Various: More on CM Punk’s AEW Debut, New Trademarks, NJPW News

More on CM Punk’s AEW Debut

As noted before, CM Punk made his official debut for AEW during Friday’s episode of AEW Rampage in Chicago, Illinois.

Prior to his debut, Fightful Select reported that several people recently spoken to within WarnerMedia and TNT were very excited over Punk joining AEW. Those same people stated that Punk will have WarnerMedia and TNT’s promotional machine fully behind him upon his return to wrestling.

It was reported that TNT officials were also very impressed by AEW running four shows over the course of a few weeks in the same Chicago market and selling as well as they did for all the shows. TNT officials also reportedly were thrilled about the United Center and Chicago Bulls tie-in for Punk’s debut plans.


WWE, Jon Moxley, & Young Bucks File New Trademarks

WWE, Jon Moxley, & The Young Bucks recently filed several new trademarks to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Trademarks for “Charlie Dempsey” and “Reggie” were filed by WWE on August 16th for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes.

Trademarks for the “The SwitchBlades” and “Switchblade Conspiracy” were filed by Jon Moxley on August 11th for merchandise-related purposes. Switchblade Conspiracy is the name of the tag team used by Moxley and Sami Callihan in the indies.

Trademarks for “Matt Jackson”, “Nick Jackson”, “The Elite”, “Being The Elite”, and “BTE” were filed by The Young Bucks on August 12th for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes.


NJPW News & Notes

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced that Will Ospreay, Minoru Suzuki, and Lance Archer will be appearing at their Autumn Attack themed NJPW Strong tapings on September 25-26 in Garland, Texas.

NJPW also recently announced that a new stipulation has been added to the Provisional King of Pro Wrestling 2021 Championship match at their Wrestle Grand Slam 2021 event on September 4th in Saitama, Japan. Chase Owens will be defending his title against Toru Yano in a No Disqualification I Quit match at the event.

NJPW English announcer Kevin Kelly reportedly will be traveling to Japan to provide live on-the spot English commentary for this year’s upcoming G1 Climax tournament, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that Kelly has primarily been providing English commentary for NJPW’s events from his home during the coronavirus pandemic due to travel and quarantine-related issues. Kelly’s status for NJPW’s upcoming Strong tapings in Garland, Texas next month reportedly is currently not known.

NJPW recently announced a new match for the card of their Wrestle Grand Slam 2021 Night One event on September 4th in Saitama, Japan:

  • IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship – Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (c)