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  • 3 days ago
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00:00Before we open up to questions, anything you want to say about the night?
00:07Yeah, thank you very much for that, Adam.
00:08There's a lot I want to say about this week.
00:11I really appreciate the support.
00:13I have to give it up, first of all, to the fans, to support wrestling 52 weeks a year,
00:19to have this be the only sport in the world, professional wrestling, that goes 52 weeks a year.
00:24It's already amazing.
00:25And with AEW, I think we've built a really great schedule where we do this 52 weeks a year with no breaks.
00:33But to have something like this week, where across Wednesday Night Dynamite,
00:38collision normally on a Saturday like today, was on Thursday.
00:42We had a great pay-per-view last night with ROH Supercard,
00:45and I think our best event ever today here at AEW All-In Texas,
00:49our most lucrative, our most fans we've ever had in America, the biggest gate.
00:54And I think the best show, certainly the best ending, a very fitting moment,
00:59and a very deserving champion, a lot of great deserving champions up here on this stage,
01:02and great things about this show and about AEW in 2025.
01:07I would be remiss, before we get into the questions, because I want to hear what you have to say.
01:11Please, I would just like to get out there.
01:13I'm very grateful to all the wrestlers on the show.
01:15I'm very grateful to the fans, like I said, supporting wrestling 52 weeks a year,
01:21and especially everybody who watched any of the past four days,
01:24and particularly all of them, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and most of all today, Saturday.
01:30I'm excited to see you all Wednesday.
01:32It means a lot for me to go back to Chicago and to have AEW Dynamite and have these great shows there.
01:39It's very near and dear to me, close to where I grew up, and a home to me, Chicago, Illinois.
01:45And I have so many great things to say about the people that were on the stage with me,
01:51and all the great wrestlers.
01:53In addition to the fans who support wrestling, we wouldn't be able to do this without the wrestlers.
01:58And I want to talk about them a lot.
02:00I'm also very grateful to the staff, somebody that it's really important to talk about.
02:07It wouldn't be possible to do wrestling 52 weeks a year or particularly four straight nights
02:13of the biggest week of the year for AEW when we're having such a great year.
02:17It's not possible to have a 2025 like AEW is having without the staff,
02:21the people in front of the camera and the people behind the camera.
02:24They were just doing a great job this week, and I think a lot of you saw that firsthand.
02:28So thank you.
02:29Oh, wow.
02:30Thank you.
02:30That's really classy.
02:31Thank you.
02:31You don't have to thank you for doing that.
02:33That is – and I don't ask for that.
02:35You don't have to applaud in our press conferences, but I appreciate you doing that.
02:37And you're very kind to be here supporting the show.
02:42I'm excited to talk to you.
02:43It would not be possible also, frankly, in addition to the wrestlers who do this year-round
02:48and the staff and, of course, the fans, it wouldn't be possible without the great media who cover us.
02:53A lot of you have been covering AEW since we launched over six years ago.
02:56That means a lot to see so many of you today.
02:59We started the pay-per-view early today, so normally we'd be here at the scrum later.
03:02So I can try even more so than usual.
03:05I always do try, and I'll try to give 110% today and answer as many of your questions as I can.
03:12But I would be also remiss before I start if I didn't say it was a great day.
03:17The fans have wanted to see a hero in AEW rise up, and it was very fitting to have AEW's Anxious Millennial Cowboy,
03:27our great, great star, somebody who's been aspiring to this moment for so long,
03:34and somebody who's been in AEW since day one and a focus of AEW since day one to be the focus of that great moment,
03:40to have the Cowboy win the Texas Deathmatch here at AEW All-In Texas, our biggest stage possible.
03:47It was really special.
03:49And I would also be remiss if I didn't thank the six-time world champion,
03:54and the four-time AEW world champion, Jon Moxley, who's also been here since the first show.
03:59And whether you agree with everything he did or not, he's been one of the most important people ever in AEW.
04:05He has done so many great things for AEW, even though he kept the championship in the briefcase,
04:11and he pushed people way too far, and he crossed the line many times,
04:18crossed the line with people I love, including Bryan Danielson, crossed the line as champion.
04:23You can question the methods, but I think Jon Moxley made AEW better as the champion.
04:29AEW is having a great 2025, and until this afternoon, until this evening, for the entirety of 2025,
04:38the world champion has been Jon Moxley.
04:40I think he pushed people, but he also made people better.
04:43I feel like I, in 2025, with Jon Moxley there every week, which, if you notice,
04:48Jon Moxley is on Dynamite and Collision almost every single week.
04:52He's at all the shows, which I really respect, because I've been at every show ever,
04:55and every Dynamite and every Collision ever.
04:57So to see somebody else coming every week, and even if you don't agree with the example
05:03he sets in the ring, he sets in a great example as a pro wrestler.
05:07He's one of the hardest working people.
05:08Look at the condition he's in and has continued through the hardest hitting matches,
05:13the kind of punishment he's been through, a match like tonight,
05:16and all the great matches along the way.
05:19And it's like Hangman said, everybody in the company tried.
05:22Everybody tried to topple Mox.
05:25And he did a lot of things to make AEW better in the end,
05:30and I think we're all better off for Jon Moxley having been the champion.
05:33And that is what allowed us to have such an incredible conclusion to a very special day
05:40here in AEW, and I think a special day for the wrestling fans.
05:43And I know for our staff and our wrestlers, and hopefully for some of you,
05:49even though I know you get paid to cover wrestling,
05:51I have a feeling a lot of you are wrestling fans.
05:53So you don't have to say it.
05:55I'm not asking for it, but I hope you enjoyed it.
05:57And now I get to hear what you think and answer your question.
06:01So thank you for giving me that.
06:03And now we're into the solo tone zone with you, the wrestling media.
06:08Hey.
06:09Hey, Tony.
06:09Jon Alba.
06:10Hey, Jon.
06:10Take down on SI.
06:11Hey, Jon.
06:12Congratulations.
06:13Great event.
06:14Thank you.
06:15I think a lot of us who have been covering pro wrestling for a long time
06:18know that Adam Cole is one of the true good guys of the industry as a human being.
06:25Clearly a sensitive situation, and I recognize that.
06:28But what kind of insight can you provide on where things currently stand with him
06:33and how you went about making some of the decisions today?
06:36Well, Adam Cole's been very, very important since he arrived at AEW All Out 2021.
06:43Along with today, I think that's one of the best events we've ever had.
06:46And Adam Cole's arrival was a major moment in AEW.
06:49And then he's done so many great things.
06:51He main-evented the first AEW All-In at Wembley Stadium.
06:56And he's really a great person.
06:58I agree with everything you said.
07:00Adam Cole's a great human being.
07:02But he's a great wrestler.
07:04He cares about wrestling.
07:05And the people in wrestling, the people in the locker room love him.
07:08And the fans love Adam Cole.
07:09So I think that was really hard to hear for everybody.
07:13It was hard for me to have a conversation like that.
07:16But I fully support his decision to take some time.
07:19And I felt like the right thing to do would be to vacate the championship
07:22and to give Adam Cole time off, but also to give Adam Cole the time to talk to the fans tonight.
07:27So it involves some changes.
07:29And yesterday, we were absolutely planning, even last night when I was at ROH Supercard of Honor,
07:36planning for the pay-per-view.
07:40We had absolutely put everything in place for Adam Cole to defend the championship against Kyle Fletcher.
07:47Adam Cole's been a focus of AEW in 2025 and in collision almost every single week, I think, this year we've seen Adam Cole.
07:55And I was really looking forward to Kyle Fletcher versus Adam Cole for the championship tonight.
08:00And coming out of collision, of course, we had a great six-man tag match.
08:06It was a trios match with Kyle Fletcher and RPG Vice, Rocky Romero, and Trent Barretta versus the Paragon.
08:12Paragon of Kyle O'Reilly, Roderick Strong, and Adam Cole.
08:17And the trios match coming out of it, Adam Cole, he came back.
08:25We talked.
08:27He was definitely planning to be at the pay-per-view.
08:30And even yesterday, we had talked.
08:32But somewhere between late last night and early this morning, let's say, earlier this morning, we talked.
08:41And he just wasn't feeling well.
08:43And that's the unpredictable nature of some of these kinds of injuries.
08:47And I think it's really important Adam Cole takes the time to get right because he's a great figure in AEW.
08:52He's been a great TNT champion.
08:53He won the first ever One Heart Foundation tournament at Double or Nothing.
08:57He's been a great champion in Ring of Honor and all over the world.
09:00And like Adam Cole has said himself, almost every company he's been in, he's been a top guy in front of the camera.
09:05But also, I think those of us who work in wrestling know, also a top guy in almost, I think it's fair to say, over the last 15-plus years, every locker room Adam Cole's been in.
09:14He's been one of the most respected, revered people.
09:16So it was certainly hard for us to hear that.
09:18But I spent the night thinking about how to address it.
09:21And I felt like the fans did deserve to see the TNT title defended.
09:23And I think given the emotional nature that we weren't expecting of Adam Cole going out and speaking from the heart and giving his honest feelings that he just needs to take some time.
09:35We don't know when he'll be able to wrestle or when he'll be able to speak to the fans again.
09:40But I just want him to take some time and just get, you know, the right thing to do was for him to vacate the title and just talk to the people and have that moment with the fans.
09:49Because the fans all over the world have a great connection with Adam Cole.
09:53I mean, we just saw Adam Cole as the TNT champion in Grand Slam, Mexico.
09:59What a great reaction in Arena Mexico for Adam Cole.
10:01And it was the first time AEW has been there with Adam Cole.
10:05And to see the fans knew the boom and the baby and that Adam Cole was so popular in a new environment for AEW.
10:16He's one of the stars that the people wanted to see when they came there.
10:19And I think when you think of AEW, Adam Cole really is one of the people that's beloved by the fans.
10:24And somebody associated with AEW for the past almost four years he's been here.
10:29So it was really hard.
10:30And I knew given the emotional nature and, frankly, it would be hard to hear for a lot of people and some sad emotions,
10:40I wanted to give the people an opportunity to have a match.
10:44And it worked out.
10:46It was to have a storybook moment.
10:48Thankfully, Dustin was able to pull it out.
10:49And it's pretty incredible to have Dustin at this point.
10:52Three matches in 24 hours across multiple promotions, multiple kinds of matches.
10:57And it made a lot of sense.
11:02Dustin in there with two former TNT champions, you know, and the number one contender.
11:06Kyle Fletcher had gone out and wrestled Daniel Garcia in the main event of Collision 100.
11:11And they had both confronted Adam Cole at the beginning of Collision 100.
11:16It was a great show, a great event.
11:18Adam Cole, throughout this entire 2025, has been basically on Collision every week.
11:23Wrestling, singles, tag matches, trios with the Paragon, commentating, just about everything you could ask for.
11:31And we all really believe in him.
11:33And when I heard he was out, I wanted to give the fans a great match.
11:36And it made sense to have the number one contender go out and fight a former champion who's been in the mix.
11:40The person Cole defeated for the title.
11:42Give Daniel Garcia another chance on the big pay-per-view stage.
11:45To have Sammy Guevara, a three-time TNT champion, who won $100,000 four-way and has re-entered AEW recently.
11:53But also been reinvented as a tag team champion with Dustin Rhodes.
11:56And then, of course, Dustin Rhodes, who, like I said, I mentioned it before, but just to reiterate, Dustin Rhodes has been so close so many times.
12:03And I'm very cognizant of that.
12:05Just to reiterate, Dustin Rhodes had close calls.
12:08He had close calls in the original TNT.
12:10He was in the semifinals to be the first ever TNT champion.
12:13And as I said, it was in April 2020 when we were crowning the first champion.
12:18I think that was probably the last time Dustin wrestled three matches in 24 hours.
12:22Because, like I said, he had the match with 8 and 9 on Wednesday night.
12:26And then he had wrestled Kip in the first round.
12:29But then, of course, Lance Archer went to the finals at Dustin's expense.
12:32Cody almost threw in the towel on Dustin then.
12:34And Dustin wanted to fight on.
12:36And he fought and had a great semifinal match.
12:39And then he got even closer to the title.
12:40He wrestled Mr. Brody Lee in September of 2020 in Daly's place in a great championship match with maybe the greatest TNT champion, I think, ever, Mr. Brody Lee,
12:50who had a very special run that Dustin was a part of then, with a great match in September 2020.
12:55I believe right after All Out 2020.
12:58And then we had, man, of course, Dustin and Sammy, partners, Sammy being in this match.
13:03Sammy, at Battle of the Belts in Charlotte 2022, was able to advance and then become the TNT champion after winning the interim match to win the interim title at Battle of the Belts in Charlotte.
13:17And then Dustin, again, against Christian Cage last January, was so close to winning the TNT title.
13:25He's come close so many times.
13:26So I wanted to give him that opportunity.
13:29And then Dustin went out and created that magic.
13:31And I think it was really cool that we were able to bring so much positive emotion from the fans and from so many people all over the world and find that amazing silver lining in what was really challenging emotions to have somebody that's so respected by the fans
13:47and all the staff and everyone who works in wrestling and in our locker room, all the wrestlers and really wrestlers all over the world.
13:55So I think that worked out really well.
13:57And Dustin Rhodes captured a storybook moment for the fans.
14:00And we really made a fantastic, fantastic, wonderful, historic, beautiful lemonade out of really challenging lemons.
14:10And I echo Hangman's statements about if Hangman said he slept eight hours in four days, I believe I've slept a lot less.
14:16And so I believe I'm right there with him.
14:17And but I haven't been through what he went through and not even close to it.
14:21It's really amazing what Hangman was able to put himself through and do for AEW.
14:25But there's another Adam I wanted to wish my best to and another great champion for AEW who we all love very much.
14:34And that's Adam Cole.
14:36We talked last night and I think it was pretty much when we talked and it felt I think it was both of us immediately reached a conclusion.
14:44This makes a lot of sense when he was not feeling right to go out for this on this big moment.
14:49He believed me.
14:50He's one of the greatest pro wrestlers in the world.
14:51He knows it's not.
14:53We both know it's not good.
14:55But he doesn't feel very well if he's not able to go out and wrestle a championship match on the biggest show that AEW's ever done in North America.
15:05And we're having this great year and he's been a huge part of it coming here every week.
15:09And after what he'd been through, being such a huge part of AEW and then watching us really have this great year and him being a part of it and being part of the team every week again.
15:17That's been one of the real highlights for us backstage as a company and for the fans to see Adam Cole again.
15:23And so it is hard.
15:25But again, we were able to get some great emotion after that with Dustin Rhodes and there's so many great emotions throughout the night.
15:31So a lot of positives, even though there were some hard things, too.
15:34And that's what wrestling is about, right?
15:35There's there's hard moments and there's great moments.
15:37But I'm cool.
15:38He was going to be around and he's a big part of AEW and hopefully he'll be here forever.
15:42I just don't know when the next time he'll be wrestling is, but he's definitely still part of the team and the family here with us.
15:46Thank you.
15:47Thank you, John.
15:48OK, more questions for Tony.
15:53Hi, Tony.
15:54Will Pruitt from ProWrestling.net.
15:58Seeing the Hangman Page kind of saga culminate tonight and also the Death Riders, the Jon Moxley losing the title, I wanted to know how far in advance do you think about things like, do you think about long-term story arcs?
16:16Say all-in to all-in in AEW and what kind of planning goes into that for you?
16:21This is certainly something I could have imagined last year at all and that this would have been, but who knows?
16:28I mean, it has to play out.
16:29Everyone has to step up and play their part.
16:31You can you can just like in football, it's great to draw things up on a piece of paper, but the players have to go out and execute.
16:37And a lot of times then things happen and you call audibles in football.
16:42People go out there.
16:45There's injuries.
16:46There's unpredictability.
16:47You think somebody's going to zig and they zag, so then you have to do the opposite of what you might have thought you were going to do.
16:52But in this case, this is one of those times where I really think that when we were at all-in last year and knowing that Brian Danielson had that amazing moment.
17:01When I sat on the stage at all-in last year in Wembley Stadium with London, that was a great day and it was totally different kind of emotion and the company was in a different place.
17:09And right now it feels very special because the company's having this amazing year.
17:13This is a real high point for us.
17:14But also looking back, if Brian had to step away, it's great Brian reached the highest heights, but also that the way Brian was taken out, if you look back, it really got the company to a great place.
17:30Like I said, there were a lot of things that were hard.
17:33You may not have agreed with Jon Moxley's tactics as the champion or the way he treated the locker room and beat up a lot of the wrestlers.
17:41And really is one of the most brutal pro wrestlers, as you saw, the kind of brutality and the kind of lengths he was willing to go to time and time again to dominate the company.
17:52But also we all got better with Jon Moxley as the champion.
17:55AEW got better with Jon Moxley as the champion.
17:57So I take my hat off to him.
17:59But at the same time, if, again, positives you can take from something hard.
18:05If Brian Danielson had to step away from wrestling after that championship match and what Mox did to him and after it broke up their wrestling family, then it's a really positive thing.
18:19And where we've gotten here at all in Texas to have that Texas death match be the culmination.
18:23And that's a special thing about wrestling, when your imagination can play out.
18:27But that's what's, like Hangman said, nothing can prepare you for what this kind of competition is.
18:35So believe me, whether it was in the pandemic or like Jon was asking me about today with Adam Cole, who had a great, great, great, great series of matches in 2025.
18:47And also has been a big part of the shows week in, week out, every week on Collision and a lot of the Dynamites, too.
18:53And like I said, went down to Mexico and was part of our biggest show of the year, Grand Slam Mexico.
18:58You know, certainly nobody predicted even 24 hours ago that Adam Cole wouldn't be defending the TNT championship tonight or that Dustin Rhodes would be the TNT champion.
19:08So there's a lot of changes and things happen.
19:10But I also gave some thoughts earlier this week, and I think it was an interesting point, actually, to bring up because I haven't used the analogy as much.
19:18But it's frankly a great comparison in sports.
19:21When you have a great, deep team, it's important to remember there's only so many spots.
19:24You know, in football, you're using 11 players at a time.
19:28In basketball, there's five players in a shift.
19:30There's individual sports.
19:31But there's playing time.
19:33And not everybody on the team is always on the floor, is on the pitch, is on the field at every snap or every play of every game.
19:42And it's important to remember as things happen, as the roles change, as people get injured, as people need breaks, as the flow changes, as you read things and realize you want to change something from your original plan, things change.
19:56And it's always great when you can have a long-term vision, but it's also important to be able, I think, to follow things week to week to week, especially in an era where wrestling television, 104 episodes of Wednesday Night Dynamite and Saturday Night Collision and the partnership with Warner Brothers Discovery and putting the shows on 52 weeks a year with great wrestling and compelling rivalries and the best wrestling and the best wrestlers in the world.
20:24And that's very important, and that media partnership and doing that twice a week, 52 weeks a year, truly, is a lifeblood that makes it possible to reach these kind of tentpole major events, like the biggest stage, AEW All-In.
20:40And it's a collaborative, complimentary relationship between doing 52 weeks a year of television and to get to these moments, because we've been talking about All-In Texas for so many months and building and building and building and building to All-In Texas.
20:56And I think we did a great job as a company, as a group, making this feel like the culmination of something really special, and then everyone came together to achieve it.
21:05Hangman, front and center is the face of it, is the quarterback who made it happen.
21:09And everybody, including the fans, are the team who played a huge part in it, and of course, the locker room.
21:16And again, I have to take my hats off to Hangman's competitor, who is the most decorated champion in AEW's history and the first man ever to hold the IWGP world title, the WWE world title, and the AEW world title, the most decorated, prestigious champion ever here in AEW, Jon Moxley.
21:36Thank you.
21:37Thank you.
21:39Hello, Tony.
21:45Jorge Cervera with Lucha Libre Online.
21:47I want to ask you two questions.
21:51Sure.
21:51Very quick.
21:51Okay.
21:52You got this great partnership relation with the CMLL, so I would like to know, in your opinion, how important is the culture of the Lucha Libre into AEW, and if it's possible to have a show talking about Latin America, maybe on Chile, Puerto Rico,
22:09because it was a great success, the show at Mexico with the CMLL at Arena Mexico.
22:13So it's possible.
22:14I hope we can continue visiting new territories, but I know that we're taking it one step at a time, and this was a major step for the company.
22:21One of the real highlights of the year, this has certainly been the culmination and a real highlight, but one of the most important parts of the year, and certainly one of the most successful nights ever, and one of the biggest dynamites and one of my favorite nights is Grand Slam Mexico.
22:37And I want to go back to Arena Mexico.
22:39I think Grand Slam Mexico, we can hopefully, if they'll have us, and it sounds like from talking to Salvador, he will have us back in the Cathedral of Lucha Libre, CMLL's home, Arena Mexico.
22:50They were such great hosts to AEW, and it showed that they're such great partners and hosts, but also the kind of collaboration and the synergies and the quality of the partnership and the show that we put on,
23:05AEW working with CMLL in Arena Mexico to put on Wednesday Night Dynamite for the first time ever, put on AEW's show for the first time ever in Mexico working with CMLL.
23:13The response and the fact that it was the biggest Dynamite viewership in a year and in some of the key demographics that the network looks at about a year and a half, it really speaks.
23:23And that was in a time where we were not simulcasting, which is such a huge part of this now, which has made it possible to grow and expand even more that Dynamite is still a huge part of Wednesday night every week on TBS and Saturday night every week on TNT, but the show is now streaming on HBO Max every week.
23:39You know, that number, that's the best number we've done on TBS or any channel in a really long time, but it's also, frankly, in a time when we weren't simulcasting, we didn't have the streaming audience.
23:54So when you look at everything together, I don't have all the streaming figures.
23:57I honestly don't know the exact number, but I know that it had to be the most people watching the show in a very, very long time.
24:02And that shows that there's interest in AEW and working with CMLL, the partnership we have.
24:09I love Lucha Libre and I'm very happy.
24:11You know, I mentioned before when we were with Don and Okada that it was a dream come true to even have the video for the video packages with Okada and Kenny.
24:20I'm a big CMLL fan.
24:21It's really cool to work with them.
24:22We didn't have that relationship.
24:24It really came a couple years ago and it's built and built.
24:26And Salvador and I, we did a Zoom in 2023 and AEW's having this great 2025 and all these seeds we planted, even though not every single thing we did over the past few years, not every single thing is always going to work.
24:41Nobody bats a thousand, but all the seeds we planted have grown.
24:43We've bloomed so many great things.
24:45One of the great things is the relationship with CMLL.
24:47So to be able to put that show on and for Salvador to tell me he wants to have us back, hopefully we can do Grand Slam Mexico again.
24:53And I think it can be a success again.
24:56It was already one of the biggest successes we've had.
24:58But, you know, as a big fan of Lucha Libre, I'll spare you coming up here and saying all the names of my favorite wrestlers from CMLL in the early 2000s.
25:06But when Mystico was on top before he departed, that's really the era, the whole 2002, 2001, 2002 to kind of 2010 was when I was a huge CMLL fan.
25:21And I followed it too then after, but Mystico is one of my all-time favorites.
25:27He was such a huge star.
25:28And to have Mystico be a part of the AEW presentation, part of our AEW All-In, go to Arena Mexico and embrace him like the kind of iconic star he is,
25:37and then bring in a lot of the top stars in Lucha Libre from CMLL that we've worked with, like Mascara Dorada, Atlantis Jr., of course, and Mystico, Persephone, La Catalina, and so many others.
25:53You know, it's just been great, but also to have AEW's top stars go to Arena Mexico and do very, very well.
26:01We've seen so many great stars.
26:02Earlier, you know, last year we saw the BCC go down there with Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley and Claudio.
26:09Matt Seidel was there.
26:11And then they had a great showing.
26:12But now in more recent shows, we've seen Mercedes Monet at Grand Slam capture the CMLL World Championship and now be a more active part of our team down there.
26:22MJF is the American champion down there.
26:25And MJF's got some personal rivalries down there now and a lot of history in CMLL he's built has really hated Ruto.
26:32And certainly for AEW, it's really cool, first of all, for me, before I get to his partner in this great match that I'm about to talk about,
26:45but also winning 4 million pesos at Grand Slam Mexico, and that's Hologram, who's undefeated in AEW and has also made a great impression now in CMLL
26:56and really grown his career and one of the rising stars in Lucha Libre to have somebody that I worked on the Hologram gimmick
27:02and have some go to Arena Mexico and be a part of a match like Mystico and Mascara Dorada versus Hologram and Bandido.
27:11That was such a fantastic match.
27:12So that was special.
27:13And then I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the Ring of Honor World Champion Bandido.
27:17I know I posted the photo with him in Salvador, but this is for Bandido to go and have the kind of matches he's having.
27:22Because let's really look at Bandido just in recent weeks, okay?
27:25First of all, what a rivalry.
27:26Bandido and Tecacheta.
27:28And I also think, you know, you have to look at the budgets of the shows because we have hundreds of millions of dollars
27:39in the AEW-TV contract across Dynamite and Collision.
27:41For what we do on Ring of Honor, the big pay-per-view tentpoles, they always deliver,
27:46and I think this was maybe the best show yet, and it culminated in maybe the best Ring of Honor title match I've ever seen.
27:52Certainly for the men's world title and the time I've owned it,
27:56I think Bandido versus Tecacheta was just fantastic.
27:58I have so many great things to say about both of them.
28:01We're wishing Tecacheta the best of luck competing in the G1, but to have Bandido go and do the things.
28:06And what I'm about to say about the TV is I think this year there have been really standout Ring of Honor TV shows.
28:10So for the people who watch it, you know, we do the show not necessarily live every week,
28:15but there have been some great episodes.
28:16I thought the Global Wars Australia was a very, very good show,
28:21and then I thought Global Wars Mexico was one of the best Ring of Honor television shows they've ever done
28:25with one of the best championship matches in the history of Ring of Honor.
28:28They're also Bandido versus Mastro Dorada.
28:30But even incorporating the AEW television into the Ring of Honor,
28:34we saw Athena and Thunder Rosa have really built their rivalry,
28:38and a lot of the matches that kind of helped, I think,
28:41build some of the anticipation for the women's casino gauntlet match.
28:44As a person who, frankly, coached the women's casino gauntlet match,
28:48produced that and produced, you know,
28:49every casino gauntlet match that there's ever been in the history of casino gauntlet matches,
28:53I thought that the all-star tag matches,
28:58even having stars from Ring of Honor and AEW Incorporated made sense
29:01and also helped further things in Ring of Honor,
29:03and some of that stuff in AEW and Ring of Honor would have gone differently.
29:06The injury I did know going into this week,
29:09but I did make changes earlier in the week.
29:12We talked about making changes just in the last, what, probably 12 hours,
29:19I guess 15, 12, working on it for, what, 15 hours or whatever in the middle of the night.
29:23And, you know, to make a good solution with making changes for the TNT championship match.
29:29But speaking of the great TV titles,
29:31the Women's World TV Championship in Ring of Honor, Red Velvet,
29:34she's done a great job representing the company as a world TV champion.
29:38She's gone to Arena Mexico and made a great impression.
29:41And really, for a relatively new championship in the world of wrestling,
29:44the women's TV title has had a great profile.
29:46She's really helped raise the profile, being a great ambassador.
29:49That's something I really value, somebody who goes down to Arena Mexico,
29:51which has been a great partner for AEW.
29:53And to go down in there and put in a great shift,
29:55that's going to score huge points with me.
29:57And even really raise the prestige of the title, I thought Red Velvet has.
30:01So I'm excited.
30:03I was disappointed that Red Velvet couldn't wrestle,
30:06but also it's the right thing to do,
30:08because it seems like it hopefully could be a manageable injury.
30:12It's not going to be, you know, years and years that she's going to be out or anything.
30:16We're eventually, hopefully going to have a match.
30:19And if Mina Shirakawa can keep retaining the interim Ring of Honor World Women's Television Championship,
30:24I thought that was a fascinating thing to have.
30:26Mina Shirakawa, who then was involved with the Ring of Honor World Champion, Athena,
30:31in the pinning sequence as Mina tried to put the figure four on and got caught with the O-Face,
30:36which was an incredibly exciting way to have the match culminate.
30:39And interestingly enough, with the brand new interim Ring of Honor World Women's Television Champion,
30:44getting pinned by the Ring of Honor World Women's Champion,
30:47who's held the belt for years and was actually teaming with Red Velvet in the match she got hurt in
30:51against Persephone, who's another great wrestler who was in that match.
30:54And Thunder Rosa, who, you know, teamed with Athena in ROH and, you know, Thunder Rosa, excuse me,
30:59who wrestled Athena in ROH, but also was in these tag team matches in AEW against Athena for weeks.
31:06I think that helped having the rivalries across AEW and ROH, being able to call them together when it makes sense.
31:12We saw Dustin Rhodes today as somebody who actually became a champion now in both ROH and AEW at the same time.
31:18That's happened before.
31:20It would be interesting now with Athena having the right to challenge for a world championship.
31:23So we've done a lot of exciting things with ROH this year.
31:27But somebody who was in ROH even before I owned the company that I have a lot of respect for is Bandido.
31:32And to go back and look at what Bandido has done in recent weeks, he had this incredible match with Takeshita.
31:36But they've really built this rivalry.
31:38Takeshita put the challenge out at Global Wars Mexico after Bandido retained the title.
31:43Another one of the greatest matches, like I said, against Masquerda Rada.
31:46One of the best tag team matches we've seen all year was Bandido.
31:49And like I said, Bandido and Hologram against – I loved the Bandido and Hologram against Masquerda Rada and Misko match.
32:00But I was also about to say that I really loved the Brody King and Bandido versus Protoshita, Takeshita, and Fletcher match on Wednesday.
32:07The six-man tag, I think, with Bandido and Roderick Strong, Kyle O'Reilly against Young Bucks and Takeshita was absolutely fantastic.
32:17There's been a lot of great matches along the way in the Takeshita-Bandido rivalry.
32:21But Bandido, I think, all around is having one of the best years of any wrestler in the world.
32:25He's a great world champion.
32:26And he is somebody who's had a great week, but I think he's just having a great summer, one of the best wrestlers in the world right now.
32:33And he had a great match last night, too, so I'd be remiss not to bring him up.
32:36And working with CMLL and having these great stars in AEW who are great Lucha Libre stars who are now also becoming, I think, fan favorites
32:46and being well-received and respected stars in Arena Mexico, we're making huge progress there.
32:51And I'm very appreciative of the partnership and working with them.
32:57Thanks for asking.
32:58Tony, I think we'll do two more so we can get our media to the post-show after party as well.
33:02Oh, good.
33:05Hi, Tony.
33:07Alex Laha is with Instinct Culture.
33:09Congratulations on tonight.
33:11Is there any update that you can share with us about the women's tag team titles?
33:17Well, it's a great question.
33:18I think we've been having to make all...
33:20It's unfortunately, like I said, I gave a pretty nuanced answer.
33:23I have...
33:25If I had sent a bracket out, I would have changed a bracket in the last few weeks several times.
33:31And it's been a lot of changes.
33:34One of the most valuable wrestlers in AEW and a great world champion has been a great example of this, Jamie Hayter,
33:41somebody I would love to have utilized today, somebody I would love to be featuring in the marketing of Forbidden Door in the UK,
33:46who's a great star in the UK, and would fit like a glove with the kind of great matches we've been having.
33:52And, you know, we saw her get attacked by Tekla, who's been running roughshod.
33:58You know, and that's one of the things I said.
33:59It's hard when you have a roster, and we have great depth across the roster.
34:05And I think the depth of the women's division has continued to grow and grow and get better and better,
34:09where we can sustain these injuries and put together something as ambitious as a great casino gauntlet match tonight,
34:14even missing some great names that might have been really great in the match,
34:18but weren't necessarily available that I would have also liked to have gotten in addition to all the great people we incorporated.
34:23And we were able to tell all these great stories when you think about how many cool things there were in that match,
34:27whether it's Statlander and Megan Bain going back to their great matches.
34:32And maybe Megan Bain's had stats number at times.
34:34They both earned these spots, and they were hitting each other hard,
34:36trying to throw bombs at each other before all the other competitors got out there.
34:41And then Statlander's had this great rivalry with Willow.
34:45Willow's had some close calls.
34:47She's a former TBS champion, would be a great champion for any company,
34:51could be a great world champion, certainly would be a great challenger,
34:54and somebody who's really respected, great star by the locker room,
34:59and, of course, revered by the fans.
35:01So many great stars throughout that match and rivalries.
35:03I mentioned Athena and Thunder Rosa had a rivalry that had encompassed AEW and, of course,
35:09and Ring of Honor and had a great match last night,
35:11and they were both a big part of this match today, even down to the end.
35:15Some new arrivals with Alex Windsor, who we've been seeing videos week in, week out on AEW,
35:20saying she was going to arrive.
35:22Sherry, we saw last night at Supercard of Honor, said she's coming to ROH and AEW,
35:27but who knew it would be today?
35:28That was a fun surprise coming out of the great events from last night
35:31and international wrestling.
35:32I think the roster is growing, changing, so I'd like to get some stability,
35:37and that's really important coming out of this, but it's something I'm very interested in.
35:42Both tag team divisions had been hit for a time by injuries,
35:46and now I think we're doing more and more multi-person matches on television,
35:52and in this case going to a casino gauntlet match.
35:55It gave a different energy, and I was able to tell a lot of stories
35:58in this women's casino gauntlet match, I thought.
36:00Maybe the first time I did one on television, when Tony pulled it out,
36:05the rookie Tony with the small package in the first-ever women's casino gauntlet match,
36:10which was also very special.
36:13That was a great, great match, but I think we've come even a long way since then.
36:19We're able to tell a lot of great stories, so I think we're heading in that direction.
36:21It's something I'm very interested in, and I think then a future gauntlet match
36:25could add even more to stories, but also have a great tag division
36:29where hopefully we can have great tag team matches up and down.
36:32I think there was great tag matches, certainly leading to that gauntlet match,
36:36eight-woman tags, all-star eight-woman tags,
36:39and we've had some great tag team street fights, and we're building more units.
36:43There's been some changes to those.
36:45Harley's another great example.
36:47I did get Harley physically featured, but there's only so much she can do.
36:50She's limited from contact.
36:52Obviously, she's wearing that mask, but I did want to have Harley out there,
36:55and she got a great reaction.
36:56So just some examples of some of the changes.
36:58I mentioned with Tekla attacking Jamie Hayter and Jamie Hayter being out now
37:02for a long time.
37:03Queen Amanata has stepped up, and boy, has she made the most of her minutes.
37:07She had done really some great things in AEW and in ROH
37:10and has been a top challenger in ROH and has had some highlights in AEW,
37:16but I think probably the highlights of her wrestling career
37:18and definitely her AEW run have been this rivalry she's really building
37:21and the tension with Tekla, which we saw again tonight.
37:25Some interesting things, some debuts, a lot of great things,
37:28and we're building out the roster.
37:30But I want to have more great women's tag team matches
37:33and the men's tag team division.
37:34One of my focuses this year has also been trying to build that back up
37:37and get it back to, as 2025 is such a great year for AEW,
37:41I think it's gotten stronger and stronger and stronger.
37:43The Young Bucks returned at Dynasty,
37:45and FTR have consistently been the greatest tag team.
37:49I think certainly every week on Collision
37:52and along with the Young Bucks and the Briscoes,
37:55one of the greatest tag teams of all time,
37:57I think certainly you have to give it up to FTR.
37:59Like I said, the Bucks have been back since Dynasty
38:01and maybe better than ever.
38:03I thought that Swerve and Will Ospreay tonight, though,
38:05came together, two of the greatest single stars,
38:08and had one of the best tag team matches I've ever seen.
38:11And I'd be remiss if I didn't really spend some time
38:13talking about, Swerve and Will Ospreay and the Young Bucks,
38:15a very different relationship with all four of them.
38:19But there's a part of me that would have to admit
38:23that after what happened to me on screen with the Young Bucks,
38:26that you'd be rooting for Swerve and Ospreay
38:30in that situation.
38:31But so many positive things over the years with the Young Bucks.
38:35I wouldn't be here without them.
38:36And the first person who really took the idea of AEW seriously
38:39was at first Matt, and then Matt put me on the phone with Nick.
38:42and that was literally seven years ago, over seven years ago.
38:49I think Matt and I talked for a long time.
38:50I want to say July 3rd of 2018 for like 30 or 5, 40 minutes
38:55the night before the 4th of July,
38:57and that would be just over seven years ago.
39:00And it really means a lot to think back to the very first AEW show.
39:07Young Bucks have had great tag team matches from the very beginning,
39:10and I think one of their best matches tonight with very high stakes
39:14was Ospreay and Swerve versus the Young Bucks.
39:17I would put it right there with Kenny and Hangman versus the Young Bucks,
39:20FTR versus the Young Bucks, some of the greatest matches ever in AEW's history.
39:25And some of the best tag matches I've seen.
39:27Really absolutely fantastic stuff.
39:30So I think there's a lot of great stuff happening in that tag division,
39:33trying to get that to be as strong as it's ever been,
39:37because when AEW's firing at its best, it really has been.
39:40So I think that's been a bright spot among all the bright spots in 2025,
39:44which right now I think we're having in so many ways our best year.
39:48The positivity is just so high,
39:49and I appreciate all of you giving us a chance to come out
39:52and have these great shows and also saying it.
39:55You know, it's really fun to go out there every week
39:59when you continue having great shows,
40:01just like when you're winning games and you want to go to the next one
40:04and it's really fun going to the next game.
40:06So 2025, we set a goal for this year,
40:10and so far the team keeps achieving the goals.
40:14Thank you.
40:15Thank you.
40:16That's great.
40:17Thank you.
40:17Is there one more?
40:19Hey, Tony.
40:20Is there any clarity regarding the casino gauntlet winners
40:23as to how those title shots will be delivered?
40:28Like last year there was sort of a cash-in style,
40:30or will it be more standard this year?
40:32Well, it's a great question.
40:32I think as with, you know, I did give, to be fair,
40:35I did give a rules clarification up here going forward for the unified championship,
40:41and it's a great question.
40:42I appreciate you asking.
40:44I will be giving more clarity to that on the TV shows.
40:46Thank you for asking.
40:47Of course, last year with the casino gauntlet winner, that was the format.
40:51And it's been treated different times, different ways.
40:54If you remember the very first casino gauntlet match going into Double or Nothing last year,
40:59we had in Daly's place Will Ospreay won the first casino gauntlet match,
41:05and we knew then that he would be wrestling for the international title at Double or Nothing.
41:09And we had a set stake on it.
41:12Of course, last year it was a contract that would be cashed in at any time.
41:17I'm going to sit with the winners, sit with the champions.
41:19I'm going to sit with the schedule, and I'm going to put some real thought into when I'm going to make those announcements.
41:25But I think there's a cadence that makes a lot of sense for this.
41:29But I think it would be safe to say that the challengers in this case, after MJF stepped up against such a talented field, frankly,
41:40and you have to give the devil his due, and Athena against one of the greatest groups of wrestlers
41:47and the first ever women's pay-per-view casino gauntlet match,
41:51I think they've earned some say in when they cashed these things in.
41:55So I will be making those announcements very soon.
41:58But thank you, sir, for asking.
42:00It's a great question.
42:02And I also, I know I mentioned it earlier, but I just wanted to thank you all.
42:06I really appreciate you all coming here.
42:08I hope if you were able to enjoy it as all as a fan, it's great.
42:13But I understand you're here for work, and hopefully you did like the shows.
42:19I really have had a great time, and I appreciate you all giving us this opportunity.
42:22If you didn't cover the shows week in, week out, we wouldn't have had this great platform.
42:28And certainly by talking about AEW All-In week out, really every single week for months and months and months,
42:35we've addressed this and built it up and built it up.
42:37And thanks to you covering it, and thanks to the great staff working together to put this event on,
42:44It delivered, and it really was the huge event, the huge culmination of so many great moments that it felt like it was going to be.
42:52It really sets the stage for a great dynamite, and certainly across dynamite and collision now in AEW.
43:00Sean, to your point, that's one of the many great questions that I will be addressing, and I do have a good plan for that.
43:06Thank you for asking that, and thank you, everybody, for being here today.
43:10I really appreciate you covering this.
43:12I tried to hopefully answer as many questions as I can while balancing that you all really want to get out and party here tonight.
43:17So thank you for covering this show.
43:19God bless you all.
43:20Thank you.
43:21Travel safe.
43:21Thanks.