AEW Is Making Jacksonville A Wrestling Hotspot

[bl8jaxnative]

Tony Khan also signed the Huber's eight-year-old son to a contract to make sure that the family is taken care of for decades to come.

very nice

[fieldafm]

Huge national tv night at Daily's Place as Shaquille O'Neal teams up with a lady wrestler from Jacksonville University on a match that has been promoted heavily for weeks now. 

[thelakelander]

Shaq is staying at the Omni downtown:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CL9-jSfBTKL/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

[duvaltilidie]

Shaq is staying at the Omni downtown:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CL9-jSfBTKL/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

A majority of the wrestlers and crew live in central Florida and make the trek every week to Jacksonville for the Wednesday Night Dynamite on TNT. Commentator Jim Ross and wrestler Brian Pillman Jr. have since moved to Jax since it doesn't appear that traveling to different cities to perform is ever happening anytime soon. There are a couple YouTube series that some of the wrestlers do, Being the Elite (BTE) and Sammy Guevara Vlogs. They show a variety of shots from downtown Jax, along the riverwalk, the balcony by the Hyatt, shots from inside hotel rooms at The Omni, at TIAA Bank Field, Daily's Place, etc...

When I met Cody Rhodes, along with a slew of other wrestlers and his wife as well, I informed him that on the very grounds that AEW were starting from, just across the way was the old coliseum where his father used to wrestle for decades. I had actually seen the last WCW PPV "Greed" there with his father, Dusty and his brother Dustin who defeated Ric Flair and Jeff Jarrett, he was thrilled to learn that. It's his company as he's an Executive VP. So wrestling family ties are strong in Duval with the Rhodes family.

[Tacachale]

Shaq is staying at the Omni downtown:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CL9-jSfBTKL/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

A majority of the wrestlers and crew live in central Florida and make the trek every week to Jacksonville for the Wednesday Night Dynamite on TNT. Commentator Jim Ross and wrestler Brian Pillman Jr. have since moved to Jax since it doesn't appear that traveling to different cities to perform is ever happening anytime soon. There are a couple YouTube series that some of the wrestlers do, Being the Elite (BTE) and Sammy Guevara Vlogs. They show a variety of shots from downtown Jax, along the riverwalk, the balcony by the Hyatt, shots from inside hotel rooms at The Omni, at TIAA Bank Field, Daily's Place, etc...

When I met Cody Rhodes, along with a slew of other wrestlers and his wife as well, I informed him that on the very grounds that AEW were starting from, just across the way was the old coliseum where his father used to wrestle for decades. I had actually seen the last WCW PPV "Greed" there with his father, Dusty and his brother Dustin who defeated Ric Flair and Jeff Jarrett, he was thrilled to learn that. It's his company as he's an Executive VP. So wrestling family ties are strong in Duval with the Rhodes family.

Awesome story, thanks for sharing!

[marcuscnelson]

I wonder if some sports radio guys will start whining in six months about how Shaq staying at the Omni is why we need to spend $170 million on subsidizing the Four Seasons.

[JaxJersey-licious]

Good to see AEW expanding it's television footprint. Also nice to see wrestling come back in a high profile way to the network that catapulted the careers of so many wrestlers to the national and international spotlight.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10003114-aew-rampage-to-debut-on-tnt-on-august-13-aew-dynamite-moving-to-tbs-in-january

[Ken_FSU]

Tony Khan before last night's show, perhaps a few drinks in, firing shots at the WWE and their head of business development, Nick Khan.

Guy cracks me up.

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1398434531024281605?s=20

[Ken_FSU]

Pretty rad shot from Daily's Place last night from Twitter.

[Tacachale]

Nice.

[jcjohnpaint]

Man they jump high

[Ken_FSU]

Incredible video package tonight to end AEW's 16 month weekly run at Daily's Place during the pandemic.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AEWonTNT/status/1410418395783340032

[duvaltilidie]

Former Strongman competitor & WWE wrestler, aka "Strongest Man in the World" & current AEW employee, Mark Henry says he wants to do community involvement and wants the "City of Jacksonville to love this company (AEW) like they love the football team." at precisely 11 minutes into this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbE6udB9Uw0

[Ken_FSU]

^For a company with huge startup costs that will need year or two to break even, Tony Khan and AEW have been incredibly generous and active with charity work and donations, particularly in Jacksonville.

Proceeds from August 4th show at Daily's Place will go to Wounded Warrior (https://www.mandatory.com/wrestlezone/news/1245992-all-elite-wrestling-teams-up-with-wounded-warrior-project-for-charity-drive).

$100k from tonight's show goes to Safe Alliance to help victims of domestic violence.

They have previously made sizable donations to Florida's First Coast Relief Fund, Feeding Northeast Florida, and victims of Jax gun violence via the  Vctim Assistance Advisory Council (https://twitter.com/dailysplace/status/1150496878179639296?s=20).

Wrestlers have been volunteering with Love-Alive locally:

https://prowrestlingnewshub.com/aew-news/a-number-of-aew-stars-help-out-those-in-need-in-jacksonville/

Another wrestler has been looking to open a homeless shelter in Jax:

https://itrwrestling.com/news/eddie-kingston-wants-to-open-homeless-shelter/

Seems like a really, really good group of people behind this thing.

[duvaltilidie]

Seems like a really, really good group of people behind this thing.

Man, you're so right. They're much more of a family than other organizations, it seems.. and they love spreading the wealth.