Tag: mjf

AEW Double or Nothing advance PPV buys ‘way above normal’

Posted on by Ian Carey

An update is available on how AEW Double or Nothing is performing on pay-per-view ahead of tonight’s show.

Dave Meltzer addressed the show’s advance buys on Wrestling Observer Radio, noting that they are “way above normal” for an AEW pay-per-view.

Meltzer said:

“I’ve heard when it comes to advances on pay-per-view, it’s kind of weird because almost everybody buys day of, so I don’t know what it means, but I do know that the pay-per-view buys ahead of time, as of yesterday afternoon, were way above normal. I expect a pretty big one.”

Meltzer also noted that the title vs. hair stipulation for the AEW World Championship match between Darby Allin and MJF has had a major impact on secondary-market demand for tickets.

Meltzer said:

“I checked yesterday and the scalper price to get in was $153, which means the secondary market tripled from the announcement of the hair match. They were gonna sell out without the hair stipulation. They were tracking to sell out before that. They would not have sold out so quickly without it, but the stipulation absolutely worked, especially on the secondary market.”

Double or Nothing is sold out with 14,028 tickets distributed and the gate closing in on $1.5 million as of Friday. Meltzer noted that would make it the second-biggest non-WWE gate in the history of United States pro wrestling.

The full episode of Wrestling Observer Radio is available here for subscribers.

AEW Double or Nothing lineup

  • AEW World Champion Darby Allin defends against MJF in a title vs. hair match
  • AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla defends against Hikaru Shida, Kris Statlander and Jamie Hayter in a four-way
  • AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada defends against Konosuke Takeshita
  • AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) defend against Adam Copeland & Christian Cage in an I Quit street fight where Copeland and Cage must win in order to stay a team
  • AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley defends against Kyle O’Reilly
  • Chris Jericho, Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, Kenny Omega, Jack Perry, and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. The Demand (Ricochet, Bishop Kaun, and Toa Liona), Mark Davis, Andrade El Idolo, Clark Connors & David Finlay in a Stadium Stampede match
  • Will Ospreay vs. Samoa Joe in an Owen Hart men’s tournament quarterfinal
  • Swerve Strickland vs. Bandido in an Owen Hart men’s tournament quarterfinal
  • Athena vs. Mina Shirakawa in an Owen Hart women’s tournament quarterfinal
  • Buy In: Orange Cassidy, Mark Briscoe, Roderick Strong, Big Boom AJ & QT Marshall vs. Anthony Agogo, Lee Moriarty, Carlie Bravo, Shawn Dean & Shane Taylor
  • Buy In: AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champions Divine Dominion (Megan Bayne & Lena Kross) vs. Viva Van & Zayda Steel in a five-minute title eliminator match
  • Buy In: Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia & Wheeler Yuta) vs. The Opps (Hook, Katsuyori Shibata & Anthony Bowens)

Wrestling Weekly: AEW Double or Nothing & WWE SNME highlight a big wrestling weekend

Posted on by Victor Sosa

Les Thatcher and Vic Sosa are back on a new Wrestling Weekly to talk about a big weekend for wrestling with Sunday’s AEW Double or Nothing and WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event.

In addition, we discuss the situation with Ludwig Kaiser, revamping WWE’s tag team division and the speculation regarding AEW’s television future. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!

Click here to listen (sub needed)

Daily Update: NJPW G1 fan fest, MJF, Road Warriors A&E doc

Posted on by Joseph Currier

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Thursday Update

Road Warrior Animal WWE
Road Warrior Animal battles D’Lo Brown. (Image credit: WWE)

WWE

  • The Rich Eisen Show interviewed John Cena.
  • AJ Styles streamed a live Q&A edition of his Phenomenally Retro podcast.
  • Nattie shared a photo from the Paramount Pictures lot in Los Angeles last night: “Working on my LOW-KEY LEGENDARY dreams today…”
  • Kim Laurinaitis, the widow of Road Warrior Animal, made an appearance on Busted Open Radio to discuss her criticism of A&E’s Biography: WWE Legends episode on The Road Warriors. She wishes the documentary was more positive instead of focusing on Hawk’s addiction struggles so much. And along with some inner-family squabbles affecting her view of the show, Kim did not like that Bruce Prichard was interviewed:
    • I’ll be quite honest, Bruce Prichard, I battled with him online lately. He rips my husband on his podcast a lot of times or little clips. And I’m thinking, why are you even on here talking about him? We know you don’t really care for him. So I would have rather had people that had positive things to say and really meant them.
  • On his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T called Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano’s MMA fight the “biggest heist” he’s ever seen:
    • This fight between Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano, I’ve seen a lot of fights in my life. I’ve seen a lot of fights in my life. And I’ve been in the wrestling business for 35 years now. It’s three things I look for when it comes to combat, you know, when I’m in certain places, especially when I’m watching something like this. And it’s a work, it’s a worked shoot, and it’s a shoot, okay?
    • This was a worked shoot. That was not real, that thing wasn’t real. I mean, it was real as far as the takedown goes. But everything after that, it was, ‘I’m ready. I’m ready. Let’s go home.’ It was one of those type of deals. And if you go back and watch it and study it, you’re going to come to the same consensus that I’m saying right now. That fight, that was not fair. That fight was not fair for the people for Ronda Rousey to come back. And literally, that was like the biggest heist I’ve ever seen.
  • LA Taco published a story on Becky Lynch & Seth Rollins’ new coffee brand AMO.
  • Saturday Night Live cast member Michael Che was the guest on this week’s episode of Stephanie McMahon’s “What’s Your Story?” podcast.
  • WWE Vault uploaded the full “Superfan” documentary on Vladimir Abouzeide, who is battling Parkinson’s disease and was hospitalized this week due to a fall.

Other Wrestling

  • NJPW announced that, the day before night one of G1 Climax 36, the promotion will be holding a fan fest in Chicago on July 10. It will include a talk show segment as well as meet and greets with some of the G1 competitors:
    • NJPW fans! Make your plans to be in Chicago early for a special G1 Climax Fan Event ahead of opening night G1 Climax 36 action!
    • The July 10 event will feature a special talk show segment, along with two meet & greet sessions with select G1 Climax 36 participants!
    • More details are coming soon but get ready to be in Chicago for this great fan experience!
  • While speaking with The Takedown on SI, MJF said Vince McMahon is to blame for some fans being preconditioned to believe that hair match stipulations are a joke:
    • You can thank Vince McMahon for that. It wasn’t comedy in Memphis, it wasn’t comedy in World Class, it wasn’t comedy in Mexico. Listen, I can’t speak for anybody else, all I know is – I make money off of this hair. I’m in movies. I’m a top guy in this industry. And if I want to be a top guy in this industry, I can’t be bald. Bald doesn’t sell. It just doesn’t.
  • Shelton Benjamin told The Wrestling Classic that, aside from getting Cedric Alexander back in the group, Kevin Knight would be his first choice for a new Hurt Syndicate member. Benjamin sees Knight as someone who will be a star for the next 10-20 years:
    • If it were my choice today, if I said I wanted a new member in the Hurt Syndicate, the Hurt Syndicate wants a fourth member, without a doubt, my first pick would be Cedric Alexander. My second pick would be Kevin ‘Jet’ Knight.
  • Bobby Steveson (formerly known as Damon Kemp in NXT) teased an in-ring return while confirming that he was backstage at Monday’s ROH TV taping in Jacksonville: “Felt good to be back around the squared circle.. Soon?…”
  • Trevor Lee vs. Austin Aries (taped in January) will be part of the lineup for MLW Fusion’s return episode on May 30.
  • Evil Uno’s Mystery Wrestling promotion announced three new events:
    • July 25 at Bain Mathieu in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
    • August 29 at Big Penny Social in London, England
    • September 13 at The Rec Room in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Chris Jericho interviewed Frankie Kazarian on Talk is Jericho.
  • Comedians/wrestling fans Dan Soder & Will Sasso were guests on Insight with Chris Van Vliet.

MJF believes AEW is the ‘better alternative’ to WWE

Posted on by Shounak Chakrabarti

Former World Champion MJF cannot think of a better alternative to WWE than AEW.

Following a dominance in the pro-wrestling world for decades, WWE was met with solid competition in 2019, when Tony Khan started AEW. With help from Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, and Adam Page, AEW emerged as one of the biggest alternatives to WWE in mainstream wrestling.

Recently, speaking to TV Insider, MJF was asked if AEW was recently receiving a particularly high interest from WWE fans because of the ‘high ticket prices and the treatment of talent.’

“I think it’s a combination of things. With love and respect, I’ve got no issue with WWE or TKO. I’m sure people are going to say, ‘Oh, an AEW wrestler talking about WWE.’ It’s an interview, you schmucks. I’m asked about it, so I’m going to answer the question. Yeah, a lot of people who work there aren’t particularly happy. People are taking pay cuts. The show right now, to each their own, but to a lot of people right now, pretty disenchanted with the product,” he said.

“I think they have an insane amount of talent there. They have a proven track record of doing incredible business, but I think people are so ready for an alternative. I can’t think of a better alternative than All Elite Wrestling, probably in the history of any sport. Dude, the thing is this, we had a black eye on us because there was so much bulls**t that went down. I don’t need to get into it, but the year 2026, every Dynamite has been incredible, Collision has been incredible, pay-per-view,” MJF added.

“You have the hottest professional wrestler on top…me. I’ll give Darby Allin his credit, even though I hate his stupid face. He is putting on easily the best matches, but also doing it twice a week on all our major flagship shows. He is putting on better matches than any other place you watch professional wrestling. So do other guys on the roster. Now, am I a match guy personally? Not necessarily. I’m a win guy. I’m a money guy. I’m a sell-tickets guy. I’m going to get people to buy a pay-per-view guy, but I’m not going to sit here and pretend that we don’t have superior wrestling. Whether that’s weekly shows or pay-per-views, which nobody can touch. Nobody has touched or will ever touch on these,” he finished.

MJF comments on what could take AEW to the next level

In the same interview with TV Insider, MJF was further asked about his thoughts on what could take All Elite Wrestling to the ‘next level.’

“I think it’s literally happening right now. Year over year in most markets we’ve sold more tickets. This year we’ve done more pay-per-view buys. We’re hot right now, when I hear people ask how we can get bigger, the answer is time baby,” he shared.

The former World Champion further claimed that while WWE and TNA have been around for several years now, AEW is relatively young and wants fans to give them time to grow.

MJF believes TKO is behind negative rumors about AEW’s TV future

Posted on by Ian Carey

MJF believes TKO is behind online rumors meant to hurt the perception of AEW.

During a recent interview with CBS Sports’ SHAK Wrestling, MJF addressed rumors regarding the future of AEW programming and how a potential Paramount/Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery could impact AEW.

MJF said he believes those stories are being intentionally leaked by someone at TKO in an effort to make AEW look bad.

MJF said:

“TKO, WWE, what have you, their job is to make themselves look great and to make us look bad. So there’s a leak. Oh, ‘AEW is struggling to get a TV deal.’ That’s f—ing news to me, bro. Like that’s news to me. That’s news to everybody on the roster. It’s damn sure news to Tony Khan because last time I checked, they’re f—ing over the moon with us right now.”

“You know, we do better numbers than f—ing almost everything that’s going on on a weekly basis on cable because right now, as I was saying, the things that draw on cable are news and live sport.”

MJF then illustrated his point by comparing the WWE and AEW dynamic to Coke and Pepsi.

“I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a million times, Shak, I love Jolly Old Saint Nick (Khan) and I love the tricks he’s pulling out. I f—ing get it. It’s smart, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t use our brains, right? It doesn’t mean that we can’t go, ‘Oh, this is being leaked intentionally to hurt the company that is the alternative.'”

“It’d be like if Coke out of the blue was like, ‘Hey, I don’t know if you guys knew about this, but Pepsi has a– water in it.’ Everybody be like, ‘Well, I mean, where is that source coming from? It’s coming from Coke.’ Okay, I’m not really going to give much thought to this, right?”

How could the Paramount-Skydance merger affect AEW?

Dave Meltzer addressed the potential impact of the Paramount-Skydance merger and Warner Bros. Discovery speculation in the May 18, 2026 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Meltzer wrote:

“There has been a lot of talk regarding the idea that Paramount/Skydance won’t want (AEW), although it’s the second highest rated regular weekly show on TBS and is so much more cost effective than UFC, plus the company would get a piece of its PPV revenue and have a small ownership stake.

We’ve heard from people in WWE, one of whom said that they realize that decision hasn’t been made and basically the same stuff we’ve said and that everyone following this seems to agree on, that nobody even knows when the merger is going through nor who will even be making the decisions regarding AEW if and when it does.”

MJF’s full interview with CBS Sports is below:

MJF addresses possibility of Mick Foley joining AEW

Posted on by Joseph Currier

MJF fully kept kayfabe while addressing the possibility that Mick Foley could join AEW.

It was reported last week that AEW has “real” interest in working with the 60-year-old Hardcore Legend, potentially setting the stage for Foley to appear at Double or Nothing in his home state of New York. Fellow Long Island native MJF spoke with SNY ahead of the pay-per-view and was asked about a possible Foley AEW debut. MJF didn’t do anything to dispel the rumors, instead insulting Foley and maybe laying the groundwork for an interaction.

“I think Mick Foley is fat and he’s ugly,” MJF responded when asked what he thinks about the Foley-AEW speculation. “I think he was the blueprint of what Darby Allin is now, which makes me hate him even more. That’s what I think of Mick Foley.”

Allin will be MJF’s opponent in the main event of Double or Nothing at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens this Sunday (May 24). It’s a hair vs. title match where MJF had to agree to put his hair on the line to get a rematch for Allin’s AEW World Championship.

Working together is something that Foley and MJF have been wanting to do for a while. When Foley was planning to come out of retirement for one last match, MJF was the opponent he hoped to face. But Foley suffered a concussion in training in 2024 that led to him abandoning that idea. Any AEW role for Foley would likely have limited, if any, physicality.

Mick Foley’s WWE status —

Foley’s WWE Legends contract is set to expire next month, with Foley deciding to let the deal lapse after taking issue with WWE’s “close relationship” with President Donald Trump. We’ve seen Foley make recent appearances for OVW and GCW, so it’s possible that he could show up in AEW before June. Rob Van Dam previously worked matches for AEW while under a WWE Legends deal.

The Takedown on SI, which was first to report AEW’s interest in Foley, wrote that it’s not known if Foley’s debut would be a one-off appearance or if he would sign with the company.

MJF pumping the brakes on criticism of TNA President Carlos Silva

Posted on by Joseph Currier

MJF is softening his tone in regards to TNA President Carlos Silva.

A match between MJF and TNA star Nic Nemeth was scheduled to take place for indie promotion Create-A-Pro earlier this month, but the bout ended up being canceled after a new policy was instituted by Silva. Citing partner conflicts, Silva put a stop to any indie matches that would have pitted TNA talent against wrestlers from AEW. The decision was made after an episode of AEW Collision was moved opposite TNA Impact on April 2 due to the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament.

In the wake of this, MJF called Silva a “dumb motherf***er” and accused him of lying. But the former AEW World Champion was a bit more cordial during his appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show this week. MJF said he’s heard from people that Silva is a good guy who is learning on the job after having no prior experience in pro wrestling.

“The truth is he didn’t want AEW talent to go up against TNA talent because he thought that my boss intentionally put, I believe it was a Collision, on the same night as TNA,” MJF said. “Even though every single year, I believe it’s the college basketball playoffs, I’m not sure, but I just know every single year during a specific season of the year we get pushed to — are they on Tuesdays or Thursdays? I don’t even f***ing remember. Thursdays, sorry. We get pushed to Thursdays. He thought that we intentionally asked Warner Bros. Discovery. We were preempted. And he didn’t know that, so because he didn’t know that, he got offended. And then he pulled a couple of matches off. I was offended because, A: You’re taking a match away from me that I was looking forward to, I was looking forward to beating the sh*t out of Nic Nemeth, formerly known as Dolph Ziggler. And B: You’re taking money out of people’s pockets.

“So I was a little upset, but I have been informed that this guy’s getting smarter to the business, he’s fairly green, he’s fairly new, and he’s learning on the job. And I’ve been told that he’s a good guy, so I’ve pumped the brakes a little bit on ol’ Carlos Silva. He’s learning on the job.”

Silva was named president of TNA in February 2025. Already an executive for TNA’s parent company Anthem Sports & Entertainment, Silva did not work in wrestling prior to this but was a top executive for MMA promotions PFL/World Series of Fighting.

AEW Forbidden Door & TNA Slammiversary no longer set for direct competition —

AEW and TNA were set to go head-to-head on June 28 when the companies present their respective Forbidden Door and Slammiversary pay-per-views. However, Slammiversary has moved its start time to the afternoon and will not be going directly against the AEW event.

MJF calls Malakai Black a ‘mark’ who used AEW as stepping stone

Posted on by Joseph Currier

MJF believes the AEW locker room became a better place without people like Malakai Black in it.

With Black having been released by WWE last month, there’s speculation over whether he could make a return to AEW once his 90-day clause is up. Based on what MJF said during his appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show today, it sounds like the AEW locker room would be opposed to that idea. MJF said there’s been a night and day difference for the better since wrestlers who viewed the company as a stepping stone were weeded out of AEW. He described Black as the biggest offender of those who had that mindset.

MJF clarified that he does not really know Black on a personal level, describing him more as a “mark” than a bad guy.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that [the biggest offender was] Malakai Black,” MJF said. “But I don’t know the guy, like, on a personal level. Do I think he’s a bad guy? No. Do I think he was a mark for wanting to have his, ‘Oh, I need my Mania moment.’ Yeah, and there were a couple of guys like that, and they got weeded out.

“And then they went over there and some of them found out the grass isn’t greener. And perhaps some of them did, for them the grass was greener. But I’d say a majority of the guys that were like, ‘I’m just going to use All Elite Wrestling to go back to WWE,’ I think you’re going to see a lot of those guys asked for a 50 percent pay cut from the office. Or you’re going to see a lot of those guys just get released. And it’s unfortunate because if you show up to our company and you work hard, there’s really no need to burn bridges.”

“Majority” of AEW locker room felt the same way about Black —

MJF noted that he was speaking as a team captain and relaying how the majority of wrestlers in AEW felt about Black.

“Like I said, I’m not sh*tting on him. I’m just simply telling you what I was told by a majority of the locker room about this specific individual,” MJF said. “So as a team captain, as a leader — even though, yes, I am 30 — and as somebody who has been part of this promotion since day one, I don’t want to deal with guys that don’t want to be team players. F*** off, go elsewhere. Or f***ing prove me wrong. I would love to be proven wrong. It would be great. Prove me wrong.”

Black joined AEW in 2021 following his initial release from WWE and was with the promotion until he went back to WWE in 2025. Though disputed by Black, there were rumors that he was reluctant to lose matches during his AEW run.

AEW has denied that it is already in negotiations with Black for a return. Swerve Strickland, another one of AEW’s top stars, was less abrasive than MJF but non-committal when addressing whether he would like Black to return, saying that he just hopes Black is able to find what he’s looking for in wrestling to make him happy.

MJF: There’s something ‘very enchanting’ to me about never going to WWE

Posted on by Joseph Currier

If he could write the story for the rest of his career, it sounds like MJF would never leave AEW for WWE.

MJF opened up about his future while appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show on Tuesday, addressing the interest WWE has had in him. While claiming that WWE “hypothetically” was willing to offer him huge money in the past, MJF says it was not difficult to turn that down. His goal is to become the greatest wrestler of all time and join Batista, John Cena, and The Rock as the greatest wrestler-turned-actors ever. The idea of doing that without the WWE machine behind him is very intriguing to MJF.

“Was it tough? No,” MJF said about turning down WWE to stay in AEW. “You have to know your worth, and I know my worth. And my worth was built because of the legacy that I’m building in AEW. There is something very enchanting to me, no matter how much money did, or does, or will get thrown at me. And trust me it was a lot, hypothetically. It was a f***ing lot, hypothetically. It doesn’t matter because I care about my legacy more than anything…

“The idea of going down as the greatest of all time is really important to me. And I also think that there’s something very special about being able to say that with having never worked ‘there.’ I think that that’s really cool. I think the idea of that happening in the wrestling world, and to me the Mount Rushmore of professional wrestlers-turned-actors are Dave Bautista, John Cena, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. As you know, Mount Rushmore has how many heads? Four. My goal is to be that fourth head. And if I could pull that off on my name alone and the legacy that I’ve built on my own back, not from a machine, just the Maxwell machine — I think it would feel all the more sweeter.”

MJF did give the caveat of “never say never” and said this is just how he’s feeling in this moment at 30 years old. He and Sting have had conversations about how much pride Sting took in making his name outside of WWE and never going there until 2014.

MJF as an actor —

Balancing both wrestling and acting full-time is MJF’s plan going forward. His biggest role so far has been playing one of Happy Gilmore’s sons in “Happy Gilmore 2,” which led to MJF forming a friendship with Adam Sandler.

MJF is set to feature in the Christmas-themed action comedy “Violent Night 2” later this year. When he dropped the AEW World Championship to Darby Allin in April, there was speculation that MJF could be taking time off for another movie role, but those rumors were untrue. He’s remained on AEW television and will get his rematch against Allin at Double or Nothing 2026 this Sunday. It’s a hair vs. title match where MJF’s hair and Allin’s championship are both on the line.

MJF says AEW boss Tony Khan has become ‘incredible leader’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

MJF is proud of the evolution AEW founder Tony Khan has made as a boss in recent years.

To promote AEW Double or Nothing 2026, MJF returned to The Ariel Helwani Show for an interview on Tuesday. The conversation opened with MJF discussing the interview Helwani conducted with Khan in November 2025. There had previously been heat between Khan and Helwani, but that appearance marked a turning point where Khan has become more willing to answer questions and engage with outlets that may have been unfavorable to AEW.

“No interview is ever going to be as good when I’m not in the room. But for an interview that didn’t have me in it, it was a good watch,” MJF said about the Helwani-Khan interview. “And I also think it showed the evolution, frankly, of my boss as an interviewee. I think he faces questions head-on. I think that he took all your questions on the chin and answered them in a very professional manner. I think he continues to be incredibly professional, even when bullsh*t is happening around him and lies are being spread. So, yeah, I’m happy for him.”

MJF might be referring to the issues between AEW and TNA there, given that he has called out TNA President Carlos Silva for “lying” after Silva claimed that AEW had tried to come at TNA by airing against Impact and blocking TNA from some venues.

He also could be referencing last week’s report that WWE believes AEW won’t get a new TV deal from Paramount in 2027, which Khan said “could not be further from the truth.”

MJF says Tony Khan has leveled up as a leader —

Like with all interviews he does, MJF largely kept kayfabe while speaking with Helwani, taking most of the credit for the success AEW has had this year. But MJF also offered genuine praise for Khan, saying he’s become one of the best minds in wrestling and an incredible leader.

“Yeah, man,” MJF responded when asked if Khan has evolved as a boss. “The fact of the matter is, look, do I love the guy? No. But I love money. And I also love seeing my company do well, and we’re white hot right now. Now, is that all because of me? There’s an argument to be made there, there’s an argument to be made there. But I also am willing to say that Tony Khan — in case you’re unaware, he’s a billionaire — and for him to be a billionaire and to decide to, with his money and his time, when he could be sticking with the futbol thing or the other football thing that’s in America that’s the type of football that I prefer, and he could just be doing that. But he decided to start a professional wrestling company because he’s so passionate about professional wrestling and he loves professional wrestling.

“And he’s become one of the best minds in wrestling, man. And he’s been a great leader. You can talk all of the sh*t you want about him. Why? I don’t know. Because he gave you an alternative so you wouldn’t only be eating one type of food. You have options now. I don’t know why anybody would be mad about options…

“I think he’s become an incredible leader too, man. He always was, but I just think he is really, really just — as we all do, we level up, we evolve as we age.”

A two-time World Champion, MJF has the chance to reach the summit of AEW again when he challenges Darby Allin at Double or Nothing this Sunday. It’s a hair vs. title match where MJF will be forced to shave his head if he loses.

Fight Game: Should Jacob Fatu have lost at Backlash?

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

John LaRocca and I return with a brand-new Fight Game to discuss some of the most topical things going on in pro wrestling this week.

You can also watch full video of the show below.

We gave out our thumbs up and thumbs down before jumping into the major topics of the week which included:

  • Darby Allin’s current AEW World Title run
  • If there’s a chance MJF loses his hair
  • Will Ospreay and Jon Moxley
  • If Jacob Fatu should’ve lost to Roman Reigns at Backlash

Click Here to Listen (sub needed)

Fight Game: Ted Turner memories, WWE Backlash preview

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

John LaRocca and I return with a brand-new Fight Game to discuss some of the most topical things going on in pro wrestling this week.

You can also watch full video of the show below.

We gave out our thumbs up and thumbs down before jumping into the major topics of the week which included:

  • Our early memories of Ted Turner and when we understood what he meant to pro wrestling
  • The New Day and Jeff Cobb being released by WWE and whether or not AEW should sign them
  • The path to the rematch between Darby Allin and MJF
  • WWE Backlash preview

Then, we finished up with our Observe This segment, talking about stories from Dave Meltzer’s 1985 Observer Book. Specifically, we covered the time when Dave retired the newsletter in April of 1985.

Click Here to Listen (sub needed)

Title vs. hair challenge issued on AEW Dynamite

Posted on by Josh Nason

If MJF wants to get another AEW World title shot, he will have to put his hair on the line to do it.

The former champion will have a week to respond to current champion Darby Allin’s offer made on Wednesday’s Dynamite for a shot, assumed to be at this month’s Double or Nothing.

MJF came out after Allin successfully defended his title against Kevin Knight, offering to put up his scarf, then his Dynamite diamond ring, and then $1 million as a stipulation that Allin demanded he do.

Allin then said he instead wanted something MJF held most dear and something he would fly 17 hours to Turkey to get: his hair. He said MJF would have to put it up in order to get the shot to which visually frazzled MJF then left to think about after the one week ultimatum was thrown out.

Allin defeated MJF to win the title on the post-Dynasty edition of Dynamite, ending his second reign. He’s been looking for a rematch ever since. Allin already has two defenses set: PAC this Saturday and next Wednesday against Kazuchika Okada if he wins.

Current AEW Double or Nothing card | May 24 | Queens, New York

  • Stadium Stampede: Chris Jericho & four TBA vs. Ricochet, Bishop Kaun, Toa Liona and two TBA
  • AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada defends against Konosuke Takeshita
  • AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) defend against Adam Copeland & Christian Cage in an I Quit/last chance for Copeland and Cage/street fight
  • AEW World Champion Darby Allin defends against MJF in a title vs. hair match*
  • Swerve Strickland vs. Bandido*

*Expected

AEW’s MJF, Cash Wheeler react to New Day’s WWE departure

Posted on by Ian Carey

AEW’s MJF and Cash Wheeler posted references to New Day after news broke that Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston are leaving WWE.

On Saturday, our own Bryan Alvarez confirmed that Woods and Kingston were granted their release from the company after being asked to restructure their current agreements with TKO.

MJF posted to Instagram Stories:

“It’s a new day…. yes it is.”

Cash Wheeler of FTR posted:

“Cot damn
It’s a new day
Cot damn”

New Day vs. The Revival in WWE

Wheeler and his tag team partner Dax Harwood previously wrestled New Day several times while both teams were in WWE in 2019.

That year, New Day exchanged wins and losses in six-man tags against The Revival and Randy Orton. On the November 8 episode of SmackDown that year, taped in Manchester, England, Big E and Kofi Kingston defeated The Revival to win the SmackDown Tag Team titles. New Day then retained the titles against The Revival at the TLC pay-per-view in Minneapolis, Minnesota on December 15.

Darby Allin World title defense, MJF championship challenge set for next AEW Dynamite

Posted on by Josh Nason

Two title matches are official for next Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite with one featuring reigning World Champion Darby Allin and the other featuring the man he beat for the title last week in MJF.

After successfully defending the gold against a bloody Tommaso Ciampa in Wednesday’s main event, Allin will defend against Brody King in a week’s time. King defeated Lio Rush Wednesday and after Allin’s title defense, King came out and said he talked to Tony Khan and he will challenge for the gold next week.

King failed to defeat MJF for the title at February’s Grand Slam Australia and promised afterward he wasn’t done going for the title. The two have wrestled eight singles matches through the years, four of those coming in AEW. They are 2-2 with King last besting Allin in the 2024 Continental Classic.

In the other match, MJF will challenge Kevin Knight for the TNT title, also made Wednesday in the ring. MJF was in the ring calling out Allin for a title rematch when Knight came out to share his thoughts about the former champion. The two began to get into it with MJF saying the TNT title was for those with a ceiling which Knight took issue with.

He then issued a challenge to MJF who said he realized how proud Knight is of the title and wanted to take it from him. Knight was prepared to do it Wednesday, but MJF tricked him and said he would “dance with the devil next week, kid.”

MJF defended his then-World title against Knight in March.

Current AEW Dynamite lineup | Next Wednesday | Fairfax, VA

  • AEW World Champion Darby Allin defends against Brody King
  • TNT Champion Kevin Knight defends against MJF