Weekend Roundup: Nikki Cross, Harley Cameron AEW Signing, Stardom, Ninja Mack & NOAH Update, Alex Tisher Injury, Indies

WWE

• In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce stated that he has had recent talks with The Miz about the potential of him making another appearance in WWE. Kelce stated “We got to. We have to eventually figure it. My guy, George Kittle is at WrestleMania throwing clotheslines left and right. It was awesome to see him go nuts. I have to get involved somehow, someway. Me and The Miz have been talking a little bit about it. Hopefully, we can brew something into fruition.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• This past Friday’s SmackDown show and Saturday’s SmackDown LowDown show featured the first night and first supplemental round for this year’s WWE Draft. NXT head booker Shawn Michaels recently reflected on Twitter about this year’s WWE Draft and the NXT talent who were drafted to the main roster. Michaels stated “What an amazing night for the #WWEDraft and the #WWENXT roster! I’m so excited for our #WWENXT superstars as they move forward and forge their own path on #WWERAW & #SmackDown. Congratulations to our champs @indi_hartwell, @wwe_alba, and @IslaDawn!“
• WWE recently announced a new match for the card of this Tuesday’s NXT show. This is a NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship match of Katana Chance & Kayden Carter vs. Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn (c). During this past Friday’s SmackDown show, Chance and Kayden issued a challenge for Fyre and Dawn’s tag team titles stating that Frye and Dawn would not be leaving that easily with those belts from NXT.
• Following Saturday’s SmackDown LowDown show, newly RAW brand talent JD McDonagh issued an open challenge on Twitter to anyone in NXT for his final match this Tuesday for the NXT brand. Dragon Lee responded earlier today on Twitter accepting McDonagh’s open challenge match offer and was later officially announced by WWE for this Tuesday’s show.
• Nikki Cross recently reflected on Twitter about a photo of herself from 2014 and the importance of taking mental health seriously. Cross stated “This photo was taken in 2014. Yes, I know I look hot and sexy and s**t But I was absolutely miserable. Through no fault of the photographer, the immensely talented Fiona Fraser. She was wonderful in making me feel as comfortable as she could. But I was miserable in this photo. I had a terrible relationship with food. I had a terrible relationship with myself. I hated myself. Going to therapy was the best decision I ever made. I look at recent photos now and I’m like I look more happy now. Because I am. I didn’t tell people I went to therapy because I didn’t want to look mentally soft or weak. My god, that is absolutely the wrong mindset. Asking for help is strong. Taking the time to take care of yourself is strong. There’s also more important things to life than other’s perceptions of you. Long story short. I’m just saying, please be kind. Be empathetic. Truly, a photo is worth a thousand words. Luckily I’m not going to write a thousand words.”
• WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 9,709 (8,700 paid) for their April 21st SmackDown show in Columbus, OH, 6,186 for their April 22nd house show event in Fort Wayne, IN, 4,796 for their April 23rd house show event in Toledo, OH, 12,852 (11,700 paid) for their April 24th RAW show in Chicago, IL, 9,500 for their April 27th house show event in Birmingham, England, and 8,275 for their April 28th house show event in Manchester, England, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 10,195 tickets for their May 1st RAW show in Forth Worth, TX, 17,000 tickets for their May 5th SmackDown show in San Juan, 17,390 tickets for their May 6th Backlash 2023 event in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 3,403 tickets for their May 8th RAW show in Jacksonville, FL, 7,542 tickets for their May 12th SmackDown show in Knoxville, TN, 2,791 tickets for their May 13th house show event in Augusta, GA, 2,859 tickets for their May 14th house show event in North Charleston, SC, 6,955 tickets for their May 15th RAW show in Greensboro, NC, 6,495 tickets for their May 19th SmackDown show in Columbia, SC, 2,935 tickets for their May 20th house show event in Fayetteville, NC, 3,330 tickets for their May 21st house show event in Hampton, VA, 8,849 tickets for their May 22nd RAW show in Hershey, PA, 2,190 tickets for their May 28th NXT Battleground event in Lowell, MA, 4,650 tickets for their May 29th RAW show in Albany, NY, 8,088 tickets for their June 2nd SmackDown show in Wilkes-Barre, PA, 2,781 tickets for their June 3rd house show event in White Plains, NY, 2,935 tickets for their June 4th house show event in Manchester, NH, 5,889 tickets for their June 5th RAW show in Hartford, CT, 3,157 tickets for their June 9th SmackDown show in Des Moines, IA, 3,464 tickets for their June 12th RAW show in Wichita, KS, 5,710 tickets for their June 16th SmackDown show in Lexington, KY, 2,310 tickets for their June 18th house show event in Charleston, WV, 5,889 tickets for their June 19th RAW show in Cleveland, OH, 4,719 tickets for their June 23rd SmackDown show in Lafayette, LA, 1,325 tickets for their June 24th house show event in Monroe, LA, 2,239 tickets for their June 25th house show event in Mobile, AL, 4,682 tickets for their June 26th RAW show in Savannah, GA, 5,893 tickets for their June 29th house show event in Sheffield, England, 4,410 tickets for their July 2nd house show event in Cardiff, Wales, 9,507 tickets for their July 7th SmackDown show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY, 4,857 tickets for their July 10th RAW show in Buffalo, NY, 5,429 tickets for their July 14th SmackDown show in Raleigh, NC, 2,594 tickets for their July 15th house show event in Fairfax, VA, 6,729 tickets for their July 17th RAW show in Atlanta, GA, 6,543 tickets for their July 21st SmackDown show in Orlando, FL, 5,864 tickets for their July 24th RAW show in Tampa, FL, 38,250 tickets for their August 5th SummerSlam 2023 event in Detroit, MI, 5,737 tickets for their August 11th SmackDown show in Calgary, Canada, 6,810 tickets for their August 14th RAW show in Winnipeg, Canada, 10,150 tickets for their August 18th SmackDown show in Toronto, Canada, 3,962 tickets for their August 25th SmackDown show in Louisville, KY, and 4,268 tickets for their August 28th RAW show in Memphis, TN as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• In regards to Summerslam 2023’s current ticket sales, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the current split is around 33,700 paid and around 4,550 as comp tickets. Meltzer reported that this year’s SummerSlam event is currently expected to generate the second highest ever attendance for a SummerSlam event in SummerSlam history, only behind SummerSlam 1992 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Meltzer reported that this year’s event’s live gate revenues are also currently expected to be the third largest ever for a non-WrestleMania event in wrestling history, only behind this past September’s Clash at the Castle event ($8.1 million) and this past January’s Royal Rumble 2023 event ($7.3 million).
• In regards to the ticket sales for shows that went on sale after WrestleMania 39, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that these sales have been “softer” for a lot of markets compared to the prior six months. Meltzer reported that it is currently not known if this means that WWE’s very hot ticket sales streak has started to actually cool down or not. Meltzer reported that this is something that will not be really known until the middle of next month.
• In a recent interview with FOX News, WWE Hall of Famer and current NXT commentator Booker T gave his thoughts about why he feels that WWE should introduce a mid-card tier championship for their Women’s division. Booker T stated “We should have a mid-card belt for the ladies, almost like a television championship where it’s not competing with the Women’s NXT Championship, just to give someone else a little bit of a rub, a little bit of shine, as well as a little bit of something to work for because it always gonna be a while before you work your way to that big goal.”
• In a recent investor’s meeting, Comcast stated that NBC’s Peacock service had a net gain of 2 million new subscribers for the service this past fiscal first quarter to bring its current total to 22 million. This was stated to be up 60% compared to the same fiscal quarter last year.
• As noted before, The Dyad recently confirmed that WWE had denied their release requests and their current contracts with the company expire this October. Fightful Select reported that The Dyad, former Grizzled Young Veterans in WWE and indies, are currently planning to continue wrestling in the United States after they leave WWE.

AEW & ROH

• CM Punk made an appearance for a charity event for PAWS Chicago on Saturday in Chicago, Illinois. Punk was seen with a new shaved head look for his appearance at the event.
• During a recent virtual fan signing event for K&S WrestleFest, Harley Cameron revealed that she recently signed an official contract with AEW. Cameron stated “For now. Just for now but we have a plan B coming up so, we’re very well-equipped for what’s happening next (when it comes to Wardlow being TNT Champion) but, I’m loving AEW. AEW’s amazing and it’s just awesome being there. It’s my dream. My dream came true so, very, very happy … Someone has made one of me (trading card) a year ago. Gosh, forgive me. I don’t remember. I think it was two years ago actually they brought it to me but, you’re my first one since being signed so… (she laughed)” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
• In a recent interview with the Talk Is Jericho podcast, Stokely Hathaway gave his thoughts on the decision to turn The Firm from being a serious heel group to more of a comedic heel group in AEW. Hathaway stated “I guess I didn’t view it that way because I’ve been trying to get into the habit of looking at things from a positive perspective. Regardless of who was in that position, the idea was to go after the world champion. We still had that opportunity. It didn’t, obviously, turn out like the way that most of us wanted, but it was still an avenue to get things going. It was a tough few months to try and figure out ‘what is this group?’ because it wasn’t my idea, I didn’t come up with the concept. The only thing that I really had input in was the name. We were this super serious heel group, and I think you have to read the room, and I made the conscious decision to go, ‘Okay, this isn’t working, let’s go to the comedy route.’ Not full on comedy, but if you go back and watch, you can see where things started to change for us, and for the better.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In the same interview, Hathaway revealed that he was only under a handshake agreement with AEW when he made his official debut for the company at this past May’s Double or Nothing 2022 event. Hathaway stated “I was available and Dax (Harwood) is one of my good friends. We were talking back and forth, and he sent me a screenshot. He was having a conversation with Tony (Khan) and the screenshot was Tony just being like, ‘LET’S GO!!!!!!!’ in all caps with 37 exclamation marks. That was the beginning of the talks of me coming in. We didn’t meet face-to-face until I would say Double or Nothing. I met you [Jericho], and you were like, ‘who is this guy?’ I walked in and half the people knew me. I was not signed, I was just backstage. I debuted, it was a handshake deal, and it became official a few hours after that.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 4,600 (4,000 paid) for their April 26th Dynamite show in Sunrise, FL, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 3,342 tickets for their May 3rd Dynamite show in Baltimore, MD, 5,281 tickets for their May 10th Dynamite show in Detroit, MI, 1,311 tickets for their May 12th house show event in Corbin, KY, 1,576 tickets for their May 13th house show event in Salem, VA, 3344 for their May 17th Dynamite show in Austin, TX, 4,299 for their May 24th Dynamite show in Las Vegas, 6,880 tickets for their May 28th Double or Nothing 2023 event in Las Vegas, NV, 2,811 tickets for their May 31st Dynamite show in San Diego, CA, 945 tickets for their June 2nd house show event in Tupelo, MS, 1,221 tickets for their June 3rd house show event in Huntsville, AL, 1,740 tickets for their June 7th Dynamite show in Colorado Springs, CO, 2,378 tickets for their June 14th Dynamite show in Washington, D.C., 4,155 tickets for their June 21st Dynamite show in Chicago, IL, 12,880 for their June 25th Forbidden Door 2 event in Toronto, Canada, 3,244 tickets for their June 28th Dynamite show in Hamilton, Canada, 1,263 tickets for their July 8th television taping event (Collision) in Regina, Canada, 2,274 for their July 12th Dynamite show in Saskatoon, Canada, and 3,057 for their July 15th television taping event (Collision) in Calgary, Canada as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW filed a trademark for a stylized AEW logo for merchandise-related purposes on April 24th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• In a recent episode of the Grillin JR podcast, co-host Jim Ross gave his thoughts on how he would have handled the infamous backstage brawl incident at this past September’s AEW All Out 2022 event if something similar had taken place during his time as Head of Talent Relations in WWE. Ross stated “My protocol would be to get all the involved parties into a room and settle it and settle it as quickly as soon after it happened as you possibly could and communicate. That’s hard to do. Sometimes, guys have their feelings hurt, or they’re angry, or they feel like they have an issue. I’d say, you know, getting the crew together that’s involved in this atrocity is what I would try to accomplish and talk it out. Talk it out and keep cooler heads should prevail, and communicate. As simple as that. Boils down to that, quite frankly, at the end of the day, how well do we communicate on this matter? You want to do it while it’s still hot. You want to do it while it’s still fresh in everybody’s mind and let people express themselves in a civil and professional way. Because, you know, [Bill Watts] told me years ago, there’s more than one right way to do a wrestling angle or storyline, and I believe that. So, you know, everybody’s got their cause. Everybody’s got their reasons for doing what they did. Whether the results are right on the money or not, or what have you, I don’t know. It’s the individual who’s looking at it. You got to communicate, you got to get everybody together and communicate, and when you leave, hopefully, you’ll have a resolve. Hopefully, you’ll have people prioritizing the company first. If any of these issues occur that don’t promote the company and make it better for the company, then you’re on the wrong road. The company has to come first. I said this many times to talents. We have to take care of the goose because this goose that we have access to lays golden eggs that we deposit in the bank. So to me, that’s the bottom line. Communication is the key thing, and doing so in a timely basis is also important.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• As noted before, Griff Garrison has been out of action for AEW since this past December due to him undergoing surgery for an unknown injury. In a recent interview with Fightful, Garrison’s tag team partner Brian Pillman Jr. provided an update on the status of Garrison’s injury rehab. Pillman Jr. stated “He’s great. I just talked to him. He’s about three weeks out from bumping. So in about three weeks his body will be able to withstand the punishment that the business places on our bodies. Which means he’ll be very healthy in about three weeks. So I’m very excited for him. As you know, Griff’s a great athlete, a great-looking kid. We had a big history, a big future together. So I’m looking forward to seeing what happens when he comes back.” Pillman Jr. also gave his thoughts on his recent tag team work with Brock Anderson. Pillman Jr. stated “In the meantime, I’ve been blessed with Arn Anderson and Brock Anderson. Which is crazy because my mom always told me growing up that Arn would be a family friend, he would be there for me. It just came full circle for me, you know? The prophecy came true. Arn has recruited me into his stable. Me and Brock, we’ve had nothing but line drives since we’ve been teaming together. We’ve been teaming together. We’ve got some great matches coming up on AEW Dark. We got a couple victories coming that have yet to air. I’m looking forward to what’s coming in the future. Maybe you’ll see us on one of the house shows coming up. Maybe Corbin, Kentucky, who knows.” Pillman Jr. also gave his thoughts on if he will continue to work together with Anderson or reunite with Garrison after Garrison returns from injury. Pillman Jr. stated “I don’t know anything. You never know. There could be a surprise. There could be a turn. There could be a twist. There could be a barbershop window somewhere. You never know. Never know, so. Yeah, I don’t want to spoil anything, but I know Griff is very fired up. He’s in great shape, and he’s excited to get back into it.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent interview with MuscleManMalcolm, Leila Grey gave her thoughts on hoping that AEW introduces a new Women’s Tag Team Championship in the future. Grey stated “100%. Leila Grey and Jade Cargill, we are the tag team champions of the future. Tony Khan, make it happen.” Grey also gave her thoughts on the process that led to her signing with AEW. Grey stated “My story with AEW is pretty crazy because I have not been in the business for a very long time. After I made my debut, which was in 2020 during COVID, I would say maybe about four months after my debut, I did get a Facebook message from QT Marshall. He asked me if I was interested in coming to Dark. ‘Of course I’m interested in coming to Dark.’ At that time, I didn’t have a lot of experience. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I was not going to let the opportunity slip through my fingers. I went, gave it my all, and I guess they liked what they saw because here I am today—the Baddie of AEW.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent interview with Stephanie Chase, Nigel McGuinness stated that he had contacted AEW for a potential job following his departure from WWE. McGuinness stated “I mean, it’s a long story (how my AEW signing came to be). I won’t bore you with the minutiae. I reached out, obviously when I was a free agent and there was some legalities to sort of square away but once that was all clear and done and dusted, we discussed things for me coming in for Supercard of Honor, as being the Ring of Honor stalwart that I am. Come in and do part of that but then, he (Tony Khan) just called me up actually. It was Tuesday of last week and said, ‘Do you wanna go to New York today?’ And I was like, ‘I’ll check, see if I can’ but sure enough, by 4 o’clock that afternoon, me and Tony and his business partner Bernie (Cahill) were on his private jet heading to New York, New York. So that was where we sort of squared away the majority of the details and from then, I was, as you said, All Elite, graphic included.”McGuinness also gave his thoughts about his surprise return to Ring of Honor at this past March’s Supercard of Honor 2023 event. McGuinness stated “It was very exciting (being at ROH Supercard of Honor) in the sense of, I thought about it for a while. Obviously, as soon as Tony (Khan) came on with AEW and got them going, everybody in the business thinks, oh, maybe at some point I could work there, you know? And so, it was exciting in that respect but at the same time, I didn’t get to be backstage before the show. They kept me in one of the production trucks and no one knew I was gonna be there so I was kind of just sat back there with my girlfriend, going over notes, getting ready for the show, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. So it was very nerve-wracking in that regard but once I walked out on stage — people have said to me, ‘You look the most like you that we’ve seen you in like a decade,’ you know? And there’s certainly something to that. It’s a different environment and I think Ring of Honor is viewed very differently in AEW obviously than in WWE for various reasons and so, yeah, I felt like I had that more cachet from being a world champion there than I had in the past.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

Indies & Misc. Wrestling

• Mercedes Mone filed a trademark for “First Class” for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes to the USPTO.
• As noted before, Mercedes Mone was in attendance at Impact Wrestling’s television tapings this past Friday in Chicago, Illinois. Mone attended the tapings in support of her former WWE tag team Trinity Fatu making her official debut for Impact that night. Mone recently reflected on Instagram about Trinity’s debut in Impact. Mone stated “The brightest star of them all. I can’t wait to watch you GLOW @impactwrestling my sis is here [to] make an IMPACT! She bout to knock out all competition & leave em in the rear view #Trinity #GLO #impact #stardom #multiverse #FBD #lfg“
• As noted before, Trinity Fatu recently denied that the reports of Stardom not signing her to a contract due to money-related issues are true. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources within Bushiroad stated that the reports of Stardom and NJPW being hampered from signing Trinity due to financial-related issues within Bushiroad are indeed true. Those same sources reportedly also stated that they were surprised over Trinity’s public comments disputing the story being true.
• Indie wrestler Steph De Lander filed trademarks for “That’s Cooked” and “Steph De Lander” for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes on April 23rd to the USPTO.
• Stardom reportedly generated an attendance of 6,500 (5,539 paid) for their April 23rd All Star Grand Queendom 2023 event in Yokohama, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Stardom reportedly generated around 2,000 pay-per-view buys for their All Star Grand Queendom 2023 event, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that this would be considered a great number for Stardom due to them usually averaging around 400 buys for their events.
• Prominence’s 1st Anniversary event on April 24th in Tokyo, Japan featured Suzu Suzuki announcing that she will be leaving the company. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the current belief in Japan is that Suzuki will be making her official return to Stardom soon.
• As noted before, New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced that they will be debuting a new NJPW Strong Women’s Championship at their Resurgence 2023 event next month in Long Island, California. It was also announced that a four-women tournament will be taking place at the event to crown an inaugural champion. Despite her recent concussion injury, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated NJPW officials currently expect Momo Kohgo to be medically cleared in time to compete in their upcoming NJPW Strong Women’s Championship tournament.
• NJPW recently announced an updated match for the card of their Wrestling Dontaku 2023 event on May 3rd in Fukuoka, Japan. This is a NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship match of Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Kazuchika Okada vs. Strong Style (Ren Narita, El Desperado, & Minoru Suzuki) (c).
• NJPW reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,251 for their April 21st Road to Wrestling Dontaku 2023 event in Kobe, 1,753 for their April 22nd Hirooki Goto 20th Anniversary Event in Tsu, 663 for their April 25th Road to Wrestling Donatku 2023 event in Kochi, 504 for their April 26th in Yawatahama, and 1,614 for their April 27th Road to Wrestling Dontaku 2023 in Hiroshima, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• NJPW reportedly has sold around 1,239 for their May 21st Resurgence 2023 event in Long Beach, CA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• All Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 496 for their April 22nd Champion Carnival 2023 event in Niigata, 419 for their April 23rd Champion Carnival 2023 event in Miyagi, and 753 for their April 25th Champion Carnival 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Sunday’s Champion Carnival 2023 event for AJPW in Osaka, Japan featured Shotaro Ashino emerging as the winner of B Block for this year’s Champion Carnival tournament. Going into the show, Ashino had been in a four-way tie with Shuji Ishikawa, Suwama, and Rei Saito for first place in the block. Following Suwama and Saito’s match against each other ending in a double countout, the winner of Ashino vs. Ishikawa for the main event would take B Block, which was Ashino in the end.
• PROGRESS Wrestling recently announced that Nick Wayne is the next official entrant for their upcoming Super Strong Style 16 2023 tournament on May 27-29 in London, England.
• Game Changer Wrestling reportedly generated an attendance of 550 for their April 21st Into The Light event in Atlanta, GA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• In a recent interview with PWMania, Ninja Mack revealed that his current contract with Pro Wrestling NOAH expires on June 30th. Mack also stated that he is interested in the idea of working for Ring of Honor if he were to leave NOAH.
• Westside Xtreme Wrestling announced that Axel Tischer recently suffered a broken collarbone injury and will be out of action for the next two and a half months. It was announced that Tischer will be undergoing surgery to repair his injury and as a result, he will not be making an appearance at any of their upcoming events until at least mid-July.