Weekend Roundup: Max Dupri, WWE Rules Changes, Jake Hager AEW Extension, All Out, CM Punk & Bobby Fish, Ric Flair, Indies

WWE

• This past Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,217,000 viewers on FOX, according to SpoilerTV.
• Following this past Friday’s SmackDown show in Seattle, Washington, WWE released an exclusive segment on their official YouTube channel teasing that Max Durpi might being going back to his former LA Knight persona from NXT. During the video, Dupri gave a backstage talk to his Maximum Male Models team stating that “You have to go through the day to get to the night (Knight). Yeah.“
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE recently made some changes to their unwritten rules for matches. Meltzer reported that some of these changes took place at their recent Clash at the Castle event which included an illegal person now being able to successfully attack a legal person in a match and not have it result in a disqualification ending regardless of the situation with the match referee. Another change included an illegal person now being allowed to interrupt a ref’s count at two to break up a pin if a face wrestler is about to win the match. Paul “Triple H” Levesque reportedly had reversed these rules that were put in place by Vince McMahon for the past twenty years for matches in WWE. Prior to the changes, McMahon only allowed the first rule to be bent if the referee was down and the second rule not allowed to be bent. In regards to the second rule, this was the change that Levesque made as his way to debut Solo Sikoa on the main roster as a heel.
• WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 400 for their Sept. 4th NXT Worlds Collide 2022 event at their Performance Center in Orlando, FL and 6,919 (6,100 paid) for their Sept. 5th RAW show in Kansas City, MO, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly has sold 7,111 tickets for their Sept. 12th RAW show in Portland, OR, 5,609 tickets for their Sept. 16th SmackDown show in Anaheim, CA, 2,213 tickets for their Sept. 17th house show event in Bakersfield, CA, 1,696 tickets for their Sept. 18th house show event in Oakland, CA, 4,972 tickets for their Sept. 19th RAW show in San Jose, CA, 4,805 tickets for their Sept. 23rd SmackDown show in Salt Lake City, UT, 5,126 tickets for their Sept. 24th house show event in Vancouver, Canada, 2,125 for their Sept. 24th house show event in Stockton, CA, 10,139 tickets for their Sept. 26th RAW show in Edmonton, Canada, 7,271 tickets for their Sept. 30th SmackDown show in Winnipeg, Canada, 1,386 tickets for their Oct. 1st house show event in Regina, Canada, 2,763 for their Oct. 2nd house show event in Saskatoon, Canada, 3.963 tickets for their Oct. 3rd RAW show in St. Paul, MN, 10,032 tickets for their Oct. 8th Extreme Rules 2022 event in Philadelphia, PA , 2,548 tickets for their Oct. 14th SmackDown show in New Orleans, LA, 3,148 tickets for their Oct. 17th RAW show in Oklahoma City, OK, 3,035 tickets for their Oct. 21st SmackDown show in Toledo, OH, 3,013 tickets for their Oct. 24th RAW show in Charlotte, NC, 4,327 tickets for their Oct. 31st RAW show in Dallas, TX, 2,562 tickets for their Nov. 7th RAW show in Wilkes-Bare, PA, 2,796 tickets for their Nov. 14th RAW show in Louisville, KY, and 12,650 tickets for their Nov. 26th Survivor Series 2022 event in Boston, MA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Despite his current absence from WWE programming since this past July, Paul Heyman reportedly has still continued working in his backstage role for WWE at all of their SmackDown tapings and pay-per-view events, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that WWE officials likely are just waiting for the right time for Heyman to make his big on-screen return.
• WWE officials reportedly are currently planning to hold two sets of tapings for their NXT brand this week, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated that the current plans are for the September 13th NXT show to air live and the September 20th NXT show to be taped on September 14th.
• Sasha Banka and Naomi worked as runway models for a fashion show this past Friday as part of this year’s New York Fashion Week event in New York City, New York. Banks and Naomi have been absent from WWE since this past May due to their suspensions following a backstage walkout incident at a RAW show in Norfolk, Virginia.
• North Dakota-based news network KVRR reported that WWE recently canceled their upcoming house show event on October 2nd in Grand Folks, North Dakota. No official reason was given by either WWE nor host venue Ralph Engelstad Arena but it is currently rumored to be due to poor ticket sales for this upcoming event.
• Seth Rollins recently praised both WWE and AEW for the amount of quality in-ring wrestling that was produced this past week on both their television shows and events. Rollins stated on Twitter “The amount of top level in ring content that happens WEEKLY on TV is staggering. Gunther/Fella. Roxy/Meiko. Ricky/Melo. KO/Theory. Roman/Drew. Acclaimed/Swerve. It’s unreal. Appreciate that sh*t.“

AEW & ROH

• During a recent interview with Inside The Ropes, Chris Jericho revealed that besides JAS members Matt Menard and Angelo Parker, Jake Hager also recently signed a contract extension with AEW.
• During a recent interview with the Talk Is Jericho podcast, former AEW talent Alan Angels gave his reasons why he decided to leave the company this past June. Angels stated “I was told they weren’t going to renew my contract about 45 days before it was up, and basically they just weren’t going to give me the same deal, they were gonna give me a per appearance deal, if I wanted it. I figured that maybe had reached the limit of where I could get here right now, at this run in my career, so young, I came into AEW virtually a nobody, I wrestled maybe three years, doing the Southeast circuit. I got signed at 22. So I’ve grown, I’ve built up a little bit of a following on the internet and stuff like that, but I feel like there was a perception of me, and I know a lot of people hate this word, but I was kind of like the jobber of the Dark Order, the bottom guy of the Dark Order, and I feel like when fans build up that perception of you, I think it’s kind of hard to change that, if that makes sense. Once they get that, there’s no changing it, unless gradually you build up, build up, build up, but I feel like in AEW, that would have taken a really long time.” Angels also gave his thoughts on if he is currently interested in joining WWE in the future. Angels stated “I think about it sometimes. I don’t know if I’m their cup of tea right now, but then I also see that they are bringing back some indie guys into the NXT scene, so it’s something I’ve kind of thought about but I’ve never really seriously considered it. You never know.” (Transcript h/t: 411Mania.com)
• Swerve Strickland recently announced on Twitter that the upcoming new episode of his Swerve City podcast with Kenny Omega as the guest has been postponed due to “unforeseen circumstances.” Strickland also stated that a new guest for this scheduled episode will be announced this Monday.
• AEW’s All Out 2022 event this past Sunday generated around 100,000 searches and a #10 ranking on Google for that day, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that All Out 2022 managed to generate around 26.6% more searches than WWE’s Clash at the Castle event generated the prior night.
• AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 5,700 (5,400 paid) for their Sept. 2nd Rampage show in Chicago, IL, 9,100 (8,800 paid) for their Sept. 4th All Out 2022 event in Hoffman Estates, IL, and 5,500 (5,200 paid) for their Sept. 7th Dynamite show in Buffalo, NY, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 2,920 tickets for their Sept. 14th Dynamite show in Albany, NY, 10,904 tickets for their Sept. 21st Dynamite Grand Slam 2022 show at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, NY, 4,781 tickets for their Sept. 28th Dynamite show in Philadelphia, PA, 2,023 tickets for their Oct. 5th Dynamite show in Washington, DC, 1,841 tickets for their Oct. 7th Rampage & Battle of the Belts IV shows in Washington, DC, 6,777 tickets for their Oct. 12th Dynamite show in Toronto, 4,797 tickets for their Oct. 13th Rampage show in Toronto, Canada, 2,595 tickets for their Oct. 18th Dynamite show in Cincinnati, OH, Oct. 26th Dynamite show in Norfolk, VA, and 3,681 tickets for their Oct. 28th Rampage show in Uncasville, CT as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW became the second North American-based promotion in wrestling history to generate three $1 million gates for pay-per-view events in a calendar year. Meltzer reported that the only other North American company to achieve a similar feat is WWE.
• As noted before, AEW filed a trademark for “All Elite Women” this past August which is currently rumored to be for a new all-women AEW-based series. During a recent interview with the Wrestling Observer Radio, AEW CEO Tony Khan revealed that All Elite Women is currently planned to be a new in-ring based television series and not a reality television series. Khan also stated that they currently have yet to secure a television deal for this potential new series.
• During a recent interview with NBC Sports’ Daily Slam podcast, Bobby Fish confirmed that his departure from AEW was due to him and the company not being able to come to terms financially for a new potential deal. Fish stated “Contract was coming up for potential renewal and we couldn’t find common ground on the numbers that we needed for both sides to be happy. So yeah, I’m a free agent.” Fish also gave his thoughts on if he was interested in a potential return to WWE. Fish stated “I don’t know. I’m open to all options and offers at the moment. I do know that there have been quite a few people who have gone back through those doors. I’m happy for the people that I know who left there after I had left, a lot of friendships, and things were weird there for a bit. For them to be back in the direction of some normalcy and positivity, and working for Hunter, I know I enjoyed. I’m just happy for the people that I know that remained and the people that have come back to work there and it’s a good place to be again.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• AEW recently confirmed that the rumors and reports of Alex Reynolds had suffered an injury at their All Out 2022 event this past Sunday was true. During this past Wednesday’s Dynamite show, AEW announced that Reynolds’ injury was the reason why the Dark Order & Hangman Adam Page were not included in the AEW World Trios Championship match to crown new champions on the show.
• Comedian Ron Funches recently announced on Twitter that he is currently working on a new cartoon series with Danhausen and production company Team Coco.
• As noted before, Bobby Fish and CM Punk have had backstage heat with each other since October of 2021 due to issues regarding their match against each other at the time. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that this issue revolved around Punk not being happy that Fish kicked out of his GTS finisher right after the three count was made on the pin or had tried to kick out earlier. Several people spoken to reportedly stated that they did not know why Fish tried to kick out of the finish since he had to have known his actions would have not gone over well with others backstage. One veteran talent spoken to stated that Fish might have been upset that Punk was taking too long to cover him for the pin as a potential reason why Fish tried to kick out but also believed this was due to Punk selling for Fish for all the damage done to him during their match. It was reported that there had not been a lot of communication between Punk and Fish following the in-ring incident.
• During a recent interview with the Wrestling Observer Radio, ROH owner Tony Khan revealed that he paid less money to purchase the company from Sinclair Broadcasting than Jim Crockett did when he purchased Jim Watts’ Universal Wrestling Federation promotion in 1987. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that this would mean that Khan had paid less than $4.2 million for ROH since that was UWF’s purchase price in 1987. Meltzer also reported that this would also mean that WWE’s offer for ROH was also much lower than Khan’s offer.

Indies & Misc. Wrestling

• New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced that they have pulled Kevin Blackwood from the card of tonight’s NJPW Strong themed Autumn Attack 2022 event in Las Vegas, Nevada due to personal reasons-related issues. It was also announced that due to Eddie Kingston and Blackwood’s recent removals, they have made three changes to the card for their event.
• Mick Foley recently announced on Twitter that he will be donating 100% of the proceeds generated from his upcoming one-man show on December 4th in West Chicago, Illinois towards Joe Doering to help financially assist his current battle with brain cancer.
• As noted before, indie wrestler Dirty Ron McDonald accused Game Changer Wrestling this past May of purposely committing fake COVID-19 testing for their talent for their events. McDonald also accused the company of not paying their talent for hotel and travel expenses and low pay given to talent to work at GCW events. Both accusations were denied being true by GCW owner Brett Lauderdale. During a recent interview with their Piers Austin podcast, McDonald gave his thoughts about why he made his fake COVID testing accusations against GCW. McDonald stated “Then, this is December last year so then we get to May of this year and his L.A. Fights shows, he [Brett Lauderdale] uses a lot of the same guys that I do and this is the third time in like four months that he would hit up guys I had booked for months. Hit them up the night before his show and go, ‘Hey, come do my show’ and they would cancel their booking on me which is, you know, sh*t happens. But eventually, I got tired of it and I was like, ‘All right man. How does this not feel personal? Now a bunch of your boys are telling me that rumors are going around that I’m cheap, that I’m trying to get one over or some sh*t’ which is, again, I have no idea where that’s coming from. ‘You know who I got booked on my shows and you’re taking them and asking them to be on your shows’ and they’re taking it, you know? I can’t be mad at them. It’s an opportunity to wrestle in front of 40 people at an L.A. Fights show to 17 people watching a live stream. It’s an opportunity, let me tell ya’. So, I got pissed off and I was like, you know what? F*ck this motherf*cker. I got dirt. I got dirt on this motherf*cker. You know what? And I don’t give a sh*t because the promoter code, you don’t do that sh*t. You don’t book other people’s dudes. So, here’s what I knew and here’s the first time I’m telling anybody exactly what the f*ck happened. Okay, I was at a show, October 2020, at this ranch in Orange County out here in California. There was a GCW show. I brought Sabu in to do these podcasts I did with him. So Brett was like, ‘Oh, can I use Sabu?’ Brett didn’t give me no f*cking money for a flight, didn’t give me no money for a hotel. I paid for all that sh*t for Sabu, all right? Anyway, so, I’m at that show and I have somebody with me in my crew, okay, that is a photoshop genius. So, I find out at the show that Brett said aloud, ‘Hey, does anybody know how to do photoshop?’ And the person in my crew said, ‘I’m a f*cking gangster at that sh*t.’ So unbeknownst to me, Brett has this person make these things, whatever. I find out about it, right? And I’m like… okay and here’s what I know for a fact, I know whatever wrestlers did in fact have fake COVID tests made for them, they didn’t have them made for them. Brett, unbeknownst to those wrestlers had them made because those wrestlers didn’t have them and instead of not booking these wrestlers he had already flown out there, Brett took it upon himself to do some shady ass sh*t and get somebody to do that. That person, I know. I know that person. I have no idea how to do photoshop. I’ve never made no f*cking nothing, nothing. So, I knew all this sh*t and when Brett needed that again, Brett hit me up because he doesn’t have a direct connection to this person. Ah, you know, so I made that connection again for Brett. Again, never made an anything, never touched a photoshop file a day in my life. Here’s the thing too man, he’s out here painting himself as a f*cking, oh, I’m an outlaw. How the f*ck can you be an outlaw when you’re backstage at WrestleMania sucking Stephanie McMahon’s dick on some comps she gave you? You ain’t no f*cking outlaw. You are the mainstream now Brett. Whatever. I worked with them, it didn’t end up going well and I’d still love to hear what the f*ck I did. I still don’t know. But, I just got sick of it and I was like, you know what? F*ck this dude. He’s gonna book my guys and they’re gonna cancel on me last minute. I have five matches. You take three of my guys, now I gotta find some three dudes that are not booked on a Saturday last minute that are good? Come on dude. So, you know, I just got sick and tired of that sh*t and I called him out. Of course he had nothing to say about it because he’s f*cking guilty, guilty. I watch enough Law & Order, I know. Well first of all, I know the truth. I have access to all the files so, you know, whatever. He’s somebody that takes advantage of people. He did the same sh*t to the guys that run one of these new deathmatch promotions out there. Look at all the guys that don’t work there anymore. Look at all the deathmatch guys that don’t work there anymore. I don’t know, so, you know what? Proof’s in the pudding. Brett Lauderdale’s a f*cking cocksucker. Whatever, but you know, again, I stood up for myself and I wasn’t gonna let this f*cking asshole push me around. I thought, you know what? F*ck him and it was really weird because it seemed like the internet really took his side when clearly, everything I said had something to back it up.” (Transcript h/t: Post Wrestling.com)
• GCW recently announced that STRONGHEARTS (CIMA, El Lindaman, & T-Hawk) will be making their official debuts for the company at their Dead on Arrival event on September 27th in Tokyo, Japan.
• Lucha Libre AAA talent DMT Azul reportedly recently left the company following the expiration of his contract, according to the Wrestling Observer newsletter.
• Stardom reportedly generated a paid attendance of 556 for their Sept. 3rd 5STAR Grand Prix 2022 event in Takamatsu, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Pro Wrestling NOAH reportedly generated a paid attendance of 2,988 for their Sept. 3rd N-1 Victory 2022 Grand Final in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Pro Wrestling NOAH recently announced that they will be holding a joint event with Dragon Gate called Global Dream on November 11th in Tokyo, Japan.
• During a recent episode of the To Be The Man podcast, co-host Ric Flair revealed a film based on his life and wrestling career is currently in the works. Flair stated “Well, there’s talks right now that I can’t mention. They are making a movie about my life and I know that they’ve talked to Bradley Cooper. I could see him doing that. I could see him. That’s the only name that’s come up I don’t.. That’s only rumored. I mean, I’ve heard it officially, but it’s not in place. So ladies and gentlemen, it’s not true that he’s playing Ric Flair. I’ve heard they’ve talked to him, that’s it. Bradley Cooper is not playing me in a movie, yet. I hope he does.” (Transcript h/t: SESCoops.com)
• Major League Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Super Series event on September 18th in Norcross, Georgia. This will be a #1 Contender for the MLW Featherweight Championship Four-way match of Lady Shani vs. Lady Flammer vs. La Hiedra vs. Reina Dorada.
• MLW talent KC Navarro announced on Twitter that his contract with the company recently expired and he is currently a free agent.
• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that Women of Wrestling will be holding their next set of television tapings for their WOW TV on September 21-23 in Los Angeles, California.
• Matt Cardona filed a trademark for “The Agent” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on August 30th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• AAW Wrestling recently announced that Masha Slamovich will be making an appearance for the company at their Jim Lynam Memorial Tournament 2002 event on October 14-15 in Chicago, Illinois. It was announced that Slamovich will also become the first women in company history to participate as a competitor for their Jim Lynam Memorial Tournament.
• Steph De Lander, former Persia Pirotta in WWE, announced on Twitter that she recently had surgery to fix an undisclosed injury and will be out of action for the next couple of months as a result.