Various: Tony Khan on AEW Slowing Down on New Signings, MLW News, Indies

AEW

Dec 30, 2021

Tony Khan on AEW Slowing Down on New Signings for 2022

TV Insider held a recent interview with AEW CEO Tony Khan. One of the topics discussed included if he will become more picker when it comes to new talent signings for AEW next year.

“I do think I have to be more discerning than ever in talent acquisition because we have such a strong roster. I was aggressively expanding with the launch of Rampage. We made some big signings in the past including CM Punk. Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, Ruby Soho, Thunder Rosa, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, Andrade El Idolo, Malakai Black. Christian Cage and many others. We’ve also continued our partnerships with great international companies like New Japan Pro Wrestling and Lucha Libre AAA. We have a lot of great talent working, but it’s time for me to be more discerning than ever in terms of acquisitions.”

Khan also stated that despite his current plans to slow down on new signings, AEW will still be seeing more new talent coming into the company during next year.

“Yes. We will continue expanding the roster. Absolutely, there will be more people coming into AEW.”

MLW News & Notes

Maor League Wrestling announced that they have officially signed Davey Richards to a new multi-year extension deal with the company.

MLW also announced that Mini Abismo Negro will be making his official debut for the company at their Blood & Thunder event on January 21, 2022 in Dallas, Texas. The company also announced that they will also be debuting a new Minis division at this event.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that Mads Krugger, also known as Logan Creed, recently signed a new long-term deal with MLW. Johnson reported that MLW officials currently have plans to give Krugger a major heel push in the company as part of their big plans for 2022.

MLW announced that Tajiri will be defending his MLW World Middleweight Championship against Jody Fleisch at World Pro Wrestling’s upcoming event on February 19th in Cheltenham, England.

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

As noted before, Vince McMahon reportedly is selling his mansion home in Greenwich, Connecticut for an asking price of $32 million. Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp recently reported on Twitter that the mansion currently for sale is not McMahon’s actual home and instead belongs to someone else who lives in the vicinity of him and got a lot of extra traffic to their listing due to the error from the reports.

Glory Pro Wrestling recently announced that Kylie Rae will be making an appearance for the company at their Anniversary V event on February 6, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Prestige Wrestling recently announced that Malakai Black will be making an appearance for the company at their Savage Mode event on March 11, 2022 in South San Fransisco, California.

AEW CEO Tony Khan recently announced that Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite was the final wrestling show of AEW producer Keith Mitchell’s career. Prior to his retirement, Mitchell had worked for the past forty years in a production role for World Class Championship Wrestling, WCW, TNA/Impact Wrestling, and AEW.

Fightful Select reported that Jonathan Gresham, Danhausen, Shane Taylor, Silas Young, Mike Bennett, Beer City Bruiser, Josh Woods, Rhett Titus, and Brian Milonas’ contracts with Ring of Honor are currently set to expire at the end of this year while World Famous CB’s exclusive contract with the company had expired earlier.

As noted before, Ember Moon was among the batch of talent released by WWE this past November. Moon recently announced on Twitter that her non-compete clause will be expiring soon. Moon stated “Thank you for all the love and support! I have always heard and appreciated you! SOON… I will be free and #MakeArtOutOfWar again!”

Terminus recently announced a new match for the card of their debut event on January 16, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia:

ROH World Championship – Josh Alexander vs. Jonathan Gresham (c)

New Japan Pro Wrestling announced four new matches for the card of their New Beginning USA 2022 event on January 15, 2022 in Seattle, Washington:

Josh Barnett vs. Ren Narita
FinJuice (David Finlay & Juice Robinson) vs. JONAH & Bad Dude Tito
Rocky Romero & Lio Rush vs. West Coast Wrecking Crew (Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson)
Kevin Knight & The DKC vs. Ricky Gibson & Eddie Pearl