With his ECW Original father, Taz, looking on and doing commentary, HOOK made his family proud by bringing the FTW Championship back home on AEW All In Zero Hour. The classic title was worn and defended with pride by Taz in ECW but had not been formally reprised since the promotion closed up shop and was sold to WWE. Interestingly, upon bringing the title back to prominence, Taz did not give it to his son first. Rather, Powerhouse Hobbs was the first man to carry it since ECW, followed by Ricky Starks and then HOOK.
Perry captured the title at AEW Dynamite: Blood & Guts last month, using underhanded tactics to pick up the victory. In the weeks since, Perry has derided ECW, resulting in confrontations with a few of Paul Heyman’s former top attractions. Jerry Lynn was the first man to try to get through to Perry that he wasn’t carrying himself like an FTW Champion, and Rob Van Dam took it a step further by challenging the young star to a match a few weeks later. Having dispensed with some of ECW’s past, Perry seemed content to retire the title altogether until HOOK reemerged and laid the groundwork for the match we just saw.
This is HOOK’s second reign as FTW Champion, with his last run lasting for more than 350 days. AEW All In Zero Hour featured another title change as well when MJF and Adam Cole successfully defeated Aussie Open for the Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championships. Grado, Paul Wight, and Anthony Ogogo all made surprise appearances prior to that, laying our Jeff Jarrett, Satnam Singh, Sonjay Dutt, and Jay Lethal, who were accompanied by Karen Jarrett!
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