Below are some top AEW news stories of the day.
• AEW’s top storyline revolves around the Death Riders faction, led by AEW World Champion Jon Moxley and including Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Pac, and Marina Shafir.
The group has been dominating AEW and feuding with top babyfaces like Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy.
Recently, they entered a rivalry with Adam Copeland and FTR, with the babyfaces defeating Moxley, Yuta, and Claudio in a trios match on Dynamite. The feud is expected to continue.
Notably absent from AEW TV is Pac (who is the AEW Worlds Trios Champion along with Castagnoli & Yuta), whose last appearance was on the December 18th Dynamite in a winning match alongside Moxley and Yuta against Cassidy, Jay White, and Adam Page.
According to Fightful Select, Pac is currently overseas, and his return date to AEW programming remains unclear.
WATCH: Ronda Rousey’s Nip Slip From 2022:
• Before joining AEW in 2023, RJ City worked with WWE from 2020-2021, creating digital content as a host and interviewer. His projects included PLE watch-alongs, hosting WrestleMania After Dark, and recurring segments like Wednesday Morning Wake-Up on The Bump.
City revealed on Highspots that he was slated to host a SummerSlam After Dark comedy special in 2021, featuring WWF Veteran Tugboat (Fred Ottman), Shayna Baszler, Asuka, and comedian James Adomian as Jesse Ventura. The project was canceled two weeks before production due to WWE’s digital department cuts.
Now with AEW, City contributes as a writer, on-screen interviewer, and host of pre-show pay-per-view panels with Renee Paquette. He also stars in Hey! (EW) on AEW’s YouTube channel.
Here’s what RJ City said about his canceled SummerSlam plans:
“We did a wonderful thing called WrestleMania After Dark. It was a comedy special. It’s on YouTube, it’s on Peacock for I don’t know how long, between Night 1 and 2 of WrestleMania.
The WrestleMania that rained and they all stalled. So, it aired then, they loved it. They’re like, ‘This is fantastic,’ and they said, ‘Let’s do another one.’ So we had planned and we had written SummerSlam After Dark and two weeks before we were going to begin production on it, they gutted the whole digital department.
So these (notes) are all the bits that were planned and submitted for SummerSlam After Dark, including a phone call with James Adomian as Jesse Ventura. I was gonna have Tugboat on the show. See what you missed out on? I was gonna have Shayna Baszler on. I was gonna have Asuka on the show and play my favorite game, ‘Is André the Giant hot?’ We just bring up a photo and we discuss.”
