Weekend Roundup: Teddy Hart Doc Update, Cody & WWE Update, Brian Cage AEW Contract Update, Impact Ratings, AAA, Indies

WWE

• Steve Austin announced that he will be holding a Broken Skull Bash event on March 31st in Forth Worth, Texas to celebrate the launch of his new Broken Skull American Lager.
• WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 6,813 (5,700 paid) for their Feb. 21st RAW show in Columbia, SC, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 5,839 tickets for their Feb. 28th RAW show in Columbus, OH, around 4,614 tickets for their March 4th SmackDown show in Miami, FL, around 5,599 tickets for their March 5th house show event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY, around 5,722 tickets for their March 6th house show event in Laval, Canada, around 2,392 tickets for their March 6th house show event in Allentown, PA, around 6,078 tickets for their March 11th SmackDown show in Birmingham, AL, around 2,842 for their March 12th house show event in Columbus, GA, around 1,987 tickets for their March 12th house show event in Jackson, TN, around 2,654 tickets for their March 13th house show event in Savannah, GA, around 2,564 tickets for their March 13th house show event in Pensacola, around 3,323 tickets for their March 14th RAW show in Jacksonville, FL, around 5,879 tickets for their March 18th SmackDown show in Charlotte, NC, around 2,208 for their March 19th house show event in Springfield, around 2,464 tickets for their March 20th house show event in Moline, around 4,969 tickets for their March 21st RAW show in Chicago, IL, around 3,339 tickets for their March 25th SmackDown show in Brooklyn, NY, around 6,828 tickets for their March 27th house show event in Toronto, Canada, around 2,733 tickets for their March 27th house show event in Charlottesville, VA, around 4,613 tickets for their March 28th RAW show in Pittsburgh, PA, around 7,638 tickets for their April 1st SmackDown show in Dallas, around 53,000 tickets for their April 2nd WrestleMania 38 Night 1 event in Dallas, around 53,000 tickets for their April 3rd WrestleMania 38 Night 2 event in Dallas, around 8,728 tickets for their April 4th RAW show in Dallas, TX, around 2,195 tickets for their April 8th SmackDown show in Milwaukee, WI, and around 2,578 tickets for their April 11th RAW show in Detroit, MI as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason why both Elimination Chamber matches at WWE’s Elimination Chamber 2022 event in Saudi Arabia were shorter in length than usual was due to WWE officials dealing with timing-related issues throughout the show. Meltzer reported that due to the event airing on a broadcast channel instead of a pay channel in the country, WWE had a hard cut off of 2 hours and 50 minutes for their event. This reportedly was the reason why the Rey Mysterio vs. The Miz match was moved to the pre-show to free up more time for the event. Meltzer reported that despite the timing issues, WWE did not cut any of their planned video segments which led to the total in-ring time for matches only being a little over 67 minutes out of 170 minutes available.
• NBC reportedly is currently expected to make a strong bid to purchase the rights to secondary airings of WWE television shows for their Peacock service once WWE’s current deal with Hulu expires, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Meltzer reported that NBC officials are planning to move all of Hulu’s content to Peacock as part of their current strategy to strengthen their Peacock service offerings. WWE officials reportedly are currently expecting to get around triple the amount of money for a new streaming deal for second day replay television programming rights compared to what they currently receive from Hulu. While RAW and NXT would be expected to benefit from the shortening of the 30 days window for uploads of replays on Peacock, Meltzer reported that SmackDown likely would not be included in the new deal due to FOX currently owns the broadcast rights for the brand and they likely would not be pleased having a FOX property airing on a rival streaming service.
• As noted before, AJ Styles recently signed a new contract extension with WWE that is multi-year in length. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that AEW did not send any feelers to Styles to gauge his interest in joining the company. Meltzer reported that Styles’ new deal for $3 million per year would make him the fifth highest earner within WWE’s locker room based on known talent salary contracts. Styles reportedly will only be behind Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, Ronda Rousey, and Randy Orton for top earners in the company. Others reportedly making around the same money per year as Styles’ new contract are Edge, Goldberg, and The Miz.
• As noted before, NBC’s Peacock is currently producing a documentary based on Teddy Hart and WWE is rumored to have no association with this project. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that the reports of WWE having no involvement are not true. WWE and not Peacock reportedly are producing this upcoming documentary and are working alongside Blumhouse Productions. Meltzer reported that several WWE officials were not aware of this project being in production for the reason behind the mixed messages being sent to people invited for interviews. One person spoken to reportedly stated that WWE officials had contacted them stating that they were going to be interviewed for a project about their own career and only found out later that it was for a Teddy Hart project instead, which led to this person declining WWE’s offer afterwards.
• WWE filed a trademark for “The Bloodline” on February 14th for wresting and entertainment-related purposes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• During a recent interview with Mondragon Chiropractic, Shotzi revealed that she is currently dealing with a lower back injury. Shotzi stated “Right now, my lower back. I actually got x-rays on it. It’s nothing crazy, but they said that my pelvic bone is tilted forward. They’ve been giving me rehab exercises and stuff. I’m way better than a month ago, for sure …It was pretty bad. I had a match and then I woke up the next morning and it was really hard for me to get up. I slid off of the bed onto the floor and I couldn’t even put pressure onto my knees or crawl. I’ve been off for a little bit.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• WWE recently teased on Twitter that they will be making a big announcement soon involving A&E network. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that this announcement is expected to be the official reveal of the next season of WWE themed Biography episodes on the network.
• As noted before, Cody Rhodes left AEW earlier this month and is currently rumored to be returning to WWE within the near future. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that it is currently not known if Rhodes is still planning to return to WWE. Regarding WWE, it was reported that those within the company have been careful with their wording stressing “if Cody Rhodes comes in” and those spoken to stated that they have been unaware of any creative plans for Rhodes’ potential return. It was also reported that while WWE’s locker room is currently under the belief that Rhodes will be arriving, they have not been given any official indication that it is happening.

AEW

• AEW reportedly generated an attendance of slightly under 6,000 (5,800 paid) for their Feb. 23rd Dynamite show in Bridgeport, CT, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 1,337 tickets for their March 2nd Dynamite show in Jacksonville, around 2,687 tickets for their March 4th Rampage show in Orlando, around 8,127 tickets for their March 6th Revolution 2022 event in Orlando, around 1,786 tickets for their March 9th Dynamite show in Estero, FL, around 4,734 tickets for their March 16th Dynamite show in San Antonio, around 3,125 tickets for their March 23rd Dynamite show in Cedar Park, TX, around 2,390 tickets for their March 30th Dynamite show in Columbia SC, around 4,793 tickets for their April 6th Dynamite show in Boston, MA, and around 2,409 tickets for their April 13th Dynamite show in New Orleans, LA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Chris Guy, former Ace Steel, reportedly was recently hired by AEW for a backstage producer job in the company, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Ice Ribbon recently announced that Hikaru Shida will be making an appearance for the company at their March 20th event in Tokyo, Japan. (English translation via F4WOnline.com)
• During a recent interview with WrestleTalk, QT Marshall gave his thoughts about the online criticisms of AEW not having more women’s matches on their shows. Marshall stated “If you look at the ratio of how many guys are on the roster compared to how many girls are on the roster, you want to talk about keeping it even, you have to keep it even. How do you do that? If you have 100 something guys and 20 girls, how do you mathematically do it and make it work? I do think, over time, it will happen, but we really have to stick to the ratio of males to females. Do we get rid of all the male wrestlers and hire a lot more females? Then we have no option but to have more female talent out there, right? It’s one of those things. We’re doing it and I know on Rampage we try to get two female matches, a couple weeks ago we had two female matches on Dynamite. It’s hard. There is only so much time on the show. For everyone that says ‘you could get more women’s matches,’ I would say, how about all the guys that are backstage not wrestling, how come we don’t use all of them and why do we have to use the same talent? You can’t please everybody. over time, maybe it’ll help and we’ll get better at it. Who knows. That’s not my decision, but at the end of the day, we try to…if you’re not wrestling, we try to get storylines going. We’ve been better at that between Leyla (Hirsch), (Kris) Statlander, The Bunny with Tay (Conti). I just look at pure numbers. Maybe that’s not the right answer, but to me, that’s the logical one. We have this many males, this many females, so if you do the math, that’s kind of how it’s going to work out. You can say male and female, I say wrestler. I just look at wrestlers.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• AEW recently released their first official Owen Hart branded merchandise on their official online shop.
• As noted before, AEW recently picked up the option year on Brian Cage’s contract with the company. Fightful Select reported that prior to his one-year option being picked up, Cage’s contract with AEW was originally set to expire on February 21st. It was also reported that AEW officials made the decision to pick up Cage’s option a few days before his contract would have been set to expire.
• During this past Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite, AEW announced that this year’s Double or Nothing event will be taking place on May 29th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• During a recent interview with The Sessions podcast, Dax Harwood revealed that he lost a lot of respect for Shawn Michaels following a backstage incident between the two at WWE’s RAW 25 show in January of 2018. Harwood stated that prior to the incident, he had a big bonding moment with Michaels over real life issues he was struggling with at the time. Harwood stated “As a kid, I chose Bret over Shawn. Then, NXT, Shawn came on board and he was a teacher. He was a big fan of me and [Cash]. We got injured. [Cash] broke his jaw when KENTA gave him the Go To Sleep, maybe two weeks later, I give Sheamus a lifter and I tore my bicep. I went through a real bad phase then. ‘Man, this is not going to work for us. This is a run of bad luck.’ We came back to TV and at Raw 25, we were booked to do the deal with Hunter and his friends where they just beat us up. I was so upset because, for a lot of guys, ‘Oh, it’s just a paycheck, who cares.’ Not to me. There is a legacy I want to leave. That happened and I talked to Shawn, it was the first time we talked since the PC days. I told him, ‘this happened, I tore my bicep, I went through a really dark period and I thought I was going to quit. Thankfully, I have the greatest wife in the world and she supported me and brought me out of this funk and out of a dark place and I’m here now and super happy.’ He said, ‘I was the same way. I was in this very dark spot and my wife, she’s beautiful, she pulled out of this dark spot too.’ ‘Ah, that’s so awesome.’ ‘You and your partner are way too talented to be doing what you’re doing tonight and way too talented to stay at this point. Just keep your nose to the ground and keep grinding and you’re going to get over.’ ‘Ah man Shawn, thank you so much.’ We had this bonding moment.”
• Harwood continued “Then we got in front of his friends, X-Pac, Hunter, Billy, Road Dogg, and Scott. As soon as we got in front of his friends, he started making fun of me and my situation and what happened with my bicep. Man, I just poured my heart out to you and as soon as we get in front of your friends as we’re going over them beating the shit out of us, you decide to take all that stuff and make fun about it. I never ever forgot it and as soon as we were done with the business of Raw, one person said ‘thank you’ and that was Sean Waltman. Everyone else was so cold to us and treated us like we were just the shit on the bottom of their shoes except for Sean Waltman. I’ll never forget that with Shawn and I hope there is a day where we can sit down and have a conversation and I can ask him why he did that and we can reconcile if he wants to. if I love you, I love you. If I don’t, I don’t.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

Indies & Misc. Wrestling

• This past Thursday’s episode of Impact Wrestling Impact! reportedly drew 111,000 viewers, a 0.03 18-49 key demographic rating, and a #141 key demographic ranking on AXS TV, according to Showbuzz Daily. This was up compared to last week’s viewership of 109,000 but down compared to last week’s ranking of #131.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Big Kon, former Konnor in WWE, is currently not under an official contract with Impact Wrestling based on those close to the situation.
• As noted before, Deaner recently signed a new contract extension with Impact Wrestling. Fightful Select reported that besides working as an active wrestler, Deaner’s new deal also includes him working in a backstage role as a producer for the company.
• During a recent interview with PWInsider, Impact talent Moose revealed that he is currently dealing with a torn labrum injury. Moose stated that he is currently working through the injury but will make a decision at some point to take a break in order to have surgery done.
• Brian James, former Road Dogg in WWE, filed a trademark for “Road Dogg BG James” on February 16th for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes to the USPTO.
• Mick Foley filed a trademark for “Cactus Jack” on February 18th for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes to the USPTO. Foley also filed a trademark for “Dude Love” on February 21st for similar purposes to the USPTO.
• Josh Barnett announced that John Hennigan (former John Morrison in WWE) and Maria Shafir will be making appearances for Game Changer Wrestling at their Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 8 event on March 31st in Dallas, Texas.
• GCW announced a new match for the card of their Joey Janela’s Spring Break 6 event on March 31st in Dallas, Texas. This will be a GCW World Championship match of Jon Moxley vs. AJ Gray (c).
• GCW reportedly generated a very low cable pay-per-view buy rate number for their The WRLD on GCW 2022 event last month at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, New York, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that while the PPV sales of the event were good on FITE TV, the cable PPV sales were only around a few hundred in total based on current data available.
• Fightful reported that indie wrestler Kayla Sparks recently joined the list of wrestlers who appeared on wrestling television shows for different promotions within the same day or week. Sparks appeared as a member of the crowd during this past Friday’s episode of SmackDown for Los Lotharios’ pre-match Kiss Cam segment. Sparks also appeared on that night’s episode of AEW Rampage in a match against Serena Deeb, which was taped this past Wednesday.
• Pro Wrestling Guerilla is currently planning to hold their next event on May 1st, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated that the May 1st date is “highly likely” but it is not 100% guaranteed at the moment.
• Tammy Sytch, former Sunny in WWE, reportedly was recently arrested again, according to WrestlingNews.co. It was reported that Sytch was arrested on February 24th in Keansburg, New Jersey and was charged with eleven counts involving a DUI incident. It was also reported that Sytch is currently scheduled for a court hearing on March 10th.
• As noted before, Kairi Sane’s contract with WWE expired this past December and made her official return to Stardom earlier this month under a new ring name of KAIRI. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that KAIRI’s current contract with Stardom is not a full-time deal. Meltzer reported that the current belief is that KAIRI will mainly work at Stardom’s big events and maybe a few non-PPV regular events to help set up angles and storylines for her matches at bigger events.
• During a recent interview with the Business of the Business podcast, Lucha Libre AAA co-owner Dorian Roldan revealed that the company is currently working on plans to hold a few events in the United States this year. Roldan stated that the company made a mistake trying to run an event at Madison Square Garden due to the venue being too big for them and instead they will be focusing on running events in smaller venues in the US. Roldan also stated that the company is currently working on touring plans for the US in 2023. Roldan also stated that the company is currently looking to get a television deal in the US although he believes Telemundo would be off the table due to WWE’s very close partnership with NBC, who owns the network. Roldan also stated that past talks with WWE revolved around WWE wanting to buy AAA for a potential NXT Mexico brand while his family was not interested in selling and WWE rejecting the idea to share their talent for AAA shows. (Transcript h/t: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
• New Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 3,752 for their New Years Golden Series event on February 20th in Hokkaido, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.