Weekend Roundup: Wyatt 6, Endeavor Interested in WWE, AEW’s Toronto Gates, Jon Moxley, AAA Triplemania XXX, PCO, Indies

WWE

• This past Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,129,000 viewers on FOX, according to SpoilerTV.
• As noted before, WWE is currently planning to remove all of their content soon from streaming service Hulu due to their deal with Hulu is currently set to expire by the end of this year. PWInsider’s Paul Jordan reported that a recent update on Hulu revealed that most of WWE’s content on the service now features an expiration date of nine to ten days. Jordan reported that one exception is recent episodes of SmackDown which currently do not feature an expiration date listing.
• WWE filed trademarks for “Tank Ledger”, “Eka Brown”, “Luca Crusifino”, and “Tavion Heights” on October 11th for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• WWE officials reportedly have been recently impressed with Angelo Dawkins, according to Fightful Select. It was reported that one source stated that WWE officials currently have plans to give Dawkins a push due to them being pleased with his ring work performances lately. Another source stated that Dawkins working more singles matches is “not an accident” and instead due to him impressing high level WWE officials. One AEW talent spoken to stated that they have been impressed with Dawkins’ recent ring work and feel that he could be the breakout star of The Street Profits if he got more chances to showcase his work.
• Former NXT talents Bobby Fish and Anthony Greene reportedly were seen in attendance at recent NXT brand house show events in Florida, according to Fightful Select.
• As noted before, Bray Wyatt made his return to WWE at this past weekend’s Extreme Rules 2022 event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that WWE officials currently have plans for Wyatt to be the leader of a new group called the Wyatt 6, which is something Wyatt has been cryptically teasing about on social media in the months leading up to his WWE return. Meltzer reported that WWE officials also currently have long-term plans for this upcoming group that extend up to next year’s WrestleMania 39. In regards to potential members of this new group, Meltzer reported that Erick Rowan has been recently rumored to be the “Ramblin Rabbit” and Bo Dallas has been recently rumored to be “The Fiend” of Wyatt’s new group. Others who have been specially teased for this group are Alexa Bliss and NXT’s Joe Gacy and Grayson Waller. Meltzer reported that those spoken to stated that the names being speculated are mostly accurate but plans are still up in the air for the makeup of the group’s membership. Meltzer also reported that WWE officials had plans at one point for Aleister Black, currently known as Malakai Black, to be a member of this new group.
• WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 6,251 (5,500 paid) for their Oct. 7th SmackDown show in Worcester, MA, 14,500 (13,000 paid) for their Oct. 8th Extreme Rules event in Philadelphia, PA, and 11,223 (10,100 paid) for their Oct. 10th RAW show in Brooklyn, NY, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly has sold 4,415 tickets for their Oct. 17th RAW show in Oklahoma City, OK, 4,711 tickets for their Oct. 21st SmackDown show in Toledo, OH, 3,280 tickets for their Oct. 22nd house show event in Dayton, OH, 2,364 tickets for their Oct. 23rd house show event in Pikeville, KY, 5,702 tickets for their Oct. 24th RAW show in Charlotte, NC, 4,995 tickets for their Oct. 28th SmackDown show in St. Louis, MO, 5,254 tickets for their Oct. 30th house show event in Glasgow, Scotland, 6,448 tickets for their Oct. 31st RAW show in Dallas, TX, 3,875 tickets for their Nov. 7th RAW show in Wilkes-Bare, PA, 6,192 tickets for their Nov. 11th SmackDown show in Indianapolis, IN, 1,950 for their Nov. 13th house show event in Madison WI, 5,194 tickets for their Nov. 14th RAW show in Louisville, KY, 4,139 tickets for their Nov. 21st RAW show in Albany, NY, and 12,721 tickets for their Nov. 26th Survivor Series 2022 event in Boston, MA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that USA Network officials were thrilled with the ratings for this past Monday’s RAW show in Brooklyn, New York. Meltzer reported that USA Network officials might have looked too much into this past week’s show as the bar for RAW going forward considering this past week’s show had revolved around DX’s 25th anniversary and the follow up to Wyatt’s high profile return at Extreme Rules despite him working for WWE’s SmackDown brand going forward.
• As noted before, Former EVOLVE owner and WWE creative writer Gabe Sapolsky was rehired by WWE this past September. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that WWE officials recently put Sapolsky in charge of handling the extras brought in for their RAW and SmackDown shows.
• During a recent interview with The Ringer’s The Town podcast, Endeavor President Mark Shapiro gave his thoughts about the idea of his company potentially purchasing WWE in the future. Shapiro stated “We’ve shown the street (Wall Street) and frankly, everybody else in the industry that cares, what we can do when you put the UFC on top of the Endeavor platform. There are just all kinds of levers we can flip. When it comes to WWE? Yes, that would be something interesting and it would be worth exploring. Would we buy it? Who knows? Last time I checked; it isn’t for sale. But is it something we’re interested in? We are interested in anything in the owned sports properties segment.” Endeavor is the current parent company of UFC. (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that NXT talent Cameron Grimes is currently scheduled to be backstage at this Monday’s RAW show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Johnson reported that Grimes is currently expected to work in a main roster tryout match during WWE’s Main Event tapings prior to that night’s RAW show.
• Kofi Kingston recently launched a new foundation called CLICK for Quality Education Foundation which will help provide access to computers to students in his home country of Ghana.
• WWE officials reportedly recently held talks to hold more international events and less gimmick-based events in 2023, according to the Wrestling Observer.
• LuchaBlog reported that former Mexican wrestling legend Humberto Garza passed away earlier today at age of 85. Garza was the grandfather of current WWE talents Angel Garza and Humberto Carillo.
• Deadline.com reported that Comcast will be shutting down television network G4 after just less than one year since its revival due to low ratings issues. Comcast CEO Dave Scott reportedly had sent an internal memo to staff informing them of the decision to shut down G4 effective immediately. Among those who were brought in for the network’s revival included WWE talent Xavier Woods who stated on Twitter that he only found out about the news from social media.

AEW & ROH

• AEW filed a trademark for “Varsity Club” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on October 7th to the USPTO. This is the same name of the classic stable in the National Wrestling Alliance during the late 1980s which featured Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotunda, Rick Steiner, Steve Williams, Dan Spivey, and Leia Meow.
• AEW reportedly generated a total live gate revenue of around $1.045 million for their debut shows in Toronto, Canada this past week, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that AEW’s Dynamite show on Oct. 12th generated a live gate of over $600,000 while their Rampage show on Oct. 14th generated a live gate of around $445,000.
• AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 2,800 (2,500 paid) for their Oct. 7th Rampage show in Washington, D.C., 7,500 (7,100 paid) for their Oct. 12th Dynamite show in Toronto, and 5,800 (5,500 paid) for their Oct. 14th Rampage show in Toronto, Canada, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 3,791 tickets for their Oct. 18th Dynamite show in Cincinnati, OH, 2,561 tickets for their Oct. 21st Rampage show in Jacksonville, FL, 2,384 tickets for their Oct. 26th Dynamite show in Norfolk, VA, 3,816 tickets for their Oct. 28th Rampage show in Uncasville, CT, 1,764 tickets for their Nov. 2nd Dynamite show in Baltimore, MD, 1,459 tickets for their Nov. 4th Rampage show in Atlantic City, NJ, 2,458 tickets for their Nov. 9th Dynamite show in Boston, MA, 1,763 tickets for their Nov. 16th Dynamite show in Bridgeport, CT, 10,080 tickets for their Nov. 19th Full Gear 2022 event in Chicago, IL, 4,150 tickets for their Nov. 23rd Dynamite show in Chicago, IL, and 2,014 tickets for their Nov. 30th Dynamite show in Indianapolis, IN as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, Jon Moxley recently signed a new five-year contract extension with AEW. Among the terms of the new deal includes Moxley working exclusively for AEW and their partner companies going forward. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that one reason why Moxley agreed to work less in the indies is due to him wanting to focus more on taking care of his health and prevent past alcoholism issues from rising up again. Meltzer reported that due to Moxley’s status in AEW, he likely will still be allowed to work in the indies but on a much less frequent basis and as an unannounced surprise for shows. Meltzer also reported that another reason for Moxley’s change in view is due to him no longer wanting to create the situation for himself where he feels pressured to have to work at indie shows he was advertised while being hurt or having to cancel family plans in order to not disappoint fans who spent their money for shows under the belief he would appear. Moxley reportedly wants to have a more free-flowing schedule where if he feels in the mood to work in the indies and has no family plans scheduled, he would then contact people for potential short-term bookings instead of being stuck with booking commitments that were in place well ahead of time.
• A recent episode of The Ariel Helwani Show featured AEW CEO Tony Khan as the guest. In a recent episode of The MMA Hour, host Helwani stated that his recent interview with Khan was “one of the most frustrating and, to a degree, not so fun interviews of my career.” Helwani also stated “He didn’t want to answer anything. You’re going to come on and promote X, Y, and Z, great. And I’ll play that dance with you. I did, at the beginning. But you got to give us something, to not even tell me how you were feeling. I’m not asking for specifics, alright fine I am, but is Punk going to wrestle for you, is he coming back, you don’t want to get into it, fine. But tell me how you were feeling. Give me something.” The source of Helwani’s frustrations revolved around him asking multiple times for Khan’s comments about the on-going third party investigations into the backstage fight incident at AEW’s All Out 2022 event this past September and getting no answers he wanted in return. Khan had stated in previous interviews that he can not comment on the situation due to legal issues which Helwani tried bypass in his attempt to get Khan to go on the record over the matter. (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)
• As noted before, Chris Jericho suffered a bruised larynx injury this past September which caused his band Fozzy to cancel the remainder of their Save The World concert tour in the United States this year as a result. During a recent interview with the Paltrocast podcast, Jericho provided a health update on the status of his bruised larynx injury. Jericho stated “It’s getting better [bruised larynx]. It’s one of those things that I was thinking like, oh, when the bruising goes away that you’ll just be able to sing again and it’s like, no, it’s not like that. If you tear your shoulder, it just doesn’t get better. You gotta do the rehab and start with three-pound weights so that’s kind of where I’m at. We [Fozzy] have a tour that starts in a month from today in England and I started just kind of recalibrating my singing to where we’ll be great for the tour and as I still continue to get stronger, you just have to relearn some things and then it’s going to come back so it’s going good. It’s a lot better now than it was two weeks ago which was a lot better than it was two weeks before that so… 32 years in wrestling and a thousand clotheslines over the rope, never had a problem. This was just one of those things. It was the right place at the wrong time or the wrong place at the right time, whatever you wanna say.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
• Fightful’s Robert Defelice reported that AEW talent Trent Beretta’s mother Sue recently released a new children’s book titled Hot Chips, Mad Fish, and Other Tales on Amazon. Sue is most known for making several appearances in AEW alongside her son and Best Friends.

Indies & Misc. Wrestling

• Lucha Libre AAA announced during the pre-show of Saturday’s Triplemania XXX: Mexico City event that a new lucha-based Marvel series starting AAA talent will be debuting on Disney’s Disney+ streaming service on December 21st. This upcoming series is titled El Origen De La Mascara.
• Saturday’s AAA Triplemania XXX: Mexico City event also featured a video message from WWE talent Rey Mysterio congratulating AAA on celebrating the 30th anniversary of Triplemania.
• Following AAA’s Triplemania XXX: Mexico City event, AAA aired a backstage segment featuring Game Changer Wrestling talents Joey Janela, Alex Colon, and Gringo Loco ambush attacking Hijo Del Vikingo setting up future storyline work for Vikingo in GCW.
• New Japan Pro Wrestling recently uploaded their two-night Royal Quest II event from earlier this month on their New Japan World streaming service. This event originally did not air on the service and instead was stated by NJPW prior to the event that it would be uploaded to their service’s On Demand section at a later date.
• NJPW’s Battle Autumn 2022 event earlier today in Niigata, Japan featured KENTA defeating Hirooki Goto and SANADA defeating Taichi in First Round matches for NJPW’s World TV Championship tournament.
• NJPW reportedly generated a paid attendance of 4,059 for their Oct. 10th Declaration of Power event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, Japanese wrestling legend Antonio Inoki passed away this past September. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that a potential ugly legal battle could be taking place soon over the ownership rights to the Inoki intellectual property. Meltzer reported that the owners who purchased the defunct Inoki Genome Federation are currently claiming that they own the rights to the Inoki IP and their claim is being supported by Inoki’s younger brother Keisuke Inoki. These same people reportedly also currently believe that Inoki’s daughter will be on board soon with their claims. Opposing them reportedly is the family of the late Tazuko Tada Inoki, who was Inoki’s wife until her death in 2019. Meltzer reported that this dispute revolves around the Inoki name being very valuable financially and new Inoki-based merchandise is currently planned to be released soon, which includes new books, documentaries and DVD reprints of Inoki’s greatest matches.
• During a recent Captain’s Corner’s virtual fan signing event, Impact Wrestling talent PCO revealed that he was originally booked to make an appearance for Major League Wrestling’s upcoming Fightland 2022 event on October 30th but had to pull out due to contractual-related issues with Impact. PCO stated “I was supposed to be on their show at the ECW Arena for the 30th of October [MLW Fightland]. But because of my affiliation with IMPACT Wrestling, I couldn’t go, because they’re a little bit in competition together. But I love their company, I was treated well when I was there and Court Bauer, Mister Saint Laurent, they took great care of me. I had fun there. I had fun for like [a] full 2018. I was with them, I was on every show for almost a full year so, it’s great.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
• As noted before, Willie Mack left Impact Wrestling this past May following the expiration of his contract. Following his match at AAA’s Triplemania XXX: Mexico City event on Saturday in Mexico City, Mexico, Mack stated in an interview with Denise Salcedo that the reason he left Impact was due to pay-related issues. Mack stated “Well, first and foremost, it was a money thing, because they promised one thing and I said, ‘You know what? I’m not accepting that. So I went back to where I started, on the independents, even though it’s a tough grind, but I’m least I’m having fun and getting to travel and meeting people that I haven’t seen in years. It’s good to be able to do your own thing. I can pick up the phone and say, ‘I can be there Monday night,’ [or] ‘I can’t do that, I’m already booked here,’ and stuff like that. It feels great.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Impact Wrestling reportedly generated an attendance of 650 for their Oct. 7th Bound For Glory 2022 event in Albany and 125 for their Oct. 8th Impact! tapings in Albany, New York, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Stardom reportedly generated a paid attendance of 436 for their Oct. 8th event in Toyama, 353 for their Oct. 10th event in Hiroshima, and 246 for their Oct. 12th event in Tottori, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Pro Wrestling NOAH reportedly generated a paid attendance of 625 for their Oct. 7th Star Navigation 2022 event in Tokyo and 689 for their Oct. 8th Star Navigation 2022 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,007 for their Oct. 9th Wrestling Princess III event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that TJPW could have had a higher attendance for the event but TJPW officials decided to have a limited crowd in order for fans to be allowed to verbally cheer at the event under current COVID-19 safety rules for events in Japan.