Tag: The Opps

Samoa Joe ‘stepping away’ from AEW for a few months

Posted on by Josh Nason

Former AEW World Champion Samoa Joe is “stepping away” for a few months.

He revealed the news during the third hour of Wednesday’s combo Dynamite & Collision during a backstage segment, flanked by fellow Opps members Hook, Katsuyori Shibata and Anthony Bowens.

The reason? “Opportunity calls…and Hollywood’s ringing,” he said.

He reminded all three men that they know how this works before shaking their hands and departing with Hook immediately moving between Bowens and Shibata to re-establish himself as the group leader as he did before when Joe previously was gone.

The “Hollywood” reference is to Joe heading off to film the third season of the Peacock show Twisted Metal, one of the streaming service’s biggest hits in terms of viewership minutes. Joe plays the role of Sweet Tooth with Will Arnett providing the voice work.

The 47-year-old recently returned from a concussion and overall has wrestled just five times in 2026, the last coming at this past Sunday’s Double or Nothing in an Owen Hart tournament defeat to Will Ospreay.

Trios match added to AEW Double or Nothing Buy In

Posted on by Josh Nason

Sunday’s AEW Double or Nothing card continued to grow Thursday with another match added to the Buy In pre-show.

The newly announced bout will see a trio of Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia & Wheeler Yuta) against The Opps’ team of Hook, Katsuyori Shibata & Anthony Bowens.

The match comes out of Wednesday’s Dynamite/Collision when Bowens came out to aid Shibata in his match with Will Ospreay. The Death Riders came out in support of Ospreay, backing Bowens off. Ospreay picked up the win and then had a verbal confrontation with Samoa Joe of The Opps ahead of their Double or Nothing match.

The pre-show now has three matches, bringing the entire card to

Current AEW Double or Nothing lineup | This Sunday

  • 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)

New member of The Opps revealed on AEW Collision Playoff Palooza

Posted on by Bryan Rose

A new member of The Opps has officially been revealed.

On Collision, Samoa Joe met up with Hook following his return and asked what had been going on. Hook said he had been looking for new members to recruit. The two were confronted by Anthony Bowens, who said he wanted to know if he was in or not. Samoa Joe said that there were no more vacancies in the Opps, but then told Bowens they found their newest member. Hook told Bowens that he had passed the test, officially welcoming him into The Opps.

Joe returned from injury on Wednesday, defeating Cody Chhun in under three minutes. Shortly after losing the Trios titles in January, AEW announced that Samoa Joe was not cleared to compete. It was later reported that he was in concussion protocol.

In the weeks following Joe’s injury, Hook said that was put in charge of finding new members of the Opps. One person seemed interested: Anthony Bowens, who last seen forming an unreluctant tag team with former partner Max Caster. Hook seemed to stall on the idea of letting Bowens into the group until Joe’s return this week.

New leader of The Opps revealed during AEW Collision

Posted on by Bryan Rose

One member of The Opps is taking over the operation while Samoa Joe is out injured.

During Saturday’s Collision, Hook revealed that Samoa Joe has given him the leadership of the group while he recovers from injury. In his promo, Hook said they were in a different position than they were just a few weeks ago, as they’ve lost both the World and Trios titles in the last month. He said Joe appointing him the boss of The Opps was something he wouldn’t take lightly and named himself the greatest second generation wrestler of all time.

The Opps’ fortune has changed dramatically in the last month, with Powerhouse Hobbs choosing not to renew his contract, jumping to WWE where he recently made his debut at last week’s Royal Rumble. He, Shibata, and Joe dropped the Trios titles to Hangman Page and Jetspeed on the January 14 edition of Collision. Soon after, it was announced that Joe was injured during training and would be out of action for the foreseeable future.

Hook joined The Opps at Full Gear, turning his back on Eddie Kingston and Hangman Page after helping Samoa Joe win the title from Page during a steel cage match.

Hangman Page & JetSpeed win Trios titles on AEW Collision

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: AEW

Hangman Page, Kevin Knight and “Speedball” Mike Bailey are the new AEW Trios Champions following Saturday’s Maximum Carnage episode of Collision.

Page and JetSpeed defeated The Opps in the show’s main event after Knight countered Powerhouse Hobbs’ back body drop attempt into a roll-up for the pin.

It was Hobbs’ final match in the company for now as his contract expired the night the show was filmed (Wednesday) and he is expected to be WWE-bound.

The loss ends the 273-day reign for Hobbs, Samoa Joe and Katsuyori Shibata that began at last April’s Spring BreakThru episode of Dynamite. Saturday marked the seventh defense of the titles.

It’s Page’s first run with the titles and his third different championship in AEW (World, Tag Team). He was also briefly an ROH Six-Man Champion with the Young Bucks. It’s the first AEW title for either Knight or Bailey. Knight is a former two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with KUSHIDA while Bailey is former three-time TNA X-Division Champion.

Current AEW champion’s contract expiring, reportedly leaving for WWE

Posted on by Josh Nason

The following contains potential spoilers for this Saturday’s AEW Collision.

A new report out Wednesday has Powerhouse Hobbs expected to depart AEW for WWE as his contract expires Wednesday at midnight.

Days after Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE was “very high” on Hobbs, Fightful Select reported that despite ongoing contract negotiations over the past few months and a “substantial offer” to stay, Hobbs is finishing up with tonight’s post-Dynamite Collision taping.

He, Samoa Joe and Katsuyori Shibata are defending the AEW Trios titles on the show against Hangman Page and JetSpeed.

The outlet said that unless something major changes, the soon-to-be 35-year-old will join WWE when he is contractually eligible to do so which could come as early as this week. They stated he wanted to test the free agent waters and is leaving on good terms.

Hobbs first debuted for AEW in July 2020 and has been a fixture ever since, holding the Trios titles for nearly 300 days in addition to a short TNT title run in 2023.

World title change, heel turn & former champion’s surprise return close AEW Full Gear

Posted on by Josh Nason

In a dizzying sequence that closed Saturday’s AEW Full Gear, AEW has a new men’s World Champion in Samoa Joe, a new heel in Hook, and the return of Swerve Strickland from injury.

Joe won his second World title by defeating Hangman Page in a steel cage match in the night’s main event. That was aided by Hook who rejoined The Opps and hit Page with the World title belt which set up a Joe muscle buster that finished Page off to end a bloodbath between the two — the third-such match on the PPV.

Hook’s entrance was preceded by Katsuyori Shibata attempting to interfere only to be taken out by Eddie Kingston. Powerhouse Hobbs then got in the cage which brought out Hook and the aforementioned turn, reuniting him with the team that he was part of before he went out of action with a concussion.

As Joe was celebrating in the ring with a gang of Opps dojo members, the lights went out and an image of Page’s burning house played on the video wall. New music started playing, Prince Nana appeared, and then did Strickland who has been out of action since August’s Forbidden Door after getting knee surgery to deal with an old injury.

Joe, still pouring blood out of his head, offered up Page to Strickland as a sacrifice only to have Strickland go after him and take out the various dojo members one-by-one. Page eventually came to, joined Strickland, and the two stared down Joe and The Opps as they left up the ramp.

**********

Joe and Strickland have history as Strickland’s first World title run began at April 2024’s Dynasty when he defeated Joe for the gold. Strickland and Page also have their extended history, but made peace with each other this summer.

The loss ends Page’s second title run at 133 days which began at July’s All In Texas when he defeated Jon Moxley followed by five successful title defenses before Saturday.

The show ended at 12:30 AM Eastern.

Two title defenses, tournament reveal set for AEW Dynamite

Posted on by Josh Nason

The WrestleDream fallout episode of AEW Dynamite has its first two matches announced in addition to a reveal for the impending inaugural AEW Women’s Tag Team title tournament.

The bracket for the aforementioned tag title tournament will be revealed. No other details were given as to how many teams will be involved or when it will start.

By virtue of their victory in a tornado trios bout at WrestleDream, The Hurt Syndicate will get their earned title shot against reigning champions The Opps — days after Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata and Powerhouse Hobbs turned against Hangman Page at the PPV.

While Kazuchika Okada and Katsuyori Shibata were unsuccessful at defeating Brodido for the AEW World Tag Team titles at WrestleDream, Okada will attempt to get a measure of revenge when he defends the Unified title against Bandido. Bandido pinned Okada with the 21 Plex Saturday.

Current AEW Dynamite lineup | Wednesday, October 22 | San Antonio, Texas

  • AEW World Trios Champions The Opps (Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata & Powerhouse Hobbs) defend against The Hurt Syndicate (Shelton Benjamin, Bobby Lashley & MVP)
  • AEW Women’s Tag Team title championship tournament reveal
  • AEW Unified Champion Kazuchika Okada defends against Bandido

Major angle unfolds after World title match at AEW WrestleDream

Posted on by Josh Nason

While AEW World Champion Hangman Page left Saturday’s AEW WrestleDream as the champion, what happened after he defeated Samoa Joe was unexpected.

Page pinned Joe after three Buckshot lariats in the co-main event of the evening to pick up the successful title defense. After the match, both of Joe’s Opps teammates Katsuyori Shibata and Powerhouse Hobbs came out to help Joe to his feet and show respect to Page.

Joe then did the same, hugging Page and shaking his hand. Then, he laid Page out followed by Shibata and Hobbs kicking him while he was down. Joe then ordered his teammates to put Page up to the top rope, followed by a Muscle Buster to complete the turn. The three men then walked to the back while Page was helped out by medical personnel and other officials.

Joe, Shibata and Hobbs will defend the World Trios titles on Wednesday’s Dynamite against The Hurt Syndicate who earned the shot earlier in the night on WrestleDream.

Page now has five successful title defenses, but doesn’t appear to be done with the former champion just yet.

New matches added to AEW All Out Tailgate Brawl pre-show

Posted on by Josh Nason

Two new matches have been added to the Tailgate Brawl pre-show airing prior to Saturday’s AEW All Out pay-per-view on HBO Max/TNT.

Announced during Wednesday’s September to Remember edition of Dynamite, Daniel Garcia will take on Katsuyori Shibata for the third time.

It came about via separate backstage promos from reigning AEW Trios Champions The Opps and former champions The Death Riders accompanied by Garcia. Samoa Joe, Shibata and Powerhouse Hobbs took umbrage with Garcia’s move to the Jon Moxley-led group with Garcia saying if they had an issue, they could come see him Saturday.

The two squared off at 2023’s ROH Death Before Dishonor with Shibata successfully defending his then-Pure title. They rematched in AEW this past January on Collision with Garcia successfully defending his then-TNT title.

Also announced were Joe and Hobbs taking on The Workhorsemen’s JD Drake and Anthony Henry.

The show begins at 2 PM Eastern with the PPV kicking off at 3 PM Eastern from Toronto, Canada. A separate Zero Hour show with no matches will air per usual on YouTube and other outlets.

Current AEW All Out card | Saturday, September 20 | Toronto, Canada

  • AEW World Champion Hangman Page defends against Kyle Fletcher
  • Adam Copeland & Christian Cage vs. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler)
  • TBS Champion Mercedes Mone defends against Riho
  • AEW Unified Champion Kazuchika Okada defends against Konosuke Takeshita and Mascara in a three-way
  • AEW World Tag Team Champions Brodido (Brody King & Bandido) defend against The Young Bucks and two TBD teams in a ladder match
  • The Hurt Syndicate (Shelton Benjamin, MVP & Bobby Lashley) vs. Ricochet and the Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona)
  • Jon Moxley vs. Darby Allin in a coffin match
  • AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defends against Thekla, Jamie Hayter and Kris Statlander in a four-way
  • Tables ‘n’ Tacks match: MJF vs. Mark Briscoe
  • Tailgate Brawl pre-show: Willow Nightingale, Mina Shirakawa, Harley Cameron & Queen Aminata vs. Julia Hart, Skye Blue, Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford in a tornado tag match
  • Tailgate Brawl pre-show: Daniel Garcia vs. Katsuyori Shibata
  • Tailgate Brawl pre-show: Samoa Joe & Powerhouse Hobbs vs. The Workhorsemen (JD Drake & Anthony Henry)

AEW notes: Trios title challenge, Cope, Chris Jericho, new faction name

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: AEW

Here are some follow-up notes from Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite — the follow-up to last Sunday’s Dynasty pay-per-view.

Trios title challenge

Following Samoa Joe & Hook’s victory over Wheeler Yuta & Claudio Castagnoli in the main event and the subsequent brawl with the Death Riders, Joe issued a challenge on behalf of Hook and Katsuyori Shibata for the AEW Trios titles that Yuta, Castagnoli and PAC currently hold.

The challenge has yet to be accepted, but a potential wrench in the plan is the foot injury PAC suffered in his match with Swerve Strickland earlier in the night. As of this writing, it’s unknown what the extent of the injury is and how long he could be out of action.

Cope out

During the broadcast, the announce team recapped FTR turning on Adam “Cope” Copeland at Dynasty and questioned whether he will ever return to wrestling due to his history of neck injuries. They said the former TNT Champion is out indefinitely while FTR will be on Collision this Saturday to address the attack. It’s likely they also confront Tony Schiavone who took Dax Harwood to task and invoked the name of his daughter in doing so.

New Callis Family members?

During a backstage promo flanked by Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita, Don Callis said that due to a rash of injuries in the group, they are accepting potential new members so people should send their resumes, phone numbers and bank accounts because they’ll go straight to the top.

He didn’t mention the injured by name which is Brian Cage (knee injury) and Mark Davis (foot injury) that will keep them out of action for a while.

Chris Jericho has had enough

As part of an in-ring promo, Chris Jericho informed Big Bill and Bryan Keith that he is disappointed with everyone’s failed efforts at Dynasty (Jericho losing the ROH World title with Bill and Keith unable to win the AEW Tag Team titles). Therefore, he is leaving until Bill and Keith until they change that disappointment in him. He later shown leaving the venue in a car to drive the point home.

Jericho’s band Fozzy is about to embark on a one-month tour that begins next Thursday and runs through Monday, May 12th. Of note, there is only one Wednesday date on the schedule (April 30th).

Undisputed No More

In a backstage promo, new TNT Champion Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong introduced what appears to be a new faction name for this new chapter in their history: The Paragon which Cole said is “undisputed.”

The three had been going by the Undisputed Kingdom along with Mike Bennett & Matt Taven. However, Bennett and Taven haven’t been on AEW or ROH TV since December’s Final Battle. Their last AEW appearance was in early-November and it’s unclear what their future is with the Tony Khan-owned promotions.

Three tag team matches part of updated AEW Collision lineup

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: AEW

A trios of tag team matches are part of Saturday’s full AEW Collision lineup — the go-home show for Sunday’s Revolution pay-per-view.

The Opps (Samoa Joe, Hook & Katsuyori Shibata) will look to go 3-0 as a team as they face Starboy Charlie, Jack Banning & Titus Alexander.

Ahead of their challenge of AEW Tag Team Champions The Hurt Syndicate on Sunday, The Outrunners will take on Tony Nese & Ari Daivari of the Premier Athletes.

After picking up a big win last Saturday over FTR, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly of The Undisputed Kingdom will battle The Infantry.

Saturday’s show was taped after Wednesday’s Dynamite in Sacramento, California.

Here’s the full lineup:

  • TNT Champion Daniel Garcia defends against Lee Moriarty
  • Moto Watanabe vs. Serena Deeb
  • Hologram vs. Dralistico
  • Harley Cameron vs. Tatevik
  • The Opps (Samoa Joe, Hook & Katsuyori Shibata) vs. Starboy Charlie, Jack Banning & Titus Alexander
  • The Outrunners (Turbo Floyd & Truth Magnum) vs. The Premier Athletes (Tony Nese & Ari Daivari)
  • The Undisputed Kingdom (Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly) vs. The Infantry (Shawn Dean & Carlie Bravo)