Various: Steph De Lander on Her TNA & Free Agency Status, NJPW Issues Apology for Losing Fan Club Members Personal Info, Indies

May 1, 2024

Steph De Lander Clarifies Her Current TNA & Free Agency Status

Fightful held a recent interview with TNA Wrestling and indies talent Steph De Lander. One of the topics discussed included De Lander’s clarifying that she is not signed to an actual contract with TNA and is still a free agent.

“I am still a free agent. Yes, yeah. It definitely suits me right now to be independent. But, I guess, we’ll see how everything unfolds. I’m not against signing anywhere. It’s just, as Matt says, the money has to be right and it has to align with what I want to do. So, yeah, we’ll see what happens over the next six months or so. But for now I’m still a free agent, which is an exciting place to be.”

De Lander also gave her thoughts about her current standing with TNA.

“I worked for them last year at the very start of last year and kind just of dipped my toes in, did one loop. So I met everyone then and created those connections. But obviously now, with Scott not being there, it’s slightly different and the people you speak to are different. But, in my case, pre-Matt’s injury, all of my stuff was including Matt. So I went through him. Matt just messaged me and was like, ‘Hey, TNA want to use us for X, Y, Z. What do you think?’ We spoke about it and he dealt with the logistics of that. Now that things have changed and Matt is hurt, and obviously since being there on the weekend for me now is more of a direct line, but at the start it was Matt coming to me with the idea. He had spoken to them and then going from there. So I will be there in Albany for Under Siege and also a TV taping. From there it’s kind of, ‘Let’s see what happens.’ The other thing too, honestly, with all this kind of stuff, it comes down to availability, and Matt and I have a very full calendar. So, yeah, it’s what works for me, what works for them and hopefully we can come up with something great.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

NJPW Issues Apology Over Losing USB Drive with Fan Club Members Personal Info

New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that they recently had lost a USB drive that contained the personal information of their fan club members and apologized for the matter.

It was also announced that this USB drive has not been found as of Tuesday and do not currently know if any personal data has been accessed by unauthorized individuals.

Official press release:

Notice and apology regarding personal information
We have recently announced that “Team NJPW (New Japan Pro Wrestling Official Fan Club)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Fan Club”) provided by New Japan Pro Wrestling Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”) will be a fan club. An accident (hereinafter referred to as the “accident”) occurred in which a USB memory with an encrypted security function (hereinafter referred to as the “USB memory”) that stored personal information about members of the company was lost. As of now, the USB memory in question has not been discovered, but we have not confirmed any secondary damage such as unauthorized use of the personal information.
We deeply apologize for the inconvenience and concern we have caused our members.
1. Personal information that may be leaked
Membership information of members (membership number, name, date of birth, age, gender, membership type, and membership expiration date) 32,775 people
*Includes membership information of members who have withdrawn.
*This USB memory does not contain contact information such as the member’s address, phone number, or email address, or payment information such as credit card information.
*This USB memory is equipped with advanced encryption security features, and at this time, we have not confirmed that the above personal information has been used illegally by a third party or that there has been any secondary damage.
2. Background to the Accident On
April 22nd, while preparing for a photo session exclusively for fan club members at the Korakuen Hall convention, it was discovered that the USB memory had been lost. We searched the location where the USB memory was used, but were unable to find it, so on April 25th, we filed a lost item report with the police and requested a search. Also, on the same day, we made a report to the Personal Information Protection Commission and the Broadcast Security Center (SARC), the Privacy Mark review organization.
3. Regarding the implementation status of our response to members, we will be sending individual notifications to members who may have been subject to this incident and whose contact information we have. . However, if the contact information provided to us is different from the member’s current contact information, we apologize for the inconvenience, but there is a possibility that the notification will not arrive.
4. Cause of this incident and measures to prevent recurrence
We are implementing a method at each event venue where members’ IC chip-containing membership cards are read on authentication terminals for authentication at fan club-only photo sessions, etc. At that time, the member information on the authentication terminal was updated by reading the USB memory containing the latest member information. Therefore, the USB memory may be taken out to photo shoots and other venues, and it is thought that the USB memory may have been lost in the process.
For the time being, we will only be verifying membership cards, paid admission tickets, and ID cards for fan club photo sessions, and we are considering transitioning to a new authentication system that does not use USB memory in the future. In addition, we will minimize the amount of personal information taken outside the company, and we will ensure that any recording media that is taken out is thoroughly managed.
Although our company has been managing the handling of personal information, we take this situation seriously and sincerely regret it. In the future, we will thoroughly educate our employees about the handling of personal information through employee training, and we will make company-wide efforts to handle personal information even more strictly and work to prevent recurrence. We would like to once again apologize for the inconvenience caused to our members. We apologize for the inconvenience.
■Contact information regarding this matter
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact us below.
Email address: support_fc@njpw.co.jp

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Former indie wrestler Billy Reil passed away this past Monday at the age of 44. Reil’s passing was first announced by Game Changer Wrestlign owner Brett Lauderdale on Twitter. Reil’s wrestling career spanned from 1995 to 2016 and was most known for his time in Jersey All Pro Wrestling and NWA New Jersey. Reil’s notable career achievements and accolades included being a three-time JAPW Light Heavyweight Champion and one-time JAPW Tag Team Champion.

As noted before, a plagiarism lawsuit against WWE and AEW was dismissed without prejudice this past November and an amended lawsuit was filed this past February by a man named Anthony Wilson. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that WWE and AEW recently filed requests to the The United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Youngstown asking the court to not allow Wilson to have his lawsuit be paused while he is incarcerated and facing sentencing on criminal charges. Johnson reported that the basic argument being made by WWE and AEW is that a civil trial should not be stayed due to a criminal matter.

Joe Hendry’s “I Believe In Joe Hendry” single debuted this past Monday at #17 on the iTunes’ chart in the United States and #1 on iTunes’ chart in the United Kingdom.

PROGRESS Wrestling recently announced that Danhausen will be making his official debut appearance for the company at their Chapter 169: The Devil on My Shoulder event on July 28th in Camden, England.

Marigold recently announced that each member of their roster will wear a uniform with their official player number on it. The numbers for several of the company’s current roster was also recently announced with Victoria Yuzuki receiving the #1 number.

Pro Wrestling Revolver announced that two wrestlers will be making their official debuts for the company at their Another Friday event on May 17th in Dayton, Ohio.

Major League Wrestling recently announced that tickets sales for their upcoming Azteca Lucha event on May 11th in Chicago, Illinois reached sold out status. It was also announced that this upcoming event broke the record for largest ever live gate for an event in company history.

MLW also announced that Matt Riddle and Sami Callihan are the first two official competitors for this year’s Battle Riot match at their Battle Riot VI event on June 1st in Atlanta, Georgia.

MLW also announced one new match for the card of their Azteca Lucha event on May 11th in Chicago: