AEW: Eddie Kingston Makes Surprise Return, Andrade El Idolo on Hopeful for Roster Split, More News

Eddie Kingston Makes Surprise Return on AEW Dynamite

Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Washington, D.C. featured Eddie Kingston making his surprise return to AEW.

Following the main event Trios match of The Elite vs. Blackpool Combat Club, the BCC launched a post-match attack on The Elite. This resulted in Kingston making his surprise return and coming out to help save The Elite. Kingston started brawling with Claudio Castagnoli and gained the upper hand until the BCC overwhelmed him with their numbers advantage once Konosuke Takeshita ran out to join in the brawl.

EDDIE KINGSTON is BACK! And old rivalries have simmered RIGHT back up to the surface!
Watch #AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS! pic.twitter.com/bUBLrrf1fE

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) June 15, 2023

This brawl also featured Kenny Omega running out to attack the BCC and Will Ospreay making his surprise return taking out Omega afterwards.

This was Kingston’s first appearance in AEW since this past March and had been primarily working in Ring of Honor.

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Andrade El Idolo Comments on Being in Favor of a Roster Split for Collision & Dynamite

A recent episode of the Please Steal Our Ideas podcast featured Andrade El Idolo as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Andrade’s thoughts on being in favor of a roster and championships belts split for AEW’s Dynamite and Collision brands. Andrade also stated that he is also hopeful hat AEW will debut a new championship belt for their Collision brand as well.

“I don’t know yet, but I hope [the shows will be] separate. I hope [they] make a new title. Maybe separate the brands like it’s another company. I hope that Dynamite, the roster, and the talent — Collision, this new brand for AEW, I wish [for the shows to be] separate. I don’t know yet.

I wish. I hope so, too because this is a new brand. We need new goals. If we have different titles, it’s good because you can compete for the title.”

Andrade also gave his thoughts on if AEW introducing more championships would water down the title reigns of someone like MJF, who is the current AEW World Champion.

“I think it’s good. I love the idea because this is more opportunities for the roster, more storylines for the titles. I think maybe in the future, or maybe soon, [new titles] is a good idea. I hope the office or the writers [will hear this]. Yeah, 100%. We need a new title.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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AEW News & Notes

Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Washington, D.C. featured AEW holding one dark match prior to the start of the show. This was a Women’s Trios match of Riho, Abadon, & Maki Itoh vs. Nyla Rose, Emi Sakura, & Marina Shafir, which was won by Riho, Abadon, & Itoh.

As noted before, Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo announced this past May that they are currently expecting the birth of their first child. Guevara and Melo recently released a new video on YouTube featuring Guevara’s reaction when he was first told by Melo that he was going to be a father for the first time in his life.

AEW recently released several new trailers for their upcoming AEW Fight Forever video game featuring in-game looks of Ricky Starks, Thunder Rosa, and Powerhouse Hobbs.

Notable wrestling gaming YouTube channel NewLegacyInc recently released a new video featuring gameplay from the ladder match mode in AEW’s upcoming Fight Forever video game. This video also featured Evil Uno as the guest.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated AEW recently hired former WWE and Impact Wrestling talent Kevin Matthews to a backstage job in the company. Johnson reported that Matthews exact job title in AEW is currently not known.

As noted before, Stardom is currently not expected to be involved with AEW and NJPW’s upcoming Forbidden Door II event due to schedule-related issues and lack of talks over potential talent to work at the event. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that prior talks between Stardom and AEW in 2022 had revolved around Stardom requesting to use Kris Statlander for a potential match against KAIRI at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 17 event this past January. These plans reportedly were dropped following Statlander suffering an ACL injury this past September.

In a recent interview with Reuters, AEW CEO Tony Khan gave his thoughts about the potential of New Japan Pro Wrestling talent working at AEW’s upcoming All In event at Wembley Stadium. Khan stated “It would be a huge benefit to AEW if there is participation from New Japan Pro Wrestling and some of their top stars in the event.” In the same interview, NJPW President Takami Ohbari responded stating that NJPW would considering sending some of their talent for the event if they were given an offer.

In a recent interview with Sportskeeda’s WrestleBinge podcast, Billy Gunn gave his thoughts on his belief that The Acclaimed’s “scissoring” taunt is just as popular as DX’s crotch chop was during WWE’s Attitude Era but in its own different way. Gunn stated “Yeah, I think so. They’re both amazing, right? I was just at a signing this weekend, and people would come up to me, and they have their kids, and I’d go, ‘I get it. I’m a parent’s worst nightmare.’ I go from sucking it to scissoring, right? I don’t know how my career has been so not parent-oriented. I don’t know., I think it’s just two different eras and two different things. ‘Suck It’ was with the DX stuff. It was iconic. There’s nothing that’s going to touch that because it was just so special, and it was so good. Not saying that this isn’t. This is just something else. It’s just different. The crotch chopping and all that stuff was in that era, which was amazing. Now, everybody is still — I walk through the airport and all I do is scissor. It’s crazy. On the other hand, it’s amazing because you don’t realize until you walk through the airport, or you’re going through Walmart, or somewhere people are, that’s all they want to do. So, on the one hand, it shows you how special it is, and I just think the two were different, but at the same breath, they are the same.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)