Weekend Roundup: Charlotte Flair, Elite & Ghostbusters, Thunder Rosa Concussion, NJPW, Mike Bailey Signs with Impact, Indies

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

Oct 31, 2021

WWE

WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 4,600 (3,400 paid) for their October 22nd SmackDown show in Wichita, KS, 8,848 (7,400 paid) for their October 25th RAW show in Houston, TX, and 400 for their October 26th NXT Halloween Havoc 2021 show in Orlando, FL, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE reportedly has sold around 4,159 tickets for their November 1st RAW show in Providence, RI, around 3,061 tickets for their November 5th SmackDown show in Evansville, IN, around 2,845 tickets for their November 8th RAW show in Louisville, KY, around 9,467 tickets for their November 21st Survivor Series event in Brooklyn, around 5,132 tickets for their November 22nd RAW show in Brooklyn, NY, around 3,193 tickets for their November 29th RAW show at the UBS Arena in Long Island, NY, around 2,607 tickets for their December 13th RAW show in St. Paul, MN, around 4,534 tickets for their January 1st, 2022 Day 1 event in Atlanta, GA, and around 21,661 tickets for their January 29, 2022 Royal Rumble 2022 event in St. Louis, MO as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
In an interesting note, WWE is currently holding a Buy 1, Get 1 Free sale for tickets for their upcoming RAW show on November 29th at the UBS Arena in Long Island, New York. This is the newest attempt by WWE to improve their sluggish thicket sales for the event, especially in comparison to the much higher ticket sales for AEW’s Dynamite show the following week at the same venue.
In regards to WWE’s upcoming tour of the United Kingdom, the company reportedly has sold around 2,960 tickets for their November 3rd house show event in Brighton, around 6,282 tickets for their November 4th house show event in Sheffield, around 6,500 tickets for their November 7th house show event in Liverpool, around 3,040 tickets for their November 8th house show in Leeds, and around 3,582 tickets for their November 10th house show event in Manchester, England as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As noted before, WWE recently signed a multi-year deal with trading card and collectables manufacturer Panini. SporticoU reported that one source close to the situation stated that WWE’s deal with Panini is a “low eight-figure pact is worth more than three times the average annual value of WWE’s expiring agreement with Topps.”
PWInsider reported that WWE Performance Center coach and NXT producer Steve Cornio was seen backstage during this past Friday’s episode of SmackDown in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Mike Johnson reported that Cornio had been invited to work as a backstage producer for that night’s show. Johnson reported that his sources stated that Cornio had also worked backstage as a producer during the prior week’s SmackDown show as well.
As noted before, Alberto El Patron, former Alberto Del Rio in WWE, recently told his friends that he will be going to WWE once his current legal issues are resolved. Fightful Select reported that their sources within WWE stated that they have not heard of any recent conversations taking place between El Patron and WWE officials regarding the idea of El Patron making a return to the company. One source spoken to stated “Could you imagine if we let go of some of the people we did, only to bring him in? There’s no f**king way that happens.” It was also reported that several sources spoken to also stated that the company would not put Paige in any position of having to ever be around El Patron if given the choice.
WWE recently announced the full cards for all of their house show events for their upcoming tour of the United Kingdom, which takes place from November 3rd to November 10th.
WWE also announced that they recently reached a preliminary court approved settlement regarding a lawsuit that was filed against the company by several investors in April of 2020. This lawsuit alleged that WWE wasted corporate assets, made false statements, failed to disclose adverse facts, misled the investing public, permitted senior executives to sell more than $282 million worth of their personally held shares of company stock at artificially inflated prices, and other financial related issues that were to the detriment of WWE’s investors.
Chad Gable announced on Instagram that he recently graduated from Full Sail University with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Media Design. Gable also announced that he graduated with a 4.0 GPA, received an Advanced Achievement award, and was named valedictorian of his graduating class.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE is currently in the process of hiring a new Senior Production Assistant for social media for their NXT brand. Meltzer reported that the job description includes live events which is the source of recent rumors online of WWE planning to resume live touring for their NXT brand within the near future.
As noted before, Charlotte Flair was involved in a backstage incident with Becky Lynch following the October 22nd episode of Friday Night SmackDown in Wichita. This incident revolved around a Championship Exchange segment that did not go down as planned resulting in a confrontation and loud argument between the two backstage that was seen by those within WWE to be entirely Flair’s fault. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Flair had been the source of several issues with other female talent revolving around the feeling that it has been hard for the company’s babyface female talent to get over in a match with Flair due to her constantly wanting to work as both a babyface and heel during matches. Meltzer reported that WWE’s original plans following their new television contracts was for Flair to be presented as the top female star for the SmackDown brand as a way to appease FOX. Those plans were changed when she was drafted to RAW but then resumed as part of this year’s WWE Draft plans. In regards to Flair’s current contract, Meltzer reported that is sources stated that it still has more than one year left and is worth a guaranteed seven figures annually. One source stated that the situation with Flair has become a big problem internally but WWE is reluctant to fire her due to not wanting to potentially give AEW someone of her top star status power.
WWE announced that they have recently signed a multi-year partnership deal with FOX and Blockchain Creative Labs to launch a new NFT marketplace for WWE themed collectables.

AEW

AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 6,400 (6,000 paid) for their October 23rd Dynamite show in Orlando, FL and 5,750 (5,500 paid) for their October 27th Dynamite show in Boston, MA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW reportedly has sold around 3,457 tickets for their November 3rd Dynamite show in Independence, MO, around 4,617 tickets for their November 5th Rampage show in St. Louis, MO, around 4,989 tickets for their November 10th Dynamite show in Indianapolis, IN, around 5,741 tickets for their November 12th Rampage show in Minneapolis, around 9.837 tickets for their November 13th Full Gear 2021 event in Minneapolis, MN, around 4,255 tickets for their November 17th Rampage show in Norfolk, VA, around 7,862 for their December 8th Dynamite show at the UBS Arena in Long Island, NY, and around 1,549 tickets for their December 15th Dynamite show in Garland, TX as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As noted before, former WWE talent Ricardo Rodriguez was seen at this past Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite working in AEW’s Spanish commentary booth. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Rodriguez was recently hired to be the newest member of the company’s Spanish commentary team.
Dave Meltzer reported that despite his recent absence from AEW programming, Don Callis is still under contract with the company and is currently expected to return soon on-screen alongside Kenny Omega and The Elite.
This past Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite featured the main event match of Dark Order vs. The Elite. Both the Dark Order and the Elite made their entrances wearing special Halloween themed costumes with the Elite dressed up as the Ghostbutsters. Fightful Select reported that the original plans for The Elite were for them to make their entrances wearing Squid Games themed costumes but those plans were dropped following WarnerMedia and TNT shooting down the idea when they learned of it. It was reported that there was no heat between AEW and TNT/WarnerMedia over the issue. One source spoken to stated that TNT officials likely did not understand how much of a parody AEW’s plans for the Squid Games gimmick was supposed to be.
In regards to The Elite version of the classic Ghostbuster’s theme for the Elite’s group entrance, AEW musical producer Mikey Rukus recently revealed on Twitter that it took him over 90 minutes to put together the parody entrance theme. Rucuks stated that he started working on the entrance theme at around 6:28 PM EST on the night of AEW’s Dynamite show and had it finished and delivered to AEW’s production team at around 8:03 PM EST.
Sports Illustrated held a recent interview with Hikaru Shida and one of the topics discussed included her thoughts about her recent reign as AEW Women’s Champion. Shida stated “After losing the title, I was very frustrated. I thought I could have done more and been better as champion. So this tournament for the TBS title means a lot to me. It is a great opportunity to get back to the top.” Shida also stated that she has been taking acting classes to get more comfortable working on national television and also working to improve her English language skills. Shida stated “I have been learning so much from Kenny Omega and Dustin Rhodes, and they teach about what it takes to be on a TV show. Being on TV is something an actress does, so I took acting classes. And my English has got so much better from watching Sherlock Holmes on BBC.“
During a recent episode of the Grilling JR podcast, co-host Jim Ross revealed that he is currently working on plans to open a family-owned cannabis farm in Oklahoma within he near future. Ross stated “My youngest daughter, her husband, and I, and another guy, a lawyer, a specialty in the field, are getting ready to start a cannabis farm. We’re looking at the working title of Black Hat Farms. I got some land in Oklahoma recently for the grow houses and all those things. That’s gonna be their life. It’s a big deal. She’s got a great job in marketing, she’s not gonna quit that, I wouldn’t let her consider that. I’m excited about that for my kids.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
During a recent episode of the Ask Tony Live! podcast, co-host Tony Schiavone gave his thoughts to a question asked about if AEW will be launching a streaming service similar to the WWE Network in the future. Schiavone stated “Yes, I do. I think we’re going to see a streaming service — This is my thought, I don’t know anything for sure. Just by talking to people, I think there’s going to be a streaming service by the end of 2022. So I think it’s going to come up very, very soon. I do know that there were people in Warner Media that I knew, that I still know, that work in Warner Media that have nothing to do with AEW and told me that — They said, ‘You know that AEW is going to be part of HBO Max.’ HBO Max has all these different — They have DC. I remember asking someone in the front office, not Tony, I said, ‘Are we going to be on HBO Max?’ They said, ‘Doubt it, until they want to come up with a lot more money.’ So I think we’re going to end up getting our own streaming service. I’m just trying to fill in all of the blanks here from what I’ve heard. It’s not really on Tony’s radar right now, but I’m sure there are people in the office that are working that out for him.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
During a recent interview with the Gresh and Keefe radio show, Bryan Danielson gave his thoughts on the changes to his in-ring style since his return to active wresting in 2018. Danielson stated “Well so, I’m a little more judicious but realistically, the big thing that has changed and this is just a choice when I re-signed my last WWE contract and when I came to AEW too, one of the benefits of AEW is that I need to be doing less matches, right? Because I like to go hard. If you tell me to like, ‘Hey, go a little bit lighter today,’ right? When you’re wrestling, it’s easy to say but in practice, it’s not. It doesn’t work like that. I don’t care if there’s 20,000 people out there like there were in Arthur Ashe Stadium and I don’t care if there’s 85 people out there which I’ve wrestled in front of many crowds under 100 people. Those people all still pay their money to come see the show and you wanna give them a great show, right? And so it’s hard to — it’s hard for somebody like me to pull back and so really it’s about doing less number of matches per year and focusing on the quality of each of those matches, you know what I mean? And making sure that I give the live crowd every time I go out there, giving them something that they’re happy they paid their money to see, you know?” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
Thunder Rosa stated in a recent vlog episode that she recently suffered a concussion and had been out of action for both AEW and the indies for the past ten days due to her head injury.

Indies & Other Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced that Josh Barnett will be making an appearance for the company at their Detention themed tapings for NJPW Strong on November 15th in Riverside, California. Barnett was announced to be facing off against Alex Coughlin in a singles match at the tapings.
NJPW reportedly generated a paid attendance of 598 for their October 24th Road to Power Struggle 2021 event, 290 for their October 25th Road to Power Struggle 2021 event, and 363 for their October 26th Road to Power Struggle event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Wrestlenomics Brandon Thurston reported that Bushiroad’s recent annual fiscal report revealed that NJPW and Stardom generated around $40 million in combined total revenues for the fiscal year. NJPW’s net income for the fiscal year was stated to be $60,000 which is well below last year’s net income of $1,850,000. In regards to New Japan World subscriptions, the service was stated to have had over 115,000 total subscribers as of the start of this year.
During a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, Kota Ibushi stated that he believes his recent weight fluctuations caused by his recent bout with aspiration pneumonia was responsible for causing his shoulder injury at NJPW’s G1 Climax 2021 Finals event earlier this month. Ibushi stated “That’s a first. There was a reason for that: weight control. I’ve been losing and gaining weight up to this point. I was able to practice [the Phoenix Splash], but there were too many fluctuations. A hundred grams difference would make all the difference (in the sensation). It’s such an advanced technique. That’s how advanced the technique is. Since the fight against KENTA (on the 18th), I’ve lost three kilograms on the same day. I intentionally increased my weight for the championship match, but I must have been fatigued… I’m sure my weight had an effect.” (English translation via PostWrestling.com)
During a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, Katsuyori Shibata gave his thoughts about his surprise appearance and exhibition match at NJPW’s G1 Climax 2021 Finals event earlier this month. Shibata stated “I wanted to do it at the right time,” he said. “It was troublesome to ask about my condition, so I said, ‘Seeing is believing.’ I just expressed that it is [time]. Also, since it is such an era of corona, I wish I could see something like hope. [Zack Sabre Jr. was] the right person. He’s always said that he can maximize [his time]. I wonder if there will be a [future] battle with Zack. On the contrary, other than Zack, I didn’t think about it.” (English translation via F4WOnline.com)
Impact Wrestling reportedly generated an attendance of 900 for their Bound For Glory 2021 event on October 23rd in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Impact Wrestling announced that they have recently signed indie talent “Speedball” Mike Bailey to an official contract with the company.
Game Changer Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Evil Deeds event on November 12th in Detroit, Michigan. This will be a singles match of Matt Cardona vs. Alex Shelley.
During a recent interview with the Wrestling Observer Radio, Jon Moxley gave his thoughts on why he wants to continue wrestling in the indies despite being signed to AEW. Moxley stated “It’s a couple things. One, I just love doing them. I fucking love Independent wrestling. I love the small building, 250 people packed into a small building atmosphere. I love that shit. To me, I can get the same feeling there as I get from a 20,000 seat packed arena. A lot of times, it’s better because in that environment, nobody is going to be pushing me for time or telling me I have to go home in three minutes or 40 seconds or I have one segment and a commercial break. There’s no fucking commercial breaks. It’s just wrestling. It’s fans in the building, lost in the moment, enjoying wrestling, and you can get lost in the moment too. That’s the drug I live for. Another reason is, the Indies got…I come from the Indies. I didn’t make shit on the Indies. Back then, it was different. I didn’t make fucking dick. Now, folks can make actual money and there are more ways to make money with Twitter and these things and ways to monetize and a YouTube show and push your merchandise on Twitter. The Indie wrestling scene is more healthy. The pandemic hit Indie wrestling really hard. I’m like, ‘If I can help, I’ll step up and help.’ I’ll jump on whatever Indie show I need to jump on and draw a few more fans or eyeballs. If I’m on a show and if there are a few more eyeballs, I’m not saying I’m the biggest draw in the world or anything, but if there’s a couple more eyeballs on the show because I’m on the show and those eyeballs then become a fan of somebody and they buy their shirt and they follow them to other shows. If I can help in any way I can, I’m gonna step up, get in there, and help Indie wrestling. It’s where I come from and I’m not going to leave it behind. I just like fucking doing it. I never understood why WWE was trying to buy up the Indies. Just let them exist on their own because that’s where you get guys who develop, exist, and become main eventers and then you can take them from there. I just love Indie wrestling and I’ll do it forever.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
Windham Rotunda, former Bray Wyatt in WWE, recently responded on Twitter to a report from Ringside News that stated that one high level source spoken to within WWE stated that Wyatt deserved to have been fired from the company over his alleged backstage attitude issues. Wyatt stated in a follow up tweet that “now that we have Johnny and Bruce’s opinion, I would like to share mine soon.”
Major League Wrestling reportedly recently resumed talks with Mexican-based promotion The Crash over the idea of holding a co-promoted event in Tijuana, Mexico in the future, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that MLW had asked NJPW for the possibility of Will Ospreay being available for an appearance at this potential event. MLW reportedly was told this would not be allowed if any AAA talent were booked for the event due to political issues related to NJPW’s current partnership with CMLL and The Crash being partnered with AAA.
Lucha Libre AAA officials reportedly are currently hoping for an attendance of around 20,000 for their upcoming TripleMania Regia 2021 event on December 4th in Monterrey, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that AAA’s goal is based on the current trajectory of ticket sales for the upcoming event. Meltzer also reported that AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Deonna Purrazzo is not planned to be at the event due to her current commitments as a bridesmaid for a wedding that weekend.
Dave Meltzer reported in Sunday’s Daily Update that former XPW owner Rob Black recently revived his promotion for an event in Rochester, New York. Meltzer reported that Black became interested in the idea to revive XPW following Dark Side of the Ring’s episode on his former promotion.
Legendary sports venue Madison Square Garden is currently in the process of remodeling their iconic marquee for the first time in over fifty years.