TV Hosts Reunite After Show’s Sudden Cancellation

Everyone loves a reunion, especially when it’s two friends who haven’t seen each other in a bit. That was the case this week at San Diego Comic-Con where two former G4TV hosts had the chance to reunite. Gina Darling and Austin Creed (a.k.a. WWE Superstar Xavier Woods) had a chance to catch up, less than a year after the network’s abrupt shutdown. The two hosted the game show Arena together, and they also were among the co-hosts for Attack of the Show!

Darling was on-hand at SDCC to work with Skybound Entertainment, while Creed was there for a Tekken 8 panel hosted by another G4TV alum, Goldenboy. When Darling caught wind that her former co-workers would be there, she sent out an excited tweet. “UHHH EXCUSE ME?????, she wrote, tagging the two. “HELLO? ARE WE GONNA HUG OR NOT.” 

Darling went on the share a selfie with Creed, much to the excitement of the AOTS! faithful. One fan wrote that it “Just like old times” while another called them “The greatest duo ever!!!” Another person even expressed hope for a reunion of the Attack of the Show! crew.

While G4 is no more, many alums have stayed close, appearing on each other’s podcasts and Twitch streams. Many have supported “The Completionist” Jirad Khalil’s Indieland event and stopped by The Cream Team Dream Stream, the podcast hosted by AOTS! stars Kassem G, Fiona Nova, Case Blackwell and Kevin Pereira. There is some hope that some G4 properties could return, with revivals already planned for the game show Name Your Price and the advice series Hey, Donna!. Arena is also high on the wish list of returns, given it was produced with WWE and showed a lot of promise before it was suddenly canceled.

Arena was at the center of a lot of drama in the media at the time of G4’s 2022 closure. In a Washington Post article that some G4 personalities have since scrutinized, the Arena crew was reported to have quit the week prior to the network’s Oct. 16 shuttering. However, an Arena crew member appeared on Darling’s Twitch stream after the publication of that report and noted that the situation wasn’t exactly what WaPo reported.

The publication went on the run a second report on G4’s shuttering, claiming, “a key producer on Arena, a flagship show made as part of a deal with the WWE wrestling circuit originally set to last until April 2023, quit after G4 refused to grant them a raise and additional staff to make up for September’s layoffs.” The only other detailed aspect on the end of Arena came in an Oct. 22 interview on Gamertag Radio where crew member Shawna Kelley noted the network internally “postponed” Arena on Oct. 14.

The four released episodes of Arena are available on WWE’s UpUpDownDown YouTube channel, though one starring Bayley remains unreleased. Arena is based on the G4’s esports competition of the same name that aired in the 2000s.