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Johnny Elite (formerly known as John Morrison in WWE) made his AEW debut last night on Dynamite. Following his appearance, reports of his possible status in the company surfaced.
Elite came out as 'the joker,' a surprise opponent, against Samoa Joe in the quarterfinal round of the Owen Hart Foundation Men's Tournament. He was greeted with a huge pop, and loud cheers from the Fertita Center crowd in Houston, Texas.
After the match, no graphics of "Johnny Elite is All Elite" were posted on the accounts of AEW and Tony Khan. As per PWInsider, this was because the former WWE star had not officially signed with the company as of this writing. However, they added that Elite could still make future appearances in the Jacksonville-based promotion.
With regards to the "Johnny Gargano" post on AEW on TNT's Twitter account, it was clarified in the report that the page was not managed by the company but by their broadcast associates.
With his AEW appearance, Elite has now wrestled in three major wrestling promotions in the United States, the other two being WWE and IMPACT Wrestling. He has also wrestled in Mexico, most notably in Lucha Libre AAA and Lucha Underground.
Johnny Elite suffered a loss in his AEW debut
Samoa Joe dominated Johnny Elite during the match by hitting him with some body chops. The latter responded by connecting the Samoan Drop and a 450 Splash off the top turnbuckle.
The former ECW Champion continued the attack by nailing a knee strike on the head of The Samoan Submission Machine. He then attempted his famous Starship Pain but Joe countered with a knee to the body.
After a flurry of slaps, Joe pinned Elite with a Muscle Buster and advanced to the semifinal round of the Owen Hart Foundation Men's Tournament next week.
Despite the loss, Johnny proved that he has no ring rust on his athleticism. It remains to be seen if or when he will appear again in All Elite Wrestling.
