AEW: Update on AEW’s Non-Active Plans for Potential Mercedes Mone Deal, Jim Ross on His Recent Return, More News

Dec 22, 2023

More on AEW’s Non-Active Working Plans for Potential Mercedes Mone Deal

As noted before, AEW is currently believed to no longer have active working plans for a potential deal with Mercedes Mone due to cost-related issues.

Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp reported that his sources provided some new details regarding the main reason for AEW officials recently dropping their active working plans for a potential deal with Mone.

Sapp reported that those spoken to stated that Mone’s current asking price for a new deal is much higher than what Charlotte Flair has received for her new contract with WWE. For some comparisons, Flair’s new deal with WWE is believed to be one of the highest ever paid deals to a woman in WWE history.

Sapp also reported that his sources confirmed that Mone is currently a free agent.

Jim Ross Comments on His Recent Return to AEW & Status for AEW Worlds End

This past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite Holiday Bash 2023 show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma featured AEW commentator Jim Ross making his return to the company. Prior to his return, Ross had been away from AEW since this past November due to him needing to heal up his leg some more from a injury he suffered from a fall incident this past June.

A recent episode of the Grilling JR podcast featured co-host Jim Ross giving his thoughts about the process that led to his recent return to AEW.

“I knew when Oklahoma City was booked that I would go to the show if I was helping up and felt well enough because I would be here for the holidays for my grandkids and my daughters. I just sent out a tweet, casually saying, ‘I look forward to seeing all the guys’ because I was just going to do a little drive-by in the afternoon and say hello to everybody, which I was perfectly fine doing. Then, it kind of grew into a booking idea, apparently. The response on social media, on Twitter especially, was overwhelming, and that influences a lot of people and their decision-making sometimes. So all of a sudden, it became a thing.
I didn’t know until we started to walk out before my music played, that he was going to introduce me. He just came up and he wanted to do it. So, cool.”

Ross also gave his thoughts about his current status for AEW’s upcoming Worlds End event on December 30th.

“I think it’s doubtful, but I don’t know. That’s entirely up to Tony. We haven’t discussed it and going to Long Island in December when I haven’t had a trip that long in a while is not something I would relish. However, if called upon, I will come play and I will play as best I can. So, I don’t know. I’m not being evasive. I’d like to say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to be there. Buy the pay-per-view,’ but I don’t know. You should still buy the pay-per-view.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

AEW News & Notes

AEW announced that they will be holding a set of AEW Dynamite and Collision shows on March 28, 2024 at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

WrestleTix reported that AEW has sold and distributed around 13,011 tickets for their AEW Revolution 2024 event at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex in Greensboro, North Carolina as of Thursday morning.

British indies wrestler Zak Zodiac, real name Zak Knight and brother of Saraya, made his official in-ring debut appearance for AEW in a dark match that was held prior to this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite Holiday Bash 2023 show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Knight faced off against “Pretty” Peter Avalon, which was won by Knight.

AEW held four dark matches both prior and after this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite Holiday Bash 2023 show in Oklahoma City, according to PWInsider. AEW held two matches prior to the start of Dynamite which were Nyla Rosa defeating Alejandra Lion in a singles match and Zak Knight defeating Peter Avalon in a singles match. AEW also held two matches following Dynamite that were advertised to the crowd as “bonus” matches. These were Hikaru Shida defeating Emi Sakura in a singles match and Jake Hager, Matt Menard, & Angelo Parker defeating The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds, John Silver, & Evil Uno) in a Six-Man tag team match.

AEW Games recently announced that a new patch for their AEW Fight Forever video game has been released that includes new CAW customizations items, party functionality, a new match types for Stadium Stampede game mode and bug fixes.

In a recent interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Samoa Joe gave his thoughts on his inspirations for his promos in wrestling. Joe stated “Most of my inspiration comes from outside the (wrestling) industry. I watch a lot of drama, a lot of big action films, with great speakers plying their trade. I’ll see something that inspires me, recycle it, change it and make it my own.“

In the same interview, Samoa Joe gave his thoughts about AEW’s Continental Classic tournament being one of the best new things to come along in wrestling in a while. Joe stated “It’s been a fantastic tournament, with matches defying expectations every single night. Everybody’s giving 120% in the ring. It’s one of the best new things to come along in a while. When the participants were first announced, that sparked more excitement in the locker room than just about anything lately, and everybody’s gone so far above and beyond as a result.“

In a recent interview with the What Happened When with Tony Schiavone podcast, AEW referee Bryce Remsburg praised AEW commentator Tony Schiavone for being one of the hardest working people in AEW. Remsburg stated “You’ve earned your keep. Tony’s one of the hardest-working guys in AEW. Collision started, there’s kind of this division, everybody’s kind of gonna go where…Tony, maybe reluctantly, but still, raised his hand, and is one of the few guys that travels to every single show twice a week. Ring of Honor pay-per-views, Dynamite, Rampage, Collision. I say Tony Schiavone and Chris, our other wardrobe guy, are the hardest-working men in All Elite Wrestling. You see Tony on camera, you see Chris behind camera. But it’s every town, every city, 66 years old, doesn’t look a day over 76, but he’s working really hard, he’s there every week, every show, making towns. A professional, a pro’s pro….I’ve been at AEW since day one, it’s been almost five years, I’ve seen a few guys come and go, but there are few that work as hard and prepare and take their job as seriously as Tony Schiavone.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

AEW recently announced one new match for the card of their AEW Collision Holiday Bash 2023 show on December 23rd in San Antonio, Texas:

Brian Cage vs. Keith Lee