AEW: Tony Khan on Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter Injuries Updates, Wheeler Yuta on His In-Ring Return & Injury, Update on AEW’s Residency Deal with Arlington

Tony Khan Provides Injury Updates for Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter

As noted before, Britt Baker has been absent from AEW since this past September due to a back-related injury. Besides Baker, Jamie Hayter has also been absent from AEW since May of 2023 due to a shoulder-related injury.

Uproxx Sports held a recent interview with AEW CEO Tony Khan. One of the topics discussed included Khan providing an update on the status of Baker’s recovery from her back injury.

“Dr. Britt Baker is one of our original stars and she’s been out injured for an extended period of time. I’m very eager to get Britt back here. She’s somebody that’s been part of AEW all along. And we’d love to have her back in the mix very soon.”

Khan also provided an update on the status of Hayter’s recovery from her shoulder injury and if there is a potential return timetable in mind.

“Her longtime friend, and also a former AEW Women’s world champion Jamie Hayter has also been out for an extended period of time with injury. Jamie Hayter’s timetable is still pending. But I think having Jamie Hayter back in AEW would be fantastic. And I would love to have Jamie Hayter back working in AEW anytime and whenever she’s healthy and capable of doing it would be great for us.”

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Wheeler Yuta Comments on Making His In-Ring Return at the June 5th AEW Dynamite Show

Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Loveland, Colorado featured Wheeler Yuta making his official in-ring return to AEW. Prior to his return, Yuta had been absent from AEW since this past January due to an undisclosed injury.

AEW recently released a digital exclusive backstage interview with Yuta discussing his thoughts about his in-ring return to AEW.

“It’s been a long five months, it’s been a really long five months. I’m happy that I could get out there and help the team, and we could come out on top against some really good competitors from CMLL. Obviously, they went down to Arena Mexico, they had that match, and they’ve been fighting here for months and months. It’s been really hard to watch all that from my couch. It’s been really hard to have this championship on a shelf under my TV stand, under my TV on my TV stand for five months, just looking at it, not knowing if or when I would get to defend it again. I think when I started wrestling, I kind of came to terms with, I was probably gonna leave it physically much worse than when I entered. But when it’s your head, when it’s your brain, it’s pretty scary. I don’t want to wake up every day with a headache, and I don’t want to get dizzy every time I go to the gym. I don’t want this to get the best of me, of course. But at the same time, I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I’ve given my whole life to wrestling, and I’m gonna continue to give whatever I have left to professional wrestling. I’m safe, I’m okay, don’t you worry. But those guys in the ring across from me, they’re not safe. I’ve been pretty damn pissed off for the last five months, having to sit here and look at this [title], look at this symbol of my own failure because my brain doesn’t work, because I can’t wrestle, because I can’t go out for all of you and do the thing that you want me to do because I can’t wrestle for you. So now, I’m just gonna wrestle for me. I’m gonna defend this championship. I’m gonna make sure my brothers in arms in the BCC are okay, and I’m gonna do my thing. I’m back, and I’m not going anywhere.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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More on AEW’s Residency Deal with Arlington for AEW Summer Series Tour

As noted before, AEW announced this past May that they will be holding a Summer Series tour this July and August in Arlington, Texas.

Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that AEW will be paying a discounted venue rate of around 50% to run five AEW Collision shows and ROH Death Before Dishonor 2024 event at the Esports Stadium Arlington based on a public records request that was granted. Thurston reported that AEW will be paying $120,000 while the Arlington Expo Center will pay $112,000 to the venue for the upcoming events.

Thurston reported that AEW is currently planning to hold ROH TV tapings on Saturday, July 28 and Friday, August 16 as part of this upcoming tour of events.

In regards to seating, Thurston reported that AEW will be scaling the venue for 1,290 seats with an average ticket price of $45.02. This reportedly means that the maximum live gate for one show would be $58,000.

Thurston also reported that email records obtained between AEW officials and Arlington city government officials revealed that there were some initial talks about letting New Japan Pro Wrestling and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre run shows on the days that AEW was not using the venue. This idea reportedly was dropped based on an email from May 14th involving AEW VP of Global Touring Ryan Seddon informed venue staff that AEW was focused on getting their “ducks in a row.”