All Elite Wrestling is the newest professional wrestling promotion in America and thanks to its upcoming show, AEW on TNT, they have a chance to become number two to only WWE.
Here is a look at the history of All Elite Wrestling, the AEW roster, their PPV history and our exclusive interviews with the roster.
Make sure to bookmark this page, as we will update to make this a hub for all news AEW in the future.
What is All Elite Wrestling (AEW)?
The genesis of All Elite Wrestling started five months before the company officially opened its doors for business.
On Sept. 1, 2018, a group of indie wrestling stars banded together and put on their own show in partnership with Ring of Honor Wrestling. That event was All In and took place at the Sears Centre Arena in Chicago.
The show saw Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks work to book and promote what ended up as one of the most successful indie shows in professional wrestling history.
After the show, Cody Rhodes promised that this was just the beginning.
Cody Rhodes with the All In 2 “Double or Nothing” tease #AllIn pic.twitter.com/zAgd91UwOz
— Justin Barrasso (@JustinBarrasso) September 2, 2018
The creation of AEW
Then, on Jan. 9, 2019, All Elite Wrestling formed. The AEW Rally took place in Jacksonville, Florida, the home of the new owner of AEW Shad Khan (the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team).
At the event, a number of wrestlers were introduced to the fans as new members of the AEW roster. These included the biggest surprise — Chris Jericho and PAC (the former Neville).
While PAC did not officially compete in a match until Sept. 1, it was two former WWE superstars helping the promotion prove they meant business.
Also introduced were former Ring of Honor stars So-Cal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky), the three founders of All Elite Wrestling (Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks), Hangman Adam Page, indie stars Joey Janela and MJF, and the first woman signed, Britt Baker.
Tony Khan, the son of Shad Khan, was named the president of All Elite Wrestling with The Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes as executive vice presidents. Brandi Rhodes was named Chief Branding Officer.
Double or Nothing — make or break for AEW
Up next was the AEW Double or Nothing rally in Las Vegas. This was to promote the first-ever AEW booked show and introduced a number of new stars.
Three names top this list.
First of all, Kenny Omega finally joined AEW, leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling, and became the fourth executive vice-president of the company.
Also coming aboard was one of the best tag teams in the world today, The Lucha Bros.
The other new names introduced here included Sonny Kiss, women’s stars Kylie Rae, Nyla Rose, Aja Kong, and Yuka Sakazaki, AAA superstar Sammy Guevara, and superstars from China’s OWE.
By the time Double or Nothing came and went, AEW got their biggest eye-popping signing. The former Dean Ambrose attacked Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega to end the show and Jon Moxley was a part of All Elite Wrestling.
How to watch AEW
The first four AEW promoted pay-per-view events got a nice partner in B/R Live, which is owned by the parent company of Turner. This was a sign.
While Double or Nothing and All Out carried high price tags of close to $50 for the pay-per-view events, both Fyter Fest and Fight for the Fallen were free to give fans a taste of what to expect from AEW.
The fact that a Turner-owned company hosted the PPV events was a sign of things to come.
On July 24, AEW announced that they signed a deal to come to TNT, the former home of WCW. This is the largest network that any non-WWE company has aired on since WCW.
The premiere episode is scheduled to air on Wednesday night, Oct. 2 with an 8/7c p.m. start time and will be a two-hour show.
AEW’s first TV show (get tickets here for all AEW on TNT shows) will air live from Washington, D.C. and they will hit cities all over the United States, starting with Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Charleston and Charlotte.
The announce team for the AEW on TNT show will officially be Jim Ross, Excalibur, and Tony Schiavone, with Alex Marvez and Goldenboy doing work in various areas as well.
In a surprise move, WWE announced later that NXT would go live on Wednesday nights as well on USA Network and it will be a head-to-head battle between the two shows.
AEW Champions
AEW has three champions so far in the works — a world champion, tag team champions and a women’s champion. Only the men have a champion so far with the women’s champion to be crowned on the series premiere (Nyla Rose vs. Riho) and the tag champs coming in a tournament.
AEW World Champion: Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho beat Kenny Omega at AEW Double or Nothing for the right to compete for the AEW world title. Adam Page won a battle royale on the same show to earn the second spot.
Jericho battled Page at AEW All Out and won the first AEW world championship in the match. Page may be one of the future stars of AEW but the company needed a recognizable name as they set to premiere on TNT and Jericho is that man.
AEW current roster
Here is the official roster, via AEW’s official website.
Men’s Division
- Adam Page
- Angelico
- Brandon Cutler
- Chris Jericho
- Christopher Daniels
- Chuck Taylor and Trent Barretta (The Best Friends)
- CIMA (learn more about Oriental Wrestling Entertainment)
- Cody Rhodes
- Darby Allin
- Dustin Rhodes (learn more about Dustin’s role in AEW here)
- Fenix and Fenix (The Lucha Bros)
- Frankie Kazarian
- Jack Evans
- Jimmy Havoc
- Joey Janela
- Jon Moxley
- Jungle Boy (learn more about Jungle Boy here)
- Kenny Omega
- Kip Sabian
- Luchsaurus (learn more about Luchasaurus here)
- Marko Stunt
- Matt Jackson
- MJF
- Michael Nakazawa
- Michael Wardlow
- Nick Jackson
- Orange Cassidy
- PAC
- Peter Avalon
- Private Party
- Sammy Guevara
- Santana and Ortiz (learn more about Santana and Ortiz here)
- Scorpio Sky
- Scorpio Sky
- Shawn Spears
- Sonny Kiss (learn more about Sonny Kiss here)
- The Dark Order
Women’s Division
- Allie
- Awesome Kong
- Bea Priestley
- Brandi Rhodes
- Britt Baker
- Hikaru Shida
- Kylie Rae
- Leva Bates
- Nyla Rose
- Penelope Ford
- Sadie Gibbs
Broadcast Team
- Alex Marvez
- Excalibur
- Goldenboy
- Jim Ross
- Justin Roberts
- Tony Schiavone
Referees
- Aubrey Edwards (learn more about Aubrey Edwards here)
- Bryce Remsburg
- Earl Hebner
- Paul Turner
- Rick Knox
Coaches
- Billy Gunn
- Jerry Lynn
AEW PPV history
The first major event was not an official AEW PPV but was put on by Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks on Sept. 1, 2018. This was All In, which took place in Chicago and was an immediate success.
This first event was a collaboration between different indie and minor wrestling promotions, including Ring of Honor, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Impact Wrestling, Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
After AEW began promoting their own shows as a company, they still worked with some indie promotions but took control over all aspects of the shows and held four events before AEW on TNT began to air in October 2019.
These events were Double or Nothing, Fyter Fest, Fight for the Fallen, and All Out. We will keep track of all AEW PPV events here with a link to our reviews of the shows.
- September 1, 2018 – All In (read our review here)
- May 25, 2019 – Double or Nothing (read our review here)
- June 29, 2019 – Fyter Fest (read our review here)
- July 13, 2019 – Fight for the Fallen (read our review here)
- August 31, 2019 – All Out (read our review here)
Interviews with AEW stars
Links to any interviews Monsters & Critics conducts with AEW superstars will appear here.
- Christopher Daniels (this interview took place three months before Daniels left Ring of Honor for AEW)
Bookmark this page as your home for all updates on All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
Shawn S. Lealos
Shawn S. Lealos has been a freelance writer for 25 years, starting with magazines and newspapers before moving to the internet. He has been published in Inside Sports Magazine, The Daily Oklahoman, and Oklahoma Gazette and websites such as Chud.com, 411mania.com, Sporting News, CBR, ScreenRant,