Weekend Roundup: Randy Orton Update, Robert Roode Underwent 2nd Neck Surgery, Matt Jackson, AAA, VICE TV, KAIRI, Indies

WWE

• In a recent interview with the WWE After The Bell with Corey Graves podcast, Carmelo Hayes gave his thoughts about wanting to have “Black and Gold era” type matches during his current NXT Championship reign. Hayes stated “One of the things I noticed, there’s so many studs still left on the roster. So many good guys that, you know, can have that Black and Gold era type style that people always say that they miss and they want. So, I look forward to having those types of matches with the guys. There’s so many – you’ve got Dijak, Dragon Lee, Ilja Dragunov, Tyler Bate, Wes Lee still, you know. I know I’m forgetting names but there’s so many good guys on that roster. I just want to have great matches with all of them during this reign and see who’s willing or who can dethrone me at that point. But yeah, I just want to bring back good, solid wrestling to this NXT show – not that there’s not that but there’s a lot of people learning how to get their feet wet and then there’s a lot of guys who are willing to go out and kill it. And I think I’m one of those guys that want to go out and kill it.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
• In the same interview, Hayes also gave his thoughts on the meaning of his “Him” catchphrase in NXT. Hayes stated “It’s really the journey of my progression, in a way. There was a period of time when I had the North American Championship and I was calling myself the A Champ. At that time, I truly believed I was the most important champion on the brand. For a long time it was ‘The A Champ’ and then when I lost the championship, I called myself ‘One of One’ to that starry light, ‘there is only one of me.’ On the journey to get the NXT Title, it was really like, ‘I’m the guy, I’m Him.’ If anybody is going to be the guy and take that title and do it, it’s me, I am Him. That’s where Him came from, where it was; you can’t deny me, I’m the guy. It’s another thing in pop culture and sports, Him is very popular. When guys do something great, they self-proclaim themselves, ‘I am Him, I am the one, I am the guy. I am Him.’ I think it carries weight. It’s ‘Boom. Him.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• WWE filed a trademark for “Kelani Jordan” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on May 9th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• In a recent interview with CTV News, WWE NIL signee Keshaun Moore stated that he recently signed a contract with Canadian Football League team The Saskatchewan Roughriders, Morre also stated that once his football career is over, he will most likely pursue a career in wrestling.
• As noted before, Randy Orton has been out of action for WWE since May of 2022 due to a back injury and underwent back fusion surgery this past November. In a recent interview with Sportskeeda’s Wrestle Binge, WWE Hall of Famer “Cowboy” Bob Orton stated that he believes that doctors have told his son Randy to not return to the ring for his wrestling career. Orton stated “He’s training. We’ll see what happens. I don’t know if he feels like going back or, when it feels like he’s ready to go back, I think he might. Then again, he’s pretty well taken care of, I don’t think he needs to. I think the doctors have told him not to. Randy will do what Randy’s going to do.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 13,800 (paid) for their May 5th SmackDown show in San Juan, 17,966 (around 15,000 paid) for their May 6th Backlash 2023 event in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and 8,404 (7,200 paid) for their May 8th RAW show in Jacksonville, FL, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 7,895 tickets for their May 15th RAW show in Greensboro, NC, 7,866 tickets for their May 19th SmackDown show in Columbia, SC, 3,569 tickets for their May 20th house show event in Fayetteville, NC, 4,249 tickets for their May 21st house show event in Hampton, VA, 8,883 tickets for their May 22nd RAW show in Hershey, PA, 2,265 tickets for their May 28th NXT Battleground event in Lowell, MA, 5,387 tickets for their May 29th RAW show in Albany, NY, 8,457 tickets for their June 2nd SmackDown show in Wilkes-Barre, PA, 2,979 tickets for their June 3rd house show event in White Plains, NY, 3,089 tickets for their June 4th house show event in Manchester, NH, 6,093 tickets for their June 5th RAW show in Hartford, CT, 4,125 tickets for their June 9th SmackDown show in Des Moines, IA, 3,909 tickets for their June 12th RAW show in Wichita, KS, 4,026 tickets for their June 16th SmackDown show in Lexington, KY, 2,635 tickets for their June 17th house show event in Cincinnati, OH, 2,498 tickets for their June 18th house show event in Charleston, WV, 6,053 tickets for their June 19th RAW show in Cleveland, OH, 5,313 tickets for their June 23rd SmackDown show in Lafayette, LA, 1705 tickets for their June 24th house show event in Monroe, LA, 2,508 tickets for their June 25th house show event in Mobile, AL, 4,758 tickets for their June 26th RAW show in Savannah, GA, 6,078 tickets for their June 29th house show event in Sheffield, England, England, 6,061 tickets for their June 30th house show event in Newcastle, England, 17,595 for their July 1st Money in the Bank 2023 event in London, England, 4,626 tickets for their July 2nd house show event in Cardiff, Wales, 9,477 tickets for their July 7th SmackDown show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY, 5,305 tickets for their July 10th RAW show in Buffalo, NY, 6,185 tickets for their July 14th SmackDown show in Raleigh, NC, 2,784 tickets for their July 15th house show event in Fairfax, VA, 1,654 tickets for their July 16th house show event in 7,341 tickets for their July 17th RAW show in Atlanta, GA, 6,804 tickets for their July 21st SmackDown show in Orlando, FL, 6,069 tickets for their July 24th RAW show in Tampa, FL, 39,334 tickets for their August 5th SummerSlam 2023 event in Detroit, MI, 5,046 tickets for their August 7th RAW show in Minneapolis, MN, 5,867 tickets for their August 11th SmackDown show in Calgary, Canada, 7,178 tickets for their August 14th RAW show in Winnipeg, Canada, and 11,359 tickets for their August 18th SmackDown show in Toronto, Canada as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that investment bank and financial firm Morgan Stanley is currently predicting that WWE will receive around a 50% increase for their next RAW and SmackDown television deals. Morgan Stanley is currently predicting around $400 million in revenues for RAW and around a little over $300 million in revenues for SmackDown for WWE’s new TV deals. It was also predicted that WWE’s next streaming deal for their WWE Network would increase to $400 million.
• As noted before, Robert Roode has been out of action for WWE since this past June due to a neck-related injury and surgery. Roode provided an update on Instagram stating that he had underwent a second neck surgery that was stated to be a C4-C5 cervical fusion surgery on May 11th. Roode stated “Another trip around the sun and another trip to Birmingham Alabama. Quite a way to celebrate my birthday lol. Had a C4/5 cervical fusion to go along with the C5/6 fusion back in November. Most importantly it was a success thanks to the man himself Dr Andy Cordover and the first class staff here at @andrews_sports_medicine. Big thank you @deneane__17 for being my rock throughout this entire process. It’s been a challenging year to say the least. Road to recovery part 2! —“
• In a recent interview with Inside The Ropes, Sami Zayn gave his thoughts on what he learned for his career from his time with WWE’s The Bloodline storyline and revealed that his involvement in the storyline is pretty much over. Zayn stated “It’s hard to say because sometimes I do these things, I’m like, ‘Well, that was it. I don’t think I’ll do anything better than that. But I’ve been pretty lucky in my career because I had 21 years before I did the Bloodline story, and for as many great things that I had done before, I still got to do something even greater with the Bloodline story. So I don’t know if that’s the only thing I’ll be remembered for. I really don’t know what I’ll be remembered for, and it’s kind of out of my hands, to be honest. But if it is something that is remembered fondly in the years to come, what more can you ask for? That’s wonderful. It was a blast. Sometimes the hidden laughter, or the clear chemistry between the performers on-screen and all that, it was just kind of a wired lighting-in-a-bottle, perfect stars aligning for these variables to create this thing. So many things went into creating something that just felt a bit special. So it would be very hard to recreate, but it’s done, more or less, and I’m glad I got to do it, and there’s not much more to say than that, other than I hope everybody enjoyed it and remembers it fondly.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent interview with the John Chuckery podcast, Eric Bischoff gave his thoughts about WWE’s decision to not have Cody Rhodes defeat Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at this past April’s WrestleMania 39 event. Bischoff stated “I think it’s absolutely the right decision. Having Cody chase that title, yes. If, giant ‘if’ fluorescent colors, fireworks, or anything else you can think of to draw attention to the word ‘if’ in this context; if they have a plan. Look at what they did with The Bloodline storyline. That was a phenomenal storyline from a storyteller’s point of view. The character development, the art of each of the characters, the layers in the story, the defined arc within that story, all of it was as good as anything I’ve ever seen in professional wrestling. From a technical point of view. I thought it was amazing, really amazing. Now, if they can, however, they ended up with that incredible storyline, six months, eight months leading up to WrestleMania, whoever that team was, if they can replicate anything close to that level of success over the next 12 months, that is absolutely the best decision. On the other hand, if they don’t have a really great plan, then it could be a lost opportunity, but we won’t know until we know.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that based on a recent internal roster list, WWE officials currently view Bianca Belair as their top face and Asuka as their top heel stars for their SmackDown brand. SmackDown’s Top 6 face stars in order reportedly currently are Belair, Charlotte Flair, Shotzi, Zelina Vega, Mia Yim, and Aliyah. SmackDown’s Top 6 heel stars in order reportedly currently are Asuka, Bayley, Lacey Evans, Scarlett, B Fab, and Tamina.
• Fightful Select reported that their sources provided some details on how WWE’s negotiations with their talent for new contracts have changed under WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s leadership. It was reported that prior to Vince McMahon’s initial departure, WWE’s usual process was to start negotiations with their talents for potential new deals around a year and a half before the expiration dates of their contracts. It was reported that following the major change in WWEs Talent Relations and major internal turnover this past Summer, WWE’s current process under Levesque is to now wait until closer to the expiration date of a talent’s contract before they start negotiations for a potential new deal. It was also reported that as early as Summer of 2021, WWE had been changing their mentality with several talents not being given offers for potential new deals until close to their contract’s expiration date.

AEW & ROH

• Matt Hardy’s wife Reby announced that Hardy’s Twitter account was recently hacked and any derogatory and offensive messages posted on Saturday were not from him but from the person who had hacked his account.
• AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 7,400 (6,600 paid) for their May 10th Dynamite show in Detroit, MI, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 4,374 tickets for their May 17th Dynamite show in Austin, TX, 4,302 tickets for their May 24th Dynamite show in Las Vegas, 6,807 tickets for their May 28th Double or Nothing 2023 event in Las Vegas, NV, 2,964 tickets for their May 31st Dynamite show in San Diego, CA, 1,141 tickets for their June 2nd house show event in Tupelo, MS, 1,529 tickets for their June 3rd house show event in Huntsville, AL, 1,855 tickets for their June 7th Dynamite show in Colorado Springs, CO, 2,587 tickets for their June 14th Dynamite show in Washington, D.C., 4,505 tickets for their June 21st Dynamite show in Chicago, IL, 12,884 for their June 25th Forbidden Door 2 event in Toronto, Canada, 3,279 tickets for their June 28th Dynamite show in Hamilton, Canada, 4,861 tickets for their July 5th Dynamite show in Edmonton, Canada, 1,280 tickets for their July 8th television taping event (Collision) in Regina, Canada, 2,305 tickets for their July 12th Dynamite show in Saskatoon, Canada, 3,034 for their July 15th television taping event (Collision) in Calgary, Canada, and 2,386 tickets (presale) for their July 19th Dynamite show at the TD Garden in Boston, MA 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 Kenny Omega was a little banged up following his Steel Cage match against Jon Moxley at this past Wednesday’s Dynamite show in Detroit. In regards to the scary looking spot involving Omega’s leg getting trapped in the cage after his V-Trigger to Moxley, Meltzer reported that Omega had told others that he had completely relaxed his body for his V-Trigger to Moxley knowing that he was meant to fly out of the cage for the gimmicked broken cage spot. Meltzer reported that this was the reason why Omega avoided suffering a potential knee injury since he could have easily have gotten hurt had he tensed up following the cage break spot not going as planned.
• As noted before, Matt Jackson suffered a torn biceps injury this past March and was expected to be out of action for AEW for around six to eight weeks. Jackson made his return during this past Wednesday’s Dynamite show in Detroit and got involved in physical action during the Steel Cage match between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Jackson ended up healing a lot quicker than assumed from his injury and had been medically cleared this past week. Jackson reportedly was also doing bumps and running the ropes training ahead of AEW’s show this past Wednesday.
• As noted before, Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks’ Nick and Matt Jackson’s contracts with AEW are currently set to expire this year. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that there has been no new updates as of this past Thursday regarding the status of contract talks between Omega and AEW officials for a potential new deal and the same with the Young Bucks for a new deal as well.
• In a recent episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Isaiah Kassidy and co-host Matt Hardy gave their thoughts about The Firm Deletion match that took place on the May 5th AEW Rampage show. Hardy stated “I think we really did delete The Firm. They might stick around for a week or two, but I think that was basically the end of The Firm. You’re welcome, audience.” Kassidy responded stating “I feel great. We got out of this contract. I’m free, he’s free. The possibilities after this are endless.” Hardy and Kassidy also gave their thoughts about The Firm Deletion match being the culmination of their lengthy storyline with The Firm. Kassidy stated “It’s been amazing. We finally deleted The Firm and we finally got out of these bullshit ass contracts. Like I said, we’re free men now, so I’m excited for the future.” Hardy responded stating “I think it opens up a lot of potential for The Hardys running for the tag titles, Hardy Party running for the trios titles. A lot of good stuff, man. Very exciting future ahead of us.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that the Top 5 overall merchandise sellers in order for AEW for the past week were Danhausen, AEW, Kenny Omega, Eddie Kingston and Adam Cole. In regards to specific merchandise item sales, the Top 5 in order were Danhausen Carnivalhausen, Omega Mind Control AEW Arcade, Kingston Deons, Cole Bay Bay and FTR 7 Star. In regards to Pro Wrestling Tees, the Top 5 overall merchandise sellers for AEW were Danhausen, Bullet Club, AEW, Cole, and Kingston. PWT’s Top 5 specific AEW merchandise sales were Danhausen curse shirt, Kingston demons, Omega Street Fighter, Baker bruised eye shirt and a Botched shirt.

Indies & Misc. Wrestling

• Impact Wrestling talent “Speedball” Mike Bailey recently released a vlog on his YouTube channel focusing on his first day of action for New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Best of the Super Juniors 2023 tournament.
• NJPW reportedly has sold around 1,774 tickets for their May 21st Resurgence 2023 event in Long Beach, California as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that NJPW had sold around 500 tickets for the show following the announcement of Mercedes Mone competing at the show.
• Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre has recently been promoting that Stephanie Vaquer will become the first ever women’s wrestler from the company to compete at a NJPW event for NJPW’s Resurgence 2023 event on May 21st in Long Beach, California. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that this accolade for Vaquer has more to do with NJPW has rarely ever featured women’s matches on their shows.
• Dark Silueta has been out of action for CMLL since this past August due to a knee injury and her surgery for it. TheCubsFan reported that Dark Silueta recently provided an update stating that she currently expects to be medically cleared for an in-ring return by this June or July.
• TNT recently released a trailer for the upcoming Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker episode for their Rich & Shameless documentary series that will be airing on Wednesday, May 7th on the network.
• Pro Wrestling NOAH announced a new match for the card of their N-1 Victory 2023 Finals event on September 3rd in Osaka, Japan. This is a GHC Martial Arts Rules match of Masakatsu Funaki vs. Josh Barnett.
• Dragon Gate reportedly generated a paid attendance of 2,710 for their May 5th Dead Or Alive 2023 event in Nagoya and 1,101 for their May 11th Hopeful Gate 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, Lucha Libre AAA is currently in the process of trying to get a television deal in the United States. In a recent episode of the Keepin’ It 100 podcast, co-host and AAA head booker Konnan stated that AAA had been in talks with Univision for a TV deal for the past 18 months that ended up falling through. Konnan stated that the main reason why AAA did not sign a tv deal with Univision was due to the low monetary offer and the company feeling they deserved a better financial deal. Konnan also stated that AAA officials recently held talks with Liberty Media for a new reality series for the company. (Transcript h/t: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AAA officials recently started a new storyline feud for Triplemania XXXI featuring Mexican rapper Aczino. This new storyline featured AAA talents Nicho, Toscano, and Argenis confronting Aczino backstage at AAA’s Triplemania XXXI: Monterrey event this past April. Meltzer reported that the reason for this new storyline is due to AAA officials still want to do something involving a famous mainstream person for this year’s Triplemania XXXI event. This new plan reportedly was put in place following their original plans for social media influencer Adrian Marcelo being dropped.
• Stardom reportedly generated a paid attendance of 519 for their May 9th Golden Week Fight Tour 2023 event in Osaka, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• All Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 2,437 for their May 7th Champion Carnival 2023 Finals event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 774 for their May 5th Yes! Wonderland 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, VICE TV’s parent company VICE Media has been preparing to be file for bankruptcy due to serious financial-related issues affecting the company. The Wall Street Journal reported that Hungarian-American businessman George Soros is currently in talks with VICE Media to purchase the company for around $400 million, which would save the company from entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• KAIRI recently posted on Twitter about her current desire to travel more for her wrestling career and the difficulty she has experienced trying to get bookings for events in the United States. KAIRI stated “I thankfully get a lot of people asking me to participate more (and that I’m in the way if I don’t participate fully –), so I’d like to respond. I feel the same way. I would like to travel around the region because I would like to meet many people! I have already told the company that I would like to travel around the region because I would like to meet many people. However, as a wrestler, I can only tell you what I can do. I leave the decision up to you, and I am looking forward to that day coming and working hard every day to build my body so that I can perform well no matter when the match comes. —- I learned painfully in America that it is not a given that a match will be set up. I am sure every star player has gone through that path at least once. But during that time, the players who keep going without stopping will get the glory. As a professional, I too, never want to just stand still. I will keep going.” (English translation via Fightful.com)