Weekend Roundup: KAIRI to Make WWE Return, SummerSlam 2023 News, AEW All In Ticket Sales, NJPW, Stardom, Nick Aldis, Indies

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

Aug 6, 2023

WWE

Stardom talent KAIRI reportedly will be making her return to WWE very soon, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that KAIRI and WWE recently came to terms for an official contract and her return is currently planned to be “imminent.” Dave Meltzer reported in a recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio that his sources confirmed Johnson’s report and stated that KAIRI is currently expected to return to WWE by this November once she finishes up her current commitments in Japan.
Saturday’s WWE SummerSlam 2023 event in Detroit, Michigan featured Jimmy Uso making his surprise return from his storyline injury. During the main event Tribal Combat match between Jimmy Uso and Roman Reigns for Reigns’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, a hooded mask individual came out and attacked Jey. This person then removed their hood and mask to reveal that it was Jey’s brother Jimmy who was the attack and Jimmy helping Reigns’ retain his title.
Saturday’s SummerSlam 2023 event also featured IYO SKY cashing in her Women’s Money in the Bank briefcase and defeating Bianca Belair to become the new WWE Women’s Champion. Following her victory, SKY’s former home Stardom issued a congratulatory message on Twitter about her title victory. Stardom stated “Congratulations, from your Stardom family!“
IYO SKY reflected on Twitter about her WWE Women’s Championship victory at Saturday’s SummerSlam 2023 event. IYO stated (via English translation) “I wanted to become “the best in the world,” so I threw up the “number one Japan” position I had at the time and flew to the United States. I crossed the ocean thinking that I was stronger mentally and physically than anyone else, but the walls of the world were so high that I was instantly broken by such hubris. I tried to say (or rather, I said) “I can’t do it anymore” many times, but each time I remembered the faces of everyone who supported me, and I managed to endure it. I clung to it desperately, built up little by little, and finally reached the number one in the world today in a foreign land. It was my dream to be the best in the world, but it was definitely thanks to everyone that I was able to make it come true. Thank you very much to everyone in Japan, everyone in America, and everyone in the world.“
Following her WWE Women’s Championship Triple Threat match at Saturday’s SummerSlam 2023 event, Asuka gave her thoughts on Twitter about the future of her wrestling career. Asuka stated “This journey of mine will continue for a little while longer. Just a little more… little more… 👋 It’s more precious time than ever.“
Saturday’s SummerSlam 2023 event also featured Logan Paul defeating Ricochet in the opening match on the show. Prior to the event, Paul had requested for his match to go first so that he could attend his brother Jake’s boxing match that same night in Dallas. Paul ended up making it in time to be in person for his brother’s boxing match still wearing the gear he had for his match against Ricochet.
As noted before, WWE officials had plans at one point for a stipulation to be added to the Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar III match at Saturday’s SummerSlam 2023 event. Fightful Select reported that the reason why WWE officials dropped this plan was due to them never having any actual plans for a stipulation to be added to the match. In regards to the decision for just a regular singles match between the two, it was reported that this came down to everyone involved for it agreeing that the match did not need a stipulation.
Fightful Select reported that their sources withn WWE stated that Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman currently have a heavy creative input on the decision for when Reigns will drop his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. One WWE officials spoken to reportedly stated “Whenever Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman say it f***in’ ends.” Another WWE official spoken to reportedly stated “They are constantly looking at every possibility. When they think it’s the very best thing for business, they’ll know to switch it up, do it right, and really make someone doing it.” It was also reported that those spoken to stated that WWE officials never had any real plans for Cody Rhodes to defeat Reigns at this past April’s WrestleMania 39 event nor any real plans either for Sami Zayn to defeat Reigns at this past February’s Elimination Chamber 2023 event.
As noted before, WWE recently made several changes to their commentary teams for their RAW and SmackDown brands that go into effect starting at this Monday’s RAW show. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that this decision was made due to WWE’s soon-to-be new owner Endeavor and their brodcast partners had pushed for Michael Cole to be made the primary face of WWE’s broadcast product. Johnson reported that WWE officials are currently confident that Cole’s extensive experience in commentary will help improve the quality of Kevin Patrick’s commentary work in the company. Those spoken to stated that Patrick being moved off as the lead announcer of RAW was not being viewed as a demotion by WWE officials but instead giving him an opportunity to “gain some more experience and find the voice and vibe the company wants out of their lead announcers.” In regards to the decision to move Cole and Wade Barrett as a team for RAW, Johnson reported that WWE officials were keen on keeping the duo together due to their highly praised on-screen chemistry.
As noted before, AEW announced this past Wednesday that The Elite had recently signed official contracts to remain in the company for the foreseeable future. In a recent interview with Haus of Wrestling, Cody Rhodes gave his thoughts about his friends in the Elite’s new deals with AEW. Rhodes stated “I’m very happy when any wrestler or superstar gets paid. I don’t want to sound carny or hacky but to know that your peers and people who take the bumps and go through all this and have that type of the physical struggle that comes with this gig, to know they’re getting paid is really exciting. I am over the moon that that group did what they did because, as Nick Jackson said, I believe they’ve made some ‘NBA money’ off of it. I’m honestly just really happy for them. I am. I would have loved to have seen them again. But, you know, I’m very happy with the choices they made, and that schedule is a little different. This gig is, this particular gig at WWE, it’s a different type of personality that maybe fits me a little bit more.“
Post Wrestling’s John Pollock reported that WWE’s RAW drew an average of 1,814,000 overall viewers and 708,000 key demographic viewers per show for the month of July. This reportedly was up compared to the same period last year, which was 1,741,000 overall viewers and 579,000 key demo viewers per show average. SmackDown reportedly drew 2,398,000 overall viewers and 865,000 key demo viewers per show for the month of July. This reportedly was up compared to the same period last year, which was 2,159,000 overall viewers and 671,000 key demo viewers per show average. NXT reportedly drew 657,000 overall viewers and 250,000 key demo viewers per show for the month of July. This reportedly was up compared to the same period last year, which was 591,000 overall viewers and 168,000 key demo viewers per show average. In regards to the effect of cable cutting, Sports Business Journal reported that around 3.1 million homes have dropped cable television since the start of this year.
As noted before, Vince McMahon underwent major spinal surgery this past July. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that McMahon was not involved heavily involved with WWE’s creative plans for this past week’s television shows due to him still recovering from his recent surgery.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the July 24th RAW show was the top ranked show on cable television that night. The July 25th NXT show reportedly was the #4 ranked show for that night. Meltzer reported that the 0.22 key demographic rating that NXT drew for their July 25th show was the third highest ever for a NXT show on USA Network. Meltzer reported that this was the first time since 2019 that NXT managed to generate a key demographic rating that high, the prior two times being the first week NXT was on USA Network that was unopposed and the third week on USA Network that was in direct competition against AEW’s debut Dynamite show.
WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 8,200 (7,300 paid) for their July 28th SmackDown show in New Orleans, LA, 4,998 for their July 29th house show event in Estero, FL, 4,731 for their July 30th NXT Great American Bash 2023 event in Cedar Park, TX, 4,331 for their July 30th house show event in Coral Gables, FL, and 12,921 (11,600 paid) for their July 31st RAW show in Houston, TX, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE reportedly has sold around 7,930 tickets for their Aug. 7th RAW show in Minneapolis, MN, 8,803 tickets for their Aug. 11th SmackDown show in Calgary, Canada, 8,326 tickets for their Aug. 14th RAW show in Winnipeg, Canada, 13,453 tickets for their Aug. 18th SmackDown show in Toronto, Canada, 3762 tickets for their Aug. 19th house show event in Ottawa, Canada, 4,342 tickets for their Aug. 20th house show event in Laval, Canada, 10,114 tickets for their Aug. 21st RAW show in Quebec City, Canada, 6,650 tickets for their Aug. 25th SmackDown show in Louisville, KY, 2,316 for their Aug. 26th house show event in Cape Girardeau, MO, 2,907 tickets for their Aug. 27th house show event in Huntsville, LA, 6,236 tickets for their Aug. 28th RAW show in Memphis, TN, 7,816 tickets for their Sept. 1st SmackDown show in Hershey, PA, 11,214 tickets for their Sept. 2nd Payback 2023 event in Pittsburgh, PA, 5,380 tickets for their Sept. 4th RAW show in Charlotte, NC, 8,264 tickets for their Sept. 8th SmackDown show in Boston, MA, 4,903 tickets for their Sept. 9th house show event in Uniondale, NY, 1,768 tickets for their Sept. 10th house show event in Charlottesville, VA, 3,873 tickets for their Sept. 11th RAW show in Norfolk, VA, 8,662 tickets for their Sept. 15th SmackDown show in Denver, CO, 4,570 tickets for their Sept. 16th house show event in Kennewick, WA, 3,369 tickets for their Sept. 17th house show event in Boise, ID, 4,750 tickets for their Sept. 18th RAW show in Salt Lake City, UT, 9,369 tickets for their for their Oct. 10th Fastlane 2023 event in Indianapolis, IN, 11,718 tickets for their Nov. 24th SmackDown show in Chicago, and 12,843 tickets for their Nov. 25th Survivor Series 2023 event in Chicago, IL as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Wrestlenomics reported that the top merchandise sellers for the month of July on WWEShop in order were LA Knight, Cody Rhodes, The Usos, Roman Reigns, Steve Austin, NWO, SummerSlam, Rhea Ripley, John Cena, and Seth Rollins. In regards to specific merch items, the top sellers in order were two LA Knight shirts, Ripley shirt, Rhodes shirt, The Usos’ shirt, a third LA Knight shirt, Reigns’ shirt, a second Usos shirt, Austin shirt, and nWo shirt.
WWE recently stated that this past April’s WrestleMania 39 event generated around $215 million for the Los Angeles area. It was announced that this broke the previous all-time record for a WrestleMania event for a host city, which was $206.5 million for WrestleMania 38 in Dallas area in 2022.
In a recent interview with WESH, LA Knight gave his thoughts about why he feels that his rise in stardom in WWE is different than Daniel Bryan, current Bryan Danielson in AEW, or Sami Zayn’s notable rises in the company. Knight stated “Well you know, look, and not to take anything away from the names that you named; Sami Zayn, Daniel Bryan, all those guys. They did amazing things to get that kind of reaction but at the same time, I think, in a weird way, you can’t even compare their thing to mine only because they had already been established, they had already had runs as champions, whether it was Tag Team Champion, Intercontinental Champion, U.S. Champion, whatever it was, they’ve had runs whereas I am completely out of the gate for most of this audience since October. Brand new and so with that in mind, to look at all the things that have happened and to be in the spots that I’ve been in and to make the most of that time and those minutes and to come from something that you’re talking about with the Max Dupri thing and to come out of that and then to be where I’m at now in all honesty should never happen. Just because of the fact of how crazy that is, how big of a turnaround that is but again, that is a testament to what I always believed and known in my heart which was that I have something different to offer and so with that in mind, yeah, I’m sure there definitely are times where I’m just like, ‘Yeah, you can do that with that’ (and shove it). There’s so much vindication. If I can just sum it up to one word, it’s vindication for sure because of anybody who’s tried to, at one way or the other, get me out of the business or whatever or somebody who’s maybe said, ‘This guy’s generic. I don’t understand his character.’ Okay, well let’s see what happens now. Here we are, here’s this generic guy, you don’t understand his character. Well apparently the whole damn world understands it and at this point, yeah, you wanna talk vindication, yeah, we’re getting it now but like I said, it’s just starting.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

AEW & ROH

In a recent interview with the Swerve City Podcast, the Young Bucks’ Matt and Nick Jackson confirmed that their decision to stay in AEW was due to a majority vote by everyone in The Elite. Nick Jackson also stated that Matt Jackson had considered the idea of retirement due to the deadlock that was happening whenever the group got together to vote and people kept changing their minds, which Matt Jackson confirmed was true. (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
Saturday’s AEW Collision show in Greenville, South Carolina featured AEW commentator Jim Ross and AEW talent Lee Johnson making their surprise returns to the company. Prior to their returns, Ross had been out of action since this past June due to a black eye injury and vocal cord issues while Johnson had been out of action since this past May due to a knee injury.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Cathy Corino, also known as Allison Danger, was in attendance backstage at Saturday’s AEW Collision show in Greenville. Johnson reported that the reason for the visit likely was due to her and her family live locally in the area.
Following Saturday’s Collision show in Greenville, AEW held a ceremony honoring Dennis Condrey, who is the founder of the legendary tag team The Midnight Express.
AEW Vice President Pat Buck filed a trademark for “Pat Buck” for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes on August 1st to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
In a recent interview with DAZN Wrestling, Ricky Starks gave his thoughts on his belief that CM Punk is the last true superstar currently in wrestling. Starks stated “(CM) Punk is a future Hall of Famer. He is the last of a true superstar that we have in wrestling… Personal reasons aside, his career is pretty decorated in that regard.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
In a recent interview with PWInsider, AEW CEO Tony Khan gave his thoughts on his goal of wanting Warner Bros Discovery’s MAX to be the future home of AEW’s library. Khan stated “We have all the bones for a really strong streaming platform. It would be a very strong addition to any streaming platform, and my dream is that it all lands on Max. It would be tremendous. Right now, AEW All Access is available on Max, which is very cool, and hopefully, that is a step in the right direction, getting our stuff steaming. We have a great library. All together, with everything I own, it’s thousands of hours of great wrestling and the AEW catalog has grown so much considering we started this thing from scratch four years ago. I believe the streaming service will happen. As to where it is and what platform it is, that’s something that I believe largely will be influenced by Warner Bros.“
As noted before, AEW announced this past Wednesday that The Elite had recently signed official contracts to remain in the company for the foreseeable future. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that despite their recent signings, there still remains significant behind-the-scenes issues between the Elite and CM Punk that have yet to be settled.
AEW reportedly has distributed around 77,952 tickets for their All In event on August 27th at Wembley Stadium in London, England as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that the breakdown is 71,500 tickets sold and the rest as comp. Meltzer also reported that the lengthy time it took for AEW to officially announce the broadcast plans for their upcoming event very likely was due to issues behind-the-scenes involving Warner Bros Discovery, Meltzer speculated that if the plans from the beginning was for this upcoming event to be on PPV, then AEW would have not taken as long as they did to announce it. Meltzer also reported that his sources stated that it is currently not known if AEW or PPV providers for this event will be offering a discount bundle for both All In and the following week’s All Out 2023 event.
Sportico reported that several sports bankers spoken to stated that they currently believe that if AEW were to be put up for sale at this current time, the company would likely go for over $1 billion for a potential sale. It was also reported that the $100 million capital investment that AEW started out with has yet to be fully recouped based on comments made by AEW CEO Tony Khan. It was reported that Khan also stated that AEW is currently on track to generate over $100 million in revenues for the second year in a row. In regards to streaming services, it was reported that the current belief is if AEW is unable to secure a deal with MAX or other providers, AEW likely would just launch their own streaming service for their library like they current do for Ring of Honor. (Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 4,763 for their July 29th Collision show in Stamford, CT and 4,871 for their Aug. 2nd Dynamite 200th show in Tampa, FL, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW reportedly has sold around 2,824 for their Aug. 9th Dynamite show in Columbus, OH, 3,996 tickets for their Aug. 12th Collision show in Greensboro, NC, 2,892 tickets for their Aug. 16th Dynamite show in Nashville, TN, 2,245 tickets for their Aug. 19th Collision show in Lexington, KY, 3,114 tickets for their Aug. 23rd Dynamite & Collision shows in Duluth, GA, 2,637 tickets for their Aug. 30th Dynamite show in Hoffman Estates,IL, 3,859 tickets for their Sept. 2nd Collision show in Chicago, 8,619 tickets for their Sept. 3rd All Out 2023 event in Chicago, IL, 1,669 tickets for their Sept. 6th Dynamite show in Indianapolis, IN, 1,396 tickets for their Sept. 13th Dynamite show in Cincinnati, OH, 4,529 tickets for their Sept. 20th Dynamite Grand Slam 2023 show at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, NY, 1,657 tickets for their Sept. 23rd Collision show in Grand Rapids, MI, and 1,597 tickets for their Sept. 27th Dynamite show in Broomfield, CO as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Wrestlenomics reported that the top merchandise sellers for the month of July on AEWShop in order were C.M. Punk, AEW, Orange Cassidy, Punk & FTR, The Acclaimed, MJF & Adam Cole, Bullet Club Gold, Bryan Danielson, Sting, and The Elite. In regards to Pro Wrestling Tee’s AEW online store, the top merch sellers for the past month in order were Punk, AEW, Cassidy, MJF & Cole, Punk & FTR, Bullet Club Gold, Acclaimed, Sting, Elite and Danielson. In regards to specific items, the top sellers in order were MJF & Cole’s “Better than You BayBay” shirt, Bullet Club Gold shirt, Cassidy shirt, Punk’s “Best in the World” shirt, Punk & FTR’s “CMFTR” shirt, Punk’s “Rowdy Ringer” shirt, Golden Elite shirt, The Acclaimed’s shirt, Punk’s Best in the Word, and Sting Micro Brawler.
Post Wrestling’s John Pollock reported that AEW’s Dynamite drew an average of 883,000 overall viewers and 397,000 key demographic viewers per show for the month of July. This reportedly was down compared to the same period last year, which was 952,000 overall viewers and 436,000 key demo viewers per show average. AEW’s Rampage reportedly drew 354,000 overall viewers and 138,000 key demo viewers per show for the month of July. This reportedly was down compared to the same period last year, which was 430,000 overall viewers and 186,000 key demo viewers per show average. In regards to the effect of cable cutting, Sports Business Journal reported that around 3.1 million homes have dropped cable television since the start of this year.

Impact, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

Sunday’s Summer Action Series 2023 event for All Japan Pro Wrestling in Chiba, Japan featured Stardom talent KAIRI making a surprise appearance. KAIRI stated that she will be competing for AJPW at their September 8th event in a tag team match of her & Saori Anou vs. Unagi Sakaya & mystery partner.
This past Saturday’s G1 Climax 2023 show for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Osaka, Japan featured SANADA and Hikuleo advancing from A Block to the Quarterfinals Round of this year’s tournament. Sunday’s G1 Climax 2023 show in Osaka featured Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay advancing from B Block to the Quarterfinals Round of this year’s tournament.
NJPW reportedly generated a paid attendance of 3,545 for their July 30th G1 Climax 2023 show in Nagoya, 1,559 for their Aug. 1st G1 Climax 2023 show in Takamatsu, and 2,006 for their Aug. 2nd G1 Climax 2023 show in Hiroshima, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
In a recent virtual fan signing event for Southern Wrestling Autographs, Impact Wrestling talent Savannah Evans stated that she was among the cast for the current season of wrestling drama series Heels. Evans stated “Last summer, and I’ll talk about it because it’s about to air, I got to do little cameos on the show Heels. I was able to do that and I’m sure they are just, you know, a one second, there she is… But yeah, just to be able to do it was cool and I would love to do more work like that, you know what I mean? So I’m gonna be looking into that. It was classified as stunt work because we were wrestling. We were rolling around in the ring. So doing more stunt work I think is something I could definitely get used to. I know that SAG is going through a lot right now but I would eventually like to get SAG certified. That kind of thing but yeah, the new season of Heels I think just started last Friday. So, if anyone loves that show, keep an eye out in the background for me somewhere. I’m definitely a character and you’ll notice when you see me (Evans responded to the comment that she could play herself on a show). But I think that’s part of the fun too is getting to play other types of characters and building your résumé that way. Like yes, I can play this but I can also be this too.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
As noted before, Nick Aldis departed from the National Wrestling Alliance this past January following the expiration of his contract over issues with NWA owner Billy Corgan over the direction of the company. In a recent interview with the K100 w/ Konan & Disco podcast, Aldis stated that the NWA still owes him money that he currently feels will never be paid back to him. Aldis stated “I don’t wanna air dirty laundry but he showed his true colors with my exit from the NWA. I don’t wanna get into it too much but, they owe me money and it’s probably never gonna come and Pat kind of — I felt betrayed by Pat. I’ll just leave it at that.” Aldis also gave his thoughts about the recent reports and rumors of WWE being interested in signing him to a backstage producer job. Aldis stated “I cannot confirm or deny (rumors of me going to/talking to WWE about heading to the company as a producer)… I happen to think there’s a wide range of incredible merchandise available at WWE Shop.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
AJ Mendez, former AJ Lee in WWE, recently stated on Instagram that her current contract with Women of Wrestling is set to expire soon and hinted at not renewing her deal.
As noted before, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre was the victim of a robbery incident that took place at their July 24th event in Puebla, Mexico. TheCubsFan reported that police had stated last week that they have identified five people involved in the robbery incident but as of this past Wednesday, no arrests have been made. It was reported that CMLL’s July 31st event had both police and natural guard presence to prevent a potential repeat incident from taking place.
CMLL talent Metalik announced on Twitter that he will be leaving the company due to him and CMLL not coming to terms for a new contract. Metalik stated (via English translation) “I want to tell all my fans that I am no longer going to continue competing for CMLL. We did not reach a deal and, well, thanks to everyone who supported me in my return now that I was in Mexico. We continue with everything from the hand of God.“
In a recent interview with Milenio, Lucha Libre AAA talent Psycho Clown stated that he worked as an Uber driver for around a month and a half during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico to help make money for himself due to the lack of wrestling work. He also stated that he did not talk that much while working as a driver due to his fear of his passengers figuring out who he was in wrestling based on his voice. He also stated that he also sold bathroom furniture and helped install it during the pandemic as well to generate additional income for himself. (English translation via TheCubsFan.com)
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that the reason why Stardom officials booked wrestling legends Jaguar Yokota, Dump Matsumoto, Shinobu Kandori, Kyoko Inoue, and Takako Inoue for their upcoming August 18th event is due to them wanting to book something unique for the show as a way to make up for Giulua being absent for it.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Stardom’s official YouTube channel recently gained a very large surge in subscribers going from 300,000 to now around 400,000 within the past few weeks. Meltzer reported that the reason for this sudden large increase is currently not known beyond Bushiroad wanting heavy promotion of the channel as part of their budget given. Meltzer reported that the idea by Bushiroad officials is to use the growth as a way to give the outward perception that they are on fire as a company.
Stardom reportedly generated a paid attendance of 302 for their July 29th 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 event in Nagano and 412 for their July 30th 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 event in Konosu, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Dragon Gate reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,258 for their Aug. 3rd King of the Gate 2023 Finals in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Pro Wrestling NOAH reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,125 for their July 30th Sunny Voyage 2023 event in Ishikawa, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the decline in home cable television coverage across the United States became worse during this past July. Meltzer reported that as of August 1st, the current coverage for notable cable networks that carry sports and wrestling programming are ESPN at 71,321,000 homes, ESPN 2 at 71,318,000 homes, FS 1 at 71,371,000 homes, TBS at 70,432,000 homes, TNT at 70,291,000 homes, and USA Network at 71,325,000 homes. Meltzer reported that this is the first time that FS1 is currently in more homes than ESPN and the overall decline from cord cutting since late 2019 has been 21.4% for TNT and TBS and slightly less for USA Network.
As noted before, a new Japanese Joshi wrestling promotion is currently planning to launch this Fall in the United States. Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated that the backers of this new upcoming promotion currently have plans to secure a television deal of some sort for their new promotion. Those spoken to reportedly stated that official announcements for this new promotion is currently expected to be made within the next few weeks. Those spoken to reportedly also confirmed that the current plan is for the debut event to take place this September in New York City, New York. Officials for this new promotion currently have the goal of wanting the best women’s roster out of any promotion that runs women’s wrestling in the United States but are also not looking at being direct competition for WWE, AEW, or any other promotion in the U.S. In regards to this new promotion’s current business strategy, Meltzer reported that this is less based on what WWE has been successful at doing and instead resembles more of what the Pokemon Company and Nintendo have done for Pokemon’s worldwide popularity.
Bandido reportedly recently left Big Lucha, which is a promotion he helped run, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Meltzer reported that those spoken to stated that Bandido was never the actual owner of the promotion but Big Lucha officials purposely made it appear that was to the public. Bandido reportedly was the co-owner of the gym that the promotion ran their events. In regards to the reason for his departure, Meltzer reported that Bandido and the other co-owner of the gym recently had a falling out over the direction of the promotion leading to Bandido leaving and trying to get other Big Lucha talent to also leave and join him for a potential new promotion. Meltzer reported that Bandido’s plans ended up being a bust due to him not being able to get a new promotion off the ground and Big Lucha talents decided to stay instead with their company over monetary reasons. Meltzer reported that besides money, another reason why Big Lucha talents did not walk out with Bandido was due to a lot of them were upset that Bandido managed to get his brother Gravity a job in AEW but did not do the same for them. Bandido reportedly claimed that the reason was due to AEW officials were not interested in other talent from Big Lucha at the time.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that a lawsuit was filed against both WWE and AEW this past Thursday to the United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Youngstown by a man named Anthony Duane Wilson. In the lawsuit filing, Wilson is claiming that both WWE and AEW committed “plagiarism, market damages, product damages, personal damages and financial damages” against him. In regards to WWE, Wilson is claiming that “WWE, its contractors, and employees have on multiple dates used my creative works without permission, infringing on my wrestling gimmicks, names, slogans and likeness.” Wilson also claims that he was in the process of starting his own promotion and spoke with members of Bullet Club to join him but these plans fell apart due to “They stole the plans from me and my social media pages and cut me out without giving credit or the portion I am entitled to as the creator.” Wilson is also claiming that WWE and AEW are still infringing on his work without crediting or paying him and this situation has caused serious financial damages to him. Wilson is also claiming that several of the works being infringed was purposely done to “maliciously to damage my reputation an (sic) career, attempting to embarrass me or waste my time.” In regards to compensation. Wilson is currently seeking to be awarded “control of AEW an (sic) removal of stolen works, a public apology an (sic) a financial settlement for damages, my works an (sic) career will see until I retire. WWE Board Chair, WWE Stock for freelance work an (sic) business tactics of mine. Return all ships and plunder.” Wilson is also asking for $250,000,000 in damages as well.