More details have come to light regarding a huge debut on AEW Dynamite which left the majority of fans scratching their heads.
The April 13th episode of AEW Dynamite was headlined by the clash between Minoru Suzuki and Samoa Joe. For a little over 11 minutes, the two men left nothing on the table as they battled over the Ring of Honor World Television Championship.
As predicted, the veterans traded numerous vicious strikes, determined to not take a backward step. However, in the end it was Samoa Joe who earned the win, drilling Suzuki to the mat with the Muscle Buster. Although, the action wasn’t over.
After promising Joe a big surprise, Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt mocked the new champion before the lights went out. When they came back on, Joe was attacked by a debuting Satnam Singh. The giant Indian former NBA star laid waste to veteran in front of a stunned crowd. The moment was later criticised by many fans across social media.
Meanwhile, a new report has offered some more details behind the shocking debut. According to Fightful Select, the debut was done intentionally to cash in on the recent Discovery-Warnermedia merger as a big angle for Eurosport. Discovery owns Eurosport, who are AEW’s Indian TV partner.
The report adds that “AEW is expecting huge social media traffic” following the debut, with Singh doing promos for the Indian market to help build a bridge between AEW, Eurosport and Discovery.
Satnam Singh signed with AEW in September 2021, before being trained at the Nightmare Factory. Singh holds the distinction of being the first-ever NBA-drafted player to come from India.
The 7’3″ giant was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks back in 2015 and played for their affiliate, the Texas Legends. In 2016, Singh was the star of a Netflix documentary, ‘One in a Billion’ which followed his journey from a rural farming village in India to being drafted by the NBA.
At the time of his signing, AEW President Tony Khan described the move as an “exciting addition to our roster.”