All Elite Wrestling signed two more stars to contracts this week, as the company announced both Abadon and Ricky Starks had signed after making their respective AEW Dynamite debuts. First there’s the genuinely terrifying Abadon, who first popped up on AEW Dark a few months back. Early in the show it looked like newcomer Anna Jay was going to get a special introduction match, only for the zombie-esque creature to crawl her way down to the ring and win in quick fashion.
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Based on Twitter, it looks like some of AEW’s roster is already freaked out by her.
Welcome to the team, ABADON is #AllElite pic.twitter.com/2wbMf5Vs8v
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEWrestling) June 18, 2020
#nope I need to sage the damn locker room!! 😳 https://t.co/oo906b1LXh pic.twitter.com/CW9Z1wsUho
— 💀Nyla Rose🥀 (@NylaRoseBeast) June 18, 2020
@RealBrittBaker‘s reaction to Abadon. 🤣🤣#AEWDynamite #AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/lXVkkPqDlJ
— Javier DraVen🏴☠️ (@WrestlingCovers) June 18, 2020
Later on in the show Cody Rhodes hosted his weekly open challenge for the AEW TNT Championship. Ricky Starks, the former NWA World Television Champion, arrived to answer the challenge and put up a good fight before falling to the Cross Rhodes. Starks was the first to hold NWA’s revamped version of the title when he won it at NWA’s Hard TImes pay-per-view in January, only to announce in May that he was a free agent.
Thank you @starkmanjones for a great effort tonight. While he didn’t win the open challenge & the TNT Title, he opened a lot of eyes on #AEWDynamite. Thank you @CodyRhodes & Arn for nominating a great challenger; I was glad to sanction the match. Now: congrats Ricky you earned it pic.twitter.com/K9dTVRlv1I
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) June 18, 2020
AEW is currently gearing up for its next big event, Fyter Fest, which will be held on the July 1 and July 8 episodes of Dynamite. Here’s the card so far:
- AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley vs. Brian Cage
- AEW TNT Championship: Cody Rhodes vs. Jake Hager
- AEW World Tag Team Championships: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page vs. The Best Friends
- AEW Women’s World Championship: Hikaru Shida vs. Penelope Ford
- Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy
Not to be outdone, NXT announced this week that Johnny Gargano and Finn Balor will both challenge Keith Lee for the NXT North American Championship next week. The winner of that match faces NXT Champion Adam Cole on July 8 in a Winner Take All match.
