Weekend Roundup: RAW Ratings Note, Lince Dorado, Full Gear Scrum, Dickinson Injury, NJPW, Indies

WWE

• WWE filed trademarks for “Yulisa Leon” and “Damon Kemp” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on November 4th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• WWE also filed trademarks for “Gary Wilson”, “Marquis Hamilton”, “Felix Fernandez”, “Blair Baldwin”, and “Draco Anthony” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on November 9th to the USPTO.
• WWE also filed a trademark for “Bodhi Hayward” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on November 10th to the USPTO.
• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that NXT talents Cora Jade, Dexter Lumis, and Dakota Kai were all in attendance backstage during this past Friday’s episode of SmackDown in Norfolk, Virginia.
• Brock Lesnar is currently scheduled to be making an appearance at the December 10th episode of Friday Night SmackDown in Los Angeles, California based on a recent advertisement from host venue Staples Center.
• Fightful Select reported that Petey Williams was the producer for the Roman Reigns vs. King Woods match at this past Friday’s episode of SmackDown. Tyson Kid and Molly Holly reportedly were the producers of the Sasha Banks promo segment and 6-Women Tag Team match. Chris Parks ad Jimmy Wang Yang reportedly were the producers of the Shinsuke Nakamura & Rick Boogs vs Los Lotharios match. Jamie Noble and Shawn Daivari reportedly were the producers of the Jeff Hardy vs. Sami Zayn match.
• WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 5,031 (3,800 paid) for their November 5th SmackDown show in Evansville, IN and 5,200 (4,000 paid) for their November 8th RAW show in Louisville, KY, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. WWE also reportedly generated an attendance of 7,400 for their November 5th house show event in Birmingham, 7,939 for their November 6th house show event in London, 5,500 for their November 7th house show event in Liverpool, 3,846 for their November 8th house show event in Leeds, 4,400 for their November 9th house show event in Nottingham, and 3,476 for their November 10th house show event in Manchester, England.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 4,473 tickets for their November 15th RAW show in Indianapolis, IN, around 2,500 tickets for their November 20th house show event in Syracuse, around 9,050 tickets for their November 21st Survivor Series 2021 event in Brooklyn, around 3,715 tickets for their November 22nd RAW show in Brooklyn, NY, around 4,606 tickets for their November 26th SmackDown show in Greensboro, NC, around 4,499 tickets for their November 29th RAW show at the UBS Arena in Long Island, NY, around 5,999 tickets for their December 10th SmackDown show in Los Angeles, CA, around 5,174 tickets for their December 26th house show event in New York City, NY, around 2,573 tickets for their December 26th house show event in Tampa, FL, around 3,244 tickets for their December 27th RAW show in Detroit, MI, around 2,688 tickets for their December 28th house show event in Washington, DC, around 3,714 tickets for their December 28th house show event in Pittsburgh, PA, around 4,447 tickets for their December 29th house show event in Laval, Canada, around 2,256 tickets for their December 29th house show event in Buffalo, NY, and around 22,824 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.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that this past Monday’s episode of WWE RAW managed to set several dubious all-time RAW series records. Meltzer reported that the show’s overall viewership of 1,549,000 was the third lowest in RAW history, only behind the July 5, 2021 and the December 14, 2020 shows. Meltzer also reported that the overall key demographic viewership of 524,000 was the second lowest ever in RAW history, only behind the October 18, 2021 show. The third hour’s overall viewership of 1,373,000 viewers reportedly was tied with the July 5, 2021 show for the lowest ever while the 0.34 key demographic rating for that hour was the lowest ever in RAW history.
• As noted before, WWE is currently not planning on holding a NXT TakeOver event nor a Hall of Fame ceremony as part of next year’s WrestleMania 38 festivities in Dallas, Texas. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources within the company stated that the reason for the lack of both events is due to WWE is currently only planning to hold festivities from Monday to Wednesday that week.
• As noted before, Lince Dorado was among the eighteen wrestlers released earlier this month by WWE. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources within the company stated that Dorado’s release was viewed to have been punishment for a backstage incident caused by him during the tapings of the September 13th episode of Main Event. Dorado reportedly had been vocal about not wanting to lose to a makeshift team of Garza & Humberto due to WWE not having any real plans for Garza and Humberto afterwards. Dorado and Gran Metalik reportedly were told by WWE officials to go have a talk with Vince McMahon if they were upset which Meltzer stated did not come off well for either guy. Meltzer reported that his sources stated that even without that incident, it was unlikely that Dorado and Gran Metalik would have survived WWE’s recent round of cuts anyways.
• During a recent interview with The Dallas Morning News, Reginald revealed that the reason he did not appear during this past April’s WrestleMania 37 events in Tampa, Florida was due to him contracting COVID-19 at the time. Reginald stated “Nah, no WrestleMania money back then. I saved up around 35 bucks, I believe, and purchased WrestleMania 21 on pay-per-view. And we had one cable TV in our house, and it was in my grandmother’s room. Saved the 35 bucks while doing the circus, and got to watch that – all-time favorite WrestleMania is that one. Later that year, got it on DVD for Christmas. Joined the company in 2020, was going to attend my first WrestleMania in Tampa last year, but I got COVID so I wasn’t a part of it. So, this is very special to me for sure. The first one I ever attend, I essentially am going to be a part of it.“
• WWE recently announced that they will be running a tour of Canada this January. It was announced that the January 21, 2022 SmackDown show will be taking place in Winnipeg, MB, the January 22, 2022 house show event will be taking place in Regina, SK, the January 23, 2022 house show event will be taking place in Saskatoon, SK, and the January 24, 2022 RAW show will be taking place in Edmonton, AB.

AEW

• The Mat Men Pro Wrestling’s Andrew Zarian reported that one source spoken to within AEW stated that the morale within the backstage locker room was “very high” following last night’s Full Gear 2021 event. This source stated “Morale is very high with the locker room. The investment AEW has made in its future stars is paying dividends.”
• During Full Gear 2021’s post-show media scrum, Hangman Adam Page gave his thoughts about his AEW World Championship win. Page stated “Oh, my God, everything. Oh, man. Well, we in 2020, had a global pandemic, that was a thing. We lost our crowds. Guys, we’re out with injuries and this and that. There were so many things, I couldn’t even count them all. If you had known what we may have wanted to do, two or three years ago, it wouldn’t even remotely match up to where we are. But that is, to me, the brilliance of wrestling. You just roll with the punches. Every Wednesday would be something new. ‘Oh my god, what are we gonna do about this?’ I’m sure it will be [like that on this upcoming] Wednesday as well. So yeah, and we have an incredible team that’s able to make that work. I think a lot of it is because we put a lot of ourselves into this, you know, we’d get there Wednesday, and if something’s gone wrong, or whatever. We figure it out.”
• Page also gave his thoughts about his upcoming match against Bryan Danielson for his AEW World title. Page stated “I know I said Kenny was the best in the world. But if you had to challenge me for someone who could tie him, it would be Bryan Danielson. So I’m not very surprised he’s the one contender… That’s a lot to think about and I just won this damn thing. So I’m gonna think about this tonight and tomorrow morning. I’ll start thinking about Bryan Danielson.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• During the same post-show media scrum, AEW CEO Tony Khan provided an injury update for Lance Archer. Khan stated “He’s here. He’s good. Thankfully, he came out of it good. It was a neck injury, not a head injury. He cleared all the impact testing, concussion, all the stuff over the last several weeks. He twisted his neck, but he’s good … I’m not exactly sure. I don’t want to rush. We have so many great stars. Lance is a really important wrestler for us and has hit on so many great things for us like winning the IWGP US Title in the Texas Deathmatch. It was a great and he had a great match with (Hiroshi) Tanahashi. I don’t have an exact date, but I don’t see any point in rushing him. With a neck injury, you don’t want to rush it. He was here today and the doc was checking up on him. He’s in great spirits and he’s had a great 2021.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Another guest speaker at AEW’s Full Gear 2021 post-show media scrum was Jay Lethal who gave his thoughts on his recent signing with the company. Lethal stated “I am a professional wrestler, and this is the fastest-rising, hottest promotion in the freakin” world.It was no contest. It was an easy decision for any professional wrestler, in my opinion. This place is amazing. AEW is on fire and I’m so happy to be here and I’m more excited that they are willing to have me here. That’s even more exciting in my head … It all happened so quickly, only a few days ago. My head was spinning because — Today was the first time we met and talked face to face. Imagine being, for lack of a better term, jobless and wondering how you’re going to pay your bills and such. You’re a professional wrestler so there’s not a ton of jobs. You can’t just fill out an application anywhere. I got a quick message from some of Tony’s associates, which was like a beacon of light. But literally, that was only a few days ago. Then I flew in yesterday and had to sit in my hotel room and I couldn’t get any sleep because all I could think about was, ‘Well, I don’t really know what’s happening tomorrow because we haven’t met yet. It was wild. All these thoughts going through my mind, ‘Will the people like me? The company’s on fire right now, I hope I make a good impression.’ Just a wild rush of emotions in my head. This feels like home, immediately. Other than meeting Tony today for the first time, I walked into the building and instantly saw people that I have met throughout my 20 years of professional wrestling. Some I was very close with. Some I just met a few times in passing. Some men and women I hadn’t seen in over 15 years and it was as if we had never skipped a beat. So right away, my first 30 seconds here I was like, ‘This is home.’ Like I mentioned before, I’m a very loyal professional wrestler, so I plan on being here until the doors close. I plan on this being my home forever (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• During a recent episode of the Grillin JR podcast, co-host Jim Ross provided a medical update on his skin cancer treatment. Ross stated “I don’t like dealing with this skin cancer. I don’t like dealing with that either. But that’s the hand I’ve been dealt, and the only thing I can do is to get healthy and go through all the procedures to ensure that can happen. I know on the 22nd of November I’m having — The doctor found two more places on my back and he’s going to cut those out in one appointment and then earlier in the day, I’ll have gone to my cancer doctor and had to build a boot for me to do the radiation accurately, which I’m all for. So, two different processes. One is my back. Two places on my back that I didn’t know I had and the other is that big one on my ankle. Ironically, the one of my ankle’s healing up real well. It’s almost — You still see that there’s an issue, but it doesn’t look as gross, as gruesome as I had displayed in that picture, which I wish I had not done, quite honestly. But I did. I really believe in sharing with the fans. Maybe to a faulty degree, to be honest with you. So I got a big month of November. It’s going to be an aggressive month and unfortunately, you know, as I said earlier, I wanted to make sure I can still do my stuff. I’ll know more about that after November 22, but you know, if I can’t, I gotta put my health first. I think that’s the right thing to do. Ego wise, you know, people say, ‘Are you worried about getting replaced?’ Oh, hell no. I work for Tony Khan. I work for a different man than I worked for in the past. He has been nothing but amazing in this whole process to the point of whatever you need, we’ll take care of you. Whatever you need to do to get you healthy again, that’s what we’ll do. We’re ready to take every step of the way with you. The irony of this is, that unlike a lot of wrestling bosses, I believe him. I trust him. I can’t tell you how much that takes a load off your chest, where I can go back and focus on the business I love, that’s pro wrestling. So that’s where I am on that those couple of matters. It’s just a battle you got to fight, man. I don’t need to woe is me. I don’t need anybody to feel sorry. I don’t need a GoFundMe page. I don’t need any of that stuff, thank God, but I’m damn sure that I’m gonna fight this with everything I got and get through these radiation treatments and hopefully just move on about my business. It may be timed real good because I know we’re going to TBS and January. I’d really like to be good to go by January and back in the announced booth. I may not miss many shows at all. I don’t know yet. Some guys can’t figure that out. ‘Why don’t you know? We need to know.’ Well, the deal is I’ve never had radiation. I don’t know. So I got to figure out how I’m going to feel. If I can’t do my work to the level that I am comfortable with, there’s no way in hell I’m going to force that on the fans. But when I get full of piss and vinegar and I get healthy, watch out.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• As noted before, Jay Lethal made his official debut for AEW at their Full Gear 2021 event on Saturday in Minneapolis, Minnesota. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that the reason why Lethal was able to sign with AEW was due to him asking and being granted his release from Ring of Honor several days ago. Johnson reported that this also means that Lethal will no longer be appearing for ROH at their Final Battle 2021 event this December.
• The New York Post held a recent interview with Eddie Kingston and one of the topics discussed included Kingston’s thoughts about his recent open letter post on The Players’ Tribune. Kingston stated “It’s very weird and I don’t like the attention. I did the article not to get attention, I did the article thinking maybe it will help one person. But the response has been pretty overwhelming. When I got very uncomfortable, thank God for my girlfriend for calming me down, because I was just screaming in my house like what is going on. Why are people hitting me up and telling me I did this and that and I inspired this and that. I didn’t get it. But I accept it and if it does help out one person that’s all I care about.“
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Fozzy is currently scheduled to go on tour next year from March 31st to May 16th in the United States. In regards to Chris Jericho’s status, Meltzer reported that none of Fozzy’s scheduled concert dates during the tour take place on Wednesdays.
• AEW reportedly drew an attendance of 5,400 (5,100 paid) for their November 5th Rampage show in St. Louis, MO and 5,075 (4,800 paid) for their November 10th Dynamite show in Indianapolis, IN, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 4,534 tickets for their November 17th Dynamite show in Norfolk, VA, around 7,032 tickets for their November 24th Dynamite show in Chicago, IL, around 4,874 tickets for their December 1st Dynamite show in Duluth, GA, around 8,061 tickets for their December 8th Dynamite show at the UBS Arena in Long Island, NY, and around 3,664 tickets for their December 15th Dynamite show in Garland, TX as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Sports Illustrated held a recent interview with Tony Schiavone and one of the topics discussed included Schiavone’s thoughts on working for AEW. Schiavone stated “It’s been the best two and a half years of my career. It’s worth your weight in gold to work for good people, and it’s a pleasure to work here. And I can’t stress this enough — the acceptance of the fans for my return has been mind-blowing. So for me, it’s really easy doing what I do because I love it so much.“

Indies & Other Wrestling

• Fightful Select reported that prior to their hiatus announcement, Ring of Honor had been in talks with Game Changer Wrestling regarding a potential talent exchange between the two companies. It was reported that while “talks didn’t make it that far,” it still led to The Briscoes being able to appear at GCW’s War Ready last month and AJ Gray and Effy appearing at ROH’s recent tapings.
• ROH recently announced a new match for the card of their Final Battle 2021 event on December 11th in Baltimore, Maryland. This will be a singles match of Shane Taylor vs. Kenny King.
• Chris Dickinson suffered a knee injury at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Battle in the Valley event on Saturday in San Jose, California. Following the event, Dickinson confirmed on Twitter that he had suffered a serious injury.
• During Saturday’s NJPW Battle in the Valley event, a new match was announced for the card of Night 2 of Wrestle Kingdom 16 on January 5, 2022 in Tokyo, Japan. This will be an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match of Will Ospreay vs. the winner of Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi from Night 1.
• NJPW recently announced that they will be holding three NJPW Strong themed events in the United States during the first quarter of 2022. These are a January 15th event in Seattle, Oregon, a February 17th event in Los Angeles, California, and a March 20th event in Tampa, Florida.
• NJPW reportedly generated a paid attendance of 2,367 (2,500 total) for their Power Struggle 2021 event on November 6th in Osaka, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• House of Glory recently announced a new match for the card of their For the Glory 2021 event on December 11th in Queens, New York. This will be a singles match of Malakai Black vs. Amazing Red.
• Beyond Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Fete Forever event on December 5th in Providence, Rhode Island. This will be a singles match of Chris Dickinson vs. Blake Christian.
• Fightful Select reported that Major League Wrestling is currently working on plans to introduce a new Women’s Featherweight Championship in the future. It was reported that MLW is currently in talks with several belt makers regarding the potential design for this new belt. It was also reported that MLW is also currently in the process of making several physical changes to their MLW World Championship belt as well.
• MLW reportedly drew an attendance of 675 for their War Chamber 2021 event on November 6th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WrestleCade recently announced a new match for the card of their WrestleCade Revenge event on November 27th in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This will be a Triple Threat match of Mercedes Martinez vs. Thunder Rosa vs. Deonna Purrazzo.
• During a recent episode of the Green With Envy podcast, host Chelsea Green revealed that a high level NXT officials had tried to cost her a deal with ROH following her release from WWE. Green stated “Since we’re on that topic, a little birdie told me that — now this is juicy… I’m just going to get into it, fuck it. When I debuted at Ring of Honor this summer, someone at the top of the NXT food chain called them to tell them that they shouldn’t hire me. So let me just get this straight. When I got fired from WWE, someone at the top of the NXT food chain called the company who was about to hire me to help me provide food for my fucking family and for myself, and told them not to hire me?! So this is just me being petty and telling the world a little bit of tea, but I can’t believe a company would fire somebody and then try to block them from getting a job somewhere. Like it makes me sad, really sad. But on the flip side, I’m just so thankful to have had all the opportunities come my way since being released from WWE, and for Ring of Honor for putting faith in me and not listening to the big old fucking machine. I’m just, I’m sad for everyone that’s losing their job. But I am so happy that I was able to be a part of it. So you know what, rant over it. That concludes my wrestling talk for this week and you’re welcome to those nosy nancies who have been wondering what’s going on.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that British television network ITV is currently working on a new documentary film based on the late Eddie Guerrero.
• Dave Meltzer also reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Lucha Libre AAA officials are currently interested in signing some of the talent who have been recently released from WWE and ROH. Meltzer reported that his sources stated that AAA’s level of interest is currently based on those they feel would help draw ticket sales the most when they are able to resume regular touring in Mexico. Meltzer reported that AAA officials are currently the most interested in signing Taya Valkyrie, Killer Kross, and Scarlett Bordeaux to deals with the company. Other talent currently interested by AAA reportedly includes Mascara Dorada, Flamita, Rey Horus, and RUSH.