Weekend Roundup: Shotzi & Nox Update, WWE & Hulu, Rey Fenix Injury Update, NWA, Jay White Impact Update, Indies

WWE

• As noted before, Harry Smith (fomer Davey Boy Smith Jr.) worked a dark match for WWE at this past Friday’s tapings of Friday Night SmackDown in Houston, Texas. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that Smith has been signed with the company since this past March but WWE officials decided to keep the announcement a secret until they felt the timing was right for his official return to the company.
• During a recent episode of the Pro Wrestling 4 Life podcast, host Sean Waltman stated that he was recently interviewed by WWE for an upcoming documentary based on WWE’s post-9/11 episode of SmackDown. Waltman stated “They had other stuff for me to do there. I signed a bunch of [Topps trading cards]. They had a gold plate. I want to say the lady told me that the set cost $15,000. So yeah, I signed a bunch of stuff and I sat down for some talking head stuff for — they’re doing a documentary on the SmackDown after 9/11… I have vivid memories of all of that. We were the first ones to do anything after what happened. The first entertainment.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• WWE reportedly has sold around 7,557 tickets for their September 10th Friday Night SmackDown show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that the reason why this show was made into a dual RAW and SmackDown brand event was due to the weak first day advance for ticket sales.
• In regards to other upcoming events, Dave Meltzer reported that WWE has sold around 9,806 tickets for tonight’s Money in the Bank 2021 event in Forth Worth, around 7,300 tickets for their July 19th RAW show in Dallas, Texas, around 40, 135 tickets for their August 21st SummerSlam 2021 event in Las Vegas, Nevada, around 1,750 for their September 13th RAW show in Boston, Massachusetts, and around 4,441 tickets for their September 28th Extreme Rules 2021 event in Columbus, Ohio.
• WWE generated an attendance of around 14,000 for their July 16th Friday Night SmackDown show in Houston, Texas, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that the split was around 11,000 paid tickets and around 3,000 comp tickets.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Natalya’s inclusion as one of the competitors for the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder match at tonight’s Money in the Bank 2021 event was not due to WWE officials changing their plans for their SmackDown Women’s division following Bayley’s recent torn ACL injury. Meltzer reported that WWE’s plans for Natyala for the match predated Bayley’s injury and as of this past week, she was still been penciled in to compete in the ladder match.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources within WWE stated that one reason why the company’s plans for Brock Lesnar at this year’s SummerSlam event fell through was due to a split within WWE’s management over how to handle Lesnar’s first big match return. Some reportedly felt that had Lesnar came back for SummerSlam, he would have to lose to Bobby Lashley due to the current uncertainty over additional work dates for Lesnar. Others mainly in the Roman Reigns camp felt that a future Reigns vs. Lesnar feud would be much bigger in terms of program status and did not want Lesnar losing to Lashley in any way beforehand to potentially weaken it.
• As noted before, WWE is currently not expected to punish Jimmy Uso over his recent DUI arrest due to them not wanting to change the current direction and plans for a Roman Reigns vs. The Rock feud for next year’s WrestleMania event. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE officials are currently considering ideas for backup plans for The Rock should film studios not allow him to wrestle in a singles match at next year’s WrestleMania event. One of those ideas involves the Usos being split up with one Uso teaming with Reigns and the other Uso teaming with The Rock.
• As noted before, Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox made their official main roster debuts for the SmackDown brand during the July 9th episode of SmackDown. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the reason for Blackheart and Nox’s call-ups despite both being involved in storylines in NXT was due to it being a sudden decision made by Vince McMahon. Meltzer reported that one of his sources stated that when McMahon was informed of the weaker than expected ticket sales advances for upcoming house shows, he made the decision for multiple call-ups to be made immediately from NXT to freshen up the main roster with new stars. Meltzer reported that the weak advance sales for WWE’s upcoming show at Madison Square Garden was a key factor behind McMahon’s decision.
• WWE reportedly has cancelled their Supershow house show event on August 8th in Gainesville, Florida, according to the host venue. The Stephen C. O’Connell Center announced on their official website that the event will no longer be taking place at their venue and are currently accepting refunds for tickets purchased for the show. No official reason was given for the decision by WWE.
• Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that WWE current deal with streaming service Hulu is currently expected to expire either by the end of 2021 or at some point in 2022.

AEW

• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Chris Jericho was not in attendance backstage during this past Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite in Cedar Park, Texas. Jericho’s segment for the show had been pre-taped ahead of time due to him being away that night for a Fozzy musical concert in Iowa City, Iowa.
• Rey Fenix reportedly has fully recovered from recent his groin injury and is currently expected to make his return soon to AEW television, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Fenix had been out of action since this past April due to his groin injury and rehab.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW generated an attendance of 4,680 for their July 14th Fyter Fest 2021 Night 1 event in Cedar Park, Texas. Meltzer reported that the split was 4,400 paid tickets and 280 comp tickets.
• Meltzer also reported that as of this past Thursday, AEW has sold around 4,800 for their July 20th Fyter Fest 2021 Night 2 event in Garland, Texas, around 5,113 for their July 28th AEW Dynamite show in Charlotte, North Carolina, around under 800 tickets for their August 4th AEW Dynamite show in Jacksonville, Florida, around 3,700 for their August 11th AEW Dynamite show in Pittsburgh, and around 3,400 for their August 13th AEW Rampage show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• During a recent interview with the Down For The Count podcast, Matt Hardy gave his thoughts on why he believes AEW utilizes their established talent better than WWE. Hardy stated “Tony Khan is very smart and very savvy in understanding how to utilize talent and get the most out of them. You see in WWE often they take a guy who is established and towards the end of their career and they just use them to put over guys or have the younger guys beat them up and they hurt the equity or the value of that star. Tony, on the other hand, understands how to place that star in a position where he can still maintain his strength and help younger acts get over by defeating them, but they are still kept strong by still looking like an act that is adequate and powerful and dangerous and can knock anyone off at any time. That’s the key to it. When you look at AEW, one of the biggest lessons any promotion can learn is how to utilize guys who have name value that maybe are getting towards the end of their career and still keep them relevant and keep equity in them along with helping to build young talent and the future of your promotion.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• This past Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite featured a vignette for Miro which revealed a new design for AEW’s TNT Championship belt. Wrestling belt maker Belts By Dan recently detailed on Twitter all of the changes that were made to the belt incorporating Bulgaria’s history and Miro’s Bulgarian ethnicity.

Other Wrestling

• During a recent interview with WrestleZone, Mickie James revealed all the people who are currently helping her put together the National Wrestling Alliance’s upcoming all-women’s EmPowerrr event. James stated “I’m hand-selecting the women that go into the [NWA Women’s Invitational] Cup, along with the women that I have aligned myself with. I’m talking to Gail [Kim], I’m talking to Madusa, I’m talking to LuFisto, and then I have my friend, Brent Tarring, who has been my friend for ages and has really helped me a lot with this project, both behind-the-scenes and he’ll be one of the commentators at the table. So I have so many amazing people that I trust and value their opinion. They’re really helping me find the right talent, the stories and how to build them, to get people excited about them. Yes. I would say producers, agents. They’re the ones sitting at the table with me making these decisions, helping to build the vision for each person. It’s a lot of work, especially because it’s all these women that haven’t necessarily had a spotlight put on them. And to really showcase who they are, we need to do that and I’m one person. I need the right people in there to guide that vision of what that is. I’m excited. I feel like I couldn’t have picked a better team to stand alongside. I think we all want the same thing, especially for women’s wrestling and it’s exciting. It’s exciting and it’s a good core group of people who are well-respected in the business.”
• The NWA recently announced that Nick Aldis’ current reign as NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion has surpassed the milestone of 1,000 days.
• The NWA also recently announced that they will be reviving the NWA Women’s World Tag Team Championship at their upcoming Empowerrr event on August 28th in St. Louis, Missouri.
• As noted before, Kylie Rae made her official debut for the NWA this past June at their When Our Shadows Falls event. Fightful Select reported that NWA Director of Talent Relations Pat Kenney (former Simon Diamond) was the key person involved in the deal between the NWA and Impact Wrestling that allowed Rae to be released from her Impact contract in order to sign a deal with the NWA. It was reported that Impact officials were happy to work with the NWA and both companies have been in recent talks regarding plans to work together more often.
• Ring of Honor reportedly generated an attendance of around 1,200 for their Best in the World 2021 event on July 11th in Baltimore, Maryland, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• ROH recently announced a new match for the card of their Glory By Honor 2021 Night 2 event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This will be a tag team match of Bandido & Rey Horus vs. RUSH & Dragon Lee.
• New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that they have pulled Kota Ibushi from the card of this Monday’s Summer Struggle 2021 event in Ryugasaki, Japan due to him currently suffering from an illness. NJPW also announced that Ibushi was tested for COVID-19 and his results came back negative.
• NJPW reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,542 for their July 10th Summer Struggle 2021 event and 2,172 for their July 11th Summer Struggle 2021 event in Sapporo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Impact Wrestling has recently shown a lot of interest towards the idea of signing former WWE talent Buddy Murphy to a contract with the company.
• Major League Wrestling reportedly drew an attendance of around 1,000 for their Battle Riot 3 event on July 10th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. MLW has also currently sold around 800 tickets for their upcoming MLW Fusion television tapings on September 11th in Dallas, Texas.
• Northeast Wrestling reportedly generated an attendance of around 1,700 for their Superstar Showdown event on July 9th in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Northeast Wrestling also drew around 1,978 for their July 10th event in Nile, Ohio.
• During a press conference for Nacion Lucha Libre held on July 13th, Lucha Libre AAA talent El Texano Jr. made a surprise appearance and revealed that he has recently left AAA and has signed a deal to join Alberto El Patron’s wrestling company.
• LuchaBlog reported that Nacion Lucha Libre has only sold around 66 tickets for their upcoming event on July 31st in Hildago, Texas. This event is scheduled to feature a main event match of Alberto El Patron vs. Andrade vs. Carlito.
• Impact Wrestling reportedly will be holding a new set of television tapings today and on Monday for their Impact! series in front of fans at the Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, according to PWInsider.
• Fightful Select reported that Jay White’s surprise appearance at last night’s Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary 2021 event had been kept as a “closely guarded secret” with only a few in the company being aware of the plans for him. It was reported that White’s name was not listed on internal run sheets for the show as part of the secrecy to prevent his appearance from being leaked beforehand.
• Indie wrestling promotion Freedom Pro Wrestling filed trademarks for “Summer Sizzler” and “Three Way Dance” on July 13th for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that both terms are based on the names of two classic ECW events from the early 1990s.