AEW: Thunder Rosa Injury Update, Ricky Starks Came Up With Idea for Ricky Steamboat Beatdown, More News

Thunder Rosa Injury Update – Rosa to Work in 5 Minute Match This Saturday

As noted before, Thunder Rosa has been out of action for AEW since this past September due to her suffering a spinal-related injury.

Rosa recently released a new vlog featuring an update on the status of her injury. In the video, AEW doctor Michael Sampson stated that Rosa will working a five minute match this Saturday to determine how well her body had healed up and tolerates a return to in-ring action.

Michael Sampson – “Good news. She’s been doing well, we’re at week four. She’s been religious with her training, as she always has been, but religious with her training, doing everything we’ve asked her to do. Next week, if I can share, we’re going to be in Greensboro, and we’re going to do a five-minute mini-match and see how you tolerate that. We’re just taking the steps up. If that looks good, we’re almost there.”

Thunder Rosa – “You’re telling me I’m almost cleared, cleared?”

Sampson – “You’re almost there. You’re following protocols, you’re doing everything as expected. Your body is actually listening to you. Still there, but you’re getting stronger around it and taking the stress off of it.”

Rosa – “Three more weeks?”

Sampson – “I think that’s fair.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Ricky Starks Reportedly Came Up With Idea for Ricky Steamboat Beatdown on Aug. 5th AEW Collision

Haus of Wrestling held a recent interview with The Ringer’s Cameron “Ceehawk” Hawkins. One of the topics discussed included Hawkins revealing that Ricky Starks was the one who came up with the idea for his beatdown to Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat following his match against CM Punk on the August 5th AEW Collision show.

“A bit of a Collision note. So, in the original finish, like after the match, Ricky Steamboat was gonna chop Starks, and that was going to be it. Ricky Steamboat pulls Rick and Punk into a room and tells them the finish that we saw. It brought Rick to tears because he appreciated it so much. So, salute to Ricky Steamboat for making a good thing, a great thing.

Well, I mean, you know, that’s my man (Ricky Starks). So we talked about how things go and, you know, especially after the match, I was like, ‘You killed it.’ He was like, ‘Cam, this is what happened,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s so cool.’ Yeah, man, salute to Steamboat. That’s dope. Because think about how cool and how physical and how visceral that was; Ricky Steamboat’s idea, and his whole thing was, ‘Look, man, this is supposed to make you look good. Not me.”

Haus of Wrestling stated in their interview article that their sources confirmed Hawkins story about Starks’ request to beatdown Steamboat as part of the plans for his match on the show.

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AEW News & Notes

CNBC reported that their sources stated that Warner Bros Discovery is currently planning to launch live sports streaming on their MAX service this October. It was also reported that MAX’s sports tier will utilize the Bleacher Report branding. The report did not mention if AEW would be included for MAX’s live sports streaming programming.

AEW is currently selling a special CM Punk “Best In The World” Trans Pride shirt on their online AEWShop from now until August 22nd with all proceeds generated going towards The Trevor Project.

Post Wrestling’s John Pollock reported that TSN ended their free trial of their TSN+ streaming service this past Wednesday meaning that AEW Collision and Rampage will now only be available to watch in Canada with a paid subscription to TSN’s TSN+ service for $8 per month or $80 per year.

As noted before, Madison Rayne has been out of action for AEW and Ring of Honor since this past April due to an ankle-related injury. Rayne made her return from injury for a dark match that was held prior to the start of this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Columbus, Ohio. Rayne defeated Danni Mo in a singles match at the tapings.

AEW also held two other dark matches prior to the start of this past Wednesday’s Dynamite show in Columbus. These were The Gates of Agony defeating Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal in a tag team match and The Dark Order defeating Isaiah Broner, Corey Calhoun & Lord Crewe in a Trios match.

Following this past Wednesday’s Dynamite show in Columbus, AEW held a digital exclusive backstage interview with Rob Van Dam discussing his thoughts about his in-ring debut for the company. RVD stated “Well, it felt pretty awesome going tonight, I gotta say. I count on the fans’ positive energy that they bring. I rely on connecting with them, but I’m still overwhelmed when they all have RVD signs and they’re all in unison chanting for me. It always exceeds my expectation. When that moment is real and I’m connected to them, it’s nothing but love. Love is the most powerful energy in the universe.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with the LGBT Sports Podcast, Sonny Kiss gave his thoughts about her current goals for her career in AEW. Kiss stated “I would love to be with AEW for a very, very long time. I would love to have more storylines and presentation on television. Doing more stuff so that the fans can connect with me more because I’m not able to reach them as much just doing Ring of Honor once in a while. Hopefully, I can do a fun storyline. I would love to do more wrestling stuff and more physical stuff and really blaze my own trail in a way that I haven’t in AEW.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In recent interview with the Swerve City Podcast, Nick Jackson stated that he once tried to purchase Pro Wrestling Guerilla from Super Dragon but had his offer rejected due to the monetary amount being too low. Jackson stated “For me, I’m different. I like to stay entertained and busy. For me, it’d be hard. I fantasize about running this small Indie one day. How fun would that be? Buy PWG from Super Dragon. I tried to buy PWG once, he didn’t go for the offer. One day, Super Dragon.” Matt Jackson responded stating “You low-balled him.” Nick Jackson responded back stating “I got him back. He said ‘no’ right away.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, Diamond Dallas Page gave his thoughts about MJF being the nicest person he has been with in real life. DDP stated “I personally know that Max, MJF, would be pissed off at me for saying this, but he’s the nicest guy. He really is, to me. But if he’s out in the open, he’s an asshole. And it’s not him being an asshe, it’s him living the gimmick. He could turn babyface in an instant, and he would be over even bigger, I think. But as a heel? Oh my god.” (Transcript h/t: WrestlingInc.com)

In a recent interview with the Mark Andrews: My Love Letter to Wrestling podcast, Paul Wight gave his thoughts about working with “Daddy Magic” Matt Menard on AEW’s Dark Elevation shows prior to the end of the series. Wight stated “I had a lot of fun working with Daddy Magic. In a perfect world, I’d like to work with him again on some commentary. He was so much fun to work with. It was a little chaotic, but, I think that was the one thing that Daddy Magic and I had when was did (AEW Dark) Elevation was we had a good time.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)