Tony Khan gives timeline for Sareee & Persephone to compete in AEW Owen Hart tournament
On Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite, the full bracket for the women’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament was revealed with several surprises including debuting Japanese stars Sareee and Hazuki in addition to reigning CMLL Women’s Champion Persephone.
However, with Sareee saying Thursday that she was taking a month off for “neck maintenance” and Persephone out of action to the point she had to be pulled from Friday’s ROH Supercard of Honor, it raised questions as to both woman’s health for the tournament that begins next weekend.
AEW head Tony Khan was asked about their status during the Supercard of Honor media call Thursday and said that both are expected to wrestle in the tournament as planned. However, he said their quarterfinal matches will likely take place in June as opposed to right away, noting that the finals of the eight-woman tournament aren’t until late-June at Forbidden Door.
Our Bryan Alvarez reported Thursday after the call that as of Wednesday night, all women in the tournament were expected to compete.
Sareee is scheduled to face Skye Blue while Persephone is slated to go one-on-one with the aforementioned Hazuki of Stardom on the left side. Both matches are on opposite sides of the bracket. Persephone last wrestled on the April 22 Collision in a tag team match after which she was sidelined indefinitely. She was tabbed for the first-ever women’s Survival of the Fittest match at Supercard of Honor before being pulled.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.