AEW: Samoa Joe Reportedly Taking Break for Twisted Metal TV Series Filming, Tomohiro Ishii to Stay in AEW for Rest of Summer 2024, Swerve Strickland

Jul 11, 2024

Samoa Joe Reportedly Taking Break from AEW for Twisted Metal TV Series Filming

Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Calgary, Alberta, Canada featured Chris Jericho defeating Samoa Joe in a Stampede Street Fight match. This match was notable for The Learning Tree’s Big Bill & Bryan Keith placing Joe on a forklift and Jericho driving the forklift through a wall to injure Joe.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that the reason for the finish for the match was due to Joe being written off of AEW television for his upcoming filming commitments for the second season of Peacock’s Twisted Metal series. Joe will be reprising his role as Sweet Tooth in the series.

Johnson reported that filming for this new season is currently scheduled to start later this month in Toronto and last until at least through October. Johnson also reported that the current schedule for filming does include breaks in between certain episodes so it is possible that Joe could make a potential return during those break periods.

Tony Khan Announces Tomohiro Ishii to Stay with AEW for Remainder of This Summer

Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Calgary, Alberta, Canada also featured New Japan Pro Wrestling Tomohiro Ishii making another appearance for AEW. Ishii competed against Claudio Castagnoli, PAC, and Kyle Fletcher in a Global Glory 4-Way match, which was won by PAC on the show.

Following AEW’s double set of Dynamite and Collision tapings that night, AEW CEO Tony Khan announced on Twitter that Ishii will be staying in AEW for the remainder of this summer.

It's so great having @njpwglobal all-time legend Tomohiro Ishii here in AEW on Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite TONIGHT!

We love having Ishii here
+ now he's going to stay here in @AEW with us for the rest of summer 2024!

AEW is on fire right now!
Thank you all +
God bless you all!
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) July 11, 2024

The reason for Ishii’s stay is due to him not qualifying for this year’s NJPW G1 Climax tournament and likely meant he was not booked for the upcoming G1 Climax tour of events.

Swerve Strickland Comments on Biggest Difference Between WWE & AEW Runs & How AEW has Invested in Him

Sports Illustrated held a recent interview with Swerve Strickland. One of the topics discussed included Strickland’s thoughts about the biggest difference he has experienced from his past time in WWE to his current time in AEW.

“TV time, that’s an investment. Tony Khan gave me that. He gave me that with top talent. Top tag team talent. Top managerial talent. Rick Ross. Everywhere, all throughout the show. That’s what everyone wants, and Tony Khan offered that to me. When you don’t get that, it crushes your spirit. I could ask for a minute in a promo, and Tony would give it to me. That means more than people will ever know.”

Strickland also gave his thoughts about likely main eventing this year’s All In event and how much that would mean to him.

“There haven’t been too many African Americans to headline pay-per-views like this. That’s the biggest stage possible for All Elite Wrestling. It means a lot to me, and I hope it means a lot to a lot of other people.”