Sat. Roundup: WWE & FOX Partnership Ending?, Prince Nana Signs New AEW Deal, Ortiz & Santana, Impact Victory Road, Indies

WWE

• Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 1,969,000 viewers on FOX, according to SpoilerTV.
• Friday’s NXT LVL Up show featured Joe Coffey defeating Akirza Tozawa in a NXT Global Heritage Invitational Tournament Group B match. Coffey currently leads Group B with 4 points (2-0), followed by Nathan Frazer at 2 points (1-1), Duke Hudson at 2 points (1-1), and Tozawa at 0 points (0-2)
• In a recent interview with The Ringer’s Cheap Heat with Pete Rosenberg podcast, Finn Balor gave his thoughts on his interest in a potential match with CM Punk if Punk were to return to WWE. Balor stated “I’d be interested in wrestling a broomstick if someone’s going to pay me money. So, show me the money. Money talks.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)
• Shotzi and Scarlett announced that they will be launching a new digital series on WWE’s official YouTube channel called “Chamber of Horrors” on September 20th. Scarlett stated “Do you believe in ghosts? You will. For the last year, we’ve been investigating the most haunted locations, and now we can’t wait to show you some of our favorites…Get in the spirit on September 20th for our new paranormal series Chamber of Horrors!“
• WWE recently released a behind-the-scenes video focusing on this past Saturday’s Payback 2023 event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• In a recent interview with Essentially Sports, Gunther gave his thoughts about past WWE Intercontinental Champions following him breaking the record for longest ever reign as an Intercontinental Champion in WWE history. Gunther stated “I don’t live in the past. Everybody, they all had their runs, it’s my time now.“
• WWE’s stock price closed at $98.05 on Friday and did not rebound following last week’s decline caused by the stock market’s reaction over Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund purchasing a minority ownership stake in Pro Fighters League. Prior to the announcement of Saudi Arabia’s latest sports-related purchase, WWE’s stocks had been trading at over $115 per share during the week prior. WWE’s stock price has also seen a decline of around 10% over the past month.
• In a recent interview with the Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning radio show, famous rapper Cardi B stated that she would be interested in the idea of making an appearance in WWE in the future. Cardi B stated “Yeah, that motherf*cker [Bad Bunny] is jumping though off them ropes. He jumping off them ropes a lot. I just told you that my body got f*cked up after the second one [second child]. I told you the second one f*cked me up. I mean, I would love to attend. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I have to perform or slap a b*tch, but I want to go. I have to fulfill some type of dream. I used to love wrestling. I used to be crazy for it.” Cardi B also gave her thoughts on who were her favorite wrestlers while growing up. Cardi B stated “It was a couple. Like Batista was one of my favorites because he was so handsome. I love Eddie Guerrero. I lie, I steal, I cheat b*tch, yeah. I don’t know. I used to love Booker T. Even when I was little, when The Undertaker used to come out, my dumbass really thought that he was a ghost. I really thought that was real. Like he was coming from the dead. Like, ‘Oh my God!’” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)
• In a recent interview with the Hall of Fame with Booker T and Brad Gilmore podcast, NXT talent Tiffany Stratton gave her thoughts about her current goal of wanting to be called up to WWE’s main roster as soon as possible. Stratton stated “I have gotten a little taste of what it’s like to be on Raw. I really would love to be called up as soon as possible, but I do know that I have some stuff to work on. I feel, at the latest, I would want to be in NXT, around WrestleMania time I feel is my calling. We shall see. Whenever the time is right. I believe timing is right and everything happens for a reason. Whenever it happens is when it’s meant to happen.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Friday’s Superstar Spectacle 2023 event for WWE in Hyderabad, India featured the main event match of John Cena & Seth Rollins vs. Imperium, which was won by Cena & Rollins. Following the match, Cena gave a speech to the live crowd stating (via @JohnCenaCrews) “Can you guys hear me in the back? Because I can sure as hell hear you guys. I just want everybody to be able to hear what I’m saying. It’s brief, but what I have to say tonight means a whole heck of a lot to me. Thank you for allowing me to be here tonight. Sometimes, when we feel something inside, it grabs us emotionally, and we feel like we’re alone. I want to share this with y’all. You can let me know if I’m alone or not, but I’m gonna share it anyway. I’ve been imagining this moment right here for 20 years. I wanted to end tonight by saying this moment was far greater than I could’ve ever imagined.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that their sources stated that the recent reports and rumors of Randy Orton being at WWE’s Superstar Spectable 2023 event on Friday in Hyderabad are not true. Johnson reported that the basis for the rumors revolved around fake show reports and photos that circulated online claiming the be from WWE’s event.
• WWE officials reportedly made one late change to the original plans for this past Monday’s RAW show in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated that WWE officials had originally planned for JD McDonagh to compete in a match against Kevin Owens but this was drop at the last minute for Sami Zayn as his opponent instead. Meltzer reported that while Zayn stated in his promo that the reason he was alone was due to Owens not being at the venue, in reality Owens was backstage but never came out during the show.
• As noted before, WWE’s sale to Endeavor is currently expected to be completed on September 12th. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that the current mood within WWE is one of being very concerned mainly in regards to their staff. Meltzer reported that the reason for this feeling is due to many WWE employees are currently expecting that there will be a significant amount of layoffs once WWE’s merger with UFC comes through.
• FOX recently discontinued their WWE-associated Out of Character with Ryan Satin podcast series and have released show host Ryan Satin from the company. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that while the official reason is currently not known, he speculated that this could be a sign that WWE’s working relationship with FOX is coming to an end soon.
• In regards to the broadcast future of WWE’s SmackDown series, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that LightShed Partners’ analyst Brandon Ross currently believes that the likely new home for WWE’s SmackDown will either be Amazon Prime, FX, or possibly even ABC. Meltzer reported that the tradeoff to SmackDown being on Amazon Prime or FX would be a great decline in viewership for shows due to both being in fewer homes than FOX but in return would get a higher paying deal than what FOX is willing to give. WWE reportedly is currently seeking around $310 million per year for a new media rights deal for SmackDown while FOX is only willing to pay around what they currently pay for SmackDown, which is $205 million per year. Meltzer reported that analysts have felt for some time that FOX’s deal for SmackDown was not cost effective over the show generating lower ad revenues than other shows on other networks despite outperforming those shows.
• As noted before, NXT talent Gable Steveson recently withdrew from Team USA for the upcoming 2023 Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the current belief is that the reason for Steveson’s withdrawal was due to WWE had made the decision to reject giving their approval for Steveson to compete at the event. Meltzer reported that those spoken to stated that WWE officials had considered plans at one point for Steveson to take some time off in order to train for this upcoming tournament.
• In an interesting note, WWE had pulled Steveson’s profile from their official roster page for their NXT brand only to recently restore his profile for the brand’s current roster. Steveson recently competed for only just the second time in his WWE career at a NXT house show event on Friday in Florida.

AEW & ROH

• Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Prince Nana recently signed a new multi-year contract with AEW for both AEW and Ring of Honor. It was reported that while details of Nana’s new contract are currently not known beyond that he had signed the deal this past August. It was also reported that those spoken to stated that Nana has been very well liked backstage in the company.
• Friday’s AEW Rampage show in Indianapolis, Indiana featured a video promo segment involving Santana. During his promo, Santana revealed that he had split up from Ortiz and will now be competing as a singles wrestler in AEW.
• Ortiz responded earlier today on Twitter over Santana’s promo on Rampage taking offense to Santana not telling him to his face beforehand that their longtime tag partnership and friendship was now over. Ortiz stated “What a way to find out years of having your back meant nothing.Good luck without your “crutch” Just remember it helped you walk for the last 14+ years. Hope your legs are good. Thank you for being honest for once. But you couldn’t say it to my face?You know you still can, right?” Santana responded stating “Wow. First thing you said to me in 14 months. no text no call. No I hope your recovery has gone well but of course paint me to be the bad guy like you’ve always done. Guess you forgot about our last conversation about this. Either way I’m happy I hope and pray the same for you🙏🏽“
• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that Masked Republic had helped assist AEW in being able to book lucha wrestlers Aerostar and Dios Del Inframundo (former Drago) for tonight’s AEW Collision show in Cleveland, Ohio.
• CJ Perry teased on Instagram that she will be making an appearance at tonight’s Collision show in Cleveland. Perry stated “On my way to @aew #collision catch me tonight at 8pm on @tntdrama“
• In a recent episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, co-host Matt Hardy revealed that AEW CEO Tony Khan had provided a private jet to any AEW talent who wanted to attend Windham Rotunda’s funeral this past Wednesday. Hardy stated “A big shout out to Tony (Khan), he took care of everybody really good,” Hardy said. “He sent a jet down there, carried all the AEW talents up to TV in Indianapolis. I was very grateful for that, and definitely appreciated it. Once again, just showing how good-hearted of a human being he is. He really made it work out so that everyone who wanted to attend could attend.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)
• Kenny Omega recently agreed to a video game challenge issued by WWE’s Xavier Woods for a match of Tekken 8 between the two but declined Woods’ offer for this to take place on a future episode of his UpUpDownDown series.
• As noted before, AEW fired producer BJ Whitmer following his arrest over a domestic violence incident this past June. Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp reported that Whitmer had a court hearing this past Wednesday that resulted in him being indicted on first degree Strangulation and second degree burglary charges based on recent court records. Sapp reported that Whitmer’s victim currently has an Emergency Protective Order in place against Whitmer. Sapp also reported that a pretrial hearing is currently scheduled to take place on October 4th.
• In a recent interview with the Women’s Wrestling Talk podcast, Jade Cargill gave her thoughts on if she had brought in revenue and outside interest to AEW during her title reign as TBS Champion. Cargill stated “I did. I brought a lot of outside eyes to this company. You can never say that — I mean, a lot of people didn’t even know about AEW. The culture was not that familiar with AEW. Everybody’s familiar with WWE because it’s a fifty something year old company, so this new company that’s four or five years old, nobody knows about it unless you’re a hardcore wrestling fan. So my job is to bring those outside eyes to our company, our company is phenomenal, we’re something that you’ve never seen before. I’m something that you’ve never seen before and that’s my job.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Jade Cargill recently commented on Twitter about her belief that Athena should be wrestling on AEW’s Dynamite shows instead of just being stuck in Ring of Honor. Cargill stated “You should be on the Wednesdays. Killing bitches. That’s a fact. Also, the makeup is bomb boo @AthenaPalmer_FG“
• Women’s Pro Softball team The Texas Smoke recently won this year’s Women’s Professional Fastpitch Softball Championship in its first year of existence as a team. This team is currently owned by Jade Cargill and former MLB player Brandon Phillips.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there has been no new updates from his sources regarding a potential return date for Jade Cargill in AEW. Cargill has been absent from AEW since this past May due to her currently being on a break from wrestling.
• In a recent episode of the Talk Is Jericho podcast, host Chris Jericho stated that Ortiz was the person who came up with the idea for him to pay tribute to Freddy Mercury for his entrance at AEW’s All In event at Wembley Stadium this past August. Jericho stated “Originally, I wasn’t going to be on top of the platform. Ortiz, who came to see Fozzy on Friday, I happened to run into him. He was going over stuff for Stadium Stampede. He said, ‘You guys did a great job, I really enjoyed the show,’ and then he said there was a suggestion he wanted to make of me doing the Freddie Mercury ‘Heyyooo’ from Live Aid, which is the greatest performance of all time. He said I should do that prior to Judas. I was like, ‘what a great idea that is.’ I went to Rich Ward, he loved it. Bubba Dudley, months ago, he said, ‘You should have Fozzy play you to the ring.’ ‘Seriously, you think so?’ ‘You gotta do it.’ Bubba came up with the idea of me singing myself to the ring with Fozzy and Ortiz came up with the idea of me doing Freddie Mercury. Not a lot of creativity or originality from Chris Jericho on the entrance.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Wrestlenomics reported that AEW’s top merchandise sellers for this past August at their AEWShop in order were CM Punk, AEW, MJF & Cole, Orange Cassidy, Punk & FTR, Bullet Club Gold, Elite, The Acclaimed, and Skye Blue. In regards to specific merchandise items, the top sellers in order were Bullet Club Gold shirt, Cassidy shirt, MJF & Cole’s double clothesline shirt, Punk’s “Best in the World” shirt, and MJF & Cole’s “Better Than You Bay Bay” shirt. In regards to Pro Wrestling Tees, the top selling AEW merchandise sellers in order were Punk, AEW, MJF & Cole, Cassidy, Punk & FTR, MJF, Bullet Club Gold, Cole, and The Elite. In regards to specific merchandise items, the top seller was the Bullet Club Gold shirt.
• As noted before, AEW recently announced that they will be holding a set of AEW Collision and Rampage shows on November 17th in Los Angeles, California. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that the current belief is that night’s Collision show will air live during its normal 8PM to 10PM EST time slot meaning that it would go head-to-head with that night’s WWE SmackDown show.
• In a recent interview with WFYI Indianapolis, Ruby Soho gave her thoughts about how much fun she is having performing as a heel alongside Toni Storm and Saraya in AEW. Soho stated “It’s a blast (being a heel). It’s my favorite thing in the world. I enjoy it thoroughly. And like I said, I think it does take the pressure off of having to be liked. You can just kind of go out there and have fun. And alongside Toni Storm and Saraya, it’s an absolute blast. They are two women that I idolized. And they are two women that I have a great deal in common with. We’re all three at very similar points in our career, where we just want to have fun at wrestling and I think that-that translates onstage and on TV. I think because all we do is just try and get ourselves into trouble.“
• In a recent interview with SI FanNation, Orange Cassidy gave his thoughts about why he preferes to tell his stories in the ring than on the microphone with promos. Cassidy stated “I don’t like to talk. I let my actions speak for me. That’s not how this works. People are supposed to grab a microphone and tell you how to feel. I see it differently. I think our fans are very smart, and their emotions can speak for themselves. I do it in the ring through actually wrestling. I may not nail it every time, but I’m telling my story through professional wrestling. It’s taken me a long time to figure it out, but I refuse to do it the way it’s been done.“

Impact, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

• Friday’s Victory Road 2023 event for Impact Wrestling in White Plains, New York featured the official announcement of former TNA/Impact commentators Mike Tenay and Don West will be the inductees for this year’s Impact Hall of Fame class. It was also announced that this year’s Impact Hall of Fame ceremony will be taking place at their Bound For Glory 2023 event on October 21st in Cicero, Illinois.
• Impact’s Victory Road 2023 event on Friday in White Plains also featured Tommy Dreamer defeating Kenny King to be crowned the new Impact Digital Media Champion. This match had featured the stipulation of if Dreamer failed to defeat King, then he would have retired from wrestling.
• Anthem Sports & Entertainment CCO Ed Nordham reportedly was in attendance backstage at Impact’s Victory Road 2023 event, according to PWInsider.
• Impact officials reportedly had interest in wanting to book Gudio Maritato for tonight’s Impact 1000 television tapings but Maritato declined the offer due to family-related commitments, according to PWInsider.
• In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Gail Kim gave her thoughts about her upcoming in-ring return for Impact at tonight’s Impact 1000 television taping in White Plains, New York. Kim stated ”
  This is the greatest passion in my life. I can’t wait to get back in the ring. I’m nervous, but I’m really excited, too. Tagging with Trinity, that gives me goosebumps. This is a dream match, and there are still surprises to come. I couldn’t have asked for a better match. It’s a great reason to wrestle again. I didn’t even expect myself to be back, but it’s a special occasion. I found out about a month ago, and I get to work with amazing people. It’s going to be a celebration, a reunion, and some nostalgia that wrestling fans will love.” Kim also gave her thoughts about getting to reunite with Awesome Kong in the ring. Kim stated “I saw Kong not too long ago at ODB’s wedding, and she looked great. She said she was ready to scratch that itch and get back in the ring. Here we are, my greatest rival is about to become my greatest partner.“
• This past Thursday’s OVW Television episode for Ohio Valley Wrestling featured former TNA/Impact owner Dixie Carter making a surprise video appearance. Carter congratulated her storyline newphew EC3 over his recent NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship victory.
• Sami Callihan recently announced that he will be launching a new wrestling school called Piledriver Wrestling Academy soon in Dayton, Ohio.
• New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that they had pulled Oleg Boltin from their Road to Destruction 2023 event on Friday in Tokyo, Japan due to him recently suffering a left wrist injury. Ryohei Oiwa replaced Boltin for his scheduled match against Zack Sabre Jr for the NJPW World Television Championship at the event, which Sabre won to retain his belt.
• NJPW recently announced a new match for the card of their TAMASHII event on September 15th in Sydney, Australia. This is a tag team match of The Natural Classics (Stevie & Tome Filip) vs. TMDK (Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles).
• NJPW also recently announced two new matches for the card of their NJPW Strong Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2023 event on October 28th in Las Vegas, Nevada. These are an Eight-Man Tag Team match of Atlantis, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Mistico, & Atlantis Jr. vs. Rocky Romero, Tiger Mask, Soberano Jr., & Adrian Quest and a Women’s Tag Team match of Stephanie Vaquer & Zeuxis vs. Lluvia & Johnnie Robbie.
• NJPW drew 70,000 viewers and a 0.02 key demographic rating for their August 24th episode and 81,000 viewers and a 0.01 key demo rating for their August 31st episode of NJPW on AXS TV episode on AXS TV, according to Wrestlenomics. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that NJPW’s key demographic rating for their August 24th was one of the rare times where their key demo rating was higher than Impact’s key demo rating for their show on the same night.
• Velvet Sky recently announced on Twitter that she has departed from the National Wrestling Alliance as of Friday. Sky stated “Going forward, I will no longer be a part of the @NWA. I wanna thank Billy for the opportunity, & thank you to each person I worked with as it was so much fun & I learned so much from Joe & Tim on commentary. I wish the NWA my best with everything. See you all down the road.” No other details were given by Sky regarding the reason for her departure from the company.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Lucha Libre AAA talent is currently expected to be away from the company for the next few weeks due to his current stint in Japan for Pro Wrestling NOAH.
• Pro Wrestling Revolver recently announced that NOAH talent Kaito Kiyomiya will be making his official debut for the company at their Revolver Redemption event on October 8th in Dayton, Ohio.
• Stardom recently announced that KAIRI will be making an appearance at their Dream Tag Festival 2023 event this Sunday in Tokyo, Japan. This will be KAIRI’s first appearance in Stardom since this past May.
• House of Glory recently announced one new match for the card of their Fallout event on September 15th in Jamaica, New York. This is a HOG World Championship match of Homicide vs. Matt Cardona (c).
• Game Changer Wrestling recently announced that El Hijo del Vikingo will be making an appearance for the company at their The WRLD on GCW 2023 event on October 12th in Tokyo, Japan.
• Will Ospreay announced on Twitter that he has recently parted ways with One Pro Wrestling (1PW). Prior to his departure, Ospreay had been the 1PW World Champion. Ospreay stated “Myself & @1ProWrestling have mutual parted ways. Business is about having trust and seeing what has unfolded with talent & management, it’s evident that the company has issues that need to be addressed & I urge talent to get what is deserved & agreed on. That being said the roster & shows were extremely fun to be a part of because of the talent, the crew & the audience. I have no ill feelings towards 1PW/Steven. I wish them all the best for the future not just professionally but personally.“