Tag: aew media scrum

AEW Full Gear media scrum notes: Tony Khan on Continental Classic, Ronda Rousey

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Here are notes from Saturday’s AEW Full Gear media scrum, which included the likes of MJF, Will Ospreay, Chris Jericho, Tony Khan, and more.

MJF

  • MJF began the presser crying as he cut a promo saying his leg was busted and thanked Adam Cole. He said Jay White was “a piece of s***” but was an incredible athlete. He said he loved wrestling and Saturday’s show gave people so many versions of what pro wrestling can be.
  • He also dedicated the match to his grandfather, who passed away three years ago.
  • MJF said he didn’t want to defend the AEW title against Samoa Joe, but agreed to defend the ROH Tag Team titles with him because he made a promise to Adam Cole. He teased he may not give Joe a title match as he only verbally agreed to a match.

Will Ospreay

  • He said that he signed with AEW because it was the best decision for him and his family. He gets to be one of the best pro wrestlers that’s ever done it and will test himself by being on weekly TV. Said over the last eight years he has matured and now understands the responsibility of being in AEW.
  • When asked about a third match with Kenny Omega, Ospreay said he’d like to do it but would also wrestle Andrade El Idolo and Miro. He also mentioned MJF and Jay White as opponents he’d like to face.
  • When asked if he considered any other promotion besides AEW, ge said he wanted to hear everyone out, including Impact, but he wanted to do what is best for his family.

Julia Hart

  • Says she’s on cloud nine right now and proud of herself. She also mentioned that recent matches with Willow Nightingale and Skye Blue have really elevated her.
  • Regarding her quick rise in pro wrestling, Hart said she had about five matches on the independent scene before wrestling on AEW television, so all of her growth has been on AEW television. She said she couldn’t believe she’s doing this at this point in her career.
  • She was negative regarding her previous cheerleading gimmick prior to joining The House of Black, saying she wasn’t confident about doing it.

Chris Jericho

  • Jericho said Omega was not at the press conference because he went home right away to take care of his sick cat.
  • Regarding an injury to his arm, Jericho said that he got ten stitches.
  • Jericho talked a lot regarding his match last weekend against Konosuke Takeshita for DDT. He said that he thinks the world of Takeshita, saying he’s so good at such a young age.
  • Said he was really glad Ospreay signed with the company, saying Ospreay had had one of the greatest career years ever.

Ricky Starks and Big Bill

  • Both Starks and Bill mentioned they had only met each other recently. Starks emphasized they are not tag team wrestlers, they are singles wrestlers that are Tag Team Champions.
  • Big Bill opened up about his previous issues with sobriety. He said that thought he was just going to keep living a miserable existence. He credited pro wrestling with helping him become sober. He felt if he could get things together he could make it back to the top of pro wrestling, and now he is one half of the AEW Tag Team Champions, so he did exactly what he thought he’d do. Tony Khan noted this was the first title Big Bill has held in any company.

Orange Cassidy

  • Said that beating Jon Moxley was one of his biggest accomplishments, calling Moxley one of the greatest wrestlers ever. He also mentioned defeating Claudio Castagnoli recently.
  • Cassidy said that he draws his own stick figures for his entrance.

Tony Khan

  • At the start of the media scrum, Khan noted that the pay-per-view numbers were currently trending higher than last month’s WrestleDream event.
  • He reiterated the rules for the upcoming Continental Classic tournament. The scoring system will be three points for a win, one point for a draw. He compared it to European football. 
  • Khan said that the winner of this tournament will unify three different titles: the ROH World Championship, the New Japan Strong Openweight title, and the AEW Continental title. Khan called it a Triple Crown Championship, comparing it to All Japan’s Triple Crown title. At the same time, he said that he is not creating new championships but is consolidating three titles.
  • Khan repeatedly said that there would be no interference during the Continental Classic tournament.
  • Regarding Ronda Rousey, Khan said she is not signed but thought based on the Wrestling Revolver show it would be great to have a match and build some interest for Ring of Honor. He said he would love to have her back sometime.
  • Mentioned that the load time for next year’s All In would be rushed due to Taylor Swift performing shows at Wembley Stadium around the same time. He said it would cost him more to rush the setup for the show.
  • He said that over 13,000 people were in the building tonight, a Full Gear attendance record.
  • One reporter asked about Mercedes Mone. Khan said he has had great conversations with Mone and would love to have her in AEW.
  • On Will Ospreay, he said that he had been talking to Ospreay since getting permission from New Japan Pro Wrestling. He thought it would be great if he could keep Ospreay in the NJPW/AEW sphere, saying he got the deal done this week.
  • Did not give a firm date on AEW Revolution, but put over Sting and called him “one of the greatest people I’ve ever known or worked with.”
  • Said that Bryan Danielson injury was not as serious as they thought. Khan thought at one point that he thought Danielson would be out longer.

AEW media scrum notes: Tony Khan on Sonny Kiss, Jack Perry, All Out business

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Below are notes from the post-AEW All Out media scrum.

**********

Adam Cole —

  • Cole said that he’s having the most fun he’s had in 15 years in wrestling in his pairing with MJF. He notes that the two were just “thrown together” and neither thought it would click as well as it has.
  • Cole said that he & MJF are open to facing any tag team on the AEW or ROH roster in defending the Ring of Honor Tag Team titles.

Christian Cage —

  • Cage spoke entirely in character.
  • Cage said that Khan had recently re-signed him to a “fat” contract. 
  • Cage said that he collects things of great value including watches, and wrestling titles. 
  • Cage said that he had added so much prestige to the TNT Championship that he thinks it might soon be called the TNT World Championship. 
  • When asked about the possibility of his friend Adam Copeland joining AEW, Cage said that he has no friends besides Luchasaurus. 

Kris Statlander —

  • When asked about Mercedes Mone, Statlander said that she would welcome the challenge. She also mentioned a rematch with Jade Cargill, Toni Storm, Jamie Hayter, Saraya, and Willow Nightingale as potential future opponents.
  • Statlander said that she appreciates everyone’s concern for her health after returning from two knee injuries, but that she wouldn’t have come back if she wasn’t capable of doing everything in the ring she could before the injuries. She noted that she hasn’t modified her style since returning.
  • Statlander put over Orange Cassidy as her best friend and noted that the Best Friends group with herself, Cassidy, Trent Beretta & Chuck Taylor are legitimately best friends who travel together and hang out together.

Bryan Danielson —

  • Danielson said Ricky Starks carried him through their match at All Out. He said he thought that Starks was good in the ring before, but that the two had never touched prior to their match and that Starks is every bit as good as he thought he was. He praised Starks for using his promo on Saturday’s Collision to elevate Big Bill.
  • Danielson said it was very hard to argue against Jon Moxley being the best wrestler in the world after stepping up with another great performance at All Out.
  • Danielson noted that the Blackpool Combat Club can straddle the line between being good guys and bad guys depending on what the particular story they are involved in calls for.
  • Danielson said that he was cleared not only by AEW’s medical staff but by an outside surgeon (implied that the surgeon who performed surgery to repair the broken arm he suffered at Forbidden Door) to return for his match with Starks.
  • In light of people being concerned for his health, Danielson said he would pull back the curtain and noted that there were lots of smoke and mirrors in the match with Starks to protect Danielson’s arm, mentioning that he never threw a strike with his right arm.
  • In speaking about Tony Khan calling him out as being a point person to help run AEW should anything happen to Tony, Danielson said that balancing work and his personal life is something he strives for and that he spends a lot of time thinking about. He said that he would want to help AEW out.
  • Khan noted that Danielson working Collision on Saturdays would probably be good for that work/life balance.
  • Khan said that Danielson traveled with him for a few weeks and could not keep up with Khan’s schedule and recommended that Khan hire Jimmy Jacobs to travel with him and help keep him organized.

Tony Khan —

  • Asked about Sonny Kiss, Khan confirmed that he had not renewed Kiss’ contract. He put Kiss over as a great wrestler and a person that he likes a lot, but that he can’t keep everyone under contract. He did not rule out Kiss returning at some point, pointing to Stu Grayson as an example of someone who left the company and came back.
  • Khan said that he found out Saturday that Billie Starkz was not cleared to compete and that forced him to change some booking for All Out: Zero Hour, but that he wanted to showcase Athena on the card.
  • Regarding the business of All Out, Khan said that preliminary numbers indicate 100,000-plus pay-per-view buys and somewhere in the range of 10,000 tickets sold for a gate north of $800,000.
  • Khan said that CJ Perry had not signed any type of long-term deal, but didn’t rule out the possibility of signing her depending on how the story with Miro plays out.
  • Khan said that Jack Perry is suspended indefinitely following the backstage incident with CM Punk.
  • Khan thanked Punk for his contributions to AEW as a wrestler, and would not comment when asked if there would be a non-compete period following Punk’s termination, noting that he was not a lawyer who would interpret the language of a separation agreement.
  • When asked about running WrestleDream on a Sunday against the NFL, Khan said that he would like to avoid running against the NFL if at all possible and called it the most powerful media entity in the world. He said that he felt strongly that WrestleDream this year needed to take place on October 1 to honor the first anniversary of Antonio Inoki’s passing.
  • Khan said that All Out will likely be held at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois next year due to an event held at the United Center [I believe he was referring to the Democratic National Convention, but that is taking place a week prior to what would be All Out weekend].

The full scrum can be seen below:

AEW Revolution media scrum notes: Tony Khan talks PPV, ROH, Mercedes Mone

Posted on by Ethan Renner

AEW’s CEO, general manager, and head of creative Tony Khan addressed the media following Sunday’s Revolution pay-per-view. 

Some notes from the scrum: 

  • Khan said that Revolution’s PPV buys number was trending in the 130,000 to 140,000 range, above the level of November’s Full Gear event. 
  • Khan noted that 9,000 were in attendance for the event at the Chase Center, with over 8,000 of those paid, for a gate in the range of $800,000, a record number for the city of San Francisco. 
  • According to Khan, Ring of Honor’s Honor Club streaming service hit 12,000 subscribers with this past week’s ROH TV debut, a record number for the streaming service. He also noted that the ROH television show is closer to the shows he wrote growing up in terms of having lots of matches. He also discussed the positives and negatives of writing a studio wrestling show for hardcore wrestling fans in ROH, versus one for a global television audience in Dynamite. 
  • In response to a question as to whether AEW had discussed bringing in Mercedes Mone when she was teased on television as a potential mystery partner on a Dynamite in Los Angeles in January, Khan did not mention Mone by name, referencing her as “the IWGP Women’s Champion.” He noted that while he has “great respect for that wrestler” and that “any wrestling company would be lucky to have her,” he said that out of respect for his business partners in NJPW he would not discuss whether or not he had any discussions about signing Mone. 
  • Khan was asked about Kenny Omega’s contract status. He put Omega over as one of the biggest stars in the world, the IWGP US Champion, a former AEW World Champion, and said he hopes Omega is in AEW for a long time to come.
  • Khan was asked about a potential release date for the AEW Fight Forever video game, but did not have a firm date to announce. He said the game is an award-winning game, well received, and that it will be a big day when it is finally released. 
  • When asked about AEW making its United Kingdom live event debut, Khan said that he has continued to make progress in his plans to take AEW to the UK, that the debut show will be in London, but that he did not have an official date to announce at this point. 
  • MJF joined Khan for part of the scrum and parodied CM Punk’s All Out scrum appearance by eating pickles: 
  • While MJF was on stage, Khan was asked about MJF throwing water on a young fan at ringside. Khan said that he had spent some time with the fan, a young man named Titus, and that the fan would be joining AEW in Sacramento for this Wednesday’s show. He said that he and MJF had a very serious talk about the incident, and that it was not to be taken lightly. He noted that while MJF is a champion, he did not act like a champion in that moment. MJF stayed in character and while Khan spoke, and did not directly comment on the situation beyond noting with sarcasm that he was “very concerned” about the situation.
  • Ricky Starks and Wardlow also joined Khan for comments and questions from the press, but most if not all of the questions and answers were asked and answered in character. 
  • Khan and Starks spoofed Tony Khan’s Claudio Castagnoli hug:

The full scrum can be seen below:

AEW Double or Nothing scrum: Mark Henry, Lio Rush, NJPW notes

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Photo credit: Jon Alba

AEW held a media scrum following the Double or Nothing PPV. 

Tony Khan, Chris Jericho, Britt Baker and Jungle Boy spoke to reporters. Here are some notable items from the event. 

Tony Khan —

  • Khan said that he has a handshake deal with Lio Rush, who debuted in the Casino Battle Royale. He said that he had looked to bring Rush in for an event in 2020, but Rush filming MTV’s The Challenge precluded that from happening. He said that Rush will continue to be available for NJPW events. 
  • Regarding the promo that Khan cut on WWE’s Nick Khan and the report that WWE had negotiations with NJPW, Khan said that he asked NJPW if they thought he should cut the promo. He said that NJPW agreed and “they thought it was great.” Khan said that he expects to continue working with NJPW. 
  • Khan discussed Mark Henry’s signing. He said that he and Henry are personal friends. He put over Henry’s mind for the wrestling business and thought he would be a good locker room presence. 
  • Khan said that Mark Henry and another current AEW roster member will be commentators on Rampage when the show debuts in August. He said that Rampage will sometimes be taped in conjunction with Dark and Dark: Elevation, but that Rampage will also be live some weeks. 
  • Khan said that he apologized to Hikaru Shida for the incident where commentator Willie Urbina mocked her accent and that it was important that he take action in dealing with the incident. 
  • Khan said he expects that there will be another Stadium Stampede match in the future. 

Chris Jericho —

  • Jericho said that portions of the Stadium Stampede match were filmed over a period of four days and that they were looking to make the match look more like an action movie. 
  • To that end, Jericho said that they brought in a stunt coordinator who works on the Jon Wick action films to help film the “fight scenes.”

Britt Baker —

  • Baker put over the hard work of the entire women’s division and said that they collectively have improved with more television time. 
  • Baker said that AEW currently doesn’t have any female coaches, but could see Serena Deeb in that role in the future. 

Jungle Boy —

  • Jungle Boy gave credit to wrestling veteran talent like FTR and Chris Jericho for improving his in-ring work. He said that working on Dark and Dark: Elevation has helped him improve as well. 
  • He described the anxiety that he deals with before his matches, but said that having his Tarzan Boy entrance music has helped ease that. 

H/t to Fightful for posting video of the scrum.