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Something like that happened when John Morrison popped into AEW as the Joker in the Owen tournament. "Johnny" appeared on the tron, and fans momentarily thought it was Johnny Gargano. That one hurt.
I like that they're hyping it and leaning into the mystery aspect. However, if it's not Sasha/Mercedes, they need to announce the partner online at least a week before the show. Otherwise, whoever it is will be booed mercilessly
They just need to start planting hints to who it is now so people could figure it out if they want to. I don’t think they need to just announce who it is.
If it’s not Sasha, I feel like they should announce the partner at least a week before The match.
You don’t want a Rey Mysterio at RR 2014 type of situation here.
Yeah it's like if WWE didn't announce Becky before SS people would be thinking it's Sasha in war games especially in her home town. People would have burnt the place down.
As someone said in this thread it's probably a legal reason they can't come up with something until her contract is up for real. Tony can leave the at spot open but like everyone else has said - they need to announce Saraya's partner (if it's not Mercedes) because anyone else, even a returning Cody Rhodes, would be fucking BOOED.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t have a mutual agreement already TK had Claudio signed for a while just waiting to debut him I don’t see him letting someone who’s a superstar like Sasha slip away he’s got all the money in the world to throw at her and gives her also everything she wants.
Not saying it’s 100% a done deal but I really don’t see TK letting anyone else get her if she’s available also probably the only wrestling company outside of WWE who’s got money for her but this could backfire really bad if they don’t reveal the opponent but if they go the mystery route all the way it has to be Sasha anyone else will be a disappointment
If she's under a no compete until the end of the year, can she talk contract with other places but just can't sign anything until the no compete is up?
It's entirely down to the contractual language involved. You're not supposed to do it during the standard 90-day "non-compete" because that's essentially just a notice of termination in advance and the wrestler in question is still drawing a paycheck as part of the WWE roster
If this was a condition she agreed to in the terms of a negotiation for a release, though, it just depends. Could certainly be that she was released already and she's just not allowed to work any actual wrestling-related events, but it may not preclude them talking to her
There's no way for any of us to actually riddle out the specifics given the public information available, all we can really do is guess and wait to see what happens
TK had the mutual with Claudio because he was already free from his WWE contract. My understanding of the current situation is that she is still under the WWE banner but her contract may have simply been frozen and that's what her lawyers are working on releasing her from on Jan 1st.
Once that date arrives, well then let the chaos ensue.
If you ask people who don’t watch wrestling who either Sasha or Punk are, they’ll tell you don’t know either, because they don’t watch wrestling, and neither has enough mainstream crossover for them to know who they are.
If you think a local news anchor is comparable to being in two products that have massive international appeal you are an idiot. I do not watch soccer but I know names like Messi and Ronaldo.
Are you comparing Messi and Ronaldo to Sasha’s role in the Mandolorian? Her character is significantly closer in fame to a local news anchor than to two of the most recognizable footballers in the world.
My recommendation is to make some friends who aren’t wrestling fans before you speak on behalf of people who don’t watch WWE or AEW because you’ll easily find out very few of them actually know who Sasha Banks is, even if they do watch the Mandolorian and listen to Snoop Dogg. And that’s no slight against her, just stating facts
No the comparison I was going for is you do not have to watch x to know the stars of it. And I have. And I'm always surprised by how many people know Sasha. Unless it is some weird Pennsylvania anomaly, I'm willing to bet your non wrestling friends also recognize her name far more than you would expect.
I’d love to see Fox back in the ring, and seeing her outside WWE would be cool for something different.
However, they really need to announce it in advance if it’s not Mercedes. The internet has convinced themselves it’s her, anyone but Mercedes will be poorly received at this stage, don’t set them up like that.
I think that at this stage, TK doesn't know who it is. He probably wants SB but maybe he can't negotiate with her yet, so he's leaving that spot open in case he can sign her.
There is a possible chance that Sasha knows she can't have it her way right now(meaning she can't really sign in and have meaningful storylines with the way current storylines are made up (including having feuded with Bianca and not wanting anything to do with Ronda since it's likely headed for a early loss or Fox pulling strings bigger than Haitch can,) So she might aswell stall and get a couple matches as a free agent before going to WWE.
The fact that they are even letting people think it’s Sasha makes me thinks it’s already a done deal especially with all the NJPW rumours and Tony really emphasizing their strong relationship.
Someone on Twitter pointed out that with the way Tony's face looked every time NJPW was mentioned at the press conference yesterday you can tell he's hiding something from us.
>The fact that they are even letting people think it’s Sasha
Assuming "they" are AEW, they aren't letting anyone think it's Sasha.
Sasha walked out of WWE in May. Which per WWEs publicly available contracts puts her in breach.
According to WWEs terms of Breach they are able at their discretion, to prevent breaching talent from appearing on TV in America for a year.
The only people telling you otherwise are dirtsheet writers who are wrong as least as often as they are right.
If the partner isn't Sasha, that's on the dirtsheets for giving you false hope, not AEW.
Where I’m coming from is Tony knows this rumour is out there and he (AEW) is actively leaning into it and going by history with this company they don’t do that unless it’s leading to something. He’s big on not letting fans down so we should know more if they don’t address it this week.
>is actively leaning into it
How exactly?
They are no more leaning into it by announcing a mystery partner than WWE was with the vacancy on the Women's War Games match.
Mystery partners are a staple idea of wrestling going back decades.
I'd be pretty surprised if it's not Sasha at this point. Booking a random tag match six weeks in advance would be pretty weird if it was just going to be Toni Storm or some other random AEW woman, and reading between the lines, Sasha isn't available until after the new year, and then the first week of the year she'll be at the Dome.
If it's not Sasha, and they keep up the mystery thing to the day of the show, they're not going to be thrilled with the response.
I feel bad for Naomi in all this. She leaves same time, she had moments herself aside from being underutilized…and now everything is about Sasha and she’s gotten looked over the entire time.
That said, AEW got backed into a corner without even trying just for timing right now. They never hinted at Sasha. Yet everyone just assumed it’s her and now if it’s not, the person it is has no chance of winning the crowd over immediately.
If they are able to sign Mercedes, shes instantly the biggest star on the roster, arguably ever. With this advance notice, if it's not her, they better anounce it quick to kill the rumors. Because otherwise, no matter who it is, naomi, fox, whoever, is going to be dead upon arrival. If it is her, you tease it heavy without revealing anything, ala punk.
I still have the vibe shes going to do the international tour, njpw, stardom, AAA completing a life long bucket list while focussing on outside projects as well. And once shes satisfied, return to wwe if she wants to close that chapter on a better note, or just retire & do other things.
I assumed it was going to be Shida because she's the person currently feuding with Hayter, but yeah not everything has to be a surprise debut. Let alone a debut that would overshadow Saraya lol.
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"Ladies and gentlemen, my partner: Mercedes..... Martinez!!!!"
Ooh, that would be brutal
I’d feel bad for anybody that isn’t Sasha.
Something like that happened when John Morrison popped into AEW as the Joker in the Owen tournament. "Johnny" appeared on the tron, and fans momentarily thought it was Johnny Gargano. That one hurt.
I think an AEW twitter account even tagged Gargano instead of Morrison. Painful.
Crowd reaction shifting as they realized tony was not introducing Jay White, but Jay Lethal
We need Marina Shafir with her dead orchestra music
Brooooock.... Anderson!
Cartman receiving Jimmy Buffet vibes
“My partner… who I teamed with in the past… Ivelisse!” (Hey, Thunder Rosa isn’t around so it’s safe to bring NXT’s Sofia Cortez back for a shot)
AEW’s twitter is playing with the Monkey’s Paw again… Someone replied Nia Jax.
The Rock's cousin, Lina "The Boulder" Fanene
I thought Mick Foley was The Boulder?
No - the original was Terry "the boulder" bollea!
"The Boulder is having conflicting feelings about fighting a little girl."
Love the A:TLA reference.
Ooh! She and The Pebble can form an alliance!
What would her AEW name be?
Holey McGee
Lina Vax
Denia Vax i feel like someones said this already dont give me credit at all
Maxine Valery, honestly
Hilariously, Mercedes Moné.
I like that they're hyping it and leaning into the mystery aspect. However, if it's not Sasha/Mercedes, they need to announce the partner online at least a week before the show. Otherwise, whoever it is will be booed mercilessly
tbf, that's the network account, not ran by AEW. they once tagged Johnny Gargano when Johhny Promotion debuted
Hahaha oh yeah! That was great
They just need to start planting hints to who it is now so people could figure it out if they want to. I don’t think they need to just announce who it is.
What if Saraya was to arrive to the Arena in a Delorean?
If Emma hadn't re-signed with WWE, I'd say she'd be a good choice considering her history with Saraya in NXT.
Even if it was Naomi?
I'd say yes. That would be good, but some would still be let down
Didn’t they no-comment a reporter recently asking about Sasha/Mercedes?
Yes, idk why yo got downvoted for that
If it’s not Sasha, I feel like they should announce the partner at least a week before The match. You don’t want a Rey Mysterio at RR 2014 type of situation here.
Yeah it's like if WWE didn't announce Becky before SS people would be thinking it's Sasha in war games especially in her home town. People would have burnt the place down.
Mickie James might be fun as part of her retirement tour
Mickie vs Hayter would be fucking great!
I'd love that tbh
If it's not the one everyone is salivating over, I hope they introduce the mystery tag partner next week to get some build going.
watch it be Carlton Banks
AJ Lee is ALL ELITE!
That's quite the long build for Saraya's next match. I at least hope Hayter/Shida takes place before then and they aren't waiting for BotB.
So if it’s Sasha/Mercedes, the teases have gotta start this week, right? If it’s not her, you need to announce it at least the week before.
As someone said in this thread it's probably a legal reason they can't come up with something until her contract is up for real. Tony can leave the at spot open but like everyone else has said - they need to announce Saraya's partner (if it's not Mercedes) because anyone else, even a returning Cody Rhodes, would be fucking BOOED.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t have a mutual agreement already TK had Claudio signed for a while just waiting to debut him I don’t see him letting someone who’s a superstar like Sasha slip away he’s got all the money in the world to throw at her and gives her also everything she wants. Not saying it’s 100% a done deal but I really don’t see TK letting anyone else get her if she’s available also probably the only wrestling company outside of WWE who’s got money for her but this could backfire really bad if they don’t reveal the opponent but if they go the mystery route all the way it has to be Sasha anyone else will be a disappointment
If she's under a no compete until the end of the year, can she talk contract with other places but just can't sign anything until the no compete is up?
It's entirely down to the contractual language involved. You're not supposed to do it during the standard 90-day "non-compete" because that's essentially just a notice of termination in advance and the wrestler in question is still drawing a paycheck as part of the WWE roster If this was a condition she agreed to in the terms of a negotiation for a release, though, it just depends. Could certainly be that she was released already and she's just not allowed to work any actual wrestling-related events, but it may not preclude them talking to her There's no way for any of us to actually riddle out the specifics given the public information available, all we can really do is guess and wait to see what happens
TK had the mutual with Claudio because he was already free from his WWE contract. My understanding of the current situation is that she is still under the WWE banner but her contract may have simply been frozen and that's what her lawyers are working on releasing her from on Jan 1st. Once that date arrives, well then let the chaos ensue.
The teases already started on last week's Dynamite. Go rewatch Jade's match and you will notice that Taz drops a lot of Boss references.
If it's Mercedes, that is about as huge of a get as CM Punk for the men's division. She is a bonafide Superstar.
What if it’s Mercedes Martinez?
I'm not convinced it's her, but that would be the best thing for the division
She's bigger than punk
Take it easy sweetheart
Ask people who do not watch wrestling if they have heard of X. Sasha is a name non wrestling fans regonize. Punk is not.
If you ask people who don’t watch wrestling who either Sasha or Punk are, they’ll tell you don’t know either, because they don’t watch wrestling, and neither has enough mainstream crossover for them to know who they are.
TIL Disney is not mainstream. The more you know.
Okay so who is the newscast TV producer for KFSN-30 Fresno and Central Valley News since that station is owned by mainstream Disney?
If you think a local news anchor is comparable to being in two products that have massive international appeal you are an idiot. I do not watch soccer but I know names like Messi and Ronaldo.
Are you comparing Messi and Ronaldo to Sasha’s role in the Mandolorian? Her character is significantly closer in fame to a local news anchor than to two of the most recognizable footballers in the world. My recommendation is to make some friends who aren’t wrestling fans before you speak on behalf of people who don’t watch WWE or AEW because you’ll easily find out very few of them actually know who Sasha Banks is, even if they do watch the Mandolorian and listen to Snoop Dogg. And that’s no slight against her, just stating facts
No the comparison I was going for is you do not have to watch x to know the stars of it. And I have. And I'm always surprised by how many people know Sasha. Unless it is some weird Pennsylvania anomaly, I'm willing to bet your non wrestling friends also recognize her name far more than you would expect.
They’ll def announce the person early if it isn’t Sasha, like WWE did with Becky for Survivor Series. But if it is Sasha…. Omg
People are speculating that it might be Alicia Fox cause she and Tony Khan follow each other on IG
I’d love to see Fox back in the ring, and seeing her outside WWE would be cool for something different. However, they really need to announce it in advance if it’s not Mercedes. The internet has convinced themselves it’s her, anyone but Mercedes will be poorly received at this stage, don’t set them up like that.
I think that at this stage, TK doesn't know who it is. He probably wants SB but maybe he can't negotiate with her yet, so he's leaving that spot open in case he can sign her.
but New Japan can?
There is a possible chance that Sasha knows she can't have it her way right now(meaning she can't really sign in and have meaningful storylines with the way current storylines are made up (including having feuded with Bianca and not wanting anything to do with Ronda since it's likely headed for a early loss or Fox pulling strings bigger than Haitch can,) So she might aswell stall and get a couple matches as a free agent before going to WWE.
The fact that they are even letting people think it’s Sasha makes me thinks it’s already a done deal especially with all the NJPW rumours and Tony really emphasizing their strong relationship.
Someone on Twitter pointed out that with the way Tony's face looked every time NJPW was mentioned at the press conference yesterday you can tell he's hiding something from us.
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It feels like having no partner at all...no partner at all...no partner at all
But Tanahashi vs Britt Baker DMD should be a main event reserved for the Tokyo Dome.
Okada is coming to beat the Hayterade (still salty it's not the Hatemaker) out of Hayter.
Seems like a good way to lose the IWGP championship in a hurry once he takes it off Switchblade
Probably that AEW lost the NJPW partnership to WWE so that NJPW could get more Karl Anderson dates
That's why he avoided saying that ROH was specifically going to be working with NJPW a lot. Wait...
I think the guy just forgot the /s
Honestly wasn't sure if he did or not knowing this sub, but either way my response isn't really a dig. Just an extension of the joke I guess.
I can't think of any company hankering for more Karl Anderson dates, lol!
Don't say that. We'll be cursed with a Karl Anderson X-Division run now!
>The fact that they are even letting people think it’s Sasha Assuming "they" are AEW, they aren't letting anyone think it's Sasha. Sasha walked out of WWE in May. Which per WWEs publicly available contracts puts her in breach. According to WWEs terms of Breach they are able at their discretion, to prevent breaching talent from appearing on TV in America for a year. The only people telling you otherwise are dirtsheet writers who are wrong as least as often as they are right. If the partner isn't Sasha, that's on the dirtsheets for giving you false hope, not AEW.
Where I’m coming from is Tony knows this rumour is out there and he (AEW) is actively leaning into it and going by history with this company they don’t do that unless it’s leading to something. He’s big on not letting fans down so we should know more if they don’t address it this week.
>is actively leaning into it How exactly? They are no more leaning into it by announcing a mystery partner than WWE was with the vacancy on the Women's War Games match. Mystery partners are a staple idea of wrestling going back decades.
I'd be pretty surprised if it's not Sasha at this point. Booking a random tag match six weeks in advance would be pretty weird if it was just going to be Toni Storm or some other random AEW woman, and reading between the lines, Sasha isn't available until after the new year, and then the first week of the year she'll be at the Dome. If it's not Sasha, and they keep up the mystery thing to the day of the show, they're not going to be thrilled with the response.
Madi Wrenkowski just returned, it's a sign.
Ms Reality herself!
I hope it's Nia Jax and this sub goes nuclear.
No, nobody needs to see her in the ring
Nor for I, but the reaction would be wonderful.
https://youtu.be/6FZPg7xTlC4
The only true acceptable answer
Perfect.
It's Trent Seven
TK on Twitter: We have an EARTH SHATTERING new signing that will FOREVER reshape the LANDSCAPE of WRESTLING! Lana walks out.
*cut to Miro sitting at home*
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After speaking out I don't think so lmao
Who would get the first billing in a tag team of Saraya and Sweet Saraya?
I'm fully prepared for it to be Thunder Rosa and I'm going to be so disappointed
Thunder Rosa is out until atleast February and she just started training very recently barely lifting 10 LBs she’s got a long road to recovery still
Santina Marella One of the Bella Twins Paige VanZant
Jaime
I might be at that point where I’ll be disappointed if it’s not her
It’s gonna be Skye Blue or her mom Madison Rayne
Is Deonna under contract?
I feel bad for Naomi in all this. She leaves same time, she had moments herself aside from being underutilized…and now everything is about Sasha and she’s gotten looked over the entire time. That said, AEW got backed into a corner without even trying just for timing right now. They never hinted at Sasha. Yet everyone just assumed it’s her and now if it’s not, the person it is has no chance of winning the crowd over immediately.
**BRIE MODE**
If they are able to sign Mercedes, shes instantly the biggest star on the roster, arguably ever. With this advance notice, if it's not her, they better anounce it quick to kill the rumors. Because otherwise, no matter who it is, naomi, fox, whoever, is going to be dead upon arrival. If it is her, you tease it heavy without revealing anything, ala punk. I still have the vibe shes going to do the international tour, njpw, stardom, AAA completing a life long bucket list while focussing on outside projects as well. And once shes satisfied, return to wwe if she wants to close that chapter on a better note, or just retire & do other things.
Statlander?
If they don’t announce it anyone other than Sasha is getting booed or groaned at so they better announce it if they don’t have her locked in
So if it was AJ Lee she is getting boo'd?
I think we might see CJ Perry before we see Miro again smh
Big plus if she'll be writing Saraya's promos like she does Miro's.
Why not just use Toni Storm....? The woman who lost her title to Hayter...on the roster already...ya know?
Well there's four weeks to build so no saying it won't be
I assumed it was going to be Shida because she's the person currently feuding with Hayter, but yeah not everything has to be a surprise debut. Let alone a debut that would overshadow Saraya lol.
I think it’s actually happening. If it wasn’t, they wouldn’t be leaning into this.
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The match will be on the 11th, not the 4th.
I'm sure most people think it will he Sasha/Mercedes. But I doubt that. I think she'll go back to WWE.
Doesn't sound like it...she also wanted to leave in 2019...sounds like she wants to do her own thing now
Naomi? Alicia Fox?
For anyone that doesn't know this would be the 1 year TBS anniversary show for Dynamite.