Various: TNA Planning Mike Santana Return for Rebellion 2024, Freddie Prince Jr. New Promotion Launch Plans Update, New Match for UJPW All Together

AEW

Apr 19, 2024

Mike Santana Heading to TNA Update – Santana Reportedly Planned to Make TNA Return at Rebellion 2024

As noted before, Mike Santana departed from AEW this past March and is currently a free agent. Santana is currently expected to be making his return to TNA Wrestling soon.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that TNA officials have been in recent talks with Santana regarding him making his official return to the company at this Saturday’s Rebellion 2024 event in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Meltzer reported that Santana is currently believed to have signed a per date type deal with TNA. Meltzer reported that this is the same type of deal that a lot of TNA talent are currently signed to with the company.

Freddie Prince Jr. Provides Update on Progress of His Plans for a New Wrestling Promotion

As noted before, actor and former WWE writer Freddie Prince Jr. has been working on plans since May of 2022 to launch a new wrestling promotion.

In a recent episode of the Wrestling With Freddie podcast, Prince Jr. provided an update on his current plans for the launch of a potential new wrestling promotion.

“I am actively going on with my own personal wrestling federation. It’s something I announced about two years ago that I was going to try and do this. I am now pitching. I pitched to one place and it’s still actively out there. They haven’t said yes, they haven’t said no. The fact that they are still talking about it is a good thing. If they say no, I’ll let you guys know. I’ll share all the good and bad, I want to share the whole process. The only thing I can’t share is the name of the places I’ve gone. I’m not trying to have people hate on them if they say no.
I had another pitch at a place that likes wrestling. Friendly faces. They had seen what we shot and asked if they could have the meeting, which is always a good thing. The last place we asked for the meeting, showed them what we shot, and then answered questions. They came in hot with questions, but they were all real good. ‘What’s your vision?’ ‘How is it going to be different from this?’ ‘What kind of matches do you want to have?’ ‘We saw GCW, are you going to have deathmatches?’ They had done some research. The meeting was much longer, they were very passionate about it. I’ve only pitched to one other place, but this pitch went way better based on their reaction to the materials and to my producers and me. They basically said everything but yes. I think I have a home. If they say no, I’ll let you guys know and I’ll ask you to cry me a river, but I feel confident about this. I felt confident about the first one, but as time goes on, even though it’s not a no, it makes me feel like it’s a no. These people have said everything but the word yes. I feel crazy confident about this. I have four more places to go.”

Prince Jr. also gave his thoughts about what will separate his potential new promotion from WWE, AEW, and others.

“I can’t give away anything before I sell it, but I will say the look of it will be much different than AEW and WWE. There was a show called Lucha Underground, which utilized space really well, which had a cool look to it. I always liked that. I’m not saying I’m going to do that, but I would say I’m somewhere in-between what WWE and AEW are doing and somewhere in-between Lucha Underground, somewhere in the middle is where I’m at. It’s going to be the presentation of it that I hope makes it stand out and makes people feel compelled to watch and see what the hell we’re going to do and how the wrestlers use the environment in this promotion. I don’t know where our home is going to be, but I think we’re going to have a home.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Stardom Tag Match Announced for UJPW All Together Event

New Japan Pro Wrestling announced one new match for their co-promoted United Japan Pro Wrestling’s All Together event on May 6th at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan.

This new match announced was a tag team match of Natsupoi & Starlight Kid vs. Queen’s Quest (Miyu Amasaki & AZM).

A new match for #ALLTOGETHER!

Enemies become allies for the night when Starlight Kid and Natsupoi team to face Queens Quest members AZM and Miyu Amasaki!https://t.co/cx5w0aVcR9 #ujpw @we_are_stardom pic.twitter.com/bFUttAto64
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) April 19, 2024

Current card for UJPW All Together:

Daisuke Sekimoto & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jeff Cobb & Masa Kitamiya
Yuki Ueno, Kaito Kiyomiya, & Shota Umino vs. Yuya Uemura, Konosuke Takeshita, & Shun Skywalker
Naomichi Marufuji, Sanshiro Takagi, & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. House of Torture (EVIL, Ren Narita, & Yujiro Takahashi)
Kosei Fujita vs. Kenoh
SANADA & KAI vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Chris Brookes
Natsupoi & Starlight Kid vs. Queen’s Quest (Miyu Amasaki & AZM)