Weekend Roundup: NXT TakeOver Main Event Matches, Retribution Rumor, AEW Revolution, New Trademarks, Indies

WWE

• WWE announced that the guests for their WWE Watch Along show for tonight’s Fastlane 2021 event will be Shotzi Blackheart, Ember Moon, Paige, Wade Barrett, Chad Gable, Otis, Kaitlyn, the cast of WWE’s The Bump, Alyssa Marino, RJ City, Kazeem Famuyide, and Draftkings’ Steve Buchanan.
• Barry Orton, former wrestler and uncle of Randy Orton, passed away this past Friday at the age of 62. Orton’s wrestling career spanned from 1976 to 1991 and included two stints in WWF from 1984-1988 and 1990-1991.
• WWE announced that the main event for Night 1 of NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver on April 7th in Tampa, Florida will be the NXT Women’s Championship match of Raquel Gonzlez vs. Io Shirai (c).
• WWE also announced that the main event for Night 2 of NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver on April 8th will be the NXT Championship match of Karrion Kross vs. Finn Balor (c).
• Daniel Bryan is currently rumored to be a member of this year’s class of inductees for WWE’s Hall of Fame, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that a recent update for the WWE Network added a new collection set featuring Daniel Bryan but under the subtitle of “WWE 2021 Hall of Fame Inductee.” Johnson reported that this collection set was quickly pulled from the WWE Network afterwards.
• In an interesting note, WWE reportedly currently does not have Dave Batista listed to be among those appearing at this year’s Hall of Fame ceremony on April 6th despite him being the headliner inductee for the 2020 class, according to PWInsider.
• NXT talent Ridge Holland reportedly has been seen at WWE’s Performance Center these past few months rehabbing his leg injury, according to Fightful Select. It was reported that despite Holland’s current rehab, he is still nowhere close to being medically cleared for a potential in-ring return. Holland has been out of action for WWE since suffering a leg injury at the October 7, 2020 episode of NXT.
• The Beth Phoenix episode of WWE Icons is currently scheduled to air on March 28th on the WWE Network.
• WWE filed trademarks for “Jessi Kamea”, “Sarray”, and “Warrior of the Sun” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on March 15th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. “Sarray” is the NXT ring name and “Warrior of the Sun” is the nickname of the former Sareee.
• Fightful Select reported that Chelsea Green was medically cleared last month for a return to the ring from her wrist injury, which she suffered this past November. Green revealed on Instagram that she was in attendance backstage during this past Friday’s episode of SmackDown.
• The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that cable network A&E’s current airing schedule for their upcoming WWE themed “Biographies” documentary episodes are April 18th for Steve Austin, April 25th for “Macho Man” Randy Savage, May 2nd for “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, May 9th for Booker T, May 16th for Shawn Michaels, May 23rd for “The Hitman” Bret Hart, May 30th for Mick Foley, and June 6th for the Ultimate Warrior.
• WWE officials reportedly have tentative plans to split up Retribution, according to Fightful Select. It was reported that a “high-level pitch” was made last week to have the group split up on RAW. WrestleTalk reported that Retribution member T-BAR (former Dominik Dijakovic) made recent changes on his social media account fueling speculation of the group splitting soon and him going in a new direction for his career in the company.
• As noted before, Charly Caruso is currently expected to be leaving WWE once her contract expires. Ringside News reported that besides her issues with being late for scheduled interviews with RAW talents, a source spoken to stated that Caruso recently was “just generally unpleasant to be around and management got tired of it.”

AEW

• During a recent virtual fan signing event held by Highspots Wrestling Network, Leyla Hirsch revealed that she had been signed to an official contract with AEW since this past October. Hirsch stated “I don’t even know if I’m allowed to say any of this but, my first week on Wednesday night, I faced [Hikaru] Shida [on AEW Dark] and that was great and then there was an incident with — there was a match that was supposed to happen with the girls and it didn’t because there was an injury and then they called me and they were like, ‘Leyla, we need you to wrestle Serena Deeb.’ So me and her literally only had 20 minutes to put the match together. Went out there, did it and then when I got backstage, Kenny Omega put his arm around me and said to me, ‘I hope I’m not putting too much pressure on you’ but he was like, ‘What’s your availability? We would like for you to work here’ and then Christopher Daniels pulled me aside and gave me the contract right there and then. So surreal but my first week there, I ended up getting the contract. So, it was wild. I don’t know [why it took AEW this long to announce it]. Just timing. Yeah, just certain things but it happens, so, grateful for it.”
• Hirsch also stated that she is interested in the idea from fans of her potentially joining Team Taz as the group’s female member. Hirsch stated “Oh yeah, my whole Twitter: ‘Team Taz, Team Taz’ and yes, one day I would love to be part of Team Taz.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the current estimates for AEW’s Revolution 2021 event are between 122,000 to 137,000 for pay-per-view buys. Meltzer reported that the event is also currently estimated to have generated between $5.4 million to $5.7 million in gross revenue which would still be the highest for a non-WWE wrestling event since 1999.
• AEW filed a trademark for “Pinnacle” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on March 16th to the USPTO. This is the name of MJF’s new heel stable in the company.
• MJF filed a trademark for “MJF” for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes on March 15th to the USPTO.

Other Wrestling

• Major League Wrestling and streaming service DAZN reportedly are currently working on plans for a major event on the service in the future, according to Fightful Select. It was reported that DAZN officials recently held talks with MLW officials regarding the idea of holding a wrestling event in Hawaii at some point in the future. It was also reported that MLW currently have plans for Dragon Gate to be involved should they be interested in this potential event.
• Ricky Shane Page announced a new match for the card of Game Changer Wrestling’s Spring Break 5 event on April 9th in Ybor City, Florida. This will be a 6-man tag team match of Gringo Loco, Black Taurus, & Arez vs. Laredo Kid, Dragon Bane, & Aramis.
• Josh Barnett announced two new matches for the card of GCW’s Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 6 event on April 8th in Ybor City, Florida. These matches are Alex Coughlin vs. Royce Isaacs and Matt Makowski vs. Heddi Karaoui.
• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that Ring of Honor’s talent are currently in the company’s secure bubble location in Baltimore, Maryland as part of the COVID-19 safety preparations for their upcoming 19th Anniversary Show and nest set of ROH TV tapings.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Arena Coliseo officials in Guadalajara, Mexico allowed events to have fans in attendance starting this past week.
• New Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 616 for their March 11th New Japan Cup 2021 event in Ehime, 1,591 for their March 13th New Japan Cup 2021 event in Aichi, 2,142 for their March 14th New Japan Cup 2021 event in Hyogo, 532 for their Match 15th New Japan Cup 2021 event in Tokyo, 648 for their March 16th New Japan Cup 2021 event in Tokyo, and 555 for their March 18th New Japan Cup 2021 event in Shizuoka, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Sunday’s NJPW New Japan Cup 2021 Finals event in Sendai featured a special surprise appearance from YOH, who revealed that he will be making his in-ring return at NJPW’s Sakura Genesis 2021 event on April 4th in Tokyo, Japan. YOH has been out of action for the company since suffering an ACL injury in July of 2020.