Johnny Elite (John Morrison) debuts in AEW as a Joker in the Owen Hart Tournament

AEW’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament featured two surprise entrants. These “Jokers” were both set to compete on the May 18 episode of Dynamite from Houston, and we didn’t have to wait long to learn the identity of the men’s Joker.

He’s gone by many names, including as John Morrison in WWE. When he works elsewhere, John Hennigan has a tendency to use the promotion’s name in his own. That’s what he did to face Samoa Joe in his AEW debut... say hello to Johnny Elite!

The wrestler previously known as Johnny Nitro, Johnny Mundo & Johnny Impact (and currently as Johnny Caballero in AAA and GCW) didn’t get an “is All Elite”, and seemed to only be here on the proverbial one-shot deal. He did get a chance to show the AEW Galaxy what he’s all about...

... but Joe got his knees up on 450 Splash attempt, and ended it soon after with a Muscle Buster.

Afterwards, Joe was taken out by his nemeses Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt & Satnam Singh. Best Friends made the save, but only after Joe took a steel pipe shot to his shoulder. That will be a factor when he goes against the winner of Kyle O’Reilly & Rey Fenix in round two of the Owen.

UPDATE: It’ll be O’Reilly. He ended a fantastic match by countering a cutter into an armbar on Fenix’s recently injured elbow. Every Owen Cup match thus far has driven home how much the competitors want to win, but perhaps none more than this one.

TBS

Get complete results and coverage of everything that happened on tonight’s Dynamite here.