Weekend Roundup: More on WWE vs. AEW Friday Battle, Andrade, Impact & AEW Partnership Ends, G1 Climax News, Indies

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

Oct 24, 2021

WWE

WWE filed a trademark for “Ru Feng” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on October 19th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that following WWE’s Draft earlier this month, WWE officials are currently planning for Xia Li to be presented as a babyface and Shotzi Blackheart to be presented as a heel for SmackDown’s Women’s division. Mia Yim and Tegan Nox reportedly will be presented as babyfaces for RAW’s Women’s division. In regards to tag teams and stables, WWE officials reportedly are currently planning for Apollo Crews & Commander Azeez to start working as a tag team for the RAW brand and Isiah “Swerve” Scott & Ashante Thee Adonis to act as the primary tag team for Hit Row. In regards to Top Dolla, Johnson reported that he is currently planned to be primary presented as a singles competitor for Hit Row.
Fightful Select reported that Jason Jordan was the producer of the Mansoor vs. Mustafa Ali match and the No Holds Barred Falls Count Anywhere match between Bobby Lashley and Goldberg at WWE’s Crown Jewel 2021 event this past Thursday. Tyson Kidd reportedly was the producer of the Queen’s Crown tournament Finals match between Zelina Vega and Doudrop and the SmackDown Women’s Championship Triple Threat match. Joseph Park reportedly was the producer of the WWE Championship and RAW Tag Team Championship matches. Adam Pearce reportedly was the producer of the King of the Ring 2021 tournament Finals match between Finn Balor and Xavier Woods.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources within WWE stated that when the official ratings numbers for the October 15th episodes of WWE SmackDown and AEW Rampage were released, Vince McMahon was not publicly angry over it backstage unlike in past ratings-related instances. Meltzer also reported that the ratings numbers were not a major topic backstage with talent due to them being very busy preparing for the trip to Saudi Arabia later in the week. In regards to the general feeling within WWE’s management, Meltzer reported that his sources stated that it was mainly one of total denial and just a big fluke over AEW’s victories in several key demographic groups against SmackDown’s show that night.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that this past Monday’s episode of RAW set three new dubious all-time records in RAW series history. This past week’s show managed to draw the lowest ever rating in the overall 18-49 key demographic viewership group at 0.39, the lowest ever rating in the 18-34 key demographic viewership group at 0.22, and the lowest ever first hour key demographic rating and overall viewership at 0.38 and 1,577,000 viewers respectively.
WWE reportedly had an attendance of 8,000 (6,700 paid) for their October 15th SmackDown show in Ontario, CA, 4,325 for their October 16th house show event in Rio Rancho, NM, 7,444 for their October 17th house show event in El Paso, TX, 7,400 (5,900 paid) for their October 18th RAW show in Sacramento, CA, and 200 for their October 19th NXT show in Orlando, FL, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE reportedly has sold around 9,000 tickets for their October 25th RAW show in Houston, TX, around 2,894 tickets for their October 29th SmackDown show in Wilkes-Barre, PA, around 3,795 tickets for their November 1st RAW show in Providence, RI, around 3,887 tickets for their November 12th SmackDown show in Norfolk, VA, around 7,675 tickets for their November 21st Survivor Series 2021 event in Brooklyn, around 5,083 tickets for their November 22nd RAW show in Brooklyn, around 3,106 tickets for their November 29th RAW show at the UBS Center in Long Island, NY, around 4,307 tickets for their December 10th SmackDown show in Los Angeles, CA, around 2,309 tickets for their December 13th RAW show in St. Paul, MN, around 4,701 tickets for their December 17th SmackDown show in Chicago, IL, around 3,660 tickets for their January 1, 2022 Day 1 event in Atlanta, GA, and around 21,549 tickets for their January 29th Royal Rumble 2022 event in St. Louis, MO as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE’s next set of tryouts is currently scheduled to take place from December 15-17 in Orlando, Florida.
WWE recently launched a new digital series called WWE The Build Too on their official YouTube channel. The first two episodes focused on this year’s King of the Ring and Queen’s Crown tournaments.
WWE announced that they have recently hired Greg Domino to a high-level executive job in the company as their new Vice President of Communication.
During a recent interview with The Ariel Helwani Show, former WWE announcer and backstage interviewer Renee Paquette revealed a past incident where Vince McMahon yelled at her for calling Tyson Fury under his real boxing nickname of “The Gypsy King” instead of WWE’s preferred nickname for him. Paquette stated “I wasn’t on commentary for this moment, but it was after I was on commentary and I was doing a panel.They cut to us in-between the show. Tyson Fury was on the show when he was doing a stint in WWE. It was me, Samoa Joe, Booker T, and Beth Phoenix. I was throwing to a package and I said, ‘The Gypsy King Tyson Fury,’ throw to package. [Vince] is in my ear and he goes, ‘You fucking ruined it!’ Screaming at me, telling me that I ruined this segment because I did not refer to Tyson Fury as the lineal champion. I referred to him as the Gypsy King. So he’s screaming at me and at this point, I’m over it. I had done the commentary thing and I’m a little hardened to all the circumstances. He’ s yelling at me about this and I’m looking down at my notes, maybe I’m looking to Samoa Joe and I’m taking this information in my ear and he thinks I’m ignoring him, so he yells at me again. ‘Do you hear me? Acknowledge that you hear me!’ He wanted me to like look into the camera and be like, ‘Yes sir, I hear you, I understand you, I apologize.’ Just to be yelled at like that for a small…I don’t want to say mistake, it’s not a mistake, I just didn’t call him the lineal champion. I didn’t know it was that necessary and I had ruined the run of Tyson Fury in WWE by not calling him that. To be yelled at like that in front of your peers was pretty demoralizing. To be yelled at that I had ruined the segment, I felt bad about it. Then we had to come back and do an on-cam and I wanted to pull off my headset and just literally go home. At that point, I had just had it.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
Fightful reported that WWE aired an edited version of the Champions Exchange segment from this past Friday’s episode of SmackDown for the special replay of the show on FOX on Saturday. Charlotte Flair tossing her RAW Women’s Championship belt away from Beckly Lynch was removed and replaced with a shot of the crowd instead. Lynch tossing her SmackDown Women’s Championship belt at Flair was kept for the replay broadcast of the show though.

AEW

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that CM Punk held a talk with AEW CEO Tony Khan during the lead-up to AEW’s Rampage show on October 15th, which was notable for going head-to-head against WWE’s extended SmackDown show that night. Punk reportedly convinced Khan to not make any changes to the actual plans nor booking for Rampage’s show that night solely in response to WWE’s actions. Punk also reportedly asked for his match against Matt Sydal to go first in order to bear the brunt of the stiff competition “because I can take that bullet.”
AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 2,600 (2,300 paid) for their October 15th Rampage show in Miami and 3,300 (3,000 paid) for their October 16th Dynamite show in Miami, Florida, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW reportedly has sold around 5,411 tickets for their October 27th Dynamite show in Boston, MA, around 3,336 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 4,800 tickets for their November 10th Dynamite show in Indianapolis, IN, around 5,576 tickets for their November 12th Rampage show in Minneapolis, around 9,641 tickets for their Full Gear 2021 event in Minneapolis, MN,around 4,193 tickets for their November 17th Dynamite show in Norfolk, VA, around 6,983 tickets for their November 24th Dynamite show in Chicago, IL, and around 7,726 tickets for their December 8th Dynamite show at the UBS Center in Long Island, NY as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that due to TNT’s recent purchase of NHL television rights, both West Coast and Mountain time zone viewers will be impacted the most for AEW’s return to Wednesdays for their weekly Dynamite series. Meltzer reported that AEW did consider at one point to change their airing of Dynamite from a taped to a live feed for those time zones but decided against it due to not wanting to hurt Dynamite’s ratings with a very unfavorable timeslot for those markets. Meltzer reported that TNT’s current schedule for NHL games on Wednesdays is to air them starting at 10PM EST which would be 7PM PST and air Dynamite in the West Coast starting at 10PM PST. If the hockey games end up needing overtime or get delayed, Meltzer reported that this will cause AEW’s West Coast feed to be delayed for however much time both the NHL game and post-game show coverage would need to finish since TNT will not be cutting short either for AEW’s Dynamite.
AEW reportedly signed a new television deal with television network Space for their Latin American market, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that this new deal included Dynamite being aired live in the region while Rampage will air live but only on Space’s YouTube channel.
Following his match against PAC at this past Friday’s episode of AEW Rampage in Miami, Florida, Andrade El Idolo posted a message on Twitter directed at WWE which stated “Fu… WWE !!!!!” It is currently not known if Andrade’s message was solely meant as a dig towards WWE over the very positive reception he received from his match or if it was in response to the recent backstage incident involving his fiance Charlotte Flair at this past Friday’s SmackDown show.
During a recent interview with Mexican-based newspaper Milenio, Andrade El Idolo revealed that his current contract with AEW is for three years in length. El Idolo stated “Now I have a three-year contract with the AEW, I’ve only been with them for half a year, I’m looking for the most important championships with them because I didn’t get that opportunity in WWE and, in this new company, I want those opportunities.” (English translation via Fightful.com)
During this past week’s Chris Jericho Rock ‘N Rager at Sea cruise, it was announced that the next cruise will be taking place on March 14-18, 2022 and is currently scheduled to feature three Fozzy concerts, wrestling from AEW, and the taping of several Talk Is Jericho podcast episodes.
AEW recently announced that those who will be attending their upcoming Dynamite show on October 27th in Boston, Massachusetts will be required to either be vaccinated or show proof of a negative COVID test conducted within 72 hours of the show.
AEW also recently announced that they have signed a partnership deal with Breast Cancer Research Foundation for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. AEW originally had announced a partnership deal with the Susan G. Komen organization on October 19th but quickly dropped it after the negative online reception over SGK’s controversies as a breast cancer awareness charity.
Pro Wrestling Illustrated held a recent interview with QT Marshall and one of the topics discussed included Marshall revealing that it is very unlikely AEW will ever hold another Bash At The Beach special. Marshall stated “The first-ever Bunkhouse, the first-ever Strap match, being on the card for the first-ever Blood and Guts, having Mr. Brodie Lee’s first match in AEW, just certain things that, you know, somehow I’ve been thrust — being in the first-ever Bash At The Beach in AEW and they’ll never be another one due to legal reasons but like, just having those matches, it’s just been an honor and it’s just — I think it comes down to the fact that for the most part, I work really hard, especially backstage and I’m very trustworthy.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that former WWE talent Tony Nese made his official in-ring debut for AEW at their tapings for AEW Dark earlier today in Orlando, Florida.

Indies & Other Wrestling

Impact Wrestling’s working partnership with AEW is currently rumored to have ended after this past Saturday’s Bound for Glory 2021 event, according to RingsideNews.com. Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp added some fuel to this rumor on Twitter implying that this was the reason why the Good Brothers have been noticeably absent from AEW programming this past month.
Impact Wrestling reportedly originally planned for more surprise debuts and appearances to take place at this past Saturday’s Bound for Glory 2021 event but those plans fell through for various reasons, according to Fightful.
During Saturday’s Bound for Glory 2021 event, Impact announced that next year’s Hard to Kill event will be taking place on January 8, 2022 in Dallas, Texas. The company also announced that this year’s Turning Point event will take place on November 20th in Las Vegas, Nevada and will air on their Impact Plus streaming service.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that Beyond The Impact co-host Jon Burton recently finished up his work for Impact Wrestling as part of the company’s recent move to Las Vegas for tapings and events. Johnson reported that it is currently not known when or if he will be returning to the company.
New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced that Kazuchika Okada will be making an appearance at their upcoming Battle in the Valley event on November 13th in San Jose, California.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that prior to Tetsuya Naito’s injury, NJPW’s original plans for their A Block for this year’s G1 Climax tournament was for Shingo Takagi to lose to Naito in his block match to setup a future IWGP World Heavyweight title defense match. Meltzer reported that Naito’s injury caused NJPW to change some of their original plans which included the Tagaki vs. Yujiro Takahashi match being changed to a double countout in order to preserve the Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA match as the decider for the group’s winner.
NJPW officials reportedly had kept their plans for Katsuyori Shibata’s surprise appearance and match at this past Thursday’s G1 Climax 2021 Finals event a very closely guarded secret to prevent any leaks beforehand, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
NJPW reportedly generated a paid attendance of 700 for their October 16th NJPW Strong Showdown 2021 event in Philadelphia, 700 for their October 17th NJPW Strong Showdown 2021 event in Philadelphia, PA, 874 for their October 18th G1 Climax 2021 event in Yokohama, 2,088 for their October 20th G1 Climax 2021 event in Tokyo, and 3,861 for their October 21st G1 Climax 2021 Finals event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
During Sunday’s Road to Power Struggle 2021 event in Tokyo, Japan, G1 Climax 2021 winner Kazuchika Okada came out holding the former IWGP Heavyweight Championship instead of the traditional G1 Climax winners briefcase for his entrance. Okada had stated in a press conference following NJPW’s G1 Climax Finals event this past Thursday that he wanted to resurrect the former belt to replace the briefcase to signify his G1 Climax 2021 tournament victory.
Game Changer Wrestling’s War Ready event this past Saturday in Los Angeles, California featured ROH’s The Briscoes defeating Second Gear Crew (Mance Warner & Matthew Justice) to become the new GCW Tag Team Champions.
Ring of Honor announced that they will be holding an Honor For All event on November 14th in Baltimore, Maryland and will air on their HonorClub streaming service.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Lucha Libre AAA is currently considering plans for FTR to defend their AAA World Tag Team Championship at their TripleMania Regia 2021 event on December 4th in Monterrey, Mexico. AAA officials reportedly are also working on plans for FTR to make a potential appearance for their television tapings on November 4th in Mexico as well.
Dave Meltzer also reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the reason why El Hijo del Vikingo will be facing off against Kenny Omega for the AAA Mega Championship at AAA’s upcoming TripleMania Regia 2021 event is due to Omega had specifically requested for Vikingo to be his opponent.
Major League Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their War Chamber 2021 event on November 6th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This will be a MLW National Openweight Championship Ladder match of Alex Shelley vs. Myron Reed vs. Zenshi vs. Alex Kane vs. mystery opponent.