AEW and WWE Media, Eddie Kingston's return, Fletcher, Cody Rhodes, MLW News!

A news update for Monday, September 15.

• AEW has Gates of Agony, Kris Statlander and others doing media ahead of AEW All Out. You can see Grapsody's interview with Statlander at this link.

• ESPN itself will be hosting a media conference to promote this weekend's WrestlePalooza.

• Tony Khan is set for a media call on Thursday.

• Fightful And DownUnder The Ring's Phid McAwesome spoke to Bryan Danielson for over a half hour!

• We were told to expect Natalya/Nattie to work additional AAA dates.

• Denise Salcedo will rejoin Fightful for this week's episode of The Hump on Wednesday. We will be making All Out and WrestlePalooza predictions.

• To reiterate a clarification from last week, we're told Kyle Fletcher was always the plan to face Hangman Page at All Out. Wardlow was slated for some top programs before his injury, including with Hangman.

• For those wondering why Eddie Kingston's return wasn't a surprise, we're told pretty straightforward it was to promote the event and generate buzz for All Out.

• Fightful spoke with some who worked on set with Cody Rhodes during Street Fighter, who spoke glowingly of Rhodes. One person also indicated that Hirooki Goto may have gotten his role after Cody Rhodes put in a good word to help make that happen.

• Sean Ross Sapp spoke on Andrade's WWE release on today's Q&A show. Jon Alba of SI reported that he was fired for a wellness violation and escorted from a recent Smackdown.

We have some notes regarding MLW this weekend.

• Kushida and Austin Aries got high marks internally for their match. That match will air as a part of the fury road show on September 27.

• An MLW source indicated that the locker room morale is very high. Very positive energy.

• As noted last week, a new weekly MLW show is in development.

• Aries, Kushida, Justice and Hammerstone received best bout bonuses.

BRISCOE

Fightful spoke to Mark Briscoe for a new interview.

He said that unfortunately the price of eggs increasing hasn’t meant anything for him as they farm meat chickens. However, we did speak about the possibilities about him having a chicken inspired Reebok sneaker like other AEW wrestlers.

We spoke with Mark Briscoe about the special FTR/Briscoes feud. He said that they knew it was special and that Jay Briscoe said the match didn’t feel real, like a dream. We also discussed how he and Jay would have legit fights, but were best friends. He said that changing the tempo and being a singles wrestler was a whole different ballgame. 

HOBBS

Fightful spoke to Powerhouse Hobbs recently.

He said that in filling in for Hook, he’s learned that he has to be prepared at the drop of a dime. He said he wasn’t originally slated for that role, but was happy to fill in for hook.

He recovered from injury ahead of schedule, after he was supposed to be out for 8 to 12 months. He said that he’s a freak, and a different beast. When he went to AEW’s doctor, the doctor was shocked at how quick he was able to stand. 

He spoke about his relationship with Jon Moxley and said it’s like a little brother/big brother relationship, but they have unfinished business in the ring. There were things that were supposed to happen earlier in his career with Moxley and they didn’t happen because of COVID.