Weekend Roundup: Original WrestleMania 38 Plans, Lita, Mickie James, AEW & Royal Rumble Rumors Debunked, Ratings, Indies

WWE

• Samantha Irvin, real name Samantha Johnson, made her main roster ring announcing debut for WWE’s SmackDown brand during this past Friday’s episode of SmackDown in Omaha, Nebraska. Following the show, Irvin reflected on Twitter about her SmackDown debut. Irvin stated “Honored, blessed, and oh, so excited to be your new Friday Night Smackdown Ring Announcer! #Smackdown.” Prior to her main roster call up, Irvin had been the ring announcer for WWE’s NXT and 205 Live brand.
• Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson recently announced that he will be the guest for this Monday’s The ManningCast simulcast of the NFL’s 2022 Playoffs Wild Card game between the Arizona Cardinals and L.A. Rams on ESPN2.
• UNICEF recently announced that they have partnered with WWE to bestow several $2,000 grants to schools that take part in their UNICEF Kid Power Partnership program.
• Pete Dunne and Tommaso Ciampa reportedly were invited by WWE officials for dark match tryouts prior to the start of this past Friday’s episode of Smackdown in Omaha, according to PWInsider. Mile Johnson reported that both Dunne and Ciampa are still currently listed internally as being NXT roster talent.
• This past Friday’s episode of SmackDown featured Lita making her return to WWE for their upcoming Women’s Royal Rumble match. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources within the company stated that Lita’s appearance on the show was a last minute idea made by WWE officials. Johnson reported that plans for her appearance were approved this past Thursday and Lita was booked on a flight for the show on the same day.
• As noted before, WWE is currently planning to hold an Elimination Chamber match at next month’s event in Saudi Arabia. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in Friday’s Daily Update that his sources within the company stated that WWE officials are currently planning for the match to be renamed as “The Annual Elimination Chamber.”
• WWE reportedly had an attendance of 6,600 (5,500 paid) for their January 7th SmackDown show in Uncasville, CT, 3,194 for their January 8th house show event in Glens Falls, NY, 4,849 for their January 9th house show event in Boston, MA, 5,700 for their January 10th RAW show in Philadelphia, PA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 3,574 tickets for their January 17th RAW show in Tulsa, OK, around 4,710 tickets for their January 21st SmackDown show in Nashville, TN, around 2,420 tickets for their January 22nd house show event in Corbin, KY, around 1,947 tickets for their January 23rd house show event in Huntington, WV, around 3,938 tickets for their January 24th RAW show in Toledo, OH, around 3,600 tickets for their January 28th SmackDown show in Kansas City, around 27,760 tickets for their Royal Rumble 2022 event in St. Louis, MO, around 3,439 tickets for their January 31st RAW show in Cincinnati, OH, around 2,574 tickets for their February 4th SmackDown show in Oklahoma City, OK, around 2,040 tickets for their February 5th house show event in Salt Lake City, UT, around 3,201 tickets for their February 6th house show event in Boise, ID, around 3,281 tickets for their February 7th RAW show in Denver, CO, around 4,361 tickets for their February 11th SmackDown show in New Orleans, LA, and around 2,649 tickets for their February 14th RAW show in Indianapolis, IN as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• BT Sports, WWE’s home television network in the United Kingdom, reportedly is currently in the process of being sold to a new owner, according to Reuters. It was reported that sports streaming service DAZN recently gave an offer of around $800 million to purchase the network. It was also reported that Discovery also recently gave an offer that included plans for BT Sports’ properties being merged into their Eurosport television network.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources within WWE stated that the company currently does not have any succession plans in place following Vince McMahon’s recent dismantling and overhaul of the NXT brand’s vision and staff that had previously been under the control of Paul “Triple H” Levesque. Meltzer reported that a combination of Levesque’s recent health issues and McMahon’s major changes to the NXT brand and developmental system have led to no one within the company being currently groomed to take over control of WWE in the future.
• As noted before, this past Monday’s RAW suffered large declines in overall viewership and key demographic ratings. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that this past Monday’s RAW episode generated the fifth lowest key demographic rating in RAW history. Meltzer reported that the main reason for RAW’s declines in overall viewership and key demographic ratings was due to the large declines suffered in their Males 18-34 group, which was down 39.8% compared to the prior week’s show.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources within WWE stated that the original plans for the major title matches at this year’s WrestleMania 38 event were Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship, Seth Rollins vs. the winner of this year’s Men’s Royal Rumble match for the WWE Championship, Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship, and Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch for the RAW Women’s Championship. In regards to the Men’s Royal Rumble match winner, Meltzer reported that the current favorites to win are Big E, Bobby Lashley, and Kevin Owens. Meltzer reported that both the original plans for the Universal and SmackDown Women’s Championships were changed following Reigns’ recent bout with COVID-19 and Banks’ recent foot injury.
• As noted before, WWE recently announced that Impact Wrestling talent Mickie James will be among the competitors for this year’s Women’s Royal Rumble match. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that James’ involvement in this month’s Royal Rumble 2022 event will be the first time that WWE has worked with Impact since 2012, which involved both sides striking a deal allowing Christian to appear at an Impact PPV event in return for Ric Flair to appear at WWE’s Hall of Fame ceremony that year for the Four Horsemen’s induction. Meltzer reported that WWE’s current willingness to be on friendlier terms with Impact is mainly due to the company viewing AEW as the bigger threat to them and not the sign of an actual long-term working partnership in place between the two companies. Meltzer reported that WWE had a similar mentality during the 1990s when WCW was their biggest threat and they became friendlier to companies they were not in the past.
• During a recent interview with The Pat McAfee Show podcast, John Cena revealed the talks he had with Vince McMahon over plans to turn him heel during his feud with The Rock. Cena stated “I remember Vince toyed with the idea of turning me heel versus The Rock in Miami. I said, ‘No problem, I understand, I’ll do it. Just remember that we are so deep in at this point that we can’t do it and then jump back because we’ll be sunk at both ends.’ If we do it, I have to be the opposite of virtue, I have to be pure evil and we go all in.’ From a believability standpoint, people always see me in uniform because I want people to know that what they see is someone they can relate to. He decided against it and at that point he said, ‘I don’t think we’re ever going to do it.’ I have the luxury of playing this character, but I always play this character, which is great because it got me to dive into nuances like the Firefly Fun House match where I was like, ‘what if I have a meta experience through all of my flaws, all my timeline,’ and do stuff like that.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• WWE recently announced that they have promoted Seth Zaslow as their new Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations. The company announced that Zaslow will be replacing Michael Weitz, who will be remaining in the company and working on their treasury, capital and corporate projects.
• The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in Sunday’s Daily Update that his sources close to the situation have denied recent rumors and reports that talent from AEW will be involved in this year’s Royal Rumble event. Meltzer also reported that rumors and reports of Jon Moxley making a surprise appearance at the event is not true as well.

AEW

• During a recent episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, host Matt Hardy revealed that his feud and “Big Money” match against Hangman Adam Page at AEW’s Revolution 2021 event was not AEW’s original plans for Page at the time. Hardy stated “Yes, the plan was originally to do Adam Page vs. Brodie Lee. That was going to be the program. Then, when we knew Brodie was sick, obviously I ended up being plugged in there. We’d been through the pandemic, as I’ve mentioned in the past, ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy, a very, very fan-driven character, and it was just time for me to pivot for sure. So I pivoted into doing ‘Big Money’ Matt. Then, I was going to end up ultimately taking Brodie’s place in this program of working with Adam and then giving him a big win over a known star to keep moving on for the World Title.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• As noted before, AEW’s Battle of the Belts special on January 8th drew 704,000 viewers and a 0.27 key demographic rating on TNT. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that of AEW’s overall viewership, around 355,000 viewers were from the 18-49 key demographic group. Meltzer reported that TNT averaged around 840,000 viewers and a 0.24 key demographic rating for that time slot this past December for some comparisons. Meltzer also reported that the show skewed at 61.4% in favor of male viewership, which was the lowest male percentage for an AEW show in recent times. In regards to quarter hours, the first quarter had around 704,000 viewers (bulk of Interim TNT Championship match), the second quarter had around 695,000 viewers (ending of Interim TNT Championship match and beginning of FTW Championship match), the third quarter had around 648,000 viewers (bulk of the FTW Championship match), and the main event quarter had around 767,000 viewers (AEW Women’s World Championship match).
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that all of the original three-year contracts for talents who have been with the company since its start would have expired by now or are set to expire within the next few weeks. While only some of the talent have been confirmed either by AEW or the talent themselves that they signed new deals, it is currently believed that Adam Page, Cody & Brandi Rhodes, and Chris Jericho all recently signed new contracts with the company since they were on television this week or were confirmed to be staying in the company. In regards to other talent, Meltzer reported that Christopher Daniels is believed to have also recently signed a new deal due to him still working in a backstage role for the company. In regards to Kenny Omega, Meltzer reported that his original contract was for four years in length meaning that it will not expire until February of 2023.
• As noted before, Nick Aldis recently signed a new contract with the National Wrestling Alliance. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources within AEW stated that AEW CEO Tony Khan never held any talks with Aldis regarding the idea of Aldis signing a contract with AEW once his NWA deal expired. Meltzer reported that Aldis had contacted Christopher Daniels to gauge AEW’s interest in him but Khan did not respond back in time leading to Aldis’ decision to sign a new contract with NWA.
• AEW reportedly had an attendance of 5,700 (5,400 paid) for their January 8th Battle of the Belts show in Charlotte and 5,100 (4,700 paid) for their January 12th Dynamite show in Raleigh, NC, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 3,841 tickets for their January 19th Dynamite show in Washington, DC, around 2,962 tickets for their January 21st Rampage show in Washington, DC, around 5,004 tickets for their Dynamite show in Cleveland, OH, around 4,301 tickets for their February 2nd Dynamite show in Chicago, IL, around 3,983 tickets for their February 9th Dynamite show in Atlantic City, NJ, around 2,849 tickets for their February 16th Dynamite show in Nashville, TN, around 4,490 tickets for their February 23rd Dynamite show in Bridgeport, CT, around 2,228 tickets for their March 4th Rampage show in Orlando, and around 6,866 tickets for their March 6th Revolution 2022 event in Orlando, FL as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• During a recent virtual signing event for East Coast Autograph Auctions, Serena Deeb revealed that she is currently hopeful of being able to open a new wrestling school next year. Deeb stated “I’ve landed on this submission, technical style that I really love so I watch [Dean] Malenko, Harts, Bryan Danielson. You know, I think you gotta just figure out what you like, what you enjoy and what you have fun with in the ring. But point one is find a reputable school and I am hoping to open Deeb’s Dojo hopefully in the next year. Maybe in Orlando so, stay tuned.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
• During a recent interview with the In The Kliq podcast, Britt Baker stated that she believes the next milestone for the growth of AEW’s Women’s division will be AEW’s female talent headlining an AEW pay-per-view event in the future. Baker stated “We’re just on such a forward momentum right now. The women’s division, the wrestling, the storylines, everything has just been so great. We have another belt now. We have the Women’s TBS Title that Jade Cargill just won. It’s more, really, growing so quickly. The Women’s Division was under fire pretty aggressively at first, but just how quickly we’ve turned the tide, just like taking all that criticism and kind of threw it at everyone’s face. So, moving forward, I just want to keep building our women’s division. How cool would it be for a women’s match to be the main event of a pay-per-view sometime? Just to keep growing in that sense. Making sure that the women’s matches are just as important, which they are, as you see in our booking, as all of the men’s matches. I mean, I’ve been fortunate enough to main event several AEW shows now and it’s not so much of a marquee event when that does happen. It’s just, ‘There’s a good match coming up, and it should be the main event.‘” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

Indies & Other Wrestling

• As noted before, Impact Wrestling recently released Matt Striker and hired Tom Hannifan, former Tom Phillips in WWE, to be their new play-by-play announcer. Impact EVP Scott D’Amore recently praised Striker on Twitter for his time with the company. D’Amore stated “Now that @IMPACTWRESTLING #HardToKlll & this weeks #IMPACTonAXSTV episode are done I’d like to take a moment and thank [Matt Striker] for his time with us. I asked Matt to join us at the beginning of the pandemic. It’s always great to work with a friend of 20+ years. #ThankYou.“
• During a recent interview with the Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette podcast, Tom Hannifan gave his thoughts about the differences in commentating wrestling events in and outside WWE. Hannifan stated “I mean, yeah [I had to find myself as a broadcaster again]. You go from the pressure being, for a number of different reasons in terms of the way that WWE produces their shows but like, all of a sudden it’s like, okay, like, it’s all on you. It’s largely your show. I was given a lot of faith to go out there and do what we did with D’Lo [Brown] so yeah, it was nerve racking because I’m like, ‘Oh, this is what I did’ and then as you remember from WWE, there’s certain ways that they like things done and things said and not said and all of a sudden, I can say certain things that I wasn’t able to say and I was like, ‘This is really cool.’ I think I said it on the Countdown to Hard To Kill, we couldn’t refer to Bullet Club, obviously for trademark reasons and we always danced around it and we said ‘The Club’ so I was like, ‘Oh, I can say Bullet Club on the air. I can say pro wrestling’ and it’s just like little trademark things and branding things that WWE likes to do and that’s fine but, there’s just so many little changes here and it’s just, yeah.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
• Impact EVP Scott D’Amore reportedly was seen in attendance at last night’s Game Changer Wrestling’s Most Notorious event in Detroit, Michigan, according to PWInsider.
• Fightful Select reported that their sources within Impact Wrestling stated that Jake Something’s contract with the company is currently set to expire at the end of this February. It was reported that Something and Impact officials recently held brief talks but it is currently not known if there have been any extended talks regarding a potential new contract for Something.
• Game Changer Wrestling recently announced that Lenny Leonard will be officially inducting LuFisto into their Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame.
• GCW also recently announced that Thunder Rosa will be making an appearance for the company at their The Coldest Winter event on February 26th in Los Angeles, California.
• Warrior Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Warrior Wrestling 19 event on February 12th in Cicero, Illinois. This will be a singles match of Bandido vs. Dante Martin.
• Northeast Wrestling recently announced that the Briscoe Brothers (Mark & Jay Briscoe) will be making an appearance for the company at their Wrestlefest 26 event on January 22nd in Poughkeepsie, New York.
• New Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 7,077 for their January 8th Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night 3 “NJPW vs. NOAH” event in Kanagawa, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• NJPW recently launched a new weekly documentary series called “Lion’s Roar” for their New Japan World streaming service. This new series focuses on the company’s New Zealand Dojo run by trainers Bad Luck Fale and Tony Kozina and the debut episode aired this past Friday.
• As noted before, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre recently announced that they have suspended running events in Mexico for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19 pandemic related reasons in the country. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that CMLL officials had also informed their talent that they would not be allowed to work any indies events while they were on break due to COVID-19 precautionary reasons. Meltzer reported that CMLL is one of the few promotions that still regularly tests their talent.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that several city and state governments in Mexico recently passed new COVID-19 related restrictions for public indoor events. These restrictions range from proof of vaccination being required to attend events to a complete ban on events for at least the next two weeks.
• TheCubsFan reported that Mexican lucha wrestler El Hijo del Santo is currently planning to retire from wrestling in two years from now. It was reported that Santo made the public statement in a recent interview with Spanish newspaper Estadio Deportivo.
• Westside Xtreme Wrestling reportedly recently postponed all of their scheduled events in Hamburg, Germany from February 12th to July 23rd, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that the reason is due to the city government recently passed new COVID-19 restrictions for all indoor events held within the city that made it economically not worth running events for the company.
• The National Labor Relations Board reportedly is currently reconsidering the legal definition of what constitutes an independent contractor and if a more realistic new legal definition is needed, according to The American Prospect. It was reported that the NLRB is also considering if the very act of classifying someone as an independent contractor improperly is a violation of the National Labor Relations Act.