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Welcome to the July 3rd edition of AEW News Roundup. With AEW making huge strides by carving a name for themselves in the wrestling industry, big news stories are inevitable.
We'll start with Chris Jericho's defense of Jim Ross after the latter made a sensational botch, calling AEW's flagship show Dynamite "WWE Dynamite". He wasn't the only one, as other wrestling personalities took to social media to back up Jim Ross.
The stipulation was announced for the AEW Tag Championship match at Road Rager between the Young Bucks and the team of Eddie Kingston and Penta El Zero Miedo. The Jackson brothers continued to make matters interesting as they took another shot at WWE on social media.
Ethan Page discussed his debut on AEW Dynamite on AEW Unrestricted and his delight with how it unfolded. Lastly, Orange Cassidy of The Best Friends got serious for once on Busted Open Radio.
On that note, let's take a deep dive into the news.
#5 AEW's Chris Jericho, and others, jump to Jim Ross's defense
Jim Ross is arguably the greatest wrestling commentator of all time. He has been involved in some of the most iconic wrestling moments of all time, and now he's working for AEW. While slipups happen to the very best, the legendary announcer made a spectacular botch as AEW Dynamite closed out.
Jim Ross referred to AEW Dynamite as 'WWE Dynamite' after a tear-inducing video package to bid adieu to Jacksonville was aired. It took less than a second for everyone on social media to talk about the incident. Some went too far in their trolling, which prompted AEW's Chris Jericho to jump to Jim Ross's defense, as did many others.
Chris Jericho tweeted the following:
"Pointing out that small mistakes or no small mistakes, @JRsBBQ is the GREATEST wrestling commentator of all time."
Other notable names jumped in to defend the highly respected JR. Former WWE superstar and current NWA Tag Team champion Aron Stevens (Damien Sandow) got involved, tweeting:
"Ok, @JRsBBQ is the greatest wrestling announcer ever. That needed to be said."
As bad as the botch was, unreasonable comments from social media users are never justified. People can't be blamed for laughing, but a certain line must not be crossed.
#4 AEW Tag Team Championship match stipulation announced
Eddie Kingston and Penta El Zero Miedo picked up a huge victory on AEW Dynamite, becoming the first tag team to beat The Young Bucks in over a year. The victory meant even more as it gave them a title match on July 7 at AEW's Road Rager.
Eddie Kingston and the Death Triangle have been feuding with The Elite and Young Bucks for a good amount of time now, so there's plenty of heat in this feud. This isn't just a title match, but a grudge match as well. The impending match got even more intense as AEW Chairman Tony Khan announced that the match is going to be a Street Fight.
Young Bucks matches often see the brothers constantly bend the rules and double team on their opponents. They employ multiple heel tactics to get over the line, but with the new stipulation in place, there's no reason for Kingston and Penta to hold back and the match should be an enthralling and violent affair.
#3 AEW's Young Bucks take a shot at WWE tag teams
The Young Bucks have been obnoxious since they turned heel, both on social media and in the ring. They have seemingly mastered the trolling game on Twitter, constantly mocking not just their rivals but also other companies and their wrestlers.
The Bucks fully believe that they are the best tag team in AEW and in the world, and their claims are hard to dispute. However, they declared themselves the greatest tag team of all time. They name-dropped multiple WWE tag teams, both past and present, in a blatant shot at AEW's rival company's tag team division. This is what they said:
Most consistent team in the business. Great in any era. Better than New Day, Usos & Mega Powers. Oh and Road Warriors," wrote The Young Bucks.
As we can see, they didn't hold back in their disrespect, naming two of the most iconic and legendary tag teams of all time, The Road Warriors and The Mega Powers. Fans don't need any more reasons to hate them any more than they already do, but their heat will only increase with antics like this.
#2 All Ego Ethan Page reveals delight with AEW Dynamite Debut
Ethan Page made his AEW debut as the mystery entrant in the Face of the Ladder match at AEW Revolution. Although he could not procure the Brass Ring, fans got a glimpse of what the former IMPACT wrestler could bring to the table.
Owing to his growing popularity, All Ego got an opportunity to open up on various topics on AEW Unrestricted. One of the topics he touched upon was his debut on AEW Dynamite against Lee Johnson.
Speaking to AEW referee Aubrey Edwards, Ethan Page revealed he was very happy with his debut. He praised Lee Johnson for being the 'perfect' opponent for him and allowing him to perform risky moves and execute them to perfection.
"I had been watching the product, everything that was put out leading upto this, and when I found out it was Lee Johnson I was very excited. I knew he was very capable in the ring and an up and comer and I think it was the perfect match. Going back to watch it, I'm very happy with how everything went. There was a lot of risky things that on a debut I shouldn't have taken a risk, like the body slam off the top rope, there's so many parts that could go wrong. So he was the perfect opponent to pull off so many things," Page said.
Ethan Page is set to take on Darby Allin in the first-ever coffin match on AEW, at AEW Road Rager. This will take the feud between the Men of the Year and Darby Allin and Sting to a new level and is sure to be a cracking match.
#1 Orange Cassidy says he 'never' saw AEW rise coming
Orange Cassidy is one of the most unique characters in all of wrestling. He got quite over with AEW fans with barely any effort. Part of 'Best Friends' alongside Chuck Taylor, Trent and Kris Statlander, 'Freshly Squeezed' has seen his popularity skyrocket since he joined AEW. His meteoric rise reached its pinnacle when he defeated wrestling legend and Inner Circle's leader Chris Jericho at AEW All Out and won the feud which spanned across three different bouts.
Sitting down with Busted Open Radio, Cassidy was joined by the rest of the members of Best Friends. He was asked if he expected such a rise, to which he said that he 'never, ever' saw it coming. He said:
"To answer your question without getting too much into it, no. Never ever. I just put a denim jacket on and started wrestling. You know, whatever happened, happened." (H/T WrestlingInc)
Orange Cassidy also mentioned that he was excited at the prospect of working with fans as it would be less demanding in-ring wise. He added:
"I had to wrestle more, which I wasn’t a fan of. But luckily during that time, a bunch of people like Chris Jericho and the great Brodie Lee, they pissed me off hard enough to make me actually wrestle. Now that the people are back I can, you know, get back to doing what I want to do, which is more of nothing."
