Weekend Roundup: Braun Strowman, PROGRESS & WWE Network, AEW Women’s Tournament, Trademarks, Indies

WWE

• WWE reportedly have recently signed indie wrestlers Christian Casanova and Blake Christian to official contracts with the company, according to Fightful Select.
• Braun Strowman announced on Instagram that he is currently out of action for WWE due to him recently suffering an infection in his blood system.
• WWE recently announced that Barstool Sports’ Brandon Walker will be among the panelists for their Kickoff Show for tonight’s NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day event.
• During a recent interview with Forbes, John Cena responded to recent negative comments made by the Undertaker towards WWE’s current era talent and product. Cena stated “I guess I’ve viewed the WWE as a product outside of myself for a long time. I guess that’s why I was so interested in the business side of it from very early on in my career. In that, I’ve seen it evolve, but I’ve also been called ‘everything that’s ruined sports entertainment.’ I could look at the economics of it and make an argument that between myself—and the large amount of folks that carried on the roster beyond the Attitude Era into the Ruthless Aggression Era and the Reality Era—the fans of the Attitude Era certainly looked at our product as not what they’re used to, and it wasn’t. So I may have a bit of disagreement with Undertaker’s word choice because I don’t think it’s soft, I think it’s different. I remember one of the first time Steve Austin came back during the height of the PG era, and he was just befuddled. Because Steve Austin goes out there and runs it. And if he gets stuck, he can curse, he can throw up some middle fingers, he can ask for a beer…but we took away three of the biggest clubs that he can hit with and told him to go out there and be himself. And he came back shaking his head and said ‘I don’t know how you do this!’ But if he had enough time, he’s a great performer, he could get used to it.”
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Zack Gibson and James Drake have shut down their Fighting Spirit Wrestling School in Maghull, England due to both moving to the United States for full-time work in WWE’s NXT brand.
• As noted before, Steve Cutler was released by WWE earlier this month due to issues related to him contracting COVID-19 stemming from a New Year’s Eve party he attended. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that this party was hosted by Impact Wrestling talent Matt Cardona and his girlfriend Chelsea Green, who currently works for WWE. Meltzer reported that many wrestlers from Impact, WWE, and AEW had attended this party which was held at Cardona and Green’s home.
• Fightful Select reported (via WrestlingHeadlines.com) that WWE officials originally had different plans for Ricochet and Retribution at last month’s Royal Rumble event. It was reported that Ricochet was originally planned to come out much later than he did during the Men’s Royal Rumble match. Retribution were originally planned to surround ringside and cause mayhem while Mustafa Ali was competing in the Men’s Royal Rumble match.
• As noted before, WWE recently signed a deal with NBC Universal to move their WWE Network service to NBC’s Peacock streaming service starting in mid-March. Technology news website TheInformation.com reported that out of the 33 million current subscribers for Peacock, only around 11 million are active accounts and only 4% are monthly paying accounts.
• WWE announced that they will be airing PROGRESS Wrestling’s upcoming Chapter 104: Natural Progression event live on the WWE Network on February 20th. This will be Progress’ first event since their shut down in February of 2020 due to coronavirus pandemic reasons.
• During a recent interview with The Metro, Davey Boy Smith Jr. revealed details of the talks he recently had with WWE regarding a potential return to the company. Smith Jr. stated “there’s been quite a bit of interest and a little bit of back and forth talk with myself and the company. think that the plan — or what they were hoping — was for me to come to NXT UK. But unfortunately right now because of COVID, those doors are kind of locked, we’ll see.There has been interest in me going to NXT down here in Orlando. I live down here in Tampa, Florida, so I’ve just been feeling things out, trying to get a lay of the land, so to speak. We’re discussing and talking. I can’t exactly say anything for sure, but there’ve been talks.”
• Smith Jr. also stated that WWE’s planned Hall of Fame induction for his father Davey Boy Smith is a big reason why he is more interested in returning to the company than signing a deal elsewhere. Smith Jr. stated “There’s other places, but with my father’s Hall of Fame induction, maybe that’s a good idea, to go back to WWE — whichever brand or roster it is. It’s just not an any decision to make.”
• WWE recently filed a trademark for “NXT UK: Prelude” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on February 9 to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

AEW

• AEW recently filed trademarks for “Forbidden Door” and “Forbidden Portal” for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes on February 8th to the USPTO.
• Post Wrestling reported that the matches for the Japanese side of AEW’s Women’s World Championship Eliminator tournament are being taped at the Ice Ribbon dojo in Saitama, Japan.
• AEW announced that they will be airing a special Japanese commentary version of their First Round matches from the Japan side of their AEW Women’s World Championship Eliminator tournament on February 16th. This special Japanese language version will feature commentary by Hikaru Shida and Murata Haruo.

Other Wrestling

• Game Changer Wrestling recently announced the full schedule for their upcoming The Collective Remix series of events on April 8-10 in Tampa, Florida.
• IndependentWrestling.TV recently announced the full schedule for their upcoming Showcase Of The Independents series of events on April 8-10 in Tampa, Florida.
• WrestleCon announced that this year’s WrestleCon convention on April 9-10 in Tampa, Florida will be held as a scaled down event. It was announced that no live wrestling events will be taking place and very limited attendance will be allowed for all of their guest panels for coronavrius health safety reasons.
• WrestleCon also announced that wrestling legends Sgt. Slaughter, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase, and Ron Simmons will be making an appearance at this year’s WrestleCon convention.
• WrestleZone reported that the new contracts recently signed by RUSH and Dragon Lee to remain in Ring of Honor included terms allowing RUSH and Lee to have merchandise deals with outside third party companies.
• New Japan Pro Wrestling recently uploaded the Falls Count Anywhere, No DQ tag team match of Kenny Omega & KENTA vs. Jon Moxley & Lance Archer from this past Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite to their New Japan World service.
• NJPW talent Yuto Nakashima suffered a serious arm related injury during his debut Young Lions match at today’s Road to Castle Attack event in Tokyo, Japan.
• Lucha Libre AAA reportedly taped several weeks work of television shows on February 4th in Tlaxcala and February 6th in Tlaxco, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that AAA officials currently have plans to start airing these shows by the end of this month.
• Eddie, Orlando, and Carlos Colon filed a trademark for “Colon Dynasty” for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes on February 8th to the USPTO. Eddie and Orlando Colon were known under their ring names of Primo and Epico during their time in WWE.
• Brock Lunde filed a trademark for “Brock Anderson” for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes on February 9th to the USPTO. Lunde is the son of wrestling legend Arn Anderson.
• Hijo de LA Park filed a trademark for “Hijo de LA Park” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on February 9th to the USPTO.
• Josh Barnett announced that Jon Moxley will be competing at his upcoming Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 5 event on February 20th. Moxley was announced to be facing off against Davey Boy Smith Jr. at the event.