The former Ashante “Thee” Adonis is officially under AEW contract and has been for six months, according to Fightful Select.
Tehuti Miles debuted during Sunday’s Ring of Honor TV tapings in Jacksonville, Florida, with the outlet noting he actually signed with AEW the first week of September.
Miles hadn’t wrestled anywhere since a loss to Ricky Saints last June on WWE NXT. His deal ran out on August 10 and signed with his new home a month later. It’s unclear what took so long for him to make his debut or why he didn’t work any indie dates.
The 36-year-old signed with WWE in 2019, debuting in NXT. He worked frequently on the 205 Live show and eventually was part of Hit Row along with Swerve Strickland (then Isaiah Scott), AJ Francis (then Top Dolla) and B-Fab, who is the only remaining member left within WWE.
He, Francis and B-Fab were eventually called up to the main roster in August 2022 before returning to NXT in the summer of 2024. He never held either WWE or NXT gold.
We have one of the most news and business heavy issues of the year: *All the details of the WWE’s deal with ESPN, what is in the deal, what isn’t, who can watch for free and why that probably won’t be for long, what ESPN Needs for it t make economic sense, as well as break-even for the ESPN UFC PPV deal and when the ESPN deal with WWE starts *Brock Lesnar returns to WWE, how it happened, why it happened, why it was inevitable because of how TKO management views things, the double talk, comments from loads of people in WWE as well as Janel Grant’s side, exactly what was in the lawsuit that regards Lesnar and other example of TKO decisions which show a pattern *Full coverage of SummerSlam, business details, the Rollins cash-in, Netflix numbers, attendance numbers and next PPV show *Notes on UFC and WWE business numbers, what is up and what is down *Hulk Hogan’s funeral, Brooke Hogan’s claims of info on Hogan’s Moves never talked about before, a ton of Hogan history, Hogan’s heyday in Japan and much more. *Update on the G-1 Climax tournament *Forbidden Door and the surprising record it has set and other major notes regarding the show and update n the card *The most complete look at the ratings for all the wrestling and MMA television shows of the past week, competition, demos, why ratings were up or down, as well as Netflix numbers for Unreal and Raw. *MJF returns to Arena Mexico and coverage of Friday’s hwo *Salvador Lutteroth talks his fan base and AEW *TripleMania updates *Five Star Grand Prix updates *Hogan documentaries *RevPro anniversary shows *Bloodsport notes *A change at Discovery that is major and how that affects AEW streaming as well as notes on the current streaming deal *How much did WBD loss or gain by losing the NBA *Lots of injury updates *Notes on Dustin & Cody Rhodes *Backstage stuff in AEW ande what is and isn’t real *Who at this point isn’t at Forbidden Door *Ticket sales for upcoming TNA, AEW and WWE shows over the next few months *More notes on Zuffa Boxing run by Nick Khan and Dana White *Peacock and WWE business *How much is Dwayne Johnson’s WWE stock worth *Karrion Kross and Scarlett contract update *Raw ad rates on Netflix and comparisons to AEW on TBS
— Our Friday show with Garrett Gonzales talks a lot about the ESPN WWE deal, the numbers it needs to be a success, Brock Lesnar’s return to WWE and TKO and how it has handled both stars and non stars with past issues, the Janel Grant case and more on Hogan and CMLL. Bryan and I will be back for our weekend show tonight.
— The G-1 A block round robin was completed. Evil finished first in the block with David Finlay second and Yota Tsuji third so all three advance to the playoffs that start on Thursday at Korakuen Hall with Evil getting a first round bye.
The B block round robin ends Wednesday:
Shota Umino (5-3) vs. Great O’Khan (4-4)
Yoshi-Hashi (4-4) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (6-2)
Konosuke Takeshita (5-3) vs. Ren Narita (5-3)
Shingo Takagi (4-4) vs. Drilla Moloney (4-4)
The only thing is that Sabre has the best shot and is in with a win, plus the Takeshita vs. Narita winner is in with a win. Umino is also in with a win. There are a number of playoff options based on people who finish 5-4.
— Horrible news and something I’ve never heard of ever happening in history, two Japanese boxers, Hiromasa Urakwa and Shigetoshi Kotari both died from injuries in the same show on 8/2 at Korakuen Hall. Nobody has come with a card in history where two men passed away. I don’t know of any explanation, but you would sweat like crazy upping the risk of dehydration in a boxing match in August at Korakuen Hall.
— Robbie Ellis, real name Rob Elowitch, passed away surprisingly on Thursday. He was 82. Ellis did independent shows in the Northeast from 1966 to 2013, but had a ton of mainstream news articles about him nationally because of the idea he was the owner of the Baridoff Gallery in Portland, ME, but also did independent matches until the age of 70. He was the subject of a well received documentary called “Canvasman: The Robbie Ellis Story” and had an article on him in Sports Illustrated at a time when that was a really big deal. After the article he billed himself as “Sports Illustrated legend Robbie Ellis.” He also appeared on The Today Show, World News Tonight, The Osgood File, MacNeil/Lehrer, Time and MTV’s True Life. He did TV jobs with major promotions in the 80s and was a regular for CHIKARA when he was much older. (thanks to Christopher Cruise and Matt Cail)
— Hunter Campbell has said that they are looking to expand the APEX to 5,000 to 10,000 seats and it would continue to hold UFC events but also hold NXT major shows and even WWE major shows.
— Arena Mexico sold out with 16,000 again this past Friday night. The CMLL boom is clearly the most undercovered story in pro wrestling this year by far.
— There is a story on 71 year old Tony Atlas doing a match last night in Lewiston, ME. Atlas said in the story that he was glad WWE didn’t invite him to one of the shows where they honored Hogan “because then I would only have been there for the money, not for him.” (thanks to Christopher Cruise)
— Regarding the departure of Ashante three Adonis from WWE, his contract wasn’t renewed. I had talked about expecting this after they did the Adonis/Karmen Petrovic break-up at the same time they were doing a lot of releases. Essentially they stopped using him, but didn’t fire him and let the contract go. He had a main roster deal so if they had cut him he’d have been paid for the 90 day non-compete. Essentially his contract was up at the same time his non-compete would have been up if they had let him go, so it really just made sense to allow the contract to expire.
— Jun Saito beat Yuma Aoyagi in Aoyagi’s home city of Matsumoto today to retain the All Japan Triple Crown title.
— Piers Morgan, who said that Jake Paul’s boxing career has been staged BS, but said he didn’t mean to say the matches were predetermined and fixed, just that he faced people he knew he could beat. But he said that if Paul really faces Anthony Joshua, that changes the narrative.
— Regarding Karrion Kross, I’ve heard nothing new since Thursday when he had not signed but everyone was going with the idea he was staying. I haven’t heard him negotiating elsewhere. The idea they’d try and do a Ron Killings thing with him but as a work makes a lot of sense, but can’t confirm that on this. I do know that the people handling his media for his autobiography that just came out told people they could not ask any questions on the subject related to his contract.
— Regarding Google searches, the only pro wrestling mention is Karrion Kross at 10,000. Yesterday’s UFC show did 100,000 searches.
— It appeared from commercials I saw that Kacy Catanzaro (Katana Chance in WWE) will be announcing for American Ninja Warriors this season. She was in ads for Monday’s show.
— A correction from Friday’s show, the $10 credit that you got from Amazon Prime if you bought All in Texas can’t be redeemed for purchases of Forbidden Door. The credit was only valid for 30 days. It is still a good marketing gimmick to do that when you have the big show of the year because it would encourage those on the fence to buy the next show to take advantage of the credit (thanks to Chris Whitehead)
— As far as matches to check out this weekend, the stuff I’ve been told about include Konouske Takeshita vs. Shota Umino, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Drilla Moloney in and David Finlay vs. Yuya Uemura in G-1, Jun Saito vs. Yuma Aoyagi from today’s All Japan show, Ultimo Guerrero vs. Blue Panther and Mistico & Atlantis Jr & Mascara Dorada vs. Difunto & Hechicero Angel de Oro from Friday at Arena Mexico and Kye Fletcher vs. Tomohiro Ishii from Collision. Guerrero vs. Panther wasn’t a match of the year type of level bout, but I can’t come up with a singles match where one of the guys was weeks shy of his 65th birthday ever that was as good as this one.
— A&E tonight has at 9 p.m. WWE’s Greatest Moments covering SummerSlam in the 2000s, 9:30 p.m. has WWE’s Greatest Moments on John Cena and LFG is at 10 p.m.
— Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling from Friday night in Newark, CA, which sold out in advance:
QT Marshall b Matt Cardona
Aaron Solo b Jordan Cruz
Viva Van & VertVixen b Shotzi Blackheart & Beatrice Domino
Bad Dude Tito b Alan Agnels
Starboy Charlie b LJ Cleary
Marcus Lewis b Chriss Nastyy
Alpha Zo b Seabass Finn
Los Suavecitos b Texas Outlaws
The next show is 10/3 featuring Bret Hart. It will be the company’s 29th anniversary show.
— TNA announced this for Saturday’s TV taping in Baltimore: Hardys vs. Cedric Alexander & Leon Slater, plus Trick Williams, Mike Santana, Masha Slamovich, The System,The Elegance Brand, Mara Sade (Jakara Jackson), The Iinspiration, Indi Hartwelll, Steve Maclin and Frankie Kazarian.
— Angelo Dawkins and Stipe Miocic will be part of the Machine Gun Kelly Day in Cleveland today as part of the Monster Energy Celebrity Shootout which will be a basketball shootout. They’ll be joined by NFL stars Joe Haden and Vernon Davis as well as actors and Olympian Louie Vito.
— Kyle Fletcher defends the TNT title against a New Japan Wrestler yet to be named at Forbidden Door. The identity of the person will be announced Wednesday. So technically, it could be someone eliminated in the A block since they’d be done, meaning Oleg Boltin, Ryohiei Oiwa, Yuya Uemura, Callum Newman, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Sanada or Taichi. Tanahashi’s final UK match was to be on this show so he’d be the favorite.
Dynamite on Wednesday:
Adam Copeland vs. Stokely Hathaway
MJF and Adam Page face-to-face
FTR vs. Bandido & Brody King, winner gets a tag title shot at Forbidden Door
Jon Moxley vs. Kevin Knight
— OVW is changing its premium membership program and will make the shows formerly under the program free on the Internet.
After Friday night’s SmackDown, WWE uploaded a video revealing that Cedric Alexander & Ashante “Thee” Adonis are the newest addition to the tag team division. Alexander & Adonis put the rest of the division on notice, mentioning The Judgment Day, Pretty Deadly, and The OC by name.
Adonis suggested “Rags and Riches” for their tag team name, joking that Alexander looked like a referee with the black and white shirt he was wearing.
Adonis: I just got our tag team name: Rags and Riches.
Alexander: Why I gotta be rags?
Adonis: I mean, look at you – you look like a referee.
Alexander: That’s…really?
Adonis: I’m just playing, I’m just playing. You know what, we gotta get you leveled up, though. I got you. Don’t even worry about it, I got you.
Alexander: That’s on you?
Adonis: That’s on me.
Alexander: Ok. Remember you said that.
Alexander is a one-time former tag team champion in WWE, holding the Raw Tag Team titles with Shelton Benjamin when they were in The Hurt Business together. Adonis formerly teamed with Top Dolla as part of Hit Row. Both Benjamin and Top Dolla were released by WWE last September.
Judgment Day’s Damian Priest & Finn Balor are the current Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions. They’re defending their titles against Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate at Elimination Chamber later this month.
The former NXT stable appeared on tonight’s SmackDown. Top Dolla and Ashante “Thee” Adonis, accompanied by B-Fab, came to the ring for a squash match, which Dolla and Adonis quickly won. They then re-introduced themselves, with the group finishing the promo by saying they were the OG3.
PWInsider reported on Thursday that WWE were bringing in Adonis and Dolla for Friday’s SmackDown. However, it was unknown at the time if B-Fab would be brought in as well.
The group, along with Isaiah ‘Swerve’ Scott, formed Hit Row back in May of last year on the NXT brand. In October, they were drafted to SmackDown. However, B-Fab was released on November 4, and a few weeks later the rest of Hit Row were released on November 18. Scott has since reverted back to his Swerve Strickland name and signed with AEW earlier this year, where he is now one half of the AEW World Tag Team Champions with Keith Lee, who was also released from WWE last year.
Hit Row are the latest to be brought back to WWE in recent weeks, with Dakota Kai, Karrion Kross, Scarlett, and Dexter Lumis all making returns.
WWE is planning to bring back two members of the Hit Row group, according to a report.
PW Insider reports that AJ “Top Dolla” Francis and Ashonte “Thee” Adonis are planned to be at Friday’s SmackDown taping in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Top Dolla and Ashonte Adonis would be the latest WWE talent released by the former regime to be brought back by new executive vice president of talent relations Paul “Triple H” Levesque, joining Dakota Kai, Karrion Kross, Scarlett, and Dexter Lumis.
As part of the Hit Row stable, Top Dolla and Ashonte Adonis were drafted to SmackDown in the WWE Draft along with B-Fab and Isaiah “Swerve” Scott on October 1, 2021. B-Fab was released by the company on November 4, 2021, while Top Dolla, Adonis, and Scott were released on November 18, 2021.
Prior to their main roster call-up, Hit Row operated as a stable in NXT, debuting as a foursome in May 2021.
Scott has since signed with AEW and is one half of the company’s World Tag Team Champions, along with Keith Lee.
Isaiah “Swerve” Scott introduced his new group, Hit Row, on tonight’s NXT.
Hit Row consists of Scott, two other men, and one woman. AJ Francis, who has appeared on A&E’s WWE show Most Wanted Treasures, introduced himself as Top Dolla. Brianna Brandy, who signed with WWE in 2019, introduced herself as B-Fab. Rounding out the group is Ashante “Thee” Adonis, who has appeared regularly on 205 Live in the last year and has been aligned with Scott in the past. During the promo introducing the group, Swerve said he was tired of not being himself and wanted to be around people who think like him.
Members of Hit Row have previously been seen in vignettes, but officially made their debut at the Capitol Wrestling Center last week. Swerve faced Leon Ruff in a Falls Count Anywhere match. Ruff was about to launch off a platform, but Top Dolla grabbed him before he could land and slammed him on the barricade instead, leading Scott to pick up the win.
WWE had trademarked the term “Hit Row Records” on May 6.
Ariya Daivari & Tony Nese defeated The Bollywood Boyz (Samir Singh & Sunil Singh)
This was an enjoyable match. It was well-paced and focused on a simple formula that worked between the ropes.
Nese gained early control after a distraction from Daivari in the opening moments. Nese and Daivari traded tags while working on cutting the ring in half. After an extended stint in isolation, Samir finally connected with a DDT, but Nese prevented the tag.
Finally, Sunil tagged in after a float over. The following hot tag saw Sunil run the table, convincingly taking out both Nese and Daivari. A double team back elbow from the Bollywood Boyz lead to a near fall, as did the Bollywood Blast; Daivari broke up the latter, opening the door for Nese. Nese clubbed Samir, setting him in perfect position for the running knee. Nese then pinned Samir for the win.
Ashante Adonis defeated August Grey
Not bad, but far from great. Grey still hates count-outs.
The match started with a show of jest. Adonis pulled Grey’s headband off to finish the first tie-up, and Grey responded by rubbing said headband back in his face moments later. Adonis connected with an elbow to end the games.
Grey gained momentary ground control, targeting Adonis’s arm. As Adonis fought to his feet, he pushed Grey into the ropes, sending him crashing to the outside. Adonis stomped away at Grey after he returned to the ring.
After a dropkick, that looked as if it missed by a mile, Adonis went for ground control. Enter Ariya Daivari. Grey fought to his feet and connected with a neckbreaker and a bulldog before momentarily turning his attention to Daivari. Grey hit Adonis with a beautiful twisting crossbody, crashing into Adonis on the outside. Grey had his third opportunity for a count-out victory, but he rolled Adonis into the ring. Daivari distracted Grey after returning to the ring, allowing Adonis to hit a superkick for the pinfall victory.
