Weekend Roundup: The Rock on WWE Return Reactions, WWE & Netflix Deal, Max Caster’s Father Passes Away, Drilla Moloney Suffered Injury, MLW, Indies

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

Feb 4, 2024

WWE

This past Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,320,000 viewers on FOX, according to TVSeriesFinale.
Rhea Ripley recently announced that the official theme song for WWE’s Elimination Chamber 2024 event later this month in Perth, Australia is “We Become The Night” by Motionless in White.
As noted before, this past Friday’s WWE SmackDown show featured Cody Rhodes giving up the chance to have a rematch against Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 40 in favor of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson getting that spot instead. WWE recently announced that Johnson and Reigns will be having a face-to-face segment at their WrestleMania 40 Kickoff press event on February 15th in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson reflected on Twitter about his recent return appearance in WWE at this past Friday’s SmackDown show. Johnson stated “There’s a word for this explosive, insane reaction – undeniable. No matter the era, the decade, or the city, the energy and connection between the People’s Champ and the People can never be broken and is truly an electrifying experience that creates chills every single time. Thank you Birmingham, Alabama, we made magical history in the “magic city”. Thank you WWE and thank you Cody for the love and the house (dream & soulman). Roman, there’s only one head of the table. I’ll see you in Vegas…Uso.“
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson posted a similar message on Instagram and followed it up with another post stating “This is gonna be so much fun. Long game. people’s champ.”
Former WWE wrestler Summer Rae, real name Danielle Moinet, recently reflected on Twitter about WWE’s decision to toss aside Cody Rhodes finishing his story at WrestleMania 40 in favor of The Rock taking his spot instead. Moinet stated “I’m not gonna lie, I don’t like it. I want it at Wrestlemania. So maybe I’m not seeing the ‘bigger picture’ here but 😫🙄 I want that f’ing match at Mania. That’s all. The end. If this whole plan turns out better and blows our minds then I retract this tweet. Imagine handing over your Wrestlemania match that you beat 29 other ppl for…AFTER a two year build I’m all for twists & turns but make it make sense! Gosh I hope we are ALL wrong. I hope it all makes sense next Fri in a Rock Roman promo, that is if either of them show up to tv. And if it was bc Punk got hurt & this is a change of plans it doesn’t take away from the fact that we all want THAT match, THE match at mania. The only match….Cody v Roman. I don’t want it on another ppv. I only want it there. It DESERVES that. And I don’t want it in 2025. Cody v Seth is gonna bring the house down. I pop huge every single time I hear The Rocks music. So sick. Ticket sales yes Roman is it. 100% But I want that match. And that wasn’t going to be given to us this year. Therein lies the issue. See y’all in Philly.“
Current WWE United States Champion Logan Paul recently gave his support of Cody Rhodes on Twitter following this past Friday’s SmackDown show. Paul stated “We Want Cody.” The We Want Cody phrase was also one of the trending topics on Twitter following Friday’s show.
WWE’s video of The Rock and Roman Reigns’ confrontation segment to close out this past Friday’s show recently broke the all-time record for most disliked ever video on WWE’s YouTube channel. Within the first 12 hours of the video being posted, it had generated 244,000 dislikes compared to only 66,000 likes for its first 2 million views.
This past Friday’s SmackDown show also featured Corey Graves becoming the official new lead commentator for WWE’s SmackDown brand. Following the show, Graves reflected on Twitter about his new commentary role. Graves stated “I haven’t been that nervous in years. A new role. A new mountain. A new challenge. There will be bumps in the road. There is plenty of room for improvement. But, as a lifelong fan, it is an honor. I will do my best to do right by you.“
Fightful’s Robert DeFelice reported that WWE officials recently changed Humberto Carrillo’s ring name again to a new ring name of Berto that was later confirmed based on a recent update on his profile page on their official website.
As noted before, NXT talent Trick Williams made his official main roster debut appearance at the January 26th SmackDown show in Miami, Florida. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that WWE officials were very pleased with the very big reaction Williams got for his surprise debut appearance. Meltzer reported that Williams star standing was raised a lot in the company. WWE officials reportedly currently view Williams as their hottest star in their NXT brand.
WWE reportedly drew an attendance of around 9,233 (8,300 paid) for their Jan. 26th SmackDown show in Miami, FL, 46,028 (48,014 announced) for their Jan. 27th Royal Rumble 2024 event at the Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL, and 12,731 (11,600 paid) for their Jan. 29th RAW show in Tampa, FL, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE reportedly has sold around 7,853 tickets for their Feb. 2nd RAW show in St. Louis, MO, 8,731 tickets for their Feb. 9th SmackDown show in Charlotte, NC, 7,717 tickets for their Feb. 14th RAW show in Lexington, KY, 6,385 tickets for their Feb. 16th SmackDown show in Salt Lake City, UT, 4,641 tickets for their Feb. 17th house show event in Oakland, CA, 5,785 tickets for their Feb. 18th house show event in Fresno, CA, 10,648 tickets for their Feb. 19th RAW show in Anaheim, CA, 44,006 tickets for their Feb. 24th Elimination Chamber 2024 event in Burswood, Australia, 8,053 tickets for their Feb. 26th RAW show in San Jose, CA, 8,262 tickets for their March 1st SmackDown show in Glendale, AZ, 3,374 tickets for their March 2nd house show event in Palm Desert, CA, 3,053 tickets for their March 3rd house show event in Bakersfield, CA, 8,562 tickets for their March 4th RAW show in San Antonio, TX, 8,610 tickets for their March 8th SmackDown show in Dallas, TX, 1,500 tickets for their March 9th house show event in Alexandria, LA, 2,988 tickets for their March 10th house show event in Lafayette, LA, 4,459 tickets for their March 15th SmackDown show in Memphis, TN, 2,431 tickets for their March 16th house show event in Augusta, GA, 2,134 tickets for their March 17th house show event in North Charleston, SC, 8,302 tickets for their March 18th RAW show in Raleigh, NC, 6,594 tickets for their March 22nd SmackDown show in Milwaukee, WI, 2,272 tickets for their March 23rd house show event in Springfield, IL, 2,434 tickets for their March 24th house show in Rockford, IL, 11,849 tickets for their March 25th RAW show in Chicago, IL, 4,417 tickets SmackDown show in Unacasville, CT, 3,285 tickets for their March 30th house show event in Manchester, NH, 7,075 tickets for their April 1st RAW show in Brooklyn, NY, 15,917 tickets for their April 5th SmackDown show in Philadelphia, 8,000 tickets for their March 6th NXT Stand & Deliver 2024 event in Philadelphia, 57,349 tickets for their March 6th WrestleMania 40 Night 1 event in Philadelphia, 57,776 tickets for their WrestleMania 40 Night 2 event in Philadelphia, and 15,967 tickets for their April 8th RAW show in Philadelphia, PA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE reportedly generated around 15,550 pay-per-view buys for this past January’s Royal Rumble 2024 event, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that this was up compared to this past November’s Survivor Series WarGames 2023 event that drew 11,700 PPV buys but down from last year’s Royal Rumble event that drew around 17,700 buys.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE new deal with Netflix for both their RAW series and WWE programming outside of the United States ended up being for a far smaller increase than what analysts had been expecting. Meltzer reported that while WWE’s new deal with Netflix is for around $500 million per year for 10 years, the company was already getting around $422.5 to $457 million per year for their existing RAW and international deals. One person spoken to who helped negotiated past WWE international deals and also other wrestling and sports international deals reportedly stated “There are some baffling things in the deal to me which would have been complete non-starters in any time I’ve worked with or negotiated with WWE in the past, the biggest of which being international rights going to streaming in all international markets. Given many countries are a decade or two behind the U.S. when it comes to TV relevance and mainstream adaption to streaming. This is big and that it hasn’t been a bigger part of the story from a brand accessibility perspective appears baffling to me.“
Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that WWE’s top merchandise sellers for their WWEShop online store for this past January in order were Jey Uso, CM Punk, Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, Rhea Ripley, Bray Wyatt, LA Knight, WWE, and Steve Austin. In regards to specific merchandise, the top sellers for this past January in order were CM Punk shirt, Punk hoodie, Punk’s “Hell Forze Over” shirt, Orton viper shirt, Jey Uso’ “Yeet” shirt, Uso blurred “Yeet” shirt, Uso “Yeet” hoodie, Reigns “Levels Above” shirt, Reigns “Level Above” hoodie, and Wyatt shirt.
As noted before, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit last week against now former TKO Group Executive Chairman Vince McMahon accusing McMahon of committing sex trafficking and sexual abuse towards her during her time in the company. Former WWE talent and current AEW and Ring of Honor talent Maria Kanellis recently reflected on Twitter about the latest allegations against McMahon. Kanellis stated “All the news coming out is horrible. Many of us experienced or heard rumors of different levels of evil for years. Some tried to speak up to build momentum to change the culture in WWE. Many times we’ve been called bitter or crazy. Others have been paralyzed by fear. I just hope justice is served and I hope this brings some people peace. I pray for all of the victims, the ones that have spoke up, the ones no longer with us, and the ones that suffer in silence.“
In a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Torrie Wilson gave her thoughts about how she was uncomfortable at times over some of the stuff that Vince McMahon and others wanted her to do during her time in WWE. Wilson stated in regards WWE’s bikini contests for shows that “They were all mortifying. People don’t realize. I went out there and owned it the best I could and pushed through the fear, but it was mortifying. There were times when, I remember specifically this house show, that I was in this bikini showdown with Dawn Marie and Sable and someone else. I was standing in the corner watching one of the girls dance in the middle and literally fighting back tears. ‘I cannot believe I’m doing this right now.’ It got to a raunchy point and I was like, ‘I don’t want to be a part of this,’ but it was also my job.” Wilson also gave her thoughts about if she was allowed to reject pitches made for her in WWE. Wilson stated “No. There was twice that I can remember…first of all, I’m a major people pleaser, so saying no to people is really hard. I’m recovering from that. There was one time where I had a thing with Sable and Vince [Vince McMahon] wanted me to come out with the paint on my boobs like she did. I was like, ‘hard no, I can’t do that.’ It ended up being nearly nothing anyways. The other time was when I did Playboy, Vince wanted me to do a pay-per-view, like a video. That one was very hardcore pressed, and it was really hard for me to say no, but I absolutely didn’t want that.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

AEW & ROH

Former New York Jets player Rich Caster, father of The Acclaimed’s Max Caster, passed away earlier today at the age of 75, according to the Clarion Ledger. It was reported that prior to his passing, Caster had been battling Parkinson’s Disease.
As noted before, RUSH has been out of action for AEW since this past December due to a torn hamstring injury. RUSH recently provided an update on Twitter stating that he is ready to make his in-ring return. RUSH stated “EL TORO BLANCO IS READY TO RETURN#AEWDynamite #AEW #LFI“
In a recent interview with the Sports Guys Talk Wrestling podcast, Dustin Rhodes revealed that he has been helping provide advice to Toni Storm for the presentation of her “Timeless” character in AEW. Rhodes stated “Whether people think it or not, we (AEW) are entertainment. But we are pro wrestling. We wrestle a lot on these shows and to do both of those at the same time, like Toni Storm is doing with her character, it just blows me out of the water. I talk to her all the time and tell her she reminds me of my old days of Goldust and just the things that she does and mannerisms and the film and the black and white and stuff like that and it’s so cool and it’s something that nobody’s doing, but we are and I think our production team is top notch when it came to putting together all those things for her and her video walls and her black and white stuff. I mean, that’s hard work and these guys do an awesome job at making her look like that is what her true self is, you know what I’m saying? And it’s really cool to watch this and I can’t wait to see that. Like I said, to me, it’s like, oh God, I’m gonna be on the edge of my seat for that one because it’s gonna be fun because I love women’s wrestling, I do, I always have and I do love these ladies we have. They’re a special, special breed and they’re sweet, sweethearts. Sweet girls and I just want the best for ‘em and I want them to get what they deserve and you know, right now, we’re doing good. We’re doing really good and the women’s division is one of the best in the world. Yes (Toni Storm has come to me for wisdom about her ‘Timeless’ character). She has, she has and we’ve worked on a few of her mannerisms and maybe something in her matches that might be really cool and interesting. If you’re watching a movie and this stands out because to me, her matches are like a movie to me. The more she acts and the more she does her mannerisms and her facial expressions and her entertainment stuff while wrestling and kicking somebody’s ass, it just makes for good television and I know this for a fact, there’s somebody watching a Toni Storm match, they’re not turning the channel. They’re interested, because I’m interested. If I’m interested in it, I know the fans are interested in it and it’s a special, special thing right now with production, you know, behind the scenes. We picked up Michael Mansury. He’s unbelievable. I’ve known him for years and he has grabbed a hold of this set and he’s grabbed a hold of the production in the back and doing just an extremely well job and hats off to him but, Toni Storm, watch out world. She’s only going to get bigger.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
Saturday’s AEW Collision show in Edinburg, Texas featured an in-ring interview segment with Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana. During his promo, Strickland mentioned how this current month is Black History Month and gave a shoutout to WWE’s Kofi Kingston, AEW/ROH’s Athena, and WWE Hall of Famer Ron Simmons as notable African American wrestlers in wrestling history. This was the first time ever that Kingston’s name was specifically mentioned in an AEW show and the second time that Kingston’s name was referenced, following a promo segment by CM Punk in August of 2022 where he called Eddie Kingston the second-best Kingston he has ever shared a locker room with.
In a recent interview with Forbes, Ricky Starks gave his thoughts about how unlucky he has been when it comes to his goal of wanting to wrestle a match against Kenny Omega in AEW. Starks stated “I’ve publicly gone on record and said how much I want to wrestle Kenny Omega, and maybe I need to stop doing that because every time I talk about someone I want to wrestle publicly, it changes.” Starks also gave his thoughts about also having the goal of becoming the AEW World Champion for his career in the company. Starks stated “I had someone ask me my goal and I can’t tell you because every time I make one it changes immediately. I would love to say I have goals, but I really don’t. Obviously, I’d love to be AEW World Champion, but every time I make a goal, it never ends up going the way I had envisioned it. So, I think I’m gonna try something different.” Starks also gave his thoughts about the creative freedom he has in AEW for his career. Starks stated “There’s a lot of things I have input on, but also it’s good to have structure. I’m a person that loves having structure and outlines as well.“
In a recent interview with the AEW Unrestricted podcast, Deonna Purrazzo gave her thoughts about how her father finally became a fan of wrestling after watching her debut in AEW. Purrazzo stated “There was one moment that my dad finally got it. I made him come to Hammerstein Ballroom for a Ring Of Honor show. He has a co-worker who is a really big wrestling fan and he was like, ‘Can Mike come to the show?’ I said, ‘The only way I’ll get Mike a ticket is if you come with him. You’re done dodging me.’ He walked in, and I’m really glad this was his first experience, because Hammerstein is huge right? At that time with Bullet Club & The Elite, the whole audience was covered in Bullet Club shirts and he just kinda looked around like, ‘I get it.’ I had wrestled and then I went and got popcorn and drinks and I went and sat with him and his friend for the rest of the show. He was like, ‘Cody Rhodes is wrestling. You didn’t tell me you knew Cody Rhodes, that’s Dusty Rhodes’ son.’ I was like, ‘I did not know that you knew who Dusty Rhodes was.’ I had this really cool bonding experience like, oh, you do know a little bit about wrestling and you maybe pretended that you didn’t. Fast forward now, I make my debut, there’s my dad crying. When Renee came to the back, he had said to me, ‘I think I’m a wrestling fan now.’ What other place can you go to and you can cheer and you can boo and you can say nasty things about people and everyone else in the audience is doing it, and you’re not being judged. He had the time of his life at Prudential Center and there’s only been a few times where I’ve seen my dad so happy and so free and loose and excited. My wedding day was one of them, and Prudential Center in Newark was the other time.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
AEW recently announced one new match for the card of their February 9th AEW Rampage show in Phoenix, Arizona. This is a Trios match of Undisputed Era (Mike Bennett, Matt Taven, & Roderick Strong) vs. Best Friends (Rocky Romero, Trent Beretta, & Orange Cassidy).
In a recent interview with the Talk Is Jericho podcast, Dante Martin gave his thoughts about the serious ankle injury he had suffered at Ring of Honor’s Supercard 2023 event this past March that left him out of action for around eight months. Martin stated “Luckily, I had the adrenaline going. As soon as it happened, weirdly, I looked at it, and it felt like I was in a dream. I took a Canadian (destroyer) off the top rope through four stacked tables. My left leg hit the ground slightly before my right. I had a broken fibula and a dislocated ankle. Super weird because the first thing I did was look at it, and you can see me roll over to my butt and, I tried to put it back. Doc Sampson, luckily we had Doc come running over, ‘No, no. no, don’t touch it.’ It felt like I was in a dream because I wasn’t feeling anything, the adrenline was going. Originally, I thought of the Anderson Silva leg break. I thought, ‘he did that and fought for another seven or eight years. I think I can wrestle again.’ I go to the hospital and they were super good there. I was out of the hospital in three hours. They put my ankle back in and they hadn’t seen the broken fibula yet, it was just a crack. It was in a compound fracture. I went back and was chilling with everyone, ‘Hey guys, I’m okay.’ I had to wait five days because my leg was in a splint in LA and I ended up flying back, getting another x-ray, ‘Yeah, your fibula is broken as well.’ ‘Ah man, am I going to need surgery?’ ‘Yeah.’ I have a plate and eight screws in there now. Now, I’m feeling 100% and feeling maybe 110% because th titanium is really stronger. It’s almost stronger than my bone. It’s going to be hard to break it again.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
Variety reported that Chris Jericho recently joined the cast of an upcoming thriller film titled Self Storage. It was also reported that Jericho’s production company Babyface Assassin Productions will be working as an executive producer of this upcoming film.
Post Wrestling’s John Pollock reported that AEW generated an average viewership of 829,000 viewers for Dynamite, 329,000 viewers for Collision, and 394,000 viewers for Rampage per show for this past January. This was down compared to 951,000 viewers for Dynamite and 497,000 viewers for Rampage per show for January of 2023.
In regards to key demographic viewership, Dynamite drew 369,000 viewers for 18-49 viewership and 147,000 viewers for 18-34 viewership, Collision drew 139,000 viewers for 18-49 viewership and 51,000 viewers for 18-34 viewership, and Rampage drew 168,000 viewers for 18-49 viewership and 54,000 viewers for 18-34 viewership per show for this past January. This was down compared to 396,000 18-49 viewers and 183,000 18-34 viewers for Dynamite and 181,000 18-49 viewers and 63,000 18-34 viewers for Rampage per show for January of 2023.
Wrestlenomics reported that AEW’s top merchandise sellers for their AEWShop online store for this past January in order were AEW, Sting, Swerve Strickland, Danhausen, Bullet Club Gold, Mark & Jay Briscoe, Adam Cole, Eddie Kingston, Adam Copeland, and Blackpool Combat Club. In regards to Pro Wrestling Tees, the top merchandise sellers, including non-AEW merch, in order were Cole, Sting, Danhausen, Briscoes, Bullet Club, Jon Moxley, FTR, AEW, Ric Flair, and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
AEW reportedly drew an attendance of 2,134 for their Jan. 27th Collision show in Bossier City, LA and 2,236 for their Jan. 31st Dynamite show in New Orleans, LA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW reportedly has sold around 38,990 tickets for their Aug. 25th All In 2024 event at Wembley Stadium in London, England as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletetr. Dave Meltzer reported that due to the very slow pace in tickets sales in recent weeks, AEW likely will not see a notable boost in sales until they start getting closer to the event itself.
AEW reportedly also has sold around 4,066 tickets for their Feb. 7th Dynamite show in Phoenix, AR, 1,246 tickets for their Feb. 10th Collision show in Henderson, NV, 1,784 tickets for their Feb. 14th Dynamite show in Cedar Park, TX, 1,817 tickets for their Feb. 21st Dynamite show in Tulsa, OK, 1,874 tickets for their Feb. 24th Collision show in Springfield, MO, 1,393 tickets for their Feb. 28th Dynamite & Collision shows in Huntsville, AL, 15,389 tickets for their March 3rd Revolution 2024 event in Greensboro, NC, 2,138 tickets for their March 16th Collision show in Ottawa, Canada, 3,064 tickets for their March 20th Dynamite show in Toronto, Canada, 2,028 tickets for their March 27th Dynamite show in Quebec City, Canada, and 3,128 tickets for their March 30th Collision show in London, Canada as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that this past December’s AEW Worlds End event pay-per-view buys is currently around 7.5% higher than this past November’s Full Gear 2023 event based on updated numbers and estimates.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the current injury rate for AEW and WWE as of the end of this past December was 7.6% of AEW’s roster and 11.3% of WWE’s roster who are currently out of action due to a wrestling-related injury. Meltzer reported that AEW’s figure does not include Tay Melo nor Kenny Omega due to Melo is out of action for maternity-related reasons and Omega’s Diverticulitis is an illness and not a wrestling-related injury.
As noted before, Wardlow suffered a potential knee injury at this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in New Orleans, Louisiana. While Wardlow recently stated on Twitter that he was feeling fine and did not suffer an injury, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Wardlow has been scheduled to undergo a MRI test to determine the severity of the damage in his knee. AEW officials reportedly were initially hopeful that Wardlow did not suffer a torn ACL injury that would result in him requiring surgery and being out of action for a lengthy period of time.

TNA, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that they had pulled Jeff Cobb from today’s Road to The New Beginning 2024 event in Tokyo, Japan due to Cobb had recently suffered a thigh injury.
Saturday’s NJPW Road to The New Beginning 2024 event in Tokyo also featured Bullet Club War Dogs (Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors) defeating Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira & TJP) to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.
Following Bullet Club War Dogs’ victory over Catch 2/2 at Saturday’s Road to The New Beginning 2024 event in Tokyo, Drilla Moloney revealed in a backstage post-match press conference that he competed in the match with a torn biceps injury that he suffered two days prior. Moloney stated “Two days ago, I tore my f*cking bicep off the bone. Get a little close-up on that big boy. It still looks awesome… Here’s the thing man, our mamas, they didn’t raise b*tches. They raised dogs! They raised War Dogs! David Finlay, he didn’t recruit no b*tches! He recruited dogs! War Dogs!” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
NJPW also announced one new match for the card of their Feb. 28th The New Beginning in Sapporo 2024 Night 1 event in Sapporo, Japan. This is an IWGP Women’s Championship match of Mina Shirakawa vs. Mayu Iwatani (c).
NJPW reportedly drew a paid attendance of 850 for their Jan. 27th Boat Race Miyajima Presents Strong Splash Night 1 event in Hatsukaichi, 1,000 for their Jan. 28th Boat Race Miyajima Presents Strong Splash Night 2 event in Hatsukaichi, and 599 for their Feb. 1st Road to The New Beginning 2024 event in Nagano, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
NJPW reportedly has sold around 4,559 tickets for their April 12th Windy City Riot 2024 event in Chicago, IL as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Will Ospreay recently reflected on Twitter about the special entrance he had for his Three-way match for the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 18 event this past January at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. Ospreay stated “Don’t know how life panned out this way. But I’m so grateful to have this moment, this connection & this life.“
Saturday’s SuperFight 2024 event for Major League Wrestling featured Satoshi Kojima defeating Alex Kayne to become the new MLW World Heavyweight Champion.
Saturday’s MLW SuperFight 2024 event also featured ECW legend Raven making his surprise return to MLW. Following Sami Callihan defeating AKIRA in a Death Match at the event, Callihan, Rickey Shane Page, and The Calling attacked AKIRA and waited for Raven to come out to join in on the attack. This led to Raven coming out for his surprise return but instead of attacking AKIRA, he attacked Page with a kendo stick turning on his group and joining forces with former Calling member AKIRA.
Saturday’s MLW SuperFight 2024 event also featured Cesar Duran making his surprise return to MLW.
Saturday’s MLW SuperFight 2024 event also featured Mads Krugger making his surprise return to MLW as well. Following Jacob Fatu’s victory over Yuji Nagata, several members of CONTRA ran out and attacked Fatu leading to a brawl breaking out. While Fatu was trying to fend off the attack, Krugger came out and joined in on the attack and hit Fatu in the head with a club laying him out. This was Krugger’s first appearance in MLW since January of 2023.
MLW recently announced one new match for the card of their Burning Crash event on February 17th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is a Baklei Brawl match of Jacob Fatu vs. Mads Krugger.
MLW also announced two new matches for the card of their Intimidation Games 2024 event on February 29th in New York City, New York. The first new match announced was a MLW World Heavyweight Championship match of Minoru Suzuki vs. Satoshi Kojima (c). The second new match announced was a MLW World Middleweight Championship match of Mistico vs. Rocky Romero (c).
TNA Wrestling reportedly has generated around 12,000 pay-per-view buys for this past January’s Hard To Kill 2024 event, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that this number is based on updated late buys numbers from cable television PPV providers. Meltzer reported that Hard To Kill 2024’s overall PPV buys is currently estimated to be around 28,000 when including streaming buys.
TNA recently released a behind-the-scenes video of Jordynne Grace’s appearance at last weekend’s Royal Rumble 2024 event for WWE in St. Petersburg, Florida.
In a recent interview with The Wrestling Perspective Podcast, Nic Nemeth gave his thoughts about the process that led to his decision to sign with TNA following his release from WWE. Nemeth stated “So first and foremost, I’ve been planning the last couple of years for a while, watching different things. I famously don’t watch wrestling because I was so down on [wrestling]. I didn’t like what was happening or what I was doing. I was just so down on it. I’m thinking, I haven’t been to Japan, I have not gone to another company, and I’m thinking of all these different things, and I go man, TNA, they’re on the verge of a rebrand. They’re doing this big, starting over at this pay-per-view in a month or two. When people are going out of their way to text me or call me and, say, listen, this is the place where you can help a bunch of people here all while being the person with a lot of focus on them, and you can bring some eyes to this show and there’s all these different little pieces. Man, I can still help. I can still teach, but I have 20 more years to go. Can I grow here and become even bigger than everything I’ve amassed in my past? I know this seems like the play. I like Japan. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know if I can exist. I don’t know if I can be good enough to hold up there. I can go to these two places. New Japan and TNA are the two on my radar right now that I think can do something special, and I can be a part of and [help] grow it to an even bigger audience.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
Stardom reportedly drew a paid attendance of 331 for their Jan. 27th New Year Stars 2024 In Sendai event in Sendai and 404 for their Jan. 28th New Year Stars 2024 In Tokorozawa, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Pro Wrestling NOAH reportedly drew a paid attendance of 494 for their Jan. 28th Sunny Voyage 2024 event in Osaka, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Saturday’s NOAH Crossover 2024 in Sendai event in Sendai, Japan featured El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. defeating Kenoh to become the new GHC Heavyweight Champion.
All Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly drew a paid attendance of 1,588 for their Jan. 27th New Year Giant Series 2024 event in Hachioji, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As noted before, former WCW wrestler Ice Train, real name Harold Hogue, passed away this past January at the age of 56. A GoFundMe fundraiser was recently launched by Diamond Dallas Page to help financially assist Hogue’s family over issues related to Hogue not having life insurance due a pre-existing medical condition involving a congenital heart disease he had since birth.
In a recent episode of the Keepin’ It 100 podcast, Lucha Libre AAA head booker and co-host Konnan gave his thoughts about if he is interested in bringing in Patrick Clark, former Velveteen Dream, to AAA. Konnan stated “I know he was over, and I like Prince. But I’m not the Red Cross. It’s not my job to give everybody a job or work.” Konnan also gave his thoughts about why he gave Alberto El Patron and Marty Scurll the chance to work in AAA despite them also having their own share of controversies. Konnan stated “Unlike ADR and Marty, I had a relationship with both of them, personal and business, and they both knew that this was their last chance, and they were working under that premise. They’ve both been dragged, and a lot of fun has been made of their expense; hey, that’s the price to pay when you f**k up, and society — or allegedly f**k up — that’s just part of it. Everybody gets it. I don’t know this guy; I’ve never worked with him; he’s not on my radar right now, but I’ll let you know.” (Transcript h/t: WrestlingInc.com)
In a recent interview with The A2theK Wrestling Show podcast, National Wrestling Alliance talent Tiffany Nieves revealed that wrestling legend Jazz is currently working as the Head of NWA’s Women’s Division. Nieves stated “I think it’s obvious, TV time. I love when the company posts a promo of me and they highlight me and I’m the center of attention, La Princesa, me. I have to shout out Jazz. I think she’s phenomenal. She is the head of the women’s division at NWA and she loves herself some me. So, that’s a really great part of NWA for me.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

Wrestling TV Ratings for Week of Jan. 26 to Feb. 1, 2024

WWE Friday Night SmackDown – 2,475,000 viewers, 0.71 rating (prior week – 2,408,000 viewers, 0.62 rating)
WWE RAW – 1,909,000 viewers, 0.61 rating (prior week – 1,686,000 viewers, 0.55 rating)
WWE NXT – 648,000 viewers, 0.18 rating (prior week – 642,000 viewers, 0.19 rating)
AEW Rampage – 382,000 viewers, 0.13 rating (prior week – 390,000 viewers, 0.12 rating)
AEW Collision – 300,000 viewers, 0.06 rating (prior week – 441,000 viewers, 0.12 rating)
AEW Dynamite – 818,000 viewers, 0.26 rating (prior week – 837,000 viewers, 0.27 rating)
TNA Wrestling Impact! – N/A (prior week – 102,000 viewers, 0.02 rating)

Total viewership in terms of overall tally for the week: 6,532,000 viewers***, up 26,000 viewers compared to prior week’s 6,506,000.

*** The viewership and ratings numbers for this past Thursday’s TNA Impact! show are currently not known.