Details Behind Satnam Singh’s AEW Debut, Reaction Backstage, Battle Of The Belts

AEW Dynamite saw an end that left many fans confused, with the debut of Satnam Singh attacking Samoa Joe.

Grapsody’s Will Washington has learned that the move to debut Singh was done intentionally after the Discovery-Warnermedia merger as a big angle for Eurosport. Discovery owns Eurosport, which is also All Elite Wrestling’s India TV partner. The idea on AEW’s behalf was to debut Satnam Singh on a big stage to create a diverse platform with the story set up via Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor.

We’re told that AEW is expecting huge social media traffic as a result of the angle, which will see Satnam Singh and Sonjay doing promos for the Indian market, and helping bridge a gap between AEW, Eurosport and Discovery.

Will Washington will discuss more of what he’s learned about the angle on this weekend’s Grapsody Podcast, Noon EST on Fightful.

Since last night’s AEW Dynamite finish, Grapsody’s Will Washington revealed that much of the motivation to debut Singh was to bridge a gap between AEW, Eurovision, and Discovery, and help the Indian market expand.

Fightful Select spoke to numerous members of the roster, none of which thought the debut was executed well, but many of which believed that the business side of the decision was a good one.

Several members of the roster reacted to the reception from most fans and echoed that sentiment, with multiple indicating that it was a matter of circumstance that made it fall flat from the positioning on the show to the “lights off, lights on” appearance of Satnam Singh. One wrestler said that doing a lights out for an unknown talent isn’t optimal, and thinks it should have been done another way.

There was some optimism from some we spoke to, with everyone we heard from indicating that they’d heard since the debut that it was a business move to help the company in India. Still, none of the roster that we heard back from felt the execution was the way it should have been. One indicated that if accelerating the market in India would help out their salary come contract renewal time, they’re willing to accept a bad debut.

We also spoke with multiple wrestlers who have trained with Singh or seen him train. One stated that he’s been doing good so far and has been training every day for the last 8 months, and has some tricks up his sleeve that will surprise some people.

It is important to note that when polling talent backstage regarding a segment, much of it is subjective and it only reflects those we heard from, as opposed to the locker room in a general sense.

The reception backstage and online was significantly better for Singh’s performance at Battle Of The Belts.

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