Weekend Roundup: Rey Mysterio Injury Update, The Elite AEW Contracts Update, ROH DBD 2023 PPV Buys, NJPW, CMLL, Indies

WWE

• As noted before, Rey Mysterio suffered a head-related injury during his match with Santos Escobar at Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dave Metlzer reported in a recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio that his sources stated that Mysterio is currently feeling fine. Meltzer reported that the initial belief by WWE officials was that he had suffered a potential concussion injury. Meltzer also reported that Escobar’s suicide dive to the outside was not the spot where Mysterio was injured and instead it took place earlier in the match. Meltzer also reported that it is currently not known exactly which spot had caused Mysterio’s injury.
• WWE released the opening video for tonight’s NXT Great American Bash 2023 featuring voiceover work by Cody Rhodes.
• WWE also recently announced that the NXT Tag Team Championship match of Tony D’Angelo & Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo vs. Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) (c) will be the opening match for the main card of tonight’s NXT Great American Bash 2023 event.
• In a recent interview with Metro, Dominik Mysterio gave his thoughts about him skipping WWE’s developmental system for his wrestling career in the company. Mysterio stated “I think there’s definitely pros and cons to it, depending on how you look at it. I was blessed and very fortunate to be in the position that I’m in. I think just the way that I came about it, and the people that I was surrounded with, I just don’t think it made sense [to go to NXT], especially with who I was gonna learn from.” Mysterio also gave his thoughts about getting to learn from some of the top stars in WWE for his career. Mysterio stated “Coming in with my first match against Seth, and then carrying on to work with Baron Corbin and Sami Zayn during the pandemic, to where once the pandemic was over I started working with John Cena, Roman Reigns, The Usos and Edge. You can’t get any better than that as far as guys that I could be next to. I’m literally next to some of the best, if not the best — the current best. I had a chance to be in there with them, not once or twice but multiple times, working all the house shows with them, opening up SmackDown with them. My experience was a little different, being able to learn from those top, top guys.” Mysterio also gave his thoughts about the advantage he had of having grown up so close to the business. Mysterio stated “I started traveling with my dad when I was four or five years old. I started appearing on TV when I was eight. So this is all I know, none of this is new to me. The only thing that’s new to me is my learning experiences that come from being in the ring, and I learn something new every day, so I’m very grateful and very blessed to be here.“
• ESPN reported that the a bipartisan group of United States Senators proposed a potential new federal law that seeks to regulate how collegiate athletes are allowed to make money from their NIL deals and also provide guaranteed healthcare from colleges and universities. This new bill is called Pass Act of 2023 and would also make it illegal for states to pass laws that would allow college athletes to receive a direct share of the billions of dollars of revenue they help to generate from schools as a form of enticement to sign with schools in their states. This new proposed law’s effect on WWE and their own NIL system is currently not known.
• As noted before, Gable Steveson will be making his official in-ring debut for WWE at tonight’s NXT Great American Bash 2023 event in Cedar Park, Texas. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources within WWE stated that they are not sure if Steveson will be competing in this year’s world championships for amateur wrestling that takes place from September 16-24 in Belgrade, Serbia. Meltzer reported that not even Steveson is currently unsure if he will or not but the final decision would be up to WWE. Meltzer also reported that most MMA and amateur wrestling sites did not bother to cover Steveson’s decision announcement from this past Tuesday’s NXT show about picking NXT over the Olympics and the chance to win another collegiate wrestling championship. Steveson’s University of Minnesota wrestling coach Brandon Eggum stated in a recent interview with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that he was told ahead of time what would be Steveson’s decision and him working in NXT does not shut the door to his remaining year of eligibility in collegiate wrestling.
• As noted before, WWE recently issued a new edict requiring an increased usage of nicknames for their talents by commentary during shows. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources confirmed that this new rule was made by Vince McMahon. Meltzer reported that WWE had toned down the overboard usage of nicknames for this past Monday’s RAW and this past Friday’s SmackDown shows compared to the prior week’s RAW show. Meltzer also reported that the reason why WWE toned down on the amount of nicknames being spoken on commentary likely could be due to McMahon has already dropped this new rule.
• As noted before, Kevin Owens and Liv Morgan are currently out of action for WWE due to their respective rib and shoulder injuries. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that WWE officials currently do not have any timetable for Morgan’s potential return from injury nor if she will need surgery to repair her shoulder. Meltzer reported that Morgan’s injury very likely was the reason why WWE had Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez recently drop their WWE Women’s Tag Team titles despite Raquel being the one who was given a storyline injury.
• In regards to Owens’ injury, Meltzer reported that WWE officials currently are under the belief that Owens will not be out of action for too long. Meltzer also reported that the current situation for Owens and Sami Zayn’s Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship is not known.
• As noted before, WWE made several changes to the original plans for the July 21st SmackDown show due to medical-related issues that is believed to be COVID-related. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources have yet to confirm if t changes made were exactly due to a talent(s) testing positive for COVID-19 or as a precautionary measure due to them being in close contact with someone else who did. Meltzer reported that the reason why WWE officials had booked Charlotte Flair to defeat IYO SKY was due to them wanting Flair to be kept strong ahead of her Triple Threat match for the WWE Women’s Championship at SummerSlam 2023. Meltzer reported that the original plan was for SKY to defeat Zelina Vega on the show.
• As noted before, WWE recently touted the success of their tour of Mexico last weekend. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that several Mexican talent within WWE had pushed the idea for the company to hold a PLE event in the country in the future. Meltzer reported that WWE would only consider doing this if they were paid a subsidiary hold the event but this would be entirely dependent on if the Mexico City government was willing to pay for it. Meltzer reported that the odds of this happening would be very low due to the Mexico City government were not willing to pay UFC to hold a major pay-per-view event in their city.
• WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 12,287 (11,100 paid) for their July 21st SmackDown show in Orlando, FL, 15,500 for their July 22nd house show event in Mexico City, Mexico, 9,500 for their July 23rd house show event in Monterrey, Mexico, and 12,612 (11,400 paid) for their July 24th RAW show in Tampa, FL, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 12,408 tickets for their July 31st RAW show in Houston, TX, 6,214 tickets for their Aug. 4th SmackDown show in Dayton, OH, 7,142 tickets for their Aug. 7th RAW show in Minneapolis, MN, 8,171 tickets for their Aug. 11th SmackDown show in Calgary, Canada, 8,202 tickets for their Aug. 14th RAW show in Winnipeg, Canada, 13,504 tickets for their Aug. 18th SmackDown show in Toronto, Canada, 3,560 tickets for their Aug. 19th house show event in Ottawa, Canada, 4,169 tickets for their Aug. 20th house show event in Laval, Canada, 10,073 tickets for their Aug. 21st RAW show in Quebec City, Canada, 6,466 tickets for their Aug. 25th SmackDown show in Louisville, KY, 2,523 for their Aug. 26th house show event in Cape Girardeau, MO, 2,767 tickets for their Aug. 27th house show event in Huntsville, LA, 6,191 tickets for their Aug. 28th RAW show in Memphis, TN, 7,727 tickets for their Sept. 1st SmackDown show in Hershey, PA, 10,740 tickets for their Sept. 2nd Payback 2023 event in Pittsburgh, PA, 4,936 tickets for their Sept. 4th RAW show in Charlotte, NC, 7,993 tickets for their Sept. 8th SmackDown show in Boston, MA, 4,722 tickets for their Sept. 9th house show event in Uniondale, NY, 1,537 tickets for their Sept. 10th house show event in Charlottesville, VA, 3,765 tickets for their Sept. 11th RAW show in Norfolk, VA, 8,449 tickets for their Sept. 15th SmackDown show in Denver, CO, 3,970 tickets for their Sept. 20th house show event in San Fransisco, CA, 5,895 tickets for their Oct. 2nd RAW show in San Jose, CA, and 8,775 tickets for their Oct. 10th Fastlane 2023 event in Indianapolis, IN as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• In a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Booker T gave his thoughts on the differences in working on commentary between WWE’s main roster shows and NXT. Booker T stated “I think that’s the difference. When I was on Raw, when I was on SmackDown, everything had to be politically correct. Of course I had something [or someone] in my ear. [laughs] Sometimes you couldn’t be yourself and I find myself at NXT being like I am here at Reality Of Wrestling, throwing my clipboard but then I’m having fun at the same time. With NXT, I can go out there and be serious, but then I can talk about how to [become] hotter than Scotty, shucky ducky quack quack. It’s just all about having balance and trying to think about one thing first and foremost, and that’s the young guys, the talent, trying to put a spotlight on those guys and hopefully give them the rub.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, RAW brand commentator Kevin Patrick gave his thoughts on why people should be “bowing down” to Michael Cole over his storytelling commentary work for WWE’s Bloodline storyline. Patrick stated “If you’re not bowing down to Michael Cole right now and everything he’s done throughout the bloodline storyline over the past three-plus years, you should be because the level of storytelling and the depth of it — that’s the key here is peeling back that onion and going those extra layers. Cole is just so stupidly special at it. He is. He had Pat McAfee, a totally different personality [from] Wade Barrett. [They are] both incredible at what they do, yet Michael Cole has still managed to get the best out of everyone he sits next to.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

AEW & ROH

• As noted before, Scorpio Sky recently suffered an unknown injury and was pulled and replaced by Komander for his scheduled match against Kip Sabian at this past Friday’s AEW Rampage show. While the exact cause and nature of Sky’s injury is still not known, Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp reported that his sources stated that it was a “freak accident” and that AEW officials currently do not have any timetable for Sky’s potential return.
• Saturday’s AEW Collision show in Hartford, Connecticut featured New Japan Pro Wrestling talent Minoru Suzuki making a surprise appearance. During the show, Darby Allin issued an open challenge to anyone for a match which led to Suzuki making his surprise return to AEW. The two went back-and-forth in a hard hitting match that resulted in Allin being victorious after countering Suzuki’s sleeper counter of his Coffin Drop with a roll-up pin.
• As noted before, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks contracts with AEW are currently set to expire by the end of this year but Omega’s contract is also believed to have had injury time added to it. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the current belief is that Omega and the Young Bucks will be staying in AEW. Meltzer reported that while Omega’s post-show speech following the Blood & Guts match at the July 19th Dynamite show fueled speculation over their career futures, those spoken to stated that if that speech was originally planned to air on television, then it would have been a strong indication of the Elite staying in AEW. Meltzer reported that none of those close to the situation have confirmed if Omega’s line about The Elite sticking together as a group was meant to be him hinting about their futures. Meltzer also reported that those within WWE currently believe that Omega and the Young Bucks will be staying due to WWE feeling that their chances of getting Omega went from being a good shot several months ago to now being cold.
• 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 there has been no new updates regarding Cargill’s potential return to AEW. Meltzer reported that fueling speculation over the idea that Cargill could be done with wrestling is the lack of any mentions of her name on AEW television since her break started and Cargill doing the same on social media in regards to the lack of any posts regarding AEW or a potential return.
• Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Madison Rayne and The Bunny have recently been proceeding in a good direction for their recoveries from their injuries. It was reported that a potential timetable for Rayne and The Bunny being medically cleared for an in-ring return. Rayne has been out of action since this past April due to an ankle-related injury while The Bunny has been out of action since this past February due to a broken orbital bone injury.
• Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso reported that Bryan Danielson has been interested in a potential match with Kota Ibushi dating back to Ibushi’s brief tenure in WWE for the 2016 Cruiserweight Classic Tournament. Barrasso stated that while Danielson’s recent injury prevented him from being able to compete in this year’s Blood & Guts match that featured Ibushi, he still has Ibushi’s name on his list for remaining dream match opponents.
• AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 6,479 for their July 22nd Collision show in Newark, NJ and 3,367 for their July 26th Dynamite show in Albany, NY, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 3,153 tickets for their for their Aug. 2nd Dynamite show in Tampa, FL, 2,982 tickets for their Aug. 5th Collision show in Greenville, SC, 2,626 tickets for their Aug. 9th Dynamite show in Columbus, OH, 3,740 tickets for their Aug. 12th Collision show in Greensboro, NC, 2,850 tickets for their Aug. 16th Dynamite show in Nashville, TN, 2,171 tickets for their Aug. 19th Collision show in Lexington, KY, 2,816 tickets for their Aug. 23rd Dynamite show in Duluth, GA, 2,569 tickets for their Aug. 30th Dynamite show in Chicago, 3,805 tickets for their Sept. 2nd Collision show in Chicago, 8,510 tickets for their Sept. 3rd All Out 2023 event in Chicago, IL, 1,593 tickets for their Sept. 6th Dynamite show in Indianapolis, IN, 1,287 tickets for their Sept. 13th Dynamite show in Cincinnati, OH, and 3,493 (presale) for their Sept. 20th Dynamite Grand Slam 2023 show at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, NY as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• In a recent interview with ComicBook.com, former AEW talent Cody Rhodes stated that the original plan for the endgame to his “heel” run in AEW before he left was for a match against Sting. Rhodes stated “I was going to wrestle Sting. I don’t think I’ve ever shared that with anybody and nothing was on paper or anything like that. But I can say I got a tremendous offer from AEW creatively, financially, the full package. You won’t hear me say anything bad about AEW or Tony (Khan) or my time there. It was a tremendous offer, but the offer wasn’t right for me. What I wanted to get back to was the first goal that I ever had (winning the WWE Championship). But yeah, that probably would’ve been the endgame. That’s what had been discussed, was to get one (match) with one of my heroes, Sting. And it’s one of those things, you can wrestle one of your heroes or you can work with one of your heroes and he can be the head of creative (Paul Levesque), you can’t have it all. And I think one thing I do pride myself on as a wrestler is I will make a decision. It might be a left turn, it might be exactly where you think I’m going, but I will make a decision. I will not get stuck because I felt like I’d been stuck early in my career and never want to be that way again.“
• In a recent interview with the Comedy Store Wrestling podcast, Brandon Cutler gave his thoughts about his idea for a future AEW documentary to be based on never-before-seen footage from the Being The Elite series on YouTube. Cutler stated “There’s a lot of stuff I’ve been filming ever since AEW started. I had this idea in mind, one day, there’s going to be a documentary of the beginning or just what it’s like to be working at AEW. I have that, usually every week, of something I want to film, that will not show on BTE and I will have that in mind of ‘this will make for a good future documentary.’ The guys prepping the match or something or talking about their match immediately after. I was always doing that, since the start of AEW. On the first episode of Dynamite, I have footage, after the show goes off the air, all the guys are in the back and them all on a high, just talking about how the segment went. I have seven minutes of uncut footage of everyone all meeting together and talking about how it went, just right behind the curtain as the show is going off. I had it right from the beginning of what the whole thing is. I’ve had the idea ever since. It really came to light when The Last Dance came out. ‘They’ve been sitting on this footage for how long?’ It’s such a good documentary. That really ignited more of a fire under me, ‘I have to get really good stuff that I just hold forever.’ One of them was the Stadium Stampede match. I recorded almost that whole night, the first one, of what that was to make that happen. Even then, we were saying, ‘this is going to be one of the best cinematic matches wrestling has ever seen,’ while we’re filming it. We were so into it, we were putting our all into it, and we had so many great ideas. I have a lot of that footage that I’m very proud of that I’m sitting on. One day, this is going to be my Last Dance documentary. I don’t want to edit it because it’s so much footage, I would love to pass it to someone else.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent episode of the Kliq This podcast, co-host Kevin Nash gave his thoughts on his belief that AEW has not been growing their audience due to their reliance and usage of blood for matches. Nash stated “I think that what you do when you allow that much blood and that much [of a] spotfest, you paint yourself into a certain demographic that’s going to watch that program. They haven’t grown that audience, and there’s a reason why there not growing the audience while in the meantime, WWE is doing some nice ratings. I know, I’m a homer. I’m a WWE guy, I’m blowing everybody, get my legends deal.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Ring of Honor reportedly generated an attendance of 2,898 for their July 21st Death Before Dishonor 2023 event in Trenton, New Jersey, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• ROH reportedly is currently estimated to have generated around 3,800 pay-per-view buys for their Death Before Dishonor 2023 event, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that this was up compared to this past March’s Supercard of Honor 2023 event that generated 3,300 buys. In regards to breakdowns, Meltzer reported that Death Before Dishonor’s buys from cable television PPV providers were down compared to this past March’s Supercard of Honor and also down 56.3% compared to last year’s Death Before Dishonor event. In terms of comparisons, Meltzer reported that Impact’s Slammiversary 2023 is currently slightly ahead in buys from cable PPV providers compared to ROH’s Death Before Dishonor 2023 show but ROH is expected to surpass it once the numbers for late buys are included. In regards to streaming PPV buys, Meltzer reported that while exact numbers are currently not known, his sources stated that Death Before Dishonor 2023 generated a lower amount of streaming buys than Supercard of Honor 2023 did.
• In a recent interview with the AEW Unrestricted podcast, Mark Briscoe gave his thoughts about the passing of his brother Jay earlier this year. Briscoe stated “It was the day before my birthday. It was January 17^th, and my birthday is the 18^th. That was the day that my brother passed, and I saw him earlier that day, and he was just being a goofball. He’s like, “You ready for your big day tomorrow?” And then, a couple hours later, I’m getting a phone call. I’m like, “What’s happening?” You know what I mean? I talked to Tony [Khan]. Tony texted me, he said, “Hey man, can I give you a call?” And I was like, “Hey,” and he called me. And then between, I can’t remember exactly how it was brought up ’cause like I said, everything was such a whirlwind at the time. But of course, I’m talking to Lethal ’cause he’s one of my best friends; I talk to him all the time anyway. But then the idea of that match had come up, and Tony was all for it. He was 100% like, “If you want to do it, then let’s do it.” And I was like, “Shit, yeah. Damn right.”
• Briscoe continued stating that he did consider the idea of retirement after his brother’s passing but decided against it since it would have made Jay “mad as hell.” Briscoe stated “You know, when it first happened, I was almost like, “Well, I don’t know if I ever want to wrestle again.” And then as the hours go, it’s almost like, “Shit, Jamin will be pissed if I…” You know what I mean? If I hung up the boots now, he’d be mad as hell. The way that the next week’s Dynamite was on Jamin’s birthday, to me, it’s like, OK, that’s a little more than a coincidence. It’s just like God’s time. And then for me and Jay Lethal to be able to get that main event match, it was just — it was strangely comforting. It brought me a lot of comfort, as in everything’s gonna be all right.” Briscoe continued stating how he has been dealing with his brother’s loss several months on. Briscoe stated “Keep on keeping on and carry him. Jay’s with you, like, your brother’s with you. Y’all been on this journey all these years. And that’s not changing. You ain’t by yourself now. It’s just now I’m representing him in the physical and he’s still with us in the spiritual. You know what I mean? I just got that overwhelming peace and the comfort and, “Hey, carry on, keep on keeping on. Don’t let this be something that brings you down. Use this almost as a springboard to even take the journey higher, take the journey further. Keep grinding. Do what Jay wants you to do and keep on keeping on.”” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

Impact, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

• New Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 2,361 for their July 21st G1 Climax 2023 event in Nagaoka, 1,180 for their July 23rd G1 Climax 2023 event in Nagano, 1,472 for their July 25th G1 Climax 2023 event in Tokyo, 1,472 for their July 26th G1 Climax 2023 event in Tokyo, and 2,316 for their July G1 Climax 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that NJPW recently filmed a new upcoming video for their New Japan World service featuring Eddie Kingston meeting his idol Toshiaki Kawada during his current trip to Japan for the G1 Climax 2023 tournament.
• Bullet Club War Dogs shirt reportedly is currently the top selling shirt in NJPW, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, Impact recently announced that Alex Shelley will be defending his Impact World Championship against NJPW’s Hiroshi Tananashi at next month’s co-promoted Impact x NJPW Multiverse United 2 event. Dave Meltzer reported that Tanahashi will become the first wrestler ever to challenge for the AEW World, Impact World, and IWGP World Heavyweight Championships in the same calendar year as a result of his recent booking for Impact. In regards to wrestling history, Meltzer reported that this type of feat was achieved by Giant Baba in 1963 where he challenged for the NWA, WWA, and WWWF titles in the span of a two month period.
• PROGRESS Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their It’s Clobberin’ Time event on August 26th in London, England. This is a singles match of Leon Slater vs. Nick Wayne.
• Game Changer Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Homecoming 2023 Part 2 event on August 20th in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This is a singles match of Dragon Kid vs. Komander.
• DDT Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 3,456 for their July 23rd Wrestle Peter Pan 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Stardom reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,747 for their July 23rd 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, Saya Kamitani suffered an elbow injury at last Sunday’s 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 event and was pulled from the remainder of this year’s tournament as a result. Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated that Stardom officials had originally planned for Kamitani to be the winner of this year’s tournament prior to her injury. Meltzer reported that the plan was for this to build towards a match between Kamitani and Tam Nakano for Nakano’s World of Stardom Championship. Meltzer also reported that Stardom officials currently do not have a timetable for Kamitani’s return from injury.
• Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre reportedly generated an attendance of over 8,000 for their July 28th Viernes Espectacular event in Mexico City, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• TheCubsFan reported that CMLL was the victim of a robbery incident at their July 24th event in Puebla, Mexico. It was reported that this incident took place at the ticket booth in the venue that stored the gate revenue CMLL made for their show. One of the workers inside the booth had left the door partially open for some time while the other worker was gathering up the money and other stuff before they could leave. This reportedly led to a masked robber intruding and held up the two workers at gun point while another masked robber entered and stole the money. A third masked robber reportedly flashed a weapon at bystanders to prevent anyone from getting involved and a fourth masked robber was also involved but not directly in the robbery. It was reported that the robbers had managed to steal $9,950 and other personal items from the ticket booth when they ran away. It was also reported that CMLL had hired private security for the event but they did not do their jobs properly leading to the robbery going off without a hitch.
• In a recent episode of the K100 with Konnan & Disco podcast, co-host and Lucha Libre AAA head booker Konnan defended his booking of AAA’s Triplemania XXXI: Tijuana event earlier this month. Konnan stated that the negative online reaction to the event was overblown and those he trusted that he spoke to all said they loved the show. Konnan also stated that he knows what Tijuana fans want more than those complaining online and also took offense to the complaints over the amount of run-ins on the show. (Transcript h/t: TheCubsFan.com)
• In regards to the double pin finish to the Sam Adonis & Psycho Clown vs. Rush & L.A. Park match at Triplemania XXXI: Tijuana, Konnan stated that AAA officials did not make an official decision for the finish to the match until around half-way into the show itself. Konnan also stated that he currently does not know what the plan will be for the Lucha de Apuestas, Hair vs. Mask Four-way match at Triplemania XXXI: Mexico City event next month due to that not being the original plans for the Guerra de Rivalidades Tournament. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that AAA officials decided to change their original plans for the Lucha de Apuestas match due to them feeling that adding RUSH & LA Park would generate more interest and ticket sales than had they just gone ahead with Adonis vs. Psycho Clown. In regards to the idea of RUSH being the one to lose and cut his hair, Meltzer reported that RUSH is still against the idea since he feels his hair is a big part of his identity and any money he would get from AAA to cut his hair wouldn’t come close to the money he is currently getting in AEW for his current looks. Meltzer also reported that making things harder would be that AEW CEO Tony Khan would need to approve for RUSH to lose and also have his hair cut which seems very unlikely to happen.
• Dragon Gate reportedly generated a paid attendance of 596 for their July 23rd King of Gate 2023 event in Gifu, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, National Wrestling Alliance talent Kamille recently revealed she joined the cast of the Queen of the Ring film and will be portraying the role of June Byers. Dave Meltzer reported that WWE’s Charlotte Flair was originally planned to portray Byers in the film but this was dropped due to issues involving WWE. Meltzer reported that these issues led to both Flair and Liv Morgan being dropped from the project and replaced with Kamille and AEW’s Toni Storm. Prior to her removal, Morgan was set to portray the role of Clara Mortensen which now will be Storm’s role. Meltzer also reported that the origin for this upcoming film revolves around Jim Ross purchasing the rights for a film based on Burke many years ago. Ross reportedly contacted a friend who works on films which led to this film being in production and Ross being an Executive Producer for it. Meltzer reported that other notable wrestling personalities involved in this upcoming film includes Impact’s Trinity who will be portraying the role of Ethel Johnson, former WWE and ECW wrestler Al Snow who was brought in to train the actors in basic wrestling, and Jim Cornette who was listed at one point as portraying the role of a NWA commissioner.