AEW: Penelope Ford Status Update, AEW & Stardom Update, Original Plans for RUSH’s Debut Match

Penelope Ford AEW Status Update

Penelope Ford has been absent from AEW programming for most of this year and last wrestled for the company this past January.

While responding to a fan on Twitter, AEW CEO Tony Khan denied the speculation that Ford’s time in the company was ending soon and instead stated that the official reason for her current lengthy absence is due to her not being medically cleared for an in-ring return.

Not at all, total opposite in fact; she’s a great wrestler, and I can’t wait until she’s medically cleared to come back. She’s been in some classic @AEW matches, and hopefully she’ll be in many more!#AEWRampage

— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) July 9, 2022

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AEW & Stardom Reportedly Held Recent Talks

As noted before, Stardom is currently interested in the idea of potentially using some of AEW’s female talent for their shows later this year in Japan. While there is no partnership currently in place between the two companies, AEW CEO Tony Khan stated during the post-show media scrum for last month’s Forbidden Door event that he was interested in booking Stardom talent for the event but was unable to do so due to scheduling issues with Stardom.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that AEW and Stardom recently held talks but details regarding those talks are currently not known. These same sources reportedly also stated that they expect some stuff to happen soon between both companies.

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AEW’s Original Plans for RUSH’s AEW Debut Match

As noted before, AEW’s original plans for their AEW Dynamite Blood & Guts 2022 special last month was affected by COVID-19 related issues. One of the original plans for the show was for a tag team match to take place between Rey Fenix & Penta Oscuro and Andrade El Idolo & RUSH, which would have been RUSH’s debut match in the company.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that following Fenix’s illness issue, Tony Khan made the decision to push that tag team match back a week for this past Wednesday’s Dynamite show. Those plans reportedly were dropped due to either Fenix or Andrade were not medically cleared to compete at the show. Meltzer reported that AEW still has plans for this tag match to eventually take place on AEW television as soon as possible.