Weekend Roundup: Veer Mahan, WWE Hiring Freeze Rumor, Nick Wayne AEW Debut Date, Santana & AEW Update, NJPW, Indies

WWE

• This past Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,291,000 viewers on FOX, according to SpoilerTV.
• Veer Mahan recently announced on Twitter that he will be making his return soon to WWE programming. Mahan stated “I’m coming. See you soon.” Mahan last wrestled for WWE’s NXT brand at their NXT Roadblock special this past March.
• This past Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Portland, Oregon featured WWE announcing that Shinsuke Nakamura will be making his return at this Friday’s SmackDown show in Lincoln, Nebraska. This will be Nakamura’s first appearance in WWE since their January 22nd house show event and his first for the SmackDown brand since the November 11th show.
• WWE reportedly currently does not have any plans for Roman Reigns to work at their upcoming Backlash 2023 event this May in San Juan, Puerto Rico as of this past Monday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that it is currently not known if the currently planned Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar match will be taking place at either WWE’s Backlash 2023 event on May 7th in Puerto Rico or at their King & Queen of the Ring 2023 event on May 28th in Saudi Arabia.
• As noted before, Drew McIntyre’s contract with WWE is currently expected to expire within the next nine months. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that McIntyre had recently told several of his friends that PWInsider’s report about his contract expiring within a year and him being far apart on monetary terms for a new deal was true. McIntyre reportedly had also told those same friends that he did not expect his contract status to have been made public.
• WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 13,400 (paid) for their March 31st SmackDown show in Los Angeles, 7,584 (6,100 paid) for their April 1st NXT Stand & Deliver 2023 event in Los Angeles, and 15,500 (14,000 paid) for their April 3rd RAW show in Los Angeles, CA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 8,697 tickets for their April 10th RAW show in Seattle, WA, 6,297 tickets for their April 14th SmackDown show in Lincoln, NE, 4,944 tickets for their April 15th house show event in Rio Rancho, NM, 5,382 tickets for their April 16th house show event in El Paso, TX, 5,701 tickets for their April 17th RAW show in North Little Rock, AR, 7,637 tickets for their April 21st SmackDown show in Columbus, OH, 4,258 tickets for their April 22nd house show event in Fort Wayne, IN, 3,248 tickets for their April 23rd house show event in Toledo, OH, 12,232 tickets for their April 24th RAW show in Chicago, IL, 7,233 tickets for their April 27th house show event in Manchester, England, 6,037 tickets for their April 28th SmackDown show in Corpus Christi, TX, 7,006 tickets for their April 29th house show event in Belfast, North Ireland, 2,606 tickets fir their April 29th house show event in Beaumont, TX, 11,355 tickets for their April 29th house show event in Paris, France, 2,244 tickets for their April 30th house show event in Bossier City, LA, 8,682 tickets for their May 1st RAW show in Fort Worth, TX, 4,090 tickets for their May 8th RAW show in Jacksonville, FL, 6,608 tickets for their May 12th SmackDown show in Knoxville, TN, 2,245 tickets for their May 13th house show event in Augusta, GA, 2,252 tickets for their May 14th house show event in North Charleston, SC, 6,361 tickets for their May 15th RAW show in Greensboro, NC, 6,006 tickets for their May 19th SmackDown show in Columbia, SC, 2,599 tickets for their May 20th house show event in Fayetteville, NC, 3,177 tickets for their May 21st house show event in Hampton, VA, 8,804 tickets for their May 22nd RAW show in Hershey, PA, 1,887 tickets for their May 28th NXT Battleground event in Lowell, MA, 3,514 tickets for their May 29th RAW show in Albany, NY, 7,247 tickets for their June 2nd SmackDown show in Wilkes-Barre, PA, 5,801 tickets for their June 5th RAW show in Hartford, CT, 3,102 tickets for their June 12th RAW show in Wichita, KS, 4,955 tickets for their June 19th RAW show in Cleveland, OH, and 17,717 tickets for their July 1st Money in the Bank 2023 event in London, England as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• During a recent interview with BT Sport, Logan Paul praised The Miz for helping him understand how the wrestling industry works. Paul stated “A few come to mind. I want to say Miz, honestly. He’s so cool and has helped me understand just how this industry works and has even entered the WWE in a similar way to me. He was a reality star and he had to show that he was that guy. Anytime I have a question or I do something personally fulling in WWE, I’ll shoot Miz a text because he walked me through that first match and I crushed it just because I had a good coach.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• The Hollywood Reporter reported that WWE is currently working on a new documentary series titled WWE: Recruits that will debut on The Roku Channel. It was also reported that this new series will be eight-episodes in total and John Cena to be its producer. It was reported that “WWE: Recruits will follow a group of men and women hoping to become WWE superstars. Other stars set to appear in the series are Paul “Triple H” Levesque (who also leads WWE creative); Ric Flair; Shawn Michaels; and Bianca Belair. Filming is already underway, with some content produced at Wrestlemania last weekend.”
• WWE filed trademarks for “Pantheon,” “Triumph,” and “Gruesome Twosome” for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes on April 2nd to the United States Patent and Trademark office. WWE also filed a trademark for “WWE Superstars of Tomorrow” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on April 5th. In regards to the filing for “WWE Superstars of Tomorrow” this was stated to be for a new show.
• WWE recently released a behind-the-scenes video focusing on WrestleMania 39.
• A fan named Kevin Hunsperger recently claimed that he was kicked out of this past Sunday’s WrestleMania 39 Night 2 event in Los Angeles, California due to issues event security had with his costume as the Big Boss Man. Hunsperger stated that security removed him from the event after telling him that he was impersonating a cop. Hunsperger claimed that a security guard told him to remove a Georgia sheriff’s department patch on his costume which he did but the guard still kicked him out of the venue. Hunsperger also claimed that others had told the security guard that he was only dressed as the Big Boss Man to no avail. Hunsperger stated that he was allowed to re-enter the venue after he took off his Big Boss Man costume and wore a Big Boss Man shirt instead. Hunsperger also stated that security guards did not have any issue when he had attended Saturday’s Night 1 event with his friend, who was dressed as The Mountie.
• In a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, The Great Muta, real name Keiji Muto, gave his thoughts about his recent induction into WWE’s Hall of Fame. Muto stated “He (Ric Flair) congratulated me on the (WWE Hall of Fame induction) and asked me if I was happy. I told him, ‘Super happy.’ When I met Flair, he had his wife with him. I used to take him and Triple H out for yakiniku when they came to Japan. The woman who was with him at the time is now his wife, and I met her again after a long time and talked with her about that. I bought her a drink, even though she had more money than I did.” (English translation via PostWrestling.com)
• As noted before, NXT brand talent Arianna Grace has been out of action for WWE since this past October due to an unknown injury. Grace recently provided an update on Twitter that her surgery for her injury this past Thursday was successful.
• Natalya recently reflected on Twitter about this past Monday being the 15th year anniversary of her official debut in WWE. Natayla stated “Today marks my 15 years on the WWE main roster. 15 years of doing what I love, in front of the audience I love doing it for. I learned early that real legacy isn’t counting what you got from the business, it’s knowing what you put back in—and I’ve been blessed ever since.”
• As noted before, former WWE wrestler Kelly Kelly is currently expecting the birth of her first child. Kelly recently provided an update on Twitter revealing that she was informed that she is currently expected to be having twins.
• Fightful Select reported that talent spoken to stated that they feel that WWE has been in an unofficial hiring freeze for new talent signings these past few months. Those spoken to stated that they feel this is due to Vince McMahon’s return to the company this past January and WWE being fully focused on their sale to a new owner. It was reported that one talent that Paul “Triple H” Levesque had shown interest in signing was former NWA talent Nick Aldis but this was put on hold following McMahon’s return. It was reported that others who had been on WWE’s radar have not had any new communications from the company after being shown initial interest towards them.
• In a recent interview with AP News, UFC President Dana White gave his thoughts about the upcoming merger of WWE and UFC into a new company and if there would be any crossover with WWE talents on UFC shows. White stated “You have the power of the fanbase of WWE. You have the power of the fanbase of UFC. You have the power of the viral. I don’t even know what the hell this thing is yet, the viral ability and whatever that fanbase is going to be for Power Slap. We can reach all these people in so many different ways. There is a lot more resources now. WWE has a lot more resources. It’s a phone call away now. All they have to do is pick up the phone now and say, ‘Hey, how did this happen? I need this. I need this contact. How did you do this?’ You all work together to make sure that everybody wins. We’ve been together on the same weekend many times. Come out of a UFC event, you have Monday Night Raw. Who knows. These are all things that can be figured out on the business side. The difference between UFC and WWE is, if you look at the WWE, they have an entertainment value, and they have these guys that are incredible athletes that go in there and do their thing. It’s well known that it’s scripted. When you look at the UFC, this is as real as it gets. That’s our tagline. You have these guys that are incredible athletes that have to be well-rounded and well-versed in all these different aspects of martial arts. Then you have the entertainment side of it too, but it’s real fighting, it’s real. There are no predetermined outcomes in the UFC. There won’t really be any type of crossover.”

AEW & ROH

• Saturday’s The Realest event for DEY Wrestling in Seattle Washington featured Nick Wayne defeating Swerve Strickland for the DEFY Championship. Following the match, Strickland gave a promo to the crowd announcing that that Wayne will be making his official debut for AEW at their July 12th Dynamite show in Saskatoon, Canada. Strickland also stated that he will be Wayne’s AEW debut opponent and this match will be for the DEFY Championship.
• As noted before, Santana has been out of action for AEW since this past June due to a knee injury. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Santana is still under contract with AEW despite him teasing to others last year about counting down the days till its expiration. It was reported that AEW has paid Santana throughout the duration of his injury. One source spoken to stated that if Santana’s contract had been set to expire this past September as he had hinted on social media, then AEW officials might have added injury time to extend it for the foreseeable future. Those spoken to reportedly stated that AEW CEO Tony Khan has been adamant that AEW will pay their talent if they are injured even if it means paying past their original contract expiration date. It was reported that if Santana’s contract did indeed expire, then AEW would have paid him for over half a year that he would have been officially off their books.
• As noted before, this past Wednesday’s AEW All Access drew 339,000 viewers, a 0.11 key demographic rating, and a #33 key demographic ranking on TBS. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW’s show drew 141,000 key demographic viewers. Meltzer also reported that the male/female key demographic viewership skew was 72.7% in favor of males. AEW’s Teenagers group was down 33.3%, younger key demographic group was up 28.6%, older key demographic group was down 13.3%, and Over 50 group was up 14.3% compared to last week’s debut show.
• AEW generated an attendance of 7,300 (6,500 paid) for their April 5th Dynamite show in Long Island, NY, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 2,859 tickets for their April 12th Dynamite show in Milwaukee, WI, 4,366 tickets for their April 19th Dynamite show in Pittsburgh, PA, 3,317 tickets for their April 26th Dynamite show in Sunrise, FL, 3,109 tickets for their May 3rd Dynamite show in Baltimore, MD, 4,918 tickets for their May 10th Dynamite show in Detroit, MI, 1,085 tickets for their May 12th house show event in Corbin, KY, 1,107 tickets for their May 13th house show event in Salem, VA, 3,191 for their May 17th Dynamite show in Austin, TX, 4,109 for their May 24th Dynamite show in Las Vegas, 6,585 tickets for their May 28th Double or Nothing 2023 event in Las Vegas, NV, 2,554 tickets for their May 31st Dynamite show in San Diego, CA, 12,865 tickets for their June 25th Forbidden Door 2 event in Toronto, Canada, 3,157 tickets for their June 28th Dynamite show in Hamilton, Canada, 4,651 for their July 5th Dynamite show in Edmonton, Canada, 1,219 for their July 8th event in Regina, Canada, 2,184 tickets for their July 12th Dynamite in Saskatoon, Canada, and 3,175 tickets for their July 15th house show event in Calgary, Canada as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• This past Wednesday’s Dynamite show in Long Island, New York featured HOOK defeating Ethan Page to retain his FTW Championship. Near the end of the match, Matt Hardy turned on Page and The Firm hitting Page with the FTW title to lead to the match’s finish. In a recent episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, co-host Hardy gave his reasons why he had turned against Page and The Firm. Hardy stated “Let’s get it straight, he was never my best friend. So once I tried to save Private Party, and I ended up getting involved in their business, my ended up having my contract also under control by The Firm. They made my life living hell, and it wasn’t a huge deal to me because I was obviously gonna be defiant, I was going to fight him every step of the way. But then once he started taking advantage of my kids, of Private Party, of Zay and Quen, it was a whole different level. So then I took a step back and I figured I had to do something to find a way to get out of this. So I figured, he was enough of a Matt Hardy fan… a bit of a Matt Hardy mark, that I could fool him, that I could sway him into thinking we were best friends. I even got a bunch of those stupid shirts like he wears. I would wear them and we would dress similar. I had some from back in the Hardy Boyz days. Stokely, on the other hand, those were the two toughest points. Stokely, I knew I couldn’t ever win him over. So that’s why I came up with this whole plan with HOOK. He wanted to have me wrestle against HOOK. Okay, sure. Then I told Isiah, ‘Dude, I promise, I’ll get us out of this. I got a plan.’ It was the first time I was really nice to Ethan. He was like, ‘What?’ He said, ‘You dead-ass?’ I said, ‘Yes, I am dead-ass. I have a plan, my man … Once I got [Stokely] out of the equation, I had Ethan wrapped around my finger. Not a big problem after that. As you can see, if you look back through the last few weeks in the chain of events, it really all makes sense in the big scheme of things.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• As noted before, Saraya was issued a fine punishment by AEW officials over her usage of an unapproved vulgar word of “twat” during her promo on the March 15th AEW Dynamite show in Winnipeg, Canada. In a recent interview with the Superstar Crossover podcast, Saraya gave her thoughts about being fined for saying the word “twat” on live television. Saraya stated “I think this is the first time I’ve really cursed on TV. You know, what’s really crazy is that even though twat is like a very British thing to say,” she said. “Twat is a very common word in the UK. It’s not part of my vocabulary, so I don’t even know why I said it. I could say any other word, but I chose ‘Twat’ in the spur of the moment, and it fit. I did a runner after the show, by the way. After I cursed, I was like, ‘I’m out,’ so they have to chase me down for this fine. So I’m getting texts from Toni Storm, Ruby, Pat Buck. I’m getting texts from the lawyers. They were just like, ‘We have to call you. You have to stop running away.’ I’m like, ‘I’m already gone. Catch me if you can.’ They called me, and they were so sweet about it. They were like, ‘Okay, there’s three things you did wrong here.’ I was like, ‘What are those?’ He was, ‘Well when you walked down the ramp, you flipped everybody off. That’s a no.’ I was like, ‘Okay.’ Second thing, you body-shamed everybody. That’s also a no.’ I’m like, alright. Then he’s like, ‘Then you called everyone neck-bearded twats, and that’s also not okay.’ They were like, ‘Not from our side, but the network is gonna be a little upset if you keep doing those things.’ He was like, ‘Just try not to body-shame people.’ I was like, ‘Well, they do it to me all the time, so suck it, right?””I was like, ‘To be fair to me, they did send me a list of curse words you cannot say, and twat wasn’t on it.’ They’re like, ‘We didn’t think we had to put it on there,’ and I’m like, ‘From a British standpoint, you have to always put it on there.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent interview with the Busted Open Radio podcast, Saraya gave her thoughts about her debut promo in AEW. Saraya stated “I was so mortified by the promo myself that I actually second guessed coming back altogether. ‘Did I just make a mistake? Did I make myself look so awful?’ People like Dean Malenko was like, ‘You went out there, you said on the microphone that you were nervous.’ I really was. I was terrified. I have never been so terrified in my career. Even when I debuted, won different championships, I was terrified, but not as terrified as coming back after five years, going to a different company in front of a new group of fans, in front of all these people watching you and they want to see you fail or do good. There was a lot of eyes.” In response to co-host Dave LeGreca’s comments about him feeling that her promo was only her listing off her accomplishments and not a dig at AEW nor their Women’s Division, Saraya stated “I wanted to come across more, ‘is she a good guy or a bad guy too?’ Just the way I delivered it, it wasn’t my proudest promo I’ve done. If I had to own up a promo, which I ended up having with Britt, I had to redeem myself. Moxley helped out a lot with these promos. With that one, he was like, ‘Speak from the heart. Stop trying to plan a promo out in your head. Speak from experience and more personal’ without taking low blow jabs just, ‘I’m a star.’ Then it was, ‘who is the babyface and who is the heel’ with me and Britt. We decided it doesn’t matter, you don’t have to have a definitive babyface or heel. The one thing I do wish I didn’t say, I got asked to say a certain sentence, the sentence where I was like, ‘Finally, a boss that listens to me’ I wish I didn’t take that low hanging fruit. I’ve always spoke highly of WWE because they helped me a lot. I love AEW. There is no reason to take that low hanging fruit and I feel that caused a lot of tribalism and negative reaction. There are some things you wish you didn’t say, and that’s one of them. I feel it would have gone smoother if I wouldn’t have said that. I understand why people were made, ‘but I’m playing a character. Be quiet.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent interview with Monthly Puroresu, Chris Jericho gave his thoughts on his issues with former New Japan Pro Wrestling President Harold Meij during his time in the company and why Meij did not see the full potential of a working relationship between NJPW and AEW. Jericho stated “The problem was Harold Meij, that was the problem. He just didn’t get it. I don’t think he even really understood what he was doing there. I even put a sign up on my room at, I think, the last Tokyo Dome show which said, ‘No Harold Meij allowed.’ Like, I just didn’t want to talk to the guy. He just didn’t understand. I don’t think he really understood what he was dealing with and what the big picture was. And how big, like for example, having Chris Jericho on the show could be. He was worried about the money I was making… Meanwhile, the money that I made was far eclipsed by the subscriptions that we sold and the tickets sold. He didn’t know the wrestling business. He just didn’t get it. He didn’t know the wrestling business. It was a strange call (not to work with us), and it just didn’t work… But I spoke to him about it like, ‘If you’re a marketing guy, you’d understand how huge it could be to have AEW, you know, in the Tokyo Dome.’ And how huge it’d be for New Japan to invade The Forum. Maybe he just didn’t get it, didn’t want to have anything to do with it. Almost looking down on AEW. What are you guys gonna do? And now… you can see what we have going on with New Japan.”
• As noted before, Madison Rayne suffered a potential injury at Ring of Honor’s ROH TV tapings this past Friday in Kingston, Rhode Island. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that ROH officials currently believe that Rayne had suffered an ankle injury.

Indies & Misc. Wrestling

• New Japan Pro Wrestling and Impact Wrestling reportedly generated an attendance of 652 for their co-promoted March 30th Multiverse United Event in Los Angeles, CA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• NJPW reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,298 for their April 2nd Road to Sakura Genesis 2023 event in Tokyo, 902 for their April 3rd Road to Sakura Genesis 2023 event in Tokyo, 559 for their April 4th Road to Sakura Genesis 2023 event in Shizuoka, and 711 for their April 6th Road to Sakura Genesis 2023 event in Tokorozawa, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Pro Wrestling Revolver recently announced that NJPW talent David Finlay will be making his official debut for the company at their Mayhem For All event on May 6th in Clive, Iowa.
• In a recent interview with Monthly Puroresu, Chris Jericho gave his thoughts on his match against Hiroshi Tanahashi being his favorite match from his most recent six-month stint in NJPW. Jericho stated “I’d have to say the Kenny (Omega) match was amazing (in NJPW). I loved it. I think the Tana match was my favorite of the six that I did there. Because just, anything about Tanahashi… he’s so, so f–king good. Like, he’s so good. He is one of one. And Kenny is too! Don’t get me wrong. Two different ways, two different types of guys. And, f–king Tanahashi was so good man… It was so easy. But what a match we had – even though nothing crazy went down, just a special match.”
• This past Saturday’s NJPW Sakura Genesis 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan featured two championships changing hands. The first was Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) defeating Bishamon to be crowned the new IWGP Tag Team Champions. The other was SANADA defeating Kazuchika Okada to be crowned the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. This was SANADA first ever victory for the IWGP World title. Prior to his win, SANADA had an all-time record of 1-8 against Okada in singles matches in NJPW.
• In a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, Mercedes Mone gave her thoughts on if she is interested in bringing her cousin and legendary rapper Snoop Dogg to Japan for a wrestling event. Mone stated “If the day comes when I stand in the main event of Tokyo Dome, I promise that he will come to the venue. I will definitely call him. He will sing at the entrance. If so, I can fulfill my dream and it’s great.” (English translation via Fightful.com)
• NJPW, All Japan Pro Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling NOAH recently teased on Twitter that they will be making a major announcement on April 12th. This announcement is currently rumored to be a new joint event by all three promotions.
• Impact talent Jordynne Grace finished in first place in the True Novice and Open division in the Tri City Bodybuilding 2023 event on April 1st in Columbus, Georgia. This event was a pro qualifier for this year’s
  International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation National event, which takes place this December in Irving Texas.
• Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre reportedly generated an attendance of over 5,000 for their April 1st 80th Anniversary Event in Mexico City, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Stardom reportedly generated a paid attendance of 508 for their April 1st Cinderella Tournament 2023 event in Utsunomiya, 1,295 for their April 2nd Cinderella Tournament 2023 event in Tokyo, and 344 for their April 6th house show event in Sendai, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 665 for their March 31st TJPW Live in Los Angeles event in Los Angeles, CA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• DDT Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 750 for their March 30th DDT Goes Hollywood event in Los Angeles, CA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• This past Saturday’s NWA 312 event in Highland Park, Illinois featured two new champions crowned. The first was EC3 defeating Cyon to be crowned the new NWA National Heavyweight Champion. The other was Kenzie Paige defeating Max The Impaler in the Finals of the NWA World Women’s Television Championship tournament to be crowned its inaugural champion.
• During this past Saturday’s NWA 312 event, the National Wrestling Alliance announced that this year’s Crockett Cup Tournament will be taking place on June 3-4 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
• AdFreeShows.com recently announced that a new podcast series titled Everyone’s Got A Pod featuring WWE Hall of Famer “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase will be debuting on their service this May.
• Major League Wrestling’s Battle Riot V event on Saturday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania featured Davey Boy Smith Jr. defeating “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams in the Finals of this year’s Opera Cup tournament. This event also featured Alex Kane winning this year’s Battle Riot battle royal match.