AEW President Tony Khan spoke today on a media call ahead of the Full Gear PPV this Saturday at the Prudential Center.

• AEW Full Gear 2022 Preview

During the call, Tony was asked if CM Punk will be returning to the company and he dodged the question. CM Punk won the AEW World Championship for the 2nd time at AEW All Out on September 4th.

MJF returned after a hiatus to confront Punk at the end of the PPV. At the All Out media scrum, CM Punk went on a rant that spawned a brawl with The Elite, which then resulted in the AEW World and AEW Trios Champions beings suspended and stripped of their titles a few days after winning them.

On today’s Full Gear media call, the AEW President praised CM Punk for his contributions on screen in All Elite Wrestling but added that he cannot comment on if he will return to the company.

The AEW President was later asked if he had any idea of what the former two-time AEW World Champion was going to say in rant and why he didn’t make an effort to stop it. Tony claimed that he did not know what CM Punk was going to say and was focused on the rest of the media scrum.

H/T: WrestleZone

All Elite Wrestling has additional content plans in the works. 

A new report from Fightful Select touches on excitement within Warner Bros. Discovery over the new AEW docuseries that is currently filming. There had been speculation about AEW’s future with WBD after the recent merger, but things are looking more positive as a WBD source stated AEW will likely be offered a renewal with a significant increase on their rights fee deals when the time comes.

Positive News

The two sides have been collaborative and open to input from one another. The WBD source noted this year has been a huge rebound year for interest in pro wrestling across the board and that it came at the perfect time for AEW and WWE.

As previously reported, AEW began filming their new docuseries at the recent Dynamite event in Baltimore that will focus on the behind-the-scenes aspect of the promotion and through the experiences of several wrestlers, which is the point of the series. 

Although not confirmed, the belief is the project will air on TBS in early 2023. All Elite Wrestling did give wrestlers the option to not be involved in the project, but there’s no word yet on which wrestlers the series will focus on. 

Filming is set to go on for six weeks, through the Dynamite event on December 14 at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, TX. AEW President Tony Khan will serve as Executive Producer, while Shed Media Executive Producer Sam Berns will assist with the new series. Production is a collaboration between WBD and Shed Media.

It looks like AEW President Tony Khan has something special planned for the fans with tonight’s (November 2, 2022) edition of Dynamite that will have them talking after the show. 

On today’s Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez said that he was told on Tuesday about something big happening on tonight’s show, and he has heard similar things from other sources. He did note that he doesn’t know exactly what is happening but several people have told him that “something’s happening.”

Khan did appear on Busted Open Radio earlier in the day and previewed the show, but didn’t hint at any surprises for the show. The leading speculation will be about Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks returning to television because they were backstage last week after being suspended for the All Out Brawl with CM Punk. 

AEW Dynamite Card

• ROH Champion Chris Jericho defends against a former ROH Champion of any kind
• AEW All-Atlantic Champion Orange Cassidy vs. Rey Fenix and Luchasaurus
• TBS Champion Jade Cargill vs. Marina Shafir
• AEW World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley vs. Lee Moriarty in a title eliminator match
• Darby Allin vs. Jay Lethal
• Saraya/Britt Baker interview with Renee Paquette
• The Acclaimed’s Daddy Ass Birthday Bash
• ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe vs. Brian Cage

The ratings war between AEW and WWE returns for one night only tonight (October 18, 2022) as AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT go head-to-head for the first time since WWE’s black, and gold brand moved to Tuesdays in April 2021.

The ratings war started in October 2019 when AEW got a television deal to air its flagship show on TNT. To counter-program the show, WWE inked a deal with the USA Network to air NXT in the same time slot. 

That migration ended what fans called the Wednesday Night Wars. During that time, Dynamite bested NXT in viewership in every week except one.

While speaking with Sports Illustrated, AEW President Tony Khan emphasized that his promotion prioritizes being the highest-viewed wrestling program.

Tuesday Night War

“It’s important for us to be the most-watched wrestling show. We want to maintain the great audience we consistently have on Wednesdays and bring it to this one-time-only Tuesday special. We want to be the number-one wrestling show this week on Tuesday.”

Dynamite will feature four championship matches including Jon Moxley defending the World Title against Hangman Page. 

“It’s ‘Title Tuesday,’ only the second time in Dynamite history we’ll have four title matches on the same show,” Khan said. “We’re going to deliver in a major way.”

WWE has also stacked their show as NXT will feature main roster stars like main roster stars such as Rhea Ripley, Raquel Rodriguez, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in matches as well as Kevin Owens in an in-ring segment.

It looks like a new weekly ROH television show is close to becoming a reality following AEW President Tony Khan buying the promotion this past March. 

In an interview with Sports Illustrated that was published on Tuesday, Khan stated that there would soon be “great news” about weekly ROH shows. He noted that there will be one more ROH pay-per-view before the end of the year and plans to follow that up with a weekly show next year. 

Tony Khan’s Plans

“We’ll have great news soon about Ring of Honor weekly shows,” Khan said. “The success of Death Before Dishonor on pay-per-view has ensured there will be more Ring of Honor pay-per-views. Our goal is to have one more great pay-per-view for Ring of Honor in 2022 and then follow that up with a weekly show in 2023.”

Although not confirmed, it’s likely ROH’s annual Final Battle event, which traditionally takes place in December, will be the event that Khan is talking about to close out the year. 

Since Khan purchased ROH from Sinclair Broadcast Group this March, he has held two PPVs held since Khan bought the promotion.

Chris Jericho, the current ROH World Champion, has signed a three-year contract extension with AEW. Khan said in this interview with Sports Illustrated that he thinks 2022 has been one of the greatest years of Jericho’s career.

Warner Bros. Discovery continues to be happy with the television ratings of AEW.

Since the merger in April, there has been a lot of synergy between AEW and WBD with multiple events having WBD branding and the company sending out press releases touting AEW ratings.

Currently, AEW Dynamite airs every Wednesday night on TBS, while AEW Rampage airs every Friday night on TNT. Four Battle of the Belts specials also air throughout the year. 

Warner Bros. Discovery Happy With AEW

While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Kathleen Finch, Warner Bros. Discovery US Networks Group chair and chief content officer, discussed how TNT and TBS can maintain a male audience over time. 

“We really play in the sports space. One of the things that we’re doing around sports is creating shoulder programming to hold onto those fans. AEW [All Elite Wrestling] pulls huge numbers, so we are working with the wrestling team to figure out what new kind of content can we build that’s not in a wrestling ring,” she said.

TNT previously aired “Rhodes To The Top,” a reality show starring Cody & Brandi Rhodes before the married couple left All Elite Wrestling earlier this year. 

All Elite Wrestling has recently seen an explosive number of altercations behind the curtain. From CM Punk’s comments at the AEW All Out Media scrum to Andrade El Idolo and Sammy Guevara’s confronation. AEW which is led by Tony Khan, has been in a bit of disarray.

Eric Bischoff is also no stranger to seeing backstage antics in a wrestling company.

He was up close and personal to a lot of politics and drama when he was senior president of WCW from 1994 to September of 1999. On the most recent episode of Bischoff’s 83 Weeks podcast, he was asked if there were any parallels to the backstage drama between AEW and WCW when he was running the company?

“In some ways, of course. You’ve got talent who can be emotional at times. That’s across the board. Some of the biggest names in the industry have been difficult to work with from time to time.”

“Sometimes the emotions can be heightened to the point where they become problematic. It’s happened in WWE, we saw Stone Cold Steve Austin walk out over creative differences. It certainly happened in WCW, I had my own issues with that.”

AEW Backstage

The physical confrontation after AEW All Out that led to the suspensions of CM Punk, The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega, has upstaged the in-ring product in recent weeks. It brings into question, what’s going on management wise behind the scenes in AEW?

AEW owner and president Tony Khan wears many, if not all the hats in the company. He books the shows on top of making the major executive decisions. Something that former WWE CEO Vince McMahon was often criticized for.

Trying to police a locker room that seemingly has unrest is becoming a larger issue for Khan. When Bischoff was asked if he had any advice for Khan, he said the following.

“Tony has really dug himself in as the end all, be all (of AEW). He’s the CEO, head of creative, whatever six titles he has. I don’t think he has delegated well. I think it would have served Tony much better early on, to set the stage and create the culture.”

“If Tony not only would have surrounded himself but delegated and trusted some of the more senior people around him early on, I think he would’ve quite possibly avoided some of this drama.”

More from Eric Bischoff:

The AEW Dynamite episode this week made more headlines for what happened behind the scenes between Andrade and Sammy Guevara, but the whole debacle seemed to have peaked people’s interest in the show regardless.

This week’s episode of the show celebrating the third anniversary of the weekly series, averaged 1.038 million viewers on TBS.

AEW President Tony Khan didn’t miss the opportunity to comment on the show’s viewership and he thanked everyone who watched the Dynamite episode:

“Thank you every one of you over 1 million live viewers who watched the #AEWDynamite 3 Year Anniversary Show last night! 18 out of 19 weeks (hurricane coverage the lone exception) in Wednesday’s Top 2 Shows on Cable 18-49!”

This week’s episode of the show featuring a tag team match between Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Bryan Danielson & Daniel Garcia did a 0.33 rating in the key demo.

In comparison, last week’s episode of the show featuring the Chris Jericho vs Bandido match in the main event drew 990,000 viewers with an 0.34 rating.

AEW will also be presenting a live episode of Rampage this week to celebrate the 2-year anniversary of Brodie Lee’s last match in the company.

While the match between Andrade and Dark Order’s 10 has been removed from the show after the backstage altercation, the event will still feature a number of interesting bouts including one for the AEW World Trios Championship.

• Watch: Suspended Star Returns To All Elite Wrestling

AEW President Tony Khan has opened up on how he deals with MJF, who has been in the headlines through 2022 for what he has done on and off camera. 

During Double Or Nothing weekend, no-showed a meet and greet the night before the event but did lose in a squash match to Wardlow at the pay-per-view. He demanded that Khan fire him in a memorable promo on the following Dynamite before being pulled from television for several months. 

MJF returned at All Out by being revealed as the joker in the Casino Ladder match, earning him a shot at the AEW World Heavyweight Title. 

He has referred to this as “The Bidding War of 2024” between AEW and WWE. Although he didn’t sign a new deal, he did get a pay increase from Khan prior to his return to television. He is still set to become a free agent in January 2024.

MJF had been frustrated over the last several months because he felt like he outperformed the contract that he signed in 2019. 

Tony Khan on MJF

Khan discussed his relationship with MJF while speaking with Variety.

“It’s very professional,” Khan said of his current relationship with MJF. “He’s been part of AEW from day one, and he’s one of the most important stars on our TV show. … Whether you love MJF or love to hate MJF, I think he’s one of the wrestlers who’s connected with the audience in recent years and made himself a star. He’s also had the company behind him to help build him and support him. I think that he is the total package of everything it takes to be a successful pro wrestler. I think he has it all. He’s a really important part of AEW.”

On tonight’s episode of AEW Dynamite, MJF will wrestle Wheeler Yuta in the opening match.

Jon Moxley has been used as a top star by Tony Khan since his arrival in AEW at Double or Nothing 2019. The AEW President has also leaned on Moxley when needed to help carry the company. 

Moxley was originally slated to take time off after AEW All Out but was called upon to work the AEW World Heavyweight Title tournament when CM Punk was stripped of the title due to his part in the backstage fight with The Elite. He’s the first-ever star to hold the AEW World Title three times. 

Tony Khan Praises Mox

The AEW President recently had an interview with My Mom’s Basement podcast, and during it, he praised Moxley for his efforts. 

“Yeah, man, he’s been unbelievable. I think Jon Moxley this year is absolutely unquestionably somebody to be considered a top candidate for AEW’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) and definitely so many great matches, so many great moments with Mox, and what a great champion.”

Khan continued, “The GrandSlam tournament of champions was a huge success for AEW. Jon Moxley was a great winner. The finals match with Jon Moxley vs. Bryan Danielson was tremendous. I think Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Jericho was tremendous and Mox vs. Sammy, Sammy vs. Darby, and Danielson vs. Hangman are all great matches. I came at a great time for us and everybody involved in that tournament is a really important star, and they all had great credentials as champions to qualify for that Tournament of Champions so that was a big success for us.”

You can check out Tony Khan’s full interview below:

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

The one good thing among all the backstage chaos in AEW in the last few months has been the emergence of competent locker room leaders. One name in particular that has received praise for his efforts is Chris Jericho. There have been many stories of Y2J helping people behind the scenes and Tony Khan thinks that it’s something that you cannot put a price tag on.

The AEW President recently had an interview with My Mom’s Basement podcast. Among other things, he was asked about the stories of the former AEW champion stepping up as a locker room leader. Replying to it, Khan first mentioned how Jericho has stepped up his game on screen:

“Yeah. Chris, he’s stepped up in every way this year. Chris has always been a huge part of AEW, I think it’s a microcosm of what Chris has done this year.” said Tony Khan, “He stepped up on screen. You can see it on his face and in his body. In his wrestling and the quality of matches.”

‘You Can’t Put A Price Tag On That’: Tony Khan

Speaking about his role behind the scenes, Tony Khan mentioned that Chris Jericho has been helping anyone who needs it. Per TK, Jericho is giving back to the business in more than one way:

“He’s also stepped up his game backstage, trying to help other people with their interviews and then if he sees somebody that needs help, he’ll go and try to help them. I think that’s really cool. For a lot of people either in the ring, or backstage, that mentorship from Chris, you can’t put a price tag on that.

He’s really given back to the wrestling business in so many ways. What he also does is gives to the fans because some of my favorite stuff in the last few decades involves Chris and a lot of it is here. He’s just having a great year.”

You can check out Tony Khan’s full interview below:

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

This Wednesday AEW will be celebrating its three-year anniversary for their flagship program of Dynamite, which began its run on TNT and has since moved to TBS. While the lineup was already pretty stacked a major title matchup has since been added.

Wardlow took to Twitter this evening to issue an open challenge for Dynamite, with Mr. Mayhem adding that he will be putting his coveted TNT championship on the line. The champ writes, “I dare someone to challenge me for the TNT title this Wednesday at the anniversary show. Someone remotely close to my level. Just show up, I’ll be waiting.”

I dare someone to challenge me for the TNT title this Wednesday at the anniversary show. Someone remotely close to my level. Just show up, I’ll be waiting @TonyKhan @AEW #AEWDynamite #IDareYou

— Wardlow (@RealWardlow) October 3, 2022

It wouldn’t take long for someone to respond Wardlow…and that person was Brian Cage. The Machine has been noticeably absent from weekly AEW programming for some time aside from a few appearances on the company’s Youtube shows Dark: Elevation and Dark. Cage did join forces with Tully Blanchard at ROH Supercard of Honor, but Blanchard has since departed from the company.

Tony Khan would later confirm the matchup for AEW fans, one that many have been asking for due to each man’s impressive athleticism and build.

Below is an updated lineup for the three-year anniversary edition of Dynamite:

-Wardlow defends the TNT championship against Brian Cage

-Adam “Hangman” Page vs. RUSH

-Sammy Guevara & Chris Jericho vs. Daniel Garcia & Bryan Danielson

-Wheeler Yuta vs. MJF

-Jay Lethal vs. Darby Allin

-A celebration of National Scissoring Day from The Acclaimed

-Luchasaurus will be in aciton

-Willow Nightingale, Toni Storm, & Athena vs. Serena Deeb, Jamie Hayter, & Penelope Ford

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has mistaken the two Khans in professional wrestling.

All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan has appeared on Barstool’s Wrasslin’ show with Brandon Walker several times. AEW star MJF has the highest viewed videos on the show’s YouTube channel and makes sure to let Brandon know about it every time he appears on his show.

Barstool’s CEO Erika Nardini joined the WWE Board of Directors in 2020 to become the third female member of the then 12-person board. Earlier this month, Erika resigned from the company to focus more on her responsibilities at Barstool.

WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H recently sat down with Barstool competitor LADBible for an interview. It all may be a coincidence, but one thing is for certain, Dave Portnoy is not a fan of WWE co-CEO Nick Khan.

Nick Khan Complains About Barstool Van Talk

In 2017, ESPN brought on popular Barstool Sports personalities Big Cat and PFT Commenter. They host the very successful Pardon My Take podcast and the worldwide leader in sports wanted to capitalize and connect with a younger audience. The show was ordered for a twenty-week run.

‘Barstool Van Talk’ aired for one glorious week before it was shelved, and Big Cat & PFT were sent out the door. It was reported that Nick Khan, who worked as a CAA talent agent at the time, sent screenshots to then ESPN president John Skipper of controversial posts by Barstool in the past.

Following its cancelation, former ESPN President John Skipper issued a statement and claimed that ESPN could not distance itself from Barstool’s “controversial” past.

“Effective immediately, I am cancelling Barstool Van Talk. While we had approval on the content of the show, I erred in assuming we could distance our efforts from the Barstool site and its content. Apart from this decision, we appreciate the efforts of Big Cat and PFT Commenter. They delivered the show they promised.”

Dave Portnoy Mistakes The Khans

Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy has lived the American dream. He took his small self-published newspaper in Boston all the way to one of the most popular websites on the planet. The website has become such a destination that Hall of Famers like Deion Sanders are opting to work there over the NFL Network.

There are two things one you can count on when it comes to Dave Portnoy, almost everything he touches turns to gold and he holds a grudge better than everyone. Robbie Fox of Barstool announced that he will be interviewing Tony Khan today and El Presidente thought Tony was WWE co-CEO Nick Khan and fired off some insults.

Dan Katz (AKA Big Cat) responded that Nick Khan was the one that got it canceled and not Tony. The AEW President chimed in and said “2 more different people we could not be” before promoting Dynamite and Rampage this week.

Portnoy apologized for confusing the two and called the WWE CEO a “snake”. Portnoy added Nick is full of s*** and Tony is the Khan that the company likes.

ROH Tag Team Champions FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) have been booked sparingly as of late by AEW President Tony Khan, despite being fan-favorites.

Dax Harwood in particular has a career year in 2022 in AEW. In addition to competing alongside his tag team partner, Harwood wrestled in several singles matches this year that received rave reviews from fans.

However, FTR hasn’t wrestled as a tag team in a 2 vs. 2 match in AEW since May 25th and fans are wondering what is going on. FTR competed against The Briscoes at ROH Death Before Dishonor in July and teamed with Wardlow to defeat Jay Lethal and the Motor City Machine Guns at AEW All Out on September 4th in a Trios match.

FTR Wants Tony Khan To Start Booking Them Again

FTR battled Aussie Open tonight at NJPW Royal Quest II. After the match, Dax Harwood grabbed the microphone and sent a message to Tony Khan.

Harwood said he wants the AEW President to book FTR more and Tony got some boos from the crowd at Royal Quest II. Harwood sent praise Aussie Open’s way and suggested that they may be the best tag team in professional wrestling today.

Dax continued to compliment Aussie Open on social media and suggested that a company should sign them to a contract fast.

The Forbidden Door will be opened once again for tonight’s AEW Dynamite, as New Japan Pro Wrestling’s booker Gedo will be around for the show.

On Twitter, Khan shared an image with Gedo as well as reigning AEW World Champion Jon Moxley and confirmed that Gedo will be around for tonight’s Dynamite in Philadelphia.

Khan also thanked fans who will be watching the show tonight on TBS.

Opening the Forbidden Door

Gedo won’t be the only example of the Forbidden Door being opened for tonight’s show.

In addition to New Japan’s booker, Juice Robinson will also be on the show and will take on Jon Moxley.

This will be a championship contenders match, meaning that a win over Moxley in non-title action will guarantee Robinson a future AEW World Championship opportunity.

Robinson is one of two men (the other being CM Punk) to have a victory over the reigning AEW World Champion in 2022.

At NJPW Capital Collision in May, Robinson got a victory over Moxley in four-way action, which included Will Ospreay and then IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite

AEW will be opening the Forbidden Door, but that’s not all in store for the show.

Ring of Honor World Champion Chris Jericho will have a celebration of last week’s victory, but will also have his first title defense against Bandido.

AEW Interim Women’s World Champion Toni Storm will defend her title against Serena Deeb, while Saraya is set to speak for the first time since joining AEW last week.

An appearance by MJF has also been promoted for the show.

As the month of September comes to an end the pro-wrestling community is still reeling from the events of the AEW ALL OUT media scrum, and the tirade from former two-time world champion CM Punk, who called out the wrestling media for their “mishandling” of the Colt Cabana situation. The Second City Saint also took aim at the AEW EVPs Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks.

The situation only became worse when a backstage melee occurred between Punk and the Elite, one that got multiple names suspended and threw a wrench into several ongoing storylines that cause Tony Khan to alter his plans once again. At this point an investigation is still going on, with Punk’s status the biggest question mark up in the air. A number of top legends, analysts, and current superstars have weighed in on this monumental moment, and now we can add one more to the list.

Mick Foley Calls Punk’s tirade a disaster for AEW President Tony Khan

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley spoke about the ALL OUT media scrum and the ensuing backstage altercation on the latest edition of his Foley Is Pod program. The Hardcore legend begins by stating the obvious, which is that Punk’s comments at the scrum were counterproductive to his world title win earlier in the evening, and put AEW President Tony Khan in a terrible position.

“I think anything that takes away from the majesty of that moment is counterproductive. By that standard, everything Phil did, Punk did, was disastrous because it put Tony Khan in a bad position. Anything that ends up with, Punk I believe was hurt and would have probably been out. But it put a lot of eyeballs on the product the next night, that’s a given. It was just really unfortunate. You don’t want to see that side of your superstars.”

That’s not all. Foley further elaborated on the situation by comparing Punk’s victory over Jon Moxley to his victory over The Rock, his first world title win in WWE.

“You know, I know when I held that title aloft when I beat [The Rock] for the WWE Title, and I never thought I was a WWE Title guy, so I never based my career on it the way that a lot of people have. But I remember that feeling of just utter joy. I moved pretty good for a big guy when I ran my two or three laps around there and then gave the impromptu promo, Big Daddio did it. I can’t imagine going backstage and being angry or bitter, or taking the joy out of the experience for our fans. So I didn’t see Punk’s promo in its entirety, but it put Tony Khan in a bad position, and there’s a time and a place, maybe, to play with emotions. If you have something substantial that can make people feel strange in their gut, but not after a title win.”

Aside from just the incident Punk was also injured during his matchup with Moxley, which has put him on the shelf once again. At this time it is unknown if he will return when he is all healed up.

CM Punk is Probably Not Returning to AEW

This week’s AEW Dynamite could see a much smaller roster than usual thanks to the effects of Hurricane Ian.

Hurricane Ian is currently approaching Florida, and will pass through the Sunshine State this week.

On Twitter, AEW President Tony Khan announced that anyone involved in the show who cannot safely make it to Dynamite is allowed to miss the event for their safety.

This week’s Dynamite will take place from the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but many AEW wrestlers live in Florida.

Hurricane Ian

According to the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Ian is expected to be a category three storm with wind speeds of 120mph or greater.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency and has activated 5,000 National Guard troops to assist with relief efforts.

The White House has also made its own emergency declaration, which will help federal and state officials coordinate disaster relief and assistance.

Meteorologists have warned that flooding is possible today in the Florida peninsula as the hurricane approaches.

AEW Dynamite

This week’s AEW Dynamite will go ahead despite the hurricane, with matches already announced.

New Ring of Honor World Champion Chris Jericho will have his first title defense when he faces former World Champion Bandido.

AEW World Champion Jon Moxley will face Juice Robinson in a non-title match.

It has also been promoted that MJF will make an appearance on the show, as will Saraya in her first promo on AEW Dynamite.

Saraya debuted for AEW during last week’s Grand Slam special.

AEW President Tony Khan is looking to capitalize on the moment that his promotion has been on for the last several weeks with this Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite. 

On Monday, AEW announced the latest match to be added to the already-loaded episode of Dynamite as Bandido is slated to face current ROH World Champion Champion Chris Jericho in Philadelphia.

Jericho defeated Claudio Castagnoli last week on AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam to win the championship. Bandido lost the World Title to Jonathan Gresham at ROH Supercard of Honor this past April in a match to determine the undisputed champion, as Gresham was previously the Original ROH Champion.

Also announced for the show is AEW World Champion Jon Moxley vs. Juice Robinson in a World Title Eliminator Match. If Robinson can win the match, he will earn a future World Title bout. 

Tony Khan Gives an Explanation 

The AEW President responded to a fan on Instagram questioning these matches being booked. 

A fan wrote: “@tonyrkhan this is what we’re talking about…WHY?!!! the match should be good but WHY is he defending against Bandido FOR NO REASON?!!! Why is Juice getting an Eliminator match? Why not a normal regular singles match?”

Khan responded, “Bandido never got a rematch for the title, which is implied in the copy I wrote. Juice has beaten Mox in NJPW, which is explicitly written in the copy I wrote.”

Also confirmed for this show includes Jericho’s Championship Celebration and promo segments with MJF and Saraya (formerly known as Paige).

AEW wrestlers and management have teased going to the UK for a big show. That plan is still in place. 

The show’s location has always been set in stone. AEW President Tony Khan’s family also owns Premier League football (soccer) team Fulham FC, where they play at Craven Cottage stadium in London. The stadium can hold around 25,000 people.

Date for AEW’s UK Debut Show

Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the plan is still for AEW to visit the UK and to do a show at Fulham’s Craven Cottage stadium.

Meltzer wrote: “Right now, it still looks like next summer at the earliest for a U.K. debut at Craven Cottage, the home of Fulham.”

The promotion has yet to run shows outside of North America. With WWE’s recent Clash at the Castle show and the event’s success, AEW wants to run the market. 

All Elite Wrestling recently held its second Grand Slam event in New York City at Arthur Ashe Stadium that did a $1 million gate. The promotion will venture outside of the United States when they hold Dynamite and Rampage events from the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in October. 

AEW President Tony Khan addressed the crowd after Dynamite Grand Slam went off the air.

He announced that the winner of the Golden Ticket Battle Royal on Friday’s episode of Rampage will battle Jon Moxley for the AEW Championship on the October 18th edition of Dynamite.

It will be a special Tuesday night episode of Dynamite on the 18th airing from the Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati, AEW Champion Jon Moxley’s hometown.

Moxley lost the Interim Championship to CM Punk at All Out. However, Punk had to vacate the title due to an injury as well as the brawl with The Elite during the media scrum.

In the main event of Dynamite Grand Slam, Jon Moxley battled Bryan Danielson for the vacated AEW Championship. The two Blackpool Combat Members gave it everything they had, but in the end, Moxley captured the title once again by putting Danielson to sleep with the Bulldog Choke. William Regal stood in the ring as Bryan Danielson put the belt around Moxley’s waist after the match.

Here are the comments from Tony Khan and you can check them out in the video from Solomonster below.

AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam is looking to be a big success for the second straight year. 

AEW President Tony Khan noted on Twitter that the gate for this year’s event at Arthur Ashe Stadium surpassed last year’s gate. He also noted it will be AEW’s first $1 million gate for a non-pay-per-view. AEW has reached $1 million gates for Double or Nothing, Forbidden Door, and All Out this year.

Last year’s event drew a reported 21,277, with 18,300 paying just over $960,000. The show sold fewer tickets this year, although ticket prices are higher this year. 

According to WrestleTix, tickets distributed are just over 11,400 as of one week ago.

The Cards

Grand Slam: Dynamite

AEW Championship (Vacant): Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley

AEW Tag Team Championship: Swerve in Our Glory (champions) vs. The Acclaimed

ROH Championship: Claudio Castagnoli (champion) vs. Chris Jericho

Interim AEW Women’s Championship: Toni Storm (interim champion) vs. Dr. Britt Baker vs. Serena Deeb vs. Athena

AEW All-Atlantic Championship: PAC (champion) vs. Orange Cassidy

Grand Slam: Rampage

No Disqualification: Sting & Darby Allin vs. Brody King & Buddy Matthews

TBS Championship: Jade Cargill (champion) vs. Diamante

Eddie Kingston vs. Sammy Guevara

Wardlow & Samoa Joe vs. Josh Woods & Tony Nese

Hook & Action Bronson vs. Matt Menard & Angelo Parker

Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Ricky Starks

Jungle Boy vs. Rey Fenix

Golden Ticket Battle Royale

AEW star Maxwell Jacob Friedman is happy to be back on TV with the promotion, as long as company President Tony Khan keeps paying him the big bucks.

MJF returned to AEW at All Out, winning the Casino Ladder Match as the Joker, earning an AEW World Championship opportunity.

Prior to this, MJF hadn’t been seen since the June 1, AEW Dynamite, where he cut a scathing worked-shoot promo on Tony Khan, daring Khan to fire him.

A New Deal

MJF has never shied away from teasing leaving AEW, even claiming during last week’s Dynamite that he could take the AEW World Championship to WWE.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani, MJF announced that he has a new deal with the promotion, one that is seeing him be paid more.

“I’m making a stupid, absurd amount of money now, and I didn’t have to sign a contract extension.”

MJF.

MJF had reportedly been against signing any new deal with the company which would have extended his current contract, which is set to expire on January 1, 2024.

Despite blasting Khan as a “f***ing mark” during his June 1, promo, MJF now says he loves the AEW President thanks to the new deal, but says he has Khan “by the balls.”

Double or Nothing

Before his three-month hiatus from programming, a lot had been said about MJF’s antics before May’s Double or Nothing Pay Per View.

Prior to the event, MJF had no-showed a fan appearance, and had not been responding to attempts to contact him by AEW management.

The self-professed ‘Salt of the Earth’ claimed that during his three months away, he vacationed across Greece with his girlfriend (now fiancee.)

MJF claimed that he told Khan “pay up or daddy doesn’t show up.”

Leaving AEW

MJF is pretty pleased with himself, and his new deal with AEW, but he may still leave when the time is right.

Speaking about the January 1, 2024, expiration date on his contract, MJF said that “the devil goes to the highest bidder.”

MJF reiterated later in the interview that his loyalty is to who will pay him the most in 15 months’ time.

“A lot of people think I’m leaning towards one place or the other. All I’m leaning towards is money. That’s all I live and die by. I go where the money is at. Whoever is going to offer me the most amount of money, that’s where I’m going to do. It’s that simple.”

AEW

MJF may still have one foot out of AEW (or at least wants people to believe that) but he did have some rare kind words for the promotion.

MJF put over some of AEW’s top stars, while still considering himself the brightest star of them all.

“[AEW] has a lot of great stars. Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Chris Jericho, Brody King. But if we’re being honest with ourselves, the show had a big gigantic void, and I was that void.”

MJF.

When asked, MJF said he could not discuss the current situation with CM Punk, who is serving a suspension and could be fired for his actions following All Out.

The phrase any publicity is good publicity seems to be true for AEW as the negative fallout from CM Punk media scrum and the backstage altercation seemed to have helped the viewership of Dynamite.

This week’s episode of the Wednesday night show averaged 1.035 million viewers, which is actually a 1.5% increase compared to last week’s show.

Last week’s episode which featured the final build for the Jon Moxley vs CM Punk match at All Out had averaged 1.020 million viewers.

The show did a 0.38 rating in the 18-19 demographic, which is an increase from the 0.35 rating last week. Dynamite ended up being #2 on cable for the night.

Tony Khan Reacts

Tony Khan didn’t miss the opportunity to tout these viewership numbers. He made a tweet sharing some stats about the show’s ratings:

“Thanks to you, last night marked the first time since Oct 2021 that Dynamite’s had 3 straight weeks over 1 million viewers! + we made it 15 straight Wednesdays Dynamite ranked in cable’s top 2 shows in the 18-49 demo!”

The quarterly breakdown shows that fans were interested in knowing how the company will handle the fallout from the backstage altercation at All Out. Over 1.2 million tuned in for the first quarter of the show and it slowly decreased from there.

Now that it’s confirmed that we won’t be seeing The Elite or CM Punk on TV in the foreseeable future, it’d be interesting to see if the show is able to hold the viewership numbers next week.

Dalton Castle has been one of the Ring of Honor’s top talents for the last several years, and has remained a fan-favorite of the loyal ROH followers even after the company was purchased by AEW President, Tony Khan.

Castle and his loyal servants, The Boys, captured the ROH six-man tag team titles at the Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view back in July, their second reign as the six-man tag champs. Aside from that, Castle is a former ROH Television champion, and a one-time ROH world champion. (He defeated Cody Rhodes at Final Battle 2017 to capture the world title).

Castle is currently working without a contract

According to PW Insider, Castle is a free agent and not working under contract despite holding ROH gold. The report does not note whether any company is looking to bring Castle in, nor does it specify if Tony Khan is preparing to sign Castle to a full-time deal.

Under the Tony Khan era of ROH Castle wrestled on the previously mentioned Death Before Dishonor, as well as Supercard of Honor back in April. He did appear on AEW programming as well, wrestling former world champion Jonathan Gresham at Battle of the Belts II.

We will keep you updated on Castle’s free agency status.

This week’s edition of AEW Dynamite opened with Tony Khan addressing the audience with a pre-taped segment.

Khan announced that following the events of this past weekend at All Out, he has been forced to vacate both the AEW World Trios Championship and the AEW World Championship.

Khan went on to announce that new Trios Champions would be decided this week as PAC and Death Triangle will take on the Best Friends to crown new champions. This follows The Elite (The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega) becoming the first-ever AEW Trios Champions at All Out when they defeated “Hangman” Adam Page and the Dark Order.

However, the real life fight that happened backstage between The Elite and CM Punk and Ace Steel forced Khan’s hand.

CM Punk defeated Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship at All Out. However, his participation in the backstage fight (as well as the fact that he suffered an injury in his match with Moxley) also forced Khan’s hand here as it relates to the world title.

A new AEW World Champion will be crowned at AEW Dynamite in two weeks at AEW Grand Slam at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The tournament begins tonight on Dynamite.

Participants in the tournament include: “Hangman” Adam Page, Bryan Danielson, Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin, Chris Jericho, and Jon Moxley.

• Kenny Omega, Young Bucks, More Suspended By AEW

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