Various: Jay White on Career Future, Nick Aldis on Wait for Right Option for Career, WOW TV Ratings, Indies

AEW

Feb 17, 2023

Jay White Comments on Future of His Wrestling Career

As noted before, Jay White’s current contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling is currently expected to be leaving the company once his contract expires soon. This past Saturday’s NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka 2023 event in Osaka, Japan featured White losing a “Loser Leaves Japan” match against Hikuleo. White recently agreed to a stipulation from Eddie Kingston for their upcoming match to become a “Loser Leaves NJPW” match at this Saturday’s Battle in the Valley 2023 event in San Jose, California.

Sports Illustrated recently held an interview with White. One of the topics discussed included White’s thoughts on the future of his wrestling career.

“So much is possible. Impact, AEW, WWE—we’ll see. I’m at peace with it. I don’t know if there is much more I could have done. I don’t feel like I left a bunch of boxes unchecked. I’ve been living it, so it can be hard to appreciate it in the moment, but as I move on, I’ve started to look back at the weight some of it holds. As time goes on, I hope people appreciate it even more. To me, I was doing what I was meant to be doing. Now I’m looking at what’s next. I can’t go back to Japan, but there is nothing that says I can’t compete at the shows in the United States. Hikuleo was everything I always knew he was. I’ve always believed in him. I’m proud of him, and his moment came against me, so now we’re tied to each other forever.”

Nick Aldis Comments on Waiting for “Right Option, Not Necessarily The First Option” for His Career Future

AdFreeShows.com held a recent interview with former National Wrestling Alliance talent Nick Aldis. One of the topics discussed included Aldis’ thoughts on his free agency and waiting for the “right option” to be available for the next direction of his career.

“I just wanted to be free and clear of any commitments for a minute and then see what happens. I’ve had a couple of different phone calls with a couple of different people and places. ‘What if we did this?’ Maybe that?’ For now, that’s what I want it to be.
I’m happy to keep doing that. I have a couple of irons in the fire and, for me, that’s what I’m happy doing. I like approaching the business like the guys used to. Matt Cardona is doing that. He’s working a program in this territory and works a thing over here. That’s intriguing to me. Ultimately, I’m very confident that I can deliver. It’s waiting for the right option, not necessarily the first one. Wrestling, at this point, is not my only occupation. I’m also a small business owner. Any small business owner will tell you that that’s full-time. It’s not like I’m putting wrestling on the back burner. I’m trying to build and scale a business. That takes and uses a lot of mental resources.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

WOW TV Ratings – Feb. 5, 2023

WOW: Women of Wrestling reportedly drew 323,000 viewers for their February 5th episode on syndication, up from the prior week’s 309,000 viewers.

It drew a 0.05 18-49 rating, same as the prior week’s rating.

Source: Wrestlenomics

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

WWE Hall of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart recently announced on Facebook that junior league hockey team Calgary Hitmen will be holding a banner raising ceremony in his honor on March 11th at their home venue Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Canada.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson recently posted a tribute to the late legendary wrestling promoter Jerry Jarrett on Instagram thanking him for everything he did for his family. Johnson specifically thanked Jarrett for giving his father Rocky Johnson a job during a time hard time in his life and also for helping his own career during his start in wrestling.

During a recent interview with the Stores with Briscoe and Bradshaw podcast, former WWE wrestler and current Ohio Valley Wrestling Advanced Wrestling Instructor Doug Basham revealed that content for a new upcoming series based on OVW was recently filmed to air later this year on a streaming service. (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

Pro Wrestling NOAH held a press conference on Wednesday in Japan to promote their upcoming Keiji Muto Grand Final Pro-Wrestling ‘Last’ Love Hold Out event on February 21st in Tokyo. This press conference was notable for New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Kazuchika Okada no-showing his scheduled appearance as part of his current storyline with NOAH’s Kaito Kiyomiya. Okada sent a prepared statement to NOAH stating that he was busy preparing for his match at NJPW’s Battle in the Valley 2023 event this Saturday and didn’t want to attend their press conference.

NJPW recently released their first ever official t-shirt merchandise for Mercedes Mone in the company on their official online NJPW1972 shop.

NJPW also recently announced that they have moved up the start time for their upcoming Battle in the Valley 2023 this Saturday. It was announced that doors for their event will now open at 5:30PM PST to allow fans some extra time to be in attendance before the start of their pre-show matches at 6:20PM PST.

House of Glory recently announced a new match for the card of their Glory Comes Pride event on March 10th in New York City, New York:

HOG Heavyweight Championship – Fred Rosser vs. Jacob Fatu (c)

DDT Pro Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their March 30th event in Los Angeles, California:

Eddie Kingston & Jun Akiyama vs. DAMNATION T.A. (Daisuke Sasaki & KANON)

Pro Wrestling Revolver recently announced a new match for the card of their Revolver Thursday event on April 6th in Dayton, Ohio:

Miyu Yamashita vs. Allie Katch

Impact Wrestling announced two new matches and segment for their No Surrender 2023 event on February 24th in Las Vegas, Nevada:

Busted Open Radio Live with Bully Ray & Tommy Dreamer
Impact Wrestling Digital Media Championship Dot Combat match – Moose vs. Joe Hendry (c)
#1 Contender for Impact World Championship Four-Way match – Brian Myers vs. PCO vs. Steve Maclin vs. Heath