Taz’s 2300 Arena tribute is being pushed back slightly.
During Friday’s ROH Death Before Dishonor media scrum, Tony Khan said that Taz had asked if they could move the Hardcore Hall of Fame ceremony to this coming Wednesday’s Dynamite instead of Collision so more of his family could attend.
“He asked for more time to get his family and everybody lined up,” Khan explained. “It’s for him. It’s the least we can do for Taz….it’s a real honor for us to do that for him here in this building. Taz is an indespensible part of the team. ”
Khan surprised Taz on Wednesday by announcing that he would be the latest to be inducted into the 2300 Arena’s Hardcore Hall of Fame. The arena is better known to longtime fans as the ECW Arena, where Taz was a major star in the 1990s.
Here are notes from Saturday’s press conference with Paul Walter Hauser, Shane Taylor Promotions, ROH Champion Bandido, ROH Women’s Champion Athena, and Khan all took questions from the media.
Paul Walter Hauser
- He took time to praise Khan, saying he provided so many jobs to people. To see Tony create these jobs and this world, he is indebted as a fan. Tony Khan said with his performance tonight Paul Walter Hauser proved that he is a wrestler.
- He said that he felt more equipped for this match than previous matches, saying AEW cares a lot about performer safety.
- Hauser said he wanted to pay tribute to people like Mick Foley and Dustin Rhodes by doing a rolling senton.
- He said he didn’t even feel the tacks connect to the back of his head, he felt the powerbomb and had the wind knocked out of him and as a result didn’t have to sell much.
- Khan during this segment put over QT Marshall, saying he’s one of the most intelligent people in wrestling.
Shane Taylor Promotions
- Taylor said our goal was to do our best and win titles and we proved that tonight.
- The Infantry said that the gear they wore tonight was a tribute to New Jack. Shane Taylor thanked the city of Philadelphia, saying they recognize real rather than “bull****.”
- Taylor said out of all of his accomplishments, this was the most important title win of his 18 year career because of the people he’s involved with now. They are the most complete unit in pro wrestling.
ROH World Champion Bandido
- Bandido says after two years out, since he came back to AEW and ROH, it’s been like a dream. He’s excited to be part of AEW and ROH.
- He said being ROH Champion now feels incredible. He said he would be back to wrestle during the residency and wanted a Philly cheesesteak.
ROH Women’s Champion Athena
- Regarding her match with Mina Shirakawa, Athena said it was tough, it was hard, but she is the ROH Women’s Champion. She considered Mina a great opponent but wished she did less dancing.
- They pushed Athena was nearing 1000 days as champion.
- Athena said that ROH was the be all growing up, bringing up names like Samoa Joe and Bryan Danielson. She said now not only is she working with them, she’s proven she is better than them, this platform is where the best wrestle. AEW is where the best wrestle but ROH is where people grind and become the workhorses.
- Athena says she’s prepared for Mercedes Mone if she is looking to collect a tenth belt. She said she is also changing her mentality for a future Toni Storm rematch.
Tony Khan
- First question asked if we’ll see AEW Dark, Elevation, and ROH content on HBO Max. Khan talked about the success of AEW on HBO Max. More content would be great and they are trying to put up more free content as well, mentioning recent ROH content being put up on YouTube.
- He mentioned that he made the decision mid-show to make the show free due to streaming issues on some browsers. All current Honor Club subscribers will get a month free as a result of the error. He said that will cost a lot of money, up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. But it’s okay, because they made new fans tonight.
- Asked if they’ll return to the 2300 Arena. Fans have been excellent, the environment is awesome. He wants to do more shows here and loves Philadelphia.
- Tony Khan said he was figuring out who was cleared before booking more matches for tomorrow’s Collision.
- Someone asked if we could see more of Adam Priest. Khan said he was a big fan and scouted him at a recent show, saying he was impressive in the British J Cup. Great competitor.
- He mentioned that Anthony Henry asked for the night off and that’s why the Workhorsemen weren’t on the show.
- Tony Khan suggested we could see ROH Women’s Pure title tournament matches on Collision, since ROH is taped during these shows.
