RJ City explains decision to end AEW YouTube series

Appearing on a new episode of AEW Unrestricted, RJ City explained why he decided to end his long-running YouTube series.

“Hey! (EW)” ran on the promotion’s official YouTube channel for nearly four years until wrapping up this month. It was a comedic interview series with City speaking with a different AEW personality each week. In total, 165 episodes were produced during the show’s run.

City joked on Unrestricted that he decided to end the show because the idea had been run into the ground by this point. It’s difficult to get new guests every week, and City didn’t know if he wanted to have anyone on twice.

“I think I just ran it into the ground and said, ‘Well, I think we’ve reached our destination.’ We did four years, we did 165 episodes. As I said in the episode, we were down to the nose and the assh*les. I don’t know if you’re familiar with this, but it’s very hard to get guests,” he said.

“Then I’m like, I don’t know if I want to have people on again. I don’t know if I want to do a second Eddie Kingston one, and the people are like, ‘It’s not as good as the first.'”

City said the series felt like a “blind date” with him and the guest figuring each other out in real time. In one instance, Arn Anderson did not know the concept of “Hey! (EW)” and thought he would be sitting down for a serious interview, but everything worked out in the end.

Highlighting guests who don’t normally get to feature in longer-form interviews was important to City, with him naming Jamie Hayter as someone who surprised him with how funny she was.

“It was a really nice place to see people talk who don’t really get a chance to talk at that kind of length, at that kind of speed, and then they do a really good job,” City said. “I mean, obviously, there’s people like Dalton [Castle] and Mark Briscoe, where you’re like, ‘This is going to be easy.’ But then there’s other people like Jamie Hayter, who I’d never seen that side of her before. She was just down for the filth from the beginning.”

A comedic wrestler, City still works for AEW despite the end of “Hey! (EW).” He is part of the creative team and appears on screen as a PPV pre-show host.

“As I’ve gotten older, I realize it’s good to be sad about things,” he said about stopping the YouTube series. “It’s good to end something and be sad about it [and] go, ‘That was good’ and end it while it was good.”

The final episode of “Hey! (EW)” can be watched below:

Pre-show panelists revealed for AEW Revolution

AEW has revealed the four-person panel for this Sunday’s Revolution pre-show.

The Zero Hour broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time and will be hosted by Renee Paquette, RJ City, Jeff Jarrett, and actor/wrestler Paul Walter Hauser. The pre-show is airing live for free on AEW’s social media channels immediately leading into the Revolution pay-per-view.

Hauser — a wrestling fan who now regularly competes in the ring — also served as a panelist for AEW’s Full Gear pre-show in November 2024. As an actor, he’s best known for starring in the movie “Richard Jewell. He won an Emmy award for his role in the 2022 Apple TV+ mini-series “Black Bird.” In April, Hauser will be an entrant in MLW’s 40-wrestler Battle Riot match where Matt Riddle is defending the MLW World Heavyweight Championship.

Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles is hosting Revolution on Sunday (March 9). The pre-show broadcast will feature TikTok star Big Boom AJ returning to the ring for a six-man tag match. He’s teaming with Mark Briscoe & Orange Cassidy against Johnny TV, Mason Madden & Mansoor.

Here is everything that’s been announced for Revolution as of now:

  • AEW World Champion Jon Moxley defends against Cope
  • AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita defends against Kenny Omega
  • The Hollywood Ending: AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defends against Mariah May
  • AEW Tag Team Champions The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin) defend against The Outrunners (Turbo Floyd & Truth Magnum)
  • TBS Champion Mercedes Mone defends against Momo Watanabe
  • AEW World title number one contender’s match: Swerve Strickland vs. Ricochet
  • MJF vs. Hangman Page
  • Steel cage match: Will Ospreay vs. Kyle Fletcher
  • Zero Hour: Big Boom AJ, Mark Briscoe & Orange Cassidy vs. Johnny TV, Mansoor & Mason Madden

‘AEW Meal and a Match’ returning with new episodes

After only airing one episode in May, AEW Meal and a Match is set to make its return.

The digital series — hosted by Renee Paquette and RJ City — launched on the TBS YouTube channel in May with Eddie Kingston appearing as the first guest. There had not been any news about the show since then, but it was revealed today that new episodes are being produced to air this fall:

New episodes… that’s right with an S! So hold on to your forks and get ready to dive into Meal and a Match this Fall!

Meal and a Match takes inspiration from the classic TBS series Dinner and a Movie with a guest joining Paquette and City on each episode as they share a meal and watch AEW wrestling.

“RJ City and Renee Paquette look to prove we’ve been watching wrestling wrong as they look to break bread and break tables with some of the biggest names in AEW!,” the description for the show says.

The debut episode with Kingston was 23 minutes long and can be watched below:

Renee Paquette & RJ City to host ‘AEW Meal & a Match’ YouTube series

A new AEW digital series is premiering on YouTube this week.

Hosted by Renee Paquette & RJ City, “AEW Meal & a Match” will make its debut on TBS’ YouTube channel at 2 p.m. Eastern time this Friday (May 17). On the series, Paquette & City will be joined by guests from AEW as they share a meal and watch wrestling. Eddie Kingston is the guest for the premiere. “Crying, BBQ, and punchable faces” will be among the topics covered on the episode.

Here is the description for the show:

RJ City and Renee Paquette look to prove we’ve been watching wrestling wrong as they look to break bread and break tables with some of the biggest names in AEW!

Eddie Kingston joins them for a dive into great action and great Dallas food in the premiere of Meal and a Match.

Paquette and City are friends and have worked together on the broadcast team for AEW pre-shows. Last month, Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men podcast reported that Paquette and City had been working on this new project.

The former Renee Young is an interviewer on the AEW broadcast team. City hosts the “Hey! (EW)” interview series on AEW’s YouTube channel.

Paquette sent out the following tweet after the “Meal & a Match” series was announced today: