AEW: Anthony Henry Suffered Broken Jaw Injury, AEW Not Airing Collision Show on March 23rd & Taking One Week Break, More News

Anthony Henry Suffered Broken Jaw Injury & Scheduled to Undergo Surgery

The WorkHorsemen’s Anthony Henry announced on Twitter that he had suffered a broken jaw injury while working an indie event this past Sunday for Deadlock Pro Wrestling. Henry stated that he suffered the injury following him taking a knee strike to the face during his match against “The Bounty Hunter” Bryan Keith at the event.

Henry also stated that as a result of his injury, The WorkHorsemen will not be able to compete in AEW’s upcoming tag team tournament to crown new AEW World Tag Team Champions.


AEW Not Airing New Collision Show on March 23rd

AEW is currently expected to take a one week break for the Collision television series following their upcoming March 16th show on TNT.

TNT recently updated their scheduling listing which does not list a new episode of Collision airing on March 23rd nor being preempted to a different night that week on the network.

The reason is due to the network’s commitments with the 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament that night.


AEW News & Notes

This past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Duluth, Georgia featured Hook defeating Brian Cage to retain the FTW Championship. Cage came out for the match wearing a cape and gear inspired by Tekken series character King, who is a Lucha based fighter who wears a tiger mask.

Max Caster recently claimed on Twitter that someone had hacked his account on Sunday and posted antagonizing messages to his fans causing a lot of problems that he would never intend to start. In a bit of a puzzling response, Caster also stated that he stands by the opinions and statement that this hacker had made and will not be deleting the posts that were not made by him. Caster also stated that he has regained full control of his Twitter account.

The March 4th WWE RAW show in San Antonio, Texas featured RAW commentators Michael Cole and Pat McAfee paying tribute to Sting on his retirement and legacy in wrestling and acknowledging AEW. In a recent episode of the Grilln JR podcast, co-host Jim Ross gave his thoughts about WWE’s on-air acknowledgement of Sting’s retirement match. Ross stated “It was classy. Anyway you look at it, it was classy. I really appreciate the hospitality and professionalism that those guys at WWE showed our event. It meant a lot to me, personally, just as an old school guy, because WWE didn’t have to do that. I’m very happy that they did. It worked out really well. It felt good, felt right. Sting is so well loved and it was deserved. It needed to be said. Cole and Pat McAfee did a good job of signaling that out.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

This year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) convention featured an AEW-themed panel called “Disrupting the Long-Monopolized Pro Wrestling Industry.” One of the speakers at this panel was Byran Danielson. One of the topics discussed included Danielson’s thoughts about what AEW needs to do to potentially reach the next level as a company. Danielson stated “If you look at Dynamite and look at ‘where can we make improvements to gain an audience here or to touch people to a different level. The idea is you can’t make big changes because Dynamite is already successful. This is what we were talking about in WWE. Vince McMahon actually called me one night, I was part of WWE creative, and he called me one night and said, ‘What is AEW doing that we’re not doing?’ I went back and watched eight straight weeks of TV within the span of six days and was like, ‘there is a whole list of things.’ What you don’t want to do, in getting to the next level, is to change the things that are already working because there are so many things already working. Then, it’s experimenting with different things.” Danielson also stated that AEW CEO Tony Khan is very good at listening to wrestling fans’ feedback and implementing their advice to help improve the company. (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent Twitch stream, Kenny Omega stated that WWE NXT brand talent Ilja Dragunov is one wrestler who he enjoys watching in the ring. Omega stated “Dragunov. There are some folks that are active and great, but I’ve seen so much of them. I don’t want to say that I don’t enjoy watching them because I’ve seen them so much, but sometimes you get used to it. Dragunov is great. I think Claudio [Claudio Castagnoli] is the total package. He’s one of the great wrestlers on the planet. Watching Claudio do incredible feats of strength, you never know what you’re going to get from a Claudio match because he’s so versatile. When you get Claudio going crazy, it’s a sight to behold. Talking about Dragunov, I’ve been doing this for close to 25 years, after 25 years, you’ve seen it done and done it all, at least all the things you want to do, or almost anyway, there are a couple things timing-wise that you can never do them. You’ve seen things to a point where it’s hard to get excited. Sometimes you need help from a person you’re wrestling to lift you up and take you to that special place. Usually, what does that for me is that I’m in there with someone very hungry. When I wrestle a guy like Will Ospreay, he’s incredibly gifted athletically, and people say favorable things about him. I think he wants to answer the call for those people. For the people that think he’s the best, he wants to be the best he can be. For him to want to be the best, it lifts me up to that level to allow that. I feel that Dragunov, without me knowing who he is, he has that special element about him where he would bring the fight to the point where we would go to that magical place where we’re trading blows and having fans really believe in everything we do and really giving it all. I think it would be a great match.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with WrestlingNews.co, Indie Hall of Famer Homicide gave his thoughts about the process that led to his appearance in AEW at their Rampage Grand Slam 2021 event. Homicide stated “I was surprised. I just came to see the boys. I went to visit. I ain’t came to work or nothing, and Eddie Kingston surrounded me, like he was about to attack me, and said, ‘You’re gonna do something today.’ I’m like, ‘No, no I’m not. I’m here to visit the boys. You’re doing something.’ Like there was an argument. It was crazy. Then Tony Khan told me a couple things, he showed me some numbers. I’m like, okay, I’ll do it. It didn’t hit me when I went to the ring. It hit me afterwards because in a big New Yorker. I love Frank Sinatra, and that’s what that they played after the show. I’m like, ‘Amazing.’ That’s when it really hit me because I’m a very humble person when it comes to the wrestling business, and I’m no diva. I just keep it real. I’m happy where I’m at. I’m happy that people hook me up. I do the same thing back to them. In Queens, New York, at their big show, it was a blast. Especially [because] I’m doing a run-in on Suzuki, who’s one of my heroes, and Lance Archer, who’s also the biggest man in professional wrestling, and finally Jon Moxley, and one of my best friends, Eddie Kingston. So it was a really cool experience.” Homicide also gave his thoughts about how he was willing to work more dates for AEW and even suggested to work at their AEW Dark shows only to be told that they did not want to disrespect his legend status with Dark appearances. Homicide stated “I never asked them [if I’m coming back]. It never was like that. Basically, I came to a couple shows. I was waiting. Nobody spoke to me about anything. I did tell them, ‘Could I be in Dark?’ They’re like, ‘We’re not gonna disrespect you like that.’ I don’t know what that means. I was like, ‘Look, man, I don’t mind.’ They’re like, ‘Nope, we’re not doing that to you.’ Like I said, I don’t like nobody calling me the King of New York or a legend because I feel like I’m not. But that’s that they was telling me, like, ‘You’re a legend. We cannot give you All Elite Wrestling Dark on YouTube. You deserve better.’ Look, I appreciate it, and thank you. But I don’t mind. Like I said, I was waiting, waiting, and waiting. One day, I went to Seattle, and I’m not a religious person, but it’s almost like God’s telling me, ‘Hey man, nobody’s gonna sign you. Appreciate what you got right now.’ That’s what I did, and then everything started hitting me. Then just just followed the advice, but nobody ever spoke to me. But the cool part, my favorite part, is the boys in the company saying, ‘Why you not here?’ To me, that is amazing. I don’t care what anybody says. People in that company are saying, ‘You should be here. Why the hell are you not here?’ I don’t know, talk to your boss. I don’t know, but I’m not looking for nobody right now. I’m very happy where I’m at right now.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)