Both the men’s and women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournaments kicked off for All Elite Wrestling last week, but this week’s episode of Dynamite is the one that fans have had their eyes on. When the two tournament fields were set, each contained a mysterious wild cart wrestler known only as “Joker.” Dr. Britt Baker and Somoa Joe were lined up against the blank cards, and fans were told that the Jokers wouldn’t be revealed until the night of their first round fights. That night has finally arrived.
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Britt Baker, former AEW Women’s World Champion, was tasked with facing the female Joker in the first round. When the Joker finally made their way to the ring, it was revealed to be none other than Maki Itoh. If you recall, Itoh and Baker were former tag team partners, fighting together at AEW: Revolution last year.
There were several theories regarding the identity of the Joker before her big reveal on Wednesday night. One of the leading guesses amongst fans was Athena, who went by the name Ember Moon during her days in WWE. Athena recently spoke highly of AEW, leading fans to believe she might be considering signing with the company.
“I was seeing everything going on at AEW and I was like, ‘That looks fun. That looks like what I thought I was going to do,’” she told Chris Van Vliet earlier this month. “For a while, we couldn’t even talk about it backstage because they were like, ‘You shouldn’t be watching the competitor.’ I was like, ‘How do you expect us to outshine them?’ It was different because I wasn’t watching for film. I was watching because I was envious of what was happening there. I would text Dustin (Rhodes) on occasions and he would respond back, ‘We sure are having fun over here.’ I’m like, ‘I see that you’re having fun, Dustin! How are you, how is life? Don’t rub it in.’ Dustin was one of those people that, when I was on Raw and SmackDown and still trying to figure out my identity within that new roster, he was the only one who would sit there and give me character advice. ‘You need to do this and that. F— what they say.’ That’s Goldust. That’s the ultimate character. My man survived throughout everything. He took such an interest in my character-work when no one else would. I saw him and my friend Leva (Bates) is like, ‘I’m having a great time over here.’ To see genuinely how happy everyone was.”
What did you think of Wednesday’s reveal of the Joker on AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments!
