September 18, 2023 • 22 mins
Before taking over Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, NY, Tony Khan stopped by our studio to discuss:
Thank you for checking out the SUPERSTAR CROSSOVER PODCAST!
- Jade Cargill's future.
- The last three PPVs for AEW arguably being the greatest 3 PPV stretch in AEW.
- AEW Grand Slam featuring FOUR Title matches.
- Jon Moxley's importance to AEW.
- Eddie Kingston getting hometown love at AEW Grand Slam.
- Orange Cassidy's AEW International Title run.
- Toni Storm's new character taking off with wrestling fans.
- Saraya's bad ass entrace at ALL IN: London.
Thank you for checking out the SUPERSTAR CROSSOVER PODCAST!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey, Yeah, what up.I'm Josh Martinez. I'm the Superstar Crossover
Podcast with my guest Tony com What'sgoing on man? A lot, Josh,
busy times, exciting times for aw and it's great to see you
in person. That's right, man, you're in studio. We love having
you in studio. Before we goton air, we chopped it up about
pro wrestling, and uh, it'salways fun to just discuss and talk about
(00:20):
like classic historical wrestling with you becauseit shows that you're a fan, you
know what I'm saying. Yeah,I'd like talking about wrestling with you two
for the same reason you love wrestling, you love talking about it, and
you're clearly a student and a historianof pro wrestling, which is why I
enjoyed coming in the studio and justchatting and talking with you about pro wrestling
even when we're not in the air. Yeah, and listen, history could
(00:42):
be made this Wednesday night a wGrand Slam Dynamite Aught the Ash Stadium.
I say aught the Ash because theaccent comes out thick. It is what
it is. What are you gonnado? But we have a historic match
Eddie Kingston against Claudio Casagnoli let's talkabout that if you don't mind, I'd
love to. I'd love to.Eddie has a championship representing New Japan.
(01:03):
Claudio has a title representing Ring ofHonor. Someone's gonna walk away with two
titles, and that hasn't happened inrecent history, right, I don't think
it's ever happened. Nobody's ever heldsingles championships in Ring of Honor in New
Japan. Pro wrestling at the sametime, and this is taking place on
an a e W show. We'reopen to pro wrestling from all over the
world. We've got huge matches upand down the card, and it's really
(01:23):
exciting because this reminds me a lotof the territory wrestling I grew up on.
But the biggest wrestling territory in manyways was always in the old days
New York. And you know,for me, Claudio Castignoli is a throwback
to a great wrestler, Nick Backwinkle. Claudio Castignoli's the thinking man's wrestler.
(01:45):
He's very classy, but he's athorough professional. He's a tough guy,
but he's highly intelligent. I thinkthose guys would go on the Mount rushmore
of the most intelligent pro wrestlers Claudioand Bachwinkle. And I really believe Claudio
is a great world champion. Andthis match reminds me a lot of when
I was a kid going back intape trading in Memphis, there was Nick
(02:07):
Backwinkle versus Jerry Lawler. And Ithink New York is a market. This
city is a hundred times bigger thanMemphis ever was. But if you're a
real wrestling fan, you know Jerrythe King Lawlers, Nick Backwinkle was great
wrestling. And to me, EddieKingston is like that kind of a hero
to New York City what Lawler wasto the Memphis market, and this is
(02:28):
one hundred times bigger and he isthis city's hero. Eddie Kingston is a
great New York wrestling hero, andI really believe the whole city's gonna be
rallying behind him. And it's agreat match because it's a double championship match,
it's got international implications. It's gonnabe airing live on TBS. The
(02:49):
show starts live on TBS at eightpm on Wednesday night, but it's at
Arthur As Stadium, like you said, and so many great wrestling fans in
New York City are gonna be thereand people are going to be behind Eddie
Kingston to take home the double championshipWednesday night at Grand Slam. Now,
I'm interested to see on the homefield advantage front, how mjf's reaction is.
(03:09):
He usually gets a pretty damn goodreaction when he's home. This time
around, his attitude's a little easierfor us to digest. But there's something
about Samoa Joe that just diehard fanslove. Who do you think the crowd
will be cheering for more MJF forSamoa Joe this Wednesday night. That's a
tough call. And in New YorkCity, I think you're gonna get a
lot of people behind MJF because MJFis one of the most popular wrestlers in
(03:31):
the world everywhere we go. Sothese are two huge stars and it's a
huge match the a EW World Championshipat Grand Slam, MJF versus Samoa Joe
for the world title. I thinkin New York you're gonna see the crowd
really behind MJF. Here. Eventhough Samoa Joe is one of the biggest,
toughest stars in the world, he'sgot a huge response everywhere we go,
(03:53):
but I really believe the people aregoing to be behind MJF, and
especially given what we've seen from JFin recent months, he's really developed as
a person. We've seen a differentMJF and MJF and Adam Cole. It's
one of the most fascinating dynamics inall of wrestling right now, and it's
something to keep an eye on,especially after the way Dynamite ended last Wednesday
(04:14):
on TBS, definitely kind of acliffhanger, and going into this match with
mjf's best friend Adam Cole getting jumpedby Samoa Joe right before the big championship
match, this win's it. Sothose aren't the only two title matches.
Not only do we have the ROHWorld Heavyweight Title up for grabs or the
aw World Heavyweight Title, but wealso have the a W Women's World Championship
(04:34):
SIA Tony Storm International Flare again SAAwith with what some Mike calling upset,
she had the home field advantage.Tony Storm. This new this newer Tony
Storm, I'm not even exaggerating,may just be my favorite character right now
in all of wrestling, and it'sbeen what three four weeks of it.
I am all in on this TonyStorm dude, Like, I don't know
(04:57):
what what happened, but I'm allin on it. No pun intended love
this Tony Storm version, but theywere together in a group. And then
now they're they're beefing as we aswe said before off air New Beef,
so Ray against Tony Storm. Andthen we also have the AW International Championship
John Moxley against Ray Phoenix, whichis a bit of a grudge match,
so some people are kind of forgettingabout because Moxley put Phoenix on the shelf
(05:17):
and made him prevented him from goingall the way to London for aw all
in. Hows how has Moxley beenas International Champion? Has only been a
small sample size a week or so, right, two weeks up to this
point. Yeah, he's been greatso far. It's been a few weeks.
But I think this is a hugematch and mox won the title at
(05:39):
all out from Orange Cassidy, whohad an incredible run almost he deserved that
standing ovation. I was very excitedfrom a just nerdy wrestling fan who understands
production a little bit. The factthat you guys stayed on the shot and
he we all were able to seethe reaction that Orange Cassidy got. I
thought that was super dope because thatwas kind of the culmination of in my
(05:59):
opinion, arguably the MVP of thelast year for AW based on the matches
he had, the different style matcheshe had, and how goddamn good that
man is in the ring. Also, by the way, he's from New
Jersey, so even more love,more local love. But back to Moxley
and Ray Phoenix. Where would yourank someone like Ray Phoenix in regards to
the most exciting wrestlers on the planettoday, Ray Phoenix is one of the
(06:20):
most exciting wrestlers on the planet.Here in a EW we got the greatest
high flyers, and I really believea EW is the most exciting pro wrestling
in the world, and Ray PhoenixI have to rank close to the top,
near the top of the most excitingwrestlers in the world. When we've
seen Ray Phoenix and his brother PentelZeromieto the Luca Brothers in some of the
(06:42):
best matches ever in AW. Theyhad the classic cage match with the Young
Bucks. We've seen their rivalry withthe best Friends and we've seen. They've
had these great matches, the DeathTriangle against the Elite, and recently Ray
Phoenix was supposed to be part ofthe big stadium Stampede match against the Beast
at Wembley Stadium. I think we'reon our greatest run of pay per views
(07:03):
ever right now. I really believethe last three pay per views a EW
Forbidden Door, a ew all Inat Wembley Stadium, and a EW All
Out in Chicago. I think that'sthe best three back to back to back
we've ever done. And I thinka lot of people feel that way.
To go from Forbidden Door in Torontoto All In in London and then All
(07:24):
Out in Chicago, all three showssome of our best shows. And as
you said, the Orange Cassidy Moxleymatch, what an incredible way it was
to end aw all Out. Anda week before that we had this great
show at all In. Ray Phoenixgot robbed in front of the opportunity to
not only wrestle in front of overeighty one thousand fans in England at London
(07:48):
Wembley Stadium, but also to win, to be there on the winning team
when his brother Penta and Orange CassidyEddie Kingston, Santano Ortiz and all the
BCC guys. You know, we'reon the other side of this match,
and the best friends in Orange Cassidy, Eddie Kingston and Penta walked away as
the winners in the big stadium stampede. Ray Phoenix didn't get to be a
(08:11):
part of that and he got attacked. He got hit in the head with
a crowbar. So I think it'sa big grudge match. And when you
got one of the most exciting wrestlersin the world, Ray Phoenix against one
of I think one of the mostcertainly one of the most compelling and one
of the most captivating wrestlers in recentyears, in my opinion, John Moxley,
(08:31):
the International Champion of AW. That'sgoing to be a great match and
it's very fitting. I think JohnMoxley, he's been defending that AW International
title every week, sometimes multiple timesa week since he won it the last
few weeks, and I don't knowif anybody is going to be able to
keep up that pace. I mean, he's trying to rival that Orange Cassidy
(08:52):
pace. And it's something to seeand certainly very cool that the international title
is being defended against one of thetop international stars. Ray Phoenix. You
know, it's interesting you bring upMoxley and how valuable he's been, arguably
probably m VP of last year.Right recently, he came out and said,
and I believe it was Sportskeeta thatmight have gotten the interview. I
believe pro Wrestling. I believe wasbelieve. I want to make sure I
(09:13):
source them right, they said.Moxley said that he met he met up
with Vince recently or within the lastyear or so, and Vince reportedly said
that he took him for granted.When you hear that, see that,
do you kind of like smirk alittle bit and go, yeah, I
knew Moxley's got it all this wholetime. Well, I think it's one
thing to say that John Moxley's oneof the greatest wrestlers in the world,
(09:35):
and frankly, I think for AWit's another thing for us that's very true
is John Moxley's one of the mostimportant people ever in AW and from the
very beginning he's been one of ourtop stars, and now he's a great
international champion. I'm really excited aboutJohn Moxley and Ray Phoenix This Wednesday at
arthur As Stadium. There's still greattickets available for this show. You can
(09:56):
see it on TBS or come downto arthur As Stadium. Ticket start at
twenty dollars and there's great seats fortwenty and twenty five dollars and come check
it out. We really are prettyexcited about this show. I think it's
going to be one of the bestlineups we've ever had in aw and very
fitting to come here to New YorkCity with this kind of a show.
You mentioned the Women's world title match, and I agree with you. I
(10:20):
think Tony Storm is doing some ofthe best work in all pro wrestling right
now. She's a former Women's worldchampion two times. She's had a great
partnership with Sorea, and really wesaw Sorea have just this beautiful moment at
Wembley Stadium. I thought it wasreally cool to have somebody who is one
of the biggest wrestling stars in Englandhave that great moment winning the world title
(10:43):
in front of her family, havingall her family and friends there at ringside
to cheer her on. I thinkTony Storm was already hanging on by a
very thin thread emotionally, and we'veseen it's been very compelling, and you
know, I agree with you,highly entertaining in recent weeks the way Tony
Storm has been losing her mind,and personally, I really enjoy working with
(11:03):
Tony Storm. I think she's agreat talent, and I think we are
onto something really special with Tony Stormright now, and she could become a
three time Women's World champion and endthat storybook tale of Soreya. This Wednesday
night at Arthur ash Stadium on TBS, we also have Chris Jericho against Sammy
Gavara. Not a grudge match verymuch, a Hey, let's just see
(11:24):
which one of us is a betterone, and then we'll come back together
and try to go after the tagtitles, which is actually very reminiscent of
a story between Eddie Guerrero and Raymisterioand that went into WrestleMania with that match.
So anytime you know, something remindsus of Raymisteria or Eddie Guerrero,
damn it, that's a good thing. Absolutely, And I think Jericho and
(11:46):
Sammy are one of the top tagteams, and they're two of the top
wrestlers is individuals. They're a greatteam. We've seen them have some wins
against all of the top competition theyfaced. I think they're really two of
our greatest wrestlers. And that's whereAW really started was with Jericho and Sammy.
The very first episode of Dynamite,we saw Jericho and Sammy get together.
(12:07):
They've been together for over two hundredepisodes of AW Dynamite now for four
years, and it's really cool thatit's come full circle the original members of
the Inner Circle, Jericho and Sammyone on one, these two great friends
and should be a great wrestling matchJericho versus Gavara on TBS Live this Wednesday.
(12:28):
And that's the kind of great matcheswe're bringing to Arthur ash Stadium because
Grand Slam is to me, it'sprobably our most important TV event of the
year, and I think it isour most important show. This has become
a great tradition. It's the thirdyear in a row that we brought a
ew here to Arthur ash Stadium,and it's always right after the US Open
event ends, and it's really coolfor us. Like I was telling you
(12:50):
before the show starts, it isdefinitely the nicest locker rooms and the nicest
venue, the classiest service that weget and it's the real first class treatment
for the wrestlers that the tennis playersget at the US Open. And we
come in right after the US Openends, So it's really cool to bring
AW Pro Wrestling to New York Cityright after the US Open. So talking
(13:11):
about the Inner Circle a little bitin New York City, I'm just curious.
I got I got a few fanquestions here, so I just want
to kind of jump into them alittle bit. This is my this is
my personal question. What do youthink is Mike Santana's ceiling in AW.
Well, Mike Santana is a greatwrestler. I really like Mike Santana.
I think it's definitely something that he'sback in AW that we're all excited about.
(13:33):
And I really am interested to seewhere he goes as a single now
if he's going to be an individualand not part of this great tag team
we've seen for such a long time, Santana and Ortiz, and I think
I'm interested to know where they eachgo as individuals. Certainly it's been a
great situation as a tag team,but if it's not sustainable, they're two
(13:54):
great pro wrestlers, so it's somethingto keep an eye on for sure.
And as we say out here,that motherfucker guy yoke, he got Jack
during his rehab, so I needto get on his workout regimen because I
know it ain't just Rice and beans. I got a d M him and
ask him about that. Other fanquestions, we got two that immediately stood
out to me, and I waslike, I gotta I gotta ask you
these two specifically. Number one,what's up with Jade Cargo. A lot
(14:15):
of rumors out there, so feelfree to to, you know, dispel
rumors, confirm rumors, floors.Well, Jade had a great match on
Friday night on AW Rampage and itwas a great match against Chris dat Lander.
Chris dat Lander retained the tv PPTVSChampionship on Rampage on Friday night,
and I thought that was a greatmatch. Uh, definitely one of the
(14:37):
best matches I've seen either of themhave and I thought, really a great
main event for the show. Asfar as Jade goes, I can't really
comment on that except to say thatJade's been a great wrestler for AW and
certainly always welcome in AW. Youknow, could always be somebody we would
always love to work with here inAW ben past tense, got it so
(15:00):
ah. The other question, whatwent wrong with C M. Punk Well,
I can't really comment on that,but you know, I appreciate you
asking, but I'm you know,very excited about the things we are doing.
Like I said, we've been onprobably the best run of AW pay
per views we've ever had, andthe TV shows have been really strong.
(15:20):
We've had a lot of great matchesboth on TV and pay per view,
and it feels like this week it'sall really coming together. And to come
into New York City with a cardso strong up and down. You know,
we've talked about the AW World Championship, Mja versus Samoa Joe, the
International Championship, John Moxley versus RayPhoenix, the Women's World Championship, AW
(15:41):
champions Soraya versus Tony Storm. Youmentioned the title for title match Eddie Kingston
versus Claudio Castagnoli. It's such abig card up and down the show.
And when you look at that kindof a lineup and the kind of matches
we're bringing and also to have youknow, AW rampage including Sting teaming with
(16:03):
Dark Special two hours or two hourepisode Friday which you can see if you
come to the stadium on Wednesday atArthur Ash four hours worth of solid quality
product. I don't off the AshStadium this Wednesday night. And how many
times do you get to see Stingwrestle in New York City? To me,
I think that's always something really specialand one of the things you know,
I always really look forward to forme as a fan, and that,
(16:26):
you know, I think is reallyexciting, and there's so much to
look forward to up and down thecard. And I also think, as
you you know, see what's happeningin aw right now, there's some really
interesting stories happening, and there's somereally fascinating character development, you know,
the story with MJF and Adam Colein particular in recent weeks. What's been
(16:48):
happening with these two, I'm fascinated. I think the fans are clearly captivated
because these two have sold more merchandiseas a pair than anybody else all year
combined, and they've only been togethersince the summer Wow, So it's a
it's a very compelling act. It'sreally interesting to see what's happening with these
two with the brocha shows, asthey say, and also really excited to
(17:12):
have Wrestle Dream coming up. Ithink we've got a really big card coming
up in Seattle October first on payper view, Huge matches, uh dream
matches like Brian Danielson versus Zach SaberJunior, Hangman Page versus Swerve Strickland,
who is from Seattle, so thatI'm very interested to see how the fans
(17:33):
react to their hometown boy in Swerveand just fan favorite everywhere he goes with
Hangman Adam Page, which is Octoberone. You mentioned the streak of three
consecutive pay per views that you guyshave been knocking it out of park.
There's a room or out here inthese three so y'are trying to go to
twelve pay per views? Heah?Is that is that something you could you
could talk about? Not yet?What's up? Well, I think we're
(17:55):
gonna have a really really strong setof shows. Now we've expanded this year.
We've added All In and now WrestleDream. Last year we added a
new show and Forbidden Door. That'sbeen a huge hit, and we showed
when we add new shows the qualityis there. And I'm really proud of
that because last year we added ForbiddenDoor. People weren't sure what to expect
(18:15):
and I know there was some questionsgoing in what's this going to be like?
And even people injured challenges and werebuilt. The show turned out to
be one of the best shows we'veever done and was voted by many publications
as the number one show of theyear by the fans and fan voted two
twenty two top show. Then thisyear we've brought back Forbidden Door. It's
(18:37):
been great. Two years in arow. We did the first ever eight
ew all in debuted another new showthat's been tremendous and not only set live
event records where it was as wetalked about, the most tickets ever sold
for any wrestling show ever, eightyone thirty five tickets sold and to sell
over eighty one thousand tickets for overten million dollars in ticket sales in London
(19:00):
was huge. But it was alsoone of our biggest pay per views ever
at an unfamiliar time because it airedearly in the day, because it was
in London. It's still was oneof our top two pay per views of
all time. And let me justsay for the record, I will be
the one to come out and Iwill say this. You guys have always
said that you broke the tickets soldrecord. Okay, there was the reports
that came out out of the UK, the amount of people that went through
(19:22):
the turnstyle, and it just bothersme with wrestling fans on the internet.
I'm gonna just stick up for youguys real quick. It bothers me the
wrestling fans on the internet that sitthere and try to just like tear down
one company over another. I meanthat's just I think we should just enjoy
wrestling for what it is. Enjoythe Adam Cole MJF storyline that clearly maybe
wasn't its original intent, but asfans, we dictated where this story is
(19:45):
gonna now go to an extent.Why can't people enjoy a WWW Ring of
Honor New Japan And if you likewrestling, just fucking enjoy it. Sorry,
it just annoys me when I seeshit on Twitter. I can't imagine
what you go through when you readthe have to show that you do.
To be quite honest, I reallyappreciate you, Josh. Thanks first,
thanks for sticking up for AW andthe great wrestling we have at AW.
(20:07):
You know, the fans really dosupport the show. Aw Dynamite was the
number one show on cable last Wednesday, and we're on a great streak.
We've been either number one or numbertwo almost every week all summer. I
think, really, when you lookback, not only have the ratings been
really strong, the pay per viewshave been great, but we have some
really great live events coming up.And like I said, this week Wednesday
(20:29):
night Arthur Asked Stadium, there's greatseats available and affordable seats. They start
at twenty dollars. There's great seatsat twenty and twenty five dollars price points,
so you can come in and Ipromise you're gonna get the best value
for your money you're ever going tosee for a wrestling show, because this
is going to be some of thegreatest wrestling in the world this Wednesday night.
And if you can't make it overto Arthur ash Stadium, you can
(20:52):
watch it live on TBS Wednesday night. It starts at eight o'clock. We've
gone down to the card that islike a pay per view quality card for
free on cable TV or for avery affordable TV ticket price starting at twenty
dollars this Wednesday night at Arthur asheSo before we let you go, one
last question. I want to knowwho is on Tony Kahn the fans,
(21:15):
Tony Kahn the fan, his mountrushmore of wrestling. I think for me
it's a great question. I wouldsay Ricky Steamboat, Steve Austin, Rick
Flair, and Brett Hart. BrettHot. Okay, how excited were you
(21:38):
to get Brett Hart for that firstevent present the title? Like, just
as a fan from just take astep back and look at it, like
I get to hang out with BrettHart and have him do this thing with
my company. This is insane.And he's a very classy person when you
meet him in real life, andhe's one of the greatest wrestlers of all
time, and you know in personhe's a real gentleman too, so he
lives up to his reputation. Isone of the greats. Brett Hart amazing,
(22:00):
amazing person. It was great tohave Brett Hart be the first person
ever to pull the a EW WorldChampionship out of the bag at the first
ever double or nothing. That's right, So one more time, Tony Kahn
a e W Grand Slam at theAsh Stadium Wednesday night, twenty dollars to
get into building. Eight o'clock starton TBS. Appreciate your stopping by,
Bro. Thanks Josh, great tosee you.
Hey, Yeah, what up.I'm Josh Martinez. I'm the Superstar Crossover
Podcast with my guest Tony com What'sgoing on man? A lot, Josh,
busy times, exciting times for aw and it's great to see you
in person. That's right, man, you're in studio. We love having
you in studio. Before we goton air, we chopped it up about
pro wrestling, and uh, it'salways fun to just discuss and talk about
(00:20):
like classic historical wrestling with you becauseit shows that you're a fan, you
know what I'm saying. Yeah,I'd like talking about wrestling with you two
for the same reason you love wrestling, you love talking about it, and
you're clearly a student and a historianof pro wrestling, which is why I
enjoyed coming in the studio and justchatting and talking with you about pro wrestling
even when we're not in the air. Yeah, and listen, history could
(00:42):
be made this Wednesday night a wGrand Slam Dynamite Aught the Ash Stadium.
I say aught the Ash because theaccent comes out thick. It is what
it is. What are you gonnado? But we have a historic match
Eddie Kingston against Claudio Casagnoli let's talkabout that if you don't mind, I'd
love to. I'd love to.Eddie has a championship representing New Japan.
(01:03):
Claudio has a title representing Ring ofHonor. Someone's gonna walk away with two
titles, and that hasn't happened inrecent history, right, I don't think
it's ever happened. Nobody's ever heldsingles championships in Ring of Honor in New
Japan. Pro wrestling at the sametime, and this is taking place on
an a e W show. We'reopen to pro wrestling from all over the
world. We've got huge matches upand down the card, and it's really
(01:23):
exciting because this reminds me a lotof the territory wrestling I grew up on.
But the biggest wrestling territory in manyways was always in the old days
New York. And you know,for me, Claudio Castignoli is a throwback
to a great wrestler, Nick Backwinkle. Claudio Castignoli's the thinking man's wrestler.
(01:45):
He's very classy, but he's athorough professional. He's a tough guy,
but he's highly intelligent. I thinkthose guys would go on the Mount rushmore
of the most intelligent pro wrestlers Claudioand Bachwinkle. And I really believe Claudio
is a great world champion. Andthis match reminds me a lot of when
I was a kid going back intape trading in Memphis, there was Nick
(02:07):
Backwinkle versus Jerry Lawler. And Ithink New York is a market. This
city is a hundred times bigger thanMemphis ever was. But if you're a
real wrestling fan, you know Jerrythe King Lawlers, Nick Backwinkle was great
wrestling. And to me, EddieKingston is like that kind of a hero
to New York City what Lawler wasto the Memphis market, and this is
(02:28):
one hundred times bigger and he isthis city's hero. Eddie Kingston is a
great New York wrestling hero, andI really believe the whole city's gonna be
rallying behind him. And it's agreat match because it's a double championship match,
it's got international implications. It's gonnabe airing live on TBS. The
(02:49):
show starts live on TBS at eightpm on Wednesday night, but it's at
Arthur As Stadium, like you said, and so many great wrestling fans in
New York City are gonna be thereand people are going to be behind Eddie
Kingston to take home the double championshipWednesday night at Grand Slam. Now,
I'm interested to see on the homefield advantage front, how mjf's reaction is.
(03:09):
He usually gets a pretty damn goodreaction when he's home. This time
around, his attitude's a little easierfor us to digest. But there's something
about Samoa Joe that just diehard fanslove. Who do you think the crowd
will be cheering for more MJF forSamoa Joe this Wednesday night. That's a
tough call. And in New YorkCity, I think you're gonna get a
lot of people behind MJF because MJFis one of the most popular wrestlers in
(03:31):
the world everywhere we go. Sothese are two huge stars and it's a
huge match the a EW World Championshipat Grand Slam, MJF versus Samoa Joe
for the world title. I thinkin New York you're gonna see the crowd
really behind MJF. Here. Eventhough Samoa Joe is one of the biggest,
toughest stars in the world, he'sgot a huge response everywhere we go,
(03:53):
but I really believe the people aregoing to be behind MJF, and
especially given what we've seen from JFin recent months, he's really developed as
a person. We've seen a differentMJF and MJF and Adam Cole. It's
one of the most fascinating dynamics inall of wrestling right now, and it's
something to keep an eye on,especially after the way Dynamite ended last Wednesday
(04:14):
on TBS, definitely kind of acliffhanger, and going into this match with
mjf's best friend Adam Cole getting jumpedby Samoa Joe right before the big championship
match, this win's it. Sothose aren't the only two title matches.
Not only do we have the ROHWorld Heavyweight Title up for grabs or the
aw World Heavyweight Title, but wealso have the a W Women's World Championship
(04:34):
SIA Tony Storm International Flare again SAAwith with what some Mike calling upset,
she had the home field advantage.Tony Storm. This new this newer Tony
Storm, I'm not even exaggerating,may just be my favorite character right now
in all of wrestling, and it'sbeen what three four weeks of it.
I am all in on this TonyStorm dude, Like, I don't know
(04:57):
what what happened, but I'm allin on it. No pun intended love
this Tony Storm version, but theywere together in a group. And then
now they're they're beefing as we aswe said before off air New Beef,
so Ray against Tony Storm. Andthen we also have the AW International Championship
John Moxley against Ray Phoenix, whichis a bit of a grudge match,
so some people are kind of forgettingabout because Moxley put Phoenix on the shelf
(05:17):
and made him prevented him from goingall the way to London for aw all
in. Hows how has Moxley beenas International Champion? Has only been a
small sample size a week or so, right, two weeks up to this
point. Yeah, he's been greatso far. It's been a few weeks.
But I think this is a hugematch and mox won the title at
(05:39):
all out from Orange Cassidy, whohad an incredible run almost he deserved that
standing ovation. I was very excitedfrom a just nerdy wrestling fan who understands
production a little bit. The factthat you guys stayed on the shot and
he we all were able to seethe reaction that Orange Cassidy got. I
thought that was super dope because thatwas kind of the culmination of in my
(05:59):
opinion, arguably the MVP of thelast year for AW based on the matches
he had, the different style matcheshe had, and how goddamn good that
man is in the ring. Also, by the way, he's from New
Jersey, so even more love,more local love. But back to Moxley
and Ray Phoenix. Where would yourank someone like Ray Phoenix in regards to
the most exciting wrestlers on the planettoday, Ray Phoenix is one of the
(06:20):
most exciting wrestlers on the planet.Here in a EW we got the greatest
high flyers, and I really believea EW is the most exciting pro wrestling
in the world, and Ray PhoenixI have to rank close to the top,
near the top of the most excitingwrestlers in the world. When we've
seen Ray Phoenix and his brother PentelZeromieto the Luca Brothers in some of the
(06:42):
best matches ever in AW. Theyhad the classic cage match with the Young
Bucks. We've seen their rivalry withthe best Friends and we've seen. They've
had these great matches, the DeathTriangle against the Elite, and recently Ray
Phoenix was supposed to be part ofthe big stadium Stampede match against the Beast
at Wembley Stadium. I think we'reon our greatest run of pay per views
(07:03):
ever right now. I really believethe last three pay per views a EW
Forbidden Door, a ew all Inat Wembley Stadium, and a EW All
Out in Chicago. I think that'sthe best three back to back to back
we've ever done. And I thinka lot of people feel that way.
To go from Forbidden Door in Torontoto All In in London and then All
(07:24):
Out in Chicago, all three showssome of our best shows. And as
you said, the Orange Cassidy Moxleymatch, what an incredible way it was
to end aw all Out. Anda week before that we had this great
show at all In. Ray Phoenixgot robbed in front of the opportunity to
not only wrestle in front of overeighty one thousand fans in England at London
(07:48):
Wembley Stadium, but also to win, to be there on the winning team
when his brother Penta and Orange CassidyEddie Kingston, Santano Ortiz and all the
BCC guys. You know, we'reon the other side of this match,
and the best friends in Orange Cassidy, Eddie Kingston and Penta walked away as
the winners in the big stadium stampede. Ray Phoenix didn't get to be a
(08:11):
part of that and he got attacked. He got hit in the head with
a crowbar. So I think it'sa big grudge match. And when you
got one of the most exciting wrestlersin the world, Ray Phoenix against one
of I think one of the mostcertainly one of the most compelling and one
of the most captivating wrestlers in recentyears, in my opinion, John Moxley,
(08:31):
the International Champion of AW. That'sgoing to be a great match and
it's very fitting. I think JohnMoxley, he's been defending that AW International
title every week, sometimes multiple timesa week since he won it the last
few weeks, and I don't knowif anybody is going to be able to
keep up that pace. I mean, he's trying to rival that Orange Cassidy
(08:52):
pace. And it's something to seeand certainly very cool that the international title
is being defended against one of thetop international stars. Ray Phoenix. You
know, it's interesting you bring upMoxley and how valuable he's been, arguably
probably m VP of last year.Right recently, he came out and said,
and I believe it was Sportskeeta thatmight have gotten the interview. I
believe pro Wrestling. I believe wasbelieve. I want to make sure I
(09:13):
source them right, they said.Moxley said that he met he met up
with Vince recently or within the lastyear or so, and Vince reportedly said
that he took him for granted.When you hear that, see that,
do you kind of like smirk alittle bit and go, yeah, I
knew Moxley's got it all this wholetime. Well, I think it's one
thing to say that John Moxley's oneof the greatest wrestlers in the world,
(09:35):
and frankly, I think for AWit's another thing for us that's very true
is John Moxley's one of the mostimportant people ever in AW and from the
very beginning he's been one of ourtop stars, and now he's a great
international champion. I'm really excited aboutJohn Moxley and Ray Phoenix This Wednesday at
arthur As Stadium. There's still greattickets available for this show. You can
(09:56):
see it on TBS or come downto arthur As Stadium. Ticket start at
twenty dollars and there's great seats fortwenty and twenty five dollars and come check
it out. We really are prettyexcited about this show. I think it's
going to be one of the bestlineups we've ever had in aw and very
fitting to come here to New YorkCity with this kind of a show.
You mentioned the Women's world title match, and I agree with you. I
(10:20):
think Tony Storm is doing some ofthe best work in all pro wrestling right
now. She's a former Women's worldchampion two times. She's had a great
partnership with Sorea, and really wesaw Sorea have just this beautiful moment at
Wembley Stadium. I thought it wasreally cool to have somebody who is one
of the biggest wrestling stars in Englandhave that great moment winning the world title
(10:43):
in front of her family, havingall her family and friends there at ringside
to cheer her on. I thinkTony Storm was already hanging on by a
very thin thread emotionally, and we'veseen it's been very compelling, and you
know, I agree with you,highly entertaining in recent weeks the way Tony
Storm has been losing her mind,and personally, I really enjoy working with
(11:03):
Tony Storm. I think she's agreat talent, and I think we are
onto something really special with Tony Stormright now, and she could become a
three time Women's World champion and endthat storybook tale of Soreya. This Wednesday
night at Arthur ash Stadium on TBS, we also have Chris Jericho against Sammy
Gavara. Not a grudge match verymuch, a Hey, let's just see
(11:24):
which one of us is a betterone, and then we'll come back together
and try to go after the tagtitles, which is actually very reminiscent of
a story between Eddie Guerrero and Raymisterioand that went into WrestleMania with that match.
So anytime you know, something remindsus of Raymisteria or Eddie Guerrero,
damn it, that's a good thing. Absolutely, And I think Jericho and
(11:46):
Sammy are one of the top tagteams, and they're two of the top
wrestlers is individuals. They're a greatteam. We've seen them have some wins
against all of the top competition theyfaced. I think they're really two of
our greatest wrestlers. And that's whereAW really started was with Jericho and Sammy.
The very first episode of Dynamite,we saw Jericho and Sammy get together.
(12:07):
They've been together for over two hundredepisodes of AW Dynamite now for four
years, and it's really cool thatit's come full circle the original members of
the Inner Circle, Jericho and Sammyone on one, these two great friends
and should be a great wrestling matchJericho versus Gavara on TBS Live this Wednesday.
(12:28):
And that's the kind of great matcheswe're bringing to Arthur ash Stadium because
Grand Slam is to me, it'sprobably our most important TV event of the
year, and I think it isour most important show. This has become
a great tradition. It's the thirdyear in a row that we brought a
ew here to Arthur ash Stadium,and it's always right after the US Open
event ends, and it's really coolfor us. Like I was telling you
(12:50):
before the show starts, it isdefinitely the nicest locker rooms and the nicest
venue, the classiest service that weget and it's the real first class treatment
for the wrestlers that the tennis playersget at the US Open. And we
come in right after the US Openends, So it's really cool to bring
AW Pro Wrestling to New York Cityright after the US Open. So talking
(13:11):
about the Inner Circle a little bitin New York City, I'm just curious.
I got I got a few fanquestions here, so I just want
to kind of jump into them alittle bit. This is my this is
my personal question. What do youthink is Mike Santana's ceiling in AW.
Well, Mike Santana is a greatwrestler. I really like Mike Santana.
I think it's definitely something that he'sback in AW that we're all excited about.
(13:33):
And I really am interested to seewhere he goes as a single now
if he's going to be an individualand not part of this great tag team
we've seen for such a long time, Santana and Ortiz, and I think
I'm interested to know where they eachgo as individuals. Certainly it's been a
great situation as a tag team,but if it's not sustainable, they're two
(13:54):
great pro wrestlers, so it's somethingto keep an eye on for sure.
And as we say out here,that motherfucker guy yoke, he got Jack
during his rehab, so I needto get on his workout regimen because I
know it ain't just Rice and beans. I got a d M him and
ask him about that. Other fanquestions, we got two that immediately stood
out to me, and I waslike, I gotta I gotta ask you
these two specifically. Number one,what's up with Jade Cargo. A lot
(14:15):
of rumors out there, so feelfree to to, you know, dispel
rumors, confirm rumors, floors.Well, Jade had a great match on
Friday night on AW Rampage and itwas a great match against Chris dat Lander.
Chris dat Lander retained the tv PPTVSChampionship on Rampage on Friday night,
and I thought that was a greatmatch. Uh, definitely one of the
(14:37):
best matches I've seen either of themhave and I thought, really a great
main event for the show. Asfar as Jade goes, I can't really
comment on that except to say thatJade's been a great wrestler for AW and
certainly always welcome in AW. Youknow, could always be somebody we would
always love to work with here inAW ben past tense, got it so
(15:00):
ah. The other question, whatwent wrong with C M. Punk Well,
I can't really comment on that,but you know, I appreciate you
asking, but I'm you know,very excited about the things we are doing.
Like I said, we've been onprobably the best run of AW pay
per views we've ever had, andthe TV shows have been really strong.
(15:20):
We've had a lot of great matchesboth on TV and pay per view,
and it feels like this week it'sall really coming together. And to come
into New York City with a cardso strong up and down. You know,
we've talked about the AW World Championship, Mja versus Samoa Joe, the
International Championship, John Moxley versus RayPhoenix, the Women's World Championship, AW
(15:41):
champions Soraya versus Tony Storm. Youmentioned the title for title match Eddie Kingston
versus Claudio Castagnoli. It's such abig card up and down the show.
And when you look at that kindof a lineup and the kind of matches
we're bringing and also to have youknow, AW rampage including Sting teaming with
(16:03):
Dark Special two hours or two hourepisode Friday which you can see if you
come to the stadium on Wednesday atArthur Ash four hours worth of solid quality
product. I don't off the AshStadium this Wednesday night. And how many
times do you get to see Stingwrestle in New York City? To me,
I think that's always something really specialand one of the things you know,
I always really look forward to forme as a fan, and that,
(16:26):
you know, I think is reallyexciting, and there's so much to
look forward to up and down thecard. And I also think, as
you you know, see what's happeningin aw right now, there's some really
interesting stories happening, and there's somereally fascinating character development, you know,
the story with MJF and Adam Colein particular in recent weeks. What's been
(16:48):
happening with these two, I'm fascinated. I think the fans are clearly captivated
because these two have sold more merchandiseas a pair than anybody else all year
combined, and they've only been togethersince the summer Wow, So it's a
it's a very compelling act. It'sreally interesting to see what's happening with these
two with the brocha shows, asthey say, and also really excited to
(17:12):
have Wrestle Dream coming up. Ithink we've got a really big card coming
up in Seattle October first on payper view, Huge matches, uh dream
matches like Brian Danielson versus Zach SaberJunior, Hangman Page versus Swerve Strickland,
who is from Seattle, so thatI'm very interested to see how the fans
(17:33):
react to their hometown boy in Swerveand just fan favorite everywhere he goes with
Hangman Adam Page, which is Octoberone. You mentioned the streak of three
consecutive pay per views that you guyshave been knocking it out of park.
There's a room or out here inthese three so y'are trying to go to
twelve pay per views? Heah?Is that is that something you could you
could talk about? Not yet?What's up? Well, I think we're
(17:55):
gonna have a really really strong setof shows. Now we've expanded this year.
We've added All In and now WrestleDream. Last year we added a
new show and Forbidden Door. That'sbeen a huge hit, and we showed
when we add new shows the qualityis there. And I'm really proud of
that because last year we added ForbiddenDoor. People weren't sure what to expect
(18:15):
and I know there was some questionsgoing in what's this going to be like?
And even people injured challenges and werebuilt. The show turned out to
be one of the best shows we'veever done and was voted by many publications
as the number one show of theyear by the fans and fan voted two
twenty two top show. Then thisyear we've brought back Forbidden Door. It's
(18:37):
been great. Two years in arow. We did the first ever eight
ew all in debuted another new showthat's been tremendous and not only set live
event records where it was as wetalked about, the most tickets ever sold
for any wrestling show ever, eightyone thirty five tickets sold and to sell
over eighty one thousand tickets for overten million dollars in ticket sales in London
(19:00):
was huge. But it was alsoone of our biggest pay per views ever
at an unfamiliar time because it airedearly in the day, because it was
in London. It's still was oneof our top two pay per views of
all time. And let me justsay for the record, I will be
the one to come out and Iwill say this. You guys have always
said that you broke the tickets soldrecord. Okay, there was the reports
that came out out of the UK, the amount of people that went through
(19:22):
the turnstyle, and it just bothersme with wrestling fans on the internet.
I'm gonna just stick up for youguys real quick. It bothers me the
wrestling fans on the internet that sitthere and try to just like tear down
one company over another. I meanthat's just I think we should just enjoy
wrestling for what it is. Enjoythe Adam Cole MJF storyline that clearly maybe
wasn't its original intent, but asfans, we dictated where this story is
(19:45):
gonna now go to an extent.Why can't people enjoy a WWW Ring of
Honor New Japan And if you likewrestling, just fucking enjoy it. Sorry,
it just annoys me when I seeshit on Twitter. I can't imagine
what you go through when you readthe have to show that you do.
To be quite honest, I reallyappreciate you, Josh. Thanks first,
thanks for sticking up for AW andthe great wrestling we have at AW.
(20:07):
You know, the fans really dosupport the show. Aw Dynamite was the
number one show on cable last Wednesday, and we're on a great streak.
We've been either number one or numbertwo almost every week all summer. I
think, really, when you lookback, not only have the ratings been
really strong, the pay per viewshave been great, but we have some
really great live events coming up.And like I said, this week Wednesday
(20:29):
night Arthur Asked Stadium, there's greatseats available and affordable seats. They start
at twenty dollars. There's great seatsat twenty and twenty five dollars price points,
so you can come in and Ipromise you're gonna get the best value
for your money you're ever going tosee for a wrestling show, because this
is going to be some of thegreatest wrestling in the world this Wednesday night.
And if you can't make it overto Arthur ash Stadium, you can
(20:52):
watch it live on TBS Wednesday night. It starts at eight o'clock. We've
gone down to the card that islike a pay per view quality card for
free on cable TV or for avery affordable TV ticket price starting at twenty
dollars this Wednesday night at Arthur asheSo before we let you go, one
last question. I want to knowwho is on Tony Kahn the fans,
(21:15):
Tony Kahn the fan, his mountrushmore of wrestling. I think for me
it's a great question. I wouldsay Ricky Steamboat, Steve Austin, Rick
Flair, and Brett Hart. BrettHot. Okay, how excited were you
(21:38):
to get Brett Hart for that firstevent present the title? Like, just
as a fan from just take astep back and look at it, like
I get to hang out with BrettHart and have him do this thing with
my company. This is insane.And he's a very classy person when you
meet him in real life, andhe's one of the greatest wrestlers of all
time, and you know in personhe's a real gentleman too, so he
lives up to his reputation. Isone of the greats. Brett Hart amazing,
(22:00):
amazing person. It was great tohave Brett Hart be the first person
ever to pull the a EW WorldChampionship out of the bag at the first
ever double or nothing. That's right, So one more time, Tony Kahn
a e W Grand Slam at theAsh Stadium Wednesday night, twenty dollars to
get into building. Eight o'clock starton TBS. Appreciate your stopping by,
Bro. Thanks Josh, great tosee you.
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