Backstage News On Kenny Omega & Others Missing AEW Dynamite

AEW is fresh off its biggest show yet in the form of AEW All In: London but the company is already pushing towards its next major pay-per-view event in just three days’ time: AEW All Out. At the time of writing, nine matches have been announced for the Chicago-based event including Kenny Omega vs Konosuke Takeshita. Oddly, however, the AEW Executive Vice President was nowhere to be seen on the final Dynamite before the show.

Omega wasn’t the only star noticeably absent from the event after big matches at Wembley Stadium. Neither Saraya nor Swerve Strickland were present on the show, a strange omission particularly for the new AEW Women’s World Champion just days after her huge title win over Hikaru Shida, Toni Storm and Britt Baker at All In. Tony Khan revealed less than an hour before the show that there would be changes, but now details on what exactly changed have emerged.

Dave Meltzer noted during the latest Wrestling Observer Radio that Dynamite was forced to undergo a major last-minute rewrite due to various talent absences. A segment was planned for the show to build towards Kenny Omega vs Konosuke Takeshita on Sunday but Hurricane Idalia hitting Florida yesterday prevented Omega, as well as other Florida-based stars, from travelling to Chicago for the show.

Last night’s Dynamite was also said to have been impacted by talent sickness. Both Saraya and Swerve Strickland were pulled from the event due to suffering from as-yet-unknown illnesses and it’s currently not known if either will recover in time for All Out. There was also concern behind the scenes that Chris Jericho would be unable to attend, but he managed to make it and appeared on the show in a promo segment alongside Sammy Guevara.

Elsewhere on Dynamite, various announcements for All Out were made on the show: Just one week on from facing each other at All In, The Young Bucks and FTR will team up at the event and MJF announced he and Adam Cole will defend their newly-won Ring Of Honor World Tag Team Championship. Friedman also noted he will not defend the AEW World Championship at All Out, with his next defense being set for AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam instead.