WWE Hall Of Famer Will Be Special Guest Timekeeper On 8/17 AEW Dynamite
The original "Dragon" of pro wrestling, WWE Hall of Famer Ricky Steamboat, has been announced as the special timekeeper for the "House of Dragons" episode of "AEW Dynamite" this week.
The fitting gesture was announced by AEW President Tony Khan via Twitter on Tuesday night. Khan wrote, "For tomorrow's Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite presented by @HBO's @HouseofDragon, we have the perfect special guest timekeeper for the event: Ricky The Dragon Steamboat, one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all-time, making his return to @TBSNetwork tomorrow night @ 8pm ET/7pm CT!"
This will be Steamboat's first-ever appearance on AEW TV. He was last seen making several appearances for MLW in 2019. The iconic wrestler also made a cameo on the February 25, 2019 episode of "WWE Raw" during a segment to celebrate the 70th birthday of Ric Flair.
Recently, the subject of Steamboat's health became a topic of concern among wrestling fans following comments made by Jake Roberts. However, Steamboat himself provided a positive update on his health in May, confirming that his doctor believes he's as healthy "as a 35-year-old" person.
Wednesday's AEW special will be headlined by a 2/3 falls match pitting the "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson against the self-proclaimed "Dragon Slayer" Daniel Garcia. The grudge match comes in the aftermath of Garcia doing the unthinkable — tapping out Danielson to a sharpshooter at the "Fight for the Fallen" event on July 27. This past Friday on "AEW Rampage," Garcia and Danielson came face-to-face in an emotional segment where Garcia would refer to Danielson as his "hero" and the wrestler who inspired him to enter the business. Danielson then admitted Garcia was his initial choice to join the Blackpool Combat Club, and that he was disappointed to see the 23-year-old wrestler join Chris Jericho's Jericho Appreciation Society (JAS) stable. "Enough of this sports entertainment crap," Danielson told Garcia during their interaction.
Danielson has previously been involved in several classic two-out-three-falls matches, against Austin Aries at Ring Of Honor's Testing the Limit 2004, and later against Sheamus at WWE's Extreme Rules 2012. However, this will be Garcia's first-ever match of such high stakes.
Other matches announced for the "House of Dragon" episode include Toni Storm vs. KiLynn King and a first-round AEW World Trios Championship Tournament match pitting Young Bucks & A Mystery Partner (possibly a returning Kenny Omega) against Andrade El Idolo, Rush & Dragon Lee.