What Could Have Been / All Elite Wrestling

• Had Omega and the Bucks not left to form AEW with Cody, ''G1 Supercard' would had Omega defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship vs. Okada and the PPV would been largely built around the Elite.
• Had Tony Khan not pitched to Kenny Omega, Nick and Matt Jackson the idea to start their own promotion, The Elite were extremely close to signing with the WWE. Being the Elite would have been on the WWE network, though the Bucks were hesitant on even being offered Brock Lesnar type schedules with creative control.
• Ben Carter, Priscilla Kelly & Elayna Black all wrestled at early AEW events, but were not signed for whatever reason ^note  Although probably not money issues. which allowed WWE the chance to snap them up months later. All three would later enjoy success on NXT as Nathan Frazer, Gigi Dolin & Cora Jade, respectively.
• The Elite's former Bullet Club comrade AJ Styles was almost signed to AEW and would have been the big surprise debut on the first episode of Dynamite, but the plans never came to fruition and AJ renewed his deal with WWE instead.
• Based on the rumors about PAC, it's likely that Kenny Omega was planned to become the inaugural AEW World Champion by beating PAC. With PAC out of the picture, his scheduled opponent, "Hangman" Adam Page, instead won the Casino Battle Royale, and Page faced Chris Jericho to crown the first champion. Ironically, the PAC vs. Omega match did end up happening anyway at All Out 2019, when Omega was initially scheduled to face Jon Moxley, only for Moxley to be forced to pull out from the match due to injury and be replaced by PAC.
• Fyter Fest 2019 was originally supposed to have Leva Bates taking on Kylie Rae, but Rae ultimately backed out of the show (and shortly after, the promotion) due to struggling with mental health issues, with Allie taking her place.
• During the early days of the promotion, CM Punk was offered a contract, where he would've been pushed as a top star had he signed. CM Punk passed on the opportunity at the time because he was skeptical that AEW would take off after years of similar offers from upstart promotions. He eventually debuted in the promotion on August 20, 2021.
  • Another wrestler AEW were interested in early on was Jake Atlas, a rising indie star who likely would've received the future main eventer treatment in the company. Jake Atlas chose to sign with NXT instead and remained there until he was released in August 2021, after which he would join AEW after a short 10-Minute Retirement. What makes Jake Atlas' case interesting is that he is extremely close friends with AEW's Jack Perry (then wrestling as Jungle Boy), with the two having spent much of their indie careers working together. Had he chosen to follow Jungle Boy to AEW in those early days, booking would have undoubtedly taken note, and both Jake’s career and Jungle Boy's AEW run could have looked quite different.
  • Yet another person AEW had their eyes on early on was Kurt Angle. They proposed several contracts, both ones that would see him wrestle again and ones that would just use him as a non-wrestling figure, but Angle respectfully declined each of them.
• Before AEW even started running shows CEO/booker Tony Khan tried bringing in Jim Cornette, who declined when he found out what the "E" in AEW stood for and basically read Khan the riot act about who he was about to get in business with. Cornette hates Omega and the Young Bucks almost as much as he hates Vince Russo (though the Elite are closing that gap with each passing day), so even trying to put them in the same room together likely wouldn't end well. Because he signed a non-disclosure agreement Cornette can't reveal exactly what Khan wanted him to do but one could assume it would be a similar role to the one he had in TNA, mainly working on the TV production side with occasional on-air appearances as an authority figure^note One thing we know he would not be doing is booking, another thing that scared him off was Khan telling him "No one writes my TV but me". He's also said he would have turned down the job no matter who was offering (in fact telling Khan from the start of their brief talks "I'm the only one that will tell you the truth because I don't want a job."), as he considers himself retired and believes he can make more money podcasting and selling collectables than any promoter is willing to pay him, and can do it without leaving the house.
• From Brandi Rhodes and Awesome Kong being in a poster for Revolution while the former was assuming her Nightmare Collective appearance, it was likely intended for Awesome Kong and perhaps Brandi to compete there, possibly against Kris Statlander from the feud they had going on, if not interrupt her match against the Women's Champion as they did when Kris fought Riho for the title on Dynamite. However, once it was clear the Nightmare Collective gimmick wasn't being received well by fans, Awesome Kong was taken out of action by her former teammates, Mel and Luther, while Brandi quickly transitioned back into being a babyface, making the stable a short-lived one. Also, this happened just before MJF delivered 10 lashes to Brandi's husband, Cody (which is where she turned face by coming to support him). It makes one wonder how Brandi would have reacted to this if she was still assuming her Nightmare Collective persona during this.
• According to Evil Uno and Stu Grayson, the Exalted One of the Dark Order could have potentially been either Brodie Lee or Matt Hardy (both of which were theorized by fans). Dr. Luther was also put forward for it at one point.
• Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, many matches and feuds had to be put on hold, some because the wrestlers were currently unavailable at the time and some due to the limit of wrestlers allowed inside the ring and building.
  • As part of the re-signed contract at the end of 2019 that gave AEW at least three more years on TNT, AEW was also obligated to produce a third hour of television, which became AEW Rampage in August 2021. Were it not for the pandemic limiting the availability of talent and venues, however, it is very likely that Rampage would've premiered sometime in mid-2020.
  • After being absent for several months due to her commitments with Japanese joshi promotion Stardom, Bea Priestley made her return to AEW by attacking AEW Women's Champion Nyla Rose after their tag team match against Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander, implying that she would go after her title (AEW's YouTube video of the segment even describing it as Bea "calling her shot")... all of which happened on the last crowd-attended episode of Dynamite. Bea was not seen again after that due to being unable to travel from the UK to Florida to perform in AEW, and she was later confirmed to be among the company's first batch of releases in August 2020.
  • A UK tour was on the cards for 2020 but was canceled due to the pandemic. Notably, Fyter Fest 2020 was originally planned to take place at Wembley Stadium in London. (AEW would finally run a Wembley show in 2023, namely All In.)
  • Jimmy Havoc vs. Luther was built up for weeks, but their feud had to be put on hold with the latter unable to attend further events until the May 12 episode of Dark.
  • While making himself known as the Exalted One, Brodie Lee called out Christopher Daniels for not believing in him, implying they were to have a match soon after. Since SCU wasn't available for a while, their fight was postponed to the May 13 episode of Dynamite.
  • The Blood and Guts match (the one not unlike WarGames matches), where the Elite and Matt Hardy (replacing Nick Jackson after Nick had to pull out of the match due to "injury"^note Actually taking a few weeks off because of the birth of his newborn son) would face off against the Inner Circle, with the latter having the advantage after a six-man tag team match. However, The Elite (this time with a "recovered" Nick and Matt Hardy, but not Cody as he's in the finals of the TNT title tournament) and the Inner Circle would end up instead facing off at Double or Nothing 2020 (which was in Jacksonville instead of the originally-intended Las Vegas) in a "Stadium Stampede match", a falls count anywhere match in the adjacent TIAA Bank Field (now EverBank Stadium). It helps when the company is owned by the owner of an NFL team. The match would later be reannounced for a May 2021 air date, this time between the Inner Circle (now faces) against MJF's stable The Pinnacle.
  • Shawn Spears' search for a tag team partner and those interested in being recruited are undoubtedly limited with said recruits not able to go into the show currently, neither leave their area. Shawn's manager Tully Blanchard would later make clear during his rant to Shawn after Double or Nothing 2020 that the search was scrapped. Instead, Tully seems to be assembling a new iteration of The Four Horsemen, recruiting FTR to provide the tag team component, and this would later be revealed to be The Pinnacle under MJF roughly in the Ric Flair role.
  • The first round of the World Title Eliminator Tournament on the 10/21/2020 episode of Dynamite was planned to feature Joey Janela vs. Kenny Omega, but Janela discovered beforehand that AJ Gray, his opponent at the previous week’s GCW: The Last Resort pay-per-view, had tested positive for COVID-19. Janela withdrew from the match as a precaution, and Sonny Kiss took his place. Also from the same tournament, the second round was to feature Omega vs. Rey Fénix, but an injury resulted in Pentagón Jr. replacing Fenix. This was later worked into the story, when Kenny Omega was required to defend his World Championship against Rey Fénix under the pretense that the two had not fought in the tournament as intended.
• Two wrestlers had to be replaced for the 2020 edition of Double or Nothing after injuries in the last Dynamite before the PPV, with another also injured but capable of competing.
  • Fénix suffered a botch where he landed on his back after a high dive out of the ring, leading to Joey Janela taking his place in the Casino Ladder match.
  • Britt Baker suffered a leg injury during a match where she teamed up with Nyla Rose against Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander, leading to Statlander having to instead fight Penelope Ford.
  • Averted with Matt Jackson. He got injured performing a crossbody from a high spot in a sort of preview to the Stadium Stampede match but was able to compete in it.
• A match between Shawn Spears and Clutch Adams was meant to be shown on the June 2, 2020 episode of Dark, but after AEW found out the latter had made racial and homophobic tweets years ago, they decided to cut ties with Adams and remove the match.
• Mike Tyson's appearance in the Dynamite after Double or Nothing 2020 where he confronted Chris Jericho was a twofer.
  • His appearance appeared to be a set-up for a feud with Jericho that would last for more than just one night, which might have even led to Tyson himself stepping into the ring. However, mere days after, Tyson announced his return to boxing instead, and afterwards no mention of the incident was made again. (Perhaps not so coincidentally, a few weeks afterwards, Shaquille O'Neal, another mainstream sportsperson, appeared on AEW to work a program with Cody.) He would later reappear, this time now helping a freshly turned face Inner Circle against The Pinnacle.
  • During his appearance, Tyson was originally meant to knock out Sammy Guevara. Luckily for the Spanish God, this was decided against at the last minute.
• The Speaking Out movement that began in mid-June 2020 also affected storylines going on at the time after AEW wrestlers were accused.
  • Jimmy Havoc began teaming with Kip Sabian, calling themselves the Superbad Squad and even challenging for the AEW World Tag Team Championship. However, after being accused of physical abuse and rape by a former partner (and of another incident in which he allegedly punched a fan), it was announced that Havoc would be sent to rehab for drug abuse and other issues, and a decision about his employment would come at a later date after completing treatment. He would later be released in August 2020 (alongside Bea Priestly and Sadie Gibbs). Havoc's removal was perhaps the one with the most consequences: During their team-up, Sabian and Havoc were involved in some of the fights between the Young Bucks, FTR and The Butcher & The Blade, implying that the Superbad Squad were going to be involved in the 8-man tag match at Fyter Fest 2020 alongside The Butcher & The Blade against the Young Bucks and FTR before being replaced by the Lucha Bros. Afterwards, the role of Sabian's friend appears to have been bestowed upon Miro instead.
  • Matt Hardy was sowing the seeds for a storyline with Sammy Guevara where Sammy might leave the Inner Circle (and Matt seemed to extend a hand at Sammy to become allies) with a match on the June 24 episode of Dynamite where Sammy would pick which persona Matt would use. However, Sammy Guevara was suspended without pay when a rape comment he made in 2016 reared its head in the middle of #SpeakingOut. As a result, the match went to Inner Circle stablemate Santana instead, and the decision on which Matt persona was decided by social media polls, which settled on "Broken" Matt Hardy (who won). Guevara would return a month later, however, allowing the storyline to be picked back up, albeit by this time they were fully feuding with each other rather than the teased alliance.
• The 9/23/20 edition of Dynamite was originally scheduled to have a six-man tag match between Jon Moxley, Darby Allin, and the newly signed Will Hobbs, fighting against Lance Archer, Brian Cage, and Ricky Starks. The match had to be scrapped at the last minute after Archer had contracted COVID-19 from a family friend. The match itself was replaced with a championship title match between Moxley and Eddie Kingston, as well as Moxley facing the Butcher the following week. Darby fought Starks in a singles match on the 9/30/20 episode of Dynamite, and Hobbs would make his official debut the following week in a match against Brian Cage for the FTW title.
• There was a brewing storyline of Dustin Rhodes fighting members of the Dark Order with Evil Uno trying to recruit him as "Seven."^note A Mythology Gag about a Powder-like gimmick Dustin was supposed to re-debut with in his final run in WCW, only to discard it when he did return. Due to Brodie Lee's passing and the Dark Order subsequently ceasing being a mainly heel faction, this storyline was cut short.
• The storyline that saw Jade Cargill debuting and bringing Shaquille O'Neal into AEW while targeting Cody and Brandi Rhodes was clearing teasing towards a mixed tag team involving the four. However, during the storyline, it was revealed that Brandi became pregnant in real life. As a result, Red Velvet (who had helped Brandi during an ambush by Jade) replaced Brandi.
• On the January 21, 2021 edition of Dynamite, Leyla Hirsch was meant to fight Nyla Rose. However, she ended up fighting Penelope Ford.
• As part of the AEW-Impact partnership, Sammy Guevara was considered for a program where, after leaving the Inner Circle, he would move to Impact Wrestling and compete there for a few weeks. This ultimately didn't happen due to Creative Differences; Impact's creative reportedly wanted him to compete in the tag team division, while Guevara wanted a solo run. The role Guevara would've had on Impact! was given to Black Taurus instead.
• At one point, The Varsity Blondes and The Acclaimed had a feud going on with the latter pair targeting the former, believing they deserve the #1 contender spot for the tag team titles over the Blondes, which included the two duos teaming up with other wrestlers while fighting one another, which most likely would've led up to the Blondes and the Acclaimed having a two-on-two match with the #1 contender spot on the line. However, due to Max Caster's rap on the 100th Dark episode catching controversy, he got suspended, leaving the storyline unable to continue.
• According to Cody Rhodes himself, the storyline between him and Anthony Ogogo was supposed to lead to AEW holding a show in the UK where Ogogo would've gotten his victory back, but said UK show (and the rubber match) ultimately didn't take place. This was likely not helped by Ogogo having to go off AEW for a while to get surgery for an eye injury.
• It was stated that Gangrel was to debut on the August 25, 2021 edition of Dynamite with a custom entrance similar to the one he had during his time as the leader of the Brood. However, due to Edge reverting to his Brood persona during his feud with Seth Rollins in WWE and performing the Brood entrance at SummerSlam, the debut was canned and the possibility of Gangrel debuting in AEW remains to be seen. Although Gangrel's role in the episode was never specified, it was theorized by fans that he was supposed to save former Brood stablemate Christian Cage from an attack by Kenny Omega and the Elite and possibly team up with him to fight against Omega and Brandon Cutler on the following episode of Rampage. Both of these actions were instead done by Frankie Kazarian.
• It is believed that Kenny Omega was originally supposed to face Hangman Page at All Out 2021, however Page would take some time off due to the birth of his child. As a result the feud they had heading into that show went on pause and instead Page took time off and Omega had a match with Christian instead. Omega and Page would not have the match till November that year at Full Gear.
• The 2021 World Championship Eliminator Tournament was supposed to have a match between Orange Cassidy and Jon Moxley on 11/3/2021. This was rebooked following Moxley's decision to seek treatment for alcoholism, with Miro taking his place.
• Dante Martin's betrayal of Team Taz was clearly meant to have Lio Rush joining back with Dante and mention how they duped Team Taz with the contracts, with Taz himself wondering how it was breached without problem. Due to issues with Lio Rush around the time, he was silently excluded from AEW, with his role of ally to Dante being taken by Jay Lethal, Matt Sydal, and Lee Moriarty, with Lethal in particular starting a rivalry with Ricky Starks for the FTW Championship.
• Brian Kendrick was originally going to debut to the promotion, wrestling against Jon Moxley on the February 2, 2022 episode of Dynamite, a mere day after being released by WWE. However, due to antisemitic comments he previously made having resurfaced, he was removed mere hours before the show, being replaced by Wheeler Yuta having a rematch against Moxley.
• The Death Triangle vs. House of Black match at Revolution 2022, with Erick Redbeard as a surprise Guest Fighter to subsitiute for Rey Fénix, was built so that Fénix could return to the ring in this match if he had recovered in time. Redbeard's appearance was a last-second one on the Rampage go-home show.
• Whatever the original plans were for CM Punk's World title reign, as he was injured on the first Dynamite after winning the belt from "Hangman" Adam Page. Punk kept the belt, but an interim championship was quickly created and was booked to be contested at Forbidden Door by means of an eliminator series (a battle royal was booked for the very next Dynamite, with the winner to face Jon Moxley that night. Notably, this included his first title defense against Tanahashi, who was added to the eliminator series by being booked to face Hirooki Goto to determine who would face the winner of the above for the interim belt at Forbidden Door.
  • Forbidden Door's own card went through multiple changes over the course of June; as it turns out, Punk's injury was just the beginning of an injury epidemic that hit the company on every level. Bryan Danielson was also taken out of the equation and not cleared to wrestle for both the PPV and for Blood and Guts at the following week's Dynamite, requiring a replacement for his matches at both, a mystery opponent that later turned out to be Claudio Castagnoli. To illustrate how bad this epidemic was, Hiromu Takahashi caught a terrible fever literally the day right before the PPV, leaving him unable to compete and forcing the original four-on-four tag match he was a part of to be changed to a trios match instead.
  • A non-injury example is the trios match between Eddie Kingston, Shota Umino and Wheeler Yuta against Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara and Minoru Suzuki where Jon Moxley was originally meant to be in the 6-man match, being replaced by Eddie Kingston after Jon Moxley was set to face Hiroshi Tanahashi for the Interim AEW Championship.
• The Blackpool Combat Club wasn't even planned to be a thing, but the cards were set just right for it to happen.
  • When Jon Moxley went off to go into rehab, this ceased plans for him and Bryan Danielson to fight for the #1 contender shot for the World Championship against "Hangman" Adam Page with the match being set up sometime after his return. After Moxley returned, they tried to think of how they would come to blows, with Danielson making a speech on how rather than fighting one another, they should fight together and even form a group to help the younger talents. It was initially thought that Moxley wouldn't form a team with him because he knew Danielson was a bad guy and already had this happen with the Inner Circle, but his looks of interest were genuine, as Danielson actually made good points and Moxley couldn't think of why he would refuse forming such a group, on top of the crowd being very positive to the idea.
  • William Regal had recently been let go from WWE, and from a storyline view, it made sense for him to get the two to work together with his connections to both Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson, thus beginning the foundation of the Blackpool Combat Club.
  • Wheeler Yuta was one of those mentioned by Danielson as one of the talents he thinks the group could help, and funnily enough, Moxley fought him before Danielson made his offer, after replacing Brian Kendrick in a match against Moxley, setting up the workings for him to join the Blackpool Combat Club.
  • Claudio Castagnoli was actually set to appear in ROH later down the line, but after Danielson suffered injuries, Claudio took his place in a match against Zack Sabre Jr. and became a member of the BCC for the second edition of Blood & Guts.
• Chris Jericho wasn't originally going to form the Jericho Appreciation Society or feud with Eddie Kingston or Jon Moxley; in fact, he initially thought of making a group with Kingston and Moxley (and most likely others) until he noticed how the crowd reacted negatively to Kingston mentioning sports entertainers during a promo between himself and Jericho, setting up the idea of forming another Heel group. Thus, the Jericho Appreciation Society vs. Blackpool Combat Club in Blood & Guts 2 may have not been a thing without that and all the happenings that formed the BCC.
• Eddie Kingston and Sammy Guevara were originally going to face off at All Out 2022, but due to an altercation between Eddie and Sammy backstage, he was left suspended for 2 weeks, putting the match off. The two would make amends backstage with Sammy instead teaming up with Tay Melo to fight Ortiz and Ruby Soho in an Intergender Match while Eddie would fight Tomohiro Ishii, both matches set in the Zero Hour of All Out. The match between them was rescheduled for the Grand Slam episode of Rampage on the 23rd of September.
• It has been rumoured that CM Punk was supposed to have a match with MJF at All Out 2022, until Punk's foot injury delayed the plans. Instead they ultimately had to do the Moxley and Punk feud for the belt at that show once Punk had returned from said injury.
• Andrade was originally in a feud with the Dark Order, where he tried to convince 10 to leave the Dark Order to work for him instead, which was supposed to lead to a Mask vs Career match between Andrade and 10. However, the match was called off at the last minute after Andrade was sent home and suspended indefinitely after legitimately ambushing and assaulting Sammy Guevara backstage. After being put on ice, the storyline would later continue, with Andrade written out and Rush taking his place.
• Who knows what CM Punk's World title and The Elite's Trios title run plans, post All Out 2022, were going to be before the media scrum incident occurred that got all of them suspended. Granted, Punk had gotten injured again in his match with Moxley and was going to have to vacate the title anyway.
  • It has been stated that The Firm was basically intended to be a faction of midcarders that could have matches with CM Punk while he worked his way towards the big MJF rematch, which suddenly left the faction without any direction when that plan was quashed and MJF was fast-tracked to the World Title with Moxley instead.
• After one appearance on Dynamite, teaming with his brother Rush and Andrade el Ídolo against the Elite, the company was reportedly interested in signing Dragon Lee. However, on December 28, 2022, after Lee and his other brother Dralistico defeated FTR for the AAA Tag Team titles, Lee announced he had signed with WWE and would start in NXT come next month. ^note  Various reports claim that Lee turned down quite a substantial offer from AEW, to the point he would be making less by working with WWE, but that his deal also will make him the highest-paid person in NXT, which makes one wonder if that's the case, then how much was the deal he turned down.
• Initially during the Outcasts vs Homegrown storyline, there was going to be a trios match where Saraya, Toni Storm, and Ruby Soho faced off against Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter, and Hikaru Shida. However, Hayter wasn't cleared for the injuries she sustained from a previous match against The Outcasts, resulting in the fight changing to a duos match at the last minute, Saraya simply staying at ringside rather than competing in the match.
• Adam Cole was scheduled to fight Tom Lawlor at Forbidden Door 2023, but was unable to due to illness. Lawlor instead would face Serpentico in a squash match during the pre-show.
• The Injury Bug struck AEW again in the lead-up to their biggest show ever, All In 2023, with multiple wrestlers who would have been shoo-ins to wrestle at Wembley being taken out and forcing a change of plans:
  • Bryan Danielson was reportedly planned for a mouth-watering rematch against Kenny Omega. Unfortunately, he suffered a broken arm during his match against Kazuchika Okada at Forbidden Door earlier in the year, which would take him out of action for months and force him to miss the event. (However, he would be cleared to return the following week at All Out.)
  • British-born Women's Champion Jamie Hayter was planned to defend her title in the 4-way match, but injuries to her shoulder in need of surgery resulted in her having to drop the title to Toni Storm before taking time off. AEW still went ahead with the 4-way plan, moving the belt from Storm to Hikaru Shida to keep the champion going into the match as a face, although it's not known whether or not Shida was one of the originally-planned participants in the match- heels Saraya and Storm representing The Outcasts would be a given, but whether the other face wrestler balancing out Hayter would have been Shida or Britt Baker is uncertain.
  • Similar to Hayter, PAC was originally supposed to participate, supposedly teaming up with the Lucha Bros as Death Triangle again to make the Stadium Stampede match a 3-way war between themselves, the Blackpool Combat Club, and the Best Friends. Unfortunately he was injured as well, forcing Stadium Stampede to be rebooked into a conventional 5-on-5 match with Eddie Kingston joining the Lucha Bros (which was then reduced to just Penta el Zero Miedo when Rey Fénix was in turn prevented from making All In by travel issues) and the Best Friends together to take on the BCC reinforced by a returning Santana & Ortiz.
  • AR Fox and Swerve Strickland of the Mogul Embassy were supposed to team up against Sting and Darby Allin in a double coffin match, until Fox told AEW at "the last minute" that he would be unable to attend (the exact reason is unknown, but believed to be related to the sudden death of his grandmother). As a result, after Fox was pinned in a tag match against Allin and Nick Wayne on the go-home episode of Dynamite, Swerve turned on Fox and kicked him out of the group, with Darby forgiving him and for his recent heelish actions, undoing Fox's recent heel turn completely. Christian Cage stepped in to team with Swerve in Fox's place.
• The original plans for All Out 2023 was apparently going to have CM Punk vs Ricky Starks in a strap match for Punk's "Real" World Championship as the main event for the show (being held in Punk's hometown of Chicago). However due to Punk's termination from the company over his real-life backstage fight with Jack Perry, they had to replace Punk with Bryan Danielson as a midcard match instead of the closer of the show.
  • All signs also point to Punk feuding with Jay White after the Starks feud, and possibly a MJF feud too over MJF's actual World Championship (though rumors have stated MJF did not want to work with Punk), which of course never came into fruition due to Punk's termination.
  • There were some rumours that CM Punk wanted to turn the backstage brawl and heat with the Elite in an angle, but the Elite was reluctant to work with Punk. The brawl with Jack Perry put an end to that even being a concept.
• Jon Moxley's premature end to his International Championship reign due to an in-match concussion put at least one planned match on ice: At WrestleDream he was reportedly due to wrestle an "outsider" for the championship. It is widely believed that it was to be Josh Barnett, who got a match in the event with Claudio Castagnoli instead.
  • Further, he was supposed to challenge (and most likely regain) the title at Title Tuesday, but he was unable to be medically cleared to compete. The match, and victory, went to Orange Cassidy

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