Sat. Roundup: NXT No Mercy Main Event, Matt Riddle, AEW Interest in Shelton Benjamin, Mariah May Leaves Stardom, Impact Ratings, Indies

WWE

• Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,227,000 viewers on FOX, according to Programming Insider.
• NXT head booker Shawn Michaels announced on Twitter that the main event for tonight’s NXT No Mercy event in Bakersfield, California will be the NXT Women’s Championship match of Tiffany Stratton vs. Becky Lynch (c).
• WWE recently released the cold open video for tonight’s NXT No Mercy event featuring an homage to classic N64 wrestling game WWF No Mercy.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 4,194 tickets for tonight’s NXT No Mercy event in Bakersfield, CA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• NXT head booker Shawn Michaels held a media call on Thursday to promote tonight’s NXT No Mercy event. One of the topics discussed included Michaels thoughts about his belief of NXT being the hottest thing currently in wrestling and also being the closest thing to the Attitude Era in today’s era of wrestling. Michaels stated “I feel like NXT has got a buzz right now, and I feel like we’re the hottest thing going right now in the wrestling business. We have a fun show. Ours is the closest thing to the Attitude Era you’re going to get, and I know a lot of people want to roll their eyes at that, but we have a wild west stuff going on and there is always something new happening. It’s very different. We have a number of different reasons for being in storylines. If you ask me, every other show out there, they all wrestle each other because they are all angry at each other. ‘I’m angry at this guy, we’re going to fight about it.’ If you watch NXT, there are different reasons and different stakes on why people get into wrestling matches on our show. I’m very proud of our show and what we’ve accomplished over the last several months.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Sacramento, California featured Edge being removed from WWE’s intro video for SmackDown. Edge’s contract with WWE is currently set to expire at the end of this month and he was recently removed from WWE’s internal roster list.
• WWE held two dark matches following Friday’s SmackDown show in Sacramento. One of the matches was a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match of Gunther vs. Seth Rollins (c), which was won by Rollins via disqualification. The other match was a singles match of John Cena vs. Rey Mysterio, which was won by Cena.
• As noted before, WWE laid off a large portion of their office staff earlier this month. CTInsider reported that WWE might have violated a federal labor law over issues related to their recent wave of layoffs. It was reported that in many cases, when a company undergoes layoffs, those layoffs get reported to the state’s Department of Labor in order to comply with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. It was reported that WWE has not complied with the rules for this labor law as of this past Thursday due to the Department of Labor website’s list of WARN notices do not include any sent by WWE.
• As noted before, former WWE talent Matt Riddle was involved in an incident earlier this month at the JFK Airport in New York City, New York resulting in an investigation being launched over Riddle’s claims of being sexually harassed by a Port Authority officer. TMZ recently released video footage of an apparently intoxicated Riddle and the incident he caused at the airport terminal prior to his interaction with police.
• As noted before, WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon has been dealing with several lawsuits filed by WWE investors over his recent return to the company’s Board of Directors and changes made to the company’s bylaws that were later rescinded. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that in a recent SEC filing, TKO Group stated that McMahon recently agreed to pay the $2 million in attorney fees for WWE shareholders Carole Casale and Chrystal Lavalle lawsuit against him.
• WWE NXT backstage interviewer McKenzie Mitchell filed a trademark for “McKenzie Mitchell” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on September 5th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• As noted before, WWE recently filed a trademark for “Jaida Parker” that was rumored to potentially be former AEW talent Jade Cargill’s new ring name in the company. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE officials recently assigned “Jaida Parker” to NXT talent Tiana Caffey for her new ring name in the company going forward.
• As noted before, WWE has been featuring more main roster talent on their NXT brand in recent months as part of their current effort to boost NXT’s ratings and attempt to surpass AEW’s Dynamite series in the 18-34 key demographic. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that WWE officials recently have put an increased importance on boosting NXT’s viewership for Tuesday nights. Those same sources reportedly also stated that the reason for WWE’s decision is financially motivated. WWE officials reportedly want to increase their viewership numbers for Tuesdays as a way to gain better leverage for a potential higher paying new television deal for their NXT brand. The idea being WWE showing to potential interested parties that it only takes slight adjustments on their end to bring ratings benefits for their NXT shows. It was also reported that WWE officials were ecstatic over the huge numbers that the Becky Lynch vs. Tiffany Stratton match for the NXT Women’s Championship drew for their September 12th NXT show since it was their largest overall viewership for a NXT show in almost three years and that match drew over 1 million viewers for the first time for a NXT match and quarter-hour in years.
• As noted before, Mustafa Ali was among the large batch of talent WWE released last week from both their main roster and NXT developmental system. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that WWE officials had put together a list of talent to be potentially cut that was separated in two groups. The first group reportedly contained names of those who were on the bubble to be cut while the second group contained names that WWE had already decided would be cut. Meltzer reported that Ali’s name was stated to have been in the former group for the reason behind WWE’s decision to release him.
• As noted before, WWE recently announced that next year’s Elimination Chamber event will be taking place in Perth, Australia. In a recent interview with TNT Sports, Bronson Reed gave his thoughts about WWE’s holding their upcoming event in his home country. Reed stated “I am super excited. I’ve always wanted to be a part of a WWE event in my home country. Now we have WWE Elimination Chamber Perth and it means a lot to me, you know? It’s almost a culmination of my whole career. I spent a long time in Australia, grinding on the Australian independent scene, hopefully trying to get eyes on the Australian wrestling scene so to see an event like this in my home country, it’s gonna mean the world, not only to myself and the people in WWE from Australia like Rhea Ripley and Grayson Waller but also to all the wrestlers back home.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
• In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, Jade Cargill gave her thoughts on her decision to leave AEW and sign with WWE. Cargill stated “No, not in general (if the plan was to always join WWE). This was something that I’ve been going back and forth in my head in the like the past couple months, you know, if this is really what I want to do and taking this leap because you never know, in wrestling, things can go left, it can go right, it can go up and down and I just took the time — the time I was home — I took the time to really register and determine what I wanted to do in this industry and taking the leap was the best thing I could do.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
• As noted before, Dakota Kai has been out of in-ring action for WWE since this past May due to an ACL injury. In a recent interview with The Run Home podcast, Kai provided an update on the status of her rehab from injury. Kai stated “If we’re looking at an ACL, particularly my injury, it would be about eight to nine months. It happened end of May, so it will be January, maybe February. I’m feeling good. I’m ahead of schedule in terms of my recovery. It will still be a minimum of eight months. Looking to be early 2024.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• As noted before, WWE officials made many late changes to their original plans for the September 18th RAW show in Salt Lake City, Utah. Among the changes reportedly included Tegan Nox had been originally planned to be Becky Lynch’s opponent for her NXT Women’s Championship match at the show, which was something Lynch had pushed for. In a recent interview with the New York Post, Lynch stated that there was truth to the reports about her pushing for Nox to be her opponent on the show. Lynch stated “There is full truth in that. That was one of the things that I wanted to do with this title. I wanted to have open challenges for the women who haven’t been getting opportunities, women that have been in the back that love wrestling and that want an opportunity and haven’t been able to get it.“

AEW & ROH

• In a recent interview with WrestlePurists, MJF gave his thoughts on why he never addressed CM Punk’s “Real” AEW World Championship storyline in AEW despite him being the current AEW World Champion. MJF stated “I never commented on it. I’ll tell you why. I won’t sit here and tell you I’m a company man, but I’m definitely pro-professional wrestlers. And the fact of the matter is: Collision is really important. And Collision’s success is super important. So at the time, having a guy of that stature having something that everybody on that show could be fighting for — because realistically, as much as Tony Khan wishes he can clone MJF, I can’t be everywhere at once. So I didn’t have an issue with it. I thought it made all the sense in the world. I wasn’t sweating it, frankly.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)
• During Friday’s Countdown to WrestleDream special on TNT, Darby Allin stated that his upcoming Best 2-out-of-3 Falls match against Christian Cage for the TNT Championship will be the main event match for AEW’s WrestleDream event this Sunday. Allin stated “You haven’t seen sh*t until you’ve wrestled Darby in Seattle. At WrestleDream — in the main event — you are fighting someone that you’ve never seen before.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)
• As noted before, WWE released a large batch of talent last week from both their main roster and NXT developmental system. Among those released included Shelton Benjamin. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that many talent within AEW have been pushing for the company to bring in Benjamin following his release from WWE. It was reported that this current push had actually dates back to several months ago when it was first believed that Benjamin’s contract with WWE was expiring at the time which turned out to not be the case. Besides Benjamin, AEW officials reportedly are currently looking into hiring more backstage producers with the goal of eventually having enough producers so that they would only need one producer per match for shows.
• In a recent episode of the Grillin JR podcast, co-host Jim Ross provided an update on the status of his contract with AEW and talks for a potential new contract. Ross stated “I’m very blessed. Tony Khan has answered a lot of my prayers and I hope to continue working for AEW for the foreseeable future. That’s our goal, that’s Tony’s goal, that’s my goal. Tony and I had a nice chat about my contract last week at TV. Things are moving along well in that regard. I’m sure that between Barry Bloom, my agent, and the legal department at AEW that they’re going to get something worked out. That’s my belief, I’m being positive and optimistic. This is the best scenario for me that I can imagine, working for a young company where when you go to work you feel invigorated, you feel excited, you’re around a lot of great, young talent who want to be stars and this group of talent, boy they work their asses off.” Ross also gave his thoughts about the future of his wrestling commentary career in AEW. Ross stated “The only thing I’d like to do more of is call more than just the main event but that’s not my call.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)
• In a recent interview with the Getting Over podcast, Bryan Danielson gave his thoughts about why competing in a G1 Climax tournament for New Japan Pro Wrestling is no longer a goal he has for hos career due to issues over his body’s health and well-being. Danielson stated “Sometimes I have delusions of doing the G1, but I think that’s what they are, I think they’re delusions. That’s something that I’ve wanted to do forever and ever and ever and have never been able to do it. And so, this year would be the year to do it, except is it? Because by the time the next G1 rolls around, I’ll be 43. I love doing this but it’s not worth the expense of my health later on in life and I’ve already had enough injuries as it is. I think now doing a G1 might be a little irresponsible of me in comparison to what my overall long-term goals are, which is being there for my kids and there for my family. I’m not even talking for the month that I’d be gone for the G1, I’m talking what that would do to my body. My body has been very forgiving of me and the things that I choose to do. I don’t want to take advantage of it too much. It’s been so good to me and I need to treat it kindly this last year.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)
• In the same interview, Danielson also gave his thoughts on what it has been like working for AEW’s Collision brand compared to when CM Punk was still involved with the show. Danielson stated “I don’t know. I wasn’t part of Collision before, as far as being at the shows. My first Collision I actually appeared at, he [CM Punk] had already been gone. I don’t know what it was like before. I just do my thing and I don’t really worry…what I do try to think about is ‘what is my role? What is my role in making AEW better? What is my role in making AEW the best place it could possibly be? What is my role in helping talent and helping Tony?’ I don’t really concern myself with…I tried once, when I was in WWE, to read this book on leadership and it was like, ‘What is your leadership style?’ I don’t know. I don’t care. I just try to be me and try to not mess things up.” Danielson also gave his thoughts about his current work behind-the-scenes in AEW. Danielson stated “Mostly, what I think is my role is listening. Listening to Tony, listening to what he wants, and try to convey that to other people. Listening to talent, understanding their wants and desires, and sometimes getting that to the people it needs to be gotten to. Listening to the people in production and what they need. It’s mostly about listening and spreading whatever the information that needs to be taken from that to the people that need that information.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Chris Jericho filed a trademark for “The Golden Jets” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes to the USPTO.
• In a recent interview with The Get Comfy podcast, Willow Nightingale gave her thoughts about the idea of AEW debuting a new AEW Women’s Tag Team Championship in the future. Nightingale stated “I think the idea of having a tag title for the women’s division is very exciting. Personally, I’ve had some really fun tag team matches there with Skye Blue and Kris Statlander. I know I would want a piece of that, I already can puzzle piece and see who would be in line for it. We have Mercedes [Mercedes Martinez] and Diamate, Anna Jay who has teamed with Tay [Tay Melo], but she is out, instead of teaming with Tay, has teamed with Taya [Taya Valkyrie]. We have so many great women who would do that. Toni [Toni Storm] is no longer super friendly with the Outcasts, but we still have Saraya and Ruby [Ruby Soho]. I definitely think we have the depth to have tag team titles, it’s just a matter of, will that moment come? I know that division is ready to do what we can with it if the opportunity is granted to us.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent episode of the Perched On The Top Rope podcast, Lance Archer stated that AEW officials had considered plans at one point to have Vickie Guerrero be his manager prior to deciding on Jake “The Snake” Roberts for that role. Archer stated “I’m trying to remember specifically. They were bringing Vickie [Vickie Guerrero] in at the time. I think Vickie was one of the possibilities. Ultimately, it was decided Jake and I together, especially with his style and character and my style and character, it fit well together in comparison to…not that Vickie and I couldn’t and wouldn’t have worked, it would have just been such a difference between who she is and what I was. She fit very well with Nyla [Nyla Rose] and the same when they decided Jake and I would be paired together. Some people were like, ‘You don’t need to be with Jake.’ Jake was amazing for me, not only on-screen, but behind the scenes, because he helped me find a voice for the Murderhawk Monster. I knew how to be when I walked out that curtain and got in the ring and had really come into my own as far as the character was concerned. The US market is much more driven with promos and talking and speaking, that part I hadn’t really nailed down in any capacity. Jake was really helpful in helping me learn to speak. I haven’t done a lot of speaking in AEW, but we did a lot of promo stuff back on Dark and there were a few opportunities to have promos on Dynamite. That’s where I think Jake helped me the most. He’s been invaluable to me in my career and also a really good friend.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• House of Black’s Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews, and Brody King have been absent from in-ring action for AEW since this past August’s AEW All In event at Wembley Stadium. Black recently revealed that the reason for his absence is due to a calf and knee-related injuries while King is believed to have broken his hand over punching a wall following CM Punk’s backstage incident at All In. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the reason for Matthews current absence is due to he had traveled back to his home in Australia for some time off with his fiance Rhea Ripley, who also was granted time off by WWE.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that AEW officials made several changes to their original plans for this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Broomfield, Colorado due to injury-related issues. Besides Jon Moxley, Meltzer reported that Rey Fenix had also suffered an injury from the same spot off the ramp that caused Moxley’s concussion injury. Meltzer reported that this was the reason why AEW did not advertise a AEW International title match between Jeff Jarratt and Fenix for this past Wednesday’s show due to AEW officials not being sure that Fenix would be medically cleared in time for the show. AEW head doctor Michael Sampson reportedly had medically cleared Fenix for an in-ring return shortly prior to the start of this past Wednesday’s show which led to AEW officials adding that match for it. Meltzer also reported that his sources stated that Fenix had suffered a knee injury during his match against Jarrett but it was not serious enough to impact his status for this Sunday’s WrestleDream event.
• Besides Rey Fenix, AEW officials adding a Three-way match involving Nick Jackson, Claudio Castagnoli, and Penta El Zero Miedo reportedly was also a late change made to the plans for this past Wednesday’s Dynamite show, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated that Jackson was only originally scheduled to make an appearance alongside his brother Matt Jackson for Matt’s Three-way match on the show. AEW officials reportedly made the decision to have Nick Jackson wrestle around 90 minutes prior to the start of the show. AEW CEO Tony Khan reportedly had asked Nick Jackson if he was able to wrestle that night which Jackson stated that he would but he did not bring his gear with him. Jackson reportedly had enough extra gear stored away in travel bins AEW had around to cobble together a makeshit gear for his match.

Impact, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

• Impact Wrestling drew 126,000 viewers, a 0.03 key demographic rating, and a #107 key demographic ranking for their September 28th episode on AXS TV. This was up compared to last week’s 106,000 viewers and 0.01 key demo rating. (Source: SpoilerTV)
• Cultaholic recently announced that Cultaholic’s Tom Campbell will be the special guest ring announcer for Impact’s upcoming United Kingdom Invasion tour in the United Kingdom on October 27-29.
• Former National Alliance Wrestler Joyce Grable, real name Bettey Wade-Murphy, passed away on Friday at the age of 70. Prior to her passing Grable had entered hospice care earlier this week and had been battling leukemia since 2013. Grable’s career in wrestling spanned from 1971 to 1991 and primarily worked in the NWA but also had stints in WWE and Stampede Wrestling. Among Grables accolades and achievements included being a one-time NWA United States Women’s Champion, a six-time NWA World Women’s Tag Team Champion, and being inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (2013) and St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame (2022).
• Saturday’s 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Finals event for Stardom in Yokohama, Japan featured Suzu Suzuki defeating Maika in the Finals to be crowned the winner of this year’s tournament.
• Stardom talent Mariah May recently announced on Twitter that she will be leaving the company after today’s 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Finals event. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that May had informed Stardom officials and others in Japan that she would be returning to the United Kingdom to spend time with her family. May reportedly also stated that she would eventual return back to Japan instead of pursing a career in the United States for WWE or AEW. Meltzer reported that AEW officials had shown interest in signing her to a potential contract.
• Following her match at the show, Mariah May gave a post-match speech to the crowd stating “Today was my last match. Thank you everyone! I love Japan, I love Stardom, I love everyone! Don’t forget about me! Club Venus is here! Mariah May was here! See you!” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)
• Stardom announced that Starlight Kid recently suffered an ankle injury and was pulled from the card of Saturday’s 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 event in Yokohama as a result. It was also announced that Starlight Kid is currently expected to be out of action for the company for the foreseeable future.
• As noted before, Utami Hayashishita suffered an injury last week resulting in her being pulled from the remainder of this year’s Stardom 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 tournament. Stardom recently provided an update stating that Hayashishita had suffered a cervical hernia and will be out of action for the company for the foreseeable future.
• One Pro Wrestling (1PW) recently announced that they have cancelled all of their upcoming events following allegations made by several talents booked for 1PW shows that the promotion failed to pay them for their work and had engaged in fraudulent business practices. In an statement to Post Wrestling, ring announcer Joe Dombrowski accused the company of committing fraud and embezzlement towards both talent booked for shows and customers who purchased tickets for events.
• DEFY Wrestling recently announced that “Speedball” Mike Bailey will be making his official debut for the company at their Genesis event on October 27th in Seattle, Washington.
• House of Glory recently announced one new match for the card of their Friday The 13th event on October 13th in New York City, New York. This is a singles match of Mike Santana vs. Rocky Romero.
• While responding to a fan question on Instagram, former wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer Brie Bella, real name Brie Garcia, stated that she currently has plans to resume her wrestling career in the future. This fan stated “Will you wrestle again?” Bella responded stating “I will…waiting for Buddy to grow a little more. The great thing is there’s so many companies with great opponents!!! I’d loved to wrestle Saraya again, Brit Baker…..love to go wrestle Trin…Can’t wait to see her and Mickey in action…..first on my list is The liconics…wrestle them In Australia would be amazing!”
• Game Changer Wrestling recently announced that Alex Shelley and Matt Cardona will be making an appearance for the company at their Please, Buddy event on November 3rd in Sauget, Missouri.
• GCW also recently announced that Richard Holliday will be making an appearance for the company at their Si or No? event on November 4th in Atlanta, Georgia.
• GCW also recently announced one new match for the card of their The WRLD on GCW 2023 event on October 12th in Tokyo, Japan. This is a GCW Tag Team Championship match of Los Macizos (Ciclope & Miedo Extremo) vs. Takashi Sasaki & Toru Sugiura (c).
• Following this past Sunday’s Destruction in Kobe 2023 event for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Kobe, Japan, Will Ospreay revealed in a post-match press conference that WWE had once tried to purchase Revolution Pro Wrestling for around $1 million. Ospreay stated “A small independent UK company that had a million dollars from WWE offered to them and he turned it down, because he believed in Revolution Pro Wrestling. I believe in Revolution Pro Wrestling, but more importantly, I believe in this flag [UK flag] and our pro wrestlers. I’m looking forward to bringing New Japan back to Royal Quest.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Upcoming wrestling-based film The Iron Claw based on the Von Erich Family is currently scheduled to be released in theaters on December 20th.
• Merriam-Webster officially added 690 new words to their official dictionary for the English language. One of the new words added was wrestling-based term “kayfabe” which they listed as being “kayfabe noun 1 : the tacit agreement between professional wrestlers and their fans to pretend that overtly staged wrestling events, stories, characters, etc., are genuine; broadly : tacit agreement to behave as if something is real, sincere, or genuine when it is not 2 : the playacting involved in maintaining kayfabe“