After nearly six months away, former TBS Champion Julia Hart looks to be nearing a return to AEW.
While being interviewed by Stephanie Chase, Hart’s House of Black stablemate Brody King gave an update on her recovery from shoulder surgery. King said he expects fans will be seeing Hart on AEW programming again very soon.
“Yeah, I think we should be seeing her very soon,” King said. “I mean, she’s been dropping hints here and there, but I think she’s ready to come back for her title.”
Hart injured her shoulder in a match against Leyla Hirsch on Rampage this past April. She worked through the injury at AEW’s Dynasty pay-per-view on April 21, dropping the TBS Championship to Willow Nightingale. The title is currently held by Mercedes Mone.
House of Black consists of Hart, King, Malakai Black, and Buddy Matthews. King praised the 22-year-old Hart for how good she is at such a young age.
“I feel like — character-wise and personality-wise — she is so far advanced from her years in wrestling and her age,” he told Stephanie Chase. “I mean, she’s only 22 years old. She’s got the whole world ahead of her, and she’s already got a big step up on it.”
King is facing Darby Allin in a singles match at AEW WrestleDream in Tacoma, Washington this Saturday (October 12).
A new match has been added to the lineup for tonight’s AEW Collision Grand Slam.
Brody King vs. Action Andretti is now set for the show. The match was made on AEW Rampage last night after House of Black’s Buddy Matthews & Malakai Black defeated Andretti & Lio Rush in tag team action. After the match, Andretti threw a water bottle at King, who responded by giving him a big clothesline. The members of Top Flight then dragged Andretti to safety before King could continue his attack.
Andretti showed a more aggressive side during the match as well. The finish came when he tagged himself in, argued with Rush, then took a Black Mass and was pinned.
A mixed tag team match is set for the Wednesday, April 17 AEW Dynamite.
In a match set up with an angle on this week’s show, TNT Champion Adam Copeland & Willow Nightingale will team against House of Black’s Brody King & TBS Champion Julia Hart on next week’s Dynamite episode.
Copeland had just defeated Penta El Zero Miedo in a TNT title bout on this week’s Dynamite when the arena lights went out. Hart & King then appeared in the ring, and King attacked Copeland. Nightingale ran in to make the save.
Copeland & Nightingale then agreed to team in a follow-up backstage promo.
Nightingale is set to challenge Hart for the TBS Championship at the Dynasty pay-per-view on Sunday, April 21. Copeland will team with Mark Briscoe & Eddie Kingston against House of Black’s King, Malakai Black & Buddy Matthews at Dynasty.
The announced card for the Wednesday, April 17 AEW Dynamite:
TNT Champion Adam Copeland & Willow Nightingale vs. Brody King & TBS Champion Julia Hart in a mixed tag team match
A singles match has been added to this week’s AEW Collision lineup.
After being a target for House of Black in recent weeks, Mark Briscoe will have the chance to get revenge as he goes one-on-one with Brody King on the Saturday, February 10 episode.
AEW owner, president, GM, and head of creative Tony Khan announced the bout for Saturday in a social media post early Saturday.
In addition to the Briscoe vs. King bout, a Brian Cage match was teased for Collision during Friday’s Rampage episode. In a backstage interview with Renee Paquette, Cage was accompanied by Prince Nana and hinted at taking on multiple opponents in a two-on-one match for Saturday, but the match was not made official.
The Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada will host Saturday’s Collision episode. Here is the updated card:
AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy defends against Tomohiro Ishii
Non-title match: AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm vs. Queen Aminata
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Kiera Hogan
Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Star Jr. & Esfinge
A new eight-man tag team match featuring competitors from the Continental Classic has been announced for Saturday’s AEW Worlds End pay-per-view.
Bryan Danielson will team with Blackpool Combat Club member Claudio Castagnoli, Mark Briscoe and Daniel Garcia against Jay White, Rush, Jay Lethal and Brody King on the main card.
Danielson lost to Eddie Kingston and White lost to Jon Moxley as part of a three-way Wednesday, eliminating them both from the tournament. Moxley will face Kingston Saturday to determine the Classic winner and first “modern” AEW Triple Crown Champion.
Here’s the current card for Saturday (8 PM Eastern) from Long Island, New York’s Nassau Coliseum:
AEW World Championship: MJF defends against Samoa Joe
AEW Women’s Championship: Toni Storm defends against Riho
TNT Championship, no DQ: Christian Cage defends against Adam Copeland
AEW Continental Classic finals: Eddie Kingston vs. Jon Moxley
TBS Championship: Julia Hart defends against Abadon
Swerve Strickland vs. Keith Lee
Andrade El Idolo vs. Miro
Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, Mark Briscoe & Daniel Garcia vs. Jay White, Rush, Jay Lethal & Brody King
Sting, Darby Allin, Sammy Guevara & Chris Jericho vs. Big Bill, Ricky Starks, Powerhouse Hobbs & Kyle Fletcher
Zero Hour: FTW rules for FTW Championship: Hook defends against Wheeler Yuta
Zero Hour: 20 man battle royale for a TNT title match anywhere, anytime
More Blue League matches are set for this Saturday’s Collision.
Bryan Danielson will return to action, taking on Brody King. On last week’s Collision he lost to Andrade El Idolo. Idolo worked on the eye during the match, with AEW’s medical staff checking on Danielson after the match. Announcers pushed that Danielson may be further damaging his eye.
Other Blue League matches will see Claudio Castagnoli take on Idolo and Daniel Garcia face Eddie Kingston. Garcia thus far is the only person in the Blue League to have lost every match he’s been in.
Idolo defeated King in a Blue League match to put himself in first place on Wednesday’s Dynamite. It was the first Blue League match to take place on Dynamite; most matches have taken place on Collision or Rampage.
Here is the lineup for Saturday’s Collision:
AEW Continental Classic Blue League: Daniel Garcia vs. Eddie Kingston
AEW Continental Classic Blue League: Bryan Danielson vs. Brody King
AEW Continental Classic Blue League: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Andrade El Idolo
The Blue League will debut on Wednesday’s Dynamite.
Tony Khan announced Tuesday night that Brody King will face Andrade El Idolo on Wednesday. This will be the first night that Blue League action will take place on Dynamite; previously, the league had been seen only on Rampage and Collision.
At Winter is Coming, the red hot Blue League debuts on Dynamite as co-leaders battle, Brody King vs Andrade El Idolo, TOMORROW on TBS! pic.twitter.com/40ewI4F9w1
King and Andrade currently stand at 6 points, tied for first place in the Blue League with Bryan Danielson. In the Gold League, Jon Moxley and Swerve Strickland are currently tied for first place with 9 points. They will meet on Wednesday’s show.
Khan on Tuesday also announced that the show will receive a 5-minute overrun.
Here’s the current Winter is Coming card for Arlington, Texas:
AEW Continental Classic Gold League: Jon Moxley vs. Swerve Strickland
AEW Continental Classic Gold League: Rush vs. Jay Lethal
AEW Continental Classic Gold League: Jay White vs. Mark Briscoe
AEW Continental Classic Blue League: Brody King vs. Andrade El Idolo
Riho vs. Ruby Soho
Hangman Adam Page vs. Roderick Strong
The Von Erich family returns to Dallas
We’ll hear from Samoa Joe
We’ll hear from the Golden Jets (Kenny Omega & Chris Jericho)
For the second straight week, the TNT title will be on the line on a special Saturday edition of AEW Rampage.
Powerhouse Hobbs will look for the second defense of his TNT title when he faces Penta El Zero Miedo. Penta will be looking for revenge for Rey Fenix and Alex Abrahantes following the events of last week’s Rampage.
In her second AEW match, Taya Valkyrie will take on Leila Grey. When Valkyrie debuted last week and confronted TBS Champion Jade Cargill, she delivered Cargill’s own Jaded to Grey.
Brody King will face Jake Hager of the Jericho Appreciation Society after Daniel Garcia picked up a tainted win over King last Friday.
Former AEW Tag Team Champions The Acclaimed will battle former ROH Tag Team Champions The Kingdom.
Ricky Starks threw out an open challenge for tonight to Juice Robinson after the Bullet Club member took him out on Dynamite.
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Taped from Independence, Missouri.
Jim Ross, Excalibur and Tony Schiavone were on commentary.
Powerhouse Hobbs (w/ the cast of QTV) defeated Penta El Zero Miedo (w/ Alex Abrahantes) to retain the TNT Championship (10:33)
Hobbs and Penta exchanged strikes in the opening, and Penta knocked Hobbs to the floor with a dropkick. Penta tried to follow up with a tope, but Hobbs cut him off with a forearm. Harley (the woman from QTV) took video of the match on her phone while Hobbs threw Penta into the ringpost. Doesn’t she know she can DVR the show?
Hobbs tossed Penta about the ringside area, into the ring barricades. Back in the ring, Hobbs dropped a Bret Hart style elbow for a two. Penta tried to catch Hobbs with a kick, but Hobbs grabbed his foot and yanked him into a backbreaker. While Hobbs distracted Aubrey Edwards, Marshall tied Penta’s mask onto the bottom rope. He didn’t stay tied up for long though. Hobbs delivered a delayed vertical suplex for a near fall.
After a split screen break, Penta took Hobbs down with a sloppy slingblade, then caught Hobbs with a back stabber for a near fall. Hobbs gave Penta the Big Ending for a near fall. Harley was blatantly recording the whole match with her phone. Penta escaped Hobbs’ attempt at the Town Business, kicked Hobbs to the floor and caught him with a tope con hilo. Penta dodged Hobbs and sent him into the steps Penta dropped down on Hobbs from the top rope with a pair of double foot stomps, one on the ring apron and one on the ring. All that only got Penta a two count.
Penta setup Hobbs for the Fear Factor, but Marshall got on the apron with a chair to distract him. Solo jumped in and attacked Penta, and Penta took him out with the Fear Factor. Hobbs decked Penta with the TNT title belt, then hit the Town Business for the pinfall.
After the match, Hobbs and Marshall tried to beat on Abrahantes some more, but Rey Fenix ran in with the hammer to chase them off.
Hobbs beating two-thirds of Death Triangle is a seriously good start to his TNT title reign. Hopefully PAC is next.
– Highlights from last week’s Dynamite led to a package on Kenny Omega’s match with Jeff Cobb for the IWGP United States Championship next week.
– Ricky Starks came to the ring for a confrontation with Juice Robinson. Robinson came out to the ring but turned his back, and Starks tried to chase him down. Robinson got away from Starks because he didn’t want to fight in Missouri. Robinson wanted the match in New York City. The next date AEW has in New York is April 5th, and Starks/Robinson match was made official for that show in a later segment.
– Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett ran down all the ways that AEW referees have screwed them out of titles they were cheating to win with their dastardly enforcement of the rules.
Brody King (w/ Julia Hart) defeated Jake Hager (w/ a hat that he likes) (6:15 aired)
Hager’s hat got a bigger pop than either wrestler.
Slugfest to start, while JR put over Hager’s MMA credentials. The fight went to the floor, where both guys threw each other into the ring barricades.
After a break, King caught Hager with a blackhole slam for a near fall. King went for a piledriver, but Hager countered with an ankle lock. King kicked free and caught Hager with an avalanche, but Hager ducked the cannonball. Hager tried for the Hager bomb, but King got his feet up into Hager’s face. King hit a discus lariat for a near fall.
Anna Jay ran in and attacked Julia Hart. This distracted King for a minute, but he still caught Hager with the “All Seeing Eye” (kind of an inverted/sit-out death valley driver) for the pinfall.
It seems like the Jericho Appreciation Society and the House of Black feud will continue.
– Swerve Strickland (and a rapper named Tek 9) promised to win the war with Keith Lee with help from a new “affiliate” he wouldn’t expect.
Sterling had the cease & desist order with him to keep Valkyrie from using the “Road to Valhalla” finishing move. Excalibur clarified on commentary that the cease & desist order is not a court order; just a threatening letter. Since I’m not a lawyer, I’ll take his word for it.
Valkyrie pinned Grey with the Road to Valhalla in short order. After the match, Sterling confronted Valkyrie with the cease & desist, and Valkyrie gave him the Road to Valhalla as well. I can’t wait to see Sterling in a neck brace for the next three months.
Rundown of next week’s Dynamite:
Kenny Omega v. Jeff Cobb for the IWGP US Title
Willow Nightingale v. Ruby Soho
Matt Hardy v. Jack Perry
Dalton Castle & The Boys v. Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta
Orange Cassidy v. The Butcher for the AEW International Championship
Adam Cole v. Daniel Garcia
Matt Menard and Angelo Parker for the Jericho Appreciation Society joined the commentary team for the main event.
The Acclaimed (w/ Billy Gunn) defeated The Kingdom (w/ Maria Kanellis Bennett) (9:10)
Mike Bennett and Max Caster started out, and the Kingdom got the advantage after a distraction from Maria. Matt Taven hit a middle rope dropkick on Caster for a near fall. Acclaimed caught Bennett with a back-stabber/neckbreaker combination for a near fall. The Acclaimed gave Bennett the Scissor Me Timbers, then dumped Taven to the floor.
The Kingdom got the heat on Caster during the split-screen break. Taven caught Caster with a superkick and Bennet followed up with a spear for a near fall.
After the break, Taven hit a spin kick for a near fall on Caster. The Kingdom directed a crotch chop at Billy Gunn, which drew him onto the apron. Maria distracted Caster, and the Kingdom hit another double team on Caster. Maria tried to slip her team one of her boots to use as a weapon. Gunn chased Maria up the ramp, and Top Flight met her there to escort her to the back. “Maria didn’t have to leave!” complained JR. Gunn took out Bennett with a clothesline on the floor.
Meanwhile in the ring, the ref caught Taven with the boot, and Anthony Bowens got the hot tag. Bowens made the comeback on Taven and took out Bennett with a superkick. Bowen hit a rolling elbow on Taven, delivered the Arrival, and Caster followed up with the Mic Drop for the pinfall. Solid tag match.
Parker and Menard gave the Acclaimed a standing ovation upon the victory. During the match, they announced they’d be taking the Acclaimed out for a night on the town on Chris Jericho’s dime, so expect some skits on Dynamite.
After Dynamite went off the air Wednesday night, AEW revealed Brody King vs. Daniel Garcia will take place on Friday’s show. Both King and Garcia were involved in the World Trios Championship match to close out Dynamite.
Rampage this week will air at a special start time of either 11:30 p.m. Eastern time or immediately following coverage of the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament on TNT.
King is 5-0 in 2023 with all of his wins coming in tag or trios action. This will be his first singles match since losing to Darby Allin in a Coffin match last August.
Garcia currently has a 4-3 record in AEW singles matches this year.
Friday’s edition of Rampage was filmed after Dynamite on Wednesday from the Canada Life Center in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
AEW Rampage St. Patrick’s Day Slam, Friday, March 17 —
TNT Championship: Powerhouse Hobbs defends against Rey Fenix
Taya Valkyrie in action
Bollywood Boyz (Harv Shira & Gurv Shira) vs. Jericho Appreciation Society (Matt Menard & Angelo Parker)
AEW has filed to trademark “House of Black” for wrestling purposes.
The filing was submitted on September 8, one day after reports were released that Malakai Black had received a conditional release from the company.
Brody King, Buddy Matthews, and Julia Hart continued to be referred to as representing the House of Black on Monday’s edition of Dark: Elevation. Our own Dave Meltzer posted to Twitter on Monday that the faction will continue despite Black’s reported departure.
Following his match at All Out, Black took a bow and blew a kiss to the live crowd, leading to speculation it was his last match in AEW. Tony Khan would offer “no comment” on his status during the post-event media scrum.
The purposes of the trademark are listed as “Entertainment in the nature of wrestling contests; Entertainment services, namely, live appearances by a group or individual wrestlers; Entertainment services, namely, televised appearances by a group or individual wrestlers; Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibits and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer.” As well as “Beanies; Hats; Shirts; T-shirts.”
In what appears to be the furthering of a growing feud in AEW, Brody King attacked Darby Allin at a Seattle autograph signing Saturday, putting him through a table.
Before Allin’s four-hour signing at the city’s Southcenter Mall, King appeared, attacked Allin, put him in a sleeper and then power bombed him through a merchandise table:
— Jerico Valmonte 🔜 WA Summer Con 2026 (@jericollage70) July 9, 2022
Allin eventually recovered and completed the event as planned. AEW retweeted the video above and it appears likely there will be a follow-up on either Dynamite or Rampage soon.
The incident follows the Royal Rampage for an AEW interim World title shot on Rampage two weeks ago when King and Allin were the last two men in the match. King put Allin to sleep and then dropped him on the outside of the ring to win the match and earn the shot at this past Wednesday’s Dynamite.
King was not successful in defeating Jon Moxley, leading to Allin and Sting coming out after the match in an untelevised segment. After Malakai Black had come out to check on King, Allin and Sting did the same with Allin telling King he belonged in AEW and asking for a handshake.
The House of Black member wasn’t interested in what Allin and Sting had to say:
The Interim AEW World Championship and the TNT Championship are both on the line on tonight’s Dynamite.
Interim World title holder Jon Moxley will defend against Brody King tonight. King won a Royal Rampage battle royal last week to earn the title shot.
Scorpio Sky will defend the TNT Championship against Wardlow in a street fight on tonight’s episode.
The newly named ThunderStorm duo of AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa and Toni Storm will be in tag team action against Nyla Rose and Marina Shafir in a match set up on last week’s Rampage.
Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland will team against The Butcher and The Blade in a bout that was also set up on last week’s Rampage. Based on a video released on social media today, Strickland appears set to feud with Tony Nese stemming from Swerve eliminating Nese from the Royal Rampage last week.
Christian Cage and Luchasaurus have been announced for an appearance.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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Show Report —
Sky came out with a full entourage, including Dan Lambert, Ethan Page, and plenty of “fighters” who appeared to be indie wrestlers.
TNT Championship Street Fight: Wardlow defeated Scorpio Sky (c) (w/ American Top Team) to win the title
They laid into each other right away, with Wardlow knocking Sky down on a shoulder block. Sky came back with a simple kick between the legs, but Wardlow fired up with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Wardlow continued tossing Sky around until a distraction from Lambert on the floor led to Wardlow being sent into the steel steps.
Sky and co. maintained the advantage through a commercial break. Wardlow started a comeback and landed a diving senton bomb. He called for the Powerbomb Symphony, but all of American Top Team ran in, so Wardlow had to dispatch them, tossing one onto a pile of the others. Sky took advantage of the distraction with a belt shot, but Wardlow kicked out for a good near fall.
Wardlow escaped the TKO, pushed Sky into Lambert, and pulled down the straps to hit the Powerbomb Symphony. Three powerbombs later, Wardlow was the new TNT Champion.
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Jon Moxley was backstage. He said he wouldn’t be caught off guard: he knows what kind of monster he’s taking on in Brody King. But people are forgetting that Moxley’s a monster too, beating Tanahashi’s face in and cutting people up in Blood & Guts. He knows who King is, and Moxley will find out just how bad he wants it. “Step up or get stepped on.”
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Mark Sterling and Tony Nese were backstage. They had a petition trying to get Swerve Strickland removed from the roster and asked Lee to sign it. Lee said they might have some issues, but Swerve’s still his partner, and they’re still winning — unlike Nese.
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Christian Cage and Luchasaurus appearance
Christian said the fans want to know why after he turned, Luchasaurus decided to remain aligned with him.
Matt Hardy’s music interrupted. He called Christian the “Michael Jordan of being an asshole.” He said Jungle Boy is his friend, and Christian screwed him over, which Jungle Boy didn’t deserve. Christian said Matt didn’t know half the things he knew about Jungle Boy; “You’re starting to make your brother sound like the sober one.”
Hardy said Christian was just here to use Luchasaurus to make as much money as possible. He knows he’s hypocritical here; he did the same thing to Private Party and Butcher and Blade, but he regrets it. Matt’s here to make sure nobody else gets taken advantage of.
Christian said Matt was only out here because of his massive ego. He can’t stand when his name isn’t in the headlines. Matt will use his kids and wife, his property, and even turn a blind eye to his brother’s issues just so he can ride his coattails for one last run. Meanwhile, Christian’s the hottest star in wrestling, and Matt just wanted to be near him. He called Matt the biggest embarrassment to his family.
Matt had it and attacked Christian but was quickly taken down by Luchasaurus. The big man booted Matt’s head into the ring post and chokeslammed him through the timekeeper’s table.
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A video package recapped Blood & Guts. Menard said he did it for Jericho. Regal said he had never seen such destruction. Kingston said he wanted more.
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Claudio Castagnoli and Jake Hager were backstage with Tony Schiavone. Hager said Claudio wasn’t as tough and hard as him, pointing out Claudio had never won a world championship — unlike him. Claudio said he beat Sabre and then Jericho’s team at Blood & Guts. Next week, he’ll go 3-0 against Hager.
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Swerve in our Glory (Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland) defeated The Butcher & The Blade (w/ The Bunny)
Blade started off opposite Lee. He slapped Lee in the face and was immediately leveled by him, leading to Butcher tagging in. Lee gave Butcher a biel off the second rope, and Butcher was frustrated, running out to grab a chair before Blade talked him down.
Swerve and Blade tagged in. They had a bit of miscommunication on a drop-down leapfrog exchange but recovered in time for Swerve to tag in Lee, who knocked Blade down. They took turns tagging in and attacking Blade until interference from Bunny allowed B&B to take control ahead of the commercial.
Back from break, a diving uppercut from Swerve allowed him to tag in Lee, who ran wild on both Butcher and Blade. They continued to dominate until Lee inadvertently took out his partner Swerve, allowing Butcher to crush Swerve with a lariat for a good near fall.
Swerve fired back, taking out Butcher with his running thrust kick, then he and Lee hit a doomsday senton for the win.
– After the match, Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks interrupted. Hobbs was tired of the disrespect. Starks was tired of them asking like they’re somebody. There’s levels to this, and Lee and Swerve aren’t on their level. Starks got hot and said he’d beat their ass right now.
The Young Bucks’ music interrupted. Matt put over the tag division before reminding everyone who the top dogs are in the division. Nick referenced the Observer, saying the had a ****½ star match at Double or Nothing — an off night for the Bucks — but they couldn’t get the job done. Instead, it was the Bucks who beat Jurassic Express.
Matt proposed they go “triple or nothing” next week. They were drowned out by a loud “FTR” chant, which the Bucks clearly didn’t expect. The three-way tag was made for next week.
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House of Black cut a video promo. Black said he envied the pain Moxley inflicts on himself and others, but Brody King will leave his mark on him even further.
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Eddie Kingston promo
Schiavone asked Kingston about Jericho, but before Kingston answered, he congratulated Wardlow and then everyone on his team at Blood & Guts — even Claudio. He turned his attention to Jericho, who didn’t bleed.
Jericho interrupted on the video board, where he had Tay Conti slam a car door onto Ruby Soho’s hand.
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Dark Order promo
Moments like these are why it’s impossible not to root for AEW.
Rochester is the late Brodie Lee’s hometown. The cast was Evil Uno, John Silver, Alex Reynolds, 10, Anna Jay, and of course -1. Silver hyped up the crowd, and Evil Uno teased a disbandment, but he then said the Dark Order is here to stay. They have a proclamation, and he knows who should say it.
Uno handed the mic to -1, but then QT Marshall interrupted, calling -1 a “charity case.” QT said Brodie Lee was a legend, but -1 takes after his mother. He challenged -1 to a fight, but then Hangman Page’s music interrupted, He and the whole Dark Order beat down QT, with 10 hitting Brodie’s discus lariat. -1 said he’d wait to pin QT until he’s 19.
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Jim Ross was brought out for hour two.
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Rush (w/ Andrade El Ídolo & José the Assistant) defeated Penta Oscuro (w/ Rey Fénix & Alex Abrahantes)
Rush looked awesome in his AEW singles debut.
They traded overhand chops right at the bell. Penta got the upper hand with an armdrag on the floor, but Rush cut him off with a strong forearm. Rush beat Penta down and taunted. Penta fired back and took Rush out with a tope con giro. The two competitors’ associates had a dust-up before the break.
Back from commercial, Rush hit a powerslam for two. Penta returned fire, leading to another strong chop exchange and simultaneous headbutts. Rush hit a nice rising knee for two.
They continued to just beat the daylight out of each other. Rush hit a missile dropkick for two more. He followed it up with a senton for yet another two count. Rush called for the bull horn dropkick, but Penta cut him off and hit the Fear Factor. Penta covered, but Andrade put his foot on the ropes with the official’s view obscured.
Rush then low blowed Penta and tore off Penta’s mask, rolling him up for the win.
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Samoa Joe (c) vs. Jay Lethal for the ROH Television Championship was announced for Death Before Dishonor.
Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, and Satnam Singh were backstage. Dutt was ecstatic, saying Lethal would win the title. Lethal said he wouldn’t take Joe lightly, but he would take his championship.
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Sterling and Nese were backstage looking for more signatures getting Swerve fired. They ran into the Best Friends, who scoffed at them. After some Sterling/Danhausen shenanigans, Nese vs. Orange Cassidy was booked for Rampage.
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During The Acclaimed’s entrance, the Gunn Club grabbed the mic from Caster, not letting him do his rap like usual.
The Acclaimed (Max Caster & Anthony Bowens) & The Gunn Club (Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn) (w/ Billy Gunn) defeated Ruffin It (Bear Boulder, Bear Bronson, & Leon Ruffin) & Fuego Del Sol
Just about everyone got involved in the action early on. The Acclaimed and the Gunn Club struggled to work together, but eventually Bowens took control with a facebuster on Boulder. Caster hit the Mic Drop and covered, but Austin had tagged in and stole the pin to win.
– After the match, the two teams continued to have issues until Billy broke it up — that is, before Billy leveled Caster with a lariat. Bowens struggled to his feet and wanted Billy to “scissor” him, but Billy instead hit him with the Fame-asser.
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A Miro video promo aired. He said Malakai Black was someone who preyed on the flawed, which doesn’t work on Miro, who is flawless. “The Redeemer is coming.”
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ThunderStorm (Thunder Rosa & Toni Storm) defeated Nyla Rose & Marina Shafir
Storm got the upper hand on Shafir right away, leading to her and Rosa dominating with frequent tags. A few minutes in, Nyla hadn’t even tagged in yet. She was only able to enter the match after whacking Storm with an umbrella (get it? because they’re facing a team named “thunderstorm?”), leading to her team taking control.
After a commercial, Rosa got the hot tag and brought the fire to Nyla with chops and forearms. She hit running boots, but Nyla cut her off and hit a uranage before tagging in Shafir, who hit a pumphandle suplex for two. Storm cut Rose off with a DDT and destroyed Shafir with her hip attack, then ThunderStorm hit a combo Fire Thunder Driver for the win.
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Jade Cargill and the Baddies were backstage. Jade was annoyed about Hathaway recruiting Leyla Grey to the Baddies last week, but Hathaway said it took a special type of finesse to turn someone to their side. Jade said if she doesn’t deliver, he’d be in trouble.
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AEW Rampage (7/6) lineup —
Eddie Kingston vs. Konosuke Takeshita
Serena Deeb & Mercedes Martinez in action
Jonathan Gresham & Lee Moriarty vs. Gates of Agony
Orange Cassidy vs. Tony Nese
AEW Dynamite: Fyter Fest (7/13) lineup —
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Jake Hager
AEW World Tag Team Championships: Young Bucks (c) vs. Swerve in our Glory vs. Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs
ROH Death Before Dishonor (7/23) lineup —
ROH Television Championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Jay Lethal
ROH Pure Championship: Wheeler YUTA (c) vs. Daniel Garcia
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Daniel Garcia was backstage. He said YUTA doesn’t strike an ounce of fear into his heart. He’ll see YUTA at Death Before Dishonor.
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FTR were backstage. Cash said no match had ever taken as much out of them as their match at Supercard of Honor. Death Before Dishonor is coming up, and there are still some who don’t think they’re the best in the world. They challenged the Briscoes for one more match.
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William Regal joined commentary.
Interim AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley (c) defeated Brody King
This was a strong title main event and a good showcase for King.
King immediately pushed Moxley into the corner and smashed him with a chop. They traded forearms until King sent Moxley to the floor and whipped him into the barricade. Moxley tried to fight back, but King was able to back body drop him onto the ramp.
Back in the ring, Moxley got King off his feet and applied a figure four leglock. He continued to target King’s left leg until King popped up and laid in strikes followed by a black hole slam for two.
After a break, Moxley earned a moment of reprieve in avoiding a cannonball senton from King. He raked King’s back and bit at his face before hitting a superplex. A dragon suplex from Moxley followed for two.
Moxley kicked King’s head in, but a comeback lariat from King allowed him to nail a straight piledriver for a near fall. King locked on a sleeper and dangled Moxley from the top rope, similar to how he eliminated Darby Allin to win last week’s battle royale. He followed it up with a running cannonball for another near fall.
King wanted the Fire Thunder Driver, but Moxley escaped and rolled King up for two. Moxley hit an underhook DDT and followed it up with hammer-and-anvil elbows. He looked for the Bulldog Choke and modified into a sleeper. King fell backwards to break the hold, but Moxley popped up and locked it on again, leading to a referee stoppage.
– The show went off the air at three past the top of the hour.
Brody King will be the first to challenge Jon Moxley for the Interim AEW World Championship on next week’s Dynamite.
King won the inaugural Royal Rampage Battle Royal on Friday’s Rampage episode to earn the first shot at Moxley on the July 6 Dynamite. King last eliminated Darby Allin in the 20-man battle royal to earn the title match.
Two more matches and a promo segment have also been added to Wednesday’s Dynamite.
Toni Storm and AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa, branded as ThunderStorm, will team against Nyla Rose and Marina Shafir on Dynamite. Storm defeated Rose in the Rampage main event this week, a match where Shafir repeatedly interjected herself into the action. After the match, Rose and Shafir attacked Storm, but Rosa made the save to set up the tag bout.
Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland will team against The Butcher and The Blade on Dynamite. Butcher and Blade teamed up to eliminate Strickland from the Royal Rampage to set up the bout.
Also added to Dynamite, Christian Cage and Luchasaurus will appear on the show. Managed by Cage, Luchasaurus debuted a new heelish persona on this week’s Dynamite.
Already announced for next week, Scorpio Sky will defend the TNT Championship against Wardlow in a street fight.
Here is the announced Dynamite lineup:
AEW Dynamite, Wednesday, July 6 —
Interim AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley (c) vs. Brody King
TNT Championship street fight: Scorpio Sky (c) vs. Wardlow
Thunder Rosa & Toni Storm vs. Nyla Rose & Marina Shafir
Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland vs. The Butcher & The Blade
Ahead of this weekend’s NJPW Strong tapings for Capital Collision in Washington D.C and Collision in Pennsylvania, I spoke with Brody King who takes on Minoru Suzuki Saturday and Jake Something on Sunday.
King had been signed exclusively to Ring of Honor since 2018. But in October 2021, they announced that following last December’s Final Battle, they would be taking a hiatus. They then released everyone from their contracts, including King.
Then on January 12th of this year, King made his AEW debut, joining Malakai Black in what would become known as the House of Black.
In our 32-minute talk you can watch above, we touched on the changes in ROH, why he signed with AEW and plenty more.
The writing on the wall with ROH
“I kinda saw the writing on the wall. They weren’t renewing any contract that were coming up and they weren’t discussing it with anybody. My contract was going to be renegotiated in December and it was about October and they hadn’t said anything to me and I know a few others that they hadn’t said anything to. I was like, ‘That seems strange that they have all these big players that they would probably want to keep with their deals coming and nobody is discussing it with them, so…’
I feel like maybe a lot of people wanted to pretend like that wasn’t the case, but if you look at it from a business standpoint, that’s probably not a good sign, especially since we were doing shows with crowds again. The crowds weren’t great and there’s only so much you can do with a big roster with a lot of money and not a lot of people in the crowd.”
The seeds of House of Black idea planted prior to AEW
“When the news for Ring of Honor broke, I feel like Malakai and I had already been discussing this House of Black dream scenario like ‘If it could happen…’ I think we were already discussing possibly trying to set the groundwork for it, so it was very much in the works already. We had already been discussing the what ifs and balancing ideas.
I talked to Tony (Khan) very shortly after the news from Ring of Honor broke and he invited me out to a couple of the shows. We discussed things and that’s when the whole House of Black idea really came into fruition. It seemed like a good fit and everything fell into place, so I was very fortunate that I kind of had a plan already and it was just an easier decision.”
Dealing with jealousy not being in AEW
“My perception was that (AEW) was a good alternative to something like WWE and it was an alternative that I liked a lot more. It fit much more to my style and to my beliefs in wrestling and everything in between. A lot of my friends were some of the people that started it like MJF, Jungle Boy, Darby Allin. All these guys were starting the company while I was starting in Ring of Honor. I would be lying if there wasn’t a little bit of jealousy once I started seeing that blow up. And it was just like ‘Man, I wish I was over there with those guys.’ I kept in contact with them throughout the years and they welcomed me with open arms.”
Creative collaboration for the House of Black
“Everything with the House of Black is pretty much a collaboration. Usually one of us will come to the table with an idea and we all kinda just riff off of that and kinda make something out of that. Everyone kinda gives what they think they should do and we kinda take pieces from all of it and make the whole thing. It’s really cool, because it doesn’t feel like one person is in control of the whole thing. Obviously Malakai has a lot more experience and he has years in wrestling to guide all of our ideas and I feel like without him, it might not be as polished as it would be.”
The future of the new Ring of Honor
“I would like to see it become what it once was. It just needs the diehard fans back. It needs people to give their energy to the performers in the ring. If it’s a super indie, that’s awesome — like, if it travels around to different cities when there’s pay-per-views or whatever. That’s cool. If it’s just a traveling show or if it’s a TV product, that’s awesome as well. But I think it’s a good opportunity to give a lot of younger talent a look that’s just not only Dark or Dark Elevation. They can really go out there and show what they have or if there are some undercard guys on AEW that need to really get out in front of a crowd and test some stuff out, then maybe Ring of Honor is a good opportunity for that as well. I feel there is a lot to be done with it. “
A new match has been made official for NJPW’s Capital Collision pay-per-view.
NJPW has confirmed that Brody King vs. Minoru Suzuki will take place at Capital Collision on Saturday, May 14. The show is being held at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington, D.C.
King vs. Suzuki was set up for Capital Collision when King confronted Suzuki backstage at Windy City Riot earlier this month:
“After a hard fought war between Minoru Suzuki and Tomohiro Ishii two weeks ago at Windy City Riot, Suzuki was in a foul mood when approached by Brody King. King would demand a match against Suzuki at Washington, while professional wrestling’s King was suitably incensed at ‘Big Bad’ Brody getting in his space,” NJPW wrote.
“It didn’t take too long for the relevant arrangements to be made, and this match is now official! Brody King will go head to head with Minoru Suzuki for the first time on Saturday May 14 at Capital Collision in Washington DC!”
King debuted for AEW this January and is part of the promotion’s House of Black stable with Malakai Black and Buddy Matthews.
Here’s the updated card for Capital Collision:
Eddie Kingston vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Brody King vs. Minoru Suzuki
Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jon Moxley, and Will Ospreay are also among the talent set for Capital Collision. Moxley has issued a challenge to Tanahashi for the show.
