Tony Khan discussed how the Jon Moxley deal came about:
“As soon as he was out of his [WWE] deal and wanted to talk to people, he came to me and I was really excited to talk to him when he was able to talk. I’m very excited he’s apart of the roster. He is on a multi-year contract and a full-time deal. When we go weekly, he’s going to be working full-time. But when the schedule is light, I’m going to be open about him working international and Indy dates.”
Fans had speculated on Moxley showing up in AEW from the moment he announced he would be leaving WWE. Another name fans got their hopes up with was CM Punk, who did not end up appearing on the show. And Khan was in no mood to address the Punk speculation.
“When I sketched out a list of like, ‘Hey I want to start a wrestling company, who are the names you’re going to get?’ Everybody we got was on that list and [CM Punk] was also on that list. I have a good relationship with Phil. It’s a real insult to what we’ve done to make that the story of the show.”
Punk had said all week that he would not be appearing and, despite being booked for a Cage Fury commentary gig, some fans didn’t take the hint.
The arrival of Moxley wasn’t the only shot at WWE as Cody Rhodes took aim at Triple H in his entrance, smashing a Triple H like throne with a sledgehammer. Cody, being the lone former WWE superstar in the Elite, has made it known that he wants to out-do WWE and took multiple shots at the promotion during the weekend. Meanwhile, The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega have mostly stayed away from discussing WWE as a competitor. Khan doesn’t believe there is a right or wrong way to go about addressing WWE.
“We don’t need a company line [on our stance against WWE]. Everybody is trying to get something different out of it but we all want to do the best shows. If the competition fuels our fire, that’s great. For me, I’m just trying to do the best show possible,” said Khan. “I’m not really thinking about their show and I hope their shows are great because the best times in wrestling, everybody was doing great stuff. There was a time 20 years ago where all the shows were great. I’m excited when we get to weekly because we’ve done a show that we can hang our hat on, that we’ve done one of the great wrestling pay-per-views but when we get to weekly, it’s going to be a better quality of life. The work is going to be better and it’s going to be like it was 20 years ago. You’re going to be able to watch a lot of wrestling and it’s not going to be a chore either. It’s going to be fun.”
AEW will begin airing weekly programming on TNT starting this fall, though no official premiere date has been announced.
Addressing the media after the event, Matt & Nick Jackson discussed Cody’s entrance and whether or not we’ll see constant WWE mentions.
“Well, that’s just our sense of humor, you know. If I see something obvious, I’m gonna poke fun at it. It’s what I’ve done my entire career. So I’m not gonna stop now that I work for a billion dollar company (laughs),” said Matt.
Nick added, “We won’t be doing that every show.”
Matt went on to say that they were first aware of the spot on Saturday morning during rehearsals and that it “popped” him.
The not so subtle shot at WWE and Triple H was clear, but Cody doesn’t want fans to get it completely twisted.
“Okay, so I had a literal dream about this type of entrance. I loved when Triple H came out at WrestleMania 30 and it was kinda like Shao Kahn and it was really cool. The throne kinda symbolized his reign and man, I wanna play ball. I know we don’t say competition but it stands for itself you know? And I also want people to know this role, this executive vice president role which I love and I’m excited about but I want to be a wrestler first and that’s great, we were able to do that tonight,” Cody told the media following Double or Nothing.
Cody continued, elaborating on balancing his life in the front office and being a wrestler, much the same way Triple H does in WWE.
“Tony Khan sat in gorilla and timed the show. That takes years how to learn. I mean Gerald Brisco, he was like the only guy that could do it for a long time. Tony did it tonight on his first try, so they don’t always need us there, in those executive roles. We were able to go out there and be wrestlers and that, more than anything, not so much a shot at Triple H, more a shot at I’m not ready to dive into that role and lean into it. I wanna be a wrestler first and foremost. I’m not done.”
After becoming “The Throne Breaker,” Cody would go on to defeat his brother Dustin Rhodes in a bloody affair.
“Everything that I do in AEW is going to be important. When I appear on the show, it’s going to be for a reason and it’s going to be something big. The next show I’m doing is the show in Jacksonville [Fight for the Fallen],” said Jericho to the media after Double or Nothing.
“At this moment, there’s nothing in writing. When the opportunity came to [be at AEW Double or Nothing], I dove all over it. I didn’t ask any questions. I didn’t care. I knew this was groundbreaking and history making and I wanted to be a part of that,” said Spears to the media following Double or Nothing.
While Spears’ role on the show wasn’t a surprise, AEW did pull off a big surprise at the end of the show when Jon Moxley (formerly Dean Ambrose in WWE) showed up. Spears said of Moxley’s appearance, “It was good to see Jon [Moxley]. You could see when he entered the ring that he was him. That’s the guy we’ve been waiting to see for a few years. I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a lot of people calling, knocking on the door, and trying to get here. Who knows who is going to show up next.”
When asked why he was announced as appearing prior to the show while Moxley, and others like Awesome Kong and the Super Smash Bros, were kept as surprises, Spears wasn’t concerned with his presence being announced.
“I don’t know. That’s above my pay grade. I wasn’t in those meetings. I was a last minute addition. I left [WWE] 90 days ago and this card was pen to paper, months and months ago. The card was pretty much booked. I don’t care where I would have been. It’s about being a part of history.”
What grade do you give #AEW #AEWDoN
— PWPonderings (@pwponderings) May 26, 2019
AEW today announced a multi-year deal with world-renowned coach, producer and wrestler Dean Malenko. Effective immediately, the former No. 1-ranked wrestler in the PWI (Pro Wrestling Illustrated) 500 will take on the role as Senior Producer/Coach.