AEW: Update on MVP & Chris Jericho Working Relationship Over Past Incidents, Oklahoma State Athletic Commission Defers Intergender Wrestling Decision To State Legislature, More News

Update on MVP & Chris Jericho Working Relationship Following Past Incidents

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that MVP and Chris Jericho recently resolved their issues over several past incidents between the two shortly following MVP joining AEW.

It was reported that MVP and Jericho have not seen eye-to-eye in the past over several incidents including them having a physical altercation during a Jericho Cruise event around two years ago. MVP and Jericho reportedly also had an incident around two years ago at a hotel for an AEW event.

Those spoken to reportedly stated that on his first night in AEW, MVP went backstage to Jericho’s locker room for a talk. This talk reportedly resulted in MVP and Jericho hashing out their issues and there wouldn’t be any problems moving forward. It was reported that word about this meeting had spread to talent backstage.

MVP reportedly was praised by many within AEW for addressing his issues with Jericho directly after signing with the company. Those spoken to reportedly stated that the two have been seen interacting backstage with each other since their meeting.

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Oklahoma State Athletic Commission Defers Intergender Wrestling Rule Decision To State Legislature

As noted before, the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission issued an official warning to AEW this past January over issues involving Nyla Rose competing in a match at AEW’s tapings held in the state this past December. This issue revolved around AEW violating OSAC’s current rules over them allowing Rose, who is a transgendered woman, to compete in a match against a cisgendered woman at a ROH TV taping event held in the state. The OSAC has been considering since this past March a potential rule change for transgender wrestlers competing in matches held in state.

OKC FOX reported that the OSAC held a meeting this past Tuesday and made the decision to not make an official ruling and instead deferred the matter to the Oklahoma state legislature.

In regards to decision to defer the ruling, OSAC Commissioner Michael Stopp stated during the meeting that he was worried the issue of intergender matches might get “too political” if the Commission changed the rule on its own.

“Even if they are defined by statute as male and female, are we still going to allow them to wrestle together. That’s the question, and it’s going to get lost. The rule will never pass.”

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AEW News & Notes

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that AEW CEO Tony Khan was working with other AEW executives around the clock for the past couple of weeks across multiple shows due to the implications and potential travel issues from Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. These plans reportedly were stated to have been “drastically changed” as a result. It was reported that many talents were missing from the shows due to these issues and a lot of last minute changes were made as a result.

As noted before, Penelope Ford made her surprise return to AEW at this past Tuesday’s AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday 2024 show in Spokane, Washington. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Ford was backstage at last week’s AEW Dynamite show getting medically cleared for her return.

As noted before, Taz recently underwent successful total knee replacement surgery. Taz recently reflected on Twitter thanking everyone who has wished him well. Taz stated “I really appreciate all of the get well soon & supportive tweets from so many of you. Thank you very much!!“

As noted before, Maria Kanellis’ contract with AEW expires at the end of this month and has yet to be contacted by AEW for talks for a potential new deal. In response to a recent fan question on Twitter about if she wants to stay in AEW or work elsewhere, Kanellis stated “I want to work. I want to help. I want to take care of my family.“

Maria Kanellis also recently provided an update on Instagram about her upcoming surgery for retroperitoneoscopic adrenalectomy. Kanellis stated that she recently had an ultrasound done on her thyroid in advance of her upcoming surgery this month.

AEW recently released a new AEW Timelines video featuring the history between The Young Bucks and Private Party in AEW ahead of their AEW World Tag Team Championship match at this Saturday’s AEW WrestleDream 2024 event.

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Claudio Castagnoli gave his thoughts about how Blackpool Combat Club were going through the motions prior to their recent on-screen change and Jon Moxley finding his proverbial fire again as a result. Castagnoli stated “I feel he needed that time off to kind of reconnect with himself and find his purpose, so to speak, or regain his purpose. I can’t speak for Jon (Moxley), but I felt like the last couple months before he came back — you know we always have the ‘Be Real’ on our shirts, I didn’t really feel real. It felt like, okay, we’re just kind of going through the motions. Something was missing. And with Jon, I can definitely tell that since he came back, he found that fire again.“

In a recent episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, former AEW and current TNA talent and co-host Matt Hardy gave his thoughts about AEW’s new media rights deal with Warner Bros Discovery being a huge positive for the wrestling industry. Hardy stated “It’s a huge positive. The more places that are thriving and doing well in pro wrestling, especially promotion wise, the better it is for pro wrestling in general. The better it is for fans, the better it is for the guys and gals that are in the pro wrestling business, and I love to see it man. The fact that AEW got this deal, it’s announced, and they’re going to be continuing on in the future, it’s a super positive thing.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with CBS Sports, Juice Robinson gave his thoughts about The Gunns’ Austin & Colten Gunn’s growth of their careers. Robinson stated “I’m so impressed. Those guys are young in their careers, hungry, athletic. They’re fun, they’re funny. They light up a room. They’re a lot like their dad. They’re a lot like their dad in the fact they’re natural. So you see a little bit of their dad come out. It’s great. But yeah, I think there’s no limit on what they can do as just a tag team, let alone if they’re with Jay or me in a trios, but those guys, as a tag team, the best is definitely yet to come. Me and Jay wanted to be with those guys specifically. I’m really happy that everybody is starting to kind of see what we saw right off the bat.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with the Busted Open Radio podcast, Chris Jericho gave his thoughts about AEW’s recent new media rights deal with Warner Bros Discovery. Jericho stated “I think we proved a lot of so-called ‘experts,’ and we made them look like idiots. We knew what was going on with this. The landscape changes constantly; numbers go up and numbers go down, but the overall demo of what AEW brings to the table as a live sporting event is invaluable. We knew it was something that people would want to be involved with. Warner Brothers Discovery didn’t want us to go anywhere, and you can see, $185 million a year for a company that has only been going five years. That’s never happened before. Ever. Obviously, WWE is the gold standard. They didn’t have a deal like that five years in. With all the growing pains, good and bad, that AEW has, we’re still such a young company. That showed we have a real commitment. We’re not going anywhere. Tony Khan is not going anywhere. I’m not going anywhere, much to people’s chagrin. Neither is the rest of the company. It’s going to be a really great next three to five years. There is nothing worse than if AEW didn’t get a great television deal. There is nothing better for the business and the fans than for AEW to thrive and be healthy. We are.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)