Weekend Roundup: Survivor Series Pre-Show, Randy Orton & WWE Records, Hit Row, Kenny Omega, Empowerrr Buys, Indies

WWE

• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that WWE currently has Damian Priest vs. Shinsuke Nakamura scheduled to be the pre-show match for tonight’s Survivor Series 2021 Kickoff show.
• WWE filed a trademark for “Edris Enofe” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on November 16th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• WWE also filed trademarks for “Bella Glam” and “Bella Style” for fitness-related purposes on November 17th to the USPTO.
• During a recent interview with TVInsider, Drew McIntyre gave his thoughts about his recent move to WWE’s SmackDown brand and the work differences between both brands. McIntyre stated “It does, which is interesting. Things move quicker. Maybe because it’s not a three-hour show. When I was on segment one of Raw and then on the last segment of the night I knew I could do my segment and have some downtime to get ready and do my routine. On SmackDown, I’ve learned you have to change pretty freakin’ quick because it goes quick. For me, moving to SmackDown is moving to where it all began 14 years ago for Drew McIntyre. I have a chance to do it right given my history on the show where things didn’t go right the first time around. Everyone may say to me that I’m going to wrestle Roman Reigns and that Roman is the match. But I keep reminding them to look where Roman is at right now. He has all the momentum in the world. Drew McIntyre needs to build his momentum and make that match as big as possible, which is why I like the open challenge so much because I get to go out there and reintroduce myself again. I’m re-proving myself. I’m happy to do that. I’m a patient man with over 20 years of experience. I not only want to show what I can do but what my opponent can do.“
• Randy Orton recently announced on Twitter that he was recently informed that he is currently set to break two all-time WWE records this weekend. Orton is set to break the all-time record for most pay-per-view matches in WWE history during tonight’s Survivor Series event and the record for most matches on RAW in WWE history should he wrestle on this Monday’s RAW show. He is currently tied with Kane for both records. The current all-time WWE PPV matches record is 176.
• Natayla recently hit the milestone of 500 wins in WWE following her tag team match victory with Shayna Baszler on this past Friday’s episode of SmackDown. The announcement was made by WWE during a backstage interview with Natayla and Baszler.
• During a recent interview with The Masked Man Show podcast, Charlotte Flair gave her thoughts about the criticisms of WWE not giving their Women’s division enough weekly television time. Flair stated “It’s kind of hard to answer because when I was on Raw, I was the first main event back from COVID and if you count how many times I’ve main evented, whether it was with Nikki A.S.H. or Rhea [Ripley] or Bianca [Belair] or whatever other segment it was, I was in three seg matches — what I mean is I had a lot of time. So I feel like I cannot say that the storylines that I have been in on Raw, I cannot say that. They do give us time and on Raw, if you look, every female, you had Eva Marie, you had Doudrop, you had Shayna [Baszler], you had Nia [Jax], Alexa Bliss, myself, Nikki A.S.H., Rhea. Everyone was on TV so I don’t think that’s fair for people to say. It’s there. Now is it hard to stay there? Absolutely. But, it’s there. I don’t — it’s there. Look it up, the stats are there, the time is there, the opportunities are there. I think it’s just easier to be negative than positive and if they don’t like a certain storyline or if the wrong girl is in the wrong match, that’s what it’s really about but this is entertainment. Like no, it’s there.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
• As noted before, WWE released eighteen wrestlers this past Thursday. Among the talent released included all of the remaining members of Hit Row. Fightful Select reported that their sources confirmed that Hit Row’s Top Dolla did have some backstage heat prior to his release but this was not a specific factor in the decision to release him and the rest of Hit Row. It was also reported that while Top Dolla had heat with some WWE officials over issues of him “getting a little too comfortable” with his interactions backstage and on social media, other WWE officials held a more positive view of him due to his approach within the company and his show hosting skills. It was also reported that prior to the group’s release, there had been several significant creative pitches made for the group on the main roster including who would be the leader for singles matches, their face/heel status, and direction for the group. It was also reported that multiple promotions, including major ones, are currently very interested in singing Scott to a deal.
• WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 6,800 (5,400 paid) for their November 12th SmackDown show in Norfolk, VA, 5,900 (4,700 paid) for their November 15th RAW show in Indianapolis, IN, and 300 for their November 16th NXT show in Orlando, FL, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 9,509 tickets for their November 21st Survivor Series 2021 event in Brooklyn, around 3,579 tickets for their November 22nd RAW show in Brooklyn, NY, around 5,182 tickets for their November 26th SmackDown show in Greensboro, NC, around 2,864 tickets for their November 27th house show in Roanoke, VA, around 2,596 tickets for their November 28th house show in Charleston, WV, around 4,637 for their November 29th RAW show at the UBS Arena in Long Island, NY, around 4,216 tickets for their December 3rd SmackDown show in San Antonio, TX, around 3,214 tickets for their December 6th RAW show in Memphis, TN, around 7,425 tickets for their December 10th SmackDown show in Los Angeles, CA, around 3,125 tickets for their December 13th RAW show in St. Paul, MN, around 6,125 tickets for their December 17th SmackDown show in Chicago, IL, around 5,174 tickets for their December 26th house show event at Madison Square Garden 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 4,417 tickets for their December 30th house show event in Laval, Canada, around 2,256 tickets for their December 30th house show event in Buffalo, NY, around 4,534 tickets for their January 1, 2022 Day One event in Atlanta, GA, around 23,007 for their January 29, 2022 Royal Rumble 2021 event in St. Louis, MO, and around 37,500 tickets for each night of their April 2-3, 2022 WrestleMania 38 event in Dallas, TX as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly is currently targeting a late 2022 date for the completion of the construction and move to their new headquarters building in Stamford, Connecticut, according to the Stamford (CT) Advocate.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that recent reports of WWE changing their original plans for the Roman Reigns and Xavier Woods segments for the November 12th episode of SmackDown are true based on his sources within the company. Meltzer reported that WWE made changes to their original plans for the show hours before its start and this has been something that has been usual with Reigns segments in recent weeks. Reigns reportedly has been requesting changes to be made for his weekly segments on SmackDown shows in order to enhance what was originally planned. Melter reported that Reigns wanted his segments with Woods on that week’s episode to build up his upcoming match against Big E at Survivor Series since it had been lacking up until that point.
• 2K Games and developer Visual Concepts recently released a new trailer for their upcoming WWE 2K22 video game featuring claims of a newly redesigned gameplay engine, the return of GM mode, the debut of a new mode called MyFaction, career mode being renamed to MyRise, and a more expanded Universe Mode.

AEW

• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW’s current long-term plan for Hangman Adam Page is to eventually reunite him with Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks as a babyface stable, similar to how the group started off together as The Elite in the company.
• As noted before, Kenny Omega is currently expected to be out of action for AEW for the foreseeable future due to him needing surgery for multiple injuries. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Lucha Libre AAA officials were informed on November 17th that Omega would no longer be able to compete in his scheduled match at their TripleMania Regia II event on December 4th. Omega was originally scheduled to defend his AAA Mega Championship against El Hijo del Vikingo at the event.
• AEW reportedly is currently considering a potential Midwest, Southeast location for next year’s Revolution event and a potential Las Vegas location for next year’s Double or Nothing event, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• MMA fighter Jon Jones recently announced on Twitter that he will be facing off against AEW’s Jake Hager in a grapple match for FURY Professional Grappling’s event on December 9th in New Jersey. Hager recently responded on Twitter that no deal has been made nor terms for a fight has been discussed but he is interested in the potential bout.
• A recent episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast had AEW CEO Tony Khan as the guest and one of the topics discussed included his thoughts about WWE’s recent wave of releases and WWE contracts not being “real contracts.” Khan stated “Anyone who signs a contract (in WWE) these days, is not signing a real contract. It’s a temporary arrangement. People who come wrestle with me, a lot of these people are frankly lifers and they know that. There are some people who are here, who work really hard and there are some people who come in and work more than really hard and I feel like is their actual life and will be with me for the rest of my life. I don’t know if everybody who works for my competition can say that. I think there are people who work there and they aren’t sure they will be there next week. There is a lot more security with a contract here. I can’t say I’m going to extend every contract or bring every person back, but I also haven’t been doing mass layoffs. I’m not the most profitable company of all time, I don’t brag about being the most profitable company of all time. I do brag about bringing in a lot of revenue for a start up and being a real success story. What I will brag about is we haven’t been doing mass layoffs and we haven’t fired 15 people last week or 18 people the week before that. It’s not something to be proud of when a company lets all those people go and you’re putting press releases out like that frequently, I don’t think it’s a good thing. I don’t want to make light of that kind of thing ever. When you talk about a bidding war, each person is their own individual case and there may be multiple people coming for his services, but we’ve seen most of the talent going in one direction and, I think that’s for a variety of reasons, but I’ve been very selective in the people I’ve signed and every time there has been a mass layoff on the other side it’s terrible and I can’t say I would be able to take on every one of these people.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 6,100 (5,700 paid) for their November 12th Rampage show in Minneapolis, MN and 5,100 (4,800 paid) for their November 17th Dynamite show in Norfolk, VA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 7,030 tickets for their November 24th Dynamite show in Chicago, IL, around 4,874 tickets for their December 1st Dynamite show in Duluth, GA, around 8,375 tickets for their December 8th Dynamite show at the UBS Arena in Long Island, NY, around 3,984 tickets for their December 15th Dynamite show in Garland, TX, around 3,651 tickets for their December 22nd Dynamite show in Greensboro, NC, and around 5,891 tickets for their January 5, 2022 Dynamite show in Newark, NJ as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• During recent interview with the My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox podcast, Joey Janela revealed that his current contract with AEW expires in May of 2022. Janela stated “I’m under a three-year deal. My contract’s up in May, you know, I really have to step it up. I felt like I have in the last couple of months. You know, just having killer matches on Dark. Yeah. The arena’s coming back, it really helped me. I feel like we got something right now with AEW, I’m crossing my fingers. I hope that things are going in an upward trajectory because, the whole pandemic was — I know for everyone, was brutal. But for me, it was like it was the worst.”
• During the same interview, Janela also stated that the coronavirus pandemic took a heavy toll on his mental health. Janela stated “That whole year was just like bad for everyone. It was bad for me. Just the year before I just signed AEW. I was on such a hot streak with these matches. Kenny, MOX, we did the Cracker Barrel match. Yeah, TV just started. I had a great match with Kenny on TV as well. Just a normal 10-minute match. Then, that November, my back kind of got jacked up and I wasn’t feeling too good in the ring anymore, because I obviously killed myself at the start of AEW pretty bad. Then, the pandemic happened and then, you know, that was it. I was unmotivated. I’m not an athlete like these guys, I can’t go out there without a crowd. I have to have a crowd. I have to have that adrenaline and so I was just like, alright. I kind of just, I hate to say it I was I kind of half-assed the whole year because it was like, I was unmotivated. I was depressed. I started to eat a lot. I got fatter and progressively worse, and I looked worse and worse. I’ve had some good matches during the pandemic. Yeah, it wasn’t like pre-pandemic.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• AEW’s Countdown to Full Gear special on November 12th reportedly drew 292,000 viewers, a 0.10 key demographic rating, and a 54th key demographic ranking on TNT, according to ShowBuzz Daily.
• As noted before, AEW recently changed the start time of their weekly Dynamite shows for their West Coast and Mountain time zone viewers from 8PM PST (9PM MT) to an earlier start of 5PM PST. This has led to around an 8-10% drop in viewership for AEW’s weekly shows as a result. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW has not seen any real notable increases in their DVR viewership since the change affecting the live viewership of their West Coast and Mountain time zone viewers. Meltzer speculated that the reason for this is likely due to the viewers AEW has been losing were the type who only casually watch wrestling shows on television and are not the same type of AEW viewers who tend to watch shows at a more convenient time via DVR like with AEW’s Rampage shows.
• During a recent interview with Gaw TV podcast, Kiera Hogan confirmed that she recently signed an official contract with AEW. Hogan also stated that there are a lot of moving parts in AEW but she currently feels lost in the shuffle. Hogan stated “I like the girls in the [AEW] locker room. A lot of girls, obviously my girlfriend Diamante worked there before I worked there so I was there backstage a lot of the times like helping girls do makeup because I do makeup sometimes. I also have a lot friends in the locker room that were excited for me to come over there. They’re like, ‘Are you gonna come over here? I wanna wrestle you, I wanna wrestle you’ like Tay [Conti] and Red Velvet and of course one of my best friends Big Swole, Nyla [Rose], a lot of the girls were just like, ‘We want to wrestle you. I wanna have a bomb match with you because I know –’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I wanna have bomb ass matches with you too. Okay, so I’m here’ but I feel like, there’s a lot of moving parts going on at AEW right now so I feel like a lot of things are getting lost in the shuffle and I feel like I’m one of those things. But, I’m just trying to just stay positive and just focus on what I can control which is just staying ready for whenever that opportunity does present itself and I’m excited because NWA, I still am able to do indie bookings under my contract and do things that honestly I can do because of my contract so I’m able to still work and go out and things and with the time that I do have off, I’m able to just focus on myself and working out and my move set and going to training or getting bookings. Hopefully like I said, overseas or something with the time that I have off because it’s just — because it’s only a couple of shows and the Dynamite — not the Dynamite, the Dark and the Elevation tapings are kind of sporadic when it comes to filming. I’m not really sure like the next time I do work but I just try to stay ready for like I said, whenever the opportunity [comes]. (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

Indies & Other Wrestling

• During Friday’s Turning Point 2021 event, Impact Wrestling announced that they will be holding an event called Throwback Throwdown II on December 18th in Louisville, Kentucky. It was also announced that this event will air live on Impact Plus and FITE TV.
• Impact Wrestling also announced two new matches for the card of their Hard to Kill 2022 event on January 8, 2022. They are an Impact Knockouts Championship match of Deonna Purazzo vs. Mickie James (c) and the first ever Knockouts Ultimate X match.
• NJPW announced that Eddie Kingston will be making an appearance for the company at their NJPW Strong Nemesis event on December 9th in Los Angeles, California.
• New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced three new matches for the card of their upcoming NJPW Strong Nemesis event. They are Dave Dutra vs. Brody King, TJP vs. The DKC, and Karl Fredericks & Kevin Knight vs. Bateman & Misterioso.
• NJPW reportedly generated a paid attendance of 696 for their November 13th Best of the Super Juniors 2021 event in Tokyo, 572 for their November 14th World Tag League 2021 event in Tokyo, 572 for their November 15th Best of the Super Juniors 2021 event in Tokyo, 588 for their November 17th World Tag League 2021 event in Toyama, and 549 for their Best of the Super Juniors 2021 event in Nagano, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. NJPW also reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,548 for their November 13th Battle in the Valley event in San Jose and 858 for their November 15th NJPW Strong themed Detonation event in Riverside, CA.
• Ring of Honor talent Jonathan Gresham recently announced that he will be launching a new promotion called Terminus and is currently scheduled to hold their debut event on January 16, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that this new promotion is currently planning on using contracted talent from other companies for their shows and will not be signing talent to exclusive deals. It was also reported that Gresham was motivated to start a new promotion from a variety of factors and these plans were well in the works before ROH’s announcement of them going on a hiatus.
• As noted before, ROH recently announced that they would be going on a hiatus after their Final Battle 2021 on December 11th in order to make major changes to the company’s business operations for their future. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the current belief is that Sinclair’s debt-ridden issues from their purchase of FOX’s Regional Sports Networks in 2019 was the main reason for their recent decision to pull back funding for ROH and ROH’s decision to go on a hiatus as a result.
• Game Changer Wrestling announced that they will be holding an Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame ceremony event on January 22, 2022 in New York City, New York. It was also announced that this ceremony will air live on FITE TV. Homicide and Jerry Lynn were announced as the first two inductees of their inaugural class.
• WrestlePro recently announced that Killer Kross, former Karrion Kross, will be making an appearance for the company at their Killer Instinct event on February 5, 2022 in Rahway, New Jersey. This will be Kross’ first appearance in the indies since his release from WWE earlier this month.
• The National Wrestling Alliance reportedly generated around 3,500 pay-per-view buys for their all-women’s Empowerrr event on August 28th, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Stardom reportedly generated a paid attendance of 725 for their November 14th Goddess of Stardom Tag League 2021 Finals event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW’s FTR reportedly was unable to make their scheduled appearance for Lucha Libre AAA’s recent set of television tapings in Mexico due to weather-related travel issues, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AAA announced that they will be making an official announcement on Monday regarding the situation with Kenny Omega for their Triplemania Regia II event on December 4th in Monterrey, Mexico.
• During a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, DDT Pro-Wrestling President Sanshiro Takagi revealed that the company currently has plans to launch a new branch promotion in the United States. (English translation via PostWrestling.com)