Weekend Roundup: Potential Match for AEW All In/All Out, Don Callis Legit Attacked at AAA Triplemania, Slammiversary, Indies

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

Jul 16, 2023

WWE

As noted before, Brian Pillman Jr. visited WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando, Florida this past week. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources within WWE confirmed that Pillman Jr. was invited by the company for a tryout that took place from this past Wednesday through Saturday at their Performance Center.
As noted before, Shotzi shaved off her hair during her promo segment at this past Friday’s SmackDown show in Raleigh, North Carolina that was done in support of her sister’s current battle with cancer. A GoFundMe fundraiser was recently launched to help support the medical costs of Shozti’s sister Shawn.
In a recent interview with Sportskeeda’s WrestleBinge podcast, WWE Hall of Famer and NXT head booker Shawn Michaels gave his thoughts about fans comparing Rhea Ripley to Chyna. Michaels stated “Chyna was one of the rare and unique people. I think she changed the face of women’s wrestling in a big way. So I guess I’ll always kind of be biased in respect to Chyna. I think she was unlike any others before her. But look, Rhea is absolutely one of my favorites. I knew it from the day I walked in to NXT that you could see that she was something special, and [I] wanted to do everything that I could to do be a part of her career. When she started out with us in NXT UK, I’m just telling you, you could see her grow, you could see her confidence grow, watch her evolve and just turn into a fantastic performer, and then came over here to NXT and continued that ascension. So I’m not surprised one bit by her success on the main roster, and she’s still so very young. She’s going to surpass certainly, respectfully, anything that Chyna accomplished, but I don’t think that will ever take away from what Joanie contributed to the WWE and this sport in general.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent interview with USA Today, Seth Rollins gave his thoughts about his interest in a match with Cody Rhodes in the future for his WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Rollins stated “I would love for Cody Rhodes come try to take it from me. If he can survive Brock Lesnar, I would love for him to try to. I’m better than I’ve ever been; he don’t stand a chance.“
In a separate recent interview with the Out of Character with Ryan Satin podcast, Rollins gave his thoughts about feeling some “healthy resentment” over Cody Rhodes main eventing this past April’s WrestleMania 39. Rollins stated “Jealously is not necessarily the right word. At the end of the day, it’s show business. That’s how it works sometimes. It’s not fair. Life is not fair, sorry. We want it to be fair all the time, but it’s not. It’s not always a meritocracy, as much as we’d love it to be. You have to deal with that and figure out a way to make the best of it. For me, I took the Logan Paul story and ran with it. I knew we were going to have an absolute blast because the characters were so diametrically opposed in the audience’s eyes. You have Logan Paul, who the audience detested, and I had just spun into a guy who everyone was happy to see every week. I knew we were going to butt heads in the best possible way and it was going going to be really good. Anytime you put in the amount of work that I put in last year that I put in while somebody else gets the top spot, if you are competitive and you want to be the best, and there are a lot of us here in WWE who compete at this level, you’re just going to have resentment. It’s going to be there. It’s healthy. It’s an iron sharpens iron situation where you have people who are at the top of their game, across the board, and only one of them, or two in this case with Roman, is going to get that spot. You have to be prepared to not be that person, it doesn’t matter how hard you work or how much effort you put in. If it’s not your time, it’s not your time. We’ll put it behind us, move forward, do the best I can to get myself in that spot next year and the year after that and the year after that. I’d lying if I said there was no resentment. Jealousy, nah.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent interview with USA Today, Montez Ford gave his thoughts about his interest in having a singles run in WWE in the future. Ford stated “As a kid, I’ve always had a dream to become WWE champion, and you can’t do that as a tag team wrestler. You can be a part of a tag team, but it’s just me out there. That’s always been a dream of mine, and that’s one of the things I’m always looking forward to, training for.“
A WWE themed episode of The Weakest Link show this Monday on NBC will feature Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins, The New Day, Bianca Belair, Alexa Bliss, and The Miz as competitors.
As noted before, the July 7th episode of WWE SmackDown at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York drew 2,561,000 viewers and a 0.76 key demographic rating on FOX. That week’s show managed to be the top ranked entertainment show for the week of July 2nd to July 8th. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the July 7th SmackDown show is currently believed to have been the first time in television history that a wrestling TV show managed to be the topped ranked show on network television. Meltzer reported that there have been many weeks where a wrestling TV show managed to be the topped rank show on cable television. Meltzer reported that had FOX not changed SmackDown’s listing from no longer being a sports show, then the July 7th show would have not set a potential record. The July 7th show reportedly would have been the third ranked sports show of the week, behind two 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer games.
In regards to the quarter hours for the July 7th SmackDown show, Meltzer reported that SmackDown’s peak overall viewership was 3,070,000 viewers for its second quarter and its peak key demo viewership was 1,229,000 viewers also for its second quarter. SmackDown’s low point for overall viewership was 2,366,000 viewers for its sixth quarter and its low point for key demo viewership was 902,000 viewers for its eighth quarter.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that WWE’s current plans for SummerSlam 2023 is for the Jey Uso vs. Roman Reigns match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship to main event the show as of this past Thursday.
As noted before, The Judgement Day, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, and Seth Rollins were involved in a heated backstage argument incident at this past Monday’s WWE RAW show in Buffalo, New York. This incident revolved around issues related to their main event six-man tag team match on the show. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources confirmed that the very late changes made to the original plans for the match was the source of the frustrations that led to the backstage incident. Meltzer reported that one spot in the match that helped fuel the frustrations afterwards was a sling blade spot that caused the match to be out of sync for a short period of time. Those spoken to reportedly stated that Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn’s rep within the company of being perfectionists with their matches also helped contribute to the frustrations backstage afterwards. Meltzer reported that those spoken to stated that PWInsider’s Mike Johnson’s report of what went down backstage was pretty much exactly what happened and WWE officials trying to downplay it as being something overblown was not the actual case.
WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 13,617 (12,400 paid) for their July 7th SmackDown show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY and 9,905 (8,700 paid) for their July 10th RAW show in Buffalo, NY, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE reportedly has sold around 11,105 tickets for their July 17th RAW show in Atlanta, GA, 12,184 tickets for their July 21st SmackDown show in Orlando, FL, 7,932 tickets for their July 24th RAW show in Tampa, FL, 5,976 tickets for their July 28th SmackDown show in New Orleans, LA, 2,774 tickets for their July 29th house show event in Estero, FL, 2,667 tickets for their July 30th house show event in Coral Gables, FL, 2,436 tickets for their July 30th NXT Great American Bash 2023 event in Cedar Park, TX, 12,245 tickets for their July 31st RAW show in Houston, TX, 4,888 tickets for their Aug. 4th SmackDown show in Dayton, OH, 43,712 tickets for their Aug. 5th SummerSlam 2023 event in Detroit, MI, 6,560 tickets for their Aug. 7th RAW show in Minneapolis, MN, 7,585 tickets for their Aug. 11th SmackDown show in Calgary, Canada, 8,111 tickets for their Aug. 14th RAW show in Winnipeg, Canada, 13,120 tickets for their Aug. 18th SmackDown show in Toronto, Canada, 3,144 tickets for their Aug. 19th house show event in Ottawa, Canada, 3,910 tickets for their Aug. 20th house show event in Laval, Canada, 6,319 tickets for their Aug. 25th SmackDown show in Louisville, KY, 2,507 tickets for their Aug. 27th house show event in Huntsville, LA, 6,067 tickets for their Aug. 28th RAW show in Memphis, TN, 7,243 tickets for their Sept. 1st SmackDown show in Hershey, PA, 10,311 tickets for their Sept. 2nd Payback 2023 event in Pittsburgh, PA, 4,341 tickets for their Sept. 4th RAW show in Charlotte, NC, and 6,351 for their Sept. 8th SmackDown show in Boston, MA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

AEW & ROH

Sunday’s G1 Climax 2023 event for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Hokkaido, Japan featured Eddie Kingston defeating Shingo Takagi in a tournament match. In a backstage press conference following his match, Kingston issued a challenge to Takagi for a match at either AEW’s All In event at Wembley Stadium in London, England or at All Out 2023 event in Chicago, Illinois. Kingston stated “I can’t believe it. Oh my God. The dream lives on folks, the dream lives on. I’m not gonna lie, when I saw I was paired up against Shingo (Takagi), former IWGP World Champion, I was so nervous. I tried to play it off like I was cool. I was so nervous, he’s so good. I’m not gonna lie and sit here, yeah, I beat his ass, because I didn’t. I’m a little disappointed in my performance. The hernia surgery that I had before the tour in Japan started acting up after he gave me a knee to the gut. Holy — ouuu wow, it’s a lot of pain. No excuses though. I won, but I got lucky. I’m gonna have to do better against EVIL, that’s all I can say. Shingo, I’m not gonna talk a lot of trash and try to sell tickets. This is a sport so I’m gonna treat it like a sport. Thank you for the fight and I hope we do it again. I’m praying, Tony Khan, I’ll put you on the spot. Me and Shingo, All In or All Out… give us time. Me and Shingo will show the world strong style, King’s Road combined. Thank you Shingo. EVIL, ah, I gotta do better.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that Ari Daviari was the producer of the Bullet Club Gold vs. FTR Best 2-out-of-3 match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at Saturday’s Collision show.
AEW Vice President Pat Buck reportedly transitioned into a new backstage role for the company, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Buck shifted from being VP of Talent Relations to a new position of Vice President of Talent Coaching. Johnson reported that the Buck’s new role is part of a larger process by AEW officials to separate their coaches working for their Dynamite and Collision brands.
Saturday’s AEW Battle of the Belts VII show in Calgary, Canada featured several minutes of the show’s feed being interrupted and going off the air due to severe thunderstorms that took place in the city. This weather-related issues impacted the latter half of the AEW Women’s Championship match between Taya Valkyrie and Toni Storm, including the ending to the match. AEW commentator Ian Riccaboni stated that both this match and the show itself would be available to watch in full on the TNT app.
Saturday’ AEW Collision show in Calgary featured ROH and NJPW commentator Ian Riccaboni replacing Kevin Kelly on commentary. The reason for this is due to Kelly is currently in Japan for his current commitments for NJPW’s G1 Climax 2023 tournament.
Saturday’s AEW Collision show in Calgary also featured David Benoit, son of the late Chris Benoit, in attendance at ringside.
ESPN’s Marc Raimondi reported that Jon Moxley won his division in a jiu-jitsu tournament for NAGA Cincinnati Grappling Championship that took place on Saturday in Ohio. Moxley took gold in the Men’s Beginner 30-years-and-up No-Gi division at Super Heavyweight. Moxley’s wife Renee Paquette reflected on Instagram about Moxley’s jiu-jitsu tournament victory.
As noted before, AEW recently implemented a new health and safety protocols for their talent at AEW shows. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that one talent spoken to stated that any changes would not really be noticeable for AEW shows since “all of those things that you have to alert the producers about were all things that talent would already been telling the producers about to begin with.” This same talent reportedly also stated that during the rare occasions where people do stuff that would be a rules violation, it could be an issue after the fact but believed at worst that a minor fine and nothing greater would be issued as a punishment. This same person reportedly also stated that this also would also likely not happen enough to cause an actual change to the product.
AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 2,800 (2,100 paid) for their July 8th Collision show in Regina, Canada and 3,400 (2,800 paid) for their July 12th Dynamite show in Saskatoon, Canada, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW reportedly has sold around 7,026 tickets for their July 19th Dynamite show at the TD Garden in Boston, MA, 5,016 tickets for their July 22nd Collision show in Newark, NJ, 2,322 tickets for their July 26th Dynamite show in Albany, NY, 2,184 tickets for their July 29th Collision show in Hartford, CT, 2700 tickets for their Aug. 2nd Dynamite show in Tampa, FL, 2,331 tickets for their Aug. 5th Collision show in Greenville, SC, 2,373 tickets for their Aug. 9th Dynamite show in Columbus, OH, 3,526 tickets for their Aug. 12th Collision show in Greensboro, NC, 2,638 tickets for their Aug. 16th Dynamite show in Nashville, TN, 2,706 tickets for their Aug. 19th Collision show in Lexington, KY, 2,429 tickets for their Aug. 23rd Dynamite show in Duluth, GA, 2,370 tickets for their Aug. 30th Dynamite show in Chicago, 3,214 tickets for their Sept. 2nd Collision show in Chicago, and 6,092 tickets for their Sept. 3rd All Out 2023 event in Chicago, IL as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
In a recent What Happened When podcast, co-host Tony Schiavone gave his thoughts about why Big Bill is currently one of his favorite wrestlers in AEW. Schiavone stated “Speaking of big guys, I need to say this again, it needs to be said because I really feel very strongly about this. When I first started watching wrestling again in 2017, thanks to you, the first person I saw was Big Cass walk out, and I said to you, ‘Who the fuck is this, and why the fuck is he on my TV screen?’ That’s because I was getting back into it. But now, Big Bill is one of my favorites because not only does he look great, for a big guy, he looks tremendous. He is truly one of the great guys. I thought he and Brian Cage on Rampage just a week ago looked sensational. I thought they had a great match. I even told him so. I told him, I said, ‘Bill, you and Cage against Trent Beretta and Matt Sydal was a great match for Rampage, and it was.’ So props to Big Bill. Good guy, and a New York Yankees fan. I have a lot of time for him.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent interview with the Hardcore Haven podcast, Darby Allin gave his thoughts on how he has been helping Sting in AEW. Allin stated “He’s not jumping off ladders because of me. I think what he’s learned from me is how to navigate his way through the new roster. I can tell him what people are all about. He had no idea when he first got to AEW. ‘Who is this guy? Who is this guy?’ I’m a good navigator for him to give the lay of the land.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent interview with the Mark Andrews: My Love Letter to Wrestling podcast, Briit Baker gave her thoughts about Charlotte Flair being a dream opponent for her career. Baker stated “I always say that I’d love to have a match with Charlotte Flair. I think she’s one of the best that’s ever done it, and no matter what you say about her, she’s always proven people wrong. She’s very admirable. Her attitude, her poise, everything about her that I look up to.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent interview with Our Queer Life, Sonny Kiss gave her thoughts about if being open about being a trans-feminine would affect her wrestling career. Kiss stated “Kind of. There have definitely been some shifts in the booking. It happens naturally. It’s not even always about that. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I thought sometimes it was about that.” Kiss also gave her thoughts about if her being a trans-feminist is the reason for her lack of on-screen appearances in AEW. Kiss stated “I understand why they would say that, but Tony Khan is a very fair boss and is all for equality. When I go back to thinking about that, he hired me, not because I was who I am, but because I’m a damn good wrestler. Obviously, things are going to go through your head all the time. Being a normal human being, we all have these mental health crises. In all actually, if he didn’t want me in the company, I wouldn’t be there.” Kiss also gave her thoughts about if her maintaining her job in AEW is due to diversity-related reasons. Kiss stated “A small part of keeping our jobs or having jobs is definitely a diversity thing, for sure, but I’m going to that say; AEW in particular is not going to hire you just because you’re that. They’re not going to keep you just because you’re that. It’s great to have, but it’s also great to have them when they have talent and we all do.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
Ring of Honor reportedly has sold around 1,868 tickets for their July 21st Death Before Dishonor 2023 event in Trenton, New Jersey as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Impact, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

Saturday’s Triplemania XXXI: Tijuana event for Lucha Libre AAA in Tijuana, Mexico featured Don Callis making a brief appearance on the show. Callis had been advertised to be in the corner of El Hijo del Vikingo’s match against Kenny Omega for the AAA Mega Championship. Before the match could start, AAA head booker Konnan came out and kicked Callis out of ringside to prevent any shenanigan by him during the match. The Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez reported that Callis was legitimately attacked by a fan during AAA’s post-show press conference.
In a follow-up to Callis being attack at AAA’s event, Lucha Blog reported that it was not a fan who had attacked Callis but instead a member of the media. It was reported that this person was not aware of the post-show angle involving Omega being attacked and thought it was a real fight for why got involved and legit took down Callis to protect Omega.
Saturday’s AAA Triplemania XXXI: Tijuana event also featured El Texano Jr. making his surprise return to the company. During the Pagano & La Rebelion (Mecha Wolf & Bestia 666) vs. Vampiro, Aramis, & Jack Evans, Texano and Taurus came out and caused the match to end in a no contest. Texano stated that he would be reforming Los Nuevos Mercenarios with Taurus alongside him. This was Texano’s first appearance in AAA since 2021.
Saturday’s AAA Triplemania XXXI: Tijuana event also featured one new match officially announced for the card of Triplemania XXXI: Mexico City on August 12th in Mexico City, Mexico. This is a Four-way Lucha de Apuestas, Hair vs. Mask match of RUSH vs. L.A. Park vs. Sam Adonis vs. Psycho Clown. This match was made following their Guerra de Rivalidades tournament Finals match ending in a no contest decision.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Andrade El Idolo recently held talks with AAA officials regarding his interest in working for the company again. Meltzer reported that AEW CEO Tony Khan has already given his approval to Andrade’s request as long as it does not conflict with his AEW bookings.
Revolution Pro Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their 11 Year Anniversary Show on August 26th in London, England. This is a singles match of Luke Jacobs vs. Tomohiro Ishii.
RevPro reportedly generated a paid attendance of 720 for their July 9th Epic Encounters 2023 event in London, England, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Lio Rush, SUBCULTURE (Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews), and Jake Something are currently signed to “some sort” of deals with Impact Wrestling.
Impact officials reportedly were very pleased with the attendance for Saturday’s Slammiversary 2023 event in Windsor, Canada, according to PWInsider.
WWE talent Tamina reportedly was in attendance backstage at Saturday’s Slammiversary 2023 event in Windsor, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that the reason for Tamnia’s visit was in a show of support for Trinity. Besides Tamina, Mercedes Mone was also in attendance backstage also to support Trinity.
Saturday’s Slammiversary 2023 event for Impact featured Trinity defeating Deonna Purrazzo to be crowned the new Impact Knockouts World Champion. Following the show, Impact held a digital exclusive backstage interview with Trinity discussing her thoughts about her championship victory. Trinity stated “I’m living the dream living a dream right now. I pictured myself being the Knockouts Champion. Here I am. It’s such a surreal feeling. Gosh, I’m still trying to process it all right now. Deonna is definitely the toughest opponent I have ever faced. To be able to go the distance with her and beat her is a huge accomplishment for me. Now the real, real, real work begins because it’s gonna be even harder to hold on to this.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
Impact recently announced that SANADA will be making an appearance for the company at their Emergence 2023 event on August 27th in Toronto, Canada.
Impact also recently announced a new match for the card of their co-promoted Impact x NJPW Multiverse United 2: For Whom The Bells Toll event on August 20th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is a tag team match of Lio Rush & Trey Miguel vs. Hiromu Takahashi & “Speedball” Mike Bailey.
Consejo Mundial De Lucha Libre reportedly generated an attendance of around 8,000 for their July 7th Super Viernes 2023 event in Mexico City, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
TheCubsFan reported that CMLL talent Atlantis stated in a recent interview with Record that he is currently planning to retire from wrestling in two years. Atlantis reportedly stated that he might just quietly disappear from wrestling but is also open to the idea of having a retirement show for his career.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that the reason why Stardom had sent Utami Hayashishita to work at recent Game Changer Wrestling and Jersey Championship Wrestling shows was due to them feeling that it would be a good way to grow her exposure in the United States. Meltzer reported that Stardom officials did not care what promotions Hayashishita worked for during her tour in the U.S. since they cared more about the perception from Japanese fans about U.S. promotions wanting to book her. Stardom officials also required that Hayashishita win all of her matches in order to help boost her star status in the U.S. Meltzer reported that Hayashishita only found out about the bookings from Sumie Sakai two weeks before she was scheduled to work at the shows. Sakai reportedly also told Hayashishita that she would help her once she came to the U.S.
Stardom reportedly generated a paid attendance of 480 for their July 8th Stardom in Fuji event in Shizuoka, 1,411 for their July 9th Stardom In Korakuen 2023 July event in Tokyo, 305 for their July 12th Summer North Tour 2023 event in Asahikawa, and 283 for their July 13th Summer North Tour 2023 event in Tomakomai, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Dragon Gate reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,189 for their July 7th King of Gate 2023 event in Tokyo, 353 for their July 8th King of Gate 2023 event in Hamamatsu, 304 for their July 8th Masaaki Mochizuki Produce Buyuden Rei ~ Zero ~ Vol. 2 event in Tokyo, and 711 for their July 9th King of Gate 2023 event in Osaka, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,222 for their July 8th Summer Sun Princess 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As noted before, former WWE wrestler Mike “Mantaur” Halac passed away this past Tuesday at the age of 55. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that prior to his passing, Halac had suffered a back injury on July 10th following him tripping over a line at a gas bump and had spent the night in the emergency room in the hospital. Meltzer reported that Halac was released the following day but when he went to sleep that night, he never woke up and passed away. Meltzer also reported that Halac had also suffered a bad fall incident the week prior as well.