AEW: Anthony Bowens & Max Caster Signings, Changes Made to Medical Team, AEW Games

Nov 4, 2020

AEW Signs Anthony Bowens & Max Caster, New Team Name Revealed

PWInsider held a recent interview with AEW CEO Tony Khan and one of the topics discussed included Khan revealing that Anthony Bowens and Max Caster have been signed to official contracts with the company.

“Yes, I did sign Max Caster and Anthony Bowens. They debuted against the Best Friends as a tag team on Dark. I am packaging them as a team, I really like Max and Anthony a lot and you’ll see them again tonight on Dark in another tag match and they are going to be known as The Acclaimed and I really like them. I think Max has got something really special in that entrance that we’re working on. I think it was not totally smoothed out last week and it’s still not totally smoothed out tonight but it will be. Tonight’s [entran on Dark] is going to be better than last week’s and it will continue to get better and Max will rap them into the ring. Anthony is an amazing athlete, he’s a great talent, he’s got a great charisma and together I think they’re a great team. So they’ve trained together and they hadn’t been a tag team until I packaged them as one but I am excited about Max and Anthony so that is true, they are The Acclaimed.”

Khan also stated that the company is currently in talks with Leyla Hirsch for a potential deal.

“I really like Leyla. I think there’s a good chance Leyla could be here with us. I can’t comment until she and I have worked it out but I’d really like Leyla to come back. She and I talked after the show and she loves being in AEW and I expect there’s a good chance she’ll stay with us. I’m sure Leyla will have offers but I think she’s got a good offer here and I think there’s a good chance she’s goning to be staying with us based on our last conversation.”

In regards to the Bowens and Caster signings, Fightful Select reported (via WrestleTalk) that WWE had been interested in signing Bowens in early 2019 but the company did not bother to engage in any real talks with him. It was also reported that some WWE officials were “puzzled” over the situation and felt he should have been signed by the company. Bowens and Caster’s deals with AEW reportedly were signed prior to the start of October.

AEW Makes Changes to Their Medical Team & System

In the same interview as above, AEW CEO Tony Khan also revealed that the company has recently made several changes to their medial staff and system following several recent injury incidents and scares.

Khan stated that the company has recently hired another independent neurologist for their medical staff and another independent doctor will be preset at all of their shows going forward.

Khan also stated that a new two-way communication system has been implemented so that referees can respond to backstage officials in the case of injuries instead of the previous one-way system where referees were unable to reply.

Chris Nowinski, former WWE talent and co-founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, was also stated to be appearing backstage at the company’s upcoming Full Gear 2020 event to provide additional help for their concussion protocols.

“Yeah, you know, we’ve been recently doing everything we can to work on our protocols and make this as safe as possible work environment. I’ve added another independent neurologist to the staff. We’ve added an independent doctor at all the shows in addition to our staff medical team and we’re adding extra support. I’ve added a two-way feature where the referees can talk back to us if there are injuries so that the referee, you know, not all communication is going one way, and I’ve encouraged the referees to let us know what’s going on.
Speaking of Chris – Chris is actually coming back this weekend, so Chris will be at Full Gear and I’m going to a have Chris talk to all the staff and all the talent and me. It’s been over a year since Chris came and saw us last and I think it’s probably overdue for Chris to come in and give us his thoughts and his critiques and it’s important that we listen to that. So I’m excited to have Chris come back because I think he’s the world’s leading expert on head trauma. As to other injuries outside of head trauma, I think we oughta do our best there too but I think that’s probably the area we’re the most concerned about, being…make sure we’re doing everything safe.”

AEW Launches New Games-Based Twitter Account

AEW recently launched a new official Twitter account called AEW Games with the first tweet stating that a major announcement will be made on November 10th at 6PM EST.

This likely will be the official debut reveal of AEW’s first-ever video game.

Subscribe & Follow #AEWGames on social media, and then join us Tuesday, November 10th at 6/5c
➡️ https://t.co/wHquyhIIjU
➡️ https://t.co/McGgk26RuO
➡️ https://t.co/eOzLzLJlD6
➡️ https://t.co/qHhCO9bvaz pic.twitter.com/wCiwFdXn3J
— AEWGames (@AEWGames) November 2, 2020