Weekend Roundup: New WWE Reality Series Planned, RAW Ratings, More WBD Layoffs, Ricky Starks, ROH & NJPW, AAA, Indies

WWE

• This past Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,098,000 viewers on FOX, according to SpoilerTV.
• VICE TV recently released a trailer for their upcoming Nine Lives of Vince McMahon documentary, which airs on their network this Tuesday starting at 9PM EST.
• Kurt Angle recently reflected on Twitter about WWE hosting a birthday party celebration for him during this past Friday’s SmackDown show in his hometown of Pittsburgh.
• This past Monday’s RAW show in Washington, DC featured an Undisputed Tag Team Championship match between Matt Riddle & Kevin Owens and The Usos, which was won by the Usos. Following the match, a post-match brawl took place with Solo Sikoa, who attacked Riddle with a Samoan Spike in honor of his uncle, the late Umaga. WWE recently announced that due to the injuries he suffered, Riddle will be out of action for the next six weeks.
• During Saturday’s NXT Deadline event, WWE announced that next year’s NXT New Year’s Evil special will be taking place on January 10, 2023 at their Performance Center.
• Following Saturday’s NXT Deadline event, Shawn Michaels held a post-show press conference with one of the topics discussed included his thoughts on Bron Breakker’s future in NXT and potential main roster call-up plans for him. Michaels stated “We have a long-term and short-term plan, so we have no idea what we’re doing [laughs]. I’m kidding. We have the board filled up and everything else, we’re pretty good [laughs]. Bron is always a guy that is on that list. Every one sees that he’s special, he’s obviously the horse we’re riding here in NXT. I’ll always say this, Bron is always going to be on that list because everyone always sees so much potential in him. He’s just one that I look at and I say that we’d love to be able to keep him here just for a little bit longer so we could just really round him. I feel like he could go up there and do things here and there on the main roster but to continue to let us keep him here and help him along. I feel like we have some other people that you could insert right now and feel like you don’t have to worry one way or another, not that you have to do that with Bron, he’s going to step up to any challenge. Selfishly, I’d like to be able to keep him here and really round him out as perfectly as we can when we have that opportunity. I don’t see the rush. I don’t ever want to keep him from any opportunities, and I’d never do that, if we have the option to keep him and make him a more well-rounded performer for the main roster, I’d love to be able to have the time to do that. I never want to give the impression that Bron is not a guy that we wouldn’t be thrilled to have on the main roster because he obviously is, I would just like to make him…I’d like to wrap him up nicely in a bow and deliver him to them, perfectly ready to go.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• This past Friday’s SmackDown show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania featured a parking lot interview segment with Legado Del Fantasma. During the segment, Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler attacked Shozti in the background injuring her hand on a car door. Shotzi recently announced on Twitter that due to the injuries she suffered, she is currently expected to be out of action for the next six weeks.
• This past Friday’s SmackDown show also featured the official announcement of John Cena making his return to WWE for an appearance on the December 30th episode of SmackDown.
• Bayley recently announced on Instagram that she will be holding a charity stream on December 14th to help raise funds for the Family Giving Tree organization. Bayley also announced that Sasha Banks will be among those making an appearance during the stream.
• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that several WWE talents were seen in Los Angeles this past week for the filming of a new commercial for the WWE 2K video game series. Johnson reported that Rhea Ripley, Damian Priest, Bianca Belair, Cody Rhodes, Dominik Mysterio, Johnny Gargano, and Rey Mysterio were among those who worked over the course of the past week in the filming for this new commercial.
• WWE reportedly generated a paid attendance of 6,264 (5,500 paid) for their Dec. 2nd SmackDown show in Buffalo, NY, 3,041 for their Dec. 3rd house show event in Rochester, NY, 2,883 for their Dec. 4th house show event in Petersburg, VA, and 8,125 (7,200 paid) for their Dec. 5th RAW show in Washington, DC, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 6,128 tickets for their Dec. 12th RAW show in Milwaukee, WI, 10,285 tickets for their Dec. 16th SmackDown show in Chicago, IL, 12,438 tickets for their Jan. 23, 2023 RAW 30th show in Philadelphia, PA, 32,086 tickets for their Jan. 28th Royal Rumble 2023 event in San Antonio, TX, 12,663 tickets for their Feb. 18th Elimination Chamber 2023 event in Montreal, Canada, 49,603 tickets for their April 1st WrestleMania 39 Night 1 event in Inglewood, and 50,123 tickets for their April 2nd WrestleMania 39 Night 2 event in Inglewood, CA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that television cable network E! is currently working on plans for a potential new reality series featuring legitimate wrestling couples. Meltzer speculated that some of WWE’s planned upcoming signings could be related for this new potential series with Matt Cardona being one of the names he was told as both a potential future signing to the company and for this new series.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that John Cena’s availability for WWE’s WrestleMania 39 event could be in doubt based on Cena’s current filming schedule. Cena reportedly is currently scheduled to be in Australia through the months of February and March 2023 for the filming of a new comedy film titled Ricky Stanicky.
• As noted before, the December 5th RAW show drew 1,536,000 viewers and a 0.41 key demographic rating. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that this past Monday’s show’s overall viewership was the fourth lowest ever for a RAW show in RAW series history. Meltzer reported that the first-to-third hour drop of 27.7% was the largest ever first-to-third hour drop, the second-to-third hour drop of 20.9% was the largest ever second-to-third hour drop, and the third hour viewership of 1,263,000 viewers was the lowest ever third hour for a RAW show in RAW series history. In regards to quarter hour low point, Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that RAW managed to drop as low as 1,185,000 viewers for their seventh quarter, which featured the first half of the Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss match. RAW’s quarter hour peak viewership reportedly was at 1,889,000 viewers for their third quarter.

AEW & ROH

• During a recent interview with The Ringer, Britt Baker gave her thoughts on which storyline in wrestling inspired her interest in wrestling and decision to pursue a wrestling career. Baker stated “The first story line that made me immensely obsessed with wrestling and gave me the bug to want to do something like this and want to do this because of how the story made me feel, it was the Bryan Danielson storyline at WrestleMania XXX. How the fans really decided the story line. To me, that was one of the coolest things in the world—that the entire wrestling universe got behind this one wrestler who was a massive underdog and should not have been in the spot he was in, but the fans made sure of it. That was the coolest thing in the world to me, because there’s no other sport where the fans decide. In football, whoever has the most points wins, but in this sport, it’s really cool to see the effect that the fans have. It’s magical, really.“
• Saturday’s UFC 282 event in Paradise, Nevada featured MJF among those in attendance.
• MJF recently released an insult-laden list on Twitter listing everyone in AEW that he feels will never be able to defeat him for his AEW World Championship. Among those listed included The Pebble (Ricky Starks), The American Dipshit Dragon (Bryan Danielson), Jungle Jabronie (Jungle Boy Jack Perry), and Adam “My Brain Don’t Work, So I Can’t Cope” Cole (Adam Cole).
• During a recent Inside The Ropes Live show this past October, William Regal gave his thoughts about his “Man in the Mask” banter with Excalibur on commentary in AEW. Regal stated “What happened, the first week or whatever, me just being me, not a thought, mentioned something to Excalibur, and it went from there. At the time, I was watching ‘Brassic’, and everybody’s calling everybody sweetheart in the house on that show, and I thought, ‘Oh, l like that.’ I’ve always called people Sunshine and flower and petal, and northern sayings. So I thought, ‘Ah.’ So I did it once, and I’ve never once put any thought for the slightest bit in what I’m gonna say. If you actually watched, I had no idea what I was gonna say, and a second [later], and then I went, ‘Blah blah blah,’ which I’ve done every single week, and it’s become a thing now. I’ve left it alone for a few weeks because I felt the matches were too serious to do it. But don’t keep expecting it because I don’t put any thought into it. Am I having the time of my life? Yes, I am. I’m having the time of my life because I get on with all the people that are in that group, and it’s a real thing. We are there training with Wheeler at 10 o’clock. I’m not messing about with that because me and Bryan are there, and Claudio started coming out. Jon turns up when Jon wants, but that’s why I like him. He has his role in our group, but when he comes backstage, and he’ll put things into a perspective to me and Wheeler after he’s come out of the ring because he’s firing on all cylinders. I go, ‘That’s stuff I wouldn’t know because he’s lived a different life to me.’ Now all of a sudden there’s a group of other people that are listening because we’re trying to just make this whatever it is. Basically, it’s no different than how NXT started. Let’s just try to make everybody as good as they can be, and that’s what it is. [I] just happened to be able to do all this stuff that I do and just say stupid stuff. Those announcers have a brutal job of just calling stuff. If I can go out and make Excalibur smile for 20 seconds, he’s got all these things that he’s got to get out there and word perfect. I want to just go out, just lighten the load. If I see him smile through that or the other two laugh or whatever, good. If I’ve took five seconds of them and make them not go [frustrated sound], that’s no different than me helping you or teaching a wrestler how to do something a certain way. I’m doing my bit to lighten the load a little bit. That’s why I do it.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that AEW officials recently held talks over the the idea of a potential face turn for MJF following their Full Gear 2022 event this past November. Meltzer reported that the basis was due to AEW officials feeling that they needed a new hot top babyface star to help turn things around for the company but in the end AEW CEO Tony Khan made the decision to not go ahead with the idea.
• AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 3,600 (3,200 paid) for their Dec. 7th Dynamite show in Cedar Park, TX, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 4,285 tickets for their Dec. 14th Dynamite Winter Is Coming 2022 show in Garland, TX, 7,103 tickets for their Jan. 4, 2023 Dynamite show in Seattle, WA, 6,393 tickets for their Jan. 11th Dynamite show in Los Angeles, CA, and 4,889 (pre-sale) for their March 5th Revolution 2023 event in San Francisco, CA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that both Jon Moxley and Renee Paquette were very sick this past week. Moxley reportedly made the decision to still work at AEW’s tapings this past Wednesday due to the importance for the planned William Regal segment on the show. Moxley reportedly was also asked by AEW CEO Tony Khan if he would be able to work in a match against Konosuke Takeshita for that Friday’s Rampage show in order to help strength the card and ratings interest for the show.
• The Hollywood Reporter reported that another round of layoffs recently took place in Warner Bros Discovery that included Nancy Daniels, President of TNT and TBS, and Scot Lewers, head of franchise series expansions, both being let go by the company. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Daniels and Lewers had both been big supporters of AEW within the company. Meltzer reported that Kathleen Finch, current head of TNT and TBS, was among the notable people who were not laid off, who is another big supporter of AEW within the company.
• During a recent interview with the Busted Open Radio, Claudio Castagnoli gave his thoughts about William Regal’s departure from AEW. Castagnoli stated “I will never say goodbye to William Regal because I know I can always see him or talk to him at any point. His Lordship, as we call him in the Blackpool Combat Club, he’s one of the smartest men in professional wrestling and that’s why he left the way he did, to give us that last lesson, that extra edge, that little bit more. It’s what you need sometimes to succeed and I really appreciate that because I was kind of conflicted going into the match after Full Gear. ‘Why can’t I beat Chris Jericho when the title is on the line?’ After the message on Wednesday, my confidence went up again. That’s what a mentor like William Regal does. He takes one for the team, literally, to make his team better. To me, he’s always around. I ended the man’s career, that puts you on a different respect level and a different level all together with him. The bond we have, he’s BCC for life and so am I.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent interview with Comicbook.com, Ricky Starks gave his thoughts about his promo segment with MJF during this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show. Starks stated “I think you’ll hear a lot of wrestlers say, ‘Oh, I didn’t think of it. I didn’t plan it out, I didn’t write it out.’ Cody [Rhodes] makes the same joke, but that’s bull. Even the best promos had to have some type of structure to them. I am somewhat in the same way, admittedly. I’m not one to really pull back the curtain on anything here, but yesterday, earlier in the day, I had wrote out this whole thing, and in my head memorized it and did all this, and stressed myself out, and then had a match to do. Anything could have gone wrong where I just forget it in the match. I remember Max cutting that promo and saying these comments, and in that moment I was like, ‘I’ll just wing it. I’ll just wing it. I know where I want to go and what I want to get to, and I’ll just fill in the blanks. So what you saw out there was me winging it. That’s how I operate. Yes, I can come up with some lines and think about it, but for the most part, whatever I feel, I just say, and it comes off in that moment.“
• Following Saturday’s Ring of Honor Final Battle 2022 event, ROH owner Tony Khan stated in the post-show media scrum that former WWE talent Trent Seven recently signed a per appearance deal with AEW.
• During the same post-show media scrum, Tony Khan stated that New Japan Pro Wrestling’s partnership with ROH will be continuing and NJPW talent will be making appearances on ROH TV as part of its relaunch plans.
• ROH owner Tony Khan also stated during Saturday’s ROH Final Battle 2022 post-show media scrum that the reason why Colt Cabana did not work at ROH’s event was due to a recent injury he suffered. Khan stated “He’s injured. He hasn’t been cleared. He has been wrestling Ring of Honor matches and that was also what the Chris Jericho storyline is all Ring of Honor champions and people from either the new Ring of Honor or, in the case of Bryan Danielson, a Hall of Famer, but everyone who came in there represented the new era of Ring of Honor including Colt Cabana, who had been on the last two shows and was 2-0 on Zero Hour and I think that would have made a lot of sense, he’s done great opening up the show, but he’s injured or he would have been. He was coaching. He was here coaching.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• During a recent K&S WrestleFest virtual fan signing event, Ian Riccaboni gave his thoughts about if he is interested in working in WWE in the future. Riccaboni stated “Never say never. I really like working in AEW and Ring of Honor right now. It would have to be something that I really believe in, and Ring of Honor is that right now. I’ve been with Ring of Honor for eight years, going on nine.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

Indies & Misc. Wrestling

• Wrestling Revolver recently announced that Jon Moxley will be making an appearance for their company for an event called A Night at the MOXbury on February 2, 2023 in Dayton, Ohio.
• Impact Wrestling recently released the full uncut video of the Impact World Championship match between “Speedball” Mike Bailey and Josh Alexander that aired during this past Thursday’s Impact! show. In an interesting note, this match currently is the second highest ever rated match in Impact history on wrestling website Cagematch.net.
• WrestleCon recently announced that Bret Hart, Mick Foley, Sgt. Slaughter, Kevin Nash, Lita, Sabu, The Young Bucks, The Tonga Kid, and Henry and Phineas Godwin will all be making an appearance for the company at their WrestleCon 2023 convention on March 31 to April 2, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
• Lucha Libre AAA reportedly generated an attendance of 3,129 (2,100 paid) for their December 3rd event in Tempe, Arizona, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AAA co-owner Dorian Roldan recently stated that the company is currently working on plans to run an event in Los Angeles, California during next year’s WWE WrestleMania 39 week festivities in the city. Roldan also recently stated that the company is currently in talks with a U.S. cable network for a television contract in the country. Roldan also stated that due to the financial success of this year’s Triplemania XXX events, the company likely will run multiple Triplemania events in 2023. (Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that AAA officials recently held talks regarding potential plans to bring in more high flyer talent into the company next year. AAA officials reportedly are also currently working on plans to give a big push to Komander next year as well.
• As noted before, Konnan has been suffering from kidneys-related issues due to complications from a bout he had with COVID-19 earlier this year. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Konnan’s health situation has been improving since he started dialysis and is currently hopeful of being able to return on road for AAA by their December 28th event in Acapulco, Mexico. In regards to Konnan’s duties as booker of AAA, Meltzer reported that Konnan has still been writing and booking shows from his home and sends them via group chat to others in the company.
• Stardom reportedly generated a paid attendance of 408 for their Dec. 3rd Goddess of Stardom Tag League 2022 event in Tokyo and 731 for their Dec. 4th Goddess of Stardom Tag League 2022 Finals event in Chiba, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Dragon Gate reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,206 for their Dec. 6th Fantastic Gate 2022 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This event was notable for featuring a surprise return appearance by NJPW talent Shingo Takagi.
• All Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 707 for their Dec. 4th Real World Tag League 2022 event in Osaka and 801 for their Dec. 7th Real World Tag League 2022 Finals event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• New Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly is currently planning for an IWGP Women’s Championship match to be featured on the card of their Battle in the Valley event on Feb. 18, 2023 in San Jose, California, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• NJPW reportedly generated a paid attendance of 945 for their Dec. 2nd Super Junior Tag League 2022 and World Tag League 2022 joint event in Osaka, 933 for their Dec. 3rd World Tag League 2022 event in Kakogawa, 931 for their Dec. 4th Super Junior Tag league 2022 event in Yamaguchi, 1,091 for their Dec. 5th World Tag League 2022 event in Karatsu, and 668 for their Dec. 7th Super Junior Tag League 2022 event in Sasebo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Former ECW founder and owner Tod Gordon reportedly will be releasing a new book titled Tod is God: The Authorized Story of How I Created Extreme Championship Wrestling in July of 2023, according to PWInsider.
• Westside Xtreme Wrestling reportedly was recently involved in a controversy over the announcement of their upcoming 22nd Anniversary event airing live on BILDplus, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that many fans of the company were very upset over the announcement due to the service being owned by BILD, which is a far-right newspaper that has been known to be racist, anti-guy, anti-diversity, and not adhering to journalism standards in Germany. Fans were also upset due to wXw’s involvement with BILD goes against wXw’s mission statement of being inclusive to all fans and banning those for racist, sexist, and homophobic chants and behavior at their events.
• wXw recently announced that Shigehiro Irie is the next official entrant for their 16 Carat Gold 2023 tournament, which takes place on March 10-12, 2023 in Oberhausen, Germany.
• Major League Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Blood & Thunder 2023 event on January 7, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is a MLW World Tag Team Championship match of Samoan SWAT team vs. Hustle & Power (EJ Nduka & Calvin Tankman) (c).
• Pro Wrestling Guerilla recently announced that Bandido, Konosuke Takeshita, and El Hijo del Vikingo are the final official entrants for next year’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament on January 7-8, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
• As noted before, former wrestler Tammy Sytch was arrested this past May in Florida following a police investigation into a fatal car accident involving Sytch this past March. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that a judge recently granted a motion filed by Sytch’s lawyer to postpone her next scheduled pre-trial hearing to a new date of January 12, 2023. Sytch’s lawyer reportedly had requested for a new date in February 2023 but this was rejected by the court.
• The National Wrestling Alliance recently announced that Tyrus will be defending his NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship against Matt Cardona at their next pay-per-view event. Details regarding this upcoming event were not given.