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    All Elite Wrestling “Double Or Nothing” Rally Recap

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    All Elite Wrestling

    Last week, the world got to hear what was teased for a while, All Elite Wrestling is real, and it’s aiming to #ChangeTheWorld. Today, in Jacksonville, Florida, outside the stadium for the Jaguars, The Elite came together to start to show what their wrestling promotion would be like in terms of roster, as well as announce some key things about their promotion that might surprise some people. Here’s our recap of the event.

    First up, the tag team SCU (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) confirmed that they are signing exclusive with AEW. These three have been big in 2018 after creating the SCU brand, and fans really resonate with them, so that’s a big signing, although predictable given their BTE (Being The Elite) Youtube show ties.

    Executive Vice President of AEW Cody Rhodes came out to talk about how the promotion was going to change wrestling. First, they were going to try and truly define it as an athletic sport. Second, they were going to guarantee good pay to all who work with the promotion. The fans wouldn’t be “conditioned” to like a wrestler they didn’t want to like, and arguably most important, “wins and losses” will be extremely important in AEW. Which the crowd went very nuts for.

    The Young Bucks came out to note that they are already in the works with other wrestling promotions to bring in more wrestlers, and announced a deal with OWE, the Chinese Wrestling Promotion to bring a tag-team called the “Good Hearts” to AEW. Matt Jackson was especially proud of this signing and noted that fans will love them once they see them. He also noted, “if you’re an Elite talent, we want you.”

    Brandi Rhodes (wife of Cody) came out to confirm that women’s wrestling will be a part of All Elite Wrestling, and she promised equal pay for the women, which is a big deal if you know the industry. She also announced the first official signing (aside from her) in the form of Britt Baker. Baker has been in the industry for a while, is an actual dentist, and has been a part of Shimmer as well as other promotions. She was also a part of ALL IN via the Fatal 4-Way Women’s match that was honestly one of the matches of the night. Plus, both her and Brandi confirmed that they’re talking with promotions all over the world to bring even more A-Class Women’s Wrestling talent to AEW.

    Three more wrestlers were confirmed in a “segment” on stage when MJF (Maxwell Jacob Friedman), Joey Janela, and Penelope Ford revealed that they were ALL IN on AEW. All three of whom were a part of ALL IN last year. Janela is out with an injury, but when he does heal up, it’s a big get for the promotion.

    Fan-favorite member of The Elite Adam “Hangman” Page came out to talk to the fans and thank them for all of their support, and when he revealed that he wanted to be the first world champion for All Elite Wrestling, he was interrupted by none other than PAC (known to WWE fans as Neville) who not only said he was in AEW, but he wanted to be champion to. He also brought in the Dragonsgate Title, which makes many wonder if All Elite Wrestling and Dragonsgate are going to be working something out too.

    Two of the biggest announcements came in the form of details of their next “big events”. First up, Double Or Nothing will be at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday May 25th of this year. For reference, the stadium holds almost 17,000 people, and ALL sold about 11,000, so it shows they’re aiming for bigger venues. Speaking of which, while unnamed and not given a date, the second show for All Elite Wrestling will be in Jacksonville. And in a touching move, Cody announced that part of the profits for the show will go to the victims of gun violence.

    But…that wasn’t all! The final announcement was that none other than Chris Jericho is ALL IN on AEW. He said he’s not in it for the money, he’s in it to change things, and though he is about 50 years old, he’s one of the most famous wrestlers in the world still. And just came off of a title reign in NJPW.

    All in all, it was a solid rally for All Elite Wrestling (despite some streaming and sound issues). They proved they can get big name talent, and are interested in the indie wrestlers that haven’t made it to the “big time” just yet. The Elite promise a lot of big talent both in front and behind the camera (wrestling legend Billy Gunn was confirmed on Twitter to be a producer for AEW). Not to mention, all in all, about 100,000 people watched the event. That’s something special.

    So as the march to May 25 begins, the question everyone will ask is, “Who else is ALL IN for All Elite Wrestling?”

    If you want to watch the rally for yourself, you can see it via the video below:

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    A self-proclaimed Nintendo fanboy, born, bred, and Mushroom fed! He’s owned every Nintendo handheld and every console since the SNES. He's got a degree in video game development, is a published comic book writer and an author of several novels!