AEW News & Rumor Roundup: Big name lucky to not be fired; WWE rejected massive Sheamus storyline; Update on Jon Moxley's future

On the January 8, 2025 edition of AEW News and Roundup, we will discuss some of today's hot trending topics and updates. We will briefly cover which star got lucky and avoided getting fired, which storyline featuring Sheamus was rejected by WWE, an update on Jon Moxley's future, and more.

So without further ado, let's begin:

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#5. WWE rejected a storyline between Sheamus and Cope

Before becoming All Elite, Cope worked with WWE for 25 years. The former Edge had his retirement match on August 18, 2023, during a special SmackDown episode which also marked his 25th anniversary. He defeated Sheamus in his hometown of Toronto to end his WWE run in the show's main event.

During an interview on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, The Celtic Warrior revealed that he and The Rated-R Superstar pitched a storyline to WWE, but it was rejected for some reason. But later they were called to do the farewell angle:

"We talked about it. I remember we talked about doing an angle or a storyline together for a while. We came up with a storyline, it was shot down for whatever reason. And then it just happened. I just got a call, I think it was because we did a promo the week before, and then we did the match the week after. Edge’s contract was coming up. I didn’t know. No one knew if he was going to stay or go. No one really knew. I didn’t know. I thought he was going to stay, because we’re talking doing something after that as well. But yeah, it was just a situation," he said.

Check out the video below:

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#4. Chris Charlton not to be fired after his controversial comments about Tony Khan and AEW

Chris Charlton of the NJPW English commentary desk called Tony Khan a "money mark" during Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd's match at Wrestle Dynasty. He was playing into the AEW vs. NJPW rivalry but took things too far, where he implied that AEW was inferior to NJPW.

Charlton's comments created a huge controversy in the wrestling world but luckily he has managed to escape the dire consequences as Dave Meltzer, on Wrestling Observer Radio, reported that he would not be fired:

"I know there's a lot of people in wrestling who–within wrestling said like if they were making the call, he would be fired. I definitely heard that, nobody wanted to say anything publicly about it, privately, man that's all I heard all day was this. You can't be using those podcaster grifter terms," Meltzer said. "That is just like such terrible judgment. I don't think either [Kidani or Tony Khan] is happy that people in both companies have taken sides and made this issue very big, and I don't think they want that," he said.

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#3. Jon Moxley might face Jay White in Australia

Jon Moxley successfully defended his AEW World Championship against Orange Cassidy, Hangman Page, and Jay White at Worlds End 2024 with some help from Wheeler Yuta. But Switchblade might not be done with Mox just yet.

At Dynamite: Fight for the Fallen, White defeated Roderick Strong and Swerve Strickland in a three-way match to secure a spot in the Casino Gauntlet match which would decide Moxley's next challenge for the belt.

Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio reported that White could challenge The One True King for his AEW World Championship at Grand Slam Australia:

"I think he's [White] going to do a singles match with Moxley somewhere. Maybe in Australia," Meltzer said.

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#2. Jeff Jarrett discussed his reasons for re-signing with AEW

On the January 1, 2025 edition of Dynamite, Jeff Jarret announced that he has re-signed with AEW and it will be his last pro wrestling contract. He also disclosed he has his eyes set on the AEW World Title.

Speaking on his My World podcast, Double J revealed what led him to make this decision. He said that his friends and family motivated him to have one last epic run before riding into the sunset:

“I’ll just leave it at this: I am very grateful. Prior to the pandemic, I didn’t have wrestling on my bingo card. But through all the conversations I’ve had—whether with my family, my wrestling family like Sonjay [Dutt], Jay [Lethal], and Satnam [Singh], or legends I truly respect—it became clear that I should take one last shot. My gut instinct was to re-sign for wrestling and see where it could take me.”

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#1. Buddy Matthews set to take revenge for his stablemate Brody King

Brody King was one of the participants in the 2024 Continental Classic tournament. On Dynamite on 34th Street at Hammerstein Ballroom which aired on Christmas Day, Will Ospreay defeated and eliminated him from the tournament.

Buddy Matthews will get a chance to seek revenge from The Aerial Assassin for his friend King this week. The House of Black member and the former International Champion go one-on-one against each other on Dynamite:

"TOMORROW, 1/8 Clarksville, TN Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite 8pm ET/7pm CT, TBS + Max @SNM_Buddy vs @WillOspreay Buddy Matthews aims for revenge vs. the man who eliminated his partner from the C2 on Christmas: Will Ospreay! Buddy vs Ospreay! Don’t miss AEW on TBS + Max TOMORROW!"

Kazuchika Okada won the 2024 Continental Classic tournament. The win marked his fifth major tournament victory.