In this WrestleTalk News, has MJF been written off TV, Tony Khan blasts Eric Bischoff, CM
Punk reacts to comments about his popularity in AEW, and more.
One of the biggest matches on last night’s Double or Nothing card was Wardlow vs. MJF,
with the stipulation being if Wardlow won, he’d no longer be under a contract with
MJF, and would be signed by AEW.
Wardlow did win the match, hitting MJF with no less than 10 huge powerbombs, but as you
may have seen, the result really isn’t the story here.
The whole saga began when it emerged that MJF had no-showed a fan meet & greet, and
things got even spicier when it was reported he had also booked flights out of Las Vegas,
suggesting he may have been planning to miss Double or Nothing altogether.
The preview for MJF vs. Wardlow was even removed from social media and YouTube for some time
before being re-uploaded, which suggests there may have been some time where AEW believed
the match may not be taking place.
Thankfully for Tony Khan at least, MJF didn’t take that flight, and remained in Las Vegas
for the show and the match.
Initial reports were that MJF had not been spotted in the arena just a few hours before
the show started, but as Sean Ross Sapp reported, MJF “showed up shortly before his match,
left right after, and has a lot to think about”.
A real Brock Lesnar move.
Tony Khan was asked about the entire affair during the post-show media scrum, but was
unsurprisingly unwilling to go into any details, simply responding:
“I’m not gonna comment on that.
I’ve got a lot of stuff on the pay-per-view that I can comment on, but I’m not gonna
comment on that.”
So, what’s next for MJF in AEW?
Well it appears the answer to that may be that he won’t be on TV at all for some time.
Following his match with Wardlow, MJF was placed in a neck brace and escorted out of
the arena on a stretcher, and while this is likely a kayfabe injury angle, the reason
for it seems to be that MJF is being written off TV for the immediate future.
According to PWInsider, the current belief within AEW is that MJF “will not be not
be on the road at least for the next several TV tapings, possibly longer”.
There continues to be a vocal minority of fans who believe the whole situation is one
big work, but from every single report we have seen, this is very much a real situation,
and there is a lot of tension between MJF and AEW management.
Fightful Select reported over the weekend that MJF’s deal, which we knew finished
at some point in 2024, actually finishes on January 1st, 2024, which is just 581 days
away.
By that time, Thunder Rosa may have had another TV match as AEW Women’s Champion.
Assuming the report is accurate, AEW has around a year and a half to either convince MJF to
stay, or presumably to see another of its top stars join WWE.
How Tony Khan was able to convince MJF to stay in Las Vegas and put Wardlow over, we
simply don’t know, but more details will no doubt emerge as time goes on.
What we can say is that you shouldn’t expect to see MJF for quite some time.
Do you think MJF will stay in AEW?
Or is this the final straw for Tony Khan?
Let me know in the comments down below.
While he didn’t want to talk about MJF, one thing Tony Khan was very happy to talk
about was Eric Bischoff, who has been doing his best to stay out of everyone’s good
books in AEW recently.
One person you really don’t want to start an argument with is former WCW owner Eric
Bischoff.
Not because he’s very good at arguments, but because it seems like he never stops arguing
when the argument starts, and so it’s probably just better to leave him screaming into the
void about how much he hates everything that isn’t WCW.
One of his most recent targets was new AEW World Champion CM Punk, who Bischoff labeled
“the biggest financial flop in Wrestling history”, which coming from the former owner
of WCW is saying something.
AEW president Tony Khan clearly saw these comments, because he had a lot to say on the
matter in the post-Double or Nothing Media scrum.
When asked about Bischoff’s Punk comments, Khan went on an expletive filled rant, so
apologies for the many beeps you’re about to hear, and sorry for my language, mother.
“That’s f***ing bulls**t.
I can tell there’s only one person that can attest to that.
We do have a good amount of financial in pro-wrestling and I can tell you, no one single wrestler
has ever come in and made a bigger difference in the history of my company.
This is the third year anniversary this week, and we’re going into year four.
No one person has ever made a more positive impact.”
He went on to give evidence to support his claim that Punk had been a huge success, citing
the record PPV buys Double or Nothing 2022 appears to have achieved.
“We just had a record Pay per view buy.
He’s done a four PPV cycle now, every one of them was the record.
He f***ing did the Friday night war, he did the first dance, he’s done the record double
or nothing, he did the record All Out on his debut, he was a big part of a record Full
Gear.
He’s the biggest part of financial success in the history of this company.”
But Tony, Eric Bischoff said he wasn’t a success, so why should I believe you, the
man who actually has access to AEW’s financials?
Oh yes, now I can see why I should believe you.
Very good, sir.
I can’t wait to hear Bischoff’s next rant about Punk, which I imagine he will do tomorrow,
because apparently I keep having to cover it in the Wednesday WrestleTalk News.
Yippee.
During the same post-show media scrum, CM Punk was given the opportunity to respond
to rumors that he may not be overly popular in the AEW locker room, which were fuelled
in no small part by Hangman Page’s promo in which he said he was “defending” AEW
from Punk.
In response to these rumours, Punk said: “I’ve grown so wise in my old age that
I’ll do my best to be as diplomatic as I possibly can with this answer.
If there are people backstage that don’t like me, it’s a minority.
If anybody says that nobody wants me here, or nobody likes me, I’d like to say that
nobodies don’t like me, and nobodies don’t want me here.”
Ooo sick burn bro.
Following last week’s AEW Dynamite, Oli and Luke speculated on the Dynamite podcast
review that Punk may be turning heel, but based on this response, and the fact he went
on to thank everyone in AEW like he’d just won an oscar, that heel turn is not happening
any time soon…famous last words?
Wow, such amazing merchandise.
Last week, WWE filed the trademark Ava Raine as a new name for one of its wrestlers, and
we now know that the name was for Simone Johnson, real-life daughter of Dwayne ‘The Rock’
Johnson.
Changing the name of the Rock’s daughter?
Well I’m just gonna head over to Twitter, because from what I recall, Twitter users
are always very level-headed individuals who never get unnecessarily angry about stuff.
In fact, I would bet GOOD MONEY that not one Twitter user is upset about this name change.
Oh, wait a second, someone called “Louis Dangoor” has tweeted!
Louis was of the opinion that not using some form of the Johnson name was a big mistake
on WWE’s part, but Simone, or as we now have to call her, Ava, didn’t agree.
In response to the criticism, of which there was a lot, and only some of it from Louis,
Ava tweeted: “I probably sound like a broken record & hopefully
this is the last i’ll mention this but i don’t understand why people being portrayed
as separate individuals from their family name is such a heated topic.
a name doesn’t discredit any prior accomplishments from any family Shrugging emoji.
“I could build my entire career around my father & people would still bash me anyway
Shrugging emoji.”
Ava then tweeted a screenshot from Google which showed a number of different types of
rock, which I already knew the names of because I paid attention in Geography class.
She doesn’t want to be named after any rock formations.
She just wants to pull up her stalactites and get on with her career.
She continued by saying she could base her entire career on her father, and people would
still bash her.
On Twitter?
Surely not!
I actually happen to agree with Louis here, but saying that out loud is bad for my excellent
street rep.
Oh wait, did I just say that out loud?
Cut the tape!
It has now been nearly three months since former WWE Champion Big E suffered a sickening
neck injury during a tag match on SmackDown.
The New Day star landed directly on the top of his head following a botched belly-to-belly
suplex from Ridge Holland.
The match was immediately stopped, and while Big E would hold a thumbs up to the crowd,
everyone feared the worst.
He would later give an update from his hospital bed, and revealed he had indeed broken his
neck, but that he thankfully wouldn’t require surgery.
At the time of the incident, a doctor warned this kind of injury could spell the end of
a wrestler’s career, and these fears were then increased when Big E himself admitted
the rehab wasn’t going 100% to plan.
At the start of May, he tweeted: “For those desirous of an update, my C1
apparently isn’t healing optimally.
I’ll spend another 4-6 weeks in a brace in hopes that I can avoid a fusion.
But don’t you fret!
I’ve got a tremendous support system & what shall be shall be.”
Well in some more positive news, Big E posted a photo to his Instagram yesterday in which
he isn’t wearing a neck brace.
While this is likely just so he can undergo ultrasound treatment on his broken bone, it
is at least good to see that he is now able to remove the neckbrace, which he had to wear
for nearly three months after the incident.
As always, everyone at WrestleTalk sends the best of wishes to Big E.
We are rooting for you so hard, and really hope we’ll see you back in the ring one
day.