AEW head Tony Khan spoke to the media for an hour Thursday to promote this Sunday’s Double or Nothing and while the call wasn’t very newsworthy, there were a few interesting notes.
The full audio from the call can be found below.
Khan said that when it came to who should fill the spot vacated by the injured Eddie Kingston in the Anarchy in the Arena match, he actually called Darby Allin to first see how he was doing physically. Allin responded that he would fill in for Kingston without Khan even needing to ask him which Khan thought was a funny occurrence.
Asked about running the MGM Grand Garden Arena vs. T-Mobile Arena for Sunday’s show, Khan said the decision was about sentimentality as the MGM is where they launched five years ago.
Asked about being an on-screen character, Khan says he has really tried to limit his appearances on TV which is how it should be. He wants the focus of the shows to be on the wrestlers and wrestling, even with the current Elite storyline. He was the only one who could lift the Young Bucks’ ban on Allin last night, hence his very brief appearance.
Asked about the report on Mark Henry’s impending contract expiration, Khan says they have to look at that internally but really likes him as a media personality and has a lot of respect for him as a wrestler.
Asked about potential future residencies like they are doing with the Summer Series in Arlington, Texas, Khan said the city gave them a great deal in a great venue that was attractive. If other cities follow suit and this Summer Series goes really well, it could be a model for them in the future.
Asked about moving All Out a week later, Khan didn’t really give a direct answer but said he wanted to make it a better experience for fans coming off Wembley’s All In. He also said Labor Day now has more competition than it did when they started and felt it was a win/win to stay in Chicago and run in September.
Tony Khan approved AEW wrestlers appearing on WWE Raw for John Cena’s 20th-anniversary.
Videos featuring AEW’s Chris Jericho, Paul Wight, and Bryan Danielson speaking about Cena appeared on the show. Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that it was WWE’s Bruce Prichard who reached out to Khan to make this happen.
“The basic story behind this is that on 6/24, Bruce Prichard called Khan and asked about having clips from those three guys as well as Mark Henry for Raw for Cena’s 20th anniversary,” Meltzer wrote. “Khan felt that it sounded like they were doing a good show and it was a nice deal, and that he and everyone has a lot of respect for Cena. He said he was fine with it but it was up to the talent if they wanted to do the videos.”
Jericho, Wight, Danielson, and Mark Henry all agreed to submit videos for the show. Henry’s did not make air, however.
“Megha Parekh of AEW contacted the three wrestlers and told the that Khan was okay with it, but they also had to be okay with it, and they were all okay with it. Henry filmed one but it didn’t air on Raw,” Meltzer continued.
AEW has announced the commentary team for their upcoming new show on TNT, Rampage.
During tonight’s episode of Dynamite, it was announced that Excalibur, Mark Henry, Chris Jericho, and Taz would be the commentary team for Rampage, with the first episode taking place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on August 13.
It was announced previously that Henry would be a part of the commentary team when he made his debut for AEW back at Double or Nothing in May. Excalibur currently does commentary work for both AEW Dark and AEW Dynamite, with Taz joining him on commentary for Dark. Jericho has appeared multiple times on Dynamite’s commentary over the past year.
The first match for Rampage was announced during tonight’s episode of Dynamite, as Britt Baker will defend the AEW Women’s Championship in her hometown against Red Velvet.
Rampage will not air live every week, but will for shows prior to pay-per-view events. The first episode of Rampage will air live, as well as an episode that will air prior to All Out on September 3. Another episode of Rampage will air at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois on August 20.
AEW held a media scrum following the Double or Nothing PPV.
Tony Khan, Chris Jericho, Britt Baker and Jungle Boy spoke to reporters. Here are some notable items from the event.
Tony Khan —
Khan said that he has a handshake deal with Lio Rush, who debuted in the Casino Battle Royale. He said that he had looked to bring Rush in for an event in 2020, but Rush filming MTV’s The Challenge precluded that from happening. He said that Rush will continue to be available for NJPW events.
Regarding the promo that Khan cut on WWE’s Nick Khan and the report that WWE had negotiations with NJPW, Khan said that he asked NJPW if they thought he should cut the promo. He said that NJPW agreed and “they thought it was great.” Khan said that he expects to continue working with NJPW.
Khan discussed Mark Henry’s signing. He said that he and Henry are personal friends. He put over Henry’s mind for the wrestling business and thought he would be a good locker room presence.
Khan said that Mark Henry and another current AEW roster member will be commentators on Rampage when the show debuts in August. He said that Rampage will sometimes be taped in conjunction with Dark and Dark: Elevation, but that Rampage will also be live some weeks.
Khan said that he apologized to Hikaru Shida for the incident where commentator Willie Urbina mocked her accent and that it was important that he take action in dealing with the incident.
Khan said he expects that there will be another Stadium Stampede match in the future.
Chris Jericho —
Jericho said that portions of the Stadium Stampede match were filmed over a period of four days and that they were looking to make the match look more like an action movie.
To that end, Jericho said that they brought in a stunt coordinator who works on the Jon Wick action films to help film the “fight scenes.”
Britt Baker —
Baker put over the hard work of the entire women’s division and said that they collectively have improved with more television time.
Baker said that AEW currently doesn’t have any female coaches, but could see Serena Deeb in that role in the future.
Jungle Boy —
Jungle Boy gave credit to wrestling veteran talent like FTR and Chris Jericho for improving his in-ring work. He said that working on Dark and Dark: Elevation has helped him improve as well.
He described the anxiety that he deals with before his matches, but said that having his Tarzan Boy entrance music has helped ease that.
Henry, a WWE Hall of Famer, made his AEW debut at tonight’s Double or Nothing PPV.
Tony Schiavone introduced Henry as one of the commentators for the AEW Rampage show, debuting in August. Schiavone also said that Henry will serve as a coach for AEW talent.
Henry, 49, made his WWE debut in 1996. He would go on to win the company’s WWF European Championship, ECW Championship and World Heavyweight Championship. Henry was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2018.
Henry’s final in-ring appearance to date came at The Greatest Royal Rumble in April 2018, where he participated in the 50-man Royal Rumble match.
Henry’s final on-camera appearance in WWE came in January 2021 on a Legends Night edition of Raw. Henry was using a scooter backstage in the segment and was mocked for it by Randy Orton.
AEW gave no indication at Double or Nothing that it intends to use Henry in an in-ring capacity.
Rampage will air Fridays at 10 p.m. Eastern time on TNT, beginning on August 13.
An arm wrestling competition is set for tonight’s post-SummerSlam episode of Raw.
WWE announced this afternoon that Mark Henry will officiate an arm wrestling competition between United States Champion Apollo Crews and Bobby Lashley on Raw tonight:
After overcoming MVP at SummerSlam to retain the United States Championship, Apollo Crews must now test his strength against ‘The All Mighty’ Bobby Lashley — with a WWE Hall of Famer presiding, as ‘The World’s Strongest Man’ Mark Henry will officiate an Arm Wrestling Competition between Crews and Lashley tonight on Raw.
Crews is already more than familiar with Lashley’s brute power after being put on the shelf earlier this summer by Lashley’s devastating Full Nelson.
Henry figures to help keep order with the rest of The Hurt Business likely not far behind, but can Crews withstand Lashley’s indomitable strength?
MVP’s Hurt Business stablemates Lashley and Shelton Benjamin were banned from ringside for Crews’ United States title defense against MVP on last night’s SummerSlam pre-show. WWE has announced that Crews will defend his US title against Lashley at Payback this coming Sunday (August 30).
Tonight will be the first Raw of the WWE ThunderDome era at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. Keith Lee will make his official Raw debut after losing the NXT Championship to Karrion Kross in the main event of TakeOver XXX.
Aleister Black will appear on the KO Show with Kevin Owens tonight. Ivar of The Viking Raiders facing off with Dolph Ziggler in Raw Underground is also set for the show.
In an interview with TMZ, former WWE star Mark Henry said he is upset with Lio Rush over his recent comments and claimed he is considering a defamation suit against the former WWE star.
On Thursday, Rush tweeted that comments Henry made last May still needed to be addressed, referring to things Henry said on Busted Open Radio in 2019. At the time, the 25-year-old was taking a break for most of the spring and summer due to some reported backstage issues.
The 48-year-old Henry said he had tried to help Rush navigate things in WWE, but Rush didn’t see it that way. He continued to tag Henry in tweets the past few days, but Henry specifically took umbrage with the following:
Rush claimed he tried to call into Busted Open while Henry was on, but the phone number didn’t work.
In his talk with TMZ, the WWE Hall-of-Famer said that he has helped around 80% of his estimated 25 current Performance Center trainees of color get there, and chalked up Rush’s actions of late to promoting his album. Henry said he would have helped Rush do an angle of sorts if he wanted.
“You can’t question my blackness. Like nobody can question my blackness, pull my black card. No, not allowed. Nobody,” he said.
He said his lawyers aren’t happy and would like to sue Rush, but Henry didn’t come off as if that was seriously being considered.
As the two continued to go at it Sunday on Twitter, Henry claimed he asked WWE to not fire Rush last year and said it was the last time they would speak unless Rush apologized. He also threw a jab at AEW’s Joey Janela who went after Henry for threatening to sue someone who is out of work and has a family to raise.
Rush said he could sue Henry for ‘de framing my name on national radio [sic]’ and that Henry deserves to be known for the ‘the greatest heel turn ever and not for threatening to sue a 25-year-old during a pandemic’.
More names have been added to next week’s Raw Reunion.
During commercials that aired tonight during Raw, the following names were listed for next week’s show:
Mark Henry
Mick Foley
Pat Patterson
Gearld Brisco
Lilian Garcia
Alundra Blayze
Kelly Kelly
Rikishi
Ron Simmons
The Godfather
Road Dogg
Sid
This is in addition to other names that were announced last night during Extreme Rules, which include Steve Austin, Sgt. Slaughter, Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash/Diesel, Scott Hall/Razor Ramon, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Booker T, X-Pac, Eric Bischoff, Santino Marella, D-Von Dudley, Ted DiBiase, Kurt Angle, Jerry Lawler, Christian, The Boogeyman, Jimmy Hart and the Hurricane.
WWE is promoting the show as the biggest reunion in WWE history. It would also mark the first advertised appearance for Eric Bischoff, who is set to start with WWE full time as the executive director of SmackDown starting this week.
Raw Reunion will take place next week, July 22, at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Mark Henry will be the subject of WWE’s next Network documentary.
“The Mark Henry Story” is listed as airing on the WWE Network after Elimination Chamber on Sunday, February 17. It’s in an hour-long time slot on the Network schedule, with it beginning at 10:30 p.m. Eastern time.
Here’s the brief description for the documentary: “Witness an incredible tale of strength, passion and the will to succeed in this revealing documentary about WWE Hall of Famer, Mark Henry!”
Henry was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the 2018 class and works for the company in a behind-the-scenes role. His most recent in-ring appearance was as an entrant in last April’s Greatest Royal Rumble match in Saudi Arabia.
WWE Network specials on “Mean” Gene Okerlund and Nigel McGuinness premiered last month. An edition of WWE Chronicle focused on Paige and a WWE 24 episode on last year’s WrestleMania aired on the Network over Royal Rumble weekend.
Smackdown, Mixed match Challenge and 205 Live are in Atlanta. Announced so far is Tony Nese vs. Mustafa Ali with the winner getting a cruiserweight title shot, Brian Kendrick vs. Jack Gallagher, Braun Strowman & Ember Moon vs. Jinder Mahal & Alicia Fox and Rusev & Lana vs. Charlotte Flair & A.J. Styles.
Roman Reigns opened the October 22, 2018 episode of Raw by revealing that he’s battling leukemia. After missing the weekend house show events, Reigns came out wearing street clothes and addressed the audience while using his real name. He announced that he’s been living with leukemia for the past 11 years, and unfortunately it’s back. Reigns then relinquished the Universal Championship.
The most in-depth look at the Roman Reigns battle with leukemia is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Look at what is known about his first bout with leukemia, walk through the weekend, the turns done this past week, what happened throughout the day on Monday, who knew what and what kind of word was going around, a look at his interview, and candidates for the company’s top spot position.
Also look at Crown Jewel and Evolution, including business notes on the Evolution show, Hulk Hogan and Crown Jewel.
Find out what is being talked about for the future of the WWE Network, including ideas for new content, new promotions, and a second tier
Also look at Daniel Cormier and WWE and what it’s all about, Cena book, more WWE injuries, next MSG show and why it’s so important, shows this week, and the Tegan Knox injury.
Examine the next month of NXT television, as well as a look at every house show from WWE and NXT from the past week with results, highlights and business info.
Read about the proposed Ben Askren vs. Demetrious Johnson trade, the valuation of ONE, and why UFC would do this regarding an existing lawsuit.
Look at the state of the NWA with its 70th anniversary show, including the Nick Aldis vs. Cody match, the aftermath, the rest of the show, the business notes and the NWA going forward.
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 Dave Meltzer, or by using PayPal directing funds to [email protected].
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
WWE will debut two new digital series tomorrow. The first will be a cooking show with Cathy Kelly called Talking Snack where she talks (and cooks) with WWE talent, the first being The Boogeyman. The other is called Baron Corbin’s Haunted World, where Corbin will investigate locations said to be haunted. The episode that premieres tomorrow will take a look at the St. Augustine Lighthouse in Florida, where ghosts of three little girls have been said to haunt the grounds.
Mark Henry spoke to TMZ Sports about WWE going ahead with their plans to run Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia. When asked about Cena and reportedly Daniel Bryan pulling out of the show, he responded by saying “I wouldn’t never say that person is making the wrong decision. I would say that’s not the decision I would make. I would stand by my guns and do what’s best for business. I’m a firm believer in not leaving people out to dry, and I’ve done a lot of things in my career and in my life, my personal life, where I could say I’m not doing that. But there were people hanging in the balance and I didn’t want to screw those people over. So that’s the situation that this is in, our fans, they want to see you. You know, give our fans what they want.”
TMZ Sports also talked to Linda McMahon about wrestlers pulling out of Saudi Arabia. She denied knowing anything about the situation, saying “If you wanna talk WWE, you’re talking to the wrong McMahon.”
Vince McMahon was listed in Variety’s annual 500 most powerful people working in the entertainment industry.
Edge celebrates his 45th birthday today. Vince McMahon wished him a happy birthday on Twitter.
WWE uploaded a horror movie spoof on their YouTube page featuring Braun Strowman.
Buddy Murphy did end up getting his picture with Triple H after winning the Cruiserweight title.
Pro Wrestling
Jay Lethal reached a new record today with his ROH title run. He is now in second place for having the most combined days as Ring of Honor champion at 546 days. The only person in front of him is Samoa Joe, who held the title for 645 days.
EVIL had some words about facing Chris Jericho ahead of Power Struggle.
MJF vs. Puma King in a flag match has been signed for next week’s MLW show in Chicago.
DDT announced that Masahiro Takanashi, Akito, Maki Ito, HARASHIMA, Daisuke Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo and Danshoku Dieno will be coming to New York for their WrestleMania weekend show.
Jimmy Havoc vs. Angel Cruz in a deathmatch has been made for OTT Redemption on November 10.
UFC/MMA
When asked by TMZ Sports who Ben Askren would face first in the UFC, Dana White didn’t get into specifics but said it would be someone in the top 5, citing his run as ONE’s welterweight champion. He also put over Demetrious Johnson, saying that he hopes he will be happier in ONE.
Meanwhile, Ben Askren is asking on Twitter why UFC hasn’t made an official announcement yet regarding the trade.
UFC 233 has been announced for January 26 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
The first and second episodes of UFC Embedded 230 is now up.
Combate Americas announced that an one night eight man tournament called the Copa Combate will take place on December 7 in Fresno, California. The winner will win $100,000.
After announcing that Big Show would be an entrant in the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia later this month, WWE also confirmed today that he’ll be playing a role at this year’s Hall of Fame ceremony.
“I’ve spent a lot of time going up and down the road with Mark Henry,” Big Show said while speaking with WWE.com. “I’ve had battles with him, and I know what kind of a human being and community leader he is. I can’t think of anyone more deserving of the WWE Hall of Fame. It is my honor to induct my friend.”
Big Show hasn’t wrestled since undergoing hip resurfacing surgery last year and dealing with a surgical infection after the operation. While ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange this morning, he said that he signed a new multi-year contract with WWE in January.
Here’s the updated 2018 Hall of Fame lineup:
Goldberg (inducted by Paul Heyman)
The Dudley Boyz (inducted by Edge & Christian)
Ivory (inducted by Molly Holly)
Jeff Jarrett (inducted by Road Dogg)
Hillbilly Jim (inducted by Jimmy Hart)
Mark Henry (inducted by Big Show)
Warrior Award recipient Jarrius “JJ” Robertson (award presented by Dana Warrior)
“It was a little while back. I was in Los Angeles with the powers that be,” Henry told USA Today about getting the news. “it was just an overwhelming feeling, you know? My face got hot. A couple of tears fell, and you felt like, instantly, all of the pain and torment that you put your body through, the sacrifices that you made — they were worth it. It paid it all off.”
Henry signed a 10-year contract with WWE after competing in his second Olympics as a weightlifter in 1996. His first televised match was against Jerry Lawler at In Your House: Mind Games, and he went on to become a member of the Nation of Domination stable, have a stint in OVW in the early 2000s, and wrestle The Undertaker at WrestleMania 22 in 2006.
The most successful run of Henry’s career was with his “Hall of Pain” gimmick on SmackDown in 2011. He won the World Heavyweight title in September of that year before dropping it three months later. In 2013, he worked a program with John Cena that started with his fake retirement promo and ended with a WWE Championship match at Money in the Bank.
Henry hasn’t wrestled since taking part in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania last year. He currently works as a talent scout for WWE.
Goldberg, The Dudley Boyz, Ivory, Jeff Jarrett, Hillbilly Jim, and Henry have been announced for the 2018 Hall of Fame class, along with celebrity inductee Kid Rock and Warrior Award recipient Jarrius “JJ” Robertson. The induction ceremony will take place at the Smoothie King Center on April 6th.
