Weekend Roundup: Bayley, WWE Buys Kurt Angle Doc, AEW Tag Division Update, Santana & Ortiz, Brandi Rhodes Update, Indies

WWE

• During a recent interview with the WWE After the Bell with Corey Graves podcast, Liv Morgan gave her thoughts about her feeling since winning the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder match earlier this month. Morgan stated “It’s been a whirlwind. Everything just feels very surreal. I mean it’s just crazy how the universe lays your plan out for you. Thinking back to last year, I thought I was going to win Money in the Bank. I thought it was my time. I was so fully confident and then I didn’t win. Fast forward to this year, I walked into Money in the Bank, same thing hoping that this is my year. I’m going to win this year. I was so determined. I literally wanted nothing more than to walk in Money in the Bank and leave Miss Money in the Bank. I won Money in the Bank, and it is the most overwhelming feeling I’ve ever had in my whole entire life.” (Transcript h/t: WrestlingNews.co)
• As noted before, Bayley has been out of action for WWE since June of 2021 due to a torn ACL injury. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Bayley is currently scheduled to be in Nashville, Tennessee later this month for WWE’s SummerSlam 2022 weekend festivities in the city.
• As noted before, Vince McMahon is currently alleged to have paid four former WWE employees and talent over $12 million in hush payment settlements regarding his sexual misconduct towards them over the past sixteen years. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that the reaction backstage following the Wall Street Journal’s second story on McMahon’s allegations was more mixed than the initial story. Meltzer reported that several people were not surprised over the allegations but felt McMahon using his own money to pay off women to keep them silent was his own business. Others reportedly currently expect the fallout towards McMahon to be little to none at all and his scandals to just blow over in the end. In regards to McMahon’s sexual misconduct allegations towards a former female talent, several people reportedly felt very troublesome over the alleged coercion and firing of the person after she resisted further sexual advances from him.
• WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 8,497 (7,800 paid) for their July 8th SmackDown show in Fort Worth, TX, 225 for their July 8th NXT house show event in Citrus Springs, FL, 7,707 for their July 9th house show event in Sacramento, CA, 3,849 for their July 9th house show event in Bossier City, LA, 3,414 for their July 10th house show event in Reno, NV, 2,094 for their July 10th house show event in Waco, TX, and 7,954 (7,300 paid) for their July 11th RAW show in San Antonio, TX, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 1,469 tickets for their July 17th house show event in Daytona beach, FL, 2,614 tickets for their July 17th house show event in Fort Lauderdale, FL, 7,042 tickets for their July 18th RAW show in Tampa, FL, 5,965 tickets for their July 22nd SmackDown show in Boston, MA, 6,121 tickets for their July 29th SmackDown show in Atlanta, GA, 30,161 tickets for their July 30th SummerSlam 2022 event in Nashville, TN, 9,801 tickets for their Aug. 1st RAW show in Houston, TX, 3,513 tickets for their Aug. 5th SmackDown show in Greenville, SC, 2,067 tickets for their Aug. 6th house show event in North Charleston, SC, 1,878 tickets fir their Aug. 7th house show event in Fayetteville, NC, 3,329 tickets for their Aug. 12th SmackDown show in Raleigh, NC, 2,495 tickets for their Aug. 14th house show event in Atlantic City, NJ, 3,522 tickets for their Aug. 15th RAW show in Washington, DC, 7,466 tickets for their Aug. 19th SmackDown show in Montreal, Canada, 4,606 tickets for their Aug. 20th house show event in Ottawa, Canada, 8,725 tickets for their Aug. 22nd RAW show in Toronto, CA, 4,477 tickets for their Aug. 26th SmackDown show in Detroit, MI,3,913 tickets for their Aug. 29th RAW show in Pittsburgh, PA, and 6,339 tickets for their Sept. 9th SmackDown show in Seattle, WA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 60,239 tickets for their Clash at the Castle event on September 3rd at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales as of this past Friday, according to WrestleTix.
• During a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson gave his thoughts about his daughter and current NXT talent Ava Raine’s official debut for WWE’s NXT brand at their house show event last weekend in Orlando, Florida. Johnson stated “She’s made history, very very proud of her. She is fiercely independent, it’s very important for her to make her own way, blaze her own trail, blaze her own path. She doesn’t come to me looking for a lot, which I respect. I’m here watching and supporting.” Johnson also gave his thoughts about his interest in a potential future in-ring return to WWE. Johnson stated “Of course, yeah, always open to that. For sure.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• As noted before, Vince McMahon reached a settlement deal with former XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck this past June over Luck’s lawsuit against him regarding claims of wrongful termination. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that the United States District Court of Connecticut officially dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice on June 29th and ruled that both parties will bear the costs for their own legal fees.
• As noted before, tattoo artist Catherine Alexander is currently suing WWE and Take-Two Interactive in regards to allegations of copyright infringement over her tattoos inked for Randy Orton shown in WWE’s video game series. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that a hearing for this lawsuit is currently scheduled to take place on September 29th before the U.S. District Court Southern District of Illinois based on recent court record.
• WWE reportedly recently sent a new Fan Council survey asking fans for their feedback towards a number of talent currently on WWE’s main roster, according to PWInsider. In an interesting note, Mike Johnson reported that those listed included Sasha Banks and Naomi who are currently out of action from WWE due to their on-going suspensions over a walkout incident this past May.
• As noted before, the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo recently announced that Sasha Banks would be making an appearance at their C2E2 2022 convention next month in Chicago, Illinois. Following the announcement, several wrestling-based conventions and promotions tried to contact Banks for bookings but were told she was only accepting non-wrestling related bookings for the rest of this year. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Banks’ asking price was $30,000 for any future wrestling-related bookings. One promoter spoken to stated that Banks’ price was “exactly as expected” and her demand price should be that high due to her big star status, leaving on her own terms from WWE, being new in the wrestling conventions scene, and her large fanbase willing to support her. In terms of price, those spoken to stated that it is comparable to Sting’s current asking price for bookings and only Ric Flair, Goldberg, Shawn Michaels, and Hulk Hogan have demanded higher amounts for appearances. Despite the high price, one promoter spoken to reportedly stated that they were more than happy to book her for a future event since they know they would very likely make their money back on it.
• WWE NIL signee AJ Ferrari reportedly was recently dismissed from Oklahoma State’s wrestling team over allegations of him committing sexual assault towards a woman, according to Stillwater News Press. It was reported that a woman had been granted an emergency protective order against Ferrari on July 5th and a court hearing has been scheduled for July 18th for a potential full protection order. It was also reported that the Stillwater Police Department stated that they were contacted on July 2nd over allegations of a sexual assault being committed by Ferrari and have recently opened investigations against him.
• During a recent episode of The Kurt Angle Show podcast, co-host Kurt Angle revealed that WWE recently purchased the rights to an upcoming documentary film based on his wrestling career. Angle stated “The WWE bought the show from us, the documentary. They changed it up a little bit and made it a little more pro-wrestling oriented but we made a deal with them that this will air on Peacock next year, my previous documentary before they actually added more WWE stuff to it. The one next year on Peacock will be more about my personal life growing up and before the WWE. It’s a really well-rounded documentary but the one that WWE is showing will be pro-WWE stuff.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)

AEW & ROH

• Former WWE NXT talents Harland and Troy “Two Dimes” Donovan reportedly made their official debuts for AEW at this past Saturday’s AEW Dark tapings in Orlando, Florida, according to the Wrestling Observer. In regards to Harland, it was reported that he competed under his real name of Parker Bordeaux and was revealed as one of the members of Ariya Daivari’s new stable called the Trust Brothers during the tapings. In regards to Two Dimes, it was reported that he competed under the ring name of Cole Karter that he used in the indies prior to his signing with WWE.
• Jade Cargill’s current undefeated streak in AEW recently surpassed the milestone of 500 days as of this past Saturday, according to Fightful.
• AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 3,900 (3,400 paid) for their July 13th Dynamite Fyter Fest 2022 Week 1 show in Savannah, GA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 3,918 tickets for their July 20th Dynamite show in Duluth, GA, 5,322 tickets for their July 27th Dynamite show in Worcester, MA, 4,625 for their Aug. 3rd Dynamite show in Columbus, OH, 3,875 tickets for their Aug. 5th Rampage show in Grand Rapids, MI, 4,043 tickets for their Aug. 10th Dynamite show in Minneapolis, MN, 3,053 tickets for their Aug. 17th Dynamite show in Charleston, WV, 3,884 tickets for their August 24th Dynamite show in Cleveland, OH, 1,400 tickets for their Aug. 30th Dynamite show in Chicago, and 1,400 tickets for their Sep. 2nd Rampage show in Chicago, IL as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in Friday’s Daily Update that AEW had sold around 7,000 tickets for their All Out 2022 event as of this past Friday.
• This past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite Fyter Fest 2022 Week 1 show featured an AEW World Tag Team Championship Triple or Nothing match, which was won by Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that AEW officials had been planning for some time for Strickland and Lee to win the tag team belts due to them being very impressed over Strickland and Lee’s in-ring work as a team. Meltzer reported that AEW officials also had planned for this match to act as a way to elevate both Strickland & Lee and Powerhouse Hobbs & Ricky Starks into their big top five tag teams in the company. This decision reportedly was made due to Jurassic Express recently being broken up following Christian Cage’s heel turn on Jungle Boy and the Hardys and Santana & Ortiz currently not working as teams for different reasons.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that besides wanting to elevate Strickland and Lee’s star status in the tag division, AEW officials also made the decision to have the Young Bucks drop their AEW World Tag Team titles due to their current plans for a major angle involving the duo that will be starting soon.
• AEW recently released a new album titled Symphony: Series 1 which features symphonic interpretations of AEW entrance theme songs.
• During a recent episode of the Keepin It 100 podcast, co-host Konnan stated that Santana and Ortiz are currently not on good terms with each other. No other details were given by Konnan regarding the potential cause nor issues between the two beyond that being the reason why they have not teamed together since this past February nor have stood next to each other during their segments on AEW programming.
• AEW recently announced that they will be holding a new set of AEW Dynamite and Rampage television tapings on September 14th in Albany, New York. Tickets for this upcoming set of tapings was announced to officially go on sale starting on July 22nd.
• Ring of Honor recently announced that a Countdown to Death Before Dishonor special will air following this Tuesday’s episode of AEW Dark on AEW’s official YouTube channel.
• Ring of Honor reportedly has sold around 2,269 tickets for their Death Before Dishonor event on July 23rd in Lowell, Massachusetts as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that the host venue Paul Tsongas Center has a max capacity of a little over 4,000 for wrestling events.

Indies & Misc. Wrestling

• Game Changer Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Homecoming 2022 Part Two event on August 14th in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This will be a singles match of Maki Itoh vs. Dark Sheik.
• GCW also recently announced that they will be holding a new event on September 23rd in Los Angeles, California.
• The main event match for Ric Flair’s Last Match event on July 31st in Nashville, Tennessee reportedly will be officially announced during the airing of Part Two of the Ric Flair: The Last Match documentary series on FITE TV later this week, according to PWInsider.
• National Wrestling Alliance President Billy Corgan recently announced that he will be holding a charity concert on July 27th with proceeds going towards the victims of the Highland Park shooting attack that took place on July 4th in Highland Park, Illinois.
• Saturday’s Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Destination 2022 event in Tokyo, Japan featured Hideki Suzuki & Timothy Thatcher defeating Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura to be crowned the new GHC Tag Team Champions. The titles had been vacated by NOAH following co-champion Michael Elgin being pulled from the event due to undisclosed reasons.
• Pro Wrestling NOAH held a press conference earlier today in Japan officially revealing the full field of competitors for this year’s N-1 Victory tournament, which starts on August 11th. It was announced that A Block will feature Kenoh, Kazuyuki Fujita, Go Shiozaki, Masato Tanaka, Masaaki Mochizuki, Hideki Suzuki, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., and Anthony Greene. It was also announced that B Block will feature Masakatsu Funaki, Kaito Kiyomiya, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Takashi Sugiura, Masa Kitamiya, Satoshi Kojima, Timothy Thatcher, and Jack Morris.
• During a recent interview with Muscle & Fitness, Brandi Rhodes stated that she is currently training for an in-ring return. Rhodes stated “I’m still training all of the time. People can connect the dots and make of that what they will. I will tell you; I wouldn’t be training and getting beat up (laughs) just for the hell of it, so obviously I do plan to continue my in-ring career. When and where? That is yet to be seen but I hope when it does happen, everybody is happy and proud.” Rhodes also gave her thoughts on if she was upset at her husband Cody for performing at WWE’s Hell in a Cell 2022 event this past June despite him suffering a serious torn pectoral injury. Rhodes stated “No, because the reason that wrestlers marry wrestlers is because we get it. We understand, you know? So, I think I’m probably the only person that he’s comfortable talking to during these incidents because, as much as it’s hard to watch him being in pain and working through pain, I understand it, I’ve done it, and I get it. So, as long as we have the all-clear from doctors I’m fully supporting him.“
• Stardom reportedly generated a paid attendance of 419 for their New Blood 3 event on July 8th in Tokyo and 1,204 for their July 9th MidSummer Champions event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,130 for their Summer Sun Princess ’22 event on July 9th in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This event was notable for featuring Miyu Yamashita defeating Thunder Rosa in an AEW Women’s World Championship Eliminator match granting her a future title shot at the AEW Women’s World Championship.
• Dallas and Blade Hart, sons of WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart, reportedly are currently considering the idea of potentially reviving Stampede Wrestling at some point in the future, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Hart’s sons are the current co-owners of Dungeon Wrestling which is located in Calgary, Canada.
• During a recent interview with Generation of Wrestling podcast, Eric Young gave his thoughts about Impact Wrestling and AEW’s working partnership in 2021 that led to the Kenny Omega vs. Rich Swann match for the Impact World Championship at Impact’s Rebellion 2021 event. Young stated “Rich Swann, who was our world champion, wrestled Kenny Omega as their world champion and that’s never really happened before. I don’t think it worked out as good as anyone would have hoped it would have. I feel like there was a lot of missed opportunities that could’ve gone back and forth both ways.” Young also gave his thoughts about his current run in Impact being the most fun he has had in his wrestling career. Young stated “Right now is the most fun, the most rewarding time in my wrestling career and I’ve been doing it a long time. I’ve been other places where I made more money and I’ve been other places where I had more say. This is the most fun I’ve ever had and there’s something very special going on here. It’s the best pro wrestling show on tv, minute by minute, written by pro wrestlers for pro wrestling fans. I’m super proud to be a part of it.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)
• During a recent interview with NBC Sports’ Ten Count podcast, former AEW talent Big Swole gave her thoughts about if her public comments against AEW since her release has negatively impacted her wrestling career. Big Swole stated “I feel like it helped me [sharing her thoughts about AEW publicly]. I mean I don’t take anything — I guess when other people give their opinions and other people give their statements on me and be like, ‘Oh, you speaking out caused such a negative affect on your career,’ I’m like, no, I take everything as if it’s a positive, because I need to speak out for myself. If I’m not gonna speak up for me then who the hell is gonna speak up for me?” Big Swole also gave her thoughts about her interest in potentially working for Impact Wrestling in the future. Big Swole stated “They do, they do [IMPACT Wrestling has a lot of talent she could be in the ring with]. I would love to be a part of IMPACT. It’s just my thing now is that I’ve just been so vocal about not signing anywhere. I just — I’m enjoying my peace. Like I said, my main reason of leaving AEW was my peace. If I don’t have my peace, I can’t operate. So, I feel like signing somewhere is obligation and I just wanna be obligated to my faith, my family and myself and you know, and wrestling is a part of me, so I just like having my own schedule but I would love to come in on different off-shoots and just wrestle, just enjoy and just have a good story.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)