AEW Earns Big Payday From SEGA Street Fight
AEW's Like A Dragon Gaiden Street Fight proved lucrative on Wednesday's Dynamite.
AEW is understood to have netted a six-figure payday for its recent Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Earsed His Name Street Fight, reports Fightful Select.
The bout saw Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Paul Wight, and Chris Jericho defeat Brian Cage and The Don Callis Family on this Wednesday's Dynamite. Per Fightful, the deal was connected to Omega, who worked on the SEGA connection with AEW's Senior Vice President of Business Development, Partnerships and Video Games, Nik Sobic.
This tie-in with the recently released Like A Dragon Gaiden took several weeks to come together. Originally, there were pitches for it to take place on Saturday's Full Gear 2023 pay-per-view, though Wednesday's Dynamite ended up hosting instead, as it would expose the sponsorship to a larger audience.
Wight had already been pegged for an in-ring return in November, so he was factored into the plans. The Don Callis Family's Sammy Guevara would have been involved too if not for injury, though his lack of clearance necessitated Cage as a replacement.
AEW is understood to be happy with how the Street Fight went. This was the company's first sponsored match since Jeff Hardy and Jeff Jarrett's Texas Chain Shaw Massacre Death Match in August.