The history between Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal has been long and storied—and it looks like it’s about to get a little longer.
Lethal appeared alongside Lee Johnson for a promo during tonight’s ROH Supercard of Honor show. He addressed his past as Samoa Joe’s protégé in the early days of the promotion, and compared it Joe now mentoring Anthony Bowens in AEW. He then challenged Joe and Bowens to face himself and Johnson on Collision on Saturday night in Salisbury, Maryland.
Lethal started in ROH under the name Hydro in the Special K faction. In 2004, Joe convinced him to leave the group and use the Jay Lethal name. The two would share the ring as partners and opponents several times, with Joe defeating Lethal for the ROH Pure Championship in 2005.
In future years, Lethal would fail in several challenges of Joe in TNA for both the X Division Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship. They would also team up to challenge for the World Tag Team Championships, but were unsuccessful.
They have met just once in the past decade: In July of 2022, Joe again defeated Lethal to retain the ROH World Television Championship at Death Before Dishonor.
Former tag team champion Anthony Bowens recently expressed his thoughts on reviving WWE’s Tough Enough in AEW under a new name.
In a recent social media update on X(formerly known as Twitter), Bowens pitched the idea to revive the concept of Tough Enough in AEW. He also opened up about how it would give extra content to Warner Bros Discovery.
Bowens also shared his interest in signing up as a judge or trainer for the concept.
“I want [AEW] to bring back OG Tough Enough but call it ‘Becoming The Elite’ or something like that. WBD would love the extra content! Sign me up as a judge/trainer [Tony Khan].”
Anthony Bowens once opened up about his character’s unfinished story in AEW
“Everything I did was purposeful and was meant to lead to something that never happened. People have stop pretending like they know everything,” he said. “Nah dude! Just informing him that his assumption of stubbornness is incorrect and based off of something he has no idea about. I can accept your opinion of me as a wrestler, whether you think I’m a 2 out of 10 or 7 out of 10, but that’s much different than having to listen to people say stupid shit like that for the last year. Have a good day!”
A new member of The Opps has officially been revealed.
On Collision, Samoa Joe met up with Hook following his return and asked what had been going on. Hook said he had been looking for new members to recruit. The two were confronted by Anthony Bowens, who said he wanted to know if he was in or not. Samoa Joe said that there were no more vacancies in the Opps, but then told Bowens they found their newest member. Hook told Bowens that he had passed the test, officially welcoming him into The Opps.
Joe returned from injury on Wednesday, defeating Cody Chhun in under three minutes. Shortly after losing the Trios titles in January, AEW announced that Samoa Joe was not cleared to compete. It was later reported that he was in concussion protocol.
In the weeks following Joe’s injury, Hook said that was put in charge of finding new members of the Opps. One person seemed interested: Anthony Bowens, who last seen forming an unreluctant tag team with former partner Max Caster. Hook seemed to stall on the idea of letting Bowens into the group until Joe’s return this week.
.@SamoaJoe is BACK, and @730hook is giving Joe the rundown on what’s happening with The Opps… but @Bowens_Official is still waiting for an answer!
Anthony Bowens’ Five-Tool Player gimmick didn’t have much success in AEW. Now Bowens is saying he never got to finish what the character started.
Bowens discussed the issue on social media after asking his fans to send him questions. One fan discussed Bowens’ “stubbornness” and asked if the gimmick hurt his solo run.
“Everything I did was purposeful and was meant to lead to something that never happened,” Bowens replied. “People have stop pretending like they know everything.”
Bowens expounded on his comments in a reply to another fan. “Just informing him that his assumption of stubbornness is incorrect and based off of something he has no idea about,” he wrote. “I can accept your opinion of me as a wrestler, whether you think I’m a 2 out of 10 or 7 out of 10, but that’s much different than having to listen to people say stupid sh*t like that for the last year. Have a good day!”
Bowens and his former partner Max Caster are former AEW World Tag Team Champions, and they also won the AEW World Trios Championships with Billy Gunn. They officially broke up in January of 2025, with Bowens adopting the Five-Tool Player nickname, a reference to his background in baseball. He and Caster then had a never-ending rivalry/partnership for the rest of the year, winning Worst Feud of the Year in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards.
Is there any chance for an Acclaimed reunion? Another fan asked Bowens who his favorite Max was, Caster, or AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman. “Caster” was Bowens’ blunt reply.
House of Glory has booked some of AEW’s most decorated champions for its next show.
Both Sammy Guevara and the Acclaimed will be appearing at HOG’s Superclash event in Long Island on March 21. It’s hard to tell whether Anthony Bowens and Max Caster are still teaming together in AEW these days, but HOG has booked the Acclaimed together in a tag match against the Mane Event, the team of Jay Lyon & Midas Black. Originally trained by HOG founder Amazing Red, Lyon & Black are three-time former HOG Tag Team Champions.
Speaking of Amazing Red, he’ll also return to action on March 21, facing Guevara. It will be the first time that Guevara has wrestled the 28-year veteran, who has won three TNA X Division Championships among many other titles.
Guevara, Cody Rhodes, and Wardlow are the only three-time TNT Champions in AEW history; he is also a former Interim TNT champion and a three-time Ring of Honor Tag Team champion, a title he currently holds along with the Beast Mortos.
The Acclaimed are former AEW World Tag Team Champions. Along with Billy Gunn, they once held the AEW Trios Championships for 238 days, a record that was only recently broken by the Opps of Samoa Joe & Katsuyori Shibata & Powerhouse Hobbs.
House of Glory is co-promoting Superclash along with The Big Event. The event takes place at the Suffolk Credit Union Arena in Brentwood, New York, on March 21. Tickets are available here.
Former AEW Tag Team and Trios Champions The Acclaimed will reluctantly reunite next week on either AEW Dynamite or Collision.
The news was revealed during Saturday’s All Out with footage shown from after this past Wednesday’s September to Remember. Max Caster and Anthony Bowens were shown arguing with each other with recent peacemaker Jerry Lynn telling them he pulled some strings to get them a match against Swirl (Blake Christian and Lee Johnson) next week.
Caster and Bowens didn’t like the idea and continued to bicker with Caster eventually disappearing after Bowens briefly turned around.
That follows developments from last Saturday’s Collision where Bowens reluctantly helped Caster fend off Christian and Johnson after they attacked Lynn and Caster.
The two have been split up since January 2025 after a breakup was teased for several months. Both men had less than successful singles runs as pointed out by Lynn recently. Caster hasn’t won a singles or tag match since November 2024 while Bowens has had mixed results since returning from a three-month absence in April.
Notably absent in this angle is Billy Gunn whom the two held the aforementioned Trios title with. Previously aligned with Bowens, it’s unclear why he hasn’t been involved.
Who will be Ms. and Mr. Money in the Bank? On a new Wresting Weekly, Les Thatcher & I give our predictions for this Saturday’s nighttime WWE PLE and look ahead to this Wednesday’s AEW Summer Blockbuster.
After a sabbatical following their separation as a team, Bowens made a surprise return at AEW Dynasty’s Zero Hour pre-show. Walking to the ring with a completely new look and Billy Gunn by his side, Bowens confronted Caster, took his trademark plaque, and threw it outside. The match ended just as quickly as it began, with Bowens defeating Caster after hitting a spinning elbow.
"THE PRIDE OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING" ANTHONY BOWENS HAS ANSWERED MAX CASTER’S OPEN CHALLENGE!
Following weeks of dissension, Bowens and Caster met at AEW Collision Maximum Carnage back in January. Caster said that Bowens didn’t believe in him being the best wrestler alive. Bowens shot back, saying Caster was selfish and called him a “edgelord piece of s***.” After Gunn came out and joined Bowens’ side, Caster left, saying he was walking away from the group.
Since the split, Bowens has been off television while Caster has appeared both on Collision and Dynamite, taking on everyone and anyone in the Best Wrestler Alive open challenge. He has yet to win a match, usually losing quickly to everyone that’s accepted. In the last few weeks, he had been bringing up his former tag team partner, including on Saturday’s Collision where he quickly lost to Mark Briscoe.
After Max Caster told Anthony Bowens to choose between himself and Billy Gunn, Bowens signaled he wanted to scissor with Caster. However, Bowens ended up flipping him off, aligning himself with Billy Gunn and choosing to end his association with Caster. Angered, Caster said he was going to walk out on them, saying The Acclaimed was no more.
During his promo on Collision, Caster said he wanted to clear the air with Bowens, who joined him in the ring. Caster told Bowens that he was upset that he didn’t recognize him as the Best Wrestler Alive. Bowens became frustrated and told Caster that he had protected him for five years because he was his partner, but Caster made him turn into a liar, calling Caster a “arrogant edgelord piece of s***”.
Billy Gunn then came out to try an settle the issue. Caster claimed that Gunn was only part of the group to get attention and even his own sons didn’t want anything to do with him. After Bowens rejected Caster, he and Billy Gunn scissored one last time.
During their run in the company, Caster and Bowens had held the AEW Tag Team titles and AEW Trios titles on one occasion. The split came after weeks of Caster arrogantly claiming himself to be the Best Wrestler Alive, a phrase he trademarked on a piece of paper he carried around, including on Collision.
Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
Tuesday Update
WWE
An angle was shot last on Raw that saw NXT’s Nathan Frazer have a confrontation with Dominik Mysterio.
Anthony Bowens was named in Out Magazine’s Out 100 list, placing first in the Groundbreakers category. AEW congratulated Bowens on X, writing “Congratulations to @bowens_official on being named the #1 Groundbreaker on the @outmagazine 2023 Out100 list! A list highlighting this year’s most impactful & influential LGBTQ+ people!”
Bowens wrote on X: “I’m extremely honored to be named the #1 groundbreaker on the @outmagazine 2023 Out100 list. A list highlighting this [year’s] most impactful & influential LGBTQ+ people. I love you all & thank you for coming along with me on this amazing journey.”
Sports Illustrated has an article on Claudio Castagnoli’s love for both pro wrestling and coffee.
Andrade El Idolo will face El Hijo Del Vikingo at Wrestlecade’s Supershow event on November 25.
According to PWInsider, Ted DiBiase Jr. is set to face trial for six counts of wire fraud, among other charges, on July 16, 2024.
All Japan Pro Wrestling has announced that Jonathan Gresham will be part of their Giant Series 2023 event.
Anthony Bowens has penned a column for the Player’s Tribune thanking AEW fans for the support they have given The Acclaimed.
Bowens began the post by mentioning that he originally intended to write a letter to his younger self. However, he eventually realized the letter wouldn’t make sense as “wrestling is insane.“
Bowens’ attempt at writing such a letter reads:
Dear 7-year-old Anthony,
O.K. — in 1999 Billy Gunn is going to leave DX and change his name to “Mr. Ass” Billy Gunn, which will start as this ironic play on the name “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn but will eventually become a gimmick about his literal ass. Twenty years later, a nice but evil demon will call Billy’s two sons “The Ass Boys” and you’ll (you’re a professional wrestler now) start referring to Billy (he’s 59 now) as “Daddy Ass.” After that, the three Gunns will partner with The Acclaimed, a tag team you’re in with Max Caster, this amazing rapper. You and Max will have a signature handshake where you’ll scissor each other’s fingers, which is a nod both to the “A” in Acclaimed and to your own queerness. One night on live TV, you’ll turn to Billy and scream, “SCISSOR ME, DADDY ASS!!!!” People will love it and your life will never be the same.
Good luck with everything, see you in 25 years.
—32-year-old Anthony
Instead, Bowens focused on thanking AEW fans for the support they have given The Acclaimed. In particular, Bowens is grateful for wrestling fans allowing him “to succeed in wrestling as a Black gay man while still being me.”
The 32-year-old continued to mention challenges he faced early in his career, including struggling with his promo work.
Bowens wrote:
if you know our business, you know that cutting a promo is more complicated than just “being a good public speaker” or whatever. It’s deeper than just acting, too. Not only are you giving a speech and building a character, you’re also trying to connect on a human level. It’s like you’re amplifying some part of yourself. And in order to amplify yourself, first you kind of have to know yourself. You have to be comfortable in your own skin. And I just wasn’t.
Bowens says his challenges with promos were evident when he attended a WWE tryout in 2014.
I remember William Regal telling me I had “four out of five” traits they’re looking for in a prospect. The only trait where I was falling short was “personality.”
He eventually concluded that so long as he was not open with his sexuality, he would never be able to tap into the “personality” he needed to be successful.
I think I knew the truth: As long as I was closeted as a wrestler, I wasn’t going to reach my full potential. Because I wasn’t going to be able to tap into everything that makes me me.
Bowens recalled the support he received when he came out as well.
I got so much support when I came out. But I also didn’t just want to be known as “the wrestler who came out,” or “the gay wrestler.” I wanted to be known as this successful wrestler … who happens to be gay and out and proud. And the history of wrestling (and sports in general) isn’t exactly filled with people who’ve been able to have that.
Finally, Bowens concluded the letter with a message of gratitude for AEW fans.
Thanks for giving us a chance / sticking with us through the pandemic / going crazy for Max’s bars / scissoring until your fingers bleed / singing “OHHHHHHSCISSOR ME DADDYYYY” / buying foam fingers / hating Billy’s sons so much that he decided he’d rather spend time with us.
Thanks for letting a queer Black kid from New Jersey live out his wrestling dream.
Anthony Bowens was originally supposed to face Evil Uno on the episode. This afternoon, Tony Khan revealed that Bowens will instead wrestle a different Dark Order member. It will be Bowens vs. John Silver.
Khan wrote: “When Bowens said he’d fight any Dark Order member, they’d implied he’d face Dark Order ‘I’, but they’ve added a ‘V’ at the end, number IV John Silver!”
The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn are the current AEW Trios Champions. They defeated Peter Avalon & The Outrunners in a non-title match on Rampage last night.
Following that match, Dark Order interrupted The Acclaimed & Gunn. Dark Order declared that they want a shot at the Trios titles. Evil Uno challenged an Acclaimed member to face a Dark Order member in a singles match on Collision. Bowens accepted the challenge.
Collision is taking place from the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pennsylvania tonight. Here’s everything that’s been announced:
Bryan Danielson & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Ricky Starks & Big Bill
AEW Tag Team Champions FTR defend against The Iron Savages (Bronson & Boulder)
TBS Champion Kris Statlander defends against Britt Baker
Positives and negatives about working for AEW and WWE
The Collision announce team
The most detailed look at Collision ratings and what category was it tops among sports during the week
What TNT was doing in the time slot, what should be expected and what would be considered good
How each segment did
The Marc Raimondi ESPN piece
Punk talks Adam Page
Contradictory stories
Original idea for Collision that changed
Full rundown of both Chicago shows with business notes
Preview of Forbidden Door and what business mark for AEW may be set and where it ranks all-time among Canadian gates
Notes on Danielson vs. Okada and Omega vs. Ospreay
Notes on PPV
The rest of the card
The Owen Hart tournament
Update on Wembley Stadium
Rickson Gracie battles Parkinson’s and a look back at a fighting legend in the underground days as well as his battles with a famous pro wrestler in Brazil
Money in the Bank update
Notes on Saturday’s UFC show
Tons of new major matches announced by UFC for the summer and fall
The most detailed look at the ratings for all the wrestling and MMA shows over the past week, how they do with different age groups, segment-by-segment and what WWE stars moved numbers big this past week
First wrestling company in history to hit 90 years consecutively in business
Multiple cities doing a 40th anniversary celebration for a Hall of Famer
Konnan talks heavily about Bandido and Rush
An issue with women’s wrestling fans in Japan
How the women’s wrestling fan base in Japan has changed multiple times
What happened to the key young Dragon Gate talent that was let go
Two wrestlers who started together, became big stars in different companies, have a dream match that sold out instantly
N-1 tournament including surprise entrants
New Japan Strong shows in Japan
A bill introduced in New York regarding regulating pro wrestling
Lots of injury updates
More on the MLW lawsuit against WWE
Impact stars on major television show in Canada
More on B.J. Whitmer case
Tony Khan talks working with Gedo and where AEW stands among start-ups in the sports brand space
Tony Khan talks Bill Goldberg
Update on Bandido
International TV ratings and streaming numbers for WWE and AEW
Ticket sale updates for all the major shows for WWE & AEW
Talks regarding the sale of Bellator, rumors about Tony Khan being interested and he shoots them down
Tons of drug suspensions handed out this week
Gable Steveson debuts on TV and what his goals for 2024 are
We are currently looking for two people to moderate our message board. Those interested please contact [email protected].
Ordering Info:
Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
Tuesday Update
WWE
WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures on Sunday did 333,000 viewers with a 0.11 in 18-49, up from last week’s 276,000 and 0.09. Stone Cold Takes on America meanwhile did 230,000 and a 0.06, down from last week’s 211,000 and 0.06.
Prior to Raw on Monday, Matt Riddle issued a challenge on social media to Gunther for the Intercontinental title at Money in the Bank. Later on Raw, Gunther accepted.
The company filed a new trademark for ‘Judgment Day’ on June 22.
Sami Zayn is raffling off a shirt from his run with The Bloodline, signed by the entire group and other WWE stars as part of a Pro Wrestling Tees live raffle drawing on July 14. Proceeds will go to Sami For Syria.
THQ Nordic released a FAQ ahead of Fight Forever’s release on June 29. In the FAQ, it was revealed that the game will not support crossplay between consoles. Regarding Steam Deck compatibility, the company said that they will be working on getting Steam Deck verification shortly.
Other Wrestling
Showbuzz Daily, which provided daily cable ratings including those for professional wrestling, is shutting down after this week.
Impact announced that they will be holding a Pride Night at Impact’s event on July 16 at St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. More information can be found here.
Mark Haskins on his radio show challenged KENTA to a match for the DEFY Championship. DEFY teased it may take place at their The Splendid & The Vile event on August 26.
Nick Gage has been added to GCW’s No Signal in the Halls event on August 11 in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Lio Rush has been added to GCW’s My Name is GCW event on August 4 in Detroit.
The Baltimore Sun has an article on Gloria Barattini, who started as an opera singer before turning to professional wrestling from 1950 to 1962.
That’s not the only example of how many of the old pro wrestling tropes don’t apply anymore.
From Friday’s WWE SmackDown: LA Knight is over, but is he too old to push? Also, Roman Reigns passed Pedro Morales and The Uso Penitentiary is back.
Speaking of Rampage, the show had good wrestling and some notable surprises including John Hennigan and Tom Lawlor. We run down all the wrestling on Friday and preview Saturday’s AEW Collision.
Max Caster and Anthony Bowens have each posted to social media following their AEW Tag Team title victory at Grand Slam.
The Acclaimed became the eighth team in history to win the titles after defeating Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday. They both took to Twitter on Thursday to comment on the achievement.
When my Nana passed in 2015 I promised her I’d be a success. Nana, I made it!
AEW’s first Gay Champion 🌈 Most tag team wins in AEW 🤼♂️ Most popular team in wrestling 😁
Swerve in our Glory’s title reign ends after 70 days and three successful title defenses. The Young Bucks hold the record for the most days spent with the titles in a single reign with 302. Hangman Page & Kenny Omega are tied with the Bucks for the most successful title defenses in a single reign with nine. The Young Bucks are the only team to have won the belts twice.
The Acclaimed hold a record of 10 wins and three losses in two-on-two tag team matches so far in 2022. Their only losses this year have been to Swerve in our Glory (All Out), Jurassic Express (March 9), and Sting & Darby Allin (January 19).
