The reason for the AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament finals being moved off the AEW Full Gear card has been revealed.
The final of the tournament was originally supposed to take place at this weekend’s November 19 pay-per-view, but Tony Khan announced it had been moved to the November 23 Dynamite instead.
The final was supposed to feature Ethan Page facing the winner of a semi-final match between Brian Cage and the winner of a quarter-final bout between Lance Archer and Ricky Starks.
However, Starks vs Archer was delayed until this Friday’s edition of AEW Rampage, which means the Cage vs Starks/Archer match is now on the Full Gear pre-show, and the actual final has been moved back to the following Dynamite.
In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that these changes are due to Starks legitimately not being medically cleared due to a medical issue that was reportedly not wrestling related.
Meltzer wrote:
“The title eliminator tournament finals not being on the show was due to Starks legit not being medically cleared.
“As we noted several weeks back, Starks hasn’t wrestled since 10/13 due to a medical issue that we were told was not wrestling related nor serious and would be a quick turnaround.
“They expected him to be ready on November 9 for the match with Archer. But he wasn’t cleared so they shot an angle where Archer “injured” him backstage which was the cover for not doing the match as scheduled.
“With Starks not being ready until November 18, instead of doing the Starks vs. Archer winner on November 19 against Brian Cage and then have the winner of that match work a second time against Ethan Page in the finals, they decided instead to move the final to November 23 in Chicago.”
The eventual winner of the tournament will receive a World Title match against either MJF or Jon Moxley at AEW’s next Winter Is Coming event on December 14.
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