AEW Double or Nothing 2023 Post-Show Media Scrum: MJF, Kris Statlander, All In Ticket Sales Update, Collision Deal, Goldberg

AEW held a post-show media scrum following Sunday’s AEW Double or Nothing 2023 event in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Some of the notable highlights included:

• During MJF’s portion of the media call, MJF gave his thoughts about the AEW World Championship Four-way match not main eventing Double or Nothing 2023. MJF stated “No, why the fuck would I want to roll around in Jon Moxley’s blood? I’m fucking good. No thanks. Also, realistically, whether it’s this company or WWE, the World Title, ‘having to go on last,’ kind of is dead in wrestling. How times has the World Title not gone on last in this company? … I’d rather not run around in all that mid-blood. It’s fucking disgusting. Wheeler Yuta was in that match, you think I want roll around in Wheeler Yuta blood? … Did he not bleed? Wow. Congrats.”
• On the topic of his interested in working at AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling’s upcomign Forbidden Door II event, MJF called NJPW a “a f******* indy fed” and that none of their greatest stars could lace up his boots. MJF did praise Great-O-Khan for being the only guy he respects from NJPW.
• On the topic of his interest in working for WWE and his career’s future, MJF stated “I’m dead serious. If I literally retire today, this is not hyperbole, I’ve had one of the best professional wrestling runs in the history of the business, that’s a fact. Best oratory exhibitions, best Iron Man match, best singles dog collar match, tonight I had the best four-way. Also, some of the best rivalries in the history of the sport; Cody Rhodes, Wardlow, CM Punk, Danielson, and that’s just to name a few. I’m pretty sure if I called it quits, I’ve had a Hall of Fame career, which is why, quite frankly, when I say ‘take my ball and go home,’ earmuffs Tony, everybody thinks I’m talking about WWE. Now, does Nick Khan want me to work in his company? Sure. Does Triple H want me to work in his company? Sure. [Looking at Tony], calm down, it’s fine, or maybe it’s not, but I’m kind of bored of this sport and I’m bored of the lack of respect from professional wrestling fans, so when I say ‘take my ball and go home,’ I mean literally, just hang it up, and fuck up the lineage of this title. Frankly, I don’t know if anybody is worthy of beating me for this thing. Now, I’m not just going to hand it away, why would I do that? I earned this thing. Please, by all means, take it off of me, somebody put me out of my misery. Until then, we’ll see what happens.”
• During her portion of the media call, Kris Statlander gave her thoughts about her recovery from her injury. Statlander stated “The timetable went about as expected. I had mentioned it was six to eight months of recovery, but people were forgetting it was six to eight months post-op. It’s a very long process, it takes a long time for these types of injuries to heal. It gives you a lot of time to mentally prepare the comeback and do something as crazy as this. A lot of ups and downs on a recovery like this, a lot of self-doubt, but then you get moments like this and nights like tonight and it makes it all worth it.”
• On the topic of if she had any concerns about going from 0 to 100 for her return and winning the TBS Championship, Statlander stated “Maybe, but with the type of preparation that I’ve done, I was very quiet about this one around. If you guys had only seen the things that I have been doing leading up to today, you’d be like, ‘she’s been ready for this.’ I know I kept it under wraps, but I really wanted my return to be a special moment. Not just for me, but for every body else. It is just jumping off into the deep end, but I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t feel prepared for it. This time, it was a lot easier of a journey, having gone through it before. Originally, we thought it was an ACL and a meniscus tear, but it was just an ACL. What that means with recovery is that I was in my leg brace walking around two days after surgery, not on crutches. With a meniscus tear, you would not be able to do that. Mentally, I felt like the progress was a lot more upward (trajectory). It was a lot easier because I had been through this, and I remember we thought maybe it was a hyper-extension, and then I got the MRI, got the results, and I cried for three hours straight. I told myself I did not want to go through this again, I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. I cried it out, got myself together, and told myself, ‘I just have to come back from this.’ Not that it’s not a big deal, but if you want something and work hard for it, it will payoff.“
• On the topic of if her second recovery from injury was easier than her first injury rehab, Statlander stated “I was miserable the whole time. I went through it once, and it was a totally different world because it was during COVID, we didn’t have any fans. ‘I already came back coming out of the claw machine, how am I going to top that?’ There was a lot of thinking about that, ‘what could I do to top that?’ This did a pretty good job. There was a lot of misery because of how much I love being here and being on the road and being part of something. It really sucks when you can’t do something you love and having it taken away from you. I would be here as much as I could just to be part of it and support everyone. At first, I felt I was in the way, ‘why did I even bother to come here? I can’t do anything.’ Everyone was like, ‘No, we love you, we want you here.’ Now, seeing everyone backstage and the reaction, ‘Wow, they do love me.’ It’s very special. Even when it’s sad, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.”
• During Orange Cassidy’s portion of the media scrum, Cassidy stated that he would like to potentially compete in a match against Zack Sabre Jr. at Forbidden Door II. Cassidy stated “If you know me, I just never want to wrestle. I wrestle when I have to. Who do I want to wrestle from New Japan? Nobody. There is a dude that’s been sneaking around ROH, and he calls himself a television champion, Zack Sabre Jr, I’d fight him.”
• On the topic of if he considers himself as one of the best wrestlers in the world, Cassidy chucked and responded by saying “No, not even close.”
• During Toni Storm’s portion of the media call, Storm gave her thoughts about her AEW Women’s World Championship victory and her issues with her prior Interim Women’s title reign. Storm stated “It felt extra special this time. I’m sure we can all agree that the interim thing was bullshit. Right, Tony? Crazy. That was a tough, terrible time. It feels great because this is what it should have been the whole time.”
• On the topic of the reports of him working in AEW’s creative team, Bryan Danielson stated during his portion of the media call that “I love working with Tony and I love working in AEW. It’s a lot of fun because, sometimes, before I even got here, Tony and I would talk on the phone sometimes for an hour and a half to two hours and we’d just be talking about things and wrestling and that sort of thing. I think we have similar ideas on wrestling, and sometimes he says things to me and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, that’s a great idea,’ and we riff off each other really well. When we do it, it doesn’t feel like work. When you love wrestling, stuff like that is fun.”
• On the topic of if Konosuke Taksehita is a member of the Blackpool Combat Club, Danielson claimed that he had no idea that Takeshita would be showing up during the Anarchy in the Arena match.
• On the topic of AEW’s television deal for AEW Collision, AEW CEO Tony Khan stated during his portion of the media call that this new deal is part of their existing television deal with Warner Bros Discovery but they are being paid very well for their new series. Khan stated “Yes, we’re definitely being paid for Collision and being paid very well. Yes, in addition to Dynamite and Rampage. We got a new contract. It’s more money, but it’s the same length of time. I was very excited about it. It was a great opportunity for us. It’s certainly very expensive to produce a two-hour live TV show, and on the weekend, doing it every week, it’s not going to be cheap, but it’s going to be great. It was a great opportunity for the company to get more revenue to do more TV, but also grow another brand in addition to what we do with Dynamite and Rampage. It will be added production costs, and now we’re not producing Dark and Elevation, so there is some cost saving there. There will be increased costs, but it will also definitely increase revenue through, not only the ticket sales and the merch sales, but through license fees that we’re making because of an incremental change, increasing our compensation for Collision.“
• On the topic of AEW’s plans for All In and All Out 2023 due to them taking place a week apart from each other, Khan stated that it was a great question but something that he can not give an answer about at the moment.
• On the topic of if CM Punk will be making his return at AEW Collision’s debut show, Khan stated that was something he could not give an answer for.
• On the topic of the current ticket sales for All In, Khan stated that they have sold around 65,000 tickets for a live gate revenue of around “well over $8 million. Khan stated “I haven’t released a new figure yet, but we’re roughly at 65,000 (tickets). We’re well over the $8 million mark, with the exchange rate it changes with pounds, so when I say that, I mean $8 million, going on $9 million that we’re closing in on.”
• On the topic of this year’s upcoming Owen Hart Cup Tournament, Khan stated that he is currently hopeful of being able to get wrestling legend and NJPW’s Jushin Thunder Liger for an appearance. Khan stated “I’m not sure about this, I’ve had some nice talks, I’m hopeful and I spoke to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, I think it would be great and they think it would great. One of Owen Hart’s great opponents, a rival, they’ve competed, both former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champions, wouldn’t it be amazing if we could get Jushin Thunder Liger over to Canada. He’s competed against Owen Hart and competed in Canada and competed in Stampede Wrestling. That would be something really neat. To coincide with AEW in Canada and Forbidden Door door and our partnership with New Japan, and most importantly the Owen Hart Cup tournament, I think it would be great if Jushin Thunder Liger can come over. I’m optimistic that he’ll be able to.“
• On the topic of the potential of Goldberg making an appearance in AEW in the future, Khan stated “Yeah, I have talked to Bill. It wouldn’t be that unusual. I’ve talked to Bill when he’s not been under contract at times, and I have a good relationship with Bill. I have had a good conversation with him, but I’ve had a lot of great conversations with Bill. His family has done a lot of great things in Jacksonville, he’s related to the Wolfson family, who built the Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville. Bill is a great former football star, I worked in football, and it’s a big part of my life. We have a lot in common and we have a lot of mutual friends, and I have a really good relationship with Bill. I like him a lot. As to what I’ve talked to him about, I would say that’s just between the two of us. It was a good chat. I like Bill a lot, he’s a great guy.”

Double or Nothing 2023 post-show media scrum full video:

Source: FWOnline.com, Fightful.com 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10