34-year-old star makes AEW in-ring return after four years

A once-popular 34-year-old star has finally returned to in-ring competition in AEW after a four-year absence.

The star in focus is Warhorse (real name Jake Parnell), who was crushing it in the indies in 2020. His popularity rose so quickly that year that it earned him the right to challenge then-TNT champion Cody Rhodes through his weekly open challenges on Dynamite. As it turned out, Warhorse made his AEW debut on the July 29 edition of Dynamite and, despite a valiant effort, lost to the American Nightmare. Notably, the 34-year-old never signed a full-term deal with the Jacksonville-based promotion following this performance.

Outside of some sporadic appearances, Warhorse was barely seen on All Elite Wrestling programming again, with his last appearance coming in June 2022, when he performed on AEW Dark: Elevation. That was until last night, when the once-viral sensation returned to in-ring action for the promotion in a match on Dark ahead of this week’s Dynamite, ending his four-year absence. It will be interesting to see if this appearance signals a prolonged run for Warhorse in the company.

Cody Rhodes was recently featured on AEW TV

Cody Rhodes starred in the recently released film Street Fighter, based on the iconic video game. He played the character Guile in the movie. The movie also starred Roman Reigns as Akuma and NJPW star Hirooki Goto as E. Honda. Last month, a trailer/advertisment for the film played when Dynamite cut to commercial. The American Nightmare naturally appeared in the ad, which aired on a TBS feed.

This was the first time Rhodes had ‘appeared’ in All Elite Wrestling since leaving the promotion in 2022 to return to WWE, where he has since become one of the most important players, nicknamed QB1. The former multi-time WWE Champion is currently embroiled in a blood feud with Randy Orton, and the duo will look to settle their differences in a last man standing match at Crown Jewel on November 7.

Edited by Karan Raj