Weekend Roundup: Logan Paul Calls Out Rey Mysterio for US Title, Brian Cage Injury, Kyle O’Reilly Update, Chris Hero, NJPW, Indies

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

Oct 15, 2023

WWE

This past Saturday’s boxing match between Logan Paul and Dillon Danis in Manchester, England ended in a disqualification victory for Paul. Following the end of the boxing match, a big scuffle took place in the ring involving Danis, Jake Paul, and others that was quickly broken up by security. After things cleared up, Paul gave a post-match interview in the ring and called out Rey Mysterio stating that he wants a shot at Mysterio’s WWE United States Championship. Paul stated “I want that US Title. Rey Mysterio, I already beat you once, brother, and I’m coming for that U.S. Championship. Let’s go!” Mysterio responded on Twitter stating “Did @loganpaul just call me out? I’m not hard to find homie. Every Friday Night on SmackDown.“
As noted before, TKO Executive Chairman Vince McMahon is believed to no longer be involved in WWE’s creative with WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque” being in full control again. Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso reported that his sources confirmed that McMahon is no longer involved in WWE’s creative process and that this decision was made by Endeavor and TKO CEO Ari Emanuel. Those spoken to reportedly stated that Emanuel has been a long firm believer that for an organization to be as effective as possible, then people need to do the jobs they are assigned. Barrasso reported that this stance is the reason why Emanuel wanted Levesque to have total control over WWE’s creative process going forward.
Kofi Kingston announced that his CLICK Foundation opened a new library and computer center in Ghana this past Friday.
In a recent interview with The Ringer’s Cheap Heat podcast, Carlito gave his thoughts about his recent return to WWE. Carlito stated “After Puerto Rico, if nothing came after that, I would have said, ‘Okay, let’s close the book on that and look for something else.’ For some reason, I never went anywhere else because I always thought I would be back. I didn’t think it would be 13 years, but I always had the feeling I would be back in WWE somehow … I just had this feeling that I would be back somehow. I don’t know how. The reason it took so long is, I think, miscommunication between both sides. They thought I had heat with them, they thought they had heat with me. Basically, we didn’t communicate. Sometimes, time goes by, you see things a different way. I always had love for WWE, I always wanted to be in WWE. I just needed a break. I didn’t need a 13-year break. Even when they would talk to me, they were hesitant and thought maybe I was anti-WWE. It’s not that. I don’t do the ‘go backstage and say hi to everyone.’ Even if you did, it looks like you’re looking for a job, so I don’t do that. My resume is out there. I don’t want to be anywhere where they don’t want me. My resume is out there, I’m here. I think they took that as, ‘he wants nothing to do with us.’ I’m glad we were able to finally sit down, air it out, and show there is love for both sides.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
As noted before, this past Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Tulsa, Oklahoma featured Kevin Owens being officially revealed as SmackDown’s trade compensation for the Jey Uso trade deal. Fightful Select reported that WWE’s decision for Owens to be the person traded was known by many within the company as of this past Thursday.
WWE recently held a digital exclusive backstage interview with Kevin Owens. During the interview, Owens gave a shout out to someone named Adam who recently underwent surgery. This “Adam” person was originally reported by PWInsider to be in reference to Adam Cole who recently underwent surgery for his broken right ankle. Lucha Blog reported that the reports and rumors of Adam Cole being the person referenced is likely not accurate and instead Owens was more likely giving a shout out to indie wrestler Adam Lash who is also a longtime friend of Owens and had recently underwent surgery to remove one of his kidneys due to cancer-related issues.
Fightful Select reported that their sources within WWE denied recent reports about Alberto Del Rio, also known as Alberto El Patron, returning any time soon to the company. One high level WWE officials reportedly stated “No fucking chance” when asked about the possibility of Del Rio’s return. The rumors of Del Rio’s potential return originated from recent comments made by Del Rio who claimed that he had a deal with WWE for a future return.
WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 10,339 (9,100 paid) for their Oct. 6th SmackDown show in St. Louis, MO, 13,022 (11,500 paid) for their Oct. 7th Fastlane 2023 event in Indianapolis, IN, and 9,155 (8,300 paid) for their Oct. 9th RAW show in Omaha, NE, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE reportedly has sold around 6,770 tickets for their Oct. 16th RAW show in Oklahoma City, OK, 13,009 tickets for their Oct. 20th SmackDown show in San Antonio, TX, 3,995 tickets for their Oct. 21st house show event in Edinburgh, TX, 2,109 tickets for their Oct. 22nd house show event in Laredo, TX, 9,918 tickets for their Oct. 23rd RAW show in Dallas, TX, 9,835 tickets for their Oct. 27th SmackDown show in Milwaukee, WI, 8,340 tickets for their Oct. 29th house show event in London, England, 5,614 tickets for their Oct. 30th RAW show in Greenville, SC, and 7,521 tickets for their Oct. 31st house show event in Glasgow, Scotland as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As noted before, WWE recently announced a new television deal with ABEMA for Japan. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE drew 83,400 viewers for their Oct. 6th SmackDown show and 217,600 viewers for their Oct. 7th Fastlane 2023 event on the network. For some comparisons, Meltzer reported that New Japan Pro Wrestling drew over 1 million viewers for their Oct. 9th Destruction in Ryogoku 2023 event on the network.
As noted before, WWE is currently not interested in bringing back CM Punk to the company. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that WWE officials are still mostly against the idea of bringing back Punk but that the door is not completely closed on a future return for him. Meltzer reported that the recent teases on WWE programming including Shinsuke Nakamura performing a GTS to Ricochet is not meant to be any real indication of Punk returning any time soon and instead just something being done by wrestlers on their own. Meltzer reported that Corey Graves recently responded to his line from a recent SmackDown show about “the greatest trick the devil ever said was making people think he didn’t exist” was not meant to be about Punk but instead was from something the late Dusty Rhodes used to say in the past.
In a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, Karrion Kross revealed that WWE originally had plans for him to work in a feud and match with the late Bray Wyatt for last year’s WrestleMania 39 event. Kross stated “So we fast forward. I haven’t talked to anybody but my wife about this. So fast forward, we (Kross & Windham Rotunda) were supposed to work last WrestleMania. Nobody knew that except for a collection of writers and some people in the office. Yeah (this was for WrestleMania 39). We were slated to do something. And we would talk for hours about how we wanted to get into it, what we wanted to deliver creatively for people, where we thought we both needed to be. We had, you know, ideas with Alexa (Bliss) and Bo (Dallas) and Scarlett. You know, and then everything happened the way it did. But he left a mark on anybody and everybody that he ever met. And it’s just very strange the way everything kind of just played out, like, beautiful and tragic. And he was always an inspiration to me and always showed me warmth. He showed everybody warmth, you know what I mean? But I just have so many, I have more stories than we have time to share. But we were cool and I’ll never forget him.” Kross also stated that he recently finished writing a book about his career and life and submitted it to WWE for a potential publication. Kross stated “So I submitted the book to WWE because I would like to have it published through them. Everything that I do, I would like to do through WWE, I want to be a lifer, you know what I mean? I would like to think that it could be published by the end of this year. The book is being reviewed or has been reviewed. There are just a couple other moving parts that need to be set in place for it to be published. But when I submitted the book, I had the formatting down. It was edited, there’s photos in it, and I gave them like a totally finished product. So it’s whenever they have all of their ducks in a row for some things that they’re trying to line up for all of us. On the publishing side, the book will be published, but I’m really excited for people to read it. Again, I’m a little bit scared. But I think that’s probably a good thing.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
As noted before, Sonya Deville has been out of action for WWE since this past August due to a torn ACL injury. In a recent interview with the Wilde On podcast, Chelsea Green provided an update on Deville’s recovery from her ACL injury. Green stated “I was more so worried for her (Sonya Deville when she got injured) in the sense of like, she just has worked so hard to get there. I have been through this a million times. Like you (Taylor Wilde) said it when we first started, I have been fired and rehired a million times, I’ve broken bones. I’m good. I know I can come up with something and if they don’t wanna use it, then they’re gonna do what they want. You can’t change that. But I was just worried for her and her mental health, like going from being on the road for the past seven-to-eight years to having her very first injury and being out after winning the championship, her first title. But actually, it turns out she’s thriving and doing amazing and healing so well and we talk all the time and I was just very, very grateful to be given a second chance.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
PWInsider’s Paul Jordan reported that WWE and Hulu are currently believed to have recently signed a new deal to keep WWE’s content on the service. Jordan reported that the basis for this belief is due to a recent update by Hulu that removed all of the expiration dates for WWE content on the service.

AEW & ROH

During Saturday’s AEW Collision show in Toledo, Ohio, AEW CEO Tony Khan announced on Twitter that the scheduled match between Komander and Brian Cage has been postponed due to a late injury issue. No other details regarding who was injured nor a potential new date for this match was given. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in Sunday’s Daily Update that his sources stated that Cage had recently suffered an injury and this was the reason for the match being postponed. Meltzer reported that Komander worked that night’s ROH TV tapings following Collision.
In an interesting note, Saturday’s Collision show in Toledo also featured Tony Schiavone being the lead announcer for the show instead of Kevin Kelly. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in Sunday’s Daily Update that his sources stated that it was AEW CEO Tony Khan who had made the call for Schiavone to work at the show and take over Kelly as the lead announcer. No other details nor reason was given for this decision.
In a recent interview with Sports Nightly, Wardlow gave his thoughts about his recent return to AEW and the changes made to his look and presentation. Wardlow stated “You know, it’s time to go back to day one Wardlow. The hair’s growing back. I’ve somehow in that four months (I was gone) got bigger and stronger which doesn’t help anybody on the roster. Because not only did I gain 20, 30 pounds of muscle but I’m also really pissed off. So, it’s a bad combination.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
Prior to the start of this past Tuesday’s Dynamite Title Tuesday show, Adam Copeland shared a photo on Twitter of himself, Bryan Danielson, and Saraya being together backstage. Saraya recently reflected on Twitter about the special significance of the photo. Saraya stated “You know what was really cool yesterday. Was before the show I was standing in the ring and I saw @EdgeRatedR on one side and @bryandanielson on the other and I just was like ‘holy sh*t. None of us thought we would wrestle again’ and I felt very grateful. Very cool moment.“
In a recent interview with Sports Nightly, Bryan Danielson gave his thoughts about a photo taken and shared by Adam Copeland of himself, Copeland, and Saraya backstage prior to the start of this past Tuesday’s AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday show. Danielson stated “It was just a cool realization because of all three of us (Danielson, Adam Copeland & Saraya) had matches on Tuesday and we were all kind of in the ring before the show, warming up and that sort of thing and there was just (a) realization, I think it was Saraya who had it first was that, ‘Hey, we’re all in the ring together and we’ve all got matches tonight. This is surreal, because we were all told at different points that we’d never wrestle again.’ I did say that between the three of us, you combine the three of our necks together and I don’t think you even have one complete neck (he laughed). But it is cool and it also is a testament to the advancement of medical technologies but also, all three of us, we were told we shouldn’t do this anymore and we kept fighting through, right? And that’s just kind of a — and one thing feeds off another. When you hear somebody else has been able to come back, well then you think like, okay, maybe I can come back and that sort of thing and those sort of reinforcing stories help us all.“
In the same interview, Danielson also gave his thoughts about the status of his arm injury and recovery. Danielson stated “It’s doing okay. I think by continuously wrestling on it, I’m slowing it down from healing 100 percent (he laughed). But you know, as older wrestlers like to say, we never anticipate being 100 percent ever again. So, I think that’s kind of where I’m at. It’s fully functional. I can do pull-ups and I can do all these different sorts of things. It’s just the mobility is still not — doing this hurt (Bryan bent his wrist), whereas doing this on my left side doesn’t hurt at all. It’s just that kind of thing. There’s nothing that’s going to happen to the bone because they put a rod in it with nine screws. So, the dangerous part the doctor said is actually where it breaks. If it were to break again, it’s easier to break where the rod ends because the rod itself acts as a fulcrum that it could bend against. But then really it’s like the nerve and muscle damage. Part of that is because I wrestled for 10 minutes with a broken arm and then part of it is just the work that we do, so…” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
In a recent interview with The Ringer’s The Masked Man podcast, Adam Copeland gave his thoughts about the potential of him using Rob Zombie’s “Never Gonna Stop” song as an entrance theme again in the future. Copeland stated “You never know. Being a music nerd myself, to me, it sets the whole tone. For me, standing back there, and knowing that’s about to play and come flying out of the chute, it’s really important for me to set the tone and get me into that place. Metalingus and I, we’ve become kind of synonymous together. It’s been 20 years now, friends with the band, just great dudes. That was really important to me, but it’s also fun to think that there my be a time where ‘My Durango’ pops up, you never know.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent interview with DAZN, Swerve Strickland gave his thoughts on the possibility of finally having his long awaited singles match against Keith Lee in AEW. Strickland stated “Timing, timing. It’s timing. That’s all I can say about it, timing.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In the same interview, Strickland gave his thoughts about his current goal of becoming the first ever World Champion in AEW history. Strickland stated “I think that’s a story, that’s a possibility, that’s being talked about now amongst peers. It’s a seed that I planted that I wanted to just organically grow. The story wasn’t about AEW’s never had a black world champion, its like, I want to win it. I want to be the first and I don’t want to accept anything less. I want to be the first, which means I want to be next up, especially with the momentum I have. I want to use all of that to get to the top. TNT Title is amazing, if I can acquire the TNT Title and use that as momentum, maybe even hold both. Christian is on a real high right now, and if I take that from him, people are gonna explode and really believe [in me] now. Our AEW World Champion is already holding two belts, I want to hold two belts too. The possibilities are there now.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that despite modest sales success for AEW’s Fight Forever video game, AEW and Yukes are still working on trying to improve the state of the game. It was reported that scans for several new talents were done over the past few weeks with plans to add them into the in-game roster in the future.
Fightful Select also reported that their sources stated several talent are nearing their returns to AEW from injuries and abscesses in regards to them being medically cleared for in-ring returns.
AEW reportedly is currently estimated to have generated around 120,000 pay-per-view buys for their WrestleDream event on October 1st, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that the cable PPV buys for WrestleDream were up by around 5% compared to All Out 2023 after week two when including late buys. Meltzer reported that the reason for the small increase is due to one major tracking system has been dealing with some problems causing its numbers to be released late. When only counting other tracking systems, WrestleDream’s actual increase was around 24% compared to All Out 2023.
AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 2,245 for their Oct. 7th Collision show in Salt Lake City, UT, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW has sold around 2,462 tickets for their Oct. 18th Dynamite show in Rosenberg, TX, 1,471 tickets for their Oct. 21st Collision & Battle of the Belts VIII shows in Memphis, TN, 3,089 tickets for their Oct. 25th Dynamite show in Philadelphia, PA, 2,054 tickets for their Oct. 28th Collision show in Uncasville, CT, 1,787 tickets for their Nov. 1st Dynamite show in Louisville, KY, 2,049 tickets for their Nov. 4th Collision show in Wichita, KS, 2,307 tickets for their Nov. 8th Dynamite show in Portland, OR, 1,632 tickets for their Nov. 10th Collision & Rampage show in Oakland, CA, 1,536 tickets for their Nov. 16th Dynamite show in Ontario, CA, 3,008 tickets for their Nov. 17th Collision & Rampage show in Los Angeles, and 8,588 for their Nov. 18th Full Gear 2023 event in Los Angeles, CA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As noted before, Kyle O’Reilly has been out of action for AEW since June of 2022 due to a neck-related and other injuries. O’Reilly recently provided an update on Instagram stating “I had my neck fused last September to fix some nerves that had gotten themselves compressed somehow. I’m sure a career of landing on my head for a living played a role but sadly we’ll never know. Regardless, I had been in pain and losing strength in my right arm for some time and no amount of tape or denial could delay my surgery any longer. Unfortunately, I suffered from a rare post-surgical complication and suddenly I couldn’t move my arm at all. ‘C5 palsy’ the doctor said, and ‘nerves take a long time to heal.’ So I was left to be patient and test my perseverance. Needless to say it was disheartening to relearn activities like brushing my teeth and wiping my ass with my left hand. My career wasn’t in question any longer, it was my quality of life. But focusing on what I could control every day kept me sane, such as being the best father I could possibly be. Every other moment has been spent rehabbing, dry needling and training. The wrestling ring has felt like an oasis in the desert for me these last 12 months. I know if I keep walking I’ll eventually reach it but I don’t know if it’ll just disappear when I get there like a mirage. I’m so parched, all I want to do is get to the oasis and drink to quench my thirst but I have to be careful or I’ll trip in the sand or collapse from the heat. I guess that’s why this is taking so long, patience and perseverance. The good news is I can see the oasis now, it’s definitely not a mirage.“
As noted before, AEW had been dealing with feed and cable listing related issues on TBS’s end for their Dynamite shows in recent weeks. In regards to the effect on AEW’s DVR viewership for their shows, Dave Meltzer reported that Dynamite currently averages around 170,000 DVR viewers per show. Meltzer reported that for the October 4th show, AEW saw a loss of around 82,000 DVR viewers for a low end number due to a cable listing error that caused those who had scheduled that night’s Dynamite show to record an episode of Young Sheldon instead. Meltzer reported that the bulk of those affected were from AEW’s Over 35 viewership which means that AEW’s younger viewers likely learned about the issue a lot sooner and watched AEW’s show that night live compared to usual.
Penta El Zero Miedo and 49ers Tight End George Kittles recently announced on Instagram that they have partnered together for a new clothing line with clothing company Chubbies.

Impact, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

Saturday’s Five Year Anniversary Show for West Coast Pro Wrestling in San Francisco, California featured Chris Hero making a surprise appearance. Following the Timothy Thatcher vs. J.T. Thorne match, Thatcher launched an attack that was stopped by Hero who made his surprise return and ran in to save Thorne only to be attacked by Thatcher when his back was turned. This led to Hero giving a promo and challenging Thatcher to a match at West Coast Pro’s Whiplash event on November 17th in San Francisco.
Saturday’s Slaughterhouse event for Major League Wrestling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania featured two championships changing hands. The first was Rocky Romero defeating AKIRA to become the new MLW World Middleweight Champion and the other was Janai Kai defeating Delmi Exo to become the new MLW World Featherweight Champion.
Saturday’s MLW Slaughterhouse event also featured the official announcement of Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling talent Miyu Yahamshita making her official debut in the company soon.
Saturday’s Royal Quest III event for New Japan Pro Wrestling in London, England featured two new matches officially announced for Power Struggle 2023 on November 4th in Osaka, Japan. The first new match is an IWGP United States (UK) Heavyweight Championship match of Shota Umino vs. Will Ospreay (c). The second new match is a singles match of Great-O-Khan vs. Jon Moxley.
Sunday’s 30th Anniversary Part 2 event for Michinoku Pro Wrestling in Yahaba, Japan featured YOH making a surprise appearance. In an in-ring promo segment, YOH stated that he has chosen MUSASHI to be his official tag team partner for NJPW’s upcoming Super Junior Tag League 2023 tournament.
In a recent interview with Metro, Will Ospreay gave his thoughts about the anxiety he has experienced surrounding big matches throughout his career. Ospreay stated “I used to be in such a horrible, dark place where me and my head just didn’t get along. Sometimes it creeps in, especially big matches. The Tokyo match with Kenny [Omega], I can’t tell you enough how much doubt creeped into my mind with that. I get mad anxiety when I wrestle guys like Kenny. The most important thing for me is my family, and as long as that’s all good, my demons don’t really creep in anymore. I’ve found a real big balance.”
NJPW and Stardom held a joint business strategy press conference this past Tuesday in Japan. Some of the topics discussed included NJPW revealing that they are currently expecting to generate around 5.3 billion yen ($35,510,000) in revenues and Stardom is currently expected to generate around 1.5 billion yen ($10 million) in revenues for this fiscal year. In regards to New Japan World, NJPW stated that their current subscriber base is at its highest ever amount in service history. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that while no number was given by NJPW, this would mean that total subscribers are over 140,000 since that was the prior record for the service from this past January.
NJPW reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,089 for their Oct. 7 Road to Destruction 2023 event in Miyagi and 5,002 for their Oct. 9th Destruction in Ryogoku 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 officials currently have plans for Mercedes Mone to face off against Giulia for the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship once she recovers from her ankle injury.
Stardom reportedly generated a paid attendance of 237 for their Oct. 7th event in Nagano, 284 for their Oct. 8th event in Tajimi, and 1,315 for their Oct. 9th Nagoya Golden Fight ~Kinshachi Miracle~ event in Nagoya, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
In a recent interview with the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, Mahabali Shera revealed that he is currently not under an actual contract with Impact Wrestling but instead is only working under a handshake type deal. Shera stated “I’m just starving for work, you know? (Shera responded when asked if he’d be interested in going back to WWE) And I think what I see in me and I think… I just always wanna be bigger, bigger, bigger because for my country and for my career-wise. Maybe when I was there, it was not (the) right time. So, in the future, because you never know and any opportunity comes to you, if it’s the right opportunities, yes, I would definitely consider about, you know? And I’m still with IMPACT Wrestling but I’m not under contract with them, but I’m working for them because we have a deal, like handshake deal, you know? But if there’s any big opportunities (that) come to me and I will definitely consider and I will talk to them, ‘Hey, what do you think?’ Because IMPACT Wrestling had me many ways as well. But, they’re also very nice to me, they’re always nice to me and Scott (D’Amore) and everyone. I love them, but if any opportunity comes to me, I will talk to them first because always, like last time, NXT, they reached out to me (in) 2017. I tell Scott. He said, ‘If you wanna go, go for it.’ He didn’t say anything, you know? But definitely, I’m looking for big opportunities because, you’re gonna see all of it on Netflix (‘Wrestlers’ series) and I can’t live life like this, you know? Because I have a responsibility and I definitely need bigger money, bigger roles, so that I can do (my) best and put myself in (the) best position. Everyone wants (to) do that I think. Nothing wrong with that.” Shera also stated that AEW had reached out to him around two years ago for a potential contract with them but he turned down their offer since he was under contract with Impact at the time. Shera stated “They (AEW) reached out to me two years ago. I was under contract. But like I said, if WWE or AEW or any company or other work out of wrestling, if anything reach out to me then I definitely want (to) concern about because I wanna do it. I wanna do the best I can do it. If it’s possible, I will be (at) work for 16-hour day and I can do that because I’ve been waiting for it. I’ve been waiting for three years, four years, putting all the work hard in. Now it’s just time. I will do my best to succeed and take (the) opportunities.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
The National Wrestling Alliance recently announced two new matches for the card of their NWA Samhain event on October 28th in Cleveland, Ohio. The first new match is a Loser Leaves NWA match of Brady Pierce vs. Rush Freeman. The second new match is a NWA World Women’s Championship #1 Contender Four-way match of Samantha Starr vs. Missa Kate vs. Tiffany Nieves vs. Celeste.
Memphis Wrestling filed a trademark for “Memphis Wrestling” for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes on October 12th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
James Drake filed a trademark for “James Drake” and Zack Gibson filed a trademark for “Zack Gibson” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on October 14th to the USPTO. Drake and Gibson also filed trademarks for “GYV” and “Grizzled Young Veterans” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on October 13th to the USPTO.
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 868 for their Oct. 9th Wrestle Princess 4 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As noted before, Katsuhiko Nakajima will be leaving Pro Wrestling NOAH at the end of this month. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Nakajima recently told others that if he was actually leaving for either AEW or WWE, then he would have already mentioned it by now to others. Besides AEW and WWE, Nakajima has also been rumored to possibility be going to NJPW.
In a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair stated that he believes he should have had chosen Ricky Morton to be his final opponent for his retirement match. Flair stated “I want to wrestle right now. Isn’t that crazy? Ricky Morton, a guy I should have chosen for my last match. Ricky Morton is still wrestling. You know what the best thing about it for me was? I forced myself to really get in shape. I heard from guys over the years when they were older and I was in my prime, the older guys would say, ‘I’m tired of working out.’ There gets a time where you get bored working out if you don’t have a goal. They gave me a goal and I attacked it. I didn’t stop drinking or anything. I was literally training three hours a day, five days a week.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a follow-up interview with PWInsider, Flair clarified his comments about wanting to wrestle again. Flair stated “That was completely taken out of context. No, I have no desire to wrestle again. I said I could, because I feel great. And if I did, I could be better because I would learn from the mistakes I made getting ready last time, which was not hydrating. I weighed 218 and I didn’t drink any water that day, a combination of nerves and everything else. We really had worked out what you would have thought, Mike, as a decent match, not great by any means. But when I mentioned that I didn’t feel good, everybody thought I was having a heart attack and that was a blatant error on my part but no, I feel great. I’m so damn…I’m probably the only guy in the business that doesn’t have a knee replacement or hip replacement or anything. I feel great.“

Wrestling TV Ratings for Week of Oct. 6 to Oct. 12, 2023

WWE Friday Night SmackDown – 2,319,000 viewers, 0.64 rating (prior week – 2,303,000 viewers, 0.60 rating)
WWE RAW – 1,557,000 viewers, 0.43 rating (prior week – 1,511,000 viewers, 0.48 rating)
WWE NXT – 921,000 viewers, 0.30 rating (prior week – 857,000 viewers, 0.22 rating)
AEW Rampage – 365,000 viewers, 0.12 rating (prior week – 363,000 viewers, 0.14 rating)
AEW Collision – 353,000 viewers, 0.09 rating (prior week – 327,000 viewers, 0.08 rating)
AEW Dynamite – 609,000 viewers, 0.26 rating (prior week – 800,000 viewers, 0.28 rating)
Impact Wrestling Impact!- 97,000 viewers, 0.01 rating (prior week – 110,000 viewers, 0.01 rating)
NJPW on AXS TV – N/A (prior week – 45,000 viewers, 0.01 rating)
Various (DSotR, WWE on A&E, etc) – N/A

Total viewership in terms of overall tally for the week: 6,221,000 viewers (down 37,000 viewers compared to prior week’s 6,258,000 viewers)