wrestles for MCW and just successfully defended the MCW Heavyweight Championship against Speedball Mike Bailey. He’s also competed in GCW and CZW.

Andretti had a memorable debut and it’ll be fun to see where he goes from here.

MJF won the AEW World Championship from Jon Moxley in the main event of Full Gear. William Regal betrayed Blackpool Combat Club member Jon Moxley and slid Friedman the brass knuckles.

Max bashed Moxley over the head with them to capture the title. MJF would then betray William Regal a week later and hit him over the head with the brass knuckles as well. He is set to make his first title defense against Ricky Starks at Dynamite: Winter is Coming.

Ricky earned the match by winning the World Title Eliminator Tournament. Starks also won the Dynamite Diamond Battle Royale last week and will challenge MJF for the Dynamite Diamond Ring tonight in a Winner Takes All match.

Speaking with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, the AEW World Champion hyped tonight’s match and as two homegrown talent fighting for the most important title in the business.

MJF continued to reference Bryan Danielson and it appears that will be his next rivalry. Friedman used the word “fickle” in one of his recent promos and mocked Danielson for not showing up to Dynamite last week after his attacked William Regal. Danielson left with Regal in the ambulance on the November 30th edition of Dynamite. Maxwell used “fickle” once again to describe AEW fans who want to see him wrestle for the promotion more.

H/T: Sports Illustrated

AEW President Tony Khan has secured the rights to “Roundball Rock,” the iconic theme song NBC used for many years for their NBA broadcasts.

Khan announced the news on Twitter and also noted that it’s his favorite song. Khan tweeted: “We got the rights to my favorite song! See you tomorrow for Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite on @TBSNetwork at 8pm ET/7pm CT for Winter Is Coming!”

AEW Dynamite: Winter Is Coming Card

AEW has loaded up the card for this show with two title bouts featured, including the fourth match between Death Triangle and The Elite in their AEW World Trios Championship best-of-seven series. Also, MJF will defend the AEW World Heavyweight Title against Ricky Starks in the likely main event. 

Here’s the full card:

• AEW World Championship and Dynamite Diamond ring winner takes all: MJF (c) vs. Ricky Starks
• House of Black in action
• AEW World Trios Championship best-of-seven series: Death Triangle vs. The Elite (Death Triangle leads 2-1)
• Ruby Soho vs. Tay Melo
• Chris Jericho in action

You can hear the song below in the preview video for the special edition of Dynamite: 

Since making a name for himself in the NWA and finding more success in AEW, fans have compared Ricky Starks to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Although there are some similarities as Starks carries himself and looks like the former WWE Champion, he is his own man. 

Starks will challenge MJF for the AEW World Title this Wednesday at Dynamite: Winter is Coming. Last week during their promo exchange on Dynamite, MJF stated that Starks was a “dollar store, Dwayne.”

For Stars, he knows who he is and opened up on the comparisons while doing an interview with ComicBook.com’s Liam Crowley.

The Comparisons

“I tell this all the time, The Rock wasn’t my favorite wrestler. He was like my number three favorite wrestler,” Starks said “That’s not to discredit The Rock from any type of talent he has, but I say that to say he wasn’t a big inspiration.”

“I always tell this: I don’t hate the comparisons,” Starks continued. “What I do hate though, is being discredited for my natural creativity in lieu of someone saying, ‘Well, you’re just literally copying The Rock,’ which isn’t true at all.”

Starks pointed to his hometown of New Orleans for how he talks and doesn’t look to Rock as a mentor but respects him for having a great business mind and everything he has done in wrestling. 

Starks added, “If some by chance, somebody thinks that I’m Rock-lite, then that’s cool.”

Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks returned at AEW Full Gear after being suspended for over two months for their part in the brawl with CM Punk following All Out.

The Elite lost to Death Triangle at Full Gear but as it turns out, it was just the start of a Best of 7 Series for the Trios Championships. Death Triangle and The Elite will meet in Match 4 of series tomorrow night at AEW Dynamite: Winter is Coming. Death Triangle currently leads the series 2-1. MJF will put the AEW World Championship on the line against Ricky Starks tomorrow night as well.

Wrestling Twitter account GrappleKlips sent out a video showing RVD and Omega hitting the same move sequence.

Omega replied and revealed the ECW legend and former WWE Champion influenced his career, along with many other wrestlers today.

Rob Van Dam captured the WWE Championship from John Cena at ECW One Night Stand in 2006.

RVD on CM Punk’s Ego

Rob Van Dam recently spoke with former WWE Superstars Rene Dupree and Paul London about working with CM Punk following his rant targeting the AEW EVPs, Hangman Page, and Colt Cabana following winning the title at All Out.

In October of last year, Eric Bischoff made headlines, while also probably making an enemy of AEW owner Tony Khan, when he told Khan that he should “Shut up and wrestle.” It started a bit of a war of words between the two men and, coincidentally, Bischoff hasn’t been seen on AEW TV since.

Many criticized Bischoff for his stance, while many others commended him. But now, Bischoff has clarified his statement and offered the reason as to why he said it in the first place.

Bischoff discussed the ‘Shut up and wrestle’ comment on the most recent episode of his podcast, 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff, in which he compared Tony Khan to Diamond Dallas Page.

“Going back to my first kind of negative comment about Tony, when I basically said ‘Shut up and wrestle; quit comparing yourself to WWE and creating an illusion because in the process, you’re gonna lose goodwill,'” Bischoff stated. “That was my point. No, I didn’t make that point in my comment, but that was my reason for going ‘Shut up and wrestle, dude. Just put out a better product. Then let the audience put your product over. Don’t put your own product over.'”

Bischoff said Tony Khan’s penchant for calling out WWE from time to time reminded him of when Diamond Dallas Page was trying to become a star in WCW.

Bischoff Compares Tony Khan to Diamond Dallas Page

“I used to say that to DDP all the time,” Bischoff said. “Because when DDP was really starting to transition from that over-the-top, super gimmick character; trying to be a little bit of everybody – he was Superstar Billy Graham, he was Jake the Snake Roberts – he was like 15 different characters all rolled up into one, right?

“And once he started making that transition to becoming that blue-collar, all-American dude that anybody could relate to, I used to tell him in his promos ‘Man, don’t put yourself over.’ Because the minute you put yourself over, you’re taking away any need or desire by your fan base or your audience to do it for you. It’s you going out and getting the audience to put you over, because the audience putting you over makes all the difference in the world. Otherwise, you’re just another wrestling personality out there trying to get yourself over, and people tune that out. But when you quit trying to put yourself over, focus on your character and your work, all of a sudden, the audience is doing it for you. And the audience putting you over is worth tenfold you trying to do it yourself.”

It’s good advice, really. Even if Bischoff didn’t exactly make his intentions known with his original comments.

“That was my point when I made that comment about ‘Shut up and wrestle,'” Bischoff reiterated. “It’s just, ‘Quit putting yourself over and let the audience do it, because that creates goodwill.’ But the more you put yourself over – in this case, Tony – the more Tony put himself over or put AEW over and, in the process, belittled WWE who is a monster, you know? They’re Goliath and you’re not. But by constantly taking shots at them and trying to convince the audience that you’re better than they are, you’re not taking advantage of the goodwill that you have automatically. That was my point.”

Eric Bischoff: “Stephanie McMahon Would Kill Tony Khan” in a Fight

It’s a good point, and perhaps its advice that Tony Khan has taken, even subconsciously. Despite a brief, tension-fueled breakdown at the All Out press scrum, in which he said that he was ‘Tired of [WWE’s] f*ckin sh*t,’ he hasn’t really spoken too much about the company up north.

Michael Mansury is the latest person to become ‘All-Elite’ after honing his production skills for years as part of WWE.

Mansury is expected to begin his new job as AEW’s Senior Vice President and Co-Executive Producer with this Wednesday’s Dynamite, PW Insider reports.

Starting with WWE in 2009, Mansury was with the promotion for eleven years before leaving on his own accord in May 2020.

Michael Mansury

While he’s a name most fans will be unfamiliar with, Mansury had significant influence over WWE Premium Live Events and TV shows for years.

Upon his departure in 2020, it was reported that many saw Mansury as the successor to Kevin Dunn, who has worked for decades as WWE’s Head of TV production.

After Vince McMahon’s retirement in July of this year, it was suggested that Dunn would be on his way out of the promotion, though that did not happen.

Triple H is said to be a big fan of Mansury’s work, though a source who spoke to Fightful said that there there wasn’t much farther he could go above his position in WWE unless Dunn stepped aside.

Reaction

In their report, Fightful adds that both AEW and WWE are happy about Mansury’s hiring by Tony Khan.

The belief is that Mansury will go a long way in helping AEW’s content, with one WWE source saying he’s in touch with AEW’s core demographic.

One WWE source that has heavily criticized AEW has said that he saw this as AEW’s biggest hire this year.

Sting is still going strong after decades of being in the pro wrestling business, but from time to time, he needs to repair his body. 

Two years ago this month, Sting made his debut for All Elite Wrestling at ‘Winter Is Coming’ and to promote the third annual Winter Is Coming event on Wednesday, Sting appeared on The K&C Masterpiece. 

Sting revealed that he underwent surgery six or seven weeks ago to have his knees cleaned out. 

“I just had surgery. It’s been six, seven weeks ago now. Basically just a clean out on my very old knees.”

Needed a Clean

Sting was most recently in action for AEW at Full Gear, where he and Darby Allin scored a win over Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal. 

Sting recalled a story about how he blew his shoulders out in a match against Kurt Angle in TNA Wrestling and the surgeon telling him that it looked like a bomb went off inside of his shoulder. 

His recovery from surgery may explain why he didn’t accompany Darby to the ring for his TNT Title match on December 7th. 

H/T POST Wrestling

Ricky Starks faces the biggest challenge of his career later this week. The former FTW Champion looks to etch his name in the history books when he challenges MJF for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship at Winter is Coming.

Sparks spoke with DAZN about a number of topics, including the opportunity to work closely with CM Punk and William Regal in AEW over the past year.

Punk name-dropped Starks during one of his first promos after returning to pro wrestling. He thinks the ‘Punk thing’ really helped the way fans perceive him, but he’s a bit annoyed they never got to work together in the ring.

“It’s not to stroke my own ego, but it’s about iron sharpening iron,” he said. “I’m definitely a type of person that would be able to benefit from that in terms of just excelling in my talent.”

Starks says he learned a lot from working with Punk and Regal behind the scenes. Punk’s AEW status remains questionable at best, but Starks is still hopeful they’ll get to wrestle at some point down the line.

“I am hopeful that down the line I do get that matchup. If not, then I get it. That’s how the business is. But it would be nice (smiles). It would be nice to be able to work with somebody of that caliber because besides Sting, I’ve yet to work with someone of such a high caliber.”  

Catch Ricky Starks vs. MJF this Wednesday on TBS when AEW presents the special ‘Winter is Coming’ edition of Dynamite.

Taz has called out the UFC for taking one of his ideas, and that idea is the FTW Title, which he first introduced in ECW. 

His son, HOOKis the current FTW Champion in AEW. Taz recently accused UFC of ripping off the FTW title. In a post on Twitter, Taz noted the FTW Title belt had had a buzz around it from the ECW years, negative or positive. 

He thinks the most important thing is that the belt is still around while all the others that wrestlers created are long gone. Taz claimed that the UFC BMF concept is a complete ripoff of the FTW title.

Taz’s Claims

“Correct. Some fans don’t like it or feel it should be around, but that’s ok to me! It has had buzz around it from the ECW years, negative or positive..don’t matter. FTW belt is STILL here, all the others that wrestlers created been long gone.”

Taz followed up with another tweet that read: “Yes, that BMF concept is a complete ripoff of the FTW title… I really don’t give a shit because fans who know the history know that’s the vibe I started with the FTW title in late 90’s….”

The UFC BMF (Baddest Motherf*cker in the Game) belt was commissioned for a UFC 244 fight between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz in November 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Rock awarded Masvidal the championship when he beat Diaz. 

Thunder Rosa’s back injury and her absence from AEW programming has made more headlines than her women’s title reign did. Though even after recent events, it doesn’t appear that we will be seeing her back in the near future.

Dave Meltzer of F4Wonline recently provided some update on the former champion’s recovery. He noted that the female star was hoped to be back in February:

“The last word we’d heard was she hoped to be back in February. There were a lot of people who thought she would be Saraya’s mystery partner against Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter on 1/11 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, but the last word on her return was February.”

Thunder Rosa originally announced back in August that she will be taking time off due to injury. She was the AEW women’s champion at the time.

Since there wasn’t a solid timetable for her recovery at the time, Tony Khan made the decision to keep the title on her and move forward with an interim champion.

• Ivelisse Lashes Out at AEW Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa

This decision however was reversed last month. It was announced during the November 23 Dynamite that Rosa had relinquished her championship.

The former champion herself also provided some updates on her recovery recently. She revealed that she wasn’t allowed back in the ring yet which coincides with the belief that the AEW star won’t be returning before next year.