It was March 2022 when it was announced that R.J City would be doing backstage work for All Elite Wrestling. While the announcement came without an official “All Elite” graphic, it did come with a brand spanking new YouTube series dubbed “HEY! Ew.” With new episodes premiering at “the butt-crack of dawn” every Sunday morning, “HEY! Ew” has become an important feature of AEW’s weekly content. Each week City sits down with an AEW talent and provides must-see interviews (if you could call them that). The show differs greatly from past wrestling interview shows. Instead of the standard formal question/answer format, “HEY! Ew” is comedy-based. It’s the most unserious ten minutes of everyone’s week, but ten minutes that are some of the best AEW has.
The tune was a little different in October 2022, when AEW released their standard “All Elite'' graphic. This was not the long-waited graphic for R.J City, but the graphic for beloved wrestling broadcaster and personality Renee Paquette. Paquette made her debut later that night in her hometown of Toronto, immediately making herself at home with the AEW roster. Right away fans knew that this signing was huge for AEW, and Paquette was bound to thrive in the unscripted environment. With her years of broadcasting and hosting experience and her bright personality, Paquette was instantly a perfect fit for the company, and everyone knew it. Surely, a collaboration with City was imminent, but no one could have predicted how well the pair would come off together.
Somewhere between hosting pay-per-view Buy Ins and welcoming AEW fans to Wednesday Night Dynamite with two-minute preview videos, the Wrestle Aunts were born. Paquette and City’s chemistry is unlike anything that has graced AEW’s screens before. From their playful banter to their sometimes niche jokes, the Wrestle Aunts have captured the heart of AEW fans all over the world. They successfully deliver the important content they’re required to cover i.e, matchups, feuds, and announcements, all while presenting themselves and the company in a fun manner making what could be stiff and structured interviews and preshows something that commands attention and deserves all the flowers. Seemingly overnight, Paquette and City have become AEW’s secret weapon, creating something no other wrestling promotion in the world has. AEW is, of course, known for their focus on wrestling, however, the Wrestle Aunts provide brief, but extremely necessary, backstage content that AEW needs. Without warning, the Wrestle Aunts have taken over. They have curated a relationship so special, so rare, and became something AEW can no longer function without. From their online banter to their successful PPV pre-shows, the pairing no one quite expected has transformed into a constant talking point, something worth cherishing. They even have their own official AEW merchandise, and were a big part of the press for AEW’s return to Canada.
No matter the occasion, AEW should always have, or create, a space for the internet’s favorite aunts. A duo like Paquette and City only comes around once in a lifetime, and in a company focused almost solely on wrestling, they are such an integral part of AEW television as well as the company’s online space. They provide a breath of fresh air and much needed laughs for fans, while still catering to the wrestling-focused nature of AEW. All wrestling promotions have wrestling and stories, but no other wrestling company in the world has what AEW has in Renee Paquette and R.J. City.
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