Hurricane Ian forced creative changes to this week’s AEW Dynamite and Rampage episodes.
As noted, AEW President Tony Khan announced earlier this week that attendance at Dynamite was voluntary this week due to Hurricane Ian making landfall in the state of Florida. It was then reported that a few of the absences led to “big changes” to what was planned for Dynamite.
In an update, a new report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that the Dynamite and Rampage tapings had to be re-written due to talent not being able to travel from Florida to Philadelphia, but every advertised segment or match took place.
Khan reportedly advertised less for Dynamite ahead of time, less than usual, because he was aware of the potential problems for several days leading up to the taping.
Jake Hager and Swerve Strickland were both absent due to the storm hitting hard where they live. Hager didn’t appear with The Jericho Appreciation Society for their in-ring segment, and Strickland wasn’t with Keith Lee for the backstage confrontation with AEW World Tag Team Champions The Acclaimed, to set up their upcoming rematch.
It’s interesting to note that Hager was the one who came up with the idea of The Jericho Appreciation Society coming out in purple suits to celebrate Chris Jericho’s ROH World Title win.
There were several other wrestlers who could not make the tapings, including ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe. There were plans to start a feud with Joe and AEW TNT Champion Wardlow vs. Lee and Strickland, but the plans were put on hold due to the travel issues.
It was noted earlier this week that Joe was planned for this week’s ROH-heavy show, but there was no word yet on what the creative was. He and Wardlow teamed up at last week’s Grand Slam edition of AEW Rampage to defeat Tony Nese and Josh Woods. They have been using the “WarJoe” name.
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