AEW: Mina Shirakawa on Her Current Stay Plans in the U.S. for AEW, Will Washington on Reason for Brief Return of AEW Rankings in 2024, More News

Nov 23, 2024

Mina Shirakawa Comments on Her Current Stay Length Plans in the U.S. for AEW

Stardom talent Mina Shirakwa made her return and reunited with “The Glamour” Mariah May in AEW earlier this month for her current stay in the United States.

Pro Wrestling Illustrated held a recent interview with Shirakawa. One of the topics discussed included Shirakawa’s thoughts about how long she will be staying in the U.S. for her current stint before heading back to Japan again for Stardom.

“I’ve been making Mariah (May) wait a lot, and I plan to stay in the United States until her feelings of loneliness are gone. I’m here to celebrate her championship win and wrestle a lot of matches as [our team] Rose Gold. Our friendship hasn’t changed in the slightest. We’re still best friends forever. However, I am a little concerned that she’s acting a bit weird recently … but I think with me by her side, she’ll calm down again soon enough.”

Jon Moxley Comments on “I Will Try To Give Fans Something Really Heinous In The Main Event Of AEW Full Gear”

TV Insider held a recent interview with Jon Moxley. One of the topics discussed included Moxley’s thoughts about his upcoming match against Orange Cassidy for the AEW World Championship at AEW Full Gear 2024 and promising to try to give fans something “really heinous” for the main event.

“If we’re asking people to pay a little more on pay-per-view, I’m going to give them a little more. I can’t juggle or dance or do cartwheels for you, but I can put my elbow all the way into Orange Cassidy’s face to see how much of his skull I can get. I can see if I can snap his arm so loud that it reverberates through the audio and picks up on camera. We have a group chat going where we’re always sending really bad cuts and hematomas and snaps. It doesn’t bother me. I have an iron stomach for that kind of stuff. I also don’t like to watch horror movies. The real world is scary enough. I don’t need to see demons and werewolves eating people. But if someone’s arm gets snapped or a leg breaks, everyone wants to throw up. it doesn’t bother me at all. Since it’s pay-per-view, I will try to give that to the fans in New Jersey and fans watching on pay-per-view. Something really heinous in the main event on Saturday night.”

AEW News & Notes

AEW released their Countdown to Full Gear 2024 special to their YouTube channel.

As noted before, Nicholas Jackson has been dealing with a shoulder injury and The Young Bucks have been on a break from AEW following this past October’s AEW Fright Night Dynamite show. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported in a recent Q&A article that his sources stated that the current expectation is that the Young Bucks will not be returning to the ring before January of 2025. Johnson speculated that the Young Bucks likely will return first at AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling’s co-promoted Wrestle Dynasty event in Japan and then return to AEW itself afterwards.

In a recent interview with FOX Business’ The Claman Countdown show, AEW CEO Tony Khan gave his thoughts about what he has learned about the importance of social media marketing through working with the Costco Guys in AEW. Khan stated “So much. I think that what I’ve seen with AJ and Big Justice together — first of all, this is real. Like, behind the scenes, what you see is what you get. Authenticity is important. And also, they’ve shown me the power of TikTok. Of marketing to, frankly, people that have never watched AEW or wrestling before. And we’re bringing in new fans. And AJ is a former pro wrestler making a comeback. So it’s great.” In response, Costco Guys’ Big Justice gave a teary response stating “Thank you Mr. Khan.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)

Tony Khan recently reflected on Twitter about his appearance with the Costco Guys on FOX Business’ The Claman Countdown show. Khan stated “You won’t meet a nicer more impressive father/son team than Big Boom @ajbefumo + Big Justice. Costco Guys are really good people. We are lucky to have them both in @AEW.“

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated’s The Takedown on SI, Mercedes Mone gave her thoughts about the criticism she often receives online about her onscreen persona and work. Mone stated “Oh, things don’t get to me at all anymore (laughs). I learned a long time ago to not let words affect me, because the internet used to affect me so much. Just the littlest things… would ruin my whole day. We have no idea who is on the other side of the keyboard. I don’t know if these are bots. I don’t know if it’s someone who looks like you. I don’t know if it’s a witch or rat or whoever, but at the end of the day I don’t care what you have to say about me.“

In a recent interview with AMNY, Orange Cassidy gave his thoughts about AEW’s ups and downs as a company and why it is important for AEW’s evolution to be a natural process and not a forced one. Cassidy stated “It’s tough for AEW because of how fast the company grew and for how successful it has been in just under, we’re talking five years. We’re growing and we’re changing, and we’re going through that weird middle school age of figuring out who you are and do you want your hair short or long. It’s important that AEW just takes the natural evolution, and we don’t try to force anything. Tony Kahn has an incredible eye for talent, and he’s an incredibly generous person that understands professional wrestling. And no matter what changes we go through; I feel very secure in the fact that I know that Tony Khan will make sure that the best are wrestling for AEW.“

In a recent interview with the Battleground Podcast, Private Party’s Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy gave their thoughts about the importance of their recent AEW World Tag Team Championship victory. Quen stated “Honestly, I didn’t think of it like that. I just thought of it like, about damn time, we did it. So legacy, this proves it. This right here is the legacy. This is what we’ve been striving for, this is what we wanted since we were training in a boxing gym. This is everything. You ever think of those guys that want to climb mountains and how they feel when they finally got to the top of the mountain? That’s how we feel. We made the climb. We’re on top of the mountain.” Kassidy responded stating “It’s pretty rewarding, knowing the fact that we are in history. We solidified our names in history, and to be along names like the Young Bucks and FTR and Sting, Darby [Allin] and Kenny Omega and Adam Page, our names are aligned with all those guys. So it kind of solidifies us as at the top. We’re now part of that conversation as top tag teams because we have this gold around our shoulders.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

This past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Reading, Pennsylvania featured former ROH wrestler Cheeseburger making a surprise return appearance to AEW. Cheeseburger teamed up with Joe Keys in a 2-on-1 Handicap match against Bobby Lashley, which was won by Lashley. In a recent interview with Fightful’s Overbooked Coexisting podcast, Cheeseburger gave his thoughts about his match against Lashley. Cheeseburger stated “[Laughs], yeah, he is an insanely strong human being. He is a mountain of muscle. Extremely terrifying man. [Laughs] Thankfully, I didn’t get put in the Hurt Lock like my partner, Joe Keys. I got the Dominator, I guess the first Dominator he’s done in several years, he brought it back, and I had to be the victim of it. But I was just very happy that I didn’t get put in the Hurt Lock like Joe Keys.” Cheeseburger also gave his thoughts about the importance of making his return appearance to AEW in Reading. Cheeseburger stated “It was awesome. I’ve worked in that area a lot. Never directly in Reading, but that Lehigh Valley, Allentown area and Bethlehem, that area, and obviously Ring of Honor having its roots in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, which is not that far off from that area, so it was really cool that people there, I always go out, and I never expect, especially people with a different company like AEW, even though there is a lot of crossover of Ring of Honor and AEW fans, I never really expect people to know who I am at all. So to come out and get that reaction was amazing. One of the things in pro wrestling, you always want to treat matches like it’s people’s first time seeing you, so I had different sets of gear, so I made the conscious decision to wear that sparkly green-and-black set with a giant Cheeseburger on it [because] it just kind of draws people’s attention.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

AEW announced several new matches for the card of next week’s AEW Rampage “All Lucha” show on November 30th: