A Miro promo, plus Powerhouse Hobbs in action have been added to the lineup for the Saturday, June 24 AEW Collision.
As announced during Friday’s Rampage, Miro will speak on this week’s Collision. Miro returned to the ring after nine months out of action on last week’s Collision show, defeating Tony Nese.
Also announced during Rampage, Powerhouse Hobbs will make his Collision in-ring debut on this week’s episode. Hobbs last wrestled on the June 9 Rampage show, defeating Caleb Crush.
Already announced for Saturday’s Collision are an eight-man tag match with CM Punk, FTR & Ricky Starks vs. Jay White, Juice Robinson & The Gunns, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Swerve Strickland, Brody King vs. Andrade El Idolo, plus Willow Nightingale vs. Nyla Rose in an Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament match.
Christian Cage addressing the TNT title situation, plus Sting and Darby Allin revealing their mystery partner for Forbidden Door are also set for Saturday’s show.
This week’s Collision lineup:
CM Punk, FTR & Ricky Starks vs. Jay White, Juice Robinson & The Gunns
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Swerve Strickland
Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament match: Willow Nightingale vs. Nyla Rose
Brody King vs. Andrade El Idolo
Powerhouse Hobbs in action
Sting & Darby Allin reveal their mystery partner for Forbidden Door
The Bryan & Vinny & Craig Show is back with tons to talk about in the debut of our weekly AEW Collision report! The return of CM Punk, the production, what was great and what was missing, and tons more.
Website subscribers can listen below while YouTube subscribers can watch here.
After months of discussion, the debut of AEW Collision has finally arrived and with it, the return to CM Punk to after ten months away from the company.
Punk will team with AEW Tag Team Champions FTR to take on ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe and Bullet Club Gold’s Jay White & Juice Robinson. It will be Punk’s first match since last September’s All Out and he is expected to kick off the show with a promo.
Both Miro and Andrade El Idolo will join Punk as returning to action after being out since All Out. Miro’s opponent has yet to be named while Andrade will face Buddy Matthews of the House of Black.
TNT Champion Wardlow will defend against Luchasaurus just weeks after the former successfully defended against Christian Cage.
AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm will team with Ruby Soho against Skye Blue & NJPW Strong Women’s Champion Willow Nightingale.
The Acclaimed will also appear in a promo segment.
**********
Elton John’s “Saturday Night’s Alright” played us in as cameras sweep the crowd. The Collision Era begins live in the United Center in Chicago, IL. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness were on the call.
CM Punk Returns
This will ruffle a few feathers, and Punk knew that when he grabbed the mic. Punk set up feuds with MJF and the Elite, but whether those feuds actually happen or not is anyone’s guess. An energetic start to the show.
After a few seconds of CM Punk chants, Cult of Personality hits. CM Punk made his way to the ring to a massively positive reaction. He in his gear, with his boots around his neck and a red bag in his hand.
He says that he’s tired of being nice. He was on the shelf for 10 months with a ruptured triceps. Punk talks about how, as long as he was here, this would be the professional wrestling business, not a popularity contest. If you told a young Punk that he would sell out buildings all over the world, young Punk wouldn’t believe you. But he has, and he’s gotten here riding the backs of smart and passionate pro wrestling fans. He loves the people because they love him.
They love him because he’s always unapologetically been himself. But there are some people who hate him for that. Punk knows his presence makes people uncomfortable because he is the truth, and the truth is painful. We get F*** The Elite chants. He says you can love him or hate him, but we all know he’s the truth. He says that people can call him whatever they want, but David Zaslov – WBD executive – calls him One Bill Phil, because he’s the one true article in a business full of counterfeit bucks. I’m sure that won’t ruffle any feathers.
Punk says he will never compromise, and that he’ll always be himself. There are people who think they’re owed an apology, and he apologizes. He’s sorry that they’re softer than the wrestlers they like. Punk grabs the bag, saying that the last time he was in the ring, he had what’s in the bag raised over his head. He says it belongs to him until someone can pin him or submit him. Punk grabs his boots from around his neck and says that there are people who prayed that he would hang them up. Until someone can fill those boots, they belong on his feet. Punk leaves with the bag and the boots to a massive reaction.
– We get a video package of hyping the TNT Title match tonight between Wardlow and Luchasaurus. Christian makes his way out, and it appears that the title match is next.
AEW TNT Title Match: Luchasaurus (w/Christian Cage) defeated Wardlow to win the title
This was a fun big guy match. I didn’t enjoy the finish, but it’s clear that they wanted to protect Wardlow as he lost the title.
Kevin Kelly noted that this was Luchasaurus’ first shot at the TNT Title. After a lockup, Wardlow sent Luchasaurus out of the ring with a dropkick. Wardlow followed him to the floor and battered on him before chasing Christian around the ring. Christian escaped under the ring but crawled out to grab Wardlow’s leg on the apron and allow Luchasaurus to take control. Luchasaurus clubbered Wardlow before laying him out with a boot before we went to break.
We come back to Wardlow lifting Luchasaurus in an Electric Chair position before dropping him. Wardlow fired up, muscling Luchasaurus into the corner and hitting shoulder blocks. Wardlow hit a main event spinebuster before heading to the top rope. Christian distracted him again, allowing Luchasaurus to chokeslam him down for a nearfall. Luchasaurus set up another chokeslam, but Wardlow bit the thumb – ala Arn Anderson. They traded strikes before Wardlow dropped Luchasaurus with a lariat.
Wardlow loaded up the Powerbomb, and despite Christian’s attempts to distract, he hit one. Christian grabbed a chair to distract Wardlow, allowing Luchasaurus to rip off a chokeslam for a close nearfall. Wardlow reversed a powerslam into one of his own before hitting a swanton bomb off the top rope.
Wardlow pulled the straps down, but Christian distracted him again. Wardlow went to hit the ten punches in the corner, but Luchasaurus escaped and took the referee. Christian grabbed a camera from a ringside photographer and drilled Wardlow in the head with it, allowing Luchasaurus to lariat Wardlow in the back of the head to win the match and the title. Christian grabbed the title and celebrated with it as Luchasaurus held him on his shoulders.
– Backstage, Lexy Nair was with Powerhouse Hobbs and QT Marshall. Marshall said that Hobbs was here on Collision as promised, and that Hobbs would win the Owen Hart Tournament. Hobbs said that this new chapter of the Book of Hobbs would be about redemption.
Andrade El Idolo defeated Buddy Matthews (w/ Julia Hart)
This was a stellar return match for Andrade, and he and Matthews had a battle playing off of each other’s recent injury history. The post-match set up what looks to be an entertaining feud in the future.
The crowd chanted Welcome Back to Andrade, who hasn’t been in an AEW ring since All Out 2022 where he tore his pec. I guess he was waiting for Punk too. After a stalemate, Andrade caught himself in the ropes and baited Matthews to the floor. After scolding Hart for getting too close to his mask, Andrade cartwheeled into a moonsault off the apron. Matthews sent Andrade into the ringpost and into the timekeeper’s area, but Andrade hopped on the barricade and hit a hurricanrana into the barricade.
Back in the ring, Andrade and Matthews battled near the turnbuckle, where Matthews hooked Andrade’s arm and pulled him into the post. He sent Andrade into the barricade before pulling him into the ring and hitting a meteora for a nearfall. In the picture-in-picture break, both men were being checked by the ringside doctors. Andrade was checking his arm, while Matthews had issues with his knee. They were good to go, so the match continued.
Back in full screen, Andrade was writhing on the floor as the referee laid in the count. Andrade got back in the ring where he was met with boots from Matthews. Andrade came back with dragon screw leg whips before hitting his double jump moonsault for a nearfall. Matthews fought out of Andrade’s hammerlock DDT before catching him with a DDT in the ropes for a nearfall. Andrade followed Matthews to the top rope, where Matthews tried a sunset flip powerbomb. His knee gave way, but he was able to hook Andrade’s head and hit superkicks.
Matthews crumbled on a powerbomb attempt, allowing Andrade to drill him with a running back elbow. Andrade went for the knees in the corner, but Matthews popped up and hit a knee for a nearfall. Matthews tried locking on a reverse sharpshooter – shades of Rhea Ripley – but Andrade got out of it and locked on a Figure Four. Andrade bridged up into a Figure Eight – shades of his wife Charlotte Flair – to force the submission and score the win.
Andrade offered a handshake, but the lights went out. It wasn’t Sabu, it was the rest of the House of Black. Brody King laid him out with a lariat as the House of Black stood tall around him.
– We got a Scorpio Sky video package, highlighting his AEW career before noting that he will be back soon.
– Tony Nese was in the ring, sick of seeing the cellulite spill over everyone’s chairs. He led the United Center in group exercise before Miro’s music hit.
Miro defeated Tony Nese (w/ Smart Mark Sterling)
From what I saw, Miro looked in good shape and had the crowd on his side. A motivated Miro is another great re-addition to the AEW roster.
I missed most of this match due to technical issues on my end. The issues didn’t take that long to fix. I got the show back running with Miro hyping up the crowd. He hit a big sidekick on Nese before calling for the Game Over. He locked it on, breaking Nese’s back and making him humble. Nese quickly submitted as the crowd cheered Miro’s violence.
Skye Blue & Willow Nightingale defeated The Outcasts (Ruby Soho & Toni Storm)
A fine match that allowed Skye Blue to get a win in her hometown.
The Outcasts got a jump start on their opponents, sending them to the floor. They got in the face of Skye Blue’s mom at ringside, who slapped them both. That allowed Nightingale to pounce Soho into the barricade, and for Blue to jump off the apron to hurricanrana Storm. Back in the ring, Storm cut Nightingale off with a shot to the back, allowing Soho to take control as we went to picture-in-picture.
Back from the commercial, Nightingale clotheslined Soho before making the tag to the hometown girl Blue. Blue fired up on the champion, hitting the rising knee and a low kick. Blue hit a diving crossbody for a nearfall that Soho broke up. The match broke down into a Pier Four brawl before Storm locked on the cloverleaf submission she beat Blue with on Dynamite. Blue crawled all the way across the ring to get the ropes.
Blue escaped the Storm Zero before tagging in Nightingale, who laid out Storm. Soho laid out Nightingale with the Destination Unknown before Blue tagged in. Storm hit the hip attack to Blue in the corner. The Outcasts went to spray paint Blue, but Willow grabbed Storm and sent the paint into Soho’s eyes. Blue hit the Code Blue on Soho to score the win in her hometown.
– In a pre-tape, Ricky Starks added himself into the Owen Hart Tournament. He noted that this tournament was absolutely his to win. I see what he did there.
– In a pre-tape, Jeff Jarrett announced that he’s signed for a Concession Stand Brawl against Mark Briscoe, 46 years to the day of his family promoting the infamous Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl. He says there’s gonna be no Karen and no Sonjay, only Jeff kicking Briscoe’s ass.
The Acclaimed Want Us To Listen
Tony Schiavone welcomed out the Acclaimed. In Caster’s rap, he wanted us to wish Daddy Ass a happy Father’s Day. Billy Gunn noted that while he’s not been in the game much lately, the Trios Titles are still within their reach. Anthony Bowens noted that AEW now stood for two things – Acclaimed Every Wednesday and Acclaimed Every Weekend. They want to scissor in the city that made the Acclaimed the people’s choice, so they have a big scissor party.
– Kevin Kelly ran down the Dynamite card for Wednesday in Chicago. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Minoru Suzuki will reform their team from last year’s Forbidden Door to take on AR Fox, Action Andretti, & Darius Martin. Kris Statlander will defend the TBS Title against Taya Valkyrie. Orange Cassidy and Katsuyori Shibata will team against Daniel Garcia and Zack Sabre Jr. The Gunns will take on the Hardys. Jeff Jarrett and Mark Briscoe will have their Concession Stand Brawl. Finally, a Blind Eliminator Tournament will take place to determine the #1 contender to the AEW Tag Team Titles.
CM Punk & FTR defeated Jay White, Juice Robinson, & Samoa Joe
This was an energetic main event, as Punk was able to get his feet under him with a win. The energy was mostly directed towards the Punk/Joe faceoffs, and Joe did get the better of Punk in their exchanges, so it’s possible that they move in that direction for Punk’s near future. It didn’t need to go as long as it did, but I understand maximizing the minutes Punk was on screen. A fun show overall.
Jim Ross joined the announce booth for the main event, noting that he was so excited for this match that he talked himself hoarse. White and Harwood started off, with White taking control with heavy chops. Harwood answered back with chops of his own before hitting a big back body drop. Harwood ran White ragged before going for the Sharpshooter, but White rolled out of harm’s way and tagged out to Robinson.
Robinson got cut off with an FTR double team before Wheeler ran wild with dropkicks. Wheeler sent Robinson up and over with a gorilla press slam. Punk tagged in for the first time, helping set up a top rope powerslam from Wheeler for a nearfall. Robinson bailed out of a Go To Sleep before Samoa Joe tagged himself in. The staredown between Joe and Punk got the crowd fired up. Joe got the first shots in with heavy chops before Punk slowed things down with a headlock as we went to a picture-in-picture break.
Back from the break as Robinson knocked Harwood down with the Left Hand of God. Joe’s team clubbered on Harwood before Harwood caught Robinson with a German suplex. Wheeler tagged in and ran wild on Robinson, finishing with a catch powerslam for a nearfall. Punk tagged in and hit an assisted elbow drop on Robinson before tagging back out for another picture-in-picture commercial.
Wheeler reached the ropes on a White single-leg crab as we came back to full screen. Joe’s team battered Wheeler before Punk broke up a cover from Joe. Wheeler and White traded chops before White went low and hit a chop block. Wheeler hit a back drop on Robinson, and despite White’s best efforts, Punk made the hot tag and ran wild on the Bullet Club team. Punk hit both White and Robinson with rising knees before taking them both out with a bulldog/clothesline combination.
White clawed at Punk’s eyes to get out of the Go To Sleep. Punk hit a high kick in response before going to the top rope, but Robinson swept Punk’s legs out from under him. White hit a uranage for a nearfall. White set up the Blade Runner, but Punk hit the Pepsi Twist to escape. FTR tagged in and hit a Powerplex before Punk hit the diving elbow. Robinson broke up the cover, allowing White to tag out to Joe.
Joe and Punk traded strikes before White blindsided Punk. The match broke down into a Pier Six brawl before Punk and Joe were back alone in the ring. Punk hit the rising knee, but Joe slipped out of the Go To Sleep and locked on the Coquina Clutch. Bullet Club tried to hold back FTR, but Harwood was able to break up the submission. Robinson tagged in, but Punk hit a high kick. FTR hit the Shatter Machine, leading to Punk hitting the Go To Sleep on Robinson to win. CMFTR celebrated as we faded out.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including CM Punk’s ESPN interview, Miro is back and doesn’t understand why he wasn’t used, legal stories on Ted DiBiase and WWE vs. MLW, your calls and tons more. IT’S FUN FRIDAY EVERYONE!
Miro recently commented on his time away from AEW.
The 37-year-old is set to return to the ring on Saturday as part of the debut episode of AEW Collision. He has not wrestled since All Out 2022 and his previous match before that was on the first Forbidden Door pay-per-view on June 26, 2022.
Miro recently spoke to Good Karma Wrestling and was asked about the months he spent away from the company.
It sucks, it sucks. Like I said, looking for answers and not getting any, it’s not a good place. And not just me, but just overall as a human being when you have no answers to all these questions, it just eats you inside,” Miro said.
“But I’m aching, I’m aching to come back to find out what’s going on, what’s happening, it’s been a while,” he continued.
Miro continued to say that he’s missed the fans the most.
“There’s nothing like the professional wrestling fans. That instant connection that you have with them as soon as you – not even walk out – as soon as the music hit.
You hear the people just rising, their roar, that’s what I miss. I miss performing in front of them because they deserve The Redeemer and I deserve them.
He continued to talk about his Redeemer persona in AEW and the evolution of his character.
The answers I’ve been looking for, I haven’t found. But what I’ve done, what we’ve done in AEW, I would say it’s the longest story that we’ve had since the beginning, the arc of the character.
Like I said, we started with The Gamer and then he had to snap, he had to destroy his best friend because he thought he was sabotoging him. To finally peak further and further and finally to find God on his side and run with that. And then after that was done, when the title got taken away, then I [went] from God’s favorite champion to God’s forsaken champion. It’s always an arc, the Redeemer is always there.
Miro was also asked about CM Punk during the interview. He said he feels the two have mutual respect for one another.
“I get along with him fine,” Miro said of Punk. “I think, every time we talked I feel like we have a mutual respect. I’ve never had anything bad engaged with him but everybody hears a whole bunch of things. But man, if you’re not happy with something, just do whatever you want to do and then go cry in your mansion. I don’t understand all the lashing out but everybody’s responsible for their own actions.
Like I said, I get along with him good, we’ve talked, we’ve had great interactions, even though we had two or three of them. I don’t care. I look at myself, I don’t look at other people’s plates.
Multiple reports regarding Miro’s status with AEW came out in December. A report from Fightful Select indicated Miro was eager to return but “creative simply hasn’t been presented for him.” Later that month, our own Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that Miro rejected creative plans that would have led to a match at Full Gear that November.
“In September, they came to him, Tony Khan came to Miro and he had this idea which would build to a match on the November 19 pay-per-view and [Miro] didn’t want to do it,” Meltzer said.
“It’s weird, a lot of people who come from WWE are very leery, obviously, Bryan Danielson being the exception, about doing jobs,” Meltzer continued. “Then it becomes very difficult to book when you don’t really want to do programs where you are going to lose.”
On Dynamite this week, AEW announced that Miro will wrestle on Saturday’s debut episode of Collision. However, an opponent has yet to be named.
For the first time since last September’s All Out, Miro will be in action as part of Saturday’s AEW Collision debut.
Miro, a former TNT Champion, last competed in a trios match alongside Darby Allin and Sting against the House of Black at the aforementioned pay-per-view. Since then, he has worked on a CBS show and there has been both speculation and reporting he has not been in action due to disagreements about creative.
Another wrestler who has been disgruntled with AEW at times is Andrade El Idolo who returns to take on Buddy Matthews of the aforementioned House of Black. Andrade has also been out since All Out when he competed in a Casino ladder match. He underwent surgery for a torn pectoral muscle in November.
The TNT title will be on the line as Wardlow will defend against Luchasaurus. After Wardlow defeated Christian Cage at last month’s Double or Nothing, Cage has been relentless in his pursuit of defeating Wardlow, bloodying up Arn Anderson on Dynamite in order to make the match happen.
Based on the events of Dynamite, AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm & Ruby Soho will take on NJPW Strong Women’s Champion Willow Nightingale & Skye Blue. Nightingale came to Blue’s aid after Storm and Soho beat down Soho following Storm’s successful title defense.
Here’s the full lineup, highlighted by the return of CM Punk:
TNT Champion Wardlow defends against Luchasaurus
Miro in action
Skye Blue & Willow Nightingale vs. Toni Storm & Ruby Soho
Two stars made surprise returns to AEW in backstage segments during Wednesday’s Dynamite.
Miro, who last wrestled for the company in September 2022, and Thunder Rosa, who last wrestled in August 2022, both appeared on Wednesday’s show, teasing the upcoming announcement of AEW’s Collision show.
Both stars were approached by Renee Paquette for interviews in their surprise appearances, and both entered Tony Khan’s office to talk to AEW’s CEO, GM, owner, and head of creative.
Khan made an appearance of his own on Dynamite and made off-handed references to both returning stars, saying that wrestlers were literally lining up backstage for the opportunity to wrestle, and that he knows that AEW is capable of producing more content.
Khan promised a “huge announcement” from AEW on TNT next Wednesday, and promised that there would be follow-up to the announcement on next Wednesday’s Dynamite on TBS.
Miro wrestled just four times for AEW in 2022, and we reported last December that he had rejected creative plans that would have seen him wrestle at Full Gear last November.
Thunder Rosa suffered an injury last year that forced her to vacate the AEW Women’s World Championship. Rosa addressed rumors that her injury was overblown, insisting that she was indeed injured, but said that she “took accountability” and apologized to the AEW locker room for “some things that people had issues with” regarding her absence and vacating the title.
Rosa returned to the company as an announcer for Spanish-language broadcasts in February, but has not wrestled since August 10, 2022.
AEW’s Miro hasn’t wrestled since All Out 2022 and his spouse, CJ Perry, recently implied the couple could wind up back in WWE someday.
Our own Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Miro was presented with and rejected creative plans that would have built to a match at Full Gear.
“In September, they came to him, Tony Khan came to Miro and he had this idea which would build to a match on the November 19 pay-per-view and [Miro] didn’t want to do it,” Meltzer said.
Meltzer continued to talk about former WWE wrestlers in AEW who are hesitant to do jobs.
“It’s weird, a lot of people who come from WWE are very leery, obviously, Bryan Danielson being the exception, about doing jobs,” Meltzer continued. “Then it becomes very difficult to book when you don’t really want to do programs where you are going to lose.”
CJ Perry recently commented on Miro’s absence from AEW programming as well. She noted during an interview with Mike Wennmacher from 92.7 WMAY that “everyone always returns back to WWE.”
“Rusev Day will never die. It’s always going to be around, the kids are going to want to sing it and I’m sure it will make a return in WWE at some point. Rusev — well, whatever he shows [up] back in; whatever frickin name or gimmick or character he returns [as] at some point, in WWE is going to be iconic. You know, he, that’s the great thing about wrestling is it doesn’t matter what company you work for, what promotion, anything can happen. Let’s be honest, we know that everyone always returns back to WWE at some point,” Perry said(Transcriptions courtesy of Fightful).
Meltzer would continue to say now that Full Gear is over, the plan was to go back to Miro with more ideas but it is not clear if Perry’s comments will hinder that from happening.
Meltzer said:
“Now November’s over and now we’re in the new cycle and they were going to bring him back and try to come up with ideas for him and they very well may. Then his wife comes in and says, ‘well you know, Rusev Day is going to come back, and everybody goes back to WWE.'”
“When people go like, ‘he’s not using this guy,’ it’s like, there’s reasons. If you’re going to play ball, that’s fine, and if you really don’t want to, if you’re just biding your time to go somewhere else then it should be different. That’s the basic situation.”
“If you are in AEW and you want to be gone, I think the one thing you should do is don’t go public and say it, or don’t have your family members go public and say it because then if I’m the promoter, I’ve got other guys I can push. So, I would say keep quiet if that’s your goal because saying it will probably just hurt the amount of TV time you get and rightfully so.”
Miro says he’s sitting back and waiting for the opportunity to return to AEW.
The 37-year-old hasn’t wrestled since All Out 2022 when he teamed with Darby Allin and Sting to defeat the House of Black. He attended the premiere of National Treasure: Edge of History recently and was asked by MUSE TV when he will be returning to the ring.
“It’s not up to me,” Miro responded. “I’m doing anything I can and from then on I’m just sitting and waiting for the opportunity.”
A report from Fightful Select earlier this month stated that Miro was healthy and eager to return but there were no creative plans for him to do so. Our own Dave Meltzer would later state that storyline plans had been presented to him that would have run through Full Gear but Miro was not in favor of them. The decision was then made to keep him off television until they could agree on creative.
Miro is reportedly “eager to return to the ring” but AEW has no creative plans for him to do so.
According to a report from Fightful Select, the 37-year-old is healthy but simply hasn’t been factored into recent AEW storylines. He hasn’t wrestled since All Out 2022 on September 4 when he teamed with Sting & Darby Allin and defeated the House of Black. It was just his fourth match in AEW over the last year.
Regarding his absence from the company over the past few months, it was noted that “creative simply hasn’t been presented for him.” There were plans for him to have conversations with the company regarding future creative plans but those meetings have yet to take place.
Tony Khan was asked about Miro and Andrade el Idolo’s status with AEW during the post-Full Gear press conference on November 19.
“You’ve seen people take some sabbaticals, absences, breaks from AEW for various reasons and come back and get very involved and I think that’s still, for both of those guys, something that you could see,” Khan responded.
“I mean, he wants to be champion so he’s not going to be happy until he’s champion,” she said. “I’m just going to leave it at that.”
“I have a lot of opinions about this. Tony Khan has a vision. At the end of the day, if it’s 100% real, I think there’s this illusion at AEW that the talent book the show. That was definitely the conversation, ‘Oh you go there, you’re going to basically become whatever you’re made of’ but at the end of the day, he’s booking the show.”
CJ Perry (FKA Lana) has opened up about Miro’s run in AEW.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio on Tuesday, Perry was asked how her husband is enjoying his time in AEW.
“I mean, he wants to be champion so he’s not going to be happy until he’s champion,” she responded. “I’m just going to leave it at that.”
Perry was then asked why she thinks AEW does not use Miro regularly on its programming.
“I have a lot of opinions about this. Tony Khan has a vision. At the end of the day, if it’s 100% real, I think there’s this illusion at AEW that the talent book the show. That was definitely the conversation, ‘Oh you go there, you’re going to basically become whatever you’re made of’ but at the end of the day, he’s booking the show.”
“It’s really no different than WWE, it’s just a different director and a different person’s point of view. It’s like comparing NBC to HBO but at the end of the day, you still have the exec who is going to make that final call and that’s what it is. Tony Khan has his favorites and he’s going to push the favorites just like Vince [McMahon] would push his favorites, just like Hunter is going to push his people. It’s show business, it’s nothing personal, it just is what it is.”
“I think my husband is incredible. I feel Vince really valued him in that way and saw that. They hit heads a lot of times towards the end on creative differences. Vince really wanted him as a villain and Miro wanted to explore this new world.”
Job Listing: Onlamp php/mysql developer. Experience with vbulletin and drupal/WordPress a plus. Email [email protected] with subject PHP DEVELOPER with resume.
Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
Wednesday News Update
WWE
Following last night’s closing angle on NXT where Cameron Grimes threw Bron Breaker into a turnbuckle post, WWE posted a video of Breakker being checked on by WWE medical staff.
On last night’s NXT, Two Dimes (who was released earlier this month after failing a drug test) was written out of the show, with Tony D’Angelo implying that Two Dimes had betrayed him and now he’s “sleeping with the fishes”.
Sami Zayn and JBL were the guests on this week’s episode of The Bump.
WWE posted a video of Riddle working out prior to Money in the Bank on Saturday.
Kurt Angle re-created his promo on the night John Cena made his main roster televised debut with his daughter playing the role of Cena.
A Table for Three featuring members of the Bone Street Krew (Godfather, Undertaker, Rikishi, Henry Godwinn, and Mideon) will air on July 1.
NBC announced that the third season of Young Rock will premiere on November 4.
WXYZ in Detroit has an interview with Eddie Kingston prior to tonight’s Blood and Guts match.
Miro shared his thoughts on the TNT Championship in an interview with WhatCulture. “It’s the man that creates the title, not the title that creates the man,” he said. “Everything I did with the title was the fruits of my labor, the title didn’t come with all this heavenness. It came from Darby [Allin], who is a great competitor, but you know, we’re such different people, such a different style..when I hang on to something, it’s mine. Unfortunately, Sammy Guevara then came in, he landed on my balls, let’s not forget about that. I take fault of maybe being too good of a champion, because ever since I lost the title, that title has gone to s****, and it’s nothing but to blame Sammy Guevara for that.”
In an interview with WrestlingInc, Hangman Page talked about CM Punk botching the buckshot lariat after two attempts, saying: “It made me feel better about myself that I can do it, I know that,” Page stated. “Grabbing the ropes and flipping over like that and landing on your feet and hitting the guy in the face is hard on any day at any time, much less, you know, 20 minutes into a match, and I think that made me have a little more appreciation and pride in the ability to do it. It doesn’t surprise me that he couldn’t do it, and that’s not a knock on him because it’s a tough-ass thing to do, and it’s something I’ve done for a long time. I’ve had time to sharpen it, he hasn’t. So, I don’t know that I have the best Go To Sleep in the world either, certainly not as good as his because he beat my ass with it.”
Other Wrestling
MLW’s Richard Holliday on Twitter wrote that he will be unable to make some independent dates due to concussion issues. “Due to lingering concussion issues I unfortunately will not be able to make @TexomaPro & @PaleProWrestlin this weekend. My health has taken unexpected turns over the past month and I need time off to recover. My next appearance will be 7/15 for @AAWPro. See you there.”
Cain Velasquez’s plea hearing has been moved to August 19. There will also be motion haring on August 5.
The four-way match to crown the first ever AEW All-Atlantic Champion is now set for Forbidden Door.
Malakai Black defeated Penta Oscuro to win the fourth spot in the Forbidden Door title match after hitting Penta with the black mass. After the match, PAC came out to face off against Black. A video then aired with Miro saying he would send everyone to meet their maker at Forbidden Door.
PAC was the first to qualify for the title match, defeating Buddy Matthews. Miro defeated Ethan Page to advance, while Tomohiro Ishii defeated Clark Connors at New Japan Road on June 21 to score the third spot.
Here is the current lineup for Forbidden Door, which takes place at the United Center in Chicago on June 26:
Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the interim AEW World Championship
PAC vs. Miro vs. Malakai Black vs. Tomohiro Ishii for the AEW All-Atlantic Championship
Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Minoru Suzuki vs. Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta, and Shota Umino
Will Ospreay vs. Orange Cassidy for the IWGP United States Championship
Thunder Rosa vs. Toni Storm for the AEW Women’s World Championship
FTR vs. United Empire vs. Roppongi Vice for the ROH and IWGP Tag Team titles
Miro defeated Ethan Page at AEW Dynamite Road Rager to advance to the inaugural All-Atlantic Championship match at Forbidden Door on June 26.
With the victory, Miro becomes the second competitor to qualify for the four-way at Forbidden Door to crown the first All-Atlantic Champion.
PAC defeated Buddy Matthews on last week’s Dynamite to qualify, while a Malakai Black vs. Penta Oscuro match on next week’s episode will determine the third entrant.
The fourth entrant in the Forbidden Door title bout will be decided in Japan on June 20 and June 21. Tomohiro Ishii faces Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and Clark Connors takes on Tomoaki Honma at the June 20 New Japan Road show. The winners of those two matches will face off the next day at New Japan Road, with the winner added to the Forbidden Door bout.
Here is the updated Forbidden Door lineup following Road Rager:
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, Sunday, June 26 —
Interim AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
AEW Women’s World Championship: Thunder Rosa (c) vs. Toni Storm
IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Orange Cassidy
AEW All-Atlantic Championship: PAC vs. Miro vs. TBD vs. TBD
Minoru Suzuki, Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta & Shota Umino
