For the first time in a long time, manager Stokely Hathaway returned to AEW during Wednesday’s Dynamite and with some new clients in the newly-heel FTR.
Hathaway interrupted a Tony Schiavone in-ring segment to introduce Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler who are coming off a brief storyline suspension due to their recent antics of hitting officials and threatening Schiavone. Hathaway thought the suspension was unjust given the actions of other wrestlers and said he was going to get the suspension expunged from their record and their fines reversed.
He then revealed as of Wednesday, he is the new agent for FTR. Wheeler then made no apologies for attacking Daniel Garcia last week as he came to aid Matt Menard and Angelo Parker.
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, who were shown earlier in the night in the crowd, were welcomed to the ring by Harwood and Wheeler as they wanted to show Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton respect.
As one might expect, that didn’t go well for the legends who were then laid out by the former AEW World Tag Team Champions after being insulted by Harwood for several minutes and shown a t-shirt that read “Living Legend Killers.” After Harwood and Wheeler delivered a spike piledriver to Morton, they were run off by Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong as that feud continues.
FTR will face Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong this Saturday on Collision.
A mixed tag team match is set for Wembley Stadium.
It was made official during AEW Collision that Willow Nightingale will team with Tomohiro Ishii to take on Kris Statlander and Stokely Hathaway. This came following an in-ring segment that took place Saturday.
After video was shown of Willow Nightingale telling Tomohiro Ishii she had a plan for Wembley Stadium, Lexy Nair announced to Statlander and Hathaway in the ring that Nightingale had issued a mixed tag team challenge for All In’s Zero Hour. Hathaway started to say there was no way he’d do that, but Statlander cut him off and accepted the match for August 25.
Nightingale and Statlander have been feuding since the events of Double or Nothing, when Statlander turned on her former friend. On the July 31 edition of AEW Dynamite, Stalander defeated Nightingale in what was a CMLL Women’s Championship eliminator match, meaning Statlander has earned a future shot at Nightingale’s title.
Here’s the updated card for Sunday, August 25th in London:
AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland defends against Bryan Danielson
AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defends against Mariah May
AEW American Champion MJF defends against Will Ospreay
TNT Champion Jack Perry defends against Darby Allin
TBS Champion Mercedes Mone defends against Britt Baker
Casino gauntlet match for future AEW World title match
AEW Trios Champions The Patriarchy (Christian Cage, Nick Wayne & Killswitch) defend against either House of Black or Bang Bang Gang
Zero Hour: Willow Nightingale & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kris Statlander & Stokely Hathaway
The biggest crowds of the year for pro wrestling, boxing, MMA and even college wrestling
What pro wrestlers were drawing the biggest crowds most often
How each promotion did as far as drawing in 2023
The biggest gates of the year
Pro wrestling history–the biggest drawing card every year dating back to 1916
Most years for any wrestler in history as the leading draw
50 Biggest drawing cards of all-time based on annual dominance and longevity
Royal Rumble update
Early notes on AEW Revolution and how the main event was set up
The life and times of Killer Khan, the top drawing actual Japanese native when it comes to major crowds in U.S. history and the feud with Andre the Giant, Choshu’s Army and a look at pro wrestling in the 70s and 80s in the U.S., Japan and Mexico.
New Year Dash, New Japan’s next major shows, and future of several of New Japan’s top guys
The most detailed look at the ratings for the past week, weekly standings, nightly competition, ups and downs compared to last year, segment-by-segment.
Former world champion open to moving to Mexico and working full-time
Unique tournament in Mexico starts next week
Promotion talks about its unique 2024 theme
Movie on life of a current pro wrestling star release date
Key intermediary in WWE/All Japan deal
New Japan major shows for 2024
New international promotional alliance
Business of the Iron Claw movie
Are WWE & AEW stars employees or independent contractors, what the new law says and why wrestling may fall through the cracks
Notes on next season of Dark Side of the Ring
Nic Nemeth in Puerto Rico
Mustafa Ali independent return
Return of TNA
New major AEW & WWE hires
Update on Worlds End PPV numbers
Kota Ibushi injury update
International TV ratings
Lots of new major UFC fights
Joshua vs. Ngannou business thoughts
More on Raw TV deal
Looking at how Raw would be expected to do on Amazon Prime
Carlito will be a guest on The Bump this Wednesday.
Chelsea Green on X: “Only my fellow expats understand the stress of the immigration system… I am so relieved to say after 8 years, 5 pro wrestling companies & 4 visas, I finally have my green card!”
R-Truth joined Busted Open Radio to talk about his current role with the Judgment Day, the 24/7 title, and more.
New trademarks include Jazmyn Nyx, Lainey Reid, and Carlee Bright. Nyx is Jade Gentile, while Reid is TyLynn Register. Both are training at the WWE Performance Center.
Goldberg and his son Gage appeared on TMZ Sports to talk about Gage committing to the University of Colorado as a preferred walk-on.
AEW/Other Wrestling
Tagging Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale, Stokely Hathaway posted a video on X of former congressman George Santos telling them to give Hathaway a chance.
Jeremy Allen White, who won an Emmy for his work on ‘The Bear’, was asked if he’d like to do a match on WWE SmackDown. “I’d be so excited to, but only if Zac [Effron] and Harris [Dickinson] were there with me and if I had some time to prepare,” he said, referring to his co-stars.
All Japan Pro Wrestling announced that Shuji Ishikawa and Black Menso-re will be departing the promotion on January 31. Ishikawa has already been announced for a Pro Wrestling NOAH appearance on February 15.
Stokely Hathaway will be in tag team action on Thursday’s Ring of Honor on HonorClub as he teams with ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe to face The Boys (Brent & Brandon Tate).
The match was made during a recent promo. Dalton Castle confronted Hathaway about the TV Title eliminator tournament. Joe walked into the segment and declared the match would happen, much to the dismay of Hathaway.
Former ROH Pure Champion Josh Woods will take on former partner Silas Young in a Pure rules match. Last week, Woods decided to part ways with the Varsity Athletes and go out on his own.
ROH Women’s Champion Athena will return to non-title action on a long ROH winning streak as she faces Brittany J in a Proving Ground match.
After defeating Robyn Renegade last week, Billie Starkz will take on Robyn’s sister Charlette Renegade who jumped Starkz after the victory.
Lady Frost will go head-to-head with Trish Adora.
**********
Gravity defeated Gringo Loco
Poor Gravity got crushed twice in this match with the full weight of Loco on him, but somehow survived to win the match. This was a spot fest all the way, but a fun one.
Gravity decided to use his name to his advantage, hitting a splash early on for a two count. Loco used his size to his advantage, pressing Gravity into the air and then catching him in a fallaway slam for a two count. Loco hit a chop and played to the crowd before hitting another chop in the corner and Irish whipping Gravity to the corner. Gravity ran up the ropes and back flipped off before turning around and powerslaming a charging Gringo Loco. That was cool.
Loco shoved Gravity to the floor and hit a double jump springboard moonsault to the floor on Gravity. What a loco spot, pardon the pun. Loco then absolutely crushed Gravity with a brutal springboard twisting senton, causing Gravity to become victim to his own name. Gravity, somehow not a pancake, shoved Loco to the outside and then rolled up the to the top rope, launched himself over the post, and hit a hurricanrana on Loco on the floor.
Gravity missed a 450 splash and Loco countered into a standing Spanish fly as Gravity got back up. Gravity tried to float over into a sunset flip bomb, but he lost his grip and was crushed again by Loco falling backwards and landing right on his face. Gravity and Loco went to the top rope and Loco hit some sort of a torture rack suplex off the top rope for a 2-count. Gravity and Loco went to the ropes again and Gravity hit a Samoan drop off the middle rope before hitting a splash for the pin.
Josh Woods defeated Silas Young in a Pure Rules match
Good technical match from Woods and Young with an awesome finish.
Woods refused a handshake from Young, who applauded because he was in favour of Woods having an attitude now. Young and Woods locked up and Young hit a drop toe hold causing Woods to grab the ropes as he went down, which counted as a rope break. Young and Woods locked up again, and Woods was able to take him down, but Young did counter out of a Chaos Theory for a 2-count.
Woods sent Young crashing into the ropes and then drove him shoulder first into the turnbuckle. The announcers noted that Woods was way more focused without Mark Sterling in his corner, and while using the rough tactics that Young and Sterling had taught him over the years, he was looking far stronger here. Young, trying to avoid further damage to the arm, kept going for pinfall attempts to keep Woods at bay.
Woods stood up and punched Young right in the face to break up the pinfall attempts, getting his one warning, and then hit a running twisting vertical suplex into the corner dropping Young right on his head for the win. That was a brutal finish, and the crowd reacted strongly to it. They got something with Woods here, I think.
–Maria Kanellis Bennett was backstage, saying she was scouting for an army to protect her kingdom. Leyla Hirsch walked in and said that there was nothing Maria could do for her, but Maria said that she could provide some real competition for her, and said Hirsch would face Rachel Ellering later.
Athena defeated Brittany J in a Proving Ground match
This was an awesome squash match, as Athena continues to be awesome in ROH.
Athena got rolled up early as she played to the crowd, but Athena made her pay soon thereafter pulling Brittany J from the apron to the floor and then brutally throwing her into the guardrail with a crash. Athena screamed at Ian Riccaboni before returning to the ring and countering a headscissors with a cartwheel and hitting a pop-up powerbomb and a brutal forearm for the win.
–Robyn & Charlette Renegade ran down after the match and started beating on Athena. Billie Starkz ran down to the ring to make the save and drive the twins out of the ring.
Samoa Joe & Stokley Hathaway defeated The Boys (Brandon & Brent)
Stokely wanted to get involved in the match, so Joe let him a few times between the easy beating Joe was giving The Boys. Stokley claimed he wanted to get the win when Joe went for the muscle buster, so Joe held one of the Boys and then walked away with said boy as Stokely flew off the ropes and crashed and burned before choking out said Boy. Joe wins. So does Stokely. Sort of.
–Billie Starkz was with Lexy Nair and it was announced she would be facing Charlette Renegade. The Renegade Twins walked up and trash talked Starkz before the end of the interview.
The Gates of Agony (Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun) (w/ Prince Nana) defeated Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal
The Gates of Agony briefly got the heat on Daniels, but he was able to hit a drop toe hold and tag out to Sydal, who hit a standing twisting senton on Kaun for a 2-count. Daniels and Sydal then hit a drop toe hold. Daniels was ready to go for the Best Moonsault Ever, but Kaun was able to shove Daniels away, and Liona hit a clothesline on Daniels to get the advantage.
Liona crushed Daniels as Kaun hit a backstabber and Liona hit a splash, but Sydal broke up the pinfall. Kaun locked on a sleeper before hitting a uranage into a backbreaker on Daniels. Daniels was able to tag out Sydal, but it didn’t go very well over the next few minutes, as Daniels came back in and ate a fireman’s carry into a gutbuster for the pin.
Madison Rayne defeated Dani Mo
This was not very good. Rayne looked a bit rough. Rayne went for a neckbreaker on Mo, but Mo fell a bit early and may have actually whiplashed her neck on the way down. Mo faked Rayne out with a kick to the head only to hit the stomach. Rayne then just grabbed Mo and hit a Cross Rayne for the win. This was not good.
The Dark Order (Evil Uno, Jon Silver, & Alex Renyolds) defeated Corey Calhoun, Isaiah Broner, & Lord Crewe
Evil Uno started the match with Broner. As The Dark Order was beating on Broner, Stu Grayson came out to the ramp and distracted them, leading to Calhoun being able to roll Renyolds up for a 2-count. This did not last long as Dark Order took Calhoun to the dark realm for the pinfall.
–Claudio Castagnoli was backstage, saying that while he was not in the arena tonight, he was very much there, and that no one he has faced has given him a run for his money. Castagnoli talked about when he lost the ROH World Championship to Chris Jericho, and how he took the title back from Jericho, learning that the only thing that mattered was that he had a simple job – to keep the ROH World Championship from people who were not worthy of it, like Eddie Kingston, PAC, and Mark Briscoe, and he was really good at his job. This was a great promo.
Cole Karter defeated Griff Garrison
Garrison had some fire in this one, going right after Karter, hitting a series of hard chops, strikes, and then a falcon arrow for a 2-count. Karter looked rough in this one, but showed some good heel instincts despite the rough offence. As Karter hit a weird dominator type slam for the win, Maria Kanellis walked down to the ring and whispered something in Karter’s ear before leaving.
Billie Starkz defeated Charlette Renegade
Charlette did not abide by the Code of Honor, hitting a hard forearm in the handshake, before beating on Starkz for a bit. Starkz tried to escape to the floor but got distracted by Robyn, and Renegade jumped off the apron to continue the attack. Charlette grabbed Starkz by the nose and pulled back with a camel clutch.
Starkz hit a kick to Charlette, but was cut off on the ropes by Robyn, who did so right in front of the referee. Oops. Charlette hit a superplex, but Starkz rolled through into a Last Shot for a 2-count. Renegade managed to hit a landslide for a 2-count, but Starkz was able to hit a neutralizer type move for the win.
–Robyn Renegade ran in and the Renegade Twins started beating on Starkz, but Athena ran down and made the save. As they faced off, Athena told Starkz to duck, and then both women hit a dive on the twins. Athena challenged Starkz to a fight in a joking way, and Starkz offered a handshake, but Athena refused. Athena then said, “Come on, minion! Let’s go!” Starkz followed with hesitation, as the announcers noted she might not be able to trust Athena.
–Ari Davari & Tony Nese were backstage, and Nese talked about why he was trying to get the fans to do work outs with him, and how frustrating it is that he gets interrupted by someone as he tries to make the lives of the fans better. Nese said Mark Sterling promised he would have the floor tonight, and they were going to have a full group training session as the fans needed it badly with how out of shape they were.
Lee Johnson, Action Andretti, & Darius Martin defeated Lee Moriarty & The Workhorsemen (JD Drake & Anthony Henry)
This was a really good match with a finish that the crowd didn’t seem to expect.
Johnson & Moriarty started the match with a really nice exchange. Moriarty tried to escape the grasp of Martin and Andretti but fell victim to several double team moves that also took out Drake and Henry. Moriarty and Johnson resumed their exchange, but Henry hit a knee to the back of Johnson letting Moriarty tag out to Drake, who leveled Johnson with a Bossman slam. Henry tagged in and hit some very hard kicks to Johnson. Johnson ducked an attack and tagged out to Andretti, who ran wild hitting a dive on Henry on the floor but missing a 450 splash on Moriarty.
Andretti hit a standing Spanish fly instead, but was soon falling victim to Drake and Henry hitting a pop-up powerbomb for a 2-count thata was broken up by Martin. Martin ate a massive twisting butterfly suplex from Drake but Andretti broke it up. Andretti countered an O’Connor roll with a bridge and got the pinfall on Henry.
–Athena was with Lexy Nair and she brought in Billie Starkz. Athena assigned a minion number to Starkz, but Starkz said it wasn’t what was important as they had to deal with the Renegade Twins, challenging them to a tag match next week. Athena said that Starkz shouldn’t think, since that was not her roll, and she intimidated Nair into agreeing with her before demanding that Starkz drive them to the mall.
Lady Frost defeated Trish Adora
Frost looked good in this match, especially at the finish with the corkscrew moonsault for the win.
Frost slipped slightly on a handspring, but they played it right, letting Adora take it as an opportunity to kick Frost in the head and get the advantage. Adora then did a stretch behind Frost before putting her foot on the back of Frost’s head and driving it to the mat. Adora then did the splits on the shoulder of Frost, driving her head down to the mat while she was seated. That looked brutal.
Adora hit a standing crossbody for a 2-count before hitting a German suplex. Adora hit a sternum breaker in the corner for a 2-count. Frost ducked a clothesline and hit a spinning kick for a 2-count before hitting a Frostbite for the pin.
–Kiera Hogan was with Lexy Nair and talked about how she has been keeping her eyes on Lady Frost. She said she was going to put her fire against Frost, melting the ice.
Leyla Hirsch defeated Rachel Ellering
This was a short match, but I liked it.
Ellering was given a lot in this match, hitting a nice brainbuster while selling her arm that Hirsch worked over with an armbar earlier in the match. Hirsch, I think, was a heel, but the crowd seemed to wanting to root for her. Hirsch floated over onto the back of Ellering after a corner charge, locking on a sleeper and then transitioning to an octopus stretch. Ellering fought out, but Hirsch was able to counter a pinfall attempt after a Bossman slam into a crucifix pin before transitioning into an armbar for the submission.
Dalton Castle defeated Peter Avalon
Dalton Castle is the best, and he should be on TV every single week on every show.
Avalon looked very shocked at the charisma of Dalton Castle. Castle yelled at Avalon as he tried to escape Castle’s grasp, saying, “You wiggle away from me again and I’ll rip your face off!” I laughed. Castle proceeded to suplex Avalon around the ring. Castle got the win soon thereafter and yelled to the camera that he was going to take the ROH Television championship before long.
–Shane Taylor was with Lexy Nair, and talking about how in the past with ROH, he was established as the greatest TV champion, greatest six-man champion, and greatest stable of all time in ROH, but people only wanted to talk about the old guard, and he was going to finally put that to rest when he got to fight them, and specifically Samoa Joe because he wanted his ROH Television championship back. Awesome promo.
–Tony Nese came out and claimed that his match was cancelled, so he was going to lead the crowd in the workout. The crowd actually started to participate before Metalik made Jerry Lynn came out and informed Nese that his lawyer was wrong, and that Tony Khan was a bit tired of Nese trying to avoid wrestling, so he was facing someone who he was familiar with tonight.
Metalik defeated Tony Nese
Metalik is such a fantastic wrestler, and I really hope he is given a chance to get over in ROH and AEW.
Metalik and Tony Nese reunite as 205 Live lives on in ROH. After some early heat from Nese, Metalik hit a Asai Moonsault to the floor on Nese, kicking Nese right in the back off the head hard as they went down. Both guys seemed fine, but both landed hard there. Nese fought out of a fireman’s carry and hit a powerbomb on Metalik for a 2-count. Metalik hit a superkick on a running Nese before hitting a landslide on Nese for the win.
Final Thoughts
Good episode of ROH on HonorClub tonight. I’m not sure if the show really needed to be 2 hours and 14 minutes long, but the angles they advanced were good, and the matches were largely good too. I think they are trying to find a balance with the shows after Dark and Elevation were cancelled, providing chances for younger stars to get reps while also trying to advance angles for the bigger stars. They definitely achieved that tonight.
Samoa Joe & Stokely Hathaway will team up on the August 17 episode of Ring of Honor TV.
As announced during this week’s show, TV Champion Samoa Joe & board of directors member Stokely Hathaway will tag against The Boys on the Thursday, August 17 Ring of Honor TV.
The bout was set up with a backstage interview segment where Dalton Castle & The Boys confronted Hathaway for interfering in his TV title match against Joe at Death Before Dishonor last month. Joe then entered and asserted that he and Hathaway will team up against The Boys in tag action in two weeks. Video of the segment can be seen below.
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) August 3, 2023
While no date has been set for his next TV title defense, Joe will also be awaiting the winner of next week’s ROH TV Title Eliminator Tournament, where Shane Taylor will take on Gravity.
Taylor and Gravity won their semifinal bouts on Thursday’s Ring of Honor TV episode to advance to the Title Eliminator Tournament finals which are set for the Thursday, August 10 edition of the show.
The following are spoilers from Sunday’s Ring of Honor TV taping at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, which featured the announcement of new authority figures and the debut of a former Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champion.
Mark Briscoe defeated Anthony Henry (w/ JD Drake)
AR Fox, Darius Martin & Action Andretti defeated The Trustbusters (Slim J, Sonny Kiss & Jeeves Kay)
Matt Sydal defeated Zack Clayton (w/ Cole Karter). Post-match, Sydal said he’s the best in ROH and wants to be the TV Champion.
Tony Khan announced a new ROH Board of Directors (Jerry Lynn and Stokely Hathaway) who will have authority but he will still have final say if needed.
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Embassy (Gates of Agony & Brian Cage) (w/ Prince Nana) defeated Cheeseburger, Eli Isom & Marcus Kross
The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) (w/ Maria Kanellis-Bennett) defeated El Dragon & El Cobarde. Bennett ended up bleeding in this one.
Kiera Hogan defeated Robyn Renegade. Charlette Renegade tried to get involved, but Hogan still managed to win before being attacked by ROH Women’s Champion Athena after the match with a kendo stick. Hogan fought Athena off and stood tall in the ring with the stick.
Skye Blue defeated Viva Van
Dark Order (John Silver, Alex Reynolds & Evil Uno) defeated Shane Taylor & The WorkHorsemen (JD Drake & Anthony Henry)
Mercedes Martinez defeated Vert Vixen
Tony Nese (w/ Mark Sterling & Ari Daivari) defeated Serpentico
Rey Fenix (w/ Alex Abrahantes) defeated Gravity
Nick Comoroto defeated Deimos (w/ Teal Piper)
The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch) & Stu Grayson defeated Dalton Castle & The Boys (Brandon & Brent Tate)
ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe defeated Matt Sydal to retain
Miranda Alize defeated Notorious Mimi
The Iron Savages (Bronson & Bear) (w/ Jacked Jameson) defeated Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus
Dralistico (w/ Jose The Assistant) defeated Willie Mack
ROH Women’s Champion Athena defeated Trish Adora. Post-match, Hogan ran down to fight Athena which ended with Athena spearing Hogan through a table in the corner.
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Embassy (Brian Cage & Gates of Agony) (w/ Prince Nana) defeated Action Andretti, Darius Martin & AR Fox to retain
A No DQ match is set for the March 22 AEW Dynamite.
In a bout announced during this week’s show, FTW Champion Hook will face manager Stokely Hathaway in a non-title No Disqualification match on next week’s Dynamite.
Hook has been feuding with Hathaway and members of his The Firm stable for months, holding singles wins over Lee Moriarty and Matt Hardy. As a tag team, Hook and “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry have tag team victories over The Firm’s Big Bill & Moriarty, as well as Hardy & Ethan Page.
In storyline, Hook broke Hathaway’s hand in a backstage promo segment, leading to a brief storyline suspension for Hook. Hathaway has since been allowing members of The Firm to use his cast as a weapon during their matches.
AEW revealed that more matched for next week’s show will be announced during Friday’s Rampage show.
In an appearance on Renee Paquette’s podcast, Stokely Hathaway opened up about plans that The Firm had with CM Punk that now seem unlikely to ever happen due to Punk’s status with AEW.
He also revealed that he committed himself to a mental institution for three days earlier this year while in WWE NXT.
Hathaway said there was a post-All Out plan for his Firm faction that was supposed to include former two-time AEW World Champion CM Punk but due to what happened at the press conference after the show, that never came to fruition.
He also said Punk asked to work with him which meant a lot to him.
“Who we were supposed to directly feud with is no longer in the company. That is one thing I was looking forward to because I was hand chosen for that role. I’m just going to say it: I don’t know the specifics, if people are choosing sides or whatever, but for me, the fact that CM Punk said, ‘Hey, I want to work with this guy,’ that holds a lot of weight and means a lot, regardless of what has happened, what will happen,” he said.
Hathaway said that when that plan changed, they had to rewrite everything on the fly as it affected the original purpose of the faction to begin with.
“Everyone in the group is trying to do their best and we’re trying to figure out how to make this work because the original purpose isn’t the purpose anymore, so it’s like, what do you do?,” he explained. “Things are slowly gearing up; it’s just going to take a few weeks. With the way wrestling is nowadays, I get it. First impressions are everything, but it’s a little bit difficult to change people’s minds. Most people don’t want to see Picasso work on his painting — they just want to see the sh*t done. That’s the phase we’re in. We’re working on it, but people don’t want to see it worked on. They want to see the finished product.”
Punk is currently out with an injury and his status with the company is unclear beyond that due to the post-All Out fight between himself, the Young Bucks, Ace Steel and Kenny Omega.
In talking about his decision to leave NXT, Hathaway said that he woke up one day in February and felt miserable. He didn’t know where he was or what he was doing and decided to commit himself to a mental institution over three days in Florida. He said it was akin to a prison with a cell and restrictions and that after the three days, he thought that maybe he was better off mentally than he initially thought.
He said he didn’t tell anyone and couldn’t use his phone outside getting someone to take care of his dog. He said they didn’t do much for him in the facility and that the experience wasn’t beneficial for him.
When he returned, he said he had to jump back into things. He eventually turned down a new contract and left the organization. He also said “the wrong message” came across during his widely-seen comedy show comments about his time in WWE. He made his AEW debut at May’s Double or Nothing.
Join Denise Salcedo on her weekly pro wrestling talk show, Speak Now Pro Wrestling.
On Wednesday’s show, she reviews and reacts to the September 14th edition of AEW Dynamite, which featured two semifinal matches in the AEW World Championship Tournament. It also featured an MJF promo, the formation of The Firm, and much more! Tune in for a fun review!
While Stokely Hathaway made his debut at Double or Nothing last night, he’s someone who AEW has had its eyes on since before the company even launched.
AEW president and CEO Tony Khan said at Sunday’s post-Double or Nothing media scrum that he’s been interested in signing Hathaway since 2018. Hathaway (who went by the name Malcolm Bivens in NXT) signed with WWE in March 2019 but was released last month after turning down a main roster contract.
Hathaway debuted as TBS Champion Jade Cargill’s new manager at Double or Nothing, helping her retain the title against Anna Jay. Khan said it was a unique situation due to Hathaway’s 30-day non-compete clause expiring just in time for the pay-per-view.
I was in a very unique position. It was pretty unusual. Stokely’s [30] days expired yesterday. So I had never met him or spoken to him until today, because I do things the right way, with honor. It just so happened that his [30] days expired and I had this idea.
We were lucky. There is a lot of independent wrestling and stuff going on, I think he’s been around. I guess he’s been around Vegas. I had never met him until today, I swear on my life. I never had a conversation with him. I’ve had him in mind since 2018, actually. I remember being way back in the day, actually with Cody [Rhodes]. I was saying, ‘I really like Stokely Hathaway.’ I’m a big fan of him.
It’s funny because he came in today. And with Stokely Hathaway having had another name, recently, with another promotion, I never had this conversation with him. So today I told him, ‘I want you to be Stokely Hathaway. I’m the owner of Ring of Honor, you have a great history in Ring of Honor.’ Not only did I explain I wanted to pair him with the world’s greatest network champion, the world’s top undefeated pro wrestler, two years in with such a sparkling record, and add to the presentation that’s already come so far and so fast. Like Jade said, he’s a great talker. And I literally never met him and spoken to him, we’ve never talked to him or spoken, until today, which is pretty cool that it worked out.
It made for a great moment. I think it was a great surprise for the fans. The timing, we’ve been fortunate sometimes, that was great timing that he expired yesterday.
I think it’s an obvious solution, putting one of the great champions in wrestling, who’s already got so much charisma, with a great talker and they can be like [Nick] Bockwinkel and [Bobby] Heenan, a great talker with another great talker and a great mind. So I think they could be the new Bockwinkel and Heenan.
Dave Meltzer reported after Hathaway’s release that the belief in NXT was that Hathaway didn’t sign a new WWE contract because he wanted to go to AEW and would be there when his non-compete ended.
In addition to WWE, Hathaway also formerly worked for ROH, EVOLVE, and MLW.
Athena (the former Ember Moon) also debuted for AEW at Double or Nothing, aligning with Anna Jay and Kris Statlander against Cargill, Red Velvet, and Kiera Hogan.
Athena and Stokely Hathaway, formerly Ember Moon and Malcolm Bivens in WWE, made their AEW debuts at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view.
Both debuting talents were given the customary All Elite graphic on social media by Tony Khan, the company’s traditional way of announcing full-time signings.
Both Athena and Hathaway debuted in the same segment at the PPV. Hathaway provided a distraction for Jade Cargill to allow her to pin Anna Jay in the TBS Championship match. Athena came to the ring to side with Jay and Kris Statlander as the three squared off with Cargill, Red Velvet, and Kiera Hogan.
Bivens was released by WWE in April after turning down a contract extension offer. He had served as exclusively as a manager on the NXT brand since debuting in 2019, and was most recently aligned with the Diamond Mine stable.
As Ember Moon, Athena wrestled in NXT from 2015 to 2018, capturing the NXT Women’s Championship once. She had a main roster WWE run from 2018 to 2020, then returned to the NXT brand in October 2020, where she would go on to capture the NXT Women’s Tag Team titles with Shotzi Blackheart. Athena was released by WWE in November 2021.She has made sporadic appearances on the indie scene since, and currently holds the Warrior Wrestling Women’s title.
With much of the roster on the road for this weekend’s house show tour, NXT also held a live event in Tampa, Florida on Thursday night. The estimated attendance for the show was 250 people.
– Eric Bugenhagen defeated Nick Comoroto
– Jessie Elaban defeated MJ Jenkins
– Brendan Vink & Brennan Williams defeated Team 3.0 (Scott Parker & Shane Matthews)
– The former Stokely Hathaway/Court Moore is now going by the name Malcolm Bivens. He did an in-ring interview and introduced his client Jermaine Haley.
– Killian Dain defeated Jermaine Haley
Dain made his return to NXT and defeated Haley here. Kassius Ohno then attacked Dain and challenged him to a match at NXT’s house show in St. Petersburg, Florida this Friday.
– Mansoor Al-Shehail defeated Cezar Bononi
– Humberto Garza defeated Boa
– Mia Yim defeated Reina Gonzalez
– Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner defeated Humberto Carrillo & Albert Hardie Jr.
Former EVOLVE and Ring of Honor manager/independent wrestler Stokely Hathaway debuted at NXT’s house show in Tampa, Florida on Friday night.
Hathaway went by the name “Court Moore” and managed Babatunde Aiyegbusi, with Aiyegbusi defeating Nick Comoroto. Hathaway spoke on the microphone before the match and introduced Aiyegbusi as his newest client.
WWE announced earlier this month that Hathaway had signed with the company and reported to the Performance Center.
Robert Strauss (formerly Robbie E in Impact Wrestling), who also joined the Performance Center this month, debuted as a manager at Thursday’s NXT house show in Sanford, Florida. He managed Saurav Gurjar (w/ Rinku Singh) on Thursday and Riddick Moss on Friday.
Here are the results from Friday’s show in Tampa (estimated attendance: 450 people):
– Raul Mendoza defeated Albert Hardie Jr. (ACH)
Mendoza won with a scoop cradle driver.
– Kacy Catanzaro defeated Deonna Purrazzo
A rotating stunner got the win for Catanzaro.
– Babatunde (w/ Court Moore) defeated Nick Comoroto
– NXT Tag Team Champions War Raiders defeated Luke Menzies & Kassius Ohno to retain their titles
– Shane Thorne defeated Jeet Rama
– Dominik Dijakovic defeated Riddick Moss (w/ Robert Strauss)
Dijakovic hit his Feast Your Eyes torture rack into a knee strike to win.
– NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler defeated Io Shirai, Kairi Sane, and Bianca Belair to retain her title
Great matchup here and a preview for the fatal four-way title match at TakeOver: New York. Shirai and Sane had to square up and wrestle each other as the other two were on the floor.
Baszler was able to score the pin on Shirai after Belair had put her down.
Hathaway has been a manager for several years in the independent circuit, appearing in Ring of Honor, EVOLVE and MLW. In the past he’s managed the likes of Moose, Timothy Thatcher, TJP, Chris Dickinson and Dominic Garrini among many others.
Robert Strauss, aka Robbie E is best known for his run in Impact Wrestling from 2010 to 2017, most notably teaming with Rob Terry and Jessie Godderz. He’s also a former Impact Television, X-Division and Tag Team champion. He left the promotion in 2017 and has continued to work in the independent scene since then.
Bloom, 25, is the son of Wayne Bloom, who is most famous for his runs in AWA, WWE (as Beau Beverly) and WCW in the 80s and 90s. Cal played tight end at the University of Central Florida, making four Bowl Game appearances. He has received training from not only his father Wayne but also Brad Rheingans and Ken Anderson.
