AEW has revealed the bracket for the World title eliminator tournament set to conclude at Full Gear on November 19.
Eight participants have been announced for the tournament, with one first round match set for the November 9 Dynamite, and three set for the November 11 Rampage.
The tournament semifinals will take place the following week, with the finals set for Full Gear. The winner will receive a title shot at Winter is Coming on December 14.
The first round matches:
Eddie Kingston vs. Ethan Page — November 9 Dynamite
Bandido vs. Rush — November 11 Rampage
Ricky Starks vs. Lance Archer — November 11 Rampage
Brian Cage vs. Dante Martin — November 11 Rampage
Bryan Danielson won the 2021 AEW World title eliminator tournament, defeating Miro in the finals at Full Gear. Danielson went on to face Hangman Page for the title at Winter is Coming in December in a match that went to a time limit draw.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including Colt Cabana and AEW, the weirdest Rampage in forever tonight, AEW Dynamite ratings, Crown Jewel on Saturday, all the news and more, plus JOE GALLI joins us to talk the NWA! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Colt Cabana’s appearance on Dynamite is being considered a “morale booster” for the AEW locker room.
It was his first match on Dynamite since losing to Bryan Danielson on the November 24, 2021, episode, although he continued to appear on Dark and Dark: Elevation until March.
The decision for Cabana to be Chris Jericho’s mystery opponent was addressed by our own Dave Meltzer in Friday’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
“Cabana appearing led to even more talk because people saw it as a shot at Punk or a vindication of the story that Cabana stopped being used in AEW due to Punk. Whatever it was, it was Tony Khan’s idea,” Meltzer wrote.
“We were told that this was more for the locker room than anything else, that having Cabana on the show and given a positive spotlight after months of being ostracized for reasons that had nothing to do with him was a dressing room morale booster since he had many friends there.”
Cabana was originally hired as an agent and had been producing matches for Dark and Dark: Elevation while also performing on-screen as a member of The Dark Order. He left for Australia to perform as The Brooklyn Brawler in the “Young Rock” series and when he returned, AEW stopped using him. It was around this same time that the company hired Ace Steel.
Cabana’s contract was set to expire this summer but he was given a new deal to work ROH for the same money he had been earning before.
“As best we can tell, Cabana was only in for that one match but is still under contract to ROH, but is no longer ostracized and could be used again in some form,” Meltzer continued.
WWE announced its third quarter financials on 11/2, with $304,640,000 in revenue and $41,620,000 in profits.
Revenues solidly beat Wall Street expectations of $280.1 million, but profits were slightly below the expectations of $43.3 million.
Last year in a similar quarter the revenues were $255,853,000 but profits were $43,486,000.
Revenues were up 19.1 percent from the third quarter of last year, while profits were down 4.3 percent. The revenue increase was largely $15.4 million in contractual increases for distribution for Raw, Smackdown, and NXT and another $14.6 million for production of other original programming (reality shows, A&E shows, etc), as well as the combination of the live gate, merchandise, and site fee paid by the city of Cardiff for the Clash of the Castle show, which as a live event, did numbers almost identical to each night of WrestleMania in Dallas.
It was the largest third quarter for revenue in company history, as would be expected, as with most of the revenue coming from guaranteed media contracts that have annual escalators written in, every quarter should be expected to set a new record.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including JEFF JARRETT, KATSUYORI SHIBATA AND COLT CABANA all appearing on Dynamite, tons of notes in our full review of the show, a quick look at WWE finances (made money) and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including Jeff Jarrett, Colt Cabana and Katsuyori Shibata appearing on Dynamite, a full review of the show, NXT from Tuesday, WWE conference call notes, Crown Jewel and New Japan both running this weekend, GCW to Fite+ and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Katsuyori Shibata, Colt Cabana, Jeff Jarrett appear on Dynamite
11:30: WWE financials
22:35: Ratings
28:59: Bodhi Hayward cut
31:16: Jake Paul talks Anderson Silva buyrate
33:55: GCW, other promotions joining Fite+
37:10: Saudi Arabia and Crown Jewel, NJPW this weekend
Colt Cabana returned to AEW on Wednesday’s Dynamite, facing Chris Jericho in his first match on the program in nearly a year.
Jericho vs. “a former ROH Champion” was advertised for Wednesday’s episode. Cabana, a two-time Ring of Honor Tag Team Champion, was revealed as the opponent when his entrance music hit.
After victories at @ringofhonor Supercard of Honor & Death Before Dishonor, Cabana is looking pick up the biggest win of his career with a victory over #TheOcho, #ROH World Champion @IAmJericho!
Jericho went on to defeat Cabana in the match, Cabana’s first televised match on Dynamite since the November 24, 2021 Dynamite Thanksgiving show, where he faced Bryan Danielson.
Cabana has sporadically appeared on AEW Dark since last November, and also wrestled in three matches for the company at the Gamescom convention in Germany this past August.
Cabana has wrestled twice for ROH this year after AEW’s Tony Khan purchased the company. It was reported in May that Cabana had signed a new contract with Khan, and was earmarked for the ROH brand.
Despite personal animosity between Cabana and former AEW World Champion CM Punk, Khan stated in September that Cabana being moved away from AEW to the ROH brand had nothing to do with Punk.
In the infamous post-All Out media scrum in September, Punk went off on Cabana and detailed the interpersonal dynamics that he said led to the dissolution of their friendship.
Cabana’s two reigns with the ROH Tag titles were both as part of the Second City Saints team with Punk.
After winning the AEW World Championship in the main event of All Out, CM Punk continued to make headlines at the post-show media scrum.
There was a moment near the start of the scrum where Punk questioned if one of the reporters was friends with Colt Cabana. That led to Punk addressing his issues with Cabana, Hangman Page, and “irresponsible people who call themselves EVPs.”
I haven’t had anything to do with Scott Colton [Colt Cabana] in almost a decade. Probably wanted nothing to do with him even longer than that. It’s f*cking unfortunate that I have to come up here and speak on this when I’m on my time and this is a f*cking business. Why I’m a grown ass adult man and I decide not to be friends with somebody is nobody else’s f*cking business. But my friends, if I fall backwards, will catch me. Scott Colton, I felt, never would have.
My problem was I wanted to bring a guy with me to the top that did not want to see me at the top, okay? You [can] call it jealousy, you call it envy, whatever the f*ck it is. My relationship with Scott Colton ended long before I paid all of his bills. I have every receipt. I have every invoice. I have every email. I have the email where he says — and I quote, ‘I agree to go our separate ways, I will get my own lawyer and you do not have to pay anymore.’ That’s an email that I have. And the only reason the public did not see is because when I finally had to countersue him, through discovery we discovered he shared a bank account with his mother. That’s a fact. And as soon as we discovered that fact and we subpoenaed ol’ Marcia, he sent the email ‘Oh, can we please drop all this?’
Now, it’s 2022. I haven’t been friends with this guy since at least 2014, late 2013. The fact that I have to sit up here because we have irresponsible people who call themselves EVPs and couldn’t f*cking manage a Target and they spread lies and bullsh*t and put into the media that I got somebody fired when I have f*ck all to do with him, want nothing to do with him, do not care where he works, where he doesn’t work, where he eats, where he sleeps. And the fact that I have to get up here and do this in 2022 is f*cking embarrassing. And if y’all are at fault, f*ck you. If you’re not, I apologize.
What did I ever do in this world to deserve an empty-headed f*cking dumb f*ck like Hangman Adam Page to go out on national television and f*cking go into business for himself? For what? What did I do? What did I ever do? Didn’t do a goddamn thing.
It’s not [Tony Khan’s] position to make it very f*cking clear [that Punk didn’t have anything to do with Cabana being moved to ROH]. There’s people who call themselves EVPs that should have f*cking known better. This sh*t was none of their business. I understand sticking up for your f*cking friends, I f*cking get it, I stuck up for that guy [Cabana] more than anybody. Okay? I paid his bills until I didn’t and it was my decision not to.
I’m trying to run a f*cking business. And when somebody who hasn’t done a damn thing in this business jeopardizes the first $1 million house that this company has ever drawn off of my back and goes on national television and does that, it’s a disgrace to this industry, it’s a disgrace to this company. Now, we’re far beyond apologies. I gave him a f*cking chance. It did not get handled, and you saw what I had to do, which is very regrettable, lowering myself to his f*cking level. But that’s where we’re at right now. And I will still walk up and down this hallway and say, ‘If you have a f*cking problem with me, take it up with me.’ Let’s f*cking go.
Punk said later in the scrum that Cabana doesn’t deserve to have Punk say his name. Punk said Vince McMahon and Cabana are the two people who have made the most money off of the name CM Punk.
This May, Cabana signed a new contract with AEW and it was noted that he was “earmarked” to be part of the ROH roster. Dave Meltzer wrote at the time that Cabana being moved to ROH “may be in some form be related to his issues” with Punk. Meltzer wrote that AEW EVPs The Young Bucks pushed for Cabana to be signed to the new deal.
Punk saying that Page went into business for himself is a reference to a promo that Page cut prior to their AEW World Championship match at Double or Nothing this May. During the promo, Page talked about saving AEW from Punk.
Punk defeated Page to win the AEW World Championship at Double or Nothing but had to vacate the title just days later due to a broken foot. After losing a unification match to interim champion Jon Moxley on Dynamite two weeks ago, Punk defeated Moxley at All Out to again become AEW World Champion.
According to the AEW President, CM Punk’s history with Colt Cabana had nothing to do with Cabana being moved to the ROH roster.
It was reported in May that Cabana had signed a new deal with the company and was “earmarked” for ROH. He hasn’t performed for AEW since an episode of Dark on March 4 and no longer appears backstage with The Dark Order.
During a recent interview with Forbes, Tony Khan said that Punk’s history with Cabana did not factor into Cabana being moved to ROH.
“There is certainly a perception out there that I don’t think is accurate that when I purchased Ring of Honor and also [as] some of the contracts were coming up and I was starting to make moves—whether it was renewing them in most cases or not renewing them or in some cases reassigning people—there was a misconception that was perpetuated unfairly that CM Punk had anything to do with me wanting to move Colt Cabana to the Ring of Honor roster when his contract came up,” Khan said.
“I will clarify that, just to take it head on, that he [Punk] had nothing to do with any of the contracts I picked up, whether I did or didn’t. But in particular, I did pick up Colt Cabana’s contract and gave him a similar contract to do different work,” said Khan. “I don’t know if it was fair that that got perpetuated…I also didn’t think that was fair to Punk.”
As for the future of Ring of Honor, Khan said he’s still working on finding a home for a weekly ROH show.
“I’m still having very exciting conversations about the future of Ring of Honor and where it will live, but my goal is to do a weekly Ring of Honor show,” Khan said. “We are for sure 100 percent gonna continue the Ring of Honor franchise.”
Evil Uno and Colt Cabana have revealed new details about AEW: Fight Forever.
They were on-hand at Gamescom in Germany on Wednesday and went live on Twitch with new footage of the game.
In-game footage of Kenny Omega vs. Adam Cole with Aubrey Edwards officiating was shown. Uno discussed the game’s controls and noted that they are similar to past wrestling games with strike, grapple, strong strike, and strong grapple options. Blocking and reversals are performed by using the left and right bumper buttons. A momentum bar is shown at the bottom of the screen and players are able to use signature moves when it’s filled.
Other notes from the stream:
A “deep career mode” was confirmed. Players will go “on the road” with AEW in this mode and select a manager as well.
The controls were described as “easy to learn but hard to master.”
Kick-outs and escaping submissions are done through button-mashing as opposed to mini-games.
There are 40 different weapons that are useable in the game. Characters can grab them from under the ring.
The rating of the game is 16+ and blood will be included.
“In the future sometime,” “soonish” and “stay tuned” were all responses given to questions about when the game will be released.
Mixed-gender matches are possible. Wrestlers can also be placed in matches against themselves. CPU vs CPU matches will also be possible.
Online play was referred to as “a big part” of the game.
You can modify most things including entrances, ring attire, and arenas.
Original music by Max Caster is featured in the game.
Colt Cabana’s future appears to be in Ring of Honor.
Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Cabana has signed a new contract, something Matt & Nick Jackson pushed for. Rather than continuing to perform in AEW, however, the 42-year-old is expected to be part of a re-launched ROH brand if and when that happens. This may be due to the longstanding issues that exist between Cabana and CM Punk.
“Colt Cabana hasn’t been on the show for a while as he is earmarked for the ROH group if and when that starts,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
“This may be in some form be related to his issues with C.M. Punk. Cabana was signed to a new contract which was pushed for by Matt & Nick Jackson, and worked the ROH PPV show, but has not been at any of the AEW tapings since his new deal was signed.”
The issues between Punk and Cabana stem from a defamation suit WWE doctor Chris Amann filed against the pair in 2015. Cabana then filed suit against Punk in 2018 claiming they had a verbal contract that Punk would cover Cabana’s portion of legal fees they incurred. In 2019, Punk filed a countersuit against Cabana and the two sides settled out of court that September.
Cabana performed on the Supercard of Honor pay-per-view on April 1, defeating Blake Christian on the pre-show. He has not wrestled a match in AEW since an episode of Dark taped on March 4.
The Thanksgiving eve edition of AEW Dynamite will see Bryan Danielson continue his march toward his AEW World title match with Hangman Page as he faces Colt Cabana of the Dark Order.
Danielson defeated Cabana’s factionmate Evil Uno on Wednesday’s Dynamite and said that until he faces Page, he will take out every Dark Order member one by one. Prior to that, Danielson came out during Page’s championship celebration and said he was disappointed it wasn’t Kenny Omega that he would be challenging.
The date for the showdown between Page and the no. 1 contender has yet to be announced. Page suggested he and Danielson do it on tonight’s show, but Danielson said he didn’t want Page to have the excuse he wasn’t ready when he loses. Danielson earned the shot after winning the World title eliminator tournament last Saturday at Full Gear.
Wednesday’s live event from the sold-out Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois, will also feature an eight-man tag team match between Tag Team Champions The Lucha Bros, Cody Rhodes and PAC vs. AAA Tag Team Champions FTR, Andrade El Idolo and Malakai Black in the continuation of a recent feud.
The show will also have a TBS title quarterfinal match as Thunder Rosa takes on Jamie Hayter. Hayter defeated Anna Jay to advance while Rosa earned a first round bye.
Here’s everything announced thus far:
Bryan Danielson vs. Colt Cabana
TBS title tournament quarterfinal: Thunder Rosa vs. Jamie Hayter
AEW Tag Team Champions The Lucha Bros, Cody Rhodes and PAC vs. AAA Tag Team Champions FTR, Andrade El Idolo and Malakai Black
The first five AEW talent announcements have been made for this year’s Chris Jericho cruise.
It was announced today that AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker, Orange Cassidy, Frankie Kazarian, Christopher Daniels, and Colt Cabana will be part of the Jericho cruise. It’s sailing from Miami, Florida to Grand Bahama Island from Thursday, October 21 to Monday, October 25.
“Excited to announce that @realbrittbaker, @orangecassidy, @frankiekazarian, @facdaniels, and @ColtCabana have been added to our incredible wrestling lineup! More additions to come SOON – stay tuned! #JerichoCruise,” the announcement said.
Chris Jericho will be the master of ceremonies on the cruise.
AEW has a live episode of Dynamite being held in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, October 23. Dynamite is being moved to a Saturday on both October 16 and October 23 due to a scheduling conflict with the NHL on TNT.
Jericho sent out a tweet earlier this week noting that there would still be AEW talent on the Jericho cruise despite the Orlando Dynamite episode taking place while the cruise is happening: “Hey @jericho_cruise rockers!! Just letting you know that even with the #AEWDynamite event on Oct 23, there’s still gonna be an amazing roster of @AEW talent aboard the #TripleWhammy! @TonyKhan & I are putting together the great talent list & the first announcement is this Thur!”
The first two editions of Chris Jericho’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Rager at Sea took place in 2018 and 2020. This year’s Triple Whammy version of the cruise was originally supposed to happen in February but was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cruise attendees must be fully vaccinated at least two weeks prior to departure.
Being The Elite Episode 217 began with another Best Friends, Orange Cassidy and Brandon Cutler confrontation. Taylor held a blunt object behind his back while Trent hid a box cutter. They wanted to do another crime.
Cutler apologized to Trent, Taylor and Cassidy for accusing them of masturbating Colt Cabana with cake before murdering him. They all parted as friends but after Cutler left, Trent said that he could not wait to kill him.
Other highlights from the episode included:
The Young Bucks went to a Wal Mart looking for their AEW action figures. They were sold out.
The Bucks spoke about their rivalry with Dark Order and how it goes back to PWG a decade ago.
Santana and Ortiz were on trial, charged with making Marko Stunt’s Tinder analytics plummet. Alex Marvez represented Stunt. Santana and Ortiz represented themselves. Dasha Gonzalez was the judge. She found Santana and Ortiz innocent.
The Bucks were in their dressing room when Christopher Daniels entered, looking for Colt Cabana. They all realized Cabana had not been seen in two weeks. After Daniels left, Matt and Nick remembered hearing Kenny Omega say that he wanted to murder Cabana. They looked at Omega’s gear and saw the sunglasses from his Cleaner character.
They showed Cutler Cam footage from Dynamite.
Daniels did a commercial for poison mortgages but realized while taping it that he didn’t understand the concept.
Matt Hardy continued to attack people backstage when he confused them with Sammy Guevara.
Matt Jackson asked Cutler to come up with something for this week’s 50-plus seconds for 50-plus. Matt said he needed something slow and plodding. Cutler suggested a Randy Orton match.. Instead, Cutler built a PC.
Alex Reynolds and John Silver met to discuss potential Dark Order recruits. They considered Jon Moxley, Tom Arnold and Pauly Shore. The Librarians entered. Peter Avalon pitched himself as a Dark Order member. Reynolds and Silver rejected him.
Mr. Brodie Lee met with Evil Uno, Stu Grayson and Ten. Lee wanted to coach Uno on how to do a better job of hitting people with stacks of paper. Uno threw paper at Tony Schiavone. Lee was not happy and left with Schiavone.
A figure was walking backstage. We saw things from his point of view. He entered the medical room. The doctor called him “Scotty” and said “That’s a lot of gold, man,” a play on Cabana’s name.
The show opened with 50+ seconds for 50+. Matt Jackson worked some holds, sold his leg and did a series of simple spots to appeal to an older audience.
Other highlights included:
Matt, Nick Jackson, Rick Knox, Brandon Cutler and Brian Cage were stranded in the Dallas airport after missing a flight to Jacksonville on Nick’s birthday.
Alex Reynolds and John Silver tried to recruit Matt and Nick to Dark Order by pretending to be Christian AF. They got the story of Cain and Abel confused with the story of Kane and his brother Mark.
Matt enlisted Christopher Daniels to come up with ways to appeal to the 50+ demo. Daniels decided that his first idea was to try an infomercial.
Hangman Page, Kenny Omega, Matt and Nick were hanging out backstage at Dynamite after Page and Omega’s title defense last week. FTR approached and told Page that he looked like a young Barry Windham. Omega said he doesn’t watch wrestling so he doesn’t know who that is. Page didn’t know either. FTR offered Omega and The Bucks chocolate milk to toast with while they drank beer with Page. They were all getting along.
Dark Order thought that Jungle Boy was Griff Garrison and kicked him out of their dressing room. Mr. Brodie Lee entered and slapped Silver with a stack of papers for being stupid.
Matt Hardy talked to Matt and Nick. He said that he needs to be Matthew Hardy right now, grounded in reality. Hardy left. Matt and Nick then saw visions of Hardy’s different personas but chalked it up to being tired after missing their flight.
Colt Cabana decided to wait in the EVP locker room for Omega. He took a bite of Nick’s birthday cake, got tired, then took a nap in the locker room. Best Friends and Orange Cassidy approached looking for Cutler who they have been trying to murder.
Best Friends and Cassidy entered the EVP locker room and killed Cabana behind a closed door. They left the room and ran into Cutler as they realized they had killed the wrong guy.
