Weekend Roundup: New WWE Tag Team Name, Vince McMahon, Mercedes Mone & AEW Update, Dustin Rhodes, Ratings, Indies

WWE

• This past Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,168,000 viewers on FOX, according to SpoilerTV.
• Bayley announced on Twitter that Saturday was the 10-year anniversary of her official debut in WWE. Bayley stated “Today marks 10 years that I’ve officially been a part of @WWE. A DECADE. Grateful. Proud. Not Done. Thank you.”
• NXT tag team Pretty Deadly, Elton Prince & Kit Wilson, reportedly are working this week’s set of WWE main roster house show events, according to PWInsider.
• This past Friday’s SmackDown show in Memphis, Tennessee featured a bar room segment with Sheamus and Drew McIntyre. During the segment Sheamus and McIntyre revealed that their new tag team pairing will be known as the Banger Bros going forward. Sheamus recently held a poll on Twitter asking fans which type of vehicle his new team should use for transportation. Banger Bus won with 63.3% of the fan vote, followed by Banger Truck at 16.5% of the vote. For those interested in learning more about this new WWE tag team, best to leave safe search on or avoid doing it at work.
• WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 15,738 (12,700 paid) for their Dec. 30th SmackDown show in Tampa, Florida, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. In regards to the boost in ticket sales caused by John Cena, Dave Meltzer reported that WWE sold over 6,200 tickets following the announcement of John Cena’s in-ring appearance for the show. Meltzer reported that this was the largest jump in sales caused by a specific WWE star announcement for a non-WrestleMania WWE event in 2022. In regards to the show’s overall attendance, WrestleTix reported that the actual amount of tickets distributed for the show was 13,856.
• WWE reportedly also generated an attendance of 6,279 for their Dec. 29th house show event in Hershey, PA, 4,950 for their Dec. 29th house show event in Miami, FL, 7,724 for their Dec. 30th house show event in Toronto, Canada, and 9,218 (8,100 paid) for their Jan. 2nd RAW show in Nashville, TN, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 6,097 tickets for their Jan. 9th RAW show in Birmingham, AL, 4,651 tickets for their Jan. 13th SmackDown show in Green Bay, WI, 2,701 tickets for their Jan. 14th house show event in Roanoke, VA, 1,971 tickets for their Jan. 15th house show event in Corbin, KY, 5,484 tickets for their Jan. 16th RAW show in Cincinnati, OH, 7,253 tickets for their Jan. 20th SmackDown show in Detroit, MI, 2,125 tickets for their Jan. 21st house show event in Erie, PA, 3,486 tickets for their Jan. 22nd house show event in Binghamton, NY, 13,059 for their Jan. 23rd RAW 30th Anniversary show in Philadelphia, PA, 3,701 tickets for their Jan. 27th SmackDown show in Laredo, TX, 34,848 tickets for their Jan. 28th Royal Rumble 2023 event in San Antonio, TX, 4,621 tickets for their Jan. 30th RAW show in Tulsa, OK, 4,049 tickets for their Feb. 3rd SmackDown show in Greenville, SC, 2,972 for their NXT Vengeance Day 2023 event in Charlotte, NC, 1,688 tickets for their Feb. 4th house show event in Columbus, GA, 1,649 tickets for their Feb. 5th house show event in Pensacola, FL, 5,839 tickets for their Feb. 6th RAW show in Orlando, FL, 3,558 tickets for their Feb. 10th SmackDown show in Uncasville, CT, 6,389 tickets for their Feb. 13th RAW show in Brooklyn, NY, 12,376 for their Feb. 17th SmackDown show in Montreal, 12,654 tickets for their Feb. 18th Elimination Chamber 2023 event in Montreal, Canada, 5,053 for their Feb. 20th RAW show in Ottawa, Canada, 3,859 tickets for their Feb. 24th SmackDown show in Evansville, IN, 1,984 tickets for their Feb. 26th house show event in Rockford, IL, 4,263 tickets for their Feb. 27th RAW show in Grand Rapids, MI, 2,962 tickets for their March 3rd SmackDown show in Washington, DC, 2,009 tickets for their March 4th house show event in Syracuse, NY, 3,159 tickets for their March 5th house show event in Trenton, NJ, 3,691 tickets for their March 6th RAW show in Boston, MA, 3,626 tickets for their March 10th SmackDown show in Pittsburgh, PA, 2,293 tickets for their March 11th house show event in Youngstown, OH, 49,584 tickets for their April 1st WrestleMania 39 Night 1 show in Inglewood, and 50,114 tickets for their April 2nd WrestleMania 39 Night 2 show in Inglewood, California as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, the January 2nd episode of WWE RAW drew 1,605,000 viewers and a 0.41 key demographic rating. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the first-to-third hour viewership drop of 24.2% for that RAW show was the seventh largest first-to-third hour drop for a RAW show in RAW series history. Meltzer also reported that four of the top seven largest first-to-third hour viewership drops in RAW series history have taken place over the past six week.
• As noted before, the December 30th WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew 2,629,000 viewers and a 0.64 key demographic rating. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that week’s SmackDown show almost became the first time since AEW Rampage’s debut that a SmackDown show skewed younger than a Rampage show. That night’s SmackDown show reportedly had a median age of 54.2 compared to a median age of 54.1 for that night’s Rampage show.
• As noted before, Naomi is currently rumored to be making her return to WWE within the near future. Naomi has been absent from WWE since this past May due to her suspension over a walk-out incident at a RAW show in Norfolk, Virginia. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that talks between Naomi and WWE have been on-going for her potential return but as of this past mid-week, no deal had yet to be signed.
• As noted before, WWE announced this past Friday that Vince McMahon has officially returned to the company and will be resuming his role as the Executive Chairman of their Board of Directors. In a recent Q&A article, PWInsider’s Mike Johnson stated that several people recently spoken to within WWE stated that they would leave the company if McMahon ever returned. Johnson stated that it is currently not known if those people will end up going through with their word following McMahon’s recent return.
• Sean Ross Sapp reported that one of WWE’s Board members who resigned following Vince McMahon’s recent return was Man Jit Singh. Sapp reported that Singh was the person who led WWE’s internal investigation against McMahon’s sexual misconduct allegations and hush money payments.
• Besides Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, William Morris Endeavor (parent company of UFC) and Comcast (parent company of NBC Universal) are currently rumored to also be likely bidders for a potential sale of WWE.
• In regards to Wall Street, WWE’s stocks rose from $72.04 per share to $84.27 per share this past Friday following WWE’s announcement of Vince McMahon’s official return to the company.
• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Vince McMahon was not seen backstage during this past Friday’s SmackDown show in Memphis, Tennessee and Paul “Triple H” Levesque was the person who ran the show. Johnson reported that WWE officials did not hold a meeting with talent that day regarding McMahon’s return.
• WWE recently released the official poster for this year’s Royal Rumble 2023 event, which takes place on January 28th in San Antonio, Texas. Among the notable names appearing on the poster includes Cody Rhodes, who has been out of action for WWE since this past June due to a torn pectoral injury.

AEW & ROH

• Teal Piper, daughter of the late WWE Hall of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, was among the indie talents who worked at AEW’s Dark tapings on Friday in Portland, Oregon. Piper teamed up with Kel in a losing effort against Tay Melo & Anna Jay A.S.
• IGN recently announced on Twitter that AEW’s upcoming Fight Forever video game will be showcased at their Fan Fest 2023 event this February.
• Ryan Nemeth reportedly recently joined the cast of the upcoming film The Iron Claw based on the Von Erich family. Nemeth will be portraying Gino Hernandez in the film.
• As noted before, Mercedes Mone is currently rumored to not be making a surprise appearance at this Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Los Angeles, California. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Mone had recently told her friends that she would not be in the city that day. Meltzer reported that those spoken to within WWE also stated that they currently believed that Mone will not be in the city that night nor would she appear at AEW’s show. Meltzer also reported that it is possible that Mone’s comments were meant to be part of a swerve but at the time of his report, her exact status for AEW’s show is currently not known.
• AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 8,900 (8,400 paid) for their Jan. 4th Dynamite show in Seattle, WA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 7,213 tickets for their Jan. 11th Dynamite show in Los Angeles, CA, 4,336 tickets for their Jan. 18th Dynamite show in Fresno, CA, 4,115 tickets for their Jan. 25th Dynamite show in Lexington, KY, 1,243 tickets for their Feb. 1st Dynamite show in Dayton, OH, 2,644 tickets for their Feb. 8th Dynamite show in El Paso, TX, 1,459 tickets for their Feb. 15th Dynamite show in Laredo, TX, 5,185 tickets for their Feb. 22nd Dynamite show in Phoenix, AZ, 2,953 tickets for their March 1st Dynamite show in San Francisco, and 5,953 tickets for their March 5th Revolution 2023 event in San Francisco, CA, 3,628 tickets for their March 8th Dynamite show in Sacramento, CA, 6,076 tickets for their March 14th Dynamite show in Winnipeg, Canada, 1,291 tickets for their March 22nd Dynamite show in Independence, MO, and 3,751 tickets for their April 5th Dynamite show in Long Island, NY as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, Vince McMahon officially returned to WWE this past Friday. AEW CEO Tony Khan recently tweeted in a joking manner that “Everyone at work is being so nice to me these past 24 hours! I wonder why… It must be belated holiday spirit” in response to the news of McMahon’s return and the worries from those within WWE.
• As noted before, New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom 17 event this past Wednesday featured Kenny Omega defeating Will Ospreay to become the new IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion. During a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, Omega gave his thoughts about his goals as current IWGP US Champion. Omega stated “I want to [defend the belt] either [in] New Japan or AEW. When I was the US champion, I did a lot of defenses in Japan. So I want to do it not only in the United States, but also in Japan.” Omega also gave his thoughts on who he is interested the most for potential future matches. Omega stated “Someday, I want to try with Shingo Takagi. Kenny & Keisuke Ishii and Takagi & YAMATO, [which took place] at DDG (Osaka on June 5, 2012) before I went to New Japan for the first time, are great. It was an interesting match. Ever since then, I thought I would be able to have a good singles match with him. I didn’t have a chance when I was in New Japan, but now Takagi is also on top. I think it’s the best timing.” (English translation via Fightful.com)
• Dustin Rhodes recently announced on Twitter that his mother passed away this past Wednesday.
• Keith Lee filed a trademark for a stylized “X” logo for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes on December 28th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Indies & Misc. Wrestling

• Former wrestling promoter and National Wrestling Federation founder Johnny Powers, real name Dennis Arnold Waters, passed away on December 30th at the age of 79. Powers’ passing was first announced by Slam Wrestling who reported that Powers had passed away at his home in Smithville, Ontario, Canada. Powers’ career in wrestling spanned from 1960 to 1982, first as an active wrestler and later as a promoter and founder of National Wrestling Federation. During his career, Powers worked for several notable promotions, including World Wide Wrestling Federation. In an interesting note, Powers sold his NWF promotion to New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1973 which resulted in the NWF Heavyweight Championship being used as NJPW’s top title from 1973 until 1981 and eventually replaced by the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in 1983.
• As noted before, Mercedes Mone, former Sasha Banks in WWE, made her official debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling at their Wrestle Kingdom 17 event this past Wednesday. Besides her scheduled appearance at NJPW’s Battle in the Valley 2023 event next month, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that NJPW officials are currently working on plans for a second match between Mone and KAIRI to take place at one of their Sumo Hall shows this year.
• NJPW reportedly generated a paid attendance of 2,713 for their Jan. 5th New Year Dash 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• NJPW reportedly has sold around 1,885 tickets for their Feb. 18th Battle in the Valley 2023 event in San Jose, CA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that an additional about 400 tickets were sold by January 5th following Mone’s official NJPW debut and announcement of her match against KAIRI at the event. Meltzer reported that NJPW currently has their event configured for a max attendance of 2,152.
• Impact Wrestling recently uploaded to their YouTube channel their tribute video honoring the life and legacy of the late Don West that aired during this past Thursday’s Impact show.
• Impact Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Jan. 19th Impact show. This will be a Pit Fight match of Kenny King vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey.
• Impact Wrestling also recently announced two new matches for the card of their Hard To Kill 2023 event on January 13th in Atlanta, Georgia. These are a pre-show match of The Death Dollz (Rosemary, Jessicka, & Taya Valkyrie) vs. Savanna Evans, Gisele Shaw, & Tasha Steelz and a pre-show Six-Man Scramble match of Angels vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs. Yuya Uemura vs. Bhupinder Gujjar vs. KUSHIDA vs. “Action” Mike Jackson
• During a recent interview with Pro Wrestling Torch, Josh Alexander gave his thoughts about his upcoming match against Bully Ray for the Impact World Championship at this Friday’s Hard To Kill 2023 event. Alexander stated “I think all the pieces have been set with the story to kind of get everybody invested in the match at the very least. Like you said, it’s gonna be a different style of match, different kind of opponent. Bully [Ray] has made his entire career out of being the perfectionist of Tables, Ladders, and Chairs and all of that stuff. He has made his career by being good at that stuff and using that stuff. Me, I am known as the wrestling machine and a wrestler’s wrestler. I have not used any of that stuff ever in IMPACT Wrestling, and hardly ever throughout my entire career so it’s gonna be a different type of environment for me. I’m gonna get a chance to show everybody that there’s a different side of me, a little bit more violent and extreme, but I’m excited to show fans something different than they’ve ever seen out of me because I think a lot of times, especially now, you get pigeonholed into your categories. Like this guy’s a technical wrestler, this guy’s a brawler, this guy’s a talker, this guy’s this. I believe I can check every single box in pro wrestling and I’m excited to show everybody that at Hard To Kill.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Major League Wrestling’s Blood & Thunder 2023 event on Saturday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania featured the Samoan Swat Team (Juicy Finau & Lance Anoa’i) defeating E.J. Nduka & Calvin Tankman to be crowned the new MLW World Tag Team Champions.
• MLW reportedly is currently in the process of shopping their MLW Underground series for a limited television run, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• MLW reportedly is also currently working on plans to run more live events this spring, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Pro Wrestling NOAH recently announced that Dralistico will be making his official debut for the company at their Great Voyage 2023 event on February 12th in Osaka, Japan.
• NOAH reportedly generated a paid attendance of 9,500 for their Jan. 1st The New Year 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This event featured Keiji Muto’s final match portraying his Great Muta character in NOAH and faced off against WWE’s Shinsuke Nakamura at the event.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that FOX News Channel was ranked #1 for total viewership average per show and ESPN was ranked #1 for key demographic viewership average per show during prime time in 2022 based on Nielsen’s recently released cable television list for the year. In regards to networks who are home to wrestling, TNT was ranked the highest at #5 with 941,000 average viewers per show in prime time in 2022. In regards to other networks, TBS had an average of 849,000 viewers, USA Network had an average of 655,000 viewers, VICE had an average of 67,000 viewers, AXS TV had an average of 38,000 viewers, and BeIN Sports (MLW’s home network) had an average of 4,000 viewers for its Spanish language channel and 3,000 viewers for its English language channel per show in prime time for 2022.
• As noted before, Lucha Libre AAA Noche de Campeones 2022 event this past December in Acapulco, Mexico featured Dragon Lee & Dralistico defeating FTR to become the new AAA World Tag Team Champions. This event was notable for Lee announcing shortly afterwards that he would be leaving AAA for WWE. In regards to FTR, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that it was AEW CEO Tony Khan’s idea for FTR to win AAA’s World Tag Team Championship which AAA officials approved since they had plans for FTR to work at all of their big events defending their titles. Meltzer reported that these plans were made prior to Khan’s purchase of Ring of Honor and NJPW’s decision for FTR to win their IWGP Tag Team titles. Meltzer reported that it is currently not known why FTR did not make any appearances for AAA since this past March.
• Lucha Libre AAA Noche de Campeones 2022 event this past December in Acapulco also featured Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo being stripped of their AAA World Mixed Tag Team Championship and new champions crowned due to booking and travel issues. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that it was Willow Nightingale who had fallen ill resulting in Tony Khan making the decision to pull Melo from her scheduled appearance for AAA in order for her to fill in for the scheduled women’s match at their Dec. 29th AEW Dynamite show. Meltzer reported that his sources have yet to confirm nor deny Konnan’s claims of Nightingale contracting COVID as the cause of her illness.
• Besides Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo, Konnan stated in a recent episode of his Keepin It 100 podcast that Daga, Rey Fenix, and Natalia Markova also had visa-related issues that caused them to be pulled from their scheduled appearances at recent AAA events. Konnan stated that all of them also waited until the last minute to inform AAA officials of this situation leading to added frustrations for him and the company.
• Stardom reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,605 for their Jan. 3rd Triangle Derby event in Yokohama, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• All Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,055 for their Jan. 2nd New Year Giant Series 2023 event in Tokyo and 1,041 for their Jan. 3rd New Year Giant Series 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,111 for their Jan. 4th Tokyo Joshi Pro 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• During a recent interview withThe Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair gave his thoughts on why he currently feels that the wrestling industry is the most insensitive business in the world. Flair stated “Just to be in wrestling, here’s the thing nobody gets, the other night we witnessed a real tragedy with the football player and the NFL, they made the most awesome call I’ve ever seen watching NFL. They stopped the game. They thought about it, went back out, and actually gave that young man so much respect, and his family. They made themselves look good. In our business, where guys are jumping off a goddamn top rope on tables, ladders, chairs, and shit. Somebody gets hurt, show goes on. It’s the most insensitive business in the world. There is no one person to blame for it, it’s just wrestling. We as wrestlers have let that happen. We have. Do you know how many times people came to me and (Hulk) Hogan in the 80s and said, ‘let’s unionize? How many times do you think people have asked me to walk out? You know why we didn’t? We would have been replaced, number one. Been blackballed, number two, and number three, don’t think you can’t be replaced. Everybody can be replaced. It’s our own fault we don’t have that. It’s not one person that makes these decisions. We have ourselves to blame. Have you ever heard of a show being pulled, except for when (Chris) Benoit passed away? It took something that drastic to pull a show. It just doesn’t happen. Guys get hurt and the show goes on. We’ve done it to ourselves.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)