Weekend Roundup: Money in the Bank, Tay Conti, Wrestling TV Ratings Notes, Impact, Don West Update, Matt Cardona Injury, Indies

Impact Wrestling

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

May 29, 2022

WWE

As noted before, WWE recently announced that this July’s Money in the Bank 2022 event will no longer be taking place at the Allegiant Stadium and instead will now take place at the smaller MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that WWE recently updated their official advertising for the event which featured the removal of Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, and Ronda Rousey from the talent advertised to appear.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that WWE’s decision to change the venue for their upcoming Money in the Bank 2022 event was not something made recently but instead was done around two weeks ago. These same sources stated that it is not known why WWE officials decided to continue selling tickets for Allegiant Stadium despite being fully aware that it would no longer be taking place at the venue. In regards to ticket sales for the event prior to the venue change, Meltzer reported that while around 17,924 tickets had been sold and distributed, a large percentage of those tickets would have been comp tickets or held back for people they expected to buy which would explain WWE’s decision since actual ticket sales would have been much lower than they had expected.
As noted before, WWE is currently in the process of hiring a new Brand & Marketing Director to replace Stephanie McMahon, who is currently in a leave of absence from the company due to family-related reasons. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that WWE recently updated their job posting revealing a title change from Director of Brand & Marketing to a new official title of Director, Marketing. Johnson reported that despite the new name change, the responsibilities and qualifications for the job remain the same as before on WWE’s job application.
During a recent interview with the Universal Wrestling Podcast, RAW brand announcer Jimmy Smith gave his thoughts about the valuable advice given to him by Vince McMahon when it came to calling the action for the television audience. Smith stated “There was a match, you know, where someone was bailing on their tag team partner, they were walking out. They’re getting beat up and the guy was like, forget this and walked out. Mr. McMahon told me, he goes, ‘Stay behind the audience,’ meaning, somebody’s walking, don’t go, ‘Oh my God! They’re leaving their tag team partner.’ Let the audience figure that out before you come in and add to it. That’s very dramatic, right? It’s very thematic. It’s very, ‘No, let the audience…’ Now, that’s not combat sports. Where I’m from, normally you wouldn’t let the audience figure out — your guy’s going for a heel hook, you don’t let a guy finish a heel hook and then go, ‘Oh my God! He got submitted!’ You know what I mean? You’re ahead of the audience. But, what we’re doing is dramatic, it’s tension-filled. So, be a little behind, not ahead like you would in sports broadcasting. So that’s specific to the WWE, right? That’s not a broadcasting thing, that’s a WWE thing and you have to learn that and when I talk about learning, that’s part of what I mean and that’s part of what, you know, Vince’s instruction is about and I go, ‘Oh! Yeah, yeah,’ because yeah, I’m used to a sport where you want to be ahead. ‘Oh, it looks like they’re setting up a dime package. They need 20 yards.’ Broadcasters can be ahead of the action, they can be ahead of what’s happening. In the WWE, be behind what’s happening so the audience can experience it first and that was one of those lessons like, oh, yeah. Oh, all right, I see how that’s different than where I’m from. So learning all that stuff has been the education.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
During a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, former WWE talent Lince Dorado gave his thoughts about WWE being the equivalent of Disneyland when it came to only wanting to have one type of each for certain wrestlers. Dorado stated “I think at first that might have been the case and I knew that coming in. I tried really hard to break that. I tried really hard to be brother brother with the producers. [I made it known I spoke English]. I tried to be good brothers with everybody so they can think of me as other than Rey [Mysterio] or just a generic luchador and it really did help us for a little bit, being able to communicate with the bosses and not just hide in the locker room or hide in catering. Anytime we had a problem or wanted to speak, they were there to listen to us. It did help that we were able, well me personally, was able to speak really good English so we could communicate and kind of get away from that idea that he’s just another masked guy or just Rey [Mysterio. But at the end of the day, WWE is kind of like Disneyland. They need one of everything on each show and if you fit the bill, you fit the bill. It’s really hard to convince the beast that you’re different man, it really is. I remember conversations, heart to heart conversations. Me, Metalik and Vince. It was very intense and emotional. Homie was biting, Vince was biting on everything but it’s like as soon as we left that door, it was kind of like ‘Alright, what’s the next problem, what’s the next issue for him?’. Doing things on show days wasn’t beneficial for us. If we had had any appointments to go to Stamford or outside of TV, I think that we could have been something bomb, something fire in WWE. It’s just hard to communicate during show time, that’s the only time we were able to communicate really. ” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 7,400 (6,700 paid) for their May 20th SmackDown show in Grand Rapids, MI, 3,655 for their May 21st house show event in Canton, OH, 3,713 for their May 21st house show event in Rockford, IL, 4,065 for their May 22nd house show event in Fort Wayne, IN, 2,507 for their May 22nd house show event in Cedar Rapids, IA, and 5,653 (4,900 paid) for their May 23rd RAW show in Evansville, IN, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE reportedly has sold around 4,558 tickets for their May 30th RAW show in Des Moines, IA, 4,753 tickets for their June 3rd SmackDown show in Columbus, OH, 12,155 tickets for their June 5th Hell in a Cell 2022 event in Chicago, IL, 2,909 tickets for their June 13th RAW show in Wichita, KS, 4,501 tickets for their June 20th RAW show in Lincoln, NE, 3,595 tickets for their June 24th SmackDown show in Austin, TX, 4,159 tickets for their July 1st SmackDown show in Phoenix, AR, 22,519 tickets for their July 30th SummerSlam 2022 event in Nashville, TN, and 40,000 tickets for their Sept. 3rd Clash at the Castle event at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
During a recent finale episode of the Table Talk podcast, WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley revealed that he is currently in the process of transitioning from his job as a backstage producer for WWE into a new coaching job for the company’s NXT brand. (Source: PostWrestling.com)
During a recent interview with the Straight Talk Wrestling podcast, Harry Smith, former Davey Boy Smith Jr. in WWE, gave his thoughts about his interest in a potential return to WWE in the future. Smith stated “I would like to go to Japan again at some point and that’s kind of where — not ‘main focus’, but that’s where the goal is to go next and I’ve seen Pro Wrestling NOAH’s been doing some great stuff lately and their business is really coming back up and I worked with them before so that may be an option, and I heard Kiyoshi Tamura’s starting a new sort of like shoot wrestling company called GLEAT over in Japan, that Josh Barnett’s gonna be a part of so, I’m definitely very interested in that as well. So, I’m going to be researching that and — but yeah, [I’d] love to go to Japan again and you know, if the doors are back — if there’s an opportunity to go back to WWE if there’s an actual direction for me, then, you know, I think that there’s still some — definitely some mileage and some great stuff that they can do with me there and I would like to just — sometimes, gotta be the right timing.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
WWE reportedly pushed for Cody Rhodes to be included in the launch roster for 2K Games’ WWE 2K22 game, according to Sports Gamers Online. It was reported that despite Rhodes not making his return to the company in time for the game’s release, WWE officials had tried to get Rhodes included in the game’s playable roster. 2K Games reportedly quickly shot down the suggestion due to it not being possible over timing and release schedule related reasons. It was also reported that the possibility of Rhodes being added as a future DLC pack for the game was also very unlikely due to his return occurred after 2K Games had finalized their plans for the game’s post-launch content.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE averaged 5,124 paid attendance per event for their events this past April. House shows reportedly averaged 3,280 per house show event, RAW averaged 6,050 per RAW show, and SmackDown averaged 7,125 per SmackDown show.
In regards to television viewership, RAW reportedly averaged around 1,791,000 total viewers per show for the month of April, which was down compared to 1,852,000 total viewers per show for the same month last year. SmackDown reportedly averaged around 2,171,000 total viewers per show, which was up compared to 2,136,000 total viewers per show for the same month last year. NXT reportedly averaged 596,750 total viewers per show, which was down compared to 790,250 total viewers per show for the same month last year.
In regards to key demographic viewership for the month of April, RAW reportedly averaged around 679,000 key demographic viewers per show, which was down compared to 743,000 key demographic viewers per show for the same month last year. SmackDown reportedly averaged around 666,240 key demographic viewers per show, which wad down compared to 715,400 key demographic viewers per show for the same month last year. NXT reportedly averaged around 167,000 key demographic viewers per show, which was down compared to 285,000 key demographic viewers per show for the same month last year.
In regards to demographic groups breakdowns for the month of April, RAW reportedly was down 9.1% in Teenagers, down 1.4% in Over 50, up 21.8% in Males 18-34, down 2.8% in Females 18-34, down 21.3% in Males 35-49, and down 12.5% in Females 35-49 per show average compared to the same month last year. SmackDown reportedly was down 6.8% in Males 18-34, up 0.4% in Females 18-34, down 16.9% in Males 35-49, and up 9.1% in Females 35-49 per show average compared to the same month last year. NXT reportedly was down 60% in Teenagers, down 6.7% in over 50, down 16.2% in Males 18-34, down 24.2% in Females 18-34, down 37.1% in Males 35-49, and down 67.2% in Females 35-49 per show average compared to the same month last year.
In regards to the Male/Female viewership split for the month of April, RAW reportedly averaged 63.2% in favor of Males per show compared to 63.3% in favor of Males per show average for the same month last year. SmackDown reportedly averaged 53.6% in favor of Males per show compared to 54.3% in favor of Males per show average for the same month last year. NXT reportedly averaged 67.8% in favor of Males per show compared to 57.2% in favor of Males per show average for the same month last year.
As noted before, Jeff Jarrett was recently hied by WWE for a high level executive role in the company. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Jarrett’s new official position in the company is Senior Vice President of Live Events

AEW & ROH

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW averaged 4,967 paid attendance per event for their events this past April.
In regards to television viewership for the month of April, AEW Dynamite reportedly averaged around 951,750 total viewers per show, which was down compared to 975,000 per show for the same month last year. AEW Rampage reportedly averaged around 509,500 per show. In regards to key demographic viewership for the month of April, AEW Dynamite reportedly averaged 471,750 key demographic viewers per show, which was up compared to 461,500 key demographic viewers per show compared to the same month last year. AEW Rampage reportedly averaged 237,000 key demographic viewers per show.
In regards to demographic groups breakdowns for the month of April, AEW Dynamite reportedly was up 38.2% in Teenagers, down 5.8% in Over 50, up 60.6% in Males 18-34, up 13.5% in Females 18-34, down 5.9% in Males 35-49, and down 24.4% in Females 35-49 per show average compared to the same month last year.
In regards to the Male/Female viewership split for the month of April, AEW Dynamite reportedly averaged 69.3% in favor of Males per show compared to 65% in favor of Males per show average for the same month last year.
AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 4,900 (4,500 paid) for their May 25th AEW Dynamite show in Las Vegas, NV, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW reportedly has sold around 13,029 tickets for their May 29th Double or Nothing 2022 event in Las Vegas, NV, 13,695 tickets for their June 1st Dynamite show in Inglewood, CA, 7,316 tickets for their June 3rd Rampage show Ontario, CA, 3,848 tickets for their June 8th Dynamite show in Independence, MO, 3,595 tickets for their June 15th Dynamite show in St. Louis, MO, 3,983 tickets for their June 22nd Dynamite show in Milwaukee, WI, 15,303 tickets for their June 26th Forbidden Door event in Chicago, IL, 9,476 tickets for their June 29th Dynamite show in Detroit, MI, 3,019 tickets for their July 6th Dynamite show in Rochester, NY, 3,095 tickets for their July 13th Dynamite show in Savannah, GA, 2,488 tickets for their July 20th Dynamite show in Duluth, GA, and 4,164 tickets for their July 27th Dynamite show in Worcester, MA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As noted before, John Hennigan made his official AEW debut during the May 18th episode of AEW Dynamite. Hennigan competed under the ring name of Johnny Elite and faced off against Samoa Joe in an Owen Hart Foundation Quarterfinals match, which was won by Joe. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Hennigan’s appearance was a one-night only type deal. AEW officials reportedly are currently interested in the idea of using Hennigan in the future.
During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Bryan Danielson gave his thoughts on which wrestler from New Japan Pro Wrestling he would be interested the most in having a potential match against at AEW and NJPW’s upcoming Forbidden Door event. Danielson stated “I would love to wrestle Okada. But in the back of my mind, I’m thinking about Zack Sabre Jr. and wrestling him to see who is the best technical wrestler in the world. We have two very different styles of technical wrestling. We wrestled in 2008, and he was just a kid, but I was super impressed with him then. He’s grown into this amazing wrestler, and I don’t ever recall seeing anyone wrestle with his technique. There are a ton of guys I’d like to wrestle. You mentioned Okada, and that’s a match I really want. I want [Tomohiro] Ishii. Tanahashi and I wrestled in 2004, but we are totally different people now than we were then. That would be a lot of fun. Shingo and I wrestled in 2010. That would also be a lot of fun. I was hoping to get a match against Kenta in WWE, but it just never happened, and I would love to wrestle him. I’d also love to wrestle [Katsuyori] Shibata. I’m open to whoever Tony [Khan] and New Japan want me to go up against.“
CBS Sports held a recent interview with Ruby Soho. One of the topics discussed included Soho’s thoughts on getting to be herself in AEW. Soho stated “I was very nervous when I was released [by WWE]. I had a few months to just kind of sit back and really reflect as to how I wanted to present myself. How I wanted the world to see me. That was honestly one of the most therapeutic and cathartic times in my career. To be able to just sit back and try and figure out who I want the world to know Ruby Soho is. I have been fortunate enough to work for a company that really just does let me off the leash and just be who you are. That was what Tony Khan said to me when he hired me. He said, ‘I want you to be yourself and I want you to work for me for a long time.’ That was the most freeing thing that anyone has ever said to me. I am so unbelievably lucky. I think with that freedom and with that paintbrush in my hand, I think that has brought about a whole new level of confidence in me that I have not had in my career thus far.“
Tay Conti recently stated on Twitter that she is currently taking legal action against a fan over the repeated threats made to her and Sammy Guevara’s lives on social media since this past January. Conti stated “This is absurd. His name is DUSTIN DOLEZAL and he’s been threatening Sammy and I since January. He writes us EVERY SINGLE DAY and apparently planning to do something with us in June. I’m taking legally precautions but if something happens to us y’all know who to look for.“
During a recent interview with the Submission Radio podcast, Paul Wight revealed that he had underwent second hip replacement surgery this past December. Wight stated “I had another hip transplant in December. So now I have two fake hips, so I’m like Wolverine. My thing coming over here honestly is that I came [to AEW] to work on my commentary skills, because that is where my future lies, that’s where I want to contribute to the business,” he said further. I came over to compete periodically, in small doses. I don’t see myself running for championships, that’s not my gig. Maybe if it works out , a younger talent for the tag team championship maybe. I’ve done my five nights a week for decades.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)
During a recent interview with the Talk Is Jericho podcast, Jake Hager revealed that former MLB player Frank Thomas threatened to sue him over his usage of “The Big Hurt” nickname in AEW. Hager stated “Your dad [Jericho’s dad] gave us the jerseys, New York Rangers, and it had ‘Big Hurt’ on the back of it. I posted a caption on [Instagram] with the caption ‘Big Hurt.’ Chris texted me and said, ‘I like this.’ I said, ‘Thanks, can you help me get it over?’ Next thing you know, we’re getting sued by Frank Thomas for $5 million. It was a threat to sue for $5 million. We hadn’t done any merchandise, we had just talked about it. We even said, ‘Why don’t you come on Dynamite and wrestle me for it?’” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
During a recent interview with the Beef Vegan radio show, AEW CEO Tony Khan gave his thoughts about the potential of The Briscoes appearing at a future AEW show. Khan stated “I’m not sure when we’ll see the Briscoes next, but they are a huge part of Ring of Honor and I hope to see them again soon.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
Fightful Select reported that Brian Cage was seen in attendance backstage at this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cage last worked at ROH’s Supercard of Honor 2022 event this past April and had his contract renewed by AEW for both AEW and ROH.

Indies & Misc. Wrestling

Saturday’s Vegas Vacation event for Wrestling Revolver in Las Vegas, Nevada featured Rich Swann defeating Matt Cardona for the Impact Digital Media Championship.
As noted before, former TNA/Impact Wrestling announcer Don West has been battling brain cancer since June of 2021. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that West’s family stated to him that West’s tumor has doubled in size which has prevented him from undergoing a stem cell treatment to help his cancer battle. Johnson reported that West is currently scheduled to undergo a different treatment for his cancer starting this week.
Impact Wrestling talents Rhino and Madison Rayne reportedly have recently been working as backstage producers for the company, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that Rhino has been the producer of matches held on Impact’s BTI (Before the Impact) show in recent weeks while Rayne has been helping produce Impact’s Knockouts division matches.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Impact Wrestling averaged around 116,000 total viewers and a 0.03 key demographic rating per show for this past April. Both were down compared to 141,250 total viewers and 0.05 key demographic ratings per show average for the same month last year.
Impact Wrestling talent Matt Cardona recently announced on Twitter that he suffered an arm injury during Game Changer Wrestling’s Downward Spiral event on Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cardona also stated that he currently believes he might have suffered a torn biceps.
Starrcast recently announced that tickets sales for Jim Crockett Promotions upcoming “Ric Flair’s Last Match” event on July 3rd in Nashville, Tennessee recently reached sold out status. It was also announced that Tony Schiavone and David Crockett will be the official commentary team for this upcoming event.
Pro Wrestling NOAH recently announced that they have pulled Naomichi Marufuji from the card of their May 30th event in Kawasaki, Japan due to knee-related issues.
New Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,720 for their May 21st Best of the Super Juniors 2022 event in Aomori, 1,025 for their May 22nd Best of the Super Juniors 2022 event in Akita, 1,217 for their May 24th Best of the Super Juniors 2022 event in Tokyo, 1,104 for their May 25th Best of the Super Juniors 2022 event in Tokyo, and 1,015 for their May 26th Best of the Super Juniors 2022 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Dragon Gate talent are currently rumored to be frustrated over the recent booking of the company. This issue reportedly is rumored to revolve around Pro Wrestling NOAH head booker Nosawa Rongai having some control over Dragon Gate’s booking direction due to the current Dragon Gate and NOAH storyline between both companies. Rongai reportedly is rumored to have gotten heavily involved in the booking of Dragon Gate stuff that do not involve the current Dragon Gate & NOAH storyline nor NOAH itself which has upset Dragon Gate’s locker room.
Kyoko Kimura reportedly generated a paid attendance of 666 for the May 25th Hana Memorial 2022 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Wrestling legend Stan Hansen reportedly recently tested positive for COVID-19, according to All Japan Pro Wrestling. It was announced that due to Hansen’s recent positive test, they pulled him off of their event earlier today in Tokyo, Japan as a result.
Game Changer Wrestling recently announced that Jon Moxley will be making an appearance for the company at their The People vs. GCW event on July 29th in Nashville, Tennessee.
GCW also announced a new match for the card of their You Wouldn’t Understand event on June 18th in New York City, New York. This will be a GCW Championship match of Tony Deppen vs. Jon Moxley (c).
Major League Wrestling recently announced that EJ Nduka, Ross Von Erich, Mini Abismo Negro, Budd Heavy, and Matt Cross are the next set of official competitors for the Battle Riot match at their upcoming Battle Riot 2022 event on June 23rd in New York City, New York.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Impact Wrestling talents Savannah Evans and Jordynne Grace and AEW talent Serena Deeb were involved in the filming of the upcoming new season of Heels in Atlanta, Georgia this past week.
Indies wrestler Madi Wrenkowski announced on Twitter that she recently underwent surgery after suffering a hand injury that resulted in two metacarpal fractures.