Hook sat under “The Learning Tree” at AEW Dynasty and it fell on top of him. FTW Championship is now in the possession of an ECW original, as former ECW World Television Champion Chris Jericho.
Jericho defeated former champion Hook, scion of the belt’s inventor, in an FTW Rules match, essentially meaning there are no rules. Hook put up a valiant fight, even kicking out of the Judas Effect. Jericho walloped Hook with a baseball bat to finally score the pinfall, in full view of Hook’s father Taz, with the crowd raining down boos and pleas for Jericho to recover. The win marks Jericho’s first reign with the FTW title and his second singles title in AEW, as he was the inaugural AEW World Champion. The title was initially created by Taz in ECW as a protest against the actual ECW Championship, eventually becoming a sanctioned title in AEW.
Hook had been FTW Champion since All In in Wembley Stadium in August, when Hook defeated Jack Perry in a controversial match that led to a backstage altercation between Perry and CM Punk. The altercation resulted in Punk being fired from AEW.
WWE is reportedly interested in signing AEW prospect Hook, who is considering exploring his options when his contract with the Tony Khan-helmed promotion expires later in 2024.
SEScoops has reported as much. Per one WWE source with knowledge of the market-leaders’ recruitment strategy:
“I can see WWE clearly being interested in him.”
There is currently no word on the specific date Hook’s contract with AEW expires.
Hook, 24, is the son of former WWE and ECW wrestler and current AEW commentator Taz. The Massapequa, New York native debuted under his father in November 2020, joining Team Taz alongside Brian Cage, Ricky Starks, and Powerhouse Hobbs, initially serving as a side character in the stable, before finally making his in-ring debut in December 2021.
Currently tethered to Chris Jericho on AEW television, Hook is sitting on a 49-8 record in the promotion, with booker Tony Khan careful in his protection of the growing prospect. The Jericho storyline appears to be heading for another singles match between the two following Lion Hook and Katsuyori Shibata’s loss to Shane Taylor Promotions on this Wednesday’s Dynamite.
In their previous singles match (20 March), Hook defeated Jericho in around 11 minutes.
Samoa Joe and HOOK’s clash during last week’s “AEW Dynamite” has been highly praised by many in the industry, especially after Tony Khan’s social media spat regarding the second-generation star. According to Eric Bischoff on “Strictly Business,” he watched “Dynamite” solely to catch the match.
Per Bischoff, he loved it and even dismissed the criticism made by some online. The veteran continued, recalling how HOOK’s social media vignette caught his attention. “I checked out the promo and was like ‘Woah, this is really good! This is what we need more of in AEW.’ And it’s not just AEW, by the way, the whole idea of a backstage promo is so f—king dated.” Bischoff continued, explaining that backstage promos have become “instant channel changers” for him at this point because they often feature stars with undeveloped mic skills. “None of it seems real, none of it seems like it’s advancing the character, the narrative, or the storyline. And I’m not just talking about AEW, I’m also talking about WWE.”
However, Bischoff pointed at HOOK’s promo and suggested it was what many tuned into “Dynamite” for, including himself, and explained what set it apart from other promos. “It felt real, it was relatable. He got the match over and he never once denigrated his opponent. That vignette with HOOK? It got him over, it got Joe over.” Lastly, Bischoff said he was proud of HOOK for setting himself apart from everyone else, and levied high praise on Joe as well. “I didn’t talk enough about Joe, because I guess it’s because I assume people know how I feel about Joe. He’s a phenomenal talent, nothing but respect for Joe.”
While Jack Perry was insistent on retiring the FTW Championship on Saturday’s episode of “AEW Collision,” HOOK had other plans, proclaiming that he’d challenge Perry for the title at AEW All In at Wembley Stadium. During the All In Zero Hour pre-show, Perry then defended the FTW Championship in an FTW Rules match.
Perry, of course, arrived in style, riding out to the stage in a black limousine. After showing off his FTW Championship, though, chaos quickly ensued as the two traded strikes around and on top of the limo, which led to HOOK suplexing Perry through the vehicle’s front window.
Eventually, the two competitors made their way to the wrestling ring, opening the door for Perry to shift the momentum into his favor. As HOOK later laid in the center of the ring, Perry placed a trash can on top of him, and ascended to the top of the corner turnbuckle. Upon his descent via Moonsault, HOOK wisely rolled out of the way and nailed Perry with a lariat, followed by a trashcan to Perry’s head.
In the end, it was HOOK who emerged victorious by submission after locking Perry into the Redrum. With this win, HOOK becomes a two-time FTW Champion.
Jack Perry buried his past on Wednesday night and uncovered the path to singles gold in AEW.
Perry defeated HOOK to win the FTW Championship on “AEW Dynamite.” Perry took advantage of a downed referee to strike HOOK in the head with the FTW Title belt to get the pinfall victory. It’s the first singles title for Perry, who previously had a reign as one-half of the AEW World Tag Team Champions alongside Luchasaurus.
Prior to the match, Perry debuted a new entrance theme. First, his old theme – “Tarzan Boy” by Baltimora – played, but that was quickly cut off. A video then played, showing Perry in a desert, burying his old wrestling boots. Back in the arena, he then made his way to the ring to one of the most famous works of classical music: the First Movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. No longer introduced as “Jungle Boy,” he was announced simply as Jack Perry.
For HOOK, Wednesday night’s loss is the first of his professional wrestling career. He wrestled the first match of his career on an episode of “Rampage” in December 2021. He won the FTW Championship from Ricky Starks last July and carried a career record of 34-0 into his title loss to Perry.
Ricky Starks defended his FTW Championship against Danhausen Wednesday night as advertised, but he didn’t lose his title to his very nice, very evil challenger.
Absolute dispatched with Danhausen pretty quickly after a spear, then grabbed the mic like he did last week and issued an open challenge, pledging that this time was for real. (Last week, Danhausen answered the call, but Starks pushed it off to this episode of Dynamite.)
However, someone decided to send Hook. The cold-hearted handsome devil answered the challenge and bested Starks, despite eating a spear. He managed to reverse a Roshambo into a REDRUM for the tap-out and his first wrestling title. Just like that, Hook is now holding the same rogue title that his father, Taz, introduced in ECW more than 24 years ago, before Hook was even born.
Afterwards, Hook and Starks shared a fist bump as Team Taz partners before Powerhouse Hobbs shockingly turned on Ricky in a post-match angle, breaking their union.
Hook has amassed an 11-0 record to start his professional wrestling career, and also managed to amass a pretty big following. He recently has been palling around with Danhausen and seemingly had gotten sidetracked – he had only wrestled once since a tag match at the Double or Nothing buy-in – but this title win could set him up nicely.
Hook has quickly become one of the hottest young stars in AEW. His fellow Team Taz members Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs recently spoke with ComicBook.com and say what fans see on-screen is basically the same Hook they see when cameras aren’t rolling.
Starks recalled it was difficult early on to convince some in AEW to embrace Hook’s unique charisma.
“I remember when he first started with us back in Jacksonville,” Starks said. “A lot of people didn’t get him. A lot of people did not understand him or couldn’t figure out what [he] was about. And I’ll never forget being like, ‘Hey if you wanna wear a hood on TV, you should do it. Just try it, just do it.’ And his dad [Taz] was like, ‘No, he’s gotta show his face.’ [I said] ‘No, just let him do it. Let’s see what happens.’ So it’s cool to see it take off the way it has.
“And obviously, we are very proud to see how far he’s come,” Starks continued. “Especially from when he first started to where it is now. The Team Taz group has been through a lot, quite a bit. And where we’re at right now is not where we want to be, but it’s way better than where we were. So I’m glad and I’m proud to see where he’s at, and he’s awesome.”
The members of Team Taz do not receive as much attention as other young stars in AEW. MJF, Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin, and Jungle Boy have been labeled the “Four Pillars of AEW”. Powerhouse Hobbs thinks it’s a matter of time before he, Starks, and Hook are included in that conversation.
“We rewrite things,” Hobbs said. “So I personally feel, when (Starks) and I came into AEW, it was during the pandemic era. We got signed about a month apart from each other. I feel that there are doubters out there and I feel every time he steps in the ring and I step in the ring, we change things up, we open everyone’s eyes. Things will change.”
“To me, the whole pillar talk is hilarious in a sense, because it’s so self-indulgent,” Starks added. “It’s nothing that was bestowed upon them. That was just something that came from them. So I usually don’t think about it in that regard. Like, ‘I’m not included in this.’ Who cares? Because to me, I’m gonna be much bigger than whatever the pillar is.
“I’m gonna be much bigger than wrestling, in a sense. And so, I find it so funny. The conversation is so hilarious because nine times out of 10, ‘Well, don’t forget this, and this, and this.’ And yeah, don’t forget, y’all, don’t forget. So I don’t mind it too much. I don’t really try to keep it as a chip on my shoulder, but it is hilarious.”
On the latest episode of The Kurt Angle Show, the former Olympic Gold Medalist spoke about his Royal Rumble match against Taz at Royal Rumble 2000. Kurt Angle spoke about the result of the match — having him lose to Taz for the first time in WWE, and reveals why he doesn’t think he lost the match to this day.”
“I wasn’t told when my winning streak was going to come to an end,” Angle said. “As a matter of fact, I think the Taz ordeal kind of popped up out of nowhere. They had plans of me staying undefeated and obviously, I still was undefeated after I wrestled Taz, regardless of what Taz says.”
The former WWE Champion continued to talk about the finish of the match and why he sold the Tazzmission for so long during the conclusion.
“I had to sell this much because I had to be knocked out so that when I got to the back and woke up during the pre-tapes to say, ‘What happened’ and they said, ‘You got choked out’ and I said, ‘wait a minute, that was an illegal choke so I’m still undefeated,’ Angle said. “That’s why I really had to oversell the choke.”
Speaking of Taz, his son Hook has made a name for himself in AEW as of late. Kurt Angle spoke about Taz’s son and what his opinion on the AEW superstar is.
“He’s making a huge impact in wrestling right now,” Angle said. “This kid is awesome. He’s going to be a big star, he definitely is. I hear he’s got one of the top selling t-shirts for Pro Wrestling Tees which is unbelievable. Kid only had four matches in AEW and he’s already a sensation.”
Hook has taken AEW by storm since his in-ring debut late last year. But Cody Rhodes says AEW must be careful going forward if it wants Hook’s popularity to endure with fans.
“There was this natural anticipation for him,” Rhodes told Rasslin’. “And you’ll even hear people refer to it like the meme wrestler that was kind of becoming the whole ‘Send Hook’, and that is not a bad thing if people are excited, if they have an interest.
“The thing you have to do, not just Hook himself but as the company, we have to turn that into, ‘No no, he’s not a joke’”, Rhodes continued. “He’s not this inside gag, he’s actually going to be a wonderful pro wrestler himself and in the first outings Hook has had, he’s been able to do that. That’s big. That’s what’s so delicate about it.”
Cody Rhodes recalled one instance where a wrestler’s rapid rise in popularity backfired. He witnessed it firsthand while he was in WWE. Fans quickly rallied behind Fandango following his main roster in-ring debut at WrestleMania 29.
“Everyone in the crowd was going nuts for Fandango, it was insane,” Rhodes explained. “But somewhere along the line, it fell back into humor and it fell back into an ironic wrestler and not an actual guy.”
Hook has carried a humorless demeanor into the ring that is reminiscent of his father Taz. Hook joined his father’s Team Taz faction on AEW programming nearly a year ago, lurking in the background for months before he finally had his first match.
“In this case, you got crowds chanting, ‘we want Hook’”, Rhodes said. “You have people going nuts for what he’s doing. It’s really cool to see. As far as another second-generation person watching it, all I see though when it happens is I just want to make sure we keep it going. Everything in wrestling is delicate, it is. In that case, I just want to keep it going, all the time in the world. I feel like ‘The Khan’ has got him in a good spot and they’re gonna keep rolling.”
Last night’s WWE RAW featured another “coming soon” vignette for Veer Mahaan, but the tweet WWE sent after the vignette aired is what went viral on social media.
As seen below, WWE posted a screenshot from the vignette and captioned it with, “SEND VEER. @VeerMahaan COMING TO #WWERaw”
This caption was a topic of discussion among fans online because of the “SEND HOOK” line that AEW has been using for Hook.
Hook’s father, Taz, apparently responded to the “SEND VEER” line by tweeting, “LMAO!”nullnull
One fan then tweeted Taz and wrote, “Even WWE can’t get enough of your son huh?”
Taz responded, “haha, I guess not!”
Taz then tweeted a link to AEW’s new “SEND HOOK” t-shirt, which was released last night, and wrote, “SEND WHO? SEND HOOK. The OFFICIAL #SendHook Tshirt @730hook”
There’s no word on when Veer will make his official re-debut on RAW. He continues to work WWE Main Event matches, and wrestled again at last night’s taping. Veer defeated John Morrison on the November 18 edition of Main Event, defeated Cedric Alexander on the December 16 episode, and then defeated T-BAR on last week’s Main Event.
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