Tag: aew signings

Kyle O’Reilly signs with AEW, appears on Dynamite

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Kyle O’Reilly has signed with AEW, appearing at Wednesday’s AEW Holiday Bash edition of Dynamite.

Toward the end of a match between Adam Cole and Orange Cassidy, Bobby Fish appeared at ringside. This distracted Cassidy long enough for O’Reilly to appear from behind and attack Cassidy which eventually led to Cole pinning Cassidy to win the match. Last week on Dynamite, Cole had promised a surprise for Holiday Bash.

Tony Khan later confirmed on Twitter that O’Reilly had signed with the company.

After the match had ended, Cole appeared surprised by O’Reilly’s arrival. The Young Bucks then came out and didn’t seem too pleased about the new developments. The segment ended with Cole leaving with O’Reilly and Fish.

Cole, O’Reilly, and Fish will be in action on next Wednesday’s Dynamite against Best Friends and Cassidy.

O’Reilly, who had been with WWE since 2017, had his contract with the company expire earlier this month. He was last seen on the December 7th edition of NXT, where he was laid out by Von Wagner following a cage match.

AEW’s Tony Khan sees ‘interesting’ talent in recent WWE releases

Posted on by Ethan Renner

AEW president, CEO and GM Tony Khan says that he sees “interesting” talent among the releases WWE made this past week. 

In an interview with Wade Keller of Pro Wrestling Torch, Khan was asked directly if he had any interest in any of the talent cut by WWE. 

“Do any WWE cutbacks [Thursday] night intrigue you?” Keller asked. 

Before directly answering, Khan addressed the situation of mass releases in WWE being a regular occurrence. 

“Yeah. You know, every time they cut like 20 people let’s just say, I mean, it’s terrible. Every time someone loses their job it’s affecting them, it’s affecting people around them. For all I know, with some of these people, maybe they wanted to leave, but I think in general most of these people probably did not, so it’s terrible when anybody loses their work and I feel for them,” Khan said. “Each and every one counts.”

“I’m gonna take a ballpark number, and I’m not trying to make light of everything because everyone counts, and I know this is probably not the exact amount of people, but every time they let, let’s say, as a ballpark, 20 people go, I think there’s been, in general, one, two, three people in there or so, that I am interested in and snatch up, because they keep doing it, these mass layoffs and let, let’s say, 20 people go more or less,” Khan said. 

Khan then spoke about the possibility of adding to AEW’s roster from the pool of talent just released. 

“And each time, I find a few people and the company gets a little stronger and stronger, in my opinion. And I do see a few in this wave. I don’t want to say who or when I would be interested in them, but I do think there’s a few very interesting people they just let go.”

“And same goes with the last wave and the wave before that and the wave before that, and the wave before that,” said Khan.

“So, each time they let, say, 20 people go, there’s a few interesting ones for AEW and this was no exception to that.”

Paul Wight announces ‘Hall of Fame worthy signing’ for AEW Revolution

Posted on by Bryan Rose

As part of his first appearance for AEW, Paul Wight announced on Dynamite that a new signing will take place at Sunday’s AEW Revolution pay-per-view: one that would be “Hall of Fame worthy”.

In an interview with Tony Schiavone, Wight talked about teaming with Schiavone on commentary for the new AEW Dark: Elevation show. He then said that he had a “big scoop” that Sunday, the company would sign a “a Hall of Fame worthy talent that is a huge surprise and a huge asset” for AEW.

Later in the show, it was clarified that Wight would be at Revolution to talk about the signing.

Here is the current card for AEW Revolution, which airs this Sunday:

  • World Champion Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley in an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch
  • Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida vs. Ryo Mizunami 
  • Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks vs. MJF & Chris Jericho
  • Hangman Page vs. Matt Hardy for the loser’s Q1 2021 earnings
  • Team Taz (Brian Cage & Ricky Starks) vs. Sting & Darby Allin in a street fight
  • Casino Tag Team Royale for a future Tag Team title shot
  • Miro & Kip Sabian vs. Orange Cassidy & Chuck Taylor
  • Pre-Show: Britt Baker and Reba vs. Thunder Rosa and Riho

Arn Anderson signs multi-year deal with AEW

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Arn Anderson has officially signed with AEW.

AEW’s Twitter account revealed the news, with Anderson saying that he had signed a multi-year contract with the promotion.

“About a year ago, I didn’t want to be anywhere where I’m not wanted,” he said. “A year later, it seems I am wanted somewhere, and I’m very happy to say today I signed a multi-year contract with AEW. I am absolutely thrilled to be here with all this young talent and watch this company blossom into being the platinum of all of our industry.”

Anderson first appeared on AEW back at last year’s All Out event on August 21, helping Cody in his match against Shawn Spears. In December, he was announced as Cody’s “head coach”, assisting him in matches.

He had previously been a producer with WWE dating back to 2001. He was released by WWE in February 2019, reportedly after letting an intoxicated Alicia Fox wrestle a house show match.