Brian Kendrick to debut on 2/2 AEW Dynamite, taking on Jon Moxley

Originally published at Brian Kendrick to debut on 2/2 AEW Dynamite, taking on Jon Moxley

** UPDATED STORY **

All Elite Wrestling announced that Brian Kendrick is making his Dynamite debut on February 2nd and he’ll be taking on Jon Moxley.

In his #AEW debut, @mrbriankendrick will face the toughest of tests tomorrow night on #AEWDynamite
LIVE @ 8pm ET/7pm CT on @TBSNetwork when he goes one-on-one with former AEW World Champion @JonMoxley!

Jon Moxley vs Brian Kendrick tomorrow night LIVE on Wednesday Night Dynamite! pic.twitter.com/0qZsAj2lPA

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) February 2, 2022

** ORIGINAL STORY **

Brian Kendrick is no longer under contract to WWE, per report.

Last week, it was reported by PWInsider that Brian Kendrick requested his release from WWE and had been waiting for an update on his status for over a month. In a follow-up to that report, Fightful Select independently confirmed that Kendrick has been granted his release.

Kendrick had been working for WWE as a producer and a coach for the NXT and 205 Live programs.

On 12/15, Kendrick appeared on NXT 2.0 and was tossed down a flight of stairs by Harland. He later put out a video on social media to address Harland and it was confirmed that Kendrick would be taking on Harland in singles competition. When it came time for the match, while Harland and Joe Gacy were waiting in the ring, Kendrick’s theme song played but he did not appear.

Kendrick’s most recent match was in October of 2020.

Ugh…why the fuck do they need him? I don’t mind him, but they only need to be bringing in people who will make a difference right now. Kendrick is not that guy.

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Essentially to rub it in WWE’s face. He gets the Matt Cardona contract where he’s around a month then quietly vanishes. I’m pretty sure TBK has bigger plans outside the AEW/WWE war.

But why? WWE isn’t going to give a shit if Brian Kendrick shows up on AEW TV. If they did, they wouldn’t have released him.

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Brian Kendrick and The American Dragon have deep ties. So Moxley destroys him and then the feud with Bryan Danielson kickstarts. Love it

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Oh ya, didnt they both train under Shawn? I totally forgot about that.

This is dumb. Bringing in mid carders just because of WWE ties

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Or… bringing in a wrestler to supplement a story.

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Funny that people don’t like this, it’s clearly part of a bigger story. Kendrick and Danielson have a ton of history - even WWE marks should remember Danielson almost crying on commentary during the Cruiserweight Classic when Kendrick fought Ibushi.

There is no story to be spoken about. Moxley/Danielson were probably going to meet in the finals of a tournament, there was no story building that, it was just a tournament taking place. Now Moxley is back and Danielson has stood in front of him and watched him on a TV.

Why does Moxley suddenly want to fight Danielsons friends? Why do Danielsons friends want to fight Moxley? This is a move that, even though I dont think it is necessary, should have taken place later in the feud, not first thing at the start.

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That’s the job of Dynamite. We as fans now the connection between Kendrick and Danielson, we know this isn’t some midcarder fighting Moxley for no reason. We have seeds for a story, gotta see how it plays out.

But it literally is a lower than midcarder who has zero reason to fight Moxley right now. That is exactly what it is. There is very little connection that a wider audience, probably has very little idea of. I know of their past before WWE, we all may know it on here, but other than a moment on the CWC(which I watch pretty much everything and even I didnt remember that, so I bet a lot of others dont.)

This guy doesnt need to stick around past this match and I give them the benefit of the doubt a lot, because they prove they deserve it, but they better do something interesting with this tonight.

For sure, as it stands without any context it’s Mox fighting a nobody. And man, that happens all the time. Tonight I suspect, we’ll have a lot of context as to why this match is happening.

I think most people are weirdly angry about this match is because they think Kendrick is signed. And as far as I can tell he isn’t.

I’m just worried he will get signed and it isnt someone they need. Even if he comes out and has some spectacular match. If it is a one off and Mox beats him and thats it, I can deal with that.

A lot of people are really concerned about how someone, they have absolutely no ties to, spends their money. I assume TK has a better understanding of his finances, and contract situations, than we do

This is the third week Moxley has been back and they really only teased something between Danielson and him on Rampage that week.

There is plenty of story to tell and build, I’m sure Danielson is involved so I have no doubt it will all make sense.

And no one even knows if Kendrick is signed. This could just be a one-off to add a layer to the story

After reading what Kendrick has said in the past several years, I hope it’s a one-off. I look forward to the story being told with it regardless, if this is truly part of the build to Moxley vs. Danielson.

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You would think they would Google him before bringing him in. Reminds of WWE using the nazi name.

Mistakes happen, but I’m sure they are a bit embarrassed.

I’m sure they are embarrassed… But this is something that nobody seemed to really be aware of until the last twenty four hours or so. This was something spoken about on a decade old obscure interview… It’s not like if you google Brian Kendrick’s name, this was the first result. A little different than the Walter situation - but I’m sure AEW isn’t happy that they announced something that’s not happening.