Weekend Roundup: USA Network & WWE RAW, Lucha Bros AEW Contract Status, PAC AEW Status, Impact’s Plans for Omega, Indies

WWE

• USA Network executives reportedly have not been pleased with WWE over RAW’s recent low ratings, according to TalkSPORT. Alex McCarthy’s intital report also stated that USA Network executives have recently pushed for RAW to go in a more adult direction in content for changes but this was later denied to be true by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer (via WrestleTalk).
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that a fan who regularly attends NXT shows had tested positive earlier this month for the coronavirus. Meltzer reported that this fan noted that the only public places he visited in recent weeks was a theme park and WWE’s Performance Center. Meltzer also reported that this fan had tested positive for the coronavirus on December 1st and was not allowed to attend NXT’s tapings on December 2nd.
• WWE confirmed on Twitter that this week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown will be taped on Tuesday, December 22nd instead of this Friday due to the Christmas holiday.

AEW

• AEW recently announced that they have partnered with Rooster Teeth for a new podcast series called “Wrestling With The Week.” This new podcast will be launching on January 18, 2021 and will be hosted by Scorpio Sky.
• During a recent interview with WrestlingInc.com, longtime referee Mike Chioda revealed that he is currently signed to a part-time deal with AEW.
• The Lucha Bros, Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix, reportedly signed a new contract with AEW this past August, according to WrestleZone. It was reported that their original contracts had expired on August 31st and were quickly signed to new deals that extend into 2021.
• PAC reportedly will be absent from the tapings of the December 30th episode of AEW Dynamite due to travel reasons, according to Bodyslam.net. It was reported that PAC flew back home to England on December 18th and due to travel restrictions, he will not be able to return to the United States for two weeks. It was also reported that PAC will be returning to AEW in time for their January 6th episode.
• AEW filed new trademarks for “AEW Dark” and “AEW Elevation” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on December 16th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• AEW’s trademark filing for “Stadium Stampede” reportedly was given a notice of suspension by the USPTO on December 7th, according to Fightful. It was reported that the reason for the suspension notice was due to the “likelihood of confusion with the registered mark.”

Other Wrestling

• The local governments of Mexico City and the state of Mexico reportedly issued a new lockdown order requiring all non-essential business to shut down until January 10, 2021 due to the growing rise in coronavirus cases in the region, according to Lucha Blog.
• Due to the recent lockdown orders in Mexico, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre announced (English translation via Fightful) that they have cancelled all of their upcoming events in Mexico City.
• Impact Wrestling officials currently do not have any plans for Kenny Omega to wrestle for the company until their Hard to Kill event on January 16, 2021, according to PWInsider.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Ace Austin’s lack of recent appearances in Impact Wrestling is not due to any health or negative backstage reasons and instead simply due to Impact creative having nothing planned for him at the moment.
• The North American Wrestling Alliance’s parent company Top Contenders filed new trademarks for “No Remorse”, “Scorned”, “Glorified”, and “Slam Jam” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on December 15th to the USPTO.
• Stardom announced that a match featuring their talent will be among the card for Night 2 of New Japan Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom 15 event on 5th in Tokyo, Japan. This will be the second year in a row that a Stardom match will be featured in a NJPW Wrestle Kingdom event.