Booking Issues Involving Metalik Reportedly Affected Original Plans for Oct. 20th AEW Rampage Show

The October 20th AEW Rampage show was notable for only featuring three matches instead of the typical four match format for a Rampage show.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that the reason why the October 20th Rampage show featured one fewer match was due to issues regarding the originally scheduled Metalik vs. Komander match for the show.

Meltzer reported that AEW officials pulled this match from their Rampage tapings on October 18th due to Metalik had refused to put over Komander who had been booked to win the match. Metalik reportedly worked that week’s AEW Collision show several days later but the current belief is that his backstage incident earlier in the week did not help his standing in the company.

Fightful Select reported that their sources provided additional details regarding the situation over Metalik’s refusal to put over Komander.

It was reported that those spoken to stated that AEW officials always had planned for that week’s Rampage show to only feature three matches. It was also reported that AEW officials original plans were for this match to be a four-way match involving Lince Dorado, Penta El Zero Miedo, Komander, and Metalik. This plan reportedly was changed to a three-way due to political-related issues over Dorado’s ties to CMLL.

It was also reported that Metalik was planned to lose in the three-way match but he informed AEW officials that he did not want to continue to lose matches without being under a full-time deal with the company. AEW officials reportedly understood Metalik’s position and booked a match between Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kyle Fletcher instead to replace Metalik’s match on the show.