Weekend Roundup: WWE Nixed Plans for New Female Group, Chris Jericho, Impact Interested in AAA Talent, Jay White, Indies

WWE

• WWE reportedly is currently planning to hold this year’s SummerSlam event in front of a live crowd, according to Sports Illustrated.
• Aleister Black recently released a video on Instagram hinting of a new direction for his character in WWE. Black has been out of action since October of 2020 but recently has been shooting promos for his potential in-ring return to the company.
• Keith Lee recently provided a health status update on Twitter stating that he misses everyone and will fight “like no other” to return to the company.
• Fightful Select reported that WWE was short-handed for this past Monday’s tapings of RAW due to several talent not being available. It was eported that several talent were not medically cleared to compete following WrestleMania 37 and at least two other talent were pulled due to COVID-19 precautionary reasons.
• Fightful Select also reported that WWE had plans at one point last year to debut a new all-women’s stable on the main roster which would have featured Chelsea Green, Vanessa Borne, and Santana Garrett as its members.
• Stephanie McMahon recently wrote an open letter (via Fightful.com) thanking fans and WWE’s partners for their support for this year’s WrestleMania 37 event.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Davey Boy Smith Jr. has yet to sign an official contract with WWE but both sides have had serious talks for a potential contract.
• As noted before, WWE recently released all of their international commentary teams except for their Spanish team due to NBC cancelling international commentary for WWE PPV events on Peacock. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE officials stated that they have not released their international commentary teams and instead will continue providing international languages as an option for their non-US WWE Network subscribers. Meltzer reported that WWE officials also stated that Jean Brassard and Raymond Rougeau removal from the French commentary team was due to company officials wanting to replace them with new announcers instead.
• As noted before, WWE’s two-night WrestleMania 37 event was initially reported to have generated around 650,000 searches on Google. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the actual amount was around 750,000 instead with the bulk of the searches being for Night 1 of the event.
• Fightful reported that 2K Games officials currently are planning to be more transparent and provide more updates on the development of this year’s WWE 2K22 game. It was reported that WWE officials wanted 2K Games to be more transparent as a way for them to be held accountable after their poor effort with the development of WWE 2K20.
• WWE filed a trademark for “Then Now Together Forever” for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes on April 12th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• A new episode in the WWE 24 series, titled WWE 24: The Miz, reportedly will be airing on the WWE Network and NBC’s Peacock on April 25th, according to WWENetworkNews.com.

---

AEW

• AEW reportedly drew an attendance of around 1,300 for their The House Always Wins event on April 9th, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that the breakdown was 1,100 paid and the remainder as comp tickets.
• A recent episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast had AEW CEO Tony Khan as the guest and one of the topics discussed included the idea of an intermission break for AEW shows. Khan stated “We have great and we could do that. Also, a [countdown] clock. If you watch the Road To or the countdown, you might’ve seen them, but that’s even better. They are part of the pay-per-view, putting some up. I think it’s a good idea. If [Busted Open hosts Tommy Dreamer and Dave LaGreca] like it, that makes me feel a little better. Maybe it’s a good idea. If the fans like it, then maybe it’s a good idea.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• A recent episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast had Chris Jericho as the guest and one of the topics discussed included his recent appearance on the Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions show. Jericho stated “I wouldn’t have done the show if it wasn’t to talk about my whole career including AEW. There would be no benefits for me to go on and just talk about old things that I’d done in WWE and Steve wouldn’t have had me on either. So, we were both adamant about if we`re going to do this let’s do it right. We were both pretty adamant about how we wanted the show to be done but if a certain 73-year old wakes up one day and goes, ‘What? I never said that’, the whole thing could be changed, wiped off the face of the earth, or whatever. But I also think there was a lot of trust both from Vince (McMahon) and from Tony Khan towards both Steve (Austin) and myself knowing that we wouldn’t go that way. There was no reason to kind of talk about things that are going to bury either side, it was a very positive interview as you guys saw. So, there was a lot of trust afforded to us and I think the moment that Vince said, ‘do it’, he knew what we’d be talking about and Tony even said it too. He had trust in both Steve and I to take care of both parties and we did that. If it was anybody else I don’t know if we’d be afforded the trust and there might have a bit more “snakey snakey” but I had Steve’s word and Steve had my word that we were going to do our best to have a great show and there was no reason to tear anybody down or talk any bad things and I think it’s one of the reasons why it pretty much aired exactly as we spoke. The thing was over two hours long, I don’t think there was much edited out, a couple of lines here and there but probably only ten minutes out of the two hours plus that we talked about was edited out and that was more for time purposes.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

---

Other Wrestling

• Ring of Honor announced that they will be making a new announcement regarding the status of their Women’s division during this Tuesday’s episode of the ROH Week by Week show.
• Major League Wrestling filed a trademark for “Aztec Underground” for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes on April 12th to the USPTO.
• MLW announced that they have rescheduled their previously announced June 5th event in Chicago, Illinois to a new date of November 6th due to coronavirus pandemic-related reasons. The company also announced that all tickets sold for the original date will be honored at the event.
• As noted before, Bandido was released from Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre earlier this month. During a recent interview with Lucha Libre Online, Bandido explained the reason for his departure from the company. Bandido stated “I believe that it is like any other business. All the companies have their policies, their way to work, and we discussed a contract. We never reached terms, we never got to complete something and. An opportunity comes to my life to do something great with my life, whether that is as Bandido or in my personal life, like with Bandido Gym, so we had to make a lot of noise. It is a dream that is being realized. As I told you, and you have seen it true to science, Hugo, it is a big project, so we had to make a lot of noise. We made a wrestling card in which people like Psycho Clown and others from AAA and of course Bandido. With me not having an established contract, it was easy because it is my dream and what better way to inaugurate the gym on the right foot. They did not accept that I was wrestling in that, and I, honestly, just wanted to participate in the event in Bandido gym. We did not reach a deal, and it’s respectable. At the end of the day, they are the ones that make the rules in the company and I am not going to be the one to change the game with them. It was a disappointment and there was a lot of sadness. As a wrestler getting into the Arena Mexico, we get up there and we give it all inside the ring. A week before, there was the match against Volador for the Title, and it was a dream for me. I got congratulated, from the Chief of the Programming Department when we were done with the match because that match was incredible. The week after they told that there was no way to work, to continue going forward, and to continue collaborating together unless I miss my own show, at my own gym, and they told me to send someone else in my place. Honestly, it brought me a lot of sadness to see that, in reality, the wrestlers here are just workers of a company and as much as you give it you all, you are not valuable to the company. It was very clear to me and I repeat, if CMLL helped achieve the dream inside the child inside me, and I still imagined myself wrestling there, but the fact that I was there, with no contract, and without having anything locked in, I thought it was time for me to take the next step and see for my future.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• This past Thursday’s episode of Dark Side of the Ring Confidential drew 130,000 viewers on VICE TV.
• This past Thursday’s episode of Wipeout with co-host John Cena drew 861,000 viewers on TBS.
• VICE TV recently released a new trailer for their upcoming third season of Dark Side of the Ring.
• Impact Wrestling reportedly is currently in the process of getting work visas for several talent from Lucha Libre AAA for future shows, according to Konnan. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that one talent Impact officials are interested in bringing over is El Hijo del Vikingo.
• During a recent interview with Solo Wrestling, ROH COO Joe Koff stated that he currently doubts ROH will resume running events with fans in attendance earlier than this August.
• Game Changer Wrestling reported generated an attendance of around 750 for their Spring Break event on April 9th in Tampa, Florida, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Lucha Libre AAA reportedly is currently planning a tentative date of May 1st for this year’s Rey de Reyes event, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Chase Owens held a recent fan Q&A session on his Twitch channel with Jay White as the guest. One of the topics discussed included White’s thoughts on the rumors of him leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling earlier this year. White stated “I know people are gonna talk anyway. I wasn’t too bothered by what other people were thinking. It was more about me trying to decide what to do at the time so I kinda wasn’t focused on what other people were saying and stuff. I had other things to think about opposed to putting attention to what I thought the fans were saying or thinking, you know? It was down to what I needed to do at the time.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
• NJPW announced that the Provisional King of Pro Wrestling 2021 match between EVIL and Toru Yano at their Wrestling Satsuma no Kuni event on April 28th will be held under a Creation of Darkness Blindfold rules.
• Pro Wrestling NOAH announced on Twitter that Kenoh was pulled from their event earlier today in Tokyo, Japan due to him recently testing positive for COVID-19. (English translation via PostWrestling.com)