Backstage News On When ESPN’s Relationship With AEW Soured, AEW Wrestler Competed In NJPW G1 Climax 35 With A Concussion, Jeff Jarrett News

ESPN has recently removed AEW’s dedicated landing page from its website, though the outlet continues to post select news about Tony Khan’s promotion.

According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the shift comes not only in the wake of ESPN’s new broadcast deal with WWE — which will bring WWE pay-per-view events to the platform — but also from tensions with AEW dating back to 2023.

Those issues reportedly stem from an interview ESPN conducted with CM Punk, during which he made “highly negative” remarks about ‘Hangman’ Adam Page. Before the interview was officially published, AEW is believed to have circulated details internally, leading to the comments leaking to wrestling news sites ahead of ESPN’s release. The incident allegedly cooled ESPN’s interest in spotlighting AEW.

Even so, the network continued to cover major milestones, with events like All In at Wembley Stadium deemed “too big to ignore.”

The latest reduction in AEW coverage is said to be an internal ESPN choice rather than a directive from WWE. Given WWE’s recent $20 million settlement in an antitrust lawsuit filed by MLW, the company is unlikely to pressure ESPN regarding competitors.

During a recent edition of his “My World” podcast, Jeff Jarrett hyped AEW’s upcoming Forbidden Door 2025 pay-per-view event in London.

Jarrett shared his excitement for the AEW-NJPW crossover event, explaining its importance for the wrestling industry.

You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:

On the Forbidden Door card: “I’ve done a little media on this already. And every time the host like yourself kind of goes through the card — you know, and I can remember looking through the magazines, waiting on my old man to get off the phone. And you hear about, ‘Oh, a dream match, a dream match, a dream match.’ In those days it was late 80s, it was a WCW versus a WWE opponent that would never really happen. You know, Sting versus Taker, or whatever it may be, so the forbidden door already, you know, from day one, it kind of brings off that vibe.”

On the matches: “That 10-man Lights Out [match]? I loved it when Tanahashi was added to it. Like you said, there is show stealers across the card. I’m — seriously with the Bucks and Darby. This is going to be interesting. Moxley has no conscience. So that is to me one of the standouts. I can’t help but note on Nigel [vs.] Zack Sabre Jr. That in a way — you know, last year in the the gauntlet, and Nigel coming out. But you know the O2, that that is one of the most famous — you know, it’s relatively new, but still, it’s a famous venue around the globe. So hats off to Nigel getting his shot here. You’ve already gone through the matches. I could go on and on about it, but it’s really a dream match card.”

During a recent interview with Bleacher Report, AEW World Champion ‘Hangman’ Adam Page discussed the idea of pursuing an acting career, similar to his AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 opponent, MJF.

Page stated that acting is not something he has considered at this stage.

You can check out some highlights from the interview below:

On how his AEW career parallels MJF: “Max has been a part of AEW since I have basically. We are basically two day-one guys, two guys that fans, I think, saw a lot of potential in from the get-go. I think both of us felt like two guys that this company could focus on and be built around in its future. It’s been six years at this point, which is hard to believe, but here we are in a match for the world championship. So it kind of feels like we have not only stepped up to our potential, but fulfilled it and then some. He’s a hell of a talker. He’s obviously young, he’s extremely talented. For as much s–t as he gets, he’s an incredible athlete and a great wrestler. I won’t take that away from him. I won’t lie about it. But deep down, as a person, I think he’s a piece of s–t. In a lot of ways, probably, unintentionally from the both of us, been a little bit of a funhouse mirror of who I’ve been, and you could probably say the same about me in relation to him. We’ve kind of been the antithesis of each other. I don’t think that’s by design as much as it is just who our characters, who we are as people. It’s been interesting to see how these six years have unfolded and led us to this moment where he challenges me for the world championship.”

On possibly acting: “It’s not really something I’ve seriously entertained. Like with any opportunity, I’m not just going to shut the idea of it down, but it’s just not something I’ve seriously entertained or where my focus is. My focus really always has been and still is on being a professional wrestler. That is my career. That is my one and only real ambition in terms of work. Not to shut it out completely, but it’s not something I’ve ever thought about.”

On AEW residencies: “When you’re touring and you’re on the road in a different city every week, the things that you may do on Dynamite, when you follow it up the following Dynamite and the thread continues, it’s not in front of the same people. But I do think you get a little bit different reaction, a little bit different investment when they’re the same people seeing the story unfold. It allows something like me and Jon Moxley having a rematch to brew in front of the same audience every week and culminate at the end of the residency. Opportunities like that are really cool, and that’s kind of how I was brought up in wrestling, too. I wrestled in a place in Burlington, North Carolina that ran shows every two weeks, but it was the same building, the same crowd, so you kind of got that real personal investment from those same people watching every week. That’s kind of how I learned a lot about wrestling, so to be able to do that in Chicago was cool, and I really appreciated getting to do it in such a unique and intimate building, as well. As much as I loved doing All In Texas in front of 30,000 or whatever it was, that is an incredible experience in itself, but there’s something very special that I enjoy as much or even more than that big stadium setting in a small, unique setting like we had at the Aragon Ballroom. It was also cool because it was a direct flight every week, so that made travel a lot easier on me. It was great. I kind of hope we do this more often.”

And finally, Konosuke Takeshita may have competed in the finals of NJPW G1 Climax 35 while potentially suffering from a concussion.

On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez reported that Takeshita was “knocked batty” during his semifinal bout with Zack Sabre Jr., to the point where he couldn’t recall the match or his post-match promo.

Despite this, NJPW cleared him to wrestle in the finals against EVIL the following night. The match was described as particularly grueling for Takeshita, who then traveled to Scotland for his scheduled appearance at AEW Collision tapings.

Takeshita ultimately won the G1 Climax finals and later faced Tomohiro Ishii in a match set to air this Saturday on TNT.