60 Fun Facts About AEW

In which US city is All Elite Wrestling headquartered?

Jacksonville, Florida. A week after announcing itself online, AEW held its first press conference in the city to reveal the opening names on its roster.

Who founded All Elite Wrestling in 2019 and became its president and CEO?

Tony Khan. A lifelong wrestling fan, he launched the company alongside four wrestlers, who signed on as executive vice presidents as well as performers.

AEW's creation was announced at midnight on January 1, 2019, in an episode of which web series?

Being the Elite. The wrestlers' own travel vlog broke the news itself, with the new company's logo appearing on a cast member's phone as the clock struck twelve.

The 2018 independent wrestling show All In, which drew 10,000+ fans, was held in a suburb of which city?

Chicago. The self-funded show at the Sears Centre in suburban Hoffman Estates sold out in about half an hour, and AEW followed four months later on the back of its success.

Which TV superhero actor wrestled Christopher Daniels at the 2018 independent show All In?

Stephen Amell. The actor came out in Bullet Club gear and crashed through a ringside table when Daniels dodged his elbow drop from the top rope.

AEW's first pay-per-view, Double or Nothing, was held on May 25, 2019, at which venue?

MGM Grand Garden Arena. Tickets for the Las Vegas debut went on general sale in February 2019 and were gone in four minutes.

Under what ring name had Jon Moxley, surprise debutant at the first Double or Nothing, wrestled in WWE?

Dean Ambrose. WWE gave him that name in 2011; when his contract expired in April 2019 he went straight back to Jon Moxley, the name he had debuted under in 2004.

Which wrestling legend unveiled the AEW World Championship belt at Double or Nothing 2019?

Bret Hart. The Hitman carried the new title out in a belt bag and introduced one of its first challengers before MJF strode out to interrupt and insult them both.

Who became the inaugural AEW World Champion in the main event of All Out on August 31, 2019?

Chris Jericho. Days later he reported the new belt stolen from his limousine while he ate at a Tallahassee steakhouse, and police recovered it that week.

Which faction did Chris Jericho form on the first episode of AEW Dynamite in October 2019?

The Inner Circle. Jake Hager's surprise debut in the closing attack completed the group, giving the brand-new show its first villainous faction on night one.

Dynamite's 2019 launch went head-to-head with which WWE brand on Wednesday nights?

NXT. Dynamite won the first night with 1.409 million viewers to 891,000 and more than doubled its rival among adults aged 18 to 49.

Who was AEW's first Women's World Champion, crowned on the debut episode of Dynamite?

Riho. She beat Nyla Rose, who had earned her place by winning the Casino Battle Royale at All Out a month earlier, the night the belt was first shown.

Which team won a tournament to become the first AEW World Tag Team Champions in October 2019?

SoCal Uncensored. Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky beat the Lucha Brothers in the final, in a bracket blown open when Private Party upset a team of AEW's own executives in round one.

Which AEW executive vice president was the inaugural TNT Champion in 2020?

Cody Rhodes. He beat Lance Archer in the tournament final at Double or Nothing and was handed an unfinished belt, because the pandemic had delayed its gold plating.

The main event of Full Gear 2019 saw Jon Moxley beat Kenny Omega in what kind of unsanctioned match?

Lights Out. The label marks a bout AEW officially refuses to recognise, which let the pair bring barbed wire, broken glass and a board covered in mousetraps.

Which NBA Hall of Famer teamed with Jade Cargill to win a tag team match on Dynamite in March 2021?

Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq was sent crashing through two ringside tables and loaded into an ambulance, which was found empty moments later, while his partner scored the winning pin.

AEW's first WarGames-style match, held in May 2021, was billed under what name because WWE owns the WarGames trademark?

Blood and Guts. The name throws back Vince McMahon's 2019 jab at a new rival's "blood and guts" style; the match was set for March 2020, but the pandemic pushed it back more than a year.

Sting's 2020 AEW debut was his first TNT appearance since beating whom on WCW's final show there in 2001?

Ric Flair. The old rivals closed out WCW's last broadcast, and Sting's first AEW match was a tag team win at Revolution 2021, at the age of 61 and after more than five years out of the ring.

Which manager's interference helped Kenny Omega beat Jon Moxley for the AEW title in 2020?

Don Callis. He climbed onto the apron with a microphone that ended up in Omega's hand and between Moxley's eyes, then the pair fled to the parking lot promising answers on a rival company's show.

What is wrestler Britt Baker's profession outside the ring?

Dentist. The first woman AEW signed, she wrestles with the letters D.M.D. after her name and added a mandible claw to her moves as a nod to the day job.

Three of these wrestlers debuted at All Out 2021; which one had been in AEW since 2019?

Wardlow. He had arrived in November 2019 and spent his first years as MJF's bodyguard, whereas Soho won the women's battle royal as its surprise last entrant and Cole and Danielson walked out after the main event.

Which New York venue staged the first AEW Grand Slam in 2021, the company's debut in the city?

Arthur Ashe. On the main court of tennis's US Open, world champion Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson opened the broadcast by wrestling to a 30-minute time-limit draw.

Who beat Kenny Omega in the main event of Full Gear 2021 to win the AEW World Championship?

Hangman Adam Page. He turned the champion's own One-Winged Angel against him, then needed two Buckshot Lariats, the first to the back of the head, to finally take the belt.

In January 2022, Dynamite moved from TNT to which sister channel?

TBS. The first night there crowned Jade Cargill as the first holder of a women's title named after the new channel, just as the men already had one named after the old one.

In March 2022, AEW's owner announced he had bought which promotion from Sinclair Broadcast Group?

Ring of Honor. He broke the news live on Dynamite, and the deal handed him a video library reaching back to 2002 from the promotion that launched future AEW names such as CM Punk and Bryan Danielson.

The first Forbidden Door pay-per-view, in June 2022, was co-promoted by AEW and which Japanese company?

New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The title borrows wrestling's phrase for the barrier that keeps rival companies apart, and the show fell in the Japanese promotion's 50th anniversary year.

What nickname did fans give the backstage fight between CM Punk and the Elite after a September 2022 pay-per-view?

Brawl Out. The name puns on All Out, the show it followed; everyone involved was suspended, and that week the world title and the trios belts were both declared vacant.

Whose brass knuckles helped MJF beat Jon Moxley for the AEW World title at Full Gear 2022?

William Regal. He was in Moxley's corner as his mentor, but sent him to check on the referee and slipped MJF the brass knuckles behind his back.

AEW's third weekly TV show, Collision, premiered on which night of the week in June 2023?

Saturday. The show is billed as Saturday Night Collision, and its first episode opened with CM Punk's return after nine months out injured and saw Luchasaurus take the TNT title.

AEW's 2023 video game, developed by former WWE 2K studio Yuke's, is called what?

AEW Fight Forever. It skips realism for the arcade feel of the Nintendo 64 favourite WWF No Mercy, which its producer named as a key influence.

AEW's 2023 All In was the first wrestling show at Wembley Stadium since which 1992 WWE event?

SummerSlam. That night at the original Wembley ended with English star the British Bulldog winning the Intercontinental title, and the rebuilt stadium had never staged wrestling until All In.

CM Punk was fired by AEW after a backstage altercation at All In 2023 with which wrestler?

Jack Perry. Minutes earlier he had tapped a car windscreen on camera and called it real glass, a dig at Punk, who confronted him backstage; Perry was suspended indefinitely and Punk was gone within a week.

Who won the inaugural Continental Classic in December 2023 to become the first AEW Continental Champion?

Eddie Kingston. He entered the round-robin already holding two other companies' belts, so beating Jon Moxley in the final left him celebrating with three and billed as the first Triple Crown champion.

Samoa Joe has held the world titles of AEW, ROH and which other promotion?

TNA. He took that belt from Kurt Angle in a 2008 cage match with his own career on the line, 15 years before he beat MJF for AEW's version.

In which North Carolina city was Sting's retirement match at Revolution 2024 held?

Greensboro. The Coliseum there staged his famous 45-minute draw with the NWA world champion on the first Clash of the Champions in 1988, the match widely seen as making him a top star.

Which team did Sting and his tag partner beat in his final match at Revolution 2024?

The Young Bucks. His two sons joined in dressed as Sting from earlier eras, and he made one brother submit to the Scorpion Deathlock to retire as a tag team champion who never lost a match in AEW.

Pac and the Lucha Brothers, managed by Alex Abrahantes, wrestled in AEW as which group?

Death Triangle. Pac announced the name in March 2020, just before pandemic travel rules kept him home in England, and the group did not reunite on screen until that November.

Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler of FTR were known by what team name in WWE?

The Revival. Under that name they were the first duo to win all three of WWE's tag team titles, and after their 2020 release they chose initials they said would mean different things at different times.

What is the real surname of brothers Matt and Nick Jackson, two of AEW's executive vice presidents?

Massie. Matt and Nick taught themselves to wrestle in a ring the family built in their California backyard in 2001, a start they put in the subtitle of their memoir, From Backyards to the Big Leagues.

Kenny Omega, whose real name is Tyson Smith, was born in which Canadian city?

Winnipeg. He grew up in the Transcona suburb as a goaltender set on a hockey career, until a school friend started wrestling training when he was 15 and he followed him in.

Orange Cassidy, AEW's hands-in-pockets master of minimal effort, has wrestled under which nickname?

Freshly Squeezed. The lazy act reverses his earlier work: for years he wrestled under a red mask as Fire Ant, the high-flying speedster of an ant-themed team in the Chikara promotion.

Which skateboarding, straight-edge AEW star from Seattle reached the summit of Mount Everest in May 2025?

Darby Allin. He stood on top on May 18, 2025, a year later than planned, because a foot broken in a match shortly before his original departure had forced him to call the first trip off.

As of 2025, which record did Hikaru Shida hold in the AEW Women's World Championship's history?

Longest single reign, 372 days. AEW marked it by presenting her with a larger new belt, which she lost two days later, and her second reign in 2023 turned out to be the division's shortest at 25 days.

Which returning wrestler ended Jade Cargill's 60-match unbeaten streak and took her title in May 2023?

Kris Statlander. Back from a torn knee ligament, she answered an open challenge moments after the champion had won a scheduled defence, and pinned her in 48 seconds.

Bryan Danielson won his first AEW World Championship at All In 2024 by defeating whom?

Swerve Strickland. Danielson had staked his career on the match, so a loss meant retiring on the spot, and he made the champion submit with his wife and two children watching from ringside.

The AEW International Championship, first held by Pac, was established in 2022 as what?

All-Atlantic. AEW said the belt stood for its fans in more than 130 countries, not just those around that ocean, then renamed it in March 2023 to promote the second Shazam film.

AEW Dynamite's 289th episode in 2025 passed which WCW show as the longest-running weekly prime-time wrestling series on a Turner network?

Monday Nitro. WCW's flagship stopped at 288 episodes because its network cancelled it in March 2001, the same month the rival WWF bought the company.

Which journalist's 2017 remark that ROH could not sell 10,000 tickets helped inspire All In?

Dave Meltzer. Asked on Twitter whether the independent promotion could sell out a 10,000-seat venue, the Wrestling Observer editor replied "Not any time soon", and one of its wrestlers shot back that he would take that bet.

The family behind AEW also owns an NFL team and which English football club?

Fulham F.C. AEW's lead investor bought the London club from Mohamed Al-Fayed, and at the end of his first season it was relegated after 13 straight years in the top flight.

Besides keeping Dynamite on TNT through 2023, what did AEW's reported $175 million deal of January 2020 add?

A second weekly show. WarnerMedia renewed Dynamite only three months after its debut, for a reported $175 million over four years, and ordered the extra hour of wrestling straight to series.

On which platform did AEW Dark, its untelevised-match show, air on Tuesdays?

YouTube. It launched six days after Dynamite's debut to show the matches wrestled for the arena crowd before and after the live broadcast, bouts that promotions normally leave unseen.

From September 2021, AEW Dark was taped on a soundstage at which Orlando location?

Universal Studios Florida. The park's soundstages had been the weekly home of Impact Wrestling until 2018, and the move gave a show once filmed around Dynamite its own set for the first time.

Why did Dynamite leave TNT for a sister channel in January 2022?

TNT acquired NHL rights. Asked whether hockey had anything to do with the switch, the executive running both channels said "Sure", added that basketball did too, and called the new home the better platform for expansion.

In which city did AEW hold its first events outside the United States, in October 2022?

Toronto. Introduced at the Coca-Cola Coliseum as Canada's own, Christian Cage guaranteed his ally would win as surely as the Maple Leafs would lose in the first round of the playoffs.

Which friend and tag team partner did MJF beat to close AEW's 2023 All In stadium show?

Adam Cole. The pair won the ROH tag team titles together on the pre-show, then fought over the world title before 72,265 people, the turnstile count behind AEW's announced 81,035 tickets.

Which weekly AEW show was cancelled under the company's autumn 2024 deal with its broadcaster?

Rampage. The Friday-night hour on TNT was left out of the new deal, and its last episode ended with world champion Jon Moxley entering the production truck and declaring the show over as the screen cut to black.

Which AEW star reinvented herself in 2023 as a melodramatic starlet from Hollywood's golden age?

Toni Storm lost her world title and resurfaced as a camp, paranoid film diva in the style of Gloria Swanson, an act reviewers praised as pitch-perfect for the period.

To which streaming service did AEW sell rights across 42 European and Central Asian territories in 2023?

DAZN: the sports streamer added AEW's weekly shows and pay-per-views to its fight coverage, billing the deal as cementing it as a global home of combat sports.

Which leader of The Dark Order did AEW honour with its 'Celebration of Life' episode in December 2020?

Brodie Lee died that month; AEW signed his eight-year-old son to a contract and retired the red-strapped title belt Lee had held by presenting it to the boy.

AEW wrestler Hook is the son of which former ECW champion?

Taz brought Hook in as a silent henchman picking at a bag of chips, and fans turned 'send Hook' into a meme before he had wrestled a single match.