For the past three years AEW has partnered with the Owen Hart Foundation and Martha Hart to honor the legacy of Owen with the Owen Hart Cup Tournament. During the inaugural tournament, Adam Cole and Britt Baker walked away the winners while TBS Champion Willow Nightingale and Ricky Starks won last year. Up until this point the tournament didn’t have any stakes other than a beautiful shiny belt to add to their collection, however this year that’s set to change.
Videos by ComicBook.com
During AEW Double or Nothing on the fifth anniversary of AEW, AEW President Tony Khan and Hart made a huge special announcement to the fans in Las Vegas. This year the tournament is set to return but with it being the 25th anniversary of the Owen Hart Foundation, they wanted to raise the stakes even higher. The winners of the men’s and the women’s tournaments will earn a future World Championship opportunity at AEW All In this August in London. Though it’s unclear when the tournament will kick off, the finals will conclude when AEW heads to Calgary, Alberta this July 10.
In a recent interview with The Calgary Sun, Hart confirmed the date of the finals and reiterated that she trusts AEW with the legacy of her late husband. “I trust AEW to highlight, promote, and honour Owen’s wrestling legacy,” she said. “We are now working together to ensure that legacy continues.”
Ahead of the inaugural tournament, current FTW Champion Chris Jericho told Comicbook that the tournament was a “passion project” for him.
“It was a passion project for me and obviously for Martha (Hart) and Tony. We worked on it for a long time, about a year and a half, to put the deal together and figure out what we wanted to do,” he said. “I just knew I wanted Owen’s legacy to be something positive and something great as far as wrestling goes, rather than just be dwelling on his death. That’s the main reason why we all wanted this to happen, so we can celebrate Owen Hart’s career and the contributions that he made. He was a pioneer.”
Stay tuned to Comicbook for updates on this year’s Owen Hart Cup Tournaments and AEW.
AEW Double or Nothing Card
AEW World Championship: Swerve Strickland (c) vs. Christian Cage
AEW TBS Championship: Willow Nightingale (c) vs. Mercedes Moné
Anarchy in the Arena: The Elite (The Young Bucks, Kazuchika Okada, Jack Perry) vs. Team AEW (FTR, Bryan Danielson, Darby Allin)
AEW TNT Championship – Barbed Wire Cage Match: Adam Copeland (c) vs. Malakai Black
AEW Women’s Championship: “Timeless” Toni Storm (c) vs. Serena Deeb
AEW International Championship: Roderick Strong (c) vs. Will Ospreay
Unified Trios Championships: Bullet Club Gold (c) vs. Death Triangle
FTW Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. HOOK vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Trent Beretta vs. Orange Cassidy
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Eliminator Match: Jon Moxley (c) vs. Konosuke Takeshita
