UPSTART WRESTLE SHOW IS FLYING
AEW recovering from launch hit by COVID
All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan went through two years of challenges, launching his upstart wrestling company at the beginning of the global pandemic. Despite being pinned by COVID-19 lockdowns, he refused to tap out.
And now, he’s ready to enter the ring again — this time with a full roster of stars, including former WWE headliner Bryan Danielson.
“Plans change in wrestling, as they say,” the 39-year-old founder of AEW and son of Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan told the Daily News.
It was a difficult start for AEW. A planned nationwide tour pivoted to weekly shows at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Fla. Wrestlers got sick. Hangman Adam Page went on paternity leave. Jon Moxley went to rehab.
The new year promises a lineup of wrestlers that’ll make every match a main event.
“When big stars become available, you have to look and say, ‘Well, I’d be crazy not to bring in Adam Cole,’ ‘I’d be crazy not to bring in Ruby Soho,’ ‘I’d be crazy not to bring in Bryan Danielson or Malakai Black or Andrade El Idolo,’ “Khan told The News. “You want to find ways to bring these people in, and that may involve changing plans or shuffling the cards or pivoting to new ideas.”
After almost four years with World Wrestling Entertainment, Cole signed with AEW in September. Soho was released from WWE in June and debuted with its competitor three months later.
CM Punk was out of professional wrestling for almost seven years following a messy divorce from WWE when he walked out to a standing ovation from his hometown Chicago audience at the “All Out” pay-per-view.
Danielson is viewed as one of AEW’s biggest steals: the longtime WWE headliner, who wrestled as Daniel Bryan, jumped in September after his contract expired, leaving behind a close friendship with Vince McMahon and his own stepfather-in-law, WWE’s head of talent relations. From the outside, it looked like a betrayal. But for Danielson, he was doing what was best for his career.
“It just felt kind of right, and it took me a long time to decide, much to my wife’s chagrin,” the 40-year-old wrestler joked. His wife, WWE Hall of Famer Brie Bella, starred in the E! reality show “Total Bellas” along with her twin sister, Nikki.
“I was excited about the product that AEW was putting on. It’s a more wrestling-centric product . ... I bet you would find in AEW’s ‘Dynamite,’ in that two hours, more wrestling than five hours of [WWE’s weekly shows] ‘Raw’ and ‘Smackdown’ combined.”
At Newark’s Prudential Center on Wednesday, he’ll face off against World Champion Hangman Adam Page, a rematch of one of 2021’s buzziest battles. Danielson has wrestled almost weekly since joining AEW, his one ask of Khan when he joined: He wants to be out there.
“I’m going to come in and I’m just going to kick everybody’s heads in,” Danielson told The News, calling back to his preWWE crowd chant.
Wednesday’s “Dynamite,” AEW’s first of 2022, is also the first show on TBS after more than 2 years on sister cable channel TNT. The Friday night show, “Rampage,” stays on TNT.
But both Khan and the roster of AEW want the wrestling to speak for itself, regardless of the network.
“Coming up on the independents, you hear stories about how it’s all fun and games down here, but by the time you get signed, there’s really none of it. As far as it’s been for me, it’s really a whole lot of freedom,” Jack Perry, who wrestles for AEW as Jungle Boy and is the son of the late actor Luke Perry, told The News.
At just 24, Perry is already one of pro wrestling’s brightest stars, with the talent and the looks to carry him. For the first two years of AEW, he watched and studied the veterans.
On Wednesday, he’ll wrestle for the tag team title with Luchasaurus against the Lucha Brothers (Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero M).
“For me and for AEW,” Perry said, “I think there’s just limitless potential.”