Weekend Roundup: CM Punk, NXT New Year’s Evil 2024 Date, Thunder Rosa Injury Update, Nic Nemeth’s 1st Post-WWE Match, Impact & Endeavor Rumor Killer, Indies

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

Dec 10, 2023

WWE

This past Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,290,000 viewers on FOX, according to Programming Insider.
As noted before, Charlotte Flair suffered a potential knee injury during her match against Asuka at this past Friday’s SmackDown show in Providence, Rhode Island. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that WWE officials pulled Flair from her scheduled appearances at this past weekend’s house show events likely for precautionary reasons. Johnson reported that there has been no new updated regarding the status and severity of Flair’s injury.
As noted before, CM Punk made a surprise appearance at Saturday’s NXT Deadline 2023 event in Bridgeport, Connecticut. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE officials had pitched this idea to Punk during this past Friday’s SmackDown show in Providence, Rhode Island and was something that Punk immediately agreed to do. Johnson reported that the story of Punk had “missed his flight” was just a creative reason to explain his appearance on the show and to set the ball rolling for fans to anticipate Punk’s appearance on social media. Punk reportedly was not kept hidden backstage before his appearance on the show and was available and friendly to NXT talents who approached him. Punk took a photo with Cora Jade backstage and posted it on Twitter as a call back to when Jade met Punk as a child many years ago and took a photo with him.
WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque reportedly was in attendance backstage at Saturday’s NXT Deadline 2023 event, according to PWInsider.
During Saturday’s NXT Deadline 2023 event, WWE announced that the next NXT television special will be NXT New Year’s Evil 2024 and will take place on January 2, 2024.
TKO Executive Chairman Vince McMahon reportedly was in attendance at WWE’s holiday party at their headquarters this past Wednesday, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that McMahon typically does not attend the holiday party over the years making his appearance very rare. McMahon reportedly was seen socializing with many employees at the party. Johnson reported that since WWE’s sale to Endeavor, McMahon has not been seen as much at WWE’s headquarters due to his role in the company being greatly reduced.
As noted before, WWE dropped Jey Uso’s “Yeet” catchphrase and pull all of his merchandise containing that phrase due to a legal issue over the trademark for that term being filed by an indie wrestler and not owned by the company. Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert reported that indie wrestler Kassey Huffman’s filing for the trademark was recently updated by the United States Patent and Trademark Office as being a “DEAD APPLICATION Refused Dismissed or Invalidated.” This would open the door for WWE to resume using the phrase for Uso going forward. Uso posted a tweet this past Friday that stated “YEET!!! 💙 -jey” likely in reference to him finding out about the new situation involving his catchphrase.
As noted before, Endeavor is currently considering the idea of WWE cutting back on holding house show events for cost savings financial-related reasons. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that in terms of the risks of WWE talent working less events and the potential rise in injuries that could take place compared to AEW who has a smaller work schedule, there is little difference when comparing the amount of people currently injured between both companies. Meltzer reported that out of AEW’s total roster of 142, 12 are currently injured which would be 8.5%. In regards to WWE’s roster of 169, 15 are currently injured which would be 8.9%.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE’s average attendance for their shows this past November was 4,800 for house show events, 9,2000 for RAW shows, and 10,900 for SmackDown shows. These reportedly were all up compared to November of 2022 which was 4,300 for house show events, 7,400 for RAW shows, and 8,300 for SmackDown shows.
Post Wrestling’s John Pollock reported that WWE drew an average viewership of 1,583,000 viewers for RAW, 2,173,000 viewers for SmackDown, and 695,000 viewers for NXT per show for this past November. In regards to comparisons, RAW averaged 1,639,000 viewers, SmackDown averaged 2,200,000 viewers, and NXT averaged 653,000 viewers per show for November of 2022. In regards to key demographic viewership, RAW averaged 674,000 for 18-49 and 264,000 for 18-34 viewers, SmackDown averaged 756,000 for 18-49 and 271,000 for 18-34 viewers, and NXT averaged 276,000 for 18-49 and 113,000 for 18-34 viewers per show for this past November. In regards to comparisons, RAW averaged 549,000 for 18-49 and 215,000 for 18-34 viewers, SmackDown averaged 705,000 for 18-49 and 246,000 for 18-34 viewers, and NXT averaged 183,000 for 18-49 and 73,000 for 18-34 viewers per show for November of 2022.
Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that WWE is currently not scheduled to hold any new tapings during the week of Christmas. Several talent spoken to reportedly stated that talent are currently scheduled to have the full week off as a break as WWE officials way of letting them spend more time with their families during the holiday. This break reportedly is set to begin on December 19th and end on December 25th. It was reported that WWE officials currently have plans to hold a double set of SmackDown tapings on December 15th in order for talent to have December 22nd off while it is currently not known if the same will be done on December 18th for RAW tapings. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that one high level WWE officials stated that WWE is currently planning to not hold a double set of tapings on December 18th for RAW and instead the December 25th RAW show to be a “Best of” show.
WWE reportedly currently has generated around 11,200 pay-per-view buys for this past November’s Survivor Series WarGames 2023 event, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that WWE had a big increase in late buy purchases during its second week after the event. In regards to comparisons, Meltzer reported that Survivor Series 2023’s PPV buys are currently 56% higher than last year’s event but down 33.7% compared to this past November’s Crown Jewel 2023 event.
As noted before, Drew McIntyre’s contract with WWE is currently expected to expire by next year’s WrestleMania 40 event in 2024. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there have been no new updates from his sources regarding the status of McIntyre’s talks with WWE officials for a potential new deal nor his plans for the future of his career.
Wrestlenomics reported that WWE’s top merchandise sellers for this past November in order were LA Knight, Cody Rhodes, Jey Uso, John Cena, Steve Austin, Bray Wyatt, Rhea Ripley, WWE, Roman Reigns, and Judgment Day. In regards to specific items, the top sellers in order reportedly were Knight “Yeah” shirt, Main Event Jey Uso shirt, Rock vs. Austin Men’s Ripple Junction, Knight “Let Me Talk To Ya” shirt, Cena “Never Give Up” shirt, a second Knight “Yeah” shirt, Rhodes “Claim your Kingdom” shirt, Reigns GOAT t-shirt, Jey “Yeet” shirt, and a Rhodes “Claim your Kingdom” hoodie.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that one source within WWE spoken to stated that in regards to their NXT shows on USA Network, WWE officials can ask the network for less commercials, more picture-in-picture ad breaks, and more overrun time for shows but USA Network officials have to approve everything in advance. This was in response to AEW recently having DVR issues for Dynamite and Collision shows that were given an overrun but had the extra time cut off from DVR recordings due to it not being scheduled into it beforehand.
WWE reportedly drew an attendance of 12,241 (11,000 paid) for their Dec. 1st SmackDown show in Brooklyn, NY, 3,781 for their Dec. 2nd house show event in Bangor, ME, 5,303 for their Dec. 2nd house show event in Allentown, PA, 3,297 for their Dec. 3rd house show event in Newark, DE, 3,648 for their Dec. 3rd house show event in Portland, ME, and 6,986 (6,200 paid) for their Dec. 4th RAW show in Albany, NY, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
In regards to the Dec. 4th RAW show in Albany, New York, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that many people who had purchased tickets for the show were upset once they realized that CM Punk would not be making an appearance. Meltzer reported that while WWE never advertised Punk nor Randy Orton to make an appearance, many fans had expected both to show up since they had only just returned to WWE. Meltzer also reported that making things worse was WWE was selling Punk merchandise at the event which led to people thinking he would show up.
WWE reportedly has sold around 6,772 tickets for their Dec. 11th RAW show in Cleveland, OH, 5,725 tickets for their Dec. 15th SmackDown show in Green Bay, WI, 3,266 tickets for their Dec. 16th house show event in Moline, IL, 2,628 tickets for their Dec. 17th house show event in Rochester, MN, 4,885 tickets for their Dec. 18th RAW show in Des Moines, IA, 9,018 tickets for their Dec. 26th house show event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY, 3,454 tickets for their Dec. 26th house show event in Baltimore, MD, 4,386 tickets for their Dec. 27th house show event in Detroit, MI, 6,681 tickets for their Dec. 27th house show event in Boston, MA, 6,114 tickets for their Dec. 28th house show event in Laval, Canada, 8,063 tickets for their Dec. 28th house show event in Houston, TX, 7,029 tickets for their Dec. 29th house show event in Toronto, Canada, 4,333 tickets for their Dec. 29th house show event in Las Vegas, NV, 8,018 tickets for their Dec. 30th house show event in Inglewood, CA, 7,681 tickets for their Jan. 1, 2024 RAW show in San Diego, CA, 12,772 tickets for their Jan. 5th SmackDown show in Vancouver, Canada, 4,462 tickets for their Jan. 6th house show event in Spokane, WA, 3,072 tickets for their Jan. 7th house show event in Wenatchee, WA, 6,233 tickets for their Jan. 8th RAW show in Portland, OR, 3,734 tickets for their Jan. 12th SmackDown show in Lincoln, NE, 3,429 for their Jan. 13th house show event in Las Cruces, NM, 2,849 tickets for their Jan. 14th house show event in Rio Rancho, NM, 3,474 tickets for their Jan. 15th RAW show in Little Rock, AR, 10,639 tickets for their Jan. 19th SmackDown show in Atlanta, GA, 1,970 tickets for their Jan. 20th house show event in Montgomery, AL, 1,157 tickets for their Jan. 21st house show event in Jackson, MS, 5,495 tickets for their Jan. 22nd RAW show in New Orleans, 5,076 tickets for their Jan. 26th SmackDown show in Miami, FL, 11,583 tickets for their Jan. 29th RAW show in Tampa, FL, 5,356 tickets for their Feb. 2nd SmackDown show in Birmingham, AL, 2,813 tickets for their Feb. 3rd house show event in Knoxville, TN, 1,237 tickets for their NXT Vengeance Day 2024 event in Clarksville, TN, 56,947 tickets for their WrestleMania 40 Night 1 event in Philadelphia, and 57,074 tickets for their WrestleMania 40 night 2 event in Philadelphia, PA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

AEW & ROH

As noted before, Thunder Rosa has been out of action for AEW since September of 2022 due to her suffering a spinal-related injury. In a recent interview with News 4 San Antonio, Rosa provided an update stating that she is currently ready to return from her injury to AEW. Rosa stated “I’m ready. Whenever that call comes and my boss says ‘it’s time for you to return’, I am ready. I’m super excited and I cannot wait to show the world and you fans that have been supporting all this time that I am ready and have a lot more to give.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
As noted before, Rebel has been absent from AEW for most of 2023 due to creative-related reasons. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Rebel is still under contract with AEW but she has not shown up backstage much during AEW shows during her absence. It was reported that those spoken to stated that Rebel has been open to making a return on AEW television if asked and AEW officials have had some recent talks regarding that idea. It was reported that AEW officials currently do not have any creative plans for Rebel to make her potential return to the company.
As noted before, Red Velvet made her return from injury this past November following her being out of action since this past January due to an undisclosed injury. In a recent interview with The Pope’s Point of View with Elijah Burke podcast, Red Velvet confirmed that she had suffered a knee injury for the reason for her lengthy absence away from AEW. Red Velvet stated “Recently, as everyone has seen, I just came back from a knee injury that had me off for nine months, almost a total of a year gone. I made my come back on November 8 in Portland. It didn’t stop there, I went back to back to back, I call it the comeback tour. it didn’t stop there, it went on and on. It was a great high of coming back and I’m so grateful.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn have been absent from AEW programming since this past November due to a storyline injury suffered at the hands of the AEW Devil’s mystery masked men. In a recent interview with the A2TheK podcast, Gunn gave his thoughts about when they might be making their return to AEW television. Gunn stated “I would hope so. I’ve never been taken out this long. I think there is some stuff going on. I think we’ll be back, we should be back, everyone is healed up and everybody is good. They have the tournament going on right now so I don’t want to get our coming back lost in that shuffle. I want to come back and find out who all the dark-dressed and masked guy is and just ruin their lives. That’s our plan. Me and the kids have a funny thing, we have team meetings all the time. Max finally got an iPhone so we can all FaceTime each other. We still see each other and have our team meetings of what to do. Hopefully, we’ll be back soon.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
As noted before, Bryan Danielson is currently believed to have been given the power to issue fines to AEW talent over their social media conduct. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Danielson is “at least partially responsible” for handing out fines to talent over the past several weeks over issues regarding their conduct on social media. It was reported that the reason why AEW has started to fine talent over this issue is due to AEW wanting look as professional as possible as a company. It was reported that these fines also extend to the content of rewteets and likes made by talent on social media. It was also reported that it is currently not known if these fines have been a common thing in recent weeks.
AEW officials reportedly were very pleased with Bryan Danielson and Daniel Garcia over the quality of their Continental Classic Blue League match that was taped this past Wednesday for this past Friday’s Rampage show, according to Fightful Select.
In a recent interview with Bleacher Report, Jon Moxley gave his thoughts about if championship belts get wrestlers over. Moxley stated “There’s a lot of belts. Belts come and go. They’re what you make them. I’ve never seen a belt get anyone over in my life, personally. I’ve seen people get belts over. They come and go, and they’re devices. If you treat them as important, they become important. If you treat them like a joke, they become a joke. People don’t pack arenas to look at shiny pieces of metal and jewels.“
As noted before, AEW recently announced all of the dates for their next scheduled tour of Canada in 2024. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW’s upcoming Dynamite show on March 20, 2024 at the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto is notable due to it taking place shortly around the time of WWE’s own event at the venue. Meltzer speculated that either WWE’s new owner Endeavor is not as vigilant upholding WWE’s restrictions on venues running non-WWE wrestling events close to their own events or WWE recently eased off on this restriction due to the on-going anti-trust lawsuit against them by Major League Wrestling.
AEW reportedly has sold around 36,332 tickets for their All In 2 event on August 25, 2024 at Wembley Stadium in London, England as of this Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that AEW’s advance ticket sales might be the highest ever for a wrestling event in wrestling history mainly due to not even WWE starts selling tickets for their WrestleMania events this far out in advance. In regards to this year’s All In event, Meltzer reported that AEW had sold around 60,000 tickets after its first week of sale for All In but that was much closer to the date of the event than All In 2’s first week ticket sales were. In regards to wrestling history, Meltzer reported that All In 2’s current ticket sales is already the fourth largest attendance and third largest gate ever for a wrestling event held in the United Kingdom. Meltzer reported that for All In 2 to surpass WWE’s Clash in the Castle event from 2022 for #2 all-time in UK live gate, AEW likely would need to sell only around 48,000 tickets due to the higher average price per ticket for next year’s event.
As noted before, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre recently announced that Andrade El Idolo will be making his return to the company starting at this Friday’s event in Mexico City, Mexico. Andrade’s contract with AEW is currently believed by Andrade to be expiring relatively soon as the reason why he wants to work again in CMLL before making any decision regarding the future of his career. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that while those close to Andrade have stated that his contract with AEW expires in Summer of 2024, AEW officials could end up adding time to his contract to make up time he missed due to an injury. Meltzer reported that if AEW officials were to add injury time, then Andrade’s contract would not be set to expire until early 2025.
AEW reportedly drew an attendance of 2,025 for their Dec. 2nd Collision show in Eerie, PA, 2,852 for their Dec. 5th Collision show in Montreal, and 4,994 for their Dec. 6th Dynamite show in Montreal, Canada, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW reportedly has sold around 2,531 tickets for their Dec. 13th Dynamite Winter Is Coming 2023 show in Arlington, TX, 1,839 tickets for their Dec. 16th Collision show in Garland, TX, 3,325 tickets for their Dec. 20th Dynamite show in Oklahoma City, OK, 2,255 tickets for their Dec. 23rd Collision show in San Antonio, TX, 2,447 tickets for their Dec. 27th Dynamite show in Orlando, FL, 6,818 tickets for their Dec. 30th Worlds End event in Uniondale, NY, 3,424 tickets for their Jan. 3, 2024 Dynamite show in Newark, NJ, 2,091 tickets for their Jan. 6th Collision show in Charlotte, NC, 1,645 tickets for their Jan. 10th Dynamite show in Jacksonville, FL, 1,566 tickets for their Jan. 13th Collision show in Norfolk, VA, 14,36 tickets for their Jan. 17th Dynamite show in North Charleston, SC, 1,424 tickets for their Jan. 20th Collision show in St Charles, MO, 1,081 tickets for their Jan. 24th Dynamite show in Savannah, GA, 1,080 tickets for their Jan. 27th Collision show in Bossier City, LA, and 1,003 tickets for their Jan. 31st Dynamite show in New Orleans, LA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that based on what he was told by those who have seen the final cut of the upcoming The Iron Claw film, MJF’s total time in the film is around 10 seconds. Meltzer reported that Lance Von Erich, who is portrayed by MJF, was pretty much cut out of the film and it never goes into his story of why he was included as a member of the Von Erich family. Meltzer also reported that MJF does not have any speaking lines in the film and you would never know he was in the film unless you were actively looking for him.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW’s average attendance for their Dynamite shows this past November was 4,400, up compared to their average attendance of 4,300 per Dynamite show in November of 2022.
Post Wrestling’s John Pollock reported that AEW drew an average viewership of 832,000 viewers for Dynamite, 360,000 viewers for Collision, and 300,000 viewers for Rampage per show for this past November. In regards to comparisons, Dynamite averaged 882,000 viewers and Rampage averaged 452,000 viewers per show for November of 2022. In regards to key demographic viewership, Dynamite averaged 362,000 for 18-49 and 137,000 for 18-34 viewers, Collision averaged 126,000 for 18-49 and 36,000 for 18-34 viewers, and Rampage averaged 141,000 for 18-49 and 48,000 for 18-34 viewers per show for this past November. In regards to comparisons, Dynamite averaged 385,000 for 18-49 and 148,000 for 18-34 viewers and Rampage averaged 172,000 for 18-49 and 65,000 for 18-34 viewers per show for November of 2022. Pollock reported that these numbers exclude shows that aired outside of its normal time slot.
Peacock recently announced that they have renewed their Twisted Metal series for a second season, which features Samoa Joe among its cast. Joe portrays the physical role of Sweet Tooth in the series while Will Arnett provides the voice of the character. A teaser trailer for the upcoming new series was also recently released.
Athena reached the milestone mark of one full calendar year as ROH Women’s World Champion as of today. Athena has been the current champion since defeating Mercedes Martinez for the belt at Ring of Honor’s Final Battle 2022 event which took place on December 10, 2022. Athena reflected on Twitter about the achievement stating “@ringofhonor 1 year as champion 1 year of must see violence 1 year of me! Thank you to the my fans that believed in me and the trolls that motivated me. Thanks @TonyKhan for my show and letting me be me!! I’m you #ForeverROHchamp + 2024 I hope to be the first triple crown champ!“
ROH owner Tony Khan recently confirmed that a Six-Man Tag Team match of Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson, & Jon Moxley) vs. FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) & Mark Briscoe has been officially added to the card of ROH’s Final Battle 2023 event on December 15th in Garland, Texas.
Dax Harwood recently reflected on Twitter about FTR teaming up with Mark Briscoe in a Six-Man Tag Team match against Blackpool Combat Club held in honor the late Jay Briscoe at this Friday’s ROH Final Battle 2023 event. Harwood stated “I feel safe to say, Cash & I became very close to Jay & Mark. I feel safe to say Jay LOVED his family more than anything. I feel safe to say Mark & Jay considered us family. I feel safe to say, if you ever threatened Jay’s family, he would’ve fought you. This won’t be a match to ‘honor Jay’; he wouldn’t have wanted that. He’d want us to beat the asses these sons of bitches who challenged his family to a fight. Next week, we’ll FIGHT for the Briscoe family name. Hope yall do the same. Dem Top Guys, out!“
Ring of Honor has sold around 1,000 tickets for their Dec. 15th Final Battle 2023 event in Garland, TX as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Impact, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

Sunday’s World Tag League 2023 Finals event for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Mashiki, Japan featured Bishamon (YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto) defeating Hikuleo & El Phantasmo to be crowned the winners of this year’s tournament. This was the third year in a row that Bishamon have won the World Tag League tournament.
NJPW reportedly drew a paid attendance of 625 for their Dec. 1st World Tag League 2023 event in Wakayama, 952 for their Dec. 2nd World Tag League 2023 event in Osaka, 984 for their Dec. 3rd World Tag League 2023 event in Himeji, and 907 for their Dec. 6th World Tag League 2023 event in Karatsu, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
NJPW reportedly has sold around 1,095 tickets for their January 13, 2024 Battle in the Valley 2024 event in San Jose, CA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Nic Nemeth, former Dolph Ziggler, was announced earlier today to be making his first post-WWE appearance for World Wrestling Council at their Dia de Reyes 2024 event on January 6, 2024 in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Nemeth will be facing off against Ray González. (English translation via F4WOnline.com)
FITE TV announced that they have recently changed their name to ThrillerTV and the official reason due to them feeling that they have expanded more than as just a combat sports streaming service for the origin of their FITE name.
As noted before, indies wrestler and former NXT UK talent Mark Andrews recently suffered a right calf injury. Andrews recently provided an update on Twitter stating that he is currently expected to be out of action for at least the next 12 weeks. Andrews stated “To update everyone – it looks like I have a grade 3 C tendon tear, and will be out of action for atleast 12 weeks. On the bright side, now I will be eating all of the mince pies over Christmas, and have two whole months to work off those bad boys 😎💪“
As noted before, BJ Whitmer was fired from AEW following his arrest over a domestic violence incident this past June. In a recent interview with FOX 19, Whitmer’s victim Jamie Hawn gave her thoughts about Whitmer’s attack on her and why she has decided now to come forward with a message for survivors of domestic violence. Hawn stated “He approached me and began strangling me and threatened my life. It’s physically altering when you’re having to make sure that your voice is being heard and if you don’t attend (court) and you put yourself in this vulnerable environment, it’s very possible that things won’t get mentioned to get that justice.” Whitmer had appeared this past week in court and was scheduled a pre-trial date of January 3, 2024 for the criminal charges currently against him.
Black Taurus’ current contract with Lucha Libre AAA reportedly recently expired and is currently a free agent, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Black Taurus is also known under the ring name of Taurus in Impact Wrestling and the indies in the United States.
As noted before, Impact/TNA Wrestling announced that they recently signed a streaming deal with Endeavor Streaming to be the new home of their upcoming rebranded TNA+ streaming service. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that there is nothing to the recent rumors that Endeavor will be purchasing Impact following their recent streaming deal with the company. Johnson reported that Impact/TNA using Endeavor’s streaming service is no different than Major League Wrestling and others who also work with Endeavor Streaming. Johnson also reported that Impact’s working relationship with Endeavor does not go any deeper than just this streaming deal beyond Impact just likely wanted to be associated with the Endeavor name to get more eyeballs on their service.
Former Tennessee Titans player and Impact/TNA wrestler Frank Wycheck passed away on Saturday at the age of 52. Wycheck was notable in wrestling history for making several appearances in Impact/TNA in 2007 and competing at Slammiversary 2007 in a tag team match with Jerry Lynn against James Storm & Ron Killings. Impact issued a statement on Twitter paying tribute to Wycheck.
Imapct reportedly has sold around 647 tickets for their Jan. 13, 2024 TNA Hard To Kill 2024 event in Las Vegas and 280 tickets for their Jan. 14th TNA Snake Eyes tapings in Las Vegas, NV as of Saturday, according to WrestleTix.
As noted before, Richard Holliday made his official return to Major League Wrestling at their One Shot event this past Thursday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Holliday’s new contract with MLW is a “per appearance” type deal.
As noted before, Alex Hammerstone asked for his release from MLW this past October, which was denied by the company. Hammerstone made his return to MLW at this past November’s Fightland 2023 under the terms that he would work for the company for the remainder of the year and be granted his release afterwards. Hammerstone recently provided an update on Twitter confirming that his current contract with MLW expires at the end of this month. Hammerstone stated “Last night was my last event under my current contract. January 1st I will officially be a free agent. For all business inquiries contact me via social media or email arohde1@hotmail.com“
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that MLW currently have plans for Satoshi Kojima to potentially make more appearances in the future for the company. Johnson reported that MLW had filmed backstage content at this past Thursday’s One Shot event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania involving Kojima and Alex Kane for potential future use.
TheCubsFan reported that CMLL talent Titan recently announced that his work visa for the United States had recently expired and he is currently in the process of getting a new visa so that he can resume working in the country. Titan stated that for the time being, he will only be wrestling in Japan and Mexico.
Stardom reportedly drew a paid attendance of 952 for their Dec. 2nd Nagoya Big Winter 2023 event in Nagoya, 202 for their Dec. 3rd event in Wakayama, 236 for their Dec. 5th Year-End Tour 2023 event in Hiroshima, 317 for their Dec. 6th Year-End Tour 2023 event in Takamatsu, and 114 for their Dec. 7th Year-end Tour 2023 event in Osaka, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As noted before, Mayu Iwatani has been out of action for Stardom since this past November due to a dislocated pinky injury. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Stardom officials currently expect Iwantani to make her return at their Dream Queendom 2023 event on December 29th in Tokyo, Japan.
All Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly drew a paid attendance of 520 for their Dec. 2nd Real World Tag League 2023 event in Ehime, 914 for their Dec. 3rd Real World Tag League 2023 event in Osaka, and 1,443 for their Dec. 6th Real World Tag League 2023 Finals event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Pro Wrestling NOAH reportedly drew a paid attendance of 1,156 for their Dec. 2nd The Best 2023 event in Yokohama, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
House of Glory recently announced one new match for the card of their Brace For Impact event on January 6, 2024 in Jamaica, New York. This is a HOG Tag Team Championship match of ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) vs. Mane Event (Jay Lion & Midas Black) (c).

Wrestling TV Ratings for Week of Dec. 1 to Dec. 7, 2023

WWE Friday Night SmackDown – 2,044,000 viewers, 0.59 rating (prior week – 789,000 viewers, 0.24 rating)
WWE RAW – 1,533,000 viewers, 0.49 rating (prior week – 1,884,000 viewers, 0.65 rating)
WWE NXT – 626,000 viewers, 0.19 rating (prior week – 659,000 viewers, 0.18 rating)
AEW Rampage – 348,000 viewers, 0.10 rating (prior week – 264,000 viewers, 0.08 rating)
AEW Collision – 451,000 viewers, 0.14 rating (prior week – 317,000 viewers, 0.09 rating)
AEW Dynamite – 823,000 viewers, 0.25 rating (prior week – 858,000 viewers, 0.29 rating)

Total viewership in terms of overall tally for the week: 5,825,000 viewers (up 1,054,000 viewers compared to prior week’s 4,771,000 viewers)