Various: More on This Week’s AEW Dynamite, NJPW Planning to Hold Annual MSG Events, Indies

More on This Past Wednesday’s Episode of AEW Dynamite

As noted before, this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite was held as a closed door show at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida due to issues with the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

AEW officials reportedly made several changes to the show’s plans due to the circumstances but the debuts of Brodie Lee and Matt Hardy were not among the changes made, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that at least two matches were changed due to AEW having less talent available for the show. They were the Best Friends vs. Lucha Bros match, originally planned as a six-man tag team match with PAC, and the Jurassic Express vs. Butcher & Blade match, originally planned as a six-man tag team match with Marko Stunt and MJF.

AEW also reportedly enacted new health safety measures with all talent and staff required to pass a medical checkup before being given permission to enter the venue, according to PWInsider.

The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s newsletter that AEW also enforced a strict limit of people allowed in the venue in accordance with the CDC’s recommendations for public gatherings.

In regards to talent who were not able to appear due to travel and health-related issues, PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that Tony Kahn had told talent that they would still be getting paid as if they had appeared. Johnson reported that this will be the pay policy going forward for all AEW tapings for the foreseeable future.

NJPW Planning to Hold Annual Events at MSG

Sports Illustrated held a recent interview with New Japan Pro Wrestling president Harold Meij and one of the topics discussed included NJPW’s plans of holding Wrestle Dynasty as an annual event at Madison Square Garden.

“We are still absolutely planning to hold our first-ever Wrestle Dynasty event at Madison Square Garden in August to showcase the very best wrestling NJPW can offer to our fans in the USA. The slogan of the event, ‘We built a Kingdom. Join our Dynasty,’ celebrates the community spirit that has built NJPW into what it is, and that is a fervor and passion that we feel will make Wrestle Dynasty a tremendous success after we overcome the current crisis.

“MSG is the ‘Holy Grail’ of wrestling venues, and our first event there in April 2019 was a big success. Our biggest event of the year, which brings the best we have to offer and culminates that year, is our annual January 4 Wrestle Kingdom event in Japan. We wanted to create and deliver a similar experience for our US fans, and therefore have established the Wrestle Dynasty brand whereby we promise to give our US fans the very best we have to offer as a similar one-time annual big event each year.”

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Major League Wrestling reportedly generated an attendance of around 4,300 for their MLW vs. AAA event on March 13th in Tijuana, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Streaming service provider IndependentWrestling.TV announced that they have recently signed a multi-event deal with Game Changer Wrestling. The deal is for a minimum of ten events starting with last night’s Acid Cup 2 tournament event.

Westside Xtreme Wrestling have cancelled all of their events until April 19th and rescheduled for the month of October.

Pro Wrestling Tees announced that they are shutting down their retail store in Chicago, Illinois starting today due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The company announced that this will not affect their online store, which will still be operating as normal.

Northeast Wrestling announced that their Wrestlefest XXIV event on March 27th in Waterbury, Connecticut has been cancelled. This event had been scheduled to feature Matt Hardy’s first match since leaving WWE and other talent affiliated with AEW.