He previously hosted WrestleMania After Dark.
Back in 2021, R.J. City hosted WrestleMania After Dark on WWE’s official digital platforms. There was supposed to be a follow-up to that for that year’s SummerSlam.
City guest appeared on Highspots for a Sign-it-Live session and revealed there was supposed to be a SummerSlam After Dark. He said before production began, there were cuts from WWE’s digital department. He added that Fred Ottman (Tugboat), Shayna Baszler and Asuka were all scheduled to appear.
We did a wonderful thing called WrestleMania After Dark. It was a comedy special. It’s on YouTube, it’s on Peacock for I don’t know how long, between night one and two of WrestleMania. The WrestleMania that rained and they all stalled. So, it aired then, they loved it. They’re like, ‘This is fantastic,’ and they said, ‘Let’s do another one.’ So we had planned and we had written SummerSlam After Dark and two weeks before we were going to begin production on it, they gutted the whole digital department. So these (notes R.J. drafted) are all the bits that were planned and submitted for SummerSlam After Dark, including a phone call with James Adomian as Jesse Ventura. I was gonna have Tugboat on the show. See what you missed out on? I was gonna have Shayna Baszler on. I was gonna have Asuka on the show and play my favorite game, ‘Is André the Giant hot?’ We just bring up a photo and we discuss.
R.J. is currently with All Elite Wrestling. He hosts Hey! (EW) on the company’s YouTube channel. In addition to that, he co-hosts the Zero Hour and pay-per-view post shows with Renee Paquette. City also has a backstage role and he described himself as an ‘insult consultant.’
I feel like I’m sort of the insult consultant. I know how to hurt people. Not physically. A lot of times, people will come and say, ‘I need a zinger,’ they’ll say. Or they’ll say, ‘Here’s an insult. Can you finesse it?’ It’s important to put the most insulting word at the end of the sentence, you know? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whore is a lot better than blah, blah, blah, whore, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So, if you liked a promo on AEW, chances are I helped with it, and if you didn’t, well, we have plenty of other people behind the scenes.
During the Mariah May-‘Timeless’ Toni Storm program, both May and AEW President Tony Khan credited R.J. for his role in crafting that storyline.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Highspots Sign-it-Live with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
