Sat. Roundup: LuFisto, Britt Baker Rumor Killer, AEW Talents Upset with Women’s Booking Issues, Slammiversary PPV Buys, Indies

WWE

• Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,166,000 viewers on FOX, according to Spoiler TV.
• WWE announced that Gunther has surpassed “Macho Man” Randy Savage for third longest ever reign as Intercontinental Champion at 414 days and counting as of today.
• The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that WWE had sold out all of their tickets allocated for the first official day of sale for this November’s Survivor Series 2023 event at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois. Meltzer reported that the tickets for the prior night’s SmackDown show in the same venue also sold out as well.
• Logan Paul recently announced on Instagram that he will be competing in a boxing event called The Prime Card on October 14th in Manchester, England.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Olympic gold medalist and NXT developmental talent Tamyra Mensah-Stock has been “doing great” with her training at WWE’s Performance Center for a wrestling career in the company. Meltzer reported that those spoken to described Mensah-Stock transition into taking to professional wrestling like “a fish to water.” Mensash-Stock has been with WWE since this past May.
• WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter filed several trademarks for “Sgt. Slaughter” for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• This week’s episode of the Stars on Mars reality competition television series on FOX featured Ronda Rousey being eliminated from the show.
• As noted before, Bray Wyatt has been out of action for WWE since this past March due to an undisclosed “physical illness” medical issue. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that there have been no new updates regarding Wyatt’s current status beyond WWE officials do not have any plans for him to be in attendance at next Saturday’s SummerSlam 2023 event in Detroit, Michigan. Johnson reported that the current belief by those within WWE is that Wyatt is still waiting to be medically cleared for a potential return.
• This past Tuesday’s NXT show featured a grocery store brawl segment involving Blair Davenport and Roxanne Perez. In a recent interview with the Busted Open Radio podcast, Perez gave her thoughts about her grocery store brawl with Davenport. Perez stated “I haven’t been able to see him after it aired. When I see him, I’m going to ask him what he thought. It’s so cool to be able to kind of re-live history in a way and to be able to do something that my trainer did in his career. That was amazing. Booker T and Stone Cold, that grocery store fight was one of my favorites to go back on YouTube and watch as a kid because I thought it was hilarious. To be able to do that was pretty cool.” Perez also gave her thoughts about NXT head booker Shawn Michaels reaction to the grocery brawl segment. Perez stated “I was looking at Shawn while it was airing and he was watching like, ‘Oh, OH!” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• As noted before, Cody Rhodes will be doing the voiceover for the opening intro video for WWE’s NXT Great American Bash 2023 this Sunday in Cedar Park, Texas. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the reason why WWE officials picked Rhodes to do the voiceover was simply due to them paying homage to Cody’s father Dusty Rhodes who came up with the name for the event during his time in Jim Crockett Promotions.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the July 18th NXT show drew a key demographic ranking of #2 for that night, only behind Love & Hip Hop Atlanta.
• In a recent investor’s meeting, Comcast stated that NBCU’s Peacock streaming service has around 24 million paid subscribers as of the end of their fiscal second quarter, up 2 million compared to the prior fiscal quarter. This upcoming fiscal quarter will be notable for both Peacock dropping their free subscription tier and also a price hike for their regular and ad free premium tiers. In regards to revenues, it was announced that Peacock lost $651 million for the past fiscal quarter and was the third largest loss for a fiscal quarter in Peacock history.
• In a recent interview with Cultaholic, Ilja Dragunov gave his thoughts about his upcoming match with Carmelo Hayes for the NXT Championship at this Sunday’s NXT Great American Bash 2023 event and his goals for NXT if he were to become the new champion. Dragunov stated “Being the face of NXT is dependent on what the people want. Do you want to have the most intense man in NXT being NXT Champion? Do you want to have the person with the biggest passion and the biggest intensity level, with the highest resilience, being the champion of the brand? Do you want the strongest possible person to be the champ of the brand? I don’t know, but as soon as I am the NXT Champion, you will definitely have that. So, you will really have the most intense brand then.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

AEW & ROH

• Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that former Major League Wrestling talent Richard Holliday is in attendance backstage for tonight’s AEW Collision show in Hartford, Connecticut. It was reported that it is currently not known if this is just a simple visit or if he was booked by AEW for an appearance for the show or if this is for potential contract talks between the two sides.
• Indie wrestler and Indie Hall of Famer LuFisto recently accused on Twitter that someone within AEW has been creating a toxic backstage environment for AEW’s women’s locker room. LuFisto made the accusations in response to a tweet from a fan who blamed bad booking for the reason for the negative reception to the Baker vs. Taya Valkyrie match at this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show. LuFisto stated “It’s cute how people blame booking for a bad women’s division.Talent with too much power; talent denigrating each other; talent trash-talking potential employees so they never get in as soon as they walk in… It starts here. The one you called FN French Canadian a****** This is the first time I say something publicly after over a year. I’m not going to throw names on an app with limited characters. There are several details and a context to explain the whole story with accuracy, which I’ll do when the opportunity arises. No worries. No need for such a toxic environment in my life.” While LuFisto did not specifically name anyone, current online speculation is that her accusations were being directed towards Britt Baker. LuFisto worked one match for AEW in June of 2022 for a Dark Elevation taping.
• In a follow-up, Fightful Select reported that their sources denied any truth to the rumors of Baker being the person mentioned by LuFisto that prevented her from being potentially signed to the company. It was reported that LuFisto also confirmed that this person was not Baker when contacted by them. It was also reported that their sources did confirm that there has been backstage turmoil issues affecting AEW’s Women’s locker room over the past year. In regards to Baker it was reported that “Baker often gets the finger pointed at her for that, but that she wasn’t the only one. We also clarified that Baker had significant personal reasons to have her guard up in any situation.”
• In a recent Q&A article about LuFisto’s online comments, Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp reported that a lot of talents spoken to have been unhappy with the company’s booking of their Women’s division. Sapp stated “A lot of the women are, But there’s also a lot of people who are very aloof and like, ‘Ah, why bother’ type of stuff. Obviously, you’re never gonna win those people over no matter what.”
• During Friday’s AEW Rampage show in Albany, New York, AEW announced two new matches for the card of next week’s AEW Dynamite 200 show. These are a AEW Women’s World Championsip match of Hikaru Shida vs. Toni Storm (c) and a ROH World Tag Team Championship match of El Hijo del Vikingo & Komander vs. Aussie Open (c).
• Friday’s Rampage show in Albany also featured Big Bill & Brian Cage emerging victorious in the Tag Team Eliminator Battle Royal match to earn a future shot at the AEW World Tag Team Championship, which is currently held by FTR.
• AEW filed a trademark for “AEW Plus” for streaming-related purposes on July 24th to the USPTO. It is currently not known if this new trademark filing is related to their current AEW+ service on FITE TV or for a brand new service from the company.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that AEW officials recently held internal talks regarding the idea of a third match between The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn and House of Black for the AEW World Trios Championship taking place in the future. Meltzer reported that the idea being that The Acclaimed & Gunn would finally get a big win over HoB and become the new Trios Champions.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the July 19th AEW Dynamite show drew a key demographic ranking of #1 for that day, the July 21st Rampage show drew a key demo ranking of #5 for that day and the July 22nd Collision show drew a key demo ranking of #2 for that day.
• Commercials for AEW’s upcoming All In event reportedly aired during this past Monday’s WWE RAW show on TNT Sports in the United Kingdom, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, Thunder Rosa has been out of action for AEW since this past September due to her suffering a spinal-related injury. In a recent interview with Bleacher Report, Rosa provided an update on the current status of her injury recovery. Rosa stated “It’s been a long road, I will say. From the beginning, there was a lot of speculation about my injury. But I was always very clear and very honest about what was happening to me. Everything has been documented on my YouTube. It was physical and mental, all this rehab that I’ve been receiving. Some days were really positive, some other days were not as positive, but that’s part of the recovery part of having an injury such as the one that I still have. Lately, there’s been more of a bright light on it, because as my MRI read, I don’t have the tears in my back anymore. Now I’m able to train without pain, with compound training, as well as I’ve been jumping in the ring in the last three weeks. So, I’m excited about the advancements that we have, and now I’m excited about the possibility of returning to the ring. Again, it’s just been giving me a perspective about the opportunity to wrestle, because it’s a privilege if I get to come back. It’s been almost a year since I stepped in the ring last in AEW. So it will be amazing if I get that opportunity and to have another match, or more matches, in the future. Like I said, I’m very hopeful. I stepped in the ring last Tuesday. I actually took my son with me to help do cardio. I’m training, I have a doctor who’s a professional trainer for athletes in San Antonio, and I have another physiotherapist I work with when I was doing MMA and professional wrestling. So, they’re helping me to get to the best physically as possible. I’m not talking about ‘Oh, I’m gonna come back with a six-pack’ and everything. I have to come back healthy. In the ring, what we do, it’s extremely dangerous. I always pray for my opponent and pray for me to come back the same way that we come in, and sometimes we don’t. So I’m praying that this time will be positive.“
• In a recent episode of The Extreme Life with Matt Hardy podcast, co-host Matt Hardy gave his thoughts about if the wrestling industry is currently hotter than its ever been before, Hardy stated “During the Attitude Era in the late 90s, compared to now, the early 2020s, wrestling is really, really good now, beyond a shadow of a doubt. It’s just, I think it’s very different, the way you judge the parameters of the entire wrestling industry. I think if you look back to the Attitude Era, it was more engrained in pop culture. I think that people in America, you might even say North America, we’re much more aware of pro wrestling, and it was cool, it was trendy. But it was very different. Now, it is so much larger on a larger scale. Sure, we’ve got huge numbers, whether it’s seven million, eight million, nine million, however many people would watch wrestling on any given Monday night back then. But it was very different. There was only 40 television channels then or whatever. It was much, much smaller, as far as the things you could watch and your choices. But if you fast-forward 25 years later, now you have thousands of channels, just on cable. You have all these streaming services, Netflix, Hulu, whatever it may be. There’s so much content out there. Now, wrestling is also taken in and absorbed in such a different way. It’s consumed now in so many different forms. Some people watch it on live TV. A lot of people solely watch it on DVR. A lot of people stream it on whatever their device is. There are many different ways to watch it, and I think right now, compared to then, it isn’t as engrained in pop culture as it was in the late 90s. But it’s also much more well-received and much more known about, and people are aware of pro wrestling currently around the globe because so many people sit here and they look on their devices, and this is where they watch their pro wrestling. They watch WrestleMania here, they watch All Out here. They watch all their events right here on their smart device.“
• Hardy continued stating “I don’t think wrestling is hotter now than it was in the late 90s, but I do think wrestling has a much more sprawling impact around the globe, and I think it has the chance and ability to become hotter now than it was back then. I think that’s where we’re at right now. I think many more people consume pro wrestling in this day and age, in so many different ways, and you can’t keep those numbers. But back then, it was just a little bit hotter at that time because it was truly a part of pop culture. That is something is really hard to do. Now it’s much more of a niche industry, as most everything is. There’s so many things out there. There’s so much entertainment to choose from. Everything is almost niche and has a very certain audience. That’s why I am a huge advocate of saying, ‘We have to appeal to more casual fans.’ I think casual fans are the way to grow pro wrestling in the big scheme of things. I mean, the people that are wrestling fans, they’re gonna tune in and they’re gonna watch wrestling because they love it. They can complain and they can bitch, they can moan, but they’re gonna tune in and they’re gonna watch it because they love pro wrestling and they have to get their fix. But I think we need to continue to try and build people that are crossover stars that appeal to the casual audience, especially speaking about AEW. WWE, obviously they’re taking some great steps in the way they’re doing the thing with Logan Paul, the way they’re doing stuff with Bad Bunny because that does cross over and they get casual fans to tune in. I think they have a really successful formula going on.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent interview with Deadline.com, actor Anthony Mackie gave his thoughts about working with Samoa Joe during the production of the recently released Twisted Metal television series for Peacock. Mackie stated “Samoa did not pull his punches. And I’m like, ‘Dude, you’re a professional wrestler. One thing you know how to do is not hit somebody.’ But it was great. I had a lot of fun. I can say I fought a wrestler.” Joe portrayed the physical role of Sweet Tooth in the series.
• Cheeseburger recently reflected on Twitter about him reaching the milestone of 500 matches wrestled for his wrestling career this past week. Cheeseburger stated “I wrestled my 499th and 500th match yesterday 🥳🥳🥳499 vs Tony Nese500 vs VargasThanks everyone for following me on this journey! Job’s not finished, let’s get to match 1000!!! The World Famous CB tour continues! CheeseburgerWrestler@gmail.com“
• Samoa Joe has surpassed Dragon Lee for second longest ever reign as ROH World Television Champion at 471 days and counting as of today. Joe is currently 96 days away from tying and 97 days away from surpassing Jay Lethal for longest ever ROH World television Championship reign in ROH history.

Impact, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

• Deadline.com reported that the SAG-AFTRA recently gave waivers to several indie studios allowing them to continue production for their new films using union actors and writers during the ongoing writers and actors strike. Among the films given waivers reportedly included The Killer’s Game, which featured Dave Bautista among its cast, and Queen of the Ring, which is based on legendary female wrestler Mildred Burke.
• USA Today reported that former NFL player and WCW wrestler Steve “Mongo” McMichael is among the semi-finalists for the ballot for the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2024.
• Highspots.TV recently announced on Twitter that they will be shutting down their Highspots Wrestling Network streaming service at the end of this August. The official reason given is due to their service provider Pivotshare recently announced that they will be shutting down around that same time.
• Prestige Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Roseland 6 event on September 1st in Portland, Oregon. This is a Prestige Wrestling Championship match of Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley (c).
• Premier Streaming Network announced that they have recently signed a deal with indie promotion Exodus Pro to air their events live on their service starting with their inaugural event called The Journey Home on August 12th in Cleveland, Ohio.
• Friday’s Viernes Espectacular event for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in Mexico City, Mexico featured Mascara Dorada 2.0 defeating Rocky Romero to be crowned the winner of this year’s Leyenda de Plata tournament. As a result of his victory, Mascara Dorada 2.0 became the youngest person ever to win a Leyenda de Plata tournament in CMLL history.
• In a recent interview with MuscleManMalcolm, Lio Rush gave his thoughts about his recent X-Division Championship victory in Impact Wrestling. Rush stated “It feels appropriate. It feels great. It feels amazing. This belt is historic. When I look at this, I look at IMPACT as…this is IMPACT. This is the World Title, to me. This big red X. I’m holding it with pride. It feels appropriate. I feel like I’ve helped influence this generation of wrestlers just like the X Division title has helped influence my generation and so many other generations. I knew from that point on things were going to change and things were going to elevate. I knew that it was officially my time. I’m holding this title, and I’m going to do a lot of great things with it.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent interview with Monthly Puroresu, KUSHIDA gave his thoughts about his current time in Impact. KUSHIDA stated “That is what I want to say out loud. Impact has been consecutively holding great events and has so many great wrestlers there. They are professional. Their matches are high quality, and we can see pure wrestling in Impact. Impact is a great place for wrestlers to work. Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley, who are my best friends, are in Impact, so I also like that point, I will continue to work hard to ensure that New Japan Pro Wrestling and Impact continue to develop in a good relationship. I will do my best to become a wrestler who is valuable to New Japan & Impact.“
• Impact Wrestling reportedly drew 102,000 viewers and a 0.02 key demographic rating for their July 13th Impact show and 111,000 viewers and a 0.03 key demo rating for their July 20th Impact show on AXS TV, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and Wrestlenomics.
• Impact Wrestling reportedly generated over 4,400 pay-per-view buys for their Slammiversary 2023 event on July 15th in Windsor, Canada, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that this was up 248.8% compared to last year’s event which generated less than 1,300 buys. Meltzer also reported that Slammiversary generated the highest PPV buys for an Impact event since the period when Kenny Omega was Impact World Champion from April of 2021 to August of 2021.
• New Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly drew 56,000 viewers and a 0.01 key demographic rating for their July 13th NJPW on AXS show and 63,000 viewers and a 0.01 key demo rating for their July 20th NJPW on AXS show on AXS TV, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and Wrestlenomics.
• Game Changer Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Say You Will event on September 1st in Chicago, Illinois. This is a singles match of Nick Gage vs. El Hijo del Vikingo.
• The National Wrestling Alliance recently announced that Violent J of the Insane Clown Posse will be making an appearance for the company at their NWA 75 event on August 26-27 in St. Louis, Missouri. It was also announced that Violent J will be the special manager of the Brothers of Funstruction (Yabo & Ruffo) for their tag team match against a mystery team at the event.
• DEFY Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Super 8XGP Night 1 event on July 29th in Seattle, Washington. This is a DEFY Women’s Championship match of Billie Starkz vs. Vert Vixen (c).
• House of Glory recently announced a new match for the card of their High Intensity X event on August 18th in Jamaica, New York. This is a Suicidal 6-Way match of Isiah Kassidy vs. Super Crazy vs. Jordan Oliver vs. TBA vs. TBA vs. TBA.