Weekend Roundup: Stephanie McMahon, Big E, WWE Draft 2021 Update, AEW EVPs Update, Cain Velasquez, CMLL, Indies

WWE

• WWE announced that WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame this past Saturday as a member of the Class of 2021. WWE also announced that McMahon became the first ever female to be inducted into the ISHoF.
• Big E made a special guest appearance this past Saturday on FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff show for the college football game of Iowa vs. Penn State. Big E also made an appearance during Saturday night’s Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder boxing event as the guest announcer for Wilder’s entrance.
• WrestlingInc reported that FOX aired an ad during this past Saturday’s Big Noon Kickoff show that revealed that the final 30 minutes of next week’s “Supersized” SmackDown show will be commercial free. The final 30 minutes of next week’s SmackDown will be going head-to-head against AEW’s Rampage show that night.
• This past Friday’s episode of SmackDown featured a Queen’s Crown tournament First round match between Liv Morgan and Carmella. Fightful Select reported that WWE officials originally had planned for Morgan to win the match before changing their minds prior to the start of the show. It was also reported that WWE’s issues with their creative booking for their women’s division in recent times has led to significant frustration backstage from both talent and staff.
• Post Wrestling’s John Pollock reported that WWE will be holding two events in Canada this December. Both events will be house show events with the first taking place on December 29th at the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto and the other taking place on December 30th at the Place Bell in Laval, Quebec. Pollock reported that this will be the first time that WWE will be holding events in Canada since February 2020.
• WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 7,232 (5,200 paid) for their October 1st SmackDown show in Baltimore, MD, 10,800 for their October 2nd house show event in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 3,470 for their October 3rd house show event in Lexington, KY, and 5,400 (3,700 paid) for their October 4th RAW show in Nashville, TN, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 3,408 tickets for their October 11th RAW show in San Francisco, CA, around 7,406 tickets for their November 21st Survivor Series event in Brooklyn, around 4,814 tickets for their November 22nd RAW show in Brooklyn, around 2,775 tickets for their November 29th RAW show in Long Island, NY, around 1,500 tickets for their December 3rd SmackDown show in San Antonio, TX, around 900 tickets for their December 13th RAW show in St. Paul, MN, around 2,000 tickets for their December 17th SmackDown show in Chicago, and around 1,500 tickets for their December 18th house show event in Rockford, IL as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, FOX is currently rumored to not be willing to allow WWE to go in a more edgier direction in terms of language for their SmackDown brand shows. Dave Melzter reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Ringside News’ recent report regarding FOX’s stance is true based on his sources spoken to within WWE. Those same sources stated “Smackdown doesn’t have Standards and Practices. FOX does. And FOX is not too keen on profanity.”
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the reason for Harry Smith’s sudden absence from WWE in recent weeks was due to him recently contracting COVID-19. Meltzer reported that Smith managed to recover in time to be able to be in attendance backstage for WWE’s 2021 Draft shows earlier this month.
• Dave Meltzer also reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the recent rumors and reports of Johnny Gargano leaving WWE are not true. Meltzer reported that Gargano’s recent change to his Twitter bio from “NXT superstar” to “pro wrestler” is not any indication of his decision for the future of his career. Meltzer also reported that his sources spoken to within WWE stated that the company currently has plans written up for Gargano in NXT and they are not aware of any recent changes being made to his status. Gargano’s current contract with WWE is still set to expire on December 3rd.
• As noted before, WWE held their 2021 WWE Draft shows earlier this month for their RAW and SmackDown brands. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that out of all of the NXT talent drafted to the main roster, only Hit Row were informed of their move days ahead of time. In regards to Ridge Holland and Austin Theory, Meltzer reported that WWE officials currently have high hopes for both on the main roster and some in the company already have tabbed Holland as a future WWE champion. Meltzer also reported that one reason for the decision to draft Xia Li to the main roster was due to ethnicity slotting since WWE officials wanted a Chinese star to be present on their main roster for marketing reasons going forward. In regards to the New Day splitting up, Meltzer reported that there were some within WWE’s management who were against the decision to split up the group again and the decision for the Street Profits and New Day to swap brands.
• In regards to Elias’ status, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE officials had big plans for his return under a new gimmick, which included him being booked as a serious title contender. Meltzer reported that those plans were dropped prior to the WWE Draft and was one of the reasons why he was not drafted to either brand.
• During a recent interview with ET Online, The Undertaker stated that he was initially concerned with working with The New Day for Netflix’s Escape The Undertaker interactive film. Undertaker stated that this was due to him thinking New Day’s positivity would not mesh well with his character’s dark persona and being worried fans would not react well if his established character strayed too far from its roots. Undertaker stated “I worked with them a little in the ring, but not nearly — I never had a program or really spent a lot of time being creative with them. I think what was really the coolest part of it is their energy, right? They have this dynamic positive energy and then you put that in contrast to The Undertaker, which is obviously a dark force and I was a little leery at the beginning when I’m thinking you know, conceptually. Is it going to be too funny or will it take The Undertaker too far out of his roots? But it was just the opposite. Their energy played against mine so well.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• WWE recently announced that they will be holding their next investor’s meeting on November 4th to discuss the results from their fiscal 2021 third quarter report.

AEW

• This past Wednesday’s Rhodes To The Top episodes drew 433,000 viewers for Episode 3 and 295,000 viewers for Episode 4 on TNT, according to Showbuzz Daily.
• AEW CEO Tony Khan recently announced that the company is currently expected to hold their next set of tapings for AEW Dark on October 24th at the Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 1,548 tickets for their October 15th Rampage show in Miami, around 2,288 tickets for their October 16th Dynamite show in Miami, around 4,776 tickets for their October 23rd Dynamite show in Orlando, FL, around 5,410 tickets for their October 27th Dynamite show in Boston, MA, around 3,011 tickets for their November 3rd Dynamite show in Independence, around 4,130 tickets for their November 5th Rampage show in St. Louis, MO, around 5,491 tickets for their November 12th Rampage show in Minneapolis, around 9,134 tickets for their Full Gear 2021 event in Minneapolis, MN, and around 7,392 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 CEO Tony Khan recently denied reports of AEW’s EVP’s recently losing all of their creative power in the company. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that all of AEW’s EVP still have some creative power in the company and are still actively involved in talent scouting and putting together matches. Meltzer reported that the Young Bucks were the main people responsible for Bobby Fish’s appearance and contract signing with the company. Meltzer also reported that the Bryan Danielson vs. Nick Jackson match from the October 1st episode of AEW Rampage was mainly written and put together by Danielson and Jackson. Other top level talent in the company reportedly have similar creative power when it comes to putting together their segments and matches.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Tony Khan and B.J. Whitmer were the agents for the AEW World Championship Contender’s Casino Ladder match from this past Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite. In regards to the scary looking bump PAC took from Hangman Adam Page’s Dead Eye off of a ladder, Meltzer reported that PAC was feeling fine backstage after the match.
• During a recent interview with Pop Culture, Cody Rhodes stated that he currently does not have any plans to turn heel any time soon nor go back on his promise to never compete for the AEW World Championship. Rhodes stated “this will disappoint so many and maybe it won’t, maybe this will excite, but two things I can guarantee you. And I’m not saying this to wave one hand while you’re not looking at the other. I’m telling this from the most honest standpoint, I am not going to turn heel on this company. And I would retire before I did that. Now I’m the head of the community outreach group. I have a little girl now. I’m not going to be doing heel stuff on TV. I am not turning heel and I’m not going back on my word to challenge for the title. That stuff was real. It hurts. It is a large regret that that ever happened, but it did happen and I can live with it. And I got to do that dance with Chris Jericho, and I will not go back on that stipulation, me personally. If Tony wanted to change things he could. And again, you can never say never in wrestling, but I do think there’s this idea that evil corporate need would turn the stipulation around and challenge for the world title, that I can say never will happen.”
• During a recent interview with the FITE in Focus show, Bryan Danielson stated that some of his current goals in wrestling are to compete in NJPW’s G1 Climax tournament and have a feud with MJF in AEW. Danielson stated “as far as, goals like, ‘I want to do this, I want to do that,’ I don’t have a lot of that. I would like to do…there are some people I would like to wrestle in AEW and obviously you want them to be incredible matches. I’d love to be able to go to New Japan and do the G1, but that’s COVID-dependent. I don’t hang anything on that. I would love to do something with MJF in AEW. If that doesn’t materialize and it never happens, it doesn’t matter as long as I enjoy the rest of the things.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• PWInsider held a recent interview with Tony Khan and one of the topics discussed included Khan’s thoughts on potentially holding another AEW event at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in the future. Khan stated “I would love to return for AEW Grand Slam next year, and I think we’re working towards doing that and I think it’s a great annual event for us. I know that we’ll be back in Long Island in December, and I have plans to return to the market several times between now and the next Grand Slam event. Even though we may not always run the same venues or in the same exact parts of the New York area, New York-New Jersey area, I should say we, it means a lot to be up there. There’s great fans, and we had great turnout when we ran Newark. We had great turnout at Arthur Ashe and I expect a great turnout in Long Island when we we’re one of the first events at the new UBS Arena.”
• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that the reason why AEW was able to use Bobby Fish’s old ReDragon theme from ROH for his debut match in the company was due to Ring of Honor never had exclusive rights for the song.

Indies & Other Wrestling

• Lucha Libre AAA recently announced that Cain Velasquez will be returning to the company on December 4th. Velasquez previously worked for AAA in 2019 before leaving for a short stint in WWE.
• During this past Saturday’s Fight Club 2021 event, Game Changer Wrestling announced that they will be holding an event on January 23, 2022 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, New York. This will be GCW’s official debut at the famous wrestling venue.
• Josh Barnett announced that Chris Dickinson will be making an appearance for GCW at their Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 7 event on October 22nd in Los Angeles, California.
• During this past Saturday’s Knockouts Knockdown event, Impact Wrestling announced that Awesome Kong will be this year’s inductee into their Hall of Fame. This year’s Impact Hall of Fame ceremony takes place on October 23rd in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• Besides FITE TV, Impact Wrestling reportedly will also be airing their upcoming Bound for Glory 2021 event on YouTube for $39.99 in the United States, $29.99 in Canada, and $19.99 in the United Kingdom and rest of the world, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• New Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 689 for their September 30th G1 Climax 2021 event in Tokyo, 1,101 for their October 1st G1 Climax 2021 event in Shizuoka, 2,483 for their October 3rd G1 Climax 2021 event in Aichi, 692 for their October 4th G1 Climax 2021 event in Tokyo, and 1,364 for their October 7th G1 Climax 2021 event in Hiroshima, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Pro Wrestling NOAH reportedly generated a paid attendance of 713 for their N-1 Victory 2021 event on October 3rd in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that 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 regarding his sexual assault incident from 2019 are resolved. Meltzer stated that the likelihood of El Patron’s story being true are very low and he would be shocked if WWE actually brought him back due to his negative baggage.
• Over The Top Wrestling recently announced that Damo, former Killian Dain in WWE, will be making an appearance for the company at their Seventh Year Anniversary events on October 30th in Belfast and October 31st in Dublin, Ireland.
• Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre announced that they have recently signed a partnership deal with Serouno for the sale of CMLL-themed NFTs. The first set of CMLL-themed NFTs was announced to be going on sale starting on October 22nd.
• WrestleCade announced that they will be holding their next convention on November 26-28 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.