SGTW Presents AEW Double Or Nothing Media Call May 22 2025

SGTW presents the AEW Double Or Nothing Media Conference Call with AEW CEO & GM Tony Khan. Plus, Stew gives his thoughts and previews the updated card for Sunday.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is hang Man Adam Page, and you're listening to
sports guys talking wrestling.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
When they're not covering the sports world.

Speaker 3 (00:08):
They're talking about the world or professional wrestling.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It's sports guys talking wrestling. Now, here's Stu my Ring.
Welcome to the special edition Sports Guys Talking Wrestling. Stee
Myrick here, as I get ready to send you to
the media conference call with aw CEO General Manager Tony

(00:34):
Kahn as they get ready for ae W Double or
Nothing coming up this Sunday, APM Eastern, seven pm Central.
Get it on pay per view from the Desert Diamond
Arena in Glendale, Arizona. A little bit of a different
twist as far as availability, Triller TV no longer available

(00:58):
in the United States. Is still on Triller TV internationally,
but you still can get it here in the United
States on Prime Video, on YOUTUBEPPV, dot Com, Fubo, as
is customary, This media conference call will probably last close
to an hour. Hopefully we will hear why Triller TV

(01:22):
is no longer distributing the paper for the United States.
Sure we will hear some other questions about the card.
I'm sure we'll hear a question or two about aw
in general.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Four.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Now let me send you off to AEW CEO and
general manager Tony Kahn.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Thank you, Jim. I'm really excited to be here with
everyone today. It's amazing. It's six years since the very
first AW show and I'm very excited for this weekend.
It should be a great show on Sunday, and I'm
excited to at answer your questions and hopefully visit with
a bunch of you who've been covering AW since the

(02:01):
very beginning six years ago. And with that we can
get to the question. Thank you, Jim. All right, you're right.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
About that six years now, it's been fantastic. So John
allba from the Takedown on s I will lead us
off Tony and then on deck we'll have Courtney Rice
from Women's Wrestling Talk.

Speaker 5 (02:20):
So John, you are up?

Speaker 3 (02:25):
So he got me?

Speaker 6 (02:26):
Sorry was taken a while on mud Hi John, It's
great to chat with you, Jim. Thank you.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Tony.

Speaker 6 (02:32):
Always great to chat and uh, John, we had we
had a late next game last night after Dynamite, so
we got a lot to catch up on.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
But yeah, we had we had half the locker room
watching the next game last night, so I know you
had a challenging night, but it's good. Did good to
hear me.

Speaker 6 (02:51):
Gotta drag Danny Garcia away from the TV there. But
so I want to ask about the main event, because
you guys announced that they and Hangman match is going
to be the main event. Traditionally, not always, but traditionally
the Anarchy in the Arena match has served as the
main event for this and this year you're including the
women in it for the first time. The Death Riders

(03:13):
have been involved in your main event scene for the
almost past five months now, and there's been some mixed
feedback online as a result of that. What was your
thought process in not including the Death Riders in the
main event here and instead opting to give that slot
to Will Ospry and Hangman Page.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
Well, I think it's going to be a fantastic pay
per view. I'm very excited about the owen Hart Finals.
I'm very excited for both of the owen Hart Finals,
the men and the women's matches. Very excited about Mercedes
Mone versus Jamie Hater, and very excited about Hangman Page
versus Will Ospray. And I think both matches have just

(03:50):
been doing a fantastic job. We've been building a lot
of excitement, and all four wrestlers have really been delivering
in their interviews and all the wrestling they've been doing
for us in twenty twenty five, and as long as
they've all been here. I really am very excited about
Hangout Page versus will Osprey. I think it's going to

(04:12):
be a fantastic main event. The Anarchy in the Arena
match is a great, great part of the pay per
view we have at times, you know, had not closed
with the Narky and the arena match. In fact, the
first anarchy in the Arena match I believe was third
from the end. And I think sometimes instead of focusing

(04:37):
on the placement on the card, it's important to just
look at the card as a whole. There's great matches
and everything on this show is going to be great,
and he's going to have an opportunity to hit a
home run. And in this case, I think will Ospray
versus Hangman Page, both men have been absolutely smashing it
out of the park all year. They've just been doing

(04:58):
a fantastic job and I think that both will Ospray
and hang In bring a lot to the table. I
think it's going to be a very exciting compelling match.
I think there are multiple matches on this card, both
of the own Hart Finals, the Anarchy in the Arena,
and many other things that would be very compelling in
the main event spot. But I think hang In and

(05:20):
Will Osprey are going to do a great job there.
And when I looked at the very first Anarchy in
the Arena match, it was actually not at the end
of the show, and many people thought that was potentially
the best one yet. So I don't think it necessarily
has to go at the end when you look back,
and then looking back at some of our best shows,

(05:44):
some of our best matches in the history of AW,
Hangman Page and Lil Ospray have been involved in some
of the greatest matches and some of the greatest moments
ever in AW and I can't wait for their match
this Sunday at Double or Nothing. Thanks for asking, John.

Speaker 7 (06:01):
Okay, Thanks Son.

Speaker 4 (06:03):
Courtney Rice from Women's Wrestling Talk is next, and then
Jason Paul from Pro Wrestling dot Net will follow Courtney.

Speaker 7 (06:12):
Courtney.

Speaker 8 (06:12):
You're up, Courtney, hellout?

Speaker 9 (06:19):
Okay, Hi, Hi, Tony. I want to talk about the
one of the women's matches happening at Double or Nothing,
and you mentioned about the owen Hart Women's Tournament between
Mercedes Monette and Jamie Hayter, and we did see the
promo last night between those two ladies, and I want
to focus a little bit a lot about Jamie Hayter

(06:40):
since a lot of people are now starting to get
into AW and not familiar with her. A lot of
people tend to forget she was a former AW Women's
champion and she had a few setbacks between her injury
and her visa. And my question regarding this weekend's match
between both of these ladies, is it a possibility we

(07:02):
get to see a resurgence with Jamie Hager and having
her back into the title picture for the AEW Women's Championship.

Speaker 10 (07:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
I think it's going to be a great match. And
both of the finalists, Jamie Hayter and Mercedes Monet, are
two of the best wrestlers in AW. They've had very
different paths to get here. Jamie Hayter's been in AW
for a long time, but like you said, she's had
some challenges along the way. She was in AW actually

(07:34):
dating back in twenty nineteen, and then when the lockdown happened,
she was away for a long time. And she came
back as a completely different wrestler. And Jamie Hayters really
somebody that looking back to the very first year of
AW has been with us and done great things and
continue to improve, got better and better and reached the

(07:55):
height of the profession. She became the world champion, and
like you said, she's had some step injury and then
we had to get her visa renude, which worked great,
and she's back and she's doing some of the greatest
work in her career. I think right now she's doing
the very best work of her career. The stuff last
night with Mercedes and Jamie Hayter was absolutely fantastic, and

(08:17):
I think she's met her match. Mercedes Monet is one
of the best wrestlers on the planet. Mercedes Monee is
the face of the TBS channel, and both of these
women would be a great number one contender. Whether it's
Jamie Hater or Mercedes Monet, either one of them is
a great number one contender to whoever wins the AW

(08:37):
World Championship match between Timeless, Tony Storm and Mina Shirakawa.
I think to have so many great names and great
wrestlers in the title picture, it's very intriguing. It's very interesting.
I'm very excited about it, and I really think that
whoever wins the Owen Hart Finals, whoever wins the Women's
World Championship match, We're going to have a fantastic world

(09:00):
title match at AW all in, and the title picture
is really interesting right now. I think AW is having
an excellent twenty twenty five and I'm really excited about
what all four of those women are doing, Jamie Hayter,
Mercedes Monette, Timeless, Tony Storm, and Minashiri Kawa. And your
question specifically was about Jamie Hayter, who I completely agree

(09:21):
with what you said. She's overcome a lot to get
into this position, and yes, I believe believe Jamie Hayter
is capable of being a top star and doing everything
it takes to be a great champion and a great
leader in AW. Thanks for asking, Thank you, Courney.

Speaker 4 (09:38):
Jason Paul from Pro Wrestling dot Net is next. Andrew
Beadala from Final Bell Media will follow Jason Jason Drup.

Speaker 11 (09:50):
Yeah, Hey, so, I guess my question it relates to
what I perceive is the improvement of Dynamite lately, and
of course it's all subjective, but it seems like the
move the smaller venues has helped with the atmosphere. Maybe
you're focusing on more of a core group of wrestlers.
Can you comment on those ideas, and also just anything

(10:10):
else that may have changed behind the scenes, if there's
more voices involved or just you know, whatever's led to
what I consider to be improvement.

Speaker 3 (10:17):
No, there's less voices involved, and that may be part
of the and I you know, I've really tightened it up.
And I think this is like a peak pandemic a
w in terms of having a great crew of people
that are really excited to be here and that really
are all very excited about eight of you. I think

(10:39):
we had this great opportunity in twenty twenty five with
a new start, with an opportunity to simulcast and reach
a new audience and maybe even reach some fans that
had cut the cord. But there's still such a great
base on TBS and TNT. And I think Jason, what
you're seeing, it's it is subjective, but there is real

(11:01):
data behind it to say that we've grown our audience
in Q one, which is kind of amazing because people
expected when we started simulcasting the cable audience would go backwards,
but actually we've grown the audience in Q one and
in Q two we're doing very very well, and things
are really trending well for the year. I knew this

(11:23):
was a big opportunity for AW, so in twenty twenty five,
I've tried to make the most of it and go
back to things that have worked really well for us
since the beginning and had that mindset like every week
we're in Daily's place, and we're going to do the
very best AAW. Whether we're in one of these venues

(11:43):
you talked about, like these really interesting places we've been
some of the Detroit the Masonic Temple was a fantastic example.
We've been in some of these really exciting venues. Hammerstegn
in New York is a great example. I'm really excited
to go to the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. Those are
great venues, but also had shows in massive venues with

(12:05):
huge audiences, and I think it's great having that balance.
And I also think whether you're in a great theater
or an amphitheater, or a huge arena or a huge stadium,
we've been bringing the very best of AAW. Like you said,
with a great crew of wrestlers and the support of
the fans, and I think by consistently putting on great

(12:27):
shows week after week. In twenty twenty five, you mentioned Dynamite.
I also think Collisions having a great twenty twenty five
and the data is really good for Collision also in
twenty twenty five. Both shows really grew their audience in
Q one over last year Q four and are both
having a great Q two. As far as what we're doing,
I mean, we got the best wrestlers in the world.

(12:48):
AW is where the best wrestlers wrestle, and it's really
I think, been a great year for that. So I
appreciate you saying that. Good to hear you know, you're
somebody who've been reading about your opinions on wrestling since
I was a kid, and you've been covering the sport
for a long time. Your opinions have a lot of validity.

(13:10):
No two people can agree on every opinion about wrestling, because,
like you said, it's a subjective thing. But there's real
evidence to say that the fans really like what AW
is doing right now, and I'm glad to hear that
you like it. That's a good sign for us, So,
thank you man, Thank you.

Speaker 4 (13:25):
Jason Andrew Baidalla from Final Bell Media is next. Cameron
Hawkins from Yahoo's Sports will follow.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
Okay you are can you guys hear me? Hello? Hey Tony,
how are you great? Man?

Speaker 12 (13:43):
Currently, your pay per view distribution, especially in the United States,
appears to be quite spread out and non exclusive. With
that in mind, congratulations on AW double or Nothing this weekend.
Can we expect AW to continue this approach for pay
per views or is there a possibility of establishing the
singular distributor or dedicated home for your events in the
near future.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
Well, we have great partners and I'm excited about the
new partnerships. You know, I was excited when we added YouTube,
and we've had some great opportunities to add new pay
per view partners and in particular Amazon Prime and Amazon
Prime one of the largest companies in the world, one
of the largest streaming services, and a great opportunity to

(14:27):
partner with them, and we've had a great collaboration with them.
I believe Double or Nothing will be our third pay
per view now on the Amazon Prime platform, and it's
becoming very quickly a huge part of our business. And
I think that's going to continue to grow long term.
I still am looking towards pay per views on Max
and they're building that technology as I understand, and that's

(14:48):
something that would be very exciting for us. And I
think we've also got the opportunity to sell on cable,
satellite and all these different providers. But certainly this year,
while we're looking ahead to hopefully sometime soon being able
to launch pay per views on Max and building out

(15:08):
that tech with our great partners at Warner Brothers Discovery,
in the meantime, right now, there are great pay per
view partners There are great places today where you can
go order double or nothing. And for us this year
it's been great partnership with Amazon Prime, and even with
Amazon Prime, they collaborate with Max. You know, you can
buy Max in Amazon and you can watch Dynamite in

(15:31):
Amazon Prime through the Max subscription, so that's pretty cool.
And they have all the AW content there and then
it goes right into the pay per views. So I
think that's also a neat synergy. And as we've expanded
our partnerships, the number one partnership, the most important thing
we do is always the partnership between AW and Warner

(15:53):
Brothers Discovery. It's the lifeblood of AW and it really
allows us to build out this great roster, to build
out these great TV shows, and it makes AW where
the best wrestle the platform to be able to have
Dynamite on TBS Collision usually on TNT, but tonight on

(16:14):
TBS on a special Thursday Collision tonight, and you know,
that really sets the tone for AW and makes it
possible to do what we do And in addition to
the great partnership with TBS and TNT at Warner Brothers Discovery,
now it's a big deal being on Max. I'm also
a lifelong fan of HBO. It's my favorite channel of

(16:37):
all time. The almost all of my favorite shows, whether
it's Sopranos, Succession, the Larry Sanders Show, and Curb Enthusiasm
and so many others are all on HBO. And now
eventually here coming soon, AW is going to be part
of an HBO Max which really excites me. And as
we're part of that Max family right now, you know,

(17:00):
it's it's been great reaching the streaming audience with our
TV shows and eventually there's also the plan to have
a pay per view menu, which is exciting. Thanks for
asking me.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (17:13):
Andrew Cameron Hawkins from Yahoo Sports is next. I will
follow Cameron with a write in question Tony from l
A J A Wrestling Gal. But first let's go to
Cameron Cameron Hawkins from Yahoo Sports.

Speaker 3 (17:28):
Seahawk.

Speaker 7 (17:31):
Yeah, thank you for your time. Just a quick question.

Speaker 13 (17:36):
Recently he's out on the card, but you guys signed
Kevin Knight.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
He's really prominent on TV.

Speaker 7 (17:43):
In your opinion, of course, you know, you run the thing,
but any feedback you can receive, any information you heard.

Speaker 5 (17:50):
What makes a e.

Speaker 7 (17:52):
W a great destination for young talent?

Speaker 3 (17:58):
Well, I think AW is a great destination for young talent.
I love working with young wrestlers. Our staff loves working
with young wrestlers. I think what's really great is our
veteran wrestlers love working with the young wrestlers. There's great
opportunities to come here learn from the very best wrestlers
who have decades of experience, and even some wrestlers who

(18:19):
are in the prime of their career right now and
are in their prime yet they have ten, twelve, fifteen
plus years of experience despite being very young people. I
think it's very very impressive the knowledge that the AW
locker room has it's a very positive place, and I
have to say, in twenty twenty five, I think it's
the most positive it's been since we were in Daily's place.

(18:42):
I really really enjoy coming to the shows and I
think we have a really really positive crew right now,
and I think it's coming across in the TV show
how much people really like in AW right now. And
Kevin Knight is a great example of that. That's somebody
that came in. He got a great opportunity. It's no
secret that one of the biggest and best stars in

(19:03):
AW is J White. Jay White's injury was very I
was I was upset. I really wish we had J White.
I love J White. I think he's just absolutely fantastic,
and in particular this you know, this past year, whether

(19:24):
it was the classic series of matches he had with
Hangman Page, his performance in the Casino Gauallet matches, just
time after time, I think Jay White just comes through.
He's absolutely fantastic. I really believe in him, and when
he got injured, it's a blow to the company, it's
a blow to j it's a blow to all of us,
and it's disappointing, but Kevin Knight really stepped in and
has made the most of a great opportunity to rise

(19:47):
up the card. And I think we like to give
our young wrestlers opportunities, and it just so happened. Kevin
became an indispensable part of the AEW TV crew very
quickly and has really risen and to the opportunity, whether
it's in singles matches or teaming with Speedball Bailey, who's
challenging for the Continental Championship this Sunday at Double or Nothing.

(20:10):
I think Kevin Knights just fit in AEW like a glove.
And with Kevin in particular, it was interesting because I
had already committed, because again I care about developing, you know,
young wrestlers. I committed to sending Nick, Wayne and Kevin
Knight to Japan, and Kevin became so indispensable to the TV.

(20:31):
It was like, man, if you know, if we'd known
how big Kevin was going to be so quickly on
the shows, because his role in the show did change,
he you know, really made the most of a great
opportunity we were playing utilize Kevin, and I really really
like him. And then, just like in other sports, when
there's an injury and one of the star players gets injured,

(20:54):
it creates an opportunity for one of the young players,
and that's what happened here, and Kevin's really made the
most of it. We were going to use Kevin on TV,
but certainly he's gotten more opportunities and especially being able
to wrestle Will Osprey in the Owen Hart Tournament. And
I think Kevin is just an excellent example of a
young wrestler who's coming here and done a great job.

(21:16):
And we're following Kevin's progress in New Japan Pro Wrestling
in the super juniors, but we're also really excited to
have Kevin back in AW where he's got a bunch
of great mentors. I really like working with Kevin. I
think he's a fantastic young wrestler and a great example
of the kind of young wrestlers we want to recruit,
and also hopefully he sets a good example for why

(21:37):
young wrestlers would wanna choose to be in AW or
even work with AW and New Japan Pro Wrestling in
a unique case like Kevin's thank you for asking Seahawk.

Speaker 4 (21:50):
Thank you, Cameron so Tony, I've got a right end
question here from LJ at Wrestling Gal. I'm going to
read it and then I like to ask Bill Bodkin
from the Pop Break to be ready after Tony addresses
ellis question, which is the following? With Anarchy and the
Arena taking place this weekend, Willow and Marina make history

(22:11):
by being the first two women.

Speaker 7 (22:13):
To compete in this match.

Speaker 4 (22:15):
How important is that these two are in this match?

Speaker 3 (22:19):
Well, I think it's fantastic. I really believe that the
Death Rids have run roughshot and now's a great opportunity
for the stars of AW a lot of the fan
favorites to band together, and we've seen that with some
really exciting action in recent weeks and for a long
time now, Willow and Nightingale has been a big part

(22:39):
of this. Willow is one of the people that stood
up against the Death Riders, and I think it's really
cool because Marina has interfered in a lot of these matches.
Marina has gotten very physical with a lot of the wrestlers,
has been very involved, and it makes total sense in
this Anarchy and Arena. So I thought it would be
great for them to be in this match, and I'm

(23:01):
glad people are excited for it. I think it's something
new and different that we have not seen yet in
the Anarchy in the Arena. But it makes total sense
with what's happening in AW right now. And I think
Marina and Willow are going to do a great job
in the Anarchy in the Arena match, and it's going
to be an amazing spectacle and a really exciting fight
this Sunday.

Speaker 4 (23:22):
All right, Thank you, Billa, Thank you, Tony. Bill Bodkin
from The Pop Break is next to be followed by
Dave Meltzer from The Wrestling Observer.

Speaker 7 (23:30):
Bill, there, you are.

Speaker 5 (23:34):
Sorry about that, Tony. I want to fast forward a
few weeks after Double or Nothing, which looks to be
an incredible pay per view, to the middle of June
for Grand Slam Mexico. I know you're a lifelong wrestling
fan like myself. I just want to talk about the
emotions of running Dynamite in one of the most famous

(23:58):
arenas within the entire world and what you're hoping to
present to, Like you said, a lot of new faces
who are watching AW in your partnership with CMLL.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Well, I'm very excited about it. I'm excited for so
many wrestling fans to see Arena Mexico for the first
time on television and on Max and very excited about
AAW becoming the first company to ever do TV in
America out of Arena Mexico. It's going to be amazing,
and I'm really thrilled about the partnership we've built with CMLL.

(24:33):
Salvador and his team are great people that built a
great company. CMLL has ninety years of history. It is
the premier wrestling organization in Mexico and I think one
of the all time premiere wrestling organizations in the world.
And in just a few short years, Salvador and I
have built a great relationship and the team around Salvador,

(24:55):
I really trust them, and I believe they've come to
trust me, and we've done more things. We've built a
growing partnership and collaboration and friendship, and to go down there,
it's a lot of trust from both sides to put
a show like this together. And I'm really excited about
AEW showing the very best of Lucha Libre and showing

(25:15):
some of the best wrestling fans one of the best
wrestling arenas. It's just going to be a great experience.
And I thought having our first ever AW event in Mexico.
It would be very fitting to do it in Arena
Mexico and do it as AW Grand Slam Mexico for
the first time. And I can't imagine a better partnership
and a better timing, a better place for all of

(25:38):
this than just about a month from now in June.
It's crazy how soon it's come. For over twenty years,
for actually probably more like thirty years, I've been watching
wrestling from Arena Mexico, and in particular, when WCW closed down,
I really became a bigger CMLL fan. We're also doing

(26:03):
a Dean tribute show out here at Double or Nothing,
And for those of you who don't know what the
Dean Show is, it's a tribute to the late great
Dean Rafts Mussin. And he was a great wrestling writer
and he was a very entertaining, passionate wrestling fan, and

(26:23):
he was part of a group of guys the Death
Valley Driver. And I started reading this in high school
and I started like posting on their message boards and
following their conversations. But a big thing to me was
after WCW closed down and ECW closed down, two of
the three American wrestling promotions that were on TV a

(26:43):
lot were shut down, and to me it it was
interesting because CMLL was something I started watching more and
more of. I followed it a little bit, but in
the early two thousands I really became a big and
bigger fan of it. It was on the Death Valley
Driver where they sang the praise is Dean Rasmus and

(27:05):
Phil Schneider and a bunch of people posting there about
a number of the great Roota Doors, including Blue Panther,
who is actually coming to the show. Then we'll be
part of the Dean tribute show. I thought that was
really cool. I've been a fan of the CMLL for
a long time. To have Mystico, who's one of the

(27:25):
biggest wrestling stars in the world, be a part of
our shows, it's really exciting. And tonight we'll get a
great look at that, you know, as Mystico is part
of that big trios match tonight on aw Collision on
a special Thursday night show. Great to have multiple wrestlers
from CMLL on the show tonight in multiple matches, and

(27:48):
I think it's going to be really great when we
go to Mexico and show the fans watching dynamite, what
Arena Mexico is like, how passionate the fans are a
great venue for wrestling it is and also in the
weeks and months to come, showcasing more of the great
CMLLL stars. Thanks for asking.

Speaker 7 (28:11):
Thanks.

Speaker 4 (28:12):
Dave Meltzer from The Wrestling Observer is next to be
followed by Dominic D'Angelo from One True Sport.

Speaker 7 (28:19):
Dave, Hello, can you hear me?

Speaker 3 (28:25):
Yeah? Hey Dave?

Speaker 7 (28:26):
Okay, Hey Tony, how you doing?

Speaker 13 (28:28):
I got that kind of a quick ask for like
an update if there's anything common imminent as far as
you know, negotiations for any new domestic or international rights deals.
But I think the main thing I wanted to ask
was the when it when it when it comes to

(28:52):
jeez now, because just lost my creative thought there. When
it comes to the the the data that you receive,
the television data and everything like that. One thing, the
one thing this year is that the you know, the
total viewer numbers for your shows are up. And you
even brought it up. You know, we both have you know,
as far as they're they're up at a time when

(29:15):
you would think, with the addition to Max that it
would siphon viewers off and it would probably decline a
little bit.

Speaker 7 (29:19):
In fact, it's up, which is amazing.

Speaker 13 (29:21):
That's that's especially true with over fifty under fifty it's not,
it's true. So my subposition is probably that there's the
similar growth in under fifty, but it's more on.

Speaker 7 (29:33):
The max side, because that makes the most sense.

Speaker 13 (29:36):
But the fact that we don't have that data is
that like frustrating to you because because as far as
the idea of like are you up ten percent, are
you up thirty percent?

Speaker 7 (29:44):
Are yep fifty percent? And it's kind of like we
don't know.

Speaker 13 (29:48):
And obviously that data is very important when it comes
to decision making and popularity and things like that. So
I was wondering, if you know, it is that difficult
for you when it comes to whether it's not so
much booking but overall you know, running the company.

Speaker 3 (30:03):
No, it's great, great questions for the first part of
overseas deals. Yes, looking at some new international TV deals.
Nothing far enough along where I can comment on it
right now, but it is a good question. As I said, domestically,
the partnership between AW and Warner Brothers Discovery is the
lifeblood of our Wrestling Company and being on T and T,

(30:24):
TBS and Max. It's what powers aw and having, you know,
this great year we're having in twenty twenty five. As
you said, it's amazing to see the TV viewers should grow,
and I agree with you. I think it. I think
it is a good hypothesis that that growth is happening

(30:49):
in the younger viewers. We're seeing that bigger growth in
the streaming, and we're seeing bigger growth with older viewers
on cable and satellite. I think that makes total sense
and that it does kind of add up to what
I know so far. But I don't have all the data.
It's not you know, I don't get the same robust
data from the streaming shows that I get from showing

(31:11):
Dynamite and Collision on TBS and TNT. But seeing the
cable and satellite growth, that's very, very exciting because you know,
it means everything we're getting on streaming is it's all gravy.
It's all addition on top of the growth we're seeing
on cable. And to know that we are one of
the top streaming sports shows on Max weekend week out,

(31:34):
that's really exciting for us. And you know, for me
in addition to that, I think that's absolutely great, but
it doesn't you know, it doesn't affect me not to
have all that data because to know that we're growing
on cable and satellite, to know that we're one of
their top shows and that they're happy, that's really the

(31:56):
most important thing for me. So that's our primary partner.
And for international, we are looking at some new deals
and some new territories. You know, we've expanded with some
great international TV deals in recent years. We've had great
success from the very beginning of the company in the
UK with ITV and in Canada with TSN. We have

(32:20):
a new deal there that expanded Collision to USA network.
The show has done really well for them and is
one of I think one of their top shows. And
Dynamite's done very well on TSN, where we've also seen
that kind of great growth. We've had great growth in
England this year, so worldwide, great lift in AEW in

(32:41):
twenty twenty five. It's very exciting. And while I don't
have all the specifics for the streaming numbers that I
have for the cable numbers every week and all that
very specific data, I know that they're very happy with
what we're doing, and that makes me very happy. So
it's a little bit of a different role for me
used to being the sports executive, and you know, whether

(33:03):
it's with aw wrestlers or some of the great football
players and people I deal with in football, it's a
little bit different being on that side of the table,
you know, trying to please the boss, trying to please
the coach. And I think we've been doing a great job.
I know they were really happy with our numbers this year,
and I know that even last week in particular, we

(33:24):
had our biggest Dynamite audience of the entire year and
going back a long time, and that was extra impressive
because kind of like what we're talking about the Dynamite
audience last week, it was the biggest cable audience since September,
but back in September we weren't streaming, so it's presumably
a lot more people than it was, So it's got

(33:46):
to be one of our biggest audiences in a really
long time for sure. And what's exciting is that growth.
It's in the US, it's in the UK, it's in Canada,
which are the three biggest TV markets for US right now.
I think I think it's important to focus on India.
I think there are very exciting opportunities there and we
are looking at that aggressively, and that is another area

(34:11):
where we can grow the TV because there are a
lot of wrestling fans in that territory and it's a
great wrestling territory. And there are some other overseas partnerships
we're looking at that I think can really help AW
and be good good for the company. But one thing
for international I'm really excited about that we were just
talking about on my last question is Fox Sports Mexico.

(34:32):
That's one of the newest TV deals that's been absolutely great.
They're doing a great job with the content. Mexico has
some of the greatest wrestling fans in the world. Obviously,
they're located very closely to the US. The time zones
match up, the fandoms intersect. I love Lucha Libre. Have
been integrating more and more Loucalybra into the shows Tonight,

(34:54):
you'll see a lot of the CMLL stars, which is
not an isolated thing. And I think that Fox Sports
Mexico partnership is also really exciting. Thanks for asking, Dave.

Speaker 4 (35:06):
Thank you, Dave Dominic D'Angelo from One True Sport is next.
I will follow Dominic with a write in question from
Brian Zellam from PW Torch.

Speaker 14 (35:17):
Found it okay, Tony Abel here me all right? Yep, hey, cool, awesome,
great card. It looks like for double or nothing. It
is crazy. It's been six years. It's nuts to think that.
But I did want to ask you in ties to
the pay per view the passing of Sabou, and I

(35:40):
know you had a strong bond with him in regards
to you being at that stretcher match that he was
had at the ECWI inter between him and Rob Van Dam,
and I wanted to follow that up with the stretcher
match you're going to have with Ricochet and Mark Briscoe.
Is that paying homage to Sabou this weekend? And also
just one of your thoughts on the passing of Sabu
and what he to you as a fan and as

(36:01):
a promoter.

Speaker 3 (36:02):
Well, thank you for asking. When I was a kid,
Saboo fascinated me and I first saw him in wrestling
magazines when I was ten years old eleven years old.
I thought this guy was really interesting. I'd only seen
photos of him and one of the first times I
ever talked to people on the internet, when I was

(36:23):
twelve years old, there was, like some of you might
remember this, there was a Saboo versus Tactus Jack match,
and it was before video was being live streamed on
the internet, so there were like guys like giving play
by play of the match in a chat room, which
would you know, it's basically like a forerunner to now

(36:44):
on social media, people talking about the matches. And the
first time I saw Saboo on video was on ECW tapes,
and then the first time I got to see him
in person was when I was thirteen years old. Like
you said, I've told the story many times, but just
to reiterate it for the sake of completionism, I was.

(37:11):
I took this test to get admitted to the University
of Illinois Laboratory High School when I was thirteen, and
I did very well and they admitted me to the school.
I didn't want to go to the school, and I
kind of took the test under somewhat false pretenses that
if I passed it at least it would show that,

(37:32):
you know, I could get into this top school, but
I didn't actually have to go. But then when I
got in. My parents really did want me to go.
I did not want to go to the school and
I told them that and they said, well, you know,
let's negotiate. We'll do something like, you know, what is
it you really want and if it's reasonable, maybe we
can do it. And I said, well, I'm thirteen years old.

(37:53):
Most of my best friends are people I talked to
on America Online about wrestling, and I want to go
to the ECW Arena and I want to see the show.
I want to see the Saboo Rob Van Damn stretcher match.
I want to see Chris Jericho's last weekend in ECW.
And I was thirteen years old and my dad took
me to Philadelphia and it was the first time I'd

(38:13):
ever seen wrestling live outside of Champagne, Illinois, my hometown,
and the main event of the weekend was the Rob
Van dam versus Saboo stretcher match. And in AW I've
had the pleasure of working with both men, and I
really really like Rob and I really really like Saboo.

(38:35):
And Saboo came in for us fittingly around double or Nothing,
and he was a great person. I really enjoyed meeting him.
I was a fan of him as a kid and
as an adult. He captivated me. What a great career
he had. He was one of as I reiterate and

(38:56):
reused the same word, and I said at the very
beginning of this, he was one of the most fascinating
wrestlers I've ever seen, and he was so captivating and
nuts and he was bigger than life, especially to the
fans in the ECW Arena. We're going to be going
and doing a series of shows in that venue. And

(39:18):
the last time I was set the last time I
was in that building, the last time I set foot
in there, I was thirteen years old, and it was
the stretcher match Sabo and Rod van Damp and this
stretcher match. I had thought about the stretcher match. I
thought it made a lot of sense, and it was
what I was leaning towards. And then when uh Saboo passed,

(39:40):
I thought, man, it's incredible that we're doing this stretcher match,
because it honestly was what I was already going to do,
but probably inspired in part by the fact that I
was at that great stretcher match. It's a great memory
for me as a kid, and it's something I wanted
to do in AW. I don't think we've done this
at your match as far as I can remember. I mean,

(40:02):
we've been doing this six years, but I can't remember one.
We've had some great matches and all kinds of great stipulations,
but uh, it just felt like the right time for
what Mark Brisco and Ricochet were doing and for this
double or nothing.

Speaker 13 (40:16):
And then.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
It was terrible when I heard sebu pass. I'm very
sorry for his family and close friends. I met him
a few times. I was a big fan, but I
didn't know him really really well. He said some really
nice things about me that I really appreciated, and uh,
you know, to return the favor. I think he is
awesome and I'm a huge fan of his and I

(40:40):
think it's a huge loss to the world of wrestling
that we lost seb Thanks for asking.

Speaker 4 (40:45):
Thank you, Dominic. So I've got a write in question
here from Brian's Zillam from PW Torch, and we'll follow
the rite end with Jim Barcelon from the Miami Herald. So, Tony,
the question from Brian is there any update regarding streaming.

Speaker 7 (41:02):
Pay per views on HBO Max.

Speaker 4 (41:04):
Is there anything that you can possibly address that could
be delaying the process.

Speaker 3 (41:09):
Hey, Brian, Yeah, I actually kind of covered that earlier.
I think Jim when I was referring to the pay
per view providers and kind of had said, this is
new technology. So we're you know, we have great pay
per view providers right now. Amazon Prime has come on
this year, YouTube, all the cable and satellite in demand, PPV,
dot com. There's a lot of great ways to watch

(41:30):
the pay per view. But in particular, I think we're
very folks on our partnership with Warner Brothers Discovery always
and they are building out that technology that's not something
that exists in the current platform. You know, there aren't
pay per views that you can buy right now in
any sport like that on Max. But I think that's

(41:51):
something that is coming in their building, and that's part
of what we're working towards and having an even more
expansive partnership than it are already is with AEW and
Warner Brothers Discovery. Mister Zaslof gave us this great opportunity
to start doing Collision. Of course, they have Collision tonight
on TBS. It's a little bit of a different night

(42:12):
and a bit of a different network than we're used to,
but it's a great opportunity and I'm excited because we
have the Countdown to Double or Nothing on right after
Collision tonight, so it's a couple more days for people
to build and see these stories and get excited. And
for me, I really really love those countdown shows. I

(42:34):
think our team does a fantastic job on them, and
Mike Phil, all the people in Nashville that work on
these packages, they do a fantastic job. And we have
a great team that really collaborates, whether it's the packages
you see on social media or on Dynamite Collision or

(42:54):
this show. And when you look and whether it's Mike Phil,
you know, Jim and Eric and Christy, Julian and Kevin Ben,
so many of these great people in Nashville working on
these packages that they send us in the truck and
then and Mike and the team of the truck are

(43:16):
processing these But those countdown shows in particular, I think
they do a great job of summarizing some of the
great moments, some of the great stories, and getting people
excited for the pay per view. So I think that's
one of the great things about Collision being on tonight
is having that countdown show. These are a great example

(43:37):
of the great content that's on MAX right now around
the pay per view, whether it's the Dynamites, the collisions,
or these countdown events. But I do think eventually we're
going to get there. I think it's just really building
out new technology. There was never any expectation, Brian or
nobody ever said that this technology was going to be
available in Q one or Q two. So no, I

(43:57):
don't think there's any delay. I think they're doing a
great job, and you know, I think we're really really
excited about about that. And right now I think we're
also doing a great job in terms of having a
number of great providers, you know, whether it's cable, satellite,

(44:18):
YouTube and now bringing on Amazon Prime and as a
partner this year, I think we have great pay per
view partners and Amazon Prime in particular this year has
become a huge part of our pay per view viewership
and I expect that to continue growing with a scale
of Amazon and again the lifeblood of AW the most
important thing to us is our partnership with Warner Brothers Discovery.

(44:41):
So when that pay per view capability does arrive, it's
going to be a huge part of our business plan,
and you know we're still waiting on the technology that
being built out there. Thanks for asking, Robin Mount.

Speaker 4 (44:58):
We opened the line for Sean staff from Fightful if
Sean is ready to.

Speaker 3 (45:02):
Go now, Hey Sean. Hey.

Speaker 10 (45:08):
There have been many people online, including myself, that have
expressed the desire to see Women's World Tag Team Championships.
Is this something that you've ever considered or you're open
to doing in the near future.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
Aw' is having a great twenty twenty five and I'm
trying to build us to the strongest point we've been
and we're taking great steps. That is something I would
like to do and it is a goal for me,
and I think you can see there's a number of
great tandems and alliances and there are some great tag

(45:43):
matches in the women's division right now. I'm also very
focused on building back the men's tag division. We've had
a lot of injuries there and now we're trying to
get people healthy and also get the best teams working together.
So as I'm rebuilding the men's tag division, and certainly
that's something that I am interested in doing in the future.

(46:05):
There are a lot of great teams in the women's division,
there are a lot of great partnerships and rivalries that
would lend themselves to those matches. And I think as
I'm building back the tag division, I have right now
trying to get it to its strongest point, which I
think is moving in a good direction. And also as
we get people healthy, and also when you look at
some of the great tag matches happening in AW the

(46:27):
division is getting better. And I think we have great
talent and now it's about getting you know, people healthy,
and I think that's in twenty twenty five. Like I said,
I've been trying to put on the very best shows
we possibly can. And I think whether it's you know,
for example, having an injury to Buddy and the how

(46:50):
the hell or having Kevin Knight in that case, not
an injury, but Kevin Knight was in a part of
a great tag team who is Feedball Daily, where we
lost one half of the team to the super Juniors,
but they'll be back. And as we're building to me
the best shows, we've been building on TV weekend week out. Uh,

(47:13):
that's something I want to get to the best tag
team wrestling in the world. And I think we have
the best wrestlers and I am interested in doing that,
but you know, as you can probably tell them, also
trying to build back the tag division I have right now,
if that makes sense. So thanks for asking, and I
know I do think it's something I'm very interested in

(47:35):
doing and it is very realistic to see at some point.

Speaker 4 (47:39):
Thank you, Sean. I think we're going to try Jim
barcelon again from Miami Herald, and if we're successful, Jim,
we're gonna have Amy Nemody from Russell Joy followed Jim.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
Jimmy there all about that. Congrats Okay, congrats on six years.
That's any any company doing something in life, six years
and going growing. Good for you all. Congrats, I Met
I want to talk about that, but I do want
to mention hurt Synekit with MJF whatever MJF is involved,

(48:09):
and it's just amazing and it's going to be a
great match. The Sons of Texas got Dustin.

Speaker 3 (48:13):
It's Sammy.

Speaker 1 (48:14):
That's going to be so cool. All the matches are cool, Tony.
Six years. When you look at stuff and you're talking
about TV, streaming, Warner Brothers, all these different things, did
you even fathom the growth in those six years when
you're looking at this from the very beginning and then
you know how things change and you have to adapt
and different things. But just how do you look at
the growth of AW over these six years and thank you.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
Well, thank you Jim. It's amazing. It's amazing to think
when we started in the MGM brand and had fans
from all over the world come to support something new
and the things that fans have stuck with it. We've
had support from day one, some of you who've been
following A one a excuse me AW from day one
and giving us the coverage and the opportunity to promote

(48:58):
our product and giving us fair coverage. I do think
we've expanded and grown in great ways. It's very exciting
to me personally, but I want to keep doing the
most we can with it. It's a great opportunity and
I am so glad that the perception from our fans,

(49:19):
the vibe around AW right now is the company's doing
really well and the data supports it. It's just really
great to see things clicking, and it makes me very
happy because we're having this success and it feels almost
like we're having this success but we have the same

(49:40):
spirit we had when we were the lean, brand new company,
and like I said earlier, trying to take that spirit,
like wherever we go, we're bringing the vibe like it's
Daily's place and everybody wants to be a AW and

(50:02):
the fans are really feeling it, you know. You see
the viewership, the growth, and like you said, the expansion
to streaming. It's been a great, great twenty twenty five
for AW and we really want to keep it going.
And that's why we're so excited about this Sunday because
Double or Nothing, as you said, the matches look great,
the stories on TV right now are fascinating, the rivalries

(50:25):
are captivating. It's a great time to be an AW fan,
it's a great time to be an AW wrestler. And
let's go double or Nothing. Let's double down on it
this Sunday. So I'm very excited about it. And Jim,
you're one of those people that's been covering AW for
the whole six years, So thank you for that, and
I appreciate your kind words. Thank you, Thank you.

Speaker 4 (50:46):
Jim got Amy Nemody from Wrestler Joy next, and I
think the time, if there's time after you address Amy's question,
Tony I've got to write in, but let's see. Let's
get Amy and first Amy, You're up.

Speaker 8 (51:02):
Hi, Tony? Can you hear me?

Speaker 3 (51:04):
Yeah? I can hush Hi.

Speaker 8 (51:06):
First of all, I'm so excited to see AW bringing
Double or Nothing here to Arizona at the Desert Diamond Arena.
It's been wonderful seeing all of the promotional flyers all
over the LED screens at the venue with this being
your first time here for a pay per view. I
also wanted to talk about another first, Hangman Page and
Will Ospray facing each other in singles of competition in

(51:27):
a dream match for the very first time. We have
two beloved faces in AW, Hangman being focused on his
redemption while Ospray is focused on his ascension. Both are
chasing their destiny and both have a valid claim for
the AW World Championship. Can you talk about your thoughts
on both of these men as representatives of AW as

(51:48):
well as the dynamics of having two men who both
fans really want to root for and see when for
the Owen Cup Finals.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
Thank you well. I think it's something really exciting and
it's right to see how the AW fans have supported
each of these wrestlers and when you look, Hangman Page
has been with AW from the very beginning the first show.
He was on the very first Double or Nothing, and
it was very clear from the first show that Hayman

(52:17):
Paige was going to be somebody on the path to
the AW World Championship, and he accomplished that. He won
the championship at Full Gear twenty twenty one, defeating one
of the greatest wrestlers and champions of all time, Kenny Omega,
for the title in one of the greatest matches in
the history of AAW and Hangman Page came so far

(52:38):
and eventually he did lose the championship. It was at
Double or Nothing three years ago, and now three years later,
Hangman Page is on this road to redemption he's been
talking about and it's a fascinating match because again it's
him going for his redemption versus the ascending star Will Osprey,
somebody who is just an unbelievable wrestler, somebody who was

(53:01):
an unbelievable leader, and both of these men are absolutely
at the top of AW right now. That's why it's
so perfect to have the Owen Hart Finals be this
dream match that nobody can predict and all of the
fans are talking about there's so much excitement around Hangman

(53:22):
and Osprey. I'm excited about it, and I can't wait
for Sunday and the the opening interviews and the comments
from well Osprey and Hangman Page about this match and
the intensity. It just helped build the excitement. I thought
they were just in a fantastic tag team match last

(53:44):
week together and then you know, it really broke down
at the end in terms of I'm having possibly an
inadvertent coming to blows, and I thought that was a very,

(54:04):
very great match. I thought that was a very interesting situation,
and then this week, I thought that they just took
it to another level. I think there were fans already
really excited. There were fans going into last night's Dynamite
really fired up and looking forward to Hangman Page versus
Will Osprey this Sunday, and I think fans are even

(54:26):
more excited and more fired up for Double or Nothing
after what they saw last night, and I think it's
just going to be a great, great match. I'm really
excited about it. It's a tremendous main event and very
befitting the six year anniversary show of the entire company.

(54:47):
Six years from the launch of AW Double or Nothing
number seven and I'm really excited about it. I don't
think we can pick up better mate of that, and
I think it's the perfect match. I'm really excited about
well lost braversus hekmam page this Sunday.

Speaker 4 (55:08):
Thank you Amy, Thank you Tony. Tony, I think you
can answer this one. This We're going to close here
with the right end from a run of a Ghost Hall.
I think you can answer this one quickly. Darby Allen
just achieved an amazing feat placing the AW flag of
Mount Evers. So his adw planing to celebrate this moment
in the near future, maybe a future title shop for Darby.

Speaker 3 (55:31):
Well, Darby Allen's one of the great wrestlers in AW
and we're so proud of what he's accomplished. So proud
Darby Allen. He did. He successfully climbed Mount Everest. It
was something that was a big goal of his. When
Darby left AEW it was under a dark cloud. He
got thrown down the stairs in the Hammerstein Ballroom by

(55:52):
the Death Riders to end twenty twenty four and he
then went on this journey with I think two goals
in mind and one of his goals he absolutely had
to focus on as he ascended Mount Everest was this
journey he was going on and becoming the first pro

(56:13):
wrestler ever to climb Mount Everest, one of the first
pro athletes to accomplish this feat, and it's something that
he should celebrate and I think it's just an absolutely
incredible achievement. I loved Dart down very much. I think
he's a great person and he's another person that since

(56:35):
the very first year of AW, going back to our
first shows, he's been here and been a huge part
of the company. Somebody loves being at AW, the fans
love Derby, and he's a huge part of our locker room.
So I hope he'll come back here and I hope

(56:56):
he's making it down Mount Everest. Just a safe team
made it up and look forward hopefully seeing him back here.
He's one of the greatest wrestlers ever in AW former
World Tag team Champion, undefeated World Tag Team champion with Sting,
I think arguably the greatest tag team ever in AW
with Stinging. Darby Allen certainly in the conversation with the

(57:19):
great teams and to have I have to say not
only one of the greatest T and T title reigns,
but also some of the greatest matches and moments ever
in ADW. So whenever Darby can make it back, we're
excited to have him back, and he's one of our

(57:40):
top stars and look forward to seeing Darby again.

Speaker 4 (57:44):
All Right, thank you Rudov, who by the way is
from sports ket. I forgot to identify a run over there, Tony.
We are at timed any real brief closing thoughts before we.

Speaker 3 (57:54):
Wrap, Well, I think we've covered a lot of the
matches and a lot of the excitement on the card.
I'm excited for double or nothing this Sunday. I'm really
excited for Collision tonight. We haven't talked much on the
call about it, but I think one of the matches
that people will be even more excited about coming out

(58:14):
of tonight's collision is FTR versus Daniel Garcia and Nigel McGuinness.
I think that's going to be an absolutely tremendous match.
I'm really looking forward to the contract signing for that
match tonight. And when I talk about the great tag teams,
of course you have to talk about FTR and you
have to talk about as you talk about this pay

(58:37):
per view one of the great things to see. One
of the aw's top young stars, Daniel Garcia teaming with
one of the legends, Nigel McGuinness and Nigel McGinnis with
a lot to prove with a chip on his shoulder. Recently,
in recent weeks, particularly on Collision, that rivalry has really
heated up, and I'm excited for the Collision tonight. In

(58:59):
that contract signing, There's going to be a lot of
great stuff on Collision tonight on TBS, so I would
encourage you all to check that out. And I wanted
to thank you all. Thank you for being a part
of this. A number of you, in fact, I think
most of you have been covering AW from the very beginning.
Most of the people I heard from today have been
covering AW for six years, since the very first Double

(59:23):
or Nothing, and I really appreciate that. Thank you for
giving us the opportunity of the outlet, the fair coverage,
and thanks for joining us today. I hope to see
some of you after Double or Nothing in the media scrum.
And if I didn't get to answer your question today,
I try to answer as many as I could in
the hour, but if I didn't. I hope I can

(59:43):
answer your questions at the media scrum at the pay
per view, and if not there, hopefully sometime soon I'll
see you. Thank you all for covering aw and giving
us this opportunity, and thank you for joining us today
for this call. Jim and Rob job with the moderating Jim,
it was good to have you back on here.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
And there you have it right at an hour. Tony
Kahn spoke very very eloquently about the fact this is
a double or nothing number seven. So six years ago
we had that very first one, which included probably one
of the most memorable matches in wrestling with Cody Rhodes

(01:00:27):
versus his brother Dustin Rhodes, and I remember that match
very well and so hard to believe it has been
six years, so incredible. A couple of notes that I
made right off the right off the beginning, John Albat
asking him about the main event spot, whether why he

(01:00:51):
decided to put will Osbury Haymynham Paige in that spot
instead of Anarchy in the arena, noting that they have
done anarchy in the in the main event spot sometimes.
Antony just said, look, it's it's a compelling you know,
compelling story. He could have gone either way. Uh, he
just felt like Will and Hangman might have had just

(01:01:12):
a slightly more compelling story. So and there he and
I'm okay with that. It's a it's a big moment
because that's gonna be now, that's gonna determine who faces
John Moxley for the aw World Championship at Alian Texas
up in Arlington, net Global if Field in July. So
makes makes sense. I get that there was a question

(01:01:34):
about pay per view distribution, and I mentioned in the
in the beginning saying about how Triller TV had been
available in the United States for a pay per views
it's now it's not. He he didn't he didn't address
that specifically. He said he's got great partners, mentioned you know,
Prime Video, mentioned YouTube.

Speaker 5 (01:01:55):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
He did say that obviously he is hoping to have
the pay per views on Max, which was supposed to
be eventually become back to HBO Max and in fact
Warner brother He said, Warner Brothers Discovery is currently building
out the technology to have the pay per views on
Max soon to be HBO Max. So that'll be that'll

(01:02:18):
be a cool little thing to have. And he mentioned
about how like you can get you can use Max
to get to Prime video and and you know all
sorts of things. So so there was that. Let's see,
the only other note I made my good friend Dominic
D'Angelo from One True Sport, uh talking about you know,
ask Tony Kahn's thoughts on the passing of Saboo and

(01:02:41):
as as he mentioned it, and I'll be honest, I
am not. I am not as versed on ECW history
as some would be. Being down here in Texas, we
didn't see it a lot. But as it turns out,
so this stretcher match between Rickoschet and Mark Brisco was inspired,

(01:03:02):
according to Tony, from a stretcher match between Sabu and
Rob Van Dam And I had to look it up.
It was in August of nineteen ninety six. They're in
the ECW arena now the twenty three hundred arena, and
so that's you know, he took inspiration from that to
book this match, which and that mad that makes a

(01:03:23):
lot of sense, and I think it'll be it'll be fantastic.
So all all, like I said right at an hour,
mostly about the pay per view. This pay per view
has got a lot of good stories going on. So
and of course you got the finals of the YO
and Cup and you've got the different the different you know,

(01:03:43):
rivalries and such, so it's gonna be a good one.

Speaker 9 (01:03:46):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
Let me update the card. There was only one match added,
uh last night on Dynamite. Now I will say this,
there is another match coming. However, it is being announced
on Collision, so they ape Collision last night. It is
airing tonight ap Metroms and Peter Central on TBS. They
do announce another match for double or nothing. I'm not

(01:04:10):
gonna talk about because I don't want to spoil it
because obviously I'm doing this on Thursday afternoon.

Speaker 3 (01:04:18):
So U.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
But let me run down the card as it stands. Now.
FTR will face Daniel Garcia and, as Tony called him,
the legendary Nigel beginnings, Nigel coming coming out from behind
the commentary desk to jump in the ring again. Of course,
not the beginnings, you know, uh, Ring of Honor legend.

(01:04:42):
I see, if I'm not mistaken, he had some tag
team success in Ring of Honor. I think he even
had a little bit of success in TNA as well.
So it'll be him and Daniel Garcia taken on FTR
mention the stretcher match Rick Achet and Mark Briscoe. You
know that's gonna get brutal. It's probably gonna get bloody.

(01:05:03):
I would it would shock me if Mark brisco doesn't
belied that will be. It's gonna be. It's gonna be
a you know, a symphony of violence as I like
to call it. So Ricochet Mark brisco in the stretcher
match for the for the A e W World Tag
Team Championships. The Hurt Syndicate, Bobby Lashley, Shelton, Benjamin, m

(01:05:25):
VP will be in their corner.

Speaker 7 (01:05:26):
I'm sure.

Speaker 2 (01:05:27):
I'm sure m JF will be lurking around as the
newest member of the Hurt Syndicate. We'll face the current
Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champions and dear friends
of mine, the Sons of Texas, the Natural Dustin Rhodes
and Sammy Gavara. So that will be a fun match.
That'll be a good match. I'll be interested to see
how that story is played out, especially with Dustin, you

(01:05:53):
know his his connection to m VP. How far they
go back. How will MJF get involved, Because you know
he will. It's it's inevitable, uh. For the AW Women's
World Championship. Timeless Tony Storm defending against the newest member
of the AW roster, Mina Shirakawa.

Speaker 1 (01:06:14):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
As you recall, Mina won that triple threat match to
get this shot, so she will challenge Timeless Tony Storm
for that AW Women's World Championship. Should be a great match.
I don't I don't expect Tony Storm to lose the title. However,
because I got I got a film. They got big
plans coming up in July in Arlington for the AEW

(01:06:39):
Continental Championship. Kauzo Okada we'll defend against Speedball Mike Bailey.
H This is a match that kind of came about
pretty quickly.

Speaker 1 (01:06:50):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:06:50):
Interesting on Dynamite last night. Okada didn't use betch, he
didn't say bitch, which look I have. I mean, it
was cute the first thousand times, but now it's just
kind of played out and kind of tired and and
it's you know it. I think that diminishes the greatness

(01:07:14):
of Okata. So I hope maybe that's a turn. Hopefully
they'll do that, but yeah, it should be in. It
should be a good match with him and Speedball Mike
Bailey in the Uh, let me start, well, let me
go to this one anarchy and the arena and as
you heard, not going to be in the main events
sight but may invent Spot rather, but it's going to
be a big one. We now know who is going

(01:07:36):
to be in the anarchy in the arena. We know
it's going to be the Death Writers, John Moxley, Claudia Castignoli, Wheeler,
you To, and Marina Shakir along with the Young Bucks
Matthew Nicholas Jackson. They will take on the current AW
World Trios champions the Ops, Samojo, Powerhouse Hobbs and Katsuri Shabata,

(01:08:00):
along with the AW International Champion Kinny Omega, along with
Swerve Strickland and Willow Nightingale. And of course I forgot
to mention John Mixley, the current AW World champion. So
you've got a couple of new twists to this match.
First of all, six on six, so it's usually been

(01:08:25):
a four and four or five on five. Now it's
six on six. And then we're gonna have women involved
in this match, with Marina Shafir for the Death Riders
and Willow Nightingale on the on the on team A
B for lack of better term. What does that? What
does that entail? How is that gonna look? It's gonna
be interesting, I mean, because these anarchy and the arena

(01:08:48):
matches can get wild. They'll go you know, it goes
all over the arena. So we'll see, we'll see what
happens with that. I can see a case for both
for either team winning, so it'll be a lot of
fun to watch. And then the finals of the owen

(01:09:09):
Hart Foundation Cup tournament. On the women's side, Mercedes Moone,
the current TBS champion, will face Jamie Hater. The winner
not only wins the owen Hart Foundation Cup but also
gets a shot at the AW Women's World Championship at
All In Texas. And then on the men's side, will

(01:09:30):
Ospray the Aeriel Sassin taking on Hangman Adam Page, which
should be a banger, and again winner gets the owen
Hart Foundation Cup, and we'll face John Moxley for the
AW World Championship at All in Texas up in Arlington.
So there's the card, I mean, should be a fantastic card,

(01:09:54):
should be a great show. I would suspect we might
hear of a buy match or two between now and Sunday,
as I mentioned collision tomorrow night or excuse me, tonight
on TBS APM easton submit Central. I know they're at
least they're going now to one additional match, at least
on there. I would suspect we get at least a

(01:10:18):
couple of buying matches between now and Sunday.

Speaker 3 (01:10:21):
So but that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:23):
Is aw double or nothing. This Sunday, eight pm Eastern,
seven pm Central. It will come to us from the
Desert Diamond Arena in Glendare, Arizona, just outside of Phoenix.
If you are not going to be at the Desert
Diamond Arena, get it on pay per view, cable satellite,
on YouTube, on PPV dot Com, on Prime Video, on Fubo,

(01:10:46):
and then other outlets as you see internationally. So it
should be a great show. I'm looking forward to this one.
I've got some excitement for so so there you go.
That'll do it for this special edition of Sports Guys
Talking Wrestling Again.

Speaker 8 (01:11:03):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:11:03):
Follow me on all social media at ste Marik. That's
is t E W N y R I c K.
Find the show wherever you get your podcasts, Apple Podcast, Spotify, iHeartRadio,
Honest Sea Radio. While you're there, please make sure you
Rick review the show while you're there. A new podcast
episodes dropped every mid week. I'm Stu Marik enjoy double

(01:11:26):
or Nothing and I will see you at the match.

Speaker 10 (01:11:37):
Good Bye at good

Speaker 14 (01:11:42):
Night.