AEW Sought to Get DMX Classic For Stadium Stampede Match At Double or Nothing

AEW very nearly had DMX’s classic “X Gon’ Give It To Ya” for their Stadium Stampede match at AEW Double or Nothing, according to Chris Jericho and Santana. The Inner Circle discussed the match on a recent episode of Talk is Jericho, and Jericho revealed the original plans for the portion of the match where FTR fought Santana and Ortiz in a nightclub area of TIAA Bank Field featuring a cameo from Konnan.

“The original idea, I think [MJF] mentioned we should try and get DMX,” Jericho said (per Fightful). “To go back, when Max and I teamed, we tried to get Van Halen’s ‘Running With The Devil’ and they came back and said it was $500,000 for a one-time use, which is a nice way of saying, ‘Go fuck your ass.’ If I was Tony, I would have said, ‘here’s a million (dollars), give it to us twice.’ Frank Sinatra was a lot cheaper, but it was hard to get because Sinatra’s ‘Me And My Shadow,’ it’s the publishers who own it. When I want to use ‘Judas,’ I can’t just use it. Sony, who owns our publishing, has to approve.”

He continued, “So, DMX was the idea. I asked [Chief Legal Officer Megha Parekh] to get ‘X Gon’ Give It To Ya.’ They came back and it was for, not a huge a amount of money, but not Frank Sinatra money, which was 15 grand. It was affordable and I said I would pay for half. I told Santana, ‘I got a surprise for you. We got DMX!’ We were all excited. A couple of days before, one of our production managers is on the field with us during the Stampede and he goes, ‘I heard we don’t have DMX.’ Then it’s a domino effect to where we were originally given permission, but the family had to sign off on it and they didn’t. Once DMX was out, we were trying to find different things. We were offered Curtis Blow’s ‘The Breaks.’ I listened and it was way too happy.”

Santana added, “I was trying to reach out to friends who are part of Griselda Records like Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher, and Conway the Machine. I reached out to Smoke DZA. They are huge wrestling fans and they definitely would have let it happen. I messaged Westside Gunn the day before and he didn’t see the message until Monday. He responds and is like, ‘I’m so pissed I missed this. Next time you ever want anything, you have my sign-off.'”

DMX passed away in April at the age of 50. “X Gon’ Give It To Ya” is one of his most iconic hits.