Sat. Roundup: Next WWE Saudi Event Planned for Nov. 4th, July 7 SD Notes, Solo Sikoa, Jade Cargill Update, Impact Ratings, Indies

WWE

• Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that his sources stated that WWE officials currently have scheduled for their next event in Saudi Arabia to take place on November 4th. No other details were given for this upcoming event.
• Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,375,000 viewers on FOX, according to SpoilerTV.
• Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Friday’s SmackDown show at Madison Square Garden was impacted by serious timing-related issues due to the opening Trial of Roman Reigns segment had gone well over its allocated time. It was reported that several matches and entrances for said matches had their times adjusted on the fly to make up for the lost time. It was also reported that LA Knight’s absence on the show had nothing to do with timing-related issues and instead WWE officials had always planned for him to only appear in a pre-show dark segment for the live crowd that was taped.
• WWE announced that Friday’s SmackDown show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York broke the record for highest ever grossing WWE event at Madison Square Garden in WWE history.
• Bellator MMA fighter Dillon Danis revealed on Twitter that he was in attendance backstage at Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in New York City.
• NXT talent Trick Williams reportedly was in attendance backstage at Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in New York City, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that Williams was not utilized for any dark match related work.
• Solo Sikoa recently reflected on Facebook about competing in the Bloodline Civil War match at this past Saturday’s Money in the Bank 2023 event in London, England was his “WrestleMania moment.” Sikoa stated “Finally had some time to digest everything that happend last Saturday in London at #MITB .This will be a moment i will ALWAYS cherish and remember forever.To be in the ring with 3 of the very best in this business and better thing is we did it against eachother as family.I learned from all 3 of them since i started on the main and have taken every advice they have given me to be in this position.I have traveled the world with them and have main evented EVERY ppv with them and last Saturday we made history this night and main evented against eachother. So many emotions before and after.But i’m very thankful and happy i got to do it with family. This was my wrestlemaina moment i will never forget. “WWE Money in the Bank 2023 live from London England was the highest grossing arena event in all of WWE history.” -Wrestleops“
• Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, and Montez Ford reportedly will be making an appearance at the upcoming 2023 ESPY Awards show on July 12th in Los Angeles, California, according to PWInsider.
• As noted before, R-Truth has been out of action for WWE since this past November due to a torn quad injury. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that R-Truth was seen in Birmingham, Alabama earlier this week and likely for a medical checkup as part of his process for a potential in-ring return. Johnson reported that R-Truth’s road to recovery had a setback several months ago due to him suffering an infection that required a new surgery to be performed.
• Matt Riddle and his girlfriend Misha Montana recently announced on Twitter that they are currently expecting the birth of their first child.
• NXT head booker Shawn Michaels recently announced a new match for the card of this Tuesday’s NXT show. This is a #1 Contender for NXT Championship match of Ilja Dragunov vs. Bron Breakker. Michaels also announced that the winner of this match will face Carmelo Hayes for the NXT Championship at NXT’s Great American Bash 2023 event on July 30th in Cedar Park, Texas.
• In a recent interview with Inside The Ropes, Kevin Owens gave his thoughts about his main goal for his and Sami Zayn’s current Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship reign. Owens stated “Given the history with he and I, it’s doubly, triply, quadruply, special when you take into account the factors that got us here or how we got these. At WrestleMania, in the main event together, and we started out together 20 years ago. When you factor all that in, it’s almost a storybook-type thing. It’s bigger than just winning the Tag Team Championships. I think people recognize that and it’s making this particular tag team title reign special to the audience because they know the story, they know the backstory, they know how and why these are so special for us. One of the things that I was concerned about before winning them is that when we did get them, I wanted to live up to the Usos title reign. They did a lot for these titles. They worked very hard to get them to the point where they could main event WrestleMania. A lot credit goes to them for that. Honestly, so far in our run, I don’t think we’re anywhere near that. I really want to work really hard, and once we’re all said and done with these titles and somebody else takes them from us, I want to our run to be talked about in the same vein as the Usos. That’s a challenge in itself, they did really incredible. If anything, now, finally, they’re getting their flowers. They’ve been, in my opinion, underappreciated for a long time. That was a big concern to me. I want to live up to the work they’ve done and we’re working our heart out to try to make sure that happens. That’s the one concern for us, to make sure these titles stay at the forefront of stories and keep being as important as they’ve been the last few months.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• WWE’s Money in the Bank 2023 event on July 1st in London, England reportedly is currently estimated to have generated around 10,500 pay-per-view buys, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that this was up 26.5% compared to this past May’s Night of Champions 2023 event and up 56.7% compared to this past May’s Backlash 2023 event. Meltzer reported that this was also up 9.1% compared to last year’s Money in the Bank PPV buys.
• As noted before, this past Saturday’s Money in the Bank 2023 event in London featured Drew McIntyre making his surprise return to WWE. This was McIntyre’s first appearance in WWE since this past April’s WrestleMania 39 event due to injury and creative-related issues. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that while McIntyre’s contract is currently set to expire in early 2024, it is possible that WWE officials froze his contract for injury-related and other reasons which would push back its expiration through next year’s WrestleMania 40 event.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that WWE officials had recently informed their talent that they would not be allowed to request for comp tickets for their July 7th SmackDown show, July 17th RAW show, July 31st RAW show, August 16th SmackDown show, and August 21st RAW show due to the high ticket sales for those events.
• WWE recently released a new behind-the-scenes video featuring this past Saturday’s Money in the Bank 2023 event in London, England.

AEW & ROH

• The Kentucky Boxing & Wrestling Commission recently revealed that AEW is currently scheduled to hold a new set of Dynamite and Rampage shows on November 1st at the KFC Yum Center in Louisville, Kentucky. This will be AEW’s debut events in the city.
• Andrade El Idolo recently responded on Twitter to the online criticisms over AEW’s decline in ratings for their Collision shows these past two weeks. Andrade stated “I respect all the talent of all the AEW brands, remember if they respect me, they will always receive my respect. because they all work hard to earn a place. I am AEW collision and I love the looker room, we have only 3 weeks on television and we have achieved in 3 weeks what other brands have in 4 or less years, I love wrestling like all of you and the more competition we have, all this is better for the company, but I would love that the people who were in charge of preparing the first AEW Collision show in Chicago, those people are in charge of doing all the shows week after week. We have a lot of top talent, you will never imagine ANDRADE THE IDOL VS SAMOE JOE, CM PUNK, FTR, MIRO DAY, SCORPION, THE BULLET, RICKY STARKS, HOBBS, and more talent that I could forget. Thunder Rosa’s comeback will be great imagine her beating up julia hart and getting my mask back and maybe having our own championship that CM PUNK never lost.“
• Besides Andrade El Idolo, Dax Harwood also recently responded to online criticisms regarding AEW’s decline in ratings for their Collision shows since Collision’s debut show. Harwood’s response was made towards former WWE announcer Jonathan “The Coach” Coachman who had joined in on the criticisms saying that wrestling shows do not work on a Saturday night. Coachman stated “Kyle what do I know. Been out of the business too long. You don’t know AEW fans. You’re an idiot-just watch Tony will show you. Let me repeat myself for those except Kyle who clearly listened m- wrestling shoes do not work on Saturdays. Never have. Never will. Now you all can try and come up with something else but try and understand some of us who are in the business kind of know what we are talking about. All that said I would never float about being right and an entire fan base being wrong. Not my style.” Harwood responded stating “Hey Coach. We’re trying to build a brand. It will take time; we understand that. Hopefully you do too! This roster absolutely loves wrestling. Like, an entity. LOVES it. I know you probably can’t relate to that. Will this Saturday night tv show endeavor work? Who knows. What I do know is, we’ll all work our asses off to MAKE it work. I hope you, & people like you, give us an opportunity to show you, professional wrestling IS alive. I know you know how Monday nights work, but maybe you’ll give us more than 3 weeks to make this work. If not, you’re more than welcome to tell me I’m wrong. What I’m not wrong about is, wrestling fans love wrestling. And we’ll always work to make them proud. Give us a chance.“
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Forbidden Door II saw an increase of around 15% from late pay-per-view purchases from week 1 to week 2. Meltzer reported that Forbidden Door II’s week two late purchases were down 8.4% compared to the same time period for this past May’s Double or Nothing 2023 PPV buys rate. Meltzer also reported that Forbidden Door II is down 11.4% in cable television PPV buys but up 5% in streaming buys compared to Double or Nothing 2023. In regards to last year’s Forbidden Door event, Meltzer reported that Forbidden Door II is currently down 7.6% in cable television buys compared to last year’s event but this was expected due to the decline in television buys and increase in streaming buys over the past year for AEW events.
• As noted before, Jade Cargill has been on a break from AEW and wrestling since this past May’s Double or Nothing 2023 event. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that AEW officials currently do not have a timetable in place for Cargill’s return to the company.
• As noted before, Bandido underwent surgery this past Thursday for a broken wrist injury. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated that Bandido is currently hopeful of being able to return to action in about six to eight weeks. Meltzer reported that this would put him within the time frame of being able to potentially compete at this August’s AEW All In event.
• AEW recently released a new mini-documentary video on their official YouTube channel featuring Ethan Page’s return to his native hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
• As noted before, Santana has been out of action for AEW since June of 2022 due to a knee injury. Santana recently posted a new cryptic video on Twitter teasing his upcoming in-ring return to AEW.
• Fightful Select reported that their sources debunked recent rumors of Santana was to travel to a recent AEW Collision show. It was reported that if there were any actual plans for his return to have taken place at a recent show, this was something that Santana was not aware or told of beforehand.
• As noted before, Thunder Rosa has been out of action for AEW since this past September due to her suffering a spinal-related injury. Rosa made her surprise return to AEW on the May 10th AEW Dynamite show but has not made any other on-screen appearances since then. In a recent interview with the Busted Open Radio podcast, Rosa provided an update on the status of her recovery from injury and in-ring return. Rosa stated “It’s great news. I get to get in the ring. For those who are questioning if I’ve just been taking a big break because I like to do stuff, no, I am getting ready, and I’m excited. Just stay tuned. There’s a lot more stuff, I gotta be on my vlog, in terms of that. So that’s your answer, if you want to go on my vlog and listen and see, I have graphics and everything explaining the injury, you can see it. When he said the pathology’s still there, that means I still have the injury, I just don’t have any pain. So I’m living, and thousands and millions of people probably in the United States live with back pain and back problems, and I’m one of them.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent interview with New Japan Pro Wrestling’s official website, Shota Umino gave his thoughts on working with Jon Moxley and clarifying his status with Blackpool Combat Club. Umino stated “He’s doing some incredible things in AEW right now, love or hate them. There were a lot of people asking me these few weeks if I was part of Blackpool Combat Club, and the answer is that I’m not. I said it all in my backstage comments in Osaka, but me and Mox, it’s something that’s deeper than a babyface and heel fan opinion.“
• In a recent interview with the Cultaholic Wrestling podcast, Mercedes Martinez gave her thoughts on why she prefers to wrestling for Ring of Honor over AEW and the current differences between the two promotions. Martinez stated “There is a difference. With the AEW roster, and it’s with any big company, it’s still a chance to thrive. I still believe they haven’t reached their ‘shoot’ potential. Yeah, you have your big matches here and there, but there is no chance of matchups. Me, being there, I’m not able to wrestle someone like Jade (Cargill), I haven’t wrestled Anna Jay, I haven’t wrestled Skye Blue or Britt Baker in a singles, Kris Statlander in a singles. In the AEW division, there is so much potential there, but there’s just not enough time to have these matchups. In Ring of Honor, you can have those matchups. You can have matchups from outside of your roster. You can bring in people from the independents or from overseas. That’s where Ring of Honor is so close to home for me and why I love Ring of Honor. That’s where the magic happens, that’s where creativity happens, that’s where those dream matches are going to happen. Not to say one is better than the other, but if I had to choose which one, I will always go with Ring of Honor because that’s my home. It always has been. It’s always been the pinnacle of trying to build their division. It’s where I’m going to get those banger matches that is going to give me 10-12 minutes, compared to an AEW match where you get 5-6 minutes because you’re constrained to a TV time compared to a streaming time.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

Impact, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

• Impact Wrestling reportedly drew 110,000 viewers and a 0.01 key demographic rating for their June 22nd episode on AXS TV, according to Wrestlenomics.
• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that former WWE developmental talent Kyle Rasmussen recently pleaded no contest to the charges against him over his involvement in the death of his girlfriend from a car accident in October of 2022. Rasmussen and his girlfriend Sarah Ratlif were traveling in a car being driven by another person when Rasmussen, who was seated in the backseat, suddenly tried to take over the wheel and started to strangle the driver. Both the driver and Ratlif escaped the vehicle but Ratlif was hit by another vehicle and later died of her injuries. Johnson reported that Rasmussen is currently scheduled to be sentenced on August 9th.
• Former ECW owner Todd Gordon is currently scheduled to release his new upcoming book, titled Tod Is God, on July 25th in hardcover and Kindle versions.
• A new trailer recently released for the upcoming new television series Reptile Royalty for Roku featured indie wrestler and former AEW talent Joey Janela.
• Tonight’s Never Say Never 2023 event for Major League Wrestling will be airing live on FITE TV. In a recent interview with Fightful’s In The Weeds podcast, MLW owner Court Bauer gave his thoughts on MLW recently securing a deal with FITE TV to air their events live on the service. Bauer stated “Mike Weber and our side have had conversations for like five or six years about doing something big. The stars didn’t align for it. Finally, we have the right conversation at the right time this spring, and it just locked. It made sense for both sides to do it, so we did it. We’ve been very close over the years with doing something with FITE. I first worked with Mike when we were both at Ring of Honor in 2013 or 2014, so we’ve known each other for a long time.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Indie wrestler Jesus Rodriguez, former Ricardo Rodriguez in WWE, reportedly was recently hired to a backstage job in MLW, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that besides being an active talent, Rodriguez will also be working as a backstage producer for MLW.
• In a recent interview with the Good Karma Wrestling podcast, National Wrestling Alliance owner Billy Corgan gave his thoughts about his belief that he is the biggest heel character currently in the NWA. Corgan stated “Oh yeah, we got a lot of tough hombres and ladies in there. I don’t think we go out of our way to court controversy, but I also think we’re very proud of who we are, and not everybody agrees, but that’s the modern wrestling fan. Part of being a modern wrestling fan is getting on social media and voicing your opinion, which is totally fine. I just draw the line on where the fans book the promotion. I’m not a fan of the fans booking the card or the promotion. I think, at the end of the day, in that way, I’m probably the biggest heel in the NWA because I just won’t turn the NWA into every other wrestling company that’s out there.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Sendai Girls recently announced that KAIRI will be making an appearance for the company at their Big Show in Niigata event on September 2nd in Niigata, Japan. This will be KAIRI’s first appearance for the company since 2015.
• In a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, Maki Itoh gave her thoughts about how her recent tour of the United States made her become mentally stronger. Itoh stated “I was surprised that a normal singles match was suddenly changed to a five-way match. Moreover, we sometimes fought in matches with different nationalities, such as Japan, the U.S., Australia, and Germany. There were also many sudden changes and happenings, such as being dropped on a chair by a splash mountain and being subjected to techniques that I would not be subjected to in Japan. I think I became mentally stronger. I became stronger and more confident. In Japan, opponents and the starting time of matches are fixed, and the matches are held according to the schedule. In that sense, compared to the U.S., Japan is blessed with a better environment. In a dark match, my opponent was decided about 30 minutes before the match started. My name suddenly came up, and I had to hurry! I had to hurry! Sometimes my tag team partners and opponents had not even been made up when the match was decided (laughs). It was a lot of work.” Itoh also gave her thoughts about how her recent match with Rina Yamashita at Game Changer Wrestling’s Thank Me Later event this past June ended up changing GCW owner Brett Lauderdale’s view of her for the better. Itoh stated “That was the last match on the U.S. tour (against Rina Yamashita at GCW Thank Me Later)… I had a more relaxed mind, and I think my perspective in the match became broader. I think this will come in handy in the Japanese ring. After that match, the GCW owner’s view of me changed. I think they looked at me and said, you are surprisingly capable. He didn’t pay attention to me on a daily basis, but he praised me on Twitter. That was the first time that had happened, so I felt that they recognized me.” (English translation via PostWrestling.com)
• GCW recently announced that Alex Zayne will be making an appearance for the company at their GCW Homecoming 2023 events on August 19-20 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
• GCW also recently announced a new match for the card of their No Signal In the Hills Pt. 3 event on August 11th in Los Angeles, California. This is a singles match of Lio Rush vs. Gringo Loco.
• As noted before, RUSH and his father La Bestia del Ring left Lucha Libre AAA this past June over backstage frustrations revolving around broken promises from AAA officials. In a recent episode of the Keepin It 100 w/Konnan & Disco podcast, co-host and AAA head booker Konnan stated that there are no new updates regarding RUSH’s status for next Saturday’s Triplemania XXXI: Tijuana event in Tijuana, Mexico.
• In the same podcast episode, Konnan also stated that AAA originally had planned for Puma King’s match against Rey Fenix to take place at their Verano de Escandalo 2023 event on July 21st in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Konnan stated that those plans were later pulled due to Fenix is currently scheduled to work at Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor 2023 event that same night in Trenton, New Jersey. Besides Fenix, Konnan also stated that Komander and Penta El Zero Miedo are also currently scheduled to work at ROH’s event that night and were not available for AAA’s event. (Transcript h/t: TheCubsFan.com)
• As noted before, New Japan Pro Wrestling recently declared that Shota Umino, Ren Narita and Yota Tsuji will now be known as the Reiwa Three Musketeers going forward in the company despite Umino and Tsuji not being in favor of the decision. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that besides the three wrestlers, NJPW’s fanbase has also been heavily negative towards the company’s decision to revive their Musketeers label. Meltzer reported that it is currently not known if this decision was made by NJPW compote officials or head booker Gedo.
• In a recent interview with NJPW’s official website, SANADA gave his thoughts about working at this past June’s AEW and NJPW’s Forbidden Door II event and talks with CM Punk. SANADA stated “When I was over with AEW, I felt how important that IWGP label is. I got to chat with CM Punk, and he was like ‘that belt is the coolest’. You know, for a CM Punk to know who you are and what you’re doing, that speaks to how widely the IWGP Champion is known.” SANADA also gave his thoughts about the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match taking place at a lower spot in the event’s card. SANADA stated “My opponent, Perry, I could see there was something to him, the fans had been behind him, and he had a good match with DOUKI in Chicago. I think he’s someone with a lot of upside. But I think with this being an away game, the most important thing was being able to show who I am in that environment and in that atmosphere. Where you are on the card, that’s important sure, but it was my job to show who SANADA is within that environment, and win on top of that. I did that and I’m grateful I was able to.“