For one reason or another, Tony Khan really likes to throw themed AEW shows during the summer.
Call it a hangover from the pre-television era of the promotion, where shows like Fight for the Fallen or Fyter Fest cost money to watch, or as a counterpoint to the monthly “Premium Live Events” that WWE runs – not to mention “televised takeovers” on NXT like the Great American Bash – but AEW clearly thinks giving otherwise unsuspecting shows fun names will draw in viewers, and clearly, the numbers have born that out, as they would have left it in the past otherwise.
But on the forthcoming episode of AEW Dynamite, the show will have something it has never had before: An overall sponsorship from another show.
Now sure, AEW has had matches and event main events brought to the fans at home by one company or another, with Godzilla vs. King Kong sponsoring a match between Jurassic Express and Bear Country and the main event of Fyter Fest Week 2 – plus the show as a whole – being brought to fans by Discovery's Shark Week but for the August 17th edition of Dynamite, Tony Khan's show will officially be presented by House of the Dragon, the prequel series to Game of Thrones which is about to drop on HBO.
The show is loaded up with dragon-themed matches, with Dragon Lee joining La Faccion Ingobernable's Rush and Andrade El Idolo in their World Trios Championship Tournament match with the Young Bucks and a mystery partner, Toni Storm vs. KiLynn King – which is a GoT-adjacent name – and the granddaddy of them all: A two out of three falls match between the “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson and “The Dragon Slayer” Daniel Garcia, a tete a tete rematch on par with the showdown between Smaug and Bard in The Hobbit.
Surely things were shaping up for AEW to have a show for the ages just based on the marquee-level matches booked for the card, but Tony Khan couldn't just stop there. No, call it a response to the overloaded levels of hype across the proverbial pond at WWE, but Khan brought out his Rolodex, made a few calls, and ultimately reached out to “The Dragon” for a special timekeeper role on his Dragon-themed show. And because he wasn't being asked to wrestle Ric Flair in the appearance, Ricky Steamboat actually said yes.
Thank you everyone who watches @AEWonTV!
We’re excited for Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite TOMORROW
@ 8pm ET/7pm CT on @TBSNetworkTomorrow’s show is presented by @HBO’s new @HouseofDragon (which premieres Sunday!), it’s a huge partnership for @AEW, thank you all for your support! pic.twitter.com/vPskP7as4A
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) August 16, 2022
Even if Ricky Steamboat doesn't hit a move, his addition to AEW is massive.
Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and Ric Flair had some of the best wrestling matches of all time. Call them the Kenny Omega-Kazuchika Okada of their day if you must, but the duo duked it out in WCW both on television and on the house show circuit for some of the best matches of all time, with Dave Meltzer suggesting that one particular NWA House Show match between Flair and Steamboat in Landover, Maryland might have just broken his five-star scale and garnered as many as six stars for their collective effort, as you can read below via Sportskeeda.
“Steamboat pinned Flair in 32 minutes of a match which blew the top off the five-star scale. This match was significantly better than their Chicago match and deserved something like 5½ to 6 stars as a fair grade. Those in the know were amazed at how good this match was, particularly when they realised they had another match later that night in Philadelphia (which wasn't as good, but was still a fantastic match)”
That, as they say, is some high praise from a man who has watched hundreds of thousands of matches.
While the prospects of one last Flair-Steamboat match – Flair Steamboat 136, according to Cagematch – would have drawn some serious money, Steamboat ultimately delined to wrestle the match, as he detailed to fans at a Highspots Superstore signing as per WrestleTalk.
“It’d be a good payday, sure, but I don’t want them thinking, ‘Maybe he should have stayed retired.’ You know, and I could get out there and maybe pull it off and say, ‘Well, you know, for a guy who’s 69 years old, he sure did pretty good,’ but that’s the double-edged sword right? So, you know, The Dragon does have a lot of pride in his work and the way the fans remember me in the ring, and I want that lasting impression. I know my physical capabilities right now. I would love to be able to go out there and perform like I did with (Chris) Jericho. I was 56 or 57 years old, but I think I want my fans to remember me as that guy and not have a chance of disappointing. That’s how much I love my fans.”
Well, it's a good thing Tony Khan simply wants Steamboat at his timekeeper's table, with maybe a shoutout from Justin Roberts and a diving crossbody if fans are lucky – even if the payday isn't quite as good, that, even at 69, is very much still in “The Dragon's” wheelhouse.
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