It’s very rare for a professional wrestling show to go 100% according to plan every single time, with audibles having to be called at various points in the night in order for the show to not come to a screeching halt. AEW All In Texas was no different as commentator Tony Schiavone not only opened up, but praised an audible made during the show on a recent episode of his “What Happened When?” podcast. The audible in question was Dustin Rhodes winning the AEW TNT Championship after it had been vacated by Adam Cole, who wasn’t medically cleared to compete.
“The story of the night was still Dustin [Rhodes], and I say that because Tony Khan has come up with a lot of great things, and I say that honestly, not just to try and kiss the boss’ ass, but he’s come up with a lot of great things. The Casino Gauntlet, the ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm character, everything you see on TV I mean he will listen to guys and listen to his staff, but he makes the final decision. He came up with that on the spur of the moment, and I told him ‘That was brilliant, that was absolutely brilliant,’ because when the four-way was put together, everybody thought that Kyle Fletcher was going to win I think, and to have Dustin win it in Texas Stadium, unexpectedly was just…that’s wonderful–there was legitimate tears, Dustin just broke down.”
Schiavone revealed that he saw Dustin earlier in the day, who said “I’m sore” when asked how he was doing, but he was able to fight through the pain on short notice to win his first piece of singles gold in AEW. Schiavone rounded off by saying that they only found out about Adam Cole’s health the night before All In Texas, and the decision to crown Rhodes on short notice was one of the best things Khan has ever done.
Please credit “What Happened When?” when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
