AEW: MJF Injuries & Contract Update, Willow Nightingale on Wanting Continental Classic and Blood & Guts for AEW’s Women’s Division, More News

MJF Injuries & AEW Contract Status Update

As noted before, MJF has been out of action for AEW since this past December’s AEW Worlds End event due to a shoulder injury. MJF’s profile on AEW’s roster page and most of his merchandise on AEW’s online store was recently removed leading to online speculation of MJF’s contract had expired and was a free agent.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that MJF is still recovering from his multiple injuries and had met with AEW officials in Boston the day following their Dynamite Big Buisness show in the city.

In regards to MJF’s current contract status, Johnson reported that teh current belief based on those spoken to is that MJF is locked into a new deal with AEW.

In regards to a timetable for MJF’s return from injury, Johnson reported that a potential date for MJF’s return to the ring is currently not known.

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Willow Nightingale Comments on Her Current Goals for AEW’s Women’s Division Includes a Women’s Continental Classic

A recent episode of Bodyslam.net’s Maps & Graps podcast featured Willow Nightingale as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Nightingale’s thoughts about her current goals of wanting AEW to hold a Continental Classic and a Blood & Guts match for their Women’s division.

“There’s a lot of things that come to mind. A Blood & Guts is definitely on there. I do love the idea of having our own Continental Classic, but kind of branching off of that, I’m not sure how many other women on our roster, aside from myself, have had the opportunity to wrestle internationally and represent AEW. I know Toni Storm has done a few things with New Japan, in terms of being with Juice over there. But from a wrestling perspective, I may have been the only so far representing AEW [while] wrestling in Japan. This coming week, I’m also gonna be representing AEW over at CMLL, so I’m really grateful for these opportunities. I’m excited about them, and I hope I continue to do so in the future, but I know we’ve had STARDOM come over recently. I think when there are moments where maybe someone on the roster isn’t on TV every single week or they’re not directly tied into a storyline, it would be really cool to see some girls go over to STARDOM for a few weeks, get to train there. Even if you’re not training there, just doing the matches and working with all these other international wrestlers, you think about wrestling a different way. You adapt to a different audience, and you kind of understand more about yourself because the way I think when I go and I do all these different things is like, how do I make this audience believe that I have a value outside of what is already going on here. How do I also blend in to what’s going on without disrupting the flow too much, but how do I also give them the personal Willow Nightingale experience? How do I show them me? I think you learn a lot about yourself doing that, and there’s so many girls on the roster who could do the same, so more sending our girls over to other places and learning more about themselves would be very cool. Tag team championships would also be really awesome to have [laughs].”

Transcript h/t: Bodyslam.net

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AEW News & Notes

As noted before, AEW’s Dynasty event next month will be airing on both Bleacher Report’s B/R Live and Triller TV’s streaming services in the United States. This will be the official first time that B/R Live will not be the exclusive streaming provider for an AEW PPV event in the U.S. AEW recently announced that their upcoming Dynasty event will also be available to purchase on their YouTube channel and PPV.com in the U.S. as well.

Rock band Fozzy recently announced that they will be holding their 25th Anniversary tour this October in the United States. In regards to Chris Jericho’s status for AEW, Fozzy will be holding concert events on October 2, 9, and 16 on the same nights as AEW’s Collision shows.

Book publisher Penguin Random House recently announced that Jim Ross’ new upcoming book, titled Business Is About to Pick Up!, will be released on May 7th. This upcoming book was stated to feature 50 iconic calls made by Ross throughout his wrestling commentary career.

Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Quebec City, Canada featured pro skateboarding legend Tony Hawk making a video appearance on the show. In the video, Hawk appeared alongside Darby Allin to promote Hawk’s The Skatepark Project foundation.

In a recent response to a fan question on Twitter, former AEW talent Fuego del Sol stated that the reason why he did not get a new contract in AEW was due to him not being able to “fully win over the right guy.” This fan stated “Why did you leave #AEW??” and del Sol responded back stating “My contract expired. I never fully won the right guy over. All good though. Enjoyed my time there. Looking forward to proving a lot of people wrong.“

Wednesday’s Dynamite show in Quebec City also featured Will Ospreay defeating Katsuyori Shibata in a singles match. Following his match, AEW held a digital exclusive backstage interview with Ospreay discussing his thoughts about Shibata being the measuring stick of what pro wrestling should be. Ospreay stated “Mate, course. The beauty of this is, myself and Bryan look at Shibata as the measuring stick of what professional wrestling is. Now, if you watch what Bryan Danielson did when he faced Shibata, I remember it, guy got a quick flash victory. Want to know the difference with my victory? I took all that punishment. No one’s got the endurance like I got that endurance. How did I beat him today? Then how did I beat him today? Storm-driver, Hidden Blade, one, two, three. It wasn’t flash, anything about it, it wasn’t a fluke victory. It was just me being the better wrestler. Shibata is the measuring stick for what professional wrestling is, and no one does it just like he does it. But tonight, I was the better man. Look at me, mate. Torn apart. I’m all red all over. I probably got some bruises up there. I’m still ready. I’m still ready to go round-for-round with one of the best around, Bryan Danielson. Twenty-first of April can’t come soon enough. See you then, sunshine. Hope you’re feeling fit.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)