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Last night's AEW Dynamite taping at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ was a legitimate, 100% sellout.
.@rosariodawson is mid. pic.twitter.com/UwJENo8qLf
— Maxwell Jacob Friedman™? (@The_MJF) September 16, 2021
The Rosario Dawson appearance was a Cody Rhodes deal. We are told that it was kept so secret that hardly anyone outside of the most inner circle in AEW knew she would be appearing until she was about to go out. Rhodes tweeted out that it was great to be friends with a Jedi after, a reference to Dawson's great appearance as Ashoka Tano on The Mandalorian. Dawson had been in New Jersey recently filming Clerks 3.
The MMA fighters with Dan Lambert in the ring last night were Paige Van Zandt, Junior Dos Santos, Kayla Harrison, Austin Vanderford and Andrei Arlovski. At one point several years ago, WWE attempted to bring in PVZ for a role at a Summerslam in Brooklyn but they were unable to come to terms.
There's very high morale in the locker room right now, as you might imagine, leading into Queens. Everyone wants to appear on that event in some fashion, realizing what a huge milestone it's going to be for the company as it's their NYC debut and it will be, by far, their biggest crowd to date. It's not lost on the talents that the Grand Slam event will outdraw WWE's return to Madison Square Garden by 4-5,000 fans.
Live, that CM Punk bump onto the table looked really rough. I can't imagine he's not feeling it today as the table didn't break and just flipped, which obviously was not the intention.
Leyla Hirsh noted on her social media that her family came to see her compete last night as they were in New Jersey.
Before Dynamite went on the air last night, Tony Khan came out and address the crowd, thanking them for their patience in waiting for the company to come. This led to The Acclaimed coming out and knocking New Jersey and Khan with a rap.
AEW made a KILLING at the merchandise stand last night, selling out most of their t-shirts. They were also selling DVDs of previous PPV events and signed action figures.
AEW was pushing the Tacoma FD comedy series that debuts tonight last night at the taping including running the trailer for the debut and featuring it in digital signage during the taping, obviously to assist their partners at Warnermedia.
New York City-based independent talent Mike Verna, who worked the AEW Dark - Elevation taping last night, did so just 24 hours after getting out of the hospital for a surgical procedure to repair a tear in his esophagus. That is TOUGH.
Ring of Honor regular LSG also worked the taping as he is not signed to ROH currently.
There was a great Sonny Kiss vs. Joey Janela bout taped for Elevation that is worth tracking down when it streams next week.
Tasha Steelz and Faye Jackson were at the show visiting.
The legendary George Napolitano was at the show, shooting photos.
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