Various: McKenzie Mitchell on Post-WWE Career Future, WOW TV Ratings for Nov. 5th to Dec. 3rd, Indies

Dec 28, 2023

McKenzie Mitchell Comments on Being Excited for Future of Her Career Following WWE Release

As noted before, NXT backstage interviewer McKenzie Mitchell was released by WWE earlier this month.

A recent episode of the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast featured Mitchell as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Mitchell’s thoughts about her being excited for the future of her career in wrestling following her departure from WWE.

“I’m good. You know, now that the dust has settled, it’s a blessing. I think that there is so many new beginnings and I’m excited to see what comes in the future. The outreach and the support that I’ve gotten from friends, family, co-workers, colleagues, production, executives in WWE, the fans most importantly, have just been — it’s been insane. That’s what made me emotional when i got released was being able to hear from everyone how much i impacted their opinion when watching WWE and watching NXT. That’s what made me emotional, hearing from all of the people about their favorite moments in my career and the favorite interviews that I’ve done. The magic that was created on screen, that made such a big impact on me, to see what I made on them.”

Mitchell also stated that she is currently focused on her jewelry business at the moment.

“I think this is a way to say that there is a new beginning in everything and just kind of, ‘Okay, what’s next?’ Like i said, I have my jewelry business so I’ve been putting all my efforts into that and my creativity there, it’s almost my full time. My husband still works within the company obviously, so that’s really interesting that he’s still there, I’m not. I don’t know if people know, but we were the first couple on the announce table, like announcer and announcer that are married. I’m of course still supportive of WWE and NXT and I still watch him and text him good luck before every show. My friends are still there, so I’m still supportive regardless.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

WOW TV Ratings for November 5th to December 3rd Shows

Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that Women of Wrestling drew the following viewership and ratings for their WOW TV shows on syndication from November 5th to December 3rd.

The viewership and ratings for these shows were previously not known.

November 5th – 241,000 viewers and a 0.03 rating in the 18-49 demographic
November 12th – 332,000 viewers and a 0.06 rating in the 18-49 demographic
November 19th – 249,000 viewers and a 0.05 rating in the 18-49 demographic
November 26th – 292,000 viewers and a 0.05 rating in the 18-49 demographic
December 3rd – 239,000 viewers and a 0.03 rating in the 18-49 demographic

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

AEW talents Evil Uno, Excalibur, and Adam Cole and former WWE talent Mansoor were guest contributors for GiantBomb.com’s annual Top 10 games lists for this year.

As noted before, former wrestler Tammy Sytch was convicted and sentenced to over 17 years in prison this past November over the charges against her following her involvement in a fatal car accident of March of 2022. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that Sytch is currently scheduled to be released from The Florida Department of Corrections on January 7, 2024 based on recent court records.

Verizon FIOS announced that their current contract with Sinclair Broadcast Group, former owner and network home of Ring of Honor, is set to expire on December 31st and will be dropping their set of channels from their service unless a new deal is signed.

As noted before, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced this past Friday that they have named Hiroshi Tanahashi as their new President and Representative Director for the company. NJPW recently released a new “President Ace” shirt on their official online store to commemorate Tanahashi’s promotion in the company.

NJPW recently announced that DOUKI was the winner of their fan vote Concurso bodybuilding contest for 2023.

All Japan Pro Wrestling recently confirmed a report from Tokyo Sports that longtime ring announcer Fumihito Kihara will be leaving the company following the expiration of his contract on December 31st. Prior to his departure, Kihara had been working for AJPW since 1987.

As noted before, Chris Brookes has been out of action for DDT Pro Wrestling since this past week due to surgery for a non-malignant tumor. Brookes is currently expected to be out of action for DDT and wrestling in general for the foreseeable future. Brookes provided an update on Twitter stating that he was discharged from the hospital earlier today and thanked everyone for the support they have shown towards him. Brookes stated “I’m discharged from the hospital! It is still too early to decide when I will return to the ring, but I would like to thank you for all the warm messages of support and for waiting for my return. I will take time to recover. Takadokoro-san, thank you so much for the AID event! Please wait a little longer!“

In a recent interview with ENCOUNT, Stardom talent Utami Hayashishita gave her thoughts about her recent cervical hernia injury. Hayashishita stated “About two weeks before I was out, I was in pain… Every time I wrestled, it was like, ‘This hurts…’ I had a narrow range of motion in my neck, but I was able to wrestle passively… I woke up in the morning and it was hard to get up… Even if I wanted to practice in the ring, I couldn’t carry a person. Of course, I couldn’t do ukemi or rope work… This meant I couldn’t compete, so I had to sit out the show. I couldn’t even go about my daily life by myself, so I decided to stay at my sister’s house… When I went to bed and woke up, I got help from my sister… When I ate my meals, I would lean against the wall with a neck pillow… I couldn’t even turn around when called… And although I was extremely frustrated, I thought God had given me a break.” Hayashishita also gave her thoughts about being concerned about making her return to in-ring action because she was worried over the possibility of getting hurt again. Hayashishita stated “Of course (I was concerned about returning to the ring), I was worried that my body would not be able to keep up and that I might get injured again… I have always been a pro-wrestling fan, and pro-wrestlers have always been like superheroes that I wanted to be but could never become. Now that I have finally become one, I can’t quit so easily. There is something about professional wrestling that makes me think that way.” (English translation via PostWrestling.com)

As noted before, Kamille’s contract with the National Wrestling Alliance is currently set to expire at the end of this year. Fightful Select reported that their sources confirmed that Kamille’s contract with the NWA officially expires on January 1, 2024. Kamille reportedly had given her notice to NWA officials of her intent to leave this past October. Kamille reportedly also had a six-month option on her current contract that would have included a pay raise but she made the decision to leave instead.

NWA recently announced two new matches for the card of their NWA Paranoia event on January 13, 2024 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida:

Title vs. Title, NWA World Women’s Television & NWA World Television Unification match – Max The Impalier (Women’s TV) vs. Mims (NWA TV)
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship – Mecha Wolf vs. Colby Corino (c)