Weekend Roundup: Extreme Rules Kickoff Match, Riddick Moss, Adam Cole, Dynamite Grand Slam Update, Marty Scurll, Indies

WWE

• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that WWE is currently planning for the Liv Morgan vs. Carmella match at tonight’s Extreme Rules event to take place during their Extreme Rules Kickoff pre-show.
• This past Friday’s episode of SmackDown featured the surprise return of Riddick Moss after a lengthy time away due to an ACL injury suffered last year. Fightful Select reported that despite Moss being a member of the RAW brand, WWE officials recently made the decision to switch him over to the SmackDown brand due to him never appearing for RAW over the course of the past year. WWE officials also reportedly felt that there was no “harm” in moving Moss to a new brand and having him team up with Corbin since the next Draft was only a week away.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 8,308 tickets for tonight’s Extreme Rules 2021 event in Columbus, OH, around 5,165 tickets for their November 21st Survivor Series 2021 event in Brooklyn, and around 2,915 tickets for their November 22nd RAW show in Brooklyn, NY as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE also reportedly sold 6,100 (5,000 paid) for their September 17th SmackDown show in Knoxville, TN, 3,557 for their September 18th house show event in North Charleston, SC, 7,723 for their September 19th house show event in Newcastle, England, 3,297 for their September 19th house show event in Augusta, GA, 7,956 (6,500 paid) for their September 20th RAW show in Raleigh, NC, 13,650 for their September 20th house show event in London, England, 4,731 for their September 21st house show event in Cardiff, Wales, 230 for their September 21st NXT show in Orlando, FL, and 7,297 for their September 22nd house show event in Glasgow, Scotland, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• The September 23rd episode of Dark Side of the Ring featured the infamous WWF Plane Ride From Hell incident from May of 2002. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that following the episode’s airing, there was some confusion regarding if Vince McMahon was actually on the flight or if people interviewed for the episode mixed up other flight incidents that had McMahon on board. Meltzer reported that most of his sources spoken to stated that McMahon was not on this particular flight. Terri Runnels stated on Twitter earlier this week that she was wrong about her statements during the show regarding McMahon being on the flight. During a recent interview with the Jim Cornette Experience podcast, Dark Side of the Ring producer Evan Husney stated that they went forward with the stance that McMahon was on board during the flight based on everyone interviewed had stated that he was present.
• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that a settlement deal between WWE and multiple investors who sued the company over issues regarding the company’s Saudi Arabian deal and Middle Eastern television contracts is currently expected to be reached soon. Johnson reported that a motion was recently filed to the U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut to give primarily approval to a settlement deal for the multiple lawsuits against WWE over these legal issues.
• Fightful Select reported that WWE officials was very interested in signing Britt Baker once her original contract with AEW would have expired this year and went as far as to ask Adam Cole to remind them the moment she would have been available on the market. It was reported that despite WWE’s interest, the company never held any formal conversations with Baker nor made any actual overtures towards her due to not wanting to be seen as committing contract tampering.
• This past Wednesday’s episode of NXT featured Joe Gacy debuting a new anti-“woke” type gimmick for his character on the brand. Following the show, NoDQ.com reported that WWE removed references about Gacy’s new character from their social media accounts due to the negative attention generated by potential controversial headlines from several news outlets, including FOX News.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there has been a lot of talk recently within the United Kingdom of DAZN being currently in the process of potentially purchasing BT Sports. BT Sports is the current network home of WWE programming in the U.K.
• During a recent episode of the Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions, Seth Rollins revealed that his current contract with WWE still has a couple of years remaining on it. Rollins stated “my goals, as I’ve gotten older in the business, I’ve checked off a lot of boxes. WrestleMania main event, being on the marquee for that, that one looms pretty heavy over my head and I don’t think I’ll be satisfied entirely until I get that one done, if ever. There are not a lot of guys who have that prestige, but I’m going to work towards it. I love the performance aspect of what we do and now that we’re back to live crowds, I love that, I’ll never get sick of that. That synergy, that feeling, you can’t beat that. I love that. Now, as a dad, part of me is starting to shift a little bit. I have a couple years left on my contract, I definitely want to see that through. After that, we’ll see what happens. I don’t know, I wish I had a proper answer because I love it, but life is starting to get a lot bigger when you got a little baby girl and when my contract is up, she’ll be about 3 or 4 and ready to go into school and do stuff. We’ll see. If it all ended tomorrow, I’d be pretty satisfied with the things I’ve accomplished and the contributions I’ve made to the business. I always wanted to leave it better than I found it and I’ve been able to do that in some respects. I’m proud of that.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• WWE filed a trademark for “Tiffany Stratton” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on September 22nd to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

AEW

• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW is currently planning to hold this year’s Full Gear event at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Meltzer reported that the venue has a maximum capacity of around 13,000 for wrestling events.
• Fightful Select reported that AEW is currently planning to start selling tickets for their upcoming Full Gear 2021 event on September 28th for the pre-sale and October 1st for the general public.
• During a recent interview with the MCW Cast podcast, Matt Hardy revealed the inspirations for his current “Big Money Matt” character in AEW. Hardy stated “Then we met the Italian Stallion (Gary Sabaugh) and George South and we ended up hooking with them and doing some of their shows because they needed a few more guys to actually go to WWE and we technically were never officially trained,” Matt began by saying. “Then it got to the gig where we went to the WWE the first time. Then we would work with Stallion and George South every weekend. They would work every Friday and Saturday. We’d drive, you know, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, wherever it would be, and we’d make their shows and we’d work for them for free but then we would go every three or four months to WWE. Whenever we’d get 150 bucks, you know, each of the three nights we do Raw or Superstars and a Challenge, we get 150 bucks and we had to turn over $100 for a booking fee. That was what they charged. That’s a true story. I’m not gonna lie, that’s where a lot of the inspiration for my Big Money Matt character came, especially when I started doing the thing with Private Party in the beginning and taking 30% because they legitimately took 66% of our money when we would go to WWE in those days. 66%. WWE would give cash, they’d say, you know, ‘We’ll pay for double rooms for all your talents.’ They’d stick four or five people in a room and pocket the rest.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• During a recent interview with the Talk Is Jericho podcast, Adam Cole revealed that prior to his departure, WWE officials had been working on ideas to change his name and look for his call-up to the main roster had he signed a new deal with the company. Cole stated “apparently, there were a lot of ideas, but they were very vague on what exactly they wanted to do. When I first had the conversation, they had mentioned something about doing a name change or changing my look. That scared me a little bit because I spent nearly 14 years as Adam Cole. Our latest conversation, they were definitely more open to being me and being myself. They could tell I was not too thrilled (about a name change) … It was definitely something that made me a little more timid about pulling the trigger on that one. They could not have been nicer, but when I think about me and my career and what is best for me, the idea of that being an option scared me a little bit. I was like, ‘What if I do go and something happens anyway?’ At that point, I can’t say or do anything. Red flag is the perfect way to put it. You don’t even necessarily have to change anything, but if you change the atmosphere and people they are working with, then it feels fresh. I understand where they are coming from, to some extent, but I feel like a big part of what has made me work is I’m not 6’3” and 285 pounds, the Adam Cole BAY BAY and the ‘Boom’ is a big part of what I do and how I connect with the audience, besides the wrestling and promo. I feel like it would have been quite the challenge if that would have happened, as far as the name change, to build myself back up. (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• As noted before, AEW is currently using a rotating commentary crew for their weekly Rampage shows. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that despite Ricky Starks recently replacing Mark Henry in the commentary booth, Henry’s role for the show will still be him on commentary at times and remain as a backstage pre-match interviewer for the show’s main event matches.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW has sold over 100,000 CM Punk-based shirts since his debut in the company earlier this month.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 6,374 tickets for their September 29th Dynamite show in Rochester, NY, around 4,230 tickets for their October 6th Dynamite show in Philadelphia, PA, around 1,352 tickets for their October 15th Dynamite show in Miami, around 2,003 tickets for their October 16th Dynamite show in Miami, FL, around 4,230 tickets for their November 5th Rampage show in St. Louis, MI, around 6,343 tickets for their November 24th Dynamite show in Chicago, IL, and around 6,528 tickets for their December 8th Dynamite show in Long Island, NY as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, AEW announced an attendance of 20,177 for their Dynamite Grand Slam event this past Wednesday at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wresting Observer Newsletter that based on paid ticket sales of around 18,300, AEW generated a live gate revenue of around $960,000. AEW also reportedly had generated around $200,000 for live merchandise sales. Meltzer reported that this was the second highest ever live gate for a non-WWE event in the United States, falling short by around $140,000 of the record held by Ring of Honor and NJPW for their G1 Supercard event at Madison Square Garden from April 6, 2019. Meltzer also reported that AEW’s attendance was the largest for a televised wrestling show since the February 5, 2001 episode of WWE RAW at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, which drew 24,639 and a live gate of $595,606.
• In regards to AEW’s announced attendance for their Dynamite Grand Slam event, Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that the actual number might be lower due to issues with the status of suite ticket sales for the event. Thurston reported that his sources stated that most of the suites for the show went unused but despite this issue, AEW’s show still would have been the most attended non-WWE event since the July 5, 1999 episode of WCW Nitro.
• Bryan Danielson recently reflected on Twitter about his debut match in AEW at this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite Grand Slam event at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York.
• During a recent interview with Stephanie Chase, Chris Jericho revealed that one of AEW’s ideas for potential opponents for his recent Five Labours of Jericho matches was for Chris Hero to be among the set of opponents. Jericho stated “the original plan was going to be the four guys from The Pinnacle. That’s what we had kind of done with Moxley when he beat me for the title where he had to go through the whole Inner Circle. It was MJF who had the idea for us to use Nick Gage. I had never heard of Nick Gage prior to Dark Side of the Ring. It intrigued me that maybe he brings in some bounty hunters. I still wanted it to start and end with Pinnacle because that was the story. Start with Spears, end with Wardlow. That was always the plan. It was never the plan to go through this memory lane of Jericho’s friends or opponents. We thought the Nick Gage deathmatch would be cool. We were trying to think of another guy and one idea was Chris Hero. A couple of other names were thrown around. I thought Juventud Guerrera would be a good idea because he seemed to fit. It seemed like a good idea to have one guy from my past in there. I didn’t want to make it a bunch of guys from my past. ‘It’s gotta be Lance Storm.’ I just wanted Pinnacle to start and end, the deathmatch was a cool idea, and then someone from my past, and I thought Juventud was best for that. We worked on that for a few months, to get his visa and that. That was always the idea, those four guys. There was an idea to face maybe Hager or have Sammy come in, but I didn’t like that idea. Why would they fight me? ‘Well they have to or else we would quit.’ We don’t turn on each other. I thought it was the idea, ‘Fine, go fuck yourself, we’re out.’ That didn’t work for me.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Ryo Mizunami recently announced on Twitter that she will be making her return to the United States soon to resume working in AEW.
• The Chris Jericho Cruise recently announced that Wardlow, Rebel, Sonny Kiss, Luther, Serpentico, and Ashley D’Amboise will be making an appearance at Jericho’s upcoming Rock N Wrestling Rager Triple Whammy Cruise on October 21-25th.

Indies & Other Wrestling

• New Japan Pro Wrestling announced a new match for the card of their NJPW Showdown themed NJPW Strong tapings on October 2nd in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This will be a tag team make of Eddie Kingston & Jon Moxley vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer.
• NJPW reportedly had a paid attendance of 1,963 for their September 18th G1 Climax 2021 event in Osaka, 2,188 for their September 19th G1 Climax 2021 event in Osaka, and 1,284 for their September 23rd G1 Climax 2021 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Josh Barnett announced that Tiger Ruas, former Arturo Ruas in WWE, will be making an appearance for Game Changer Wrestling at their Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 7 event on October 22nd in Los Angeles, California.
• Major League Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Fightland 2021 event on October 2nd in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This will be a MLW Opera Cup 2021 tournament First Round match of Calvin Tankman vs. Matt Cross.
• CWA recently announced that Marty Scurll will be making an appearance for the company at their event on October 23rd in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This will be Scurll’s first appearance at a wrestling event since February 2020 and Scurll had been among the notable wrestlers who were accused of committing sexual harassment during the Speaking Out movement in June of 2020.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that former CMLL owner Sofia Alonso was among those invited to a recent press conference in Mexio for this year’s Lucha Libre y Luchadores holiday. Alonso stated that she is currently working on a campaign to help improve the work and safety conditions for wrestlers in the country. Alonso also stated that she is no longer planning to launch her own wrestling promotion in the future.
• Stardom reportedly had a paid attendance of 403 for their September 18th 5Star Grand Prix 2021 event in Osaka and 632 for their September 20th 5Star Grand Prix 2021 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Revolution Pro Wrestling reportedly generated an attendance of 1,000 for their September 19th High Stakes 2021 event in London, England, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• EC3 recently announced that his upcoming Free The Narrative II event with former WWE wrestler Braun Strowman will be taking place on October 2nd and will air on FITE.TV.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that major changes are currently expected to be implemented within the near future in regards to how television advertising and ratings are handled. Meltzer reported that one major change involves advertisers shifting away from purchasing ads based on same day 18-49 viewers for shows to a more total impressions based format starting in January next year. This new shift reportedly would be based on total viewers through all platforms including digital-based ones, which is something that is only currently partially covered by Nielsen’s ratings system. Meltzer also reported that the current belief within the television industry is that sports-based shows will benefit the most from these upcoming new changes.