AEW News You Can Use! November 3-9, 2019

A little bit of the AEW information bubbly!

Joey Janela Takes Shot at Dash Wilder and WWE’s Saudi Situation

I’m sure everyone’s well aware of the situation that arose in Saudi Arabia between WWE and the Saudi Royal Family. I don’t think we’ll ever know what actually happened, but it’s been telling that NO ONE from AEW management took any shots or made any comments about the situation…but that didn’t stop Joey Janela from doing it.

It started simply enough, Janela posted a pic of him at UFC 244, when a fan asked him to start an angle with WWE’s Dash Wilder of the Revival. Janela asked which one that was so he could say hello to him and was told that Wilder was the one with the nice booty. Janela made a comment about checking for tennis racket marks, a shot at Jim Cornette, who is a huge Revival fan and a harsh critic of AEW and Janela. Wilder somehow heard about this and took his own shot at Janela and Janela’s past issues with Enzo Amore. Offended, Janela replied that he’d offered him a White Claw as a friendly gesture and Wilder had been rude, then said that it was a shame that they (WWE) hadn’t been stuck in Saudi Arabia for another 3 days.

At this point, cooler heads, namely Cody Rhodes, intervened and tried to calm things down, but Janela refused. However, I should point out that the thread ended after that.

Chris Jericho Challenges Tanahashi to a Match at WrestleKingdom

Today, during New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Kings of Pro Wrestling show, a vignette aired of Chris Jericho as the Painmaker, challenging the Ace to a match at NJPW’s biggest event of the year, WrestleKingdom on January 5. The Painmaker vowed that this would be the Ace’s final match, but time will tell.

Jon Moxley Challenges Suzuki Minoru at WrestleKingdom

Okay, this one is kinda old news, but I cannot remember if this was ever posted or reported and it was brought up with the Jericho/Tanahashi announcement. Yes, Jon Moxley, the baddest, sickest, SOB in AEW has challenged the nastiest, meanest, sickest SOB in New Japan Pro Wrestling to a match. A lot of fans are hoping this will happen at WrestleKingdom, but there’s been no real announcement.

The Merchandise War Gets Weird

As I noted last week, JR has engaged in a war of words and merchandise with WWE’s Seth Rollins over Rollins’ comments about AEW and Kenny Omega. Well, just to make this whole thing weirder, Pro Wrestling tees released three new t-shirt designs for Good Ol’ JR, one was an ugly Christmas sweater design, and two were BLATANT ripoffs of Seth Rollins’ merchandise. One said ‘Grill Slayer’, clearly a play on Rollins’ King/Beast Slayer gimmick and one that said Jim F’n Ross, much like Rollins’ design/gimmick from a few years ago.

Bea Priestley Says Goodbye to World of Stardom Wrestling

On Saturday, Bea Priestley lost her World of Stardom Championship belt to Mayu Iwatani and tweeted off what seems to be a farewell to World of Stardom and wishing Iwatani luck as champion. Priestley has been part of AEW from pretty early on, but needed to finish up her run in World of Stardom before committing to AEW, which is what seems to be happening.

Secondary Title Coming to AEW in December

Cody Rhodes was doing a press call ahead of Full Gear and was asked about a mid-card title. Cody’s reply was that he hated the term ‘mid-card title’ for personal reasons and that he didn’t want the talent to feel that what they’re doing is ‘mid-card’. However, they will be introducing a new ‘prize’ (his words, not mine) for talent coming up through the ranks.

Ranking System Coming to AEW Every Friday

In the same press call, Cody said that AEW would be posting a ranking system every Friday. It will be the top five superstars for each title. He also encouraged fans to ‘Internet the hell out of him’ if he forgot.

Adam Cole Celebrates Britt Baker’s Promo

I’ve said before that I’m a huge Britt Baker fan, but it seemed like a lot of people were sleeping on her. On Wednesday, Baker cut the promo of her career, so far, on rival Bea Priestley, and became the talk of the wrestling world. However, no one was more impressed with Baker’s promo than her fiancee, Adam Cole of NXT. Baker’s reply was that she learned from the best (Cole).

Big Swole Signed to AEW

Well, it looks like AEW has added another promising star to their Women’s Division. Big Swole, who debuted in a losing tag team effort with Mercedes Martinez, has been signed to AEW. She is currently the Phoenix champion on RISE and a tag champion on SHINE and it’s not clear if she will be wrapping up her time there before making her LIVE debut or if something will be worked out between the three companies.

AEW Rankings

Men’s Singles

• Cody Rhodes
• PAC
• Hangman Adam Page
• Kenny Omega
• Jon Moxley

Women’s Division

• Emi Sakura
• Britt Baker
• Hikaru Shida
• Allie
• Nyla Rose

Tag Team Division

• Lucha Brothers
• Private Party
• Young Bucks
• The Dark Order
• Best Friends