Weekend Roundup: Ricochet WWE Contract Update, Gigi Dolin Suffered Knee Injury, Jeff Cobb Issues NJPW TV Title Challenge for Forbidden Door, WWE Fed Fake Fast National Numbers for 6/1 AEW Collision, Hulk Hogan, Indies

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

Jun 9, 2024

WWE

Bayley announced on Twitter that she will be in attendance in the crowd at tonight’s WWE NXT Battleground 2024 event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bayley stated that the reason for her visit is to want to have a front row seat to watch the NXT Women’s Championship match between Jordynne Grace and Roxanne Perez at the event.
WWE released a video earlier today featuring Ethan Page being attacked by Oro Menash ahead of tonight’s NXT Battleground 2024 event. Mensah’s storyline attack was meant to be his revenge over Page revealing that he was the mystery person who had attacked Meta-Four’s Noam Dar and Mensah.
As noted before, Ricochet is currently expected to be leaving WWE once his current contract expires this summer. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that his sources close to the situation stated that Ricochet’s current contract situation in WWE is “everything is up in the air” in regards to if he will actually be leaving the company or not.
Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Ricochet is likely leaving WWE and WWE officials are currently under that same belief and also expect him to sign with AEW. It was reported that they have yet to confirm or not from their sources if Ricochet had given his notice of his intent to leave. It was also reported that their sources confirmed that WWE officials have already taken creative measures to write off Ricochet from WWE programming should he actually leave the company. It was reported that Andrade defeating Ricochet for the WWE Speed Championship at this past Friday’s WWE Speed taping was one of those creative measures taken. In regards to AEW, it was reported that AEW talent and staff have been told about the possibility of Ricochet joining their company but no talks between the two sides are believed to have taken place yet and would be unlikely until after his WWE contract expires. It was also reported that New Japan Pro Wrestling is also currently interested in signing Ricochet to a deal should he become available on the market. In regards to when Ricochet’s WWE contract is set to expire, it was reported that those spoken to had stated that it expires in the “first half of this summer.”
Gigi Dolin has been noticeably absent from NXT programming since this past March and her storyline feud with Arianna Grace was dropped for reasons unknown at the time. Fightful Select reported that their sources provided an update and stated that the reason for Dolin’s current absence from WWE’s NXT brand is due to her recently suffering a serious knee injury. It was reported that NXT officials currently do not have a timetable for Dolin’s potential in-ring return. It was also reported that Dolin’s injury was the reason for the series of “makeover” sketches involving Dolin and Grace as NXT officials way to keep Dolin on television while injured. It was also reported that Dolin has not been in attendance backstage at recent NXT tapings due to her injury situation.
In a recent interview with Sportskeeda’s WrestleBinge podcast, Ludwig Kaiser gave his thoughts about Randy Orton being one of his choices for a dream match opponent and his belief that Orton is the absolutely best wrestler and possibly of all-time. Ludwig stated “Well, obviously there’s so many, right? If you look at the WWE right now, it is just incredible how many legendary names we have to offer and how much greatness is there. Obviously, you know, looking back at the King of the Ring, Randy Orton against The Ring General GUNTHER. Moments like this really shows you it’s so special to be a part of this right now. Whether if you’re a fan or actively in the ring, it is just such a special right now. People in decades from now are gonna look back to this era and gonna say, wow, what happened back there? Everybody was so lucky to be part of this and that’s exactly how I feel about it. Somebody like Randy Orton definitely, to me, would be somebody that would be so special to me. To me, the absolute very, very best. Probably ever. Such a legend to me and definitely always somebody I looked up to even when I was a teenager and I always knew I wanted to do this so, definitely always somebody I was looking forward to meet eventually and get to see and actually learn from and all of those things. But obviously, right now, my focus is on another legend, that is Sheamus. Absolutely legendary career, absolutely legendary WWE superstar. But, obviously, it is my turn right now exactly to knock on the door of those legends and show that I’m here and show that there is a reason that I’m here and yeah, that this is just the beginning so, all the legends on the entire WWE roster, they will have to look out for Ludwig Kaiser because he’s coming.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
In a recent interview with Fightful, Mark Henry gave his thoughts about AJ Styles paying homage to his iconic fake retirement moment on the May 31st WWE SmackDown show and revealed Styles sent him a text message after the segment asking if his take on it made him proud. Henry stated “I loved it. I feel a sense of pride when I’m being honored, and WrestleMania, Bianca Belair did a Mark Henry spot and walked up the steps and pressed her opponent into the ring. Whenever people do stuff like that, Braun Strowman did it several times, I just feel a sense of accomplishment. You feel like a proud papa, and I got a text message from AJ Styles saying, ‘Man, I hope I made you proud.’ It made my eyes well up. So having an effect on people, it’s sometimes greater than you doing it yourself. I don’t know if I explained that properly. I felt in my heart enough to make me tear up, so that was pretty damn special.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
This past Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Louisville, Kentucky featured the announcement of Logan Paul not being physically in attendance due to him competing in a Tetris tournament that night. Paul’s appearance on the show was in the form of a video promo from his house talking about LA Knight’s issues with him of late. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that Paul’s absence was not for storyline purposes and he legit was competing at the 2024 ModRetro Classic Tetris Championship that night. Paul made it to the second round of the tournament before being eliminated. Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE had sent a camera crew to film content of Paul’s tournament participation.
In a recent interview with The Ringer’s Wrestling Show podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Mike Rotunda gave his thoughts about WWE’s current QR code teasers for Uncle Howdy’s upcoming return to the company. Rotunda stated “To be honest with you, I want it to be a surprise (Uncle Howdy teases). But there is something bubbling so… I don’t religiously watch the show anymore. So, I’m not up to score on everything, which I’m kind of getting back into it now. I took a hiatus from it after 13 years of seeing it every night — after 40 years of seeing it every night, I kind of drew back… Now, I’m starting to get back in but there’s stuff bubbling. I don’t know the ins and outs, as per se, but hopefully it’ll be good… Above my paygrade to figure that out (Q.R. codes). That’s for sure.” Rotunda also gave his thoughts about his belief that WWE could have gotten more mileage out of The Wyatt Family during the group’s time in the company. Rotunda stated “I thought at one time, WWE could have personally got a lot more mileage out of The Wyatt Family. I was there every night. They wanted him (Windham Rotunda) and The Wyatts to be babyface, which never happened and if you miss that opportunity in the business, you’re kind of cutting the shelf life of a character down by doing that and keep trying to make ‘em be a heel and if people like you, let ‘em like you. They’re buying the tickets, they’re watching the shows and if they’re telling you that, to me, I would listen to that. But, that’s just how it worked out.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
WWE recently announced one new match for the card of their June 14th WWE SmackDown show at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. This new match announced was a dark match of Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus.
As noted before, NXT talent Brooks Jensen is currently involved in a storyline revolving around his issues with NXT management and NXT head booker Shawn Michaels. Saturday’s indie event for Bull Pen Pro Wrestling in Bowdon, Georgia featured Jensen making a surprise appearance. Jensen had previously worked for BPPW prior to him joining WWE.
Brutus Creed recently launched a new YouTube channel called Big Brutus Bites featuring him reviewing fast food meals.
WWE reportedly has generated around 5,400 cable television pay-per-view buys for this past May’s King & Queen of the Ring 2024 based on updated late buys purchases, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that King & Queen of the Ring 2024’s buys is around 12.9% higher than this past May’s Backlash 2024 had generated after the same number of days after the event.
Dave Meltzer reported that WWE had sold 12,031 tickets for a live gate of $659,529 for their April 19th SmackDown show in Pittsburgh, PA and had sold 8,488 tickets for a live gate of $548,399 for their May 1st house show event in Bologna, Italy based on recent audit data from Pollstar.
WWE reportedly drew an attendance of 7,797 for their May 31st SmackDown show in Albany, NY, 4,295 for their June 1st house show event in White Plains, NY, 4,274 for their June 2nd house show event in Binghamton, NY, and 9,176 for their June 3rd RAW show in Hershey, PA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE reportedly has sold around 613 tickets for their June 9th NXT Battleground 2024 event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, NV, 8,547 tickets for their June 14th SmackDown show in Glasgow, and 10,017 tickets for their June 15th Clash at the Castle 2024 event at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
In regards to WWE’s current ticket sales for Sunday’s NXT Battleground 2024 event, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the split is 245 sold and 368 comp.
Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that WWE’s top merchandise sellers for this past May on their WWEShop in order were CM Punk, Jey Uso, Cody Rhodes, Steve Austin, The Rock, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Rey Mysterio, and Liv Morgan. In regards to specific merchandise, the top sellers in order reportedly were Uso “Yeet” black shirt, Punk’s “Return of Punk” black shirt, Austin and Booker T Rivals shirt, Punk’s “Best in the World” shirt, Uso “Yeet” white shirt, The Rock’s “Final Boss” black shirt, Austin’s “3:16” shirt, Rhodes hoodie, and Reigns “Family Above All” shirt. In regards to year to date top sellers, Thurston reported that the top sellers in order are Rhodes, Punk, Jey Uso, Reigns, WWE, Austin, Wyatt, Orton, The Rock, and Rhea Ripley.

AEW & ROH

Sunday’s NJPW Dominion 2024 event in Osaka, Japan featured Jeff Cobb defeating Tomohiro Ishii to retain his NJPW World Television Championship. Following his match, Cobb stated during his post-match backstage press conference that he is issuing an open challenge for his title at AEW and NJPW’s upcoming Forbidden Door 2024 event on June 30th in Long Island, New York. Cobb stated “It’s Forbidden Door season, and I am a champion in New Japan Pro Wrestling, and I have been to AEW: All Elite, my ass. If you’re elite, step up. I dare you, step up.. Or are you afraid because when you’re a champion, the criticism of coming on tour to the small towns is on your back, and we know you can’t carry that load? So this goes out to anybody in AEW, Ring of Honor, TNA Impact, MLW, CMLL — which I don’t even work for — but CMLL, you’re put on notice too. The big shiny gold belt that represents the television of New Japan says, come on down and let me make you famous. Then I’ll suplex your ass back to where you came from. Economy, of course, because I am a frugal individual.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
AEW COO Kosha Irby recently commented on Twitter about AEW’s issues when it came to dealing with their venue partner for Saturday’s AEW Collision show at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Irby stated “Council Bluffs is home to fantastic fans, a charming city, and a subpar venue partner! For those who chose #AEWCollision on TV or in person, thank you!” In a follow-up tweet, Irby responded to fans who assumed he had made a type with a gif image with the text of “I said what I said!“
AEW reportedly is currently estimated to have generated around 131,000 to 132,000 PPV buys for this past May’s Double or Nothing 2024 event based on updated late buys purchases, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that Double or Nothing 2024’s cable television buys are currently around 8.5% higher than this past April’s Dynasty event based on the same number of days after the event.
Front Office Sports reported that Warner Bros Discovery and NBA are currently in talks for a potential fourth NBA media rights package, following the NBC currently being expected to get the third and final NBA rights deal. It was reported that this potential deal would be for a less expensive television package and would include regular season and playoffs games. It was also reported that the games for this package would be from games that were originally not set for national television but only for local markets and put them in a new package for TNT. It was also reported that this potential deal would also resolve the situation of the NBA losing WBD since the WBD currently runs NBA TV from their TNT Studios location in Atlanta, Georgia and also NBA.com.
AEW’s current television deal with Warner Bros Discovery is currently expected to expire at the end of this year and are still in their exclusivity window for talks with WBD for a potential new media rights deal. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there has been no new updates from his sources regarding the current status of the talks between AEW and WBD for a new television and media rights contract. Those close to the situation reportedly stated that there has been no indication from either way if a new deal will be done or not prior to the end of the exclusivity window.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE and Forbes were involved in a ratings-related controversy last weekend over the release of false fast national ratings numbers for the June 1st AEW Collision show. Meltzer reported that WWE has been known to supply the fast national numbers for Rampage and Collision shows to Forbes contributor Alfred Konuwa claiming that the June 1st Collision show only drew 122,000 overall viewers and a 0.03 key demographic rating, which were both proven to be false when the real numbers came out later. Meltzer reported that the current rumor is that these numbers were not for AEW’s show but instead for a different show that aired on TNT during the midnight to 2AM time slot that AEW was originally going to air had there been an NBA Playoffs game that night. Meltzer reported that the reason why WWE did this was due to them wanting to bring bad PR to AEW since they knew the fake numbers would spread and many people would take the numbers at face value and not bother to check for the real numbers afterwards or realize something was up. Meltzer also reported that these type of tactics are nothing new for WWE who did similar under handed tactics against WCW during the 1990s,
In a follow-up, Dave Meltzer responded on Twitter to critics of his report stating “Sorry, but the ratings I listed were accurate. The others were not. They were supplied by WWE to the reporter. Sorry for people mad because everything I stated was correct, and this is not a new story. It’s a story that dates back many years and has been talked about and written about the entire time. In other words, people mad at the accurate story are the ones who complained without checking something easily verifiable. Ultimate irony. ” AEW CEO Tony Khan responded to Meltzer stating “These are the same predatory business practices that Jim Crockett Promotions + many former wrestling territories faced in the 1980s. I’m very grateful to all of you wrestling fans who watch AEW, and @AEW is here to stay.“
AEW CEO Tony Khan recently commented on Twitter about the criticisms of his booking philosophy stating “I book wrestling for the sickos because that’s what I am and that’s who I care about. #AEWDynamite #AEWRampage #AEWCollision #ForbiddenDoor” In a follow-up tweet, Khan stated “Wake up the bots and tell them that we’re having fun over here in @AEW . #AEWDynamite #AEWRampage #AEWCollision #ForbiddenDoor“
Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that AEW’s top merchandise sellers for this past May on their ShopAEW in order were AEW, Will Ospreay, ROH, Swerve Strickland, Adam Copeland, Kenny Omega, Young Bucks, Mercedes Mone, Toni Storm, and Jack Perry. In regards to Pro Wrestling Tees, the top sellers in order reportedly were Bullet Club, AEW, Omega, Jon Moxley, Ospreay, Bullet Club Gold, Rob Schamberger, Nyla Rose, Terry Funk, and the Young Bucks. In regards to specific merchandise, the top sellers in order reportedly were WrestleDream Blu-Ray, All In Blu-Ray, Ospreay “The Feeling” shirt, ROH Final Battle 2023 DVD, ROH Final Battle 2022 DVD, Kenny Omega vs. King – Tekken 8 Series shirt, Young Bucks Micro Brawlers, AEW Trading Cards, Rose “Her” shirt, and Orange Cassidy e-pack. In regards to year to date, the top sellers in order reportedly are AEW, Ospreay, Strickland, Sting, ROH, Copeland, Mone, Storm, Omega, and Kazuchika Okada.
AEW reportedly drew an attendance of 2,839 for their May 30th AEW Collision show in Pam Desert, CA and 2,608 for their June 5th AEW Dynamite show in Loveland, CO, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW reportedly has sold around 7,486 tickets for their AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2024 event at the UBS Arena in Long Island, NY as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

TNA, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

Sunday’s Dominion 2024 event for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Osaka, Japan featured – new champions crowned. The first was Great-O-Khan defeating Yuya Uemura to become the new Provisional King of Pro Wrestling 2024 Champion. The second was BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, & Yota Tsuji defeating Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano, & Hiroshi Tanahshi to become the new NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions. The third was TMDK (Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls) defeating Bishamon (YOHSI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto), Guerillas of Destiny (El Phantasmo & Hikuleo), and Bullet Club (Chase Owens & KENTA) in a Four-way Elmination match to become the new IWGP Tag Team and NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions.
Sunday’s NJPW Dominion 2024 event in Osaka also featured El Desperado defeating Taiji Ishimori in the Finals of the Best of the Super Juniors to become the winner of this year’s tournament.
Sunday’s NJPW Dominion 2024 event in Osaka also featured NJPW announcing their full schedule of major events for the remainder of 2024. Among the notable events included the official announcement of their second ever Historic X-Over co-promoted event with Stardom that will take place on November 17th at the Edion Arena in Osaka, Japan.
In a recent interview with NJPW’s NJPW1972.com, HENARE gave his thoughts about his head injury that he suffered earlier this year that led to his absence from the company. HENARE stated “I remember it all, concrete. There wasn’t a blur or anything. It was my first No DQ match. You know I like standing in the ring and fighting. I wasn’t expecting him throwing that table and I thought I could take it from the front. I’ve put my head through tables many times, and if I took the front, it would have been no problem. But he threw it sideways, and it cut right on the vein. Had it not hit that perfect shot, I would have been fine, but he got it. To me, it’s the complete opposite (he responded when asked if he was operating subconsciously after the injury happened), more like you’re aware of everything. You’re in flight or fight mode, your senses go into overdrive and you see every little movement. I saw every one of those slaps Gabe (Kidd) threw, that’s why they didn’t faze me that much. I saw a bullseye on his chin and bang, hit him right on his chin and he was out cold. It’s like in Dragon Ball, the Ultra Instinct kicks in. But it does take a toll on your blood and your nervous system. The day after, I was completely burnt out.“
NJPW reportedly drew a paid attendance of 1,170 for their May 31st Best of the Super Juniors 2024 event in Tokyo and 1,483 for their June 3rd Best of the Super Juniors 2024 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Black Label Pro Wrestling recently announced that Trevor Lee, former Cameron Grimes in WWE, will be making his official debut appearance for the company at their Old Habits Die Screaming event on July 26th in Chicago, Illinois.
Black Label Pro also recently announced one new match for the card of their Old Habits Die Screaming event on July 26th in Chicago. This new match is a BLP Championship match of Raj Dhesi (former Jinder Mahal in WWE) vs. Kevin Ku.
Lucha Libre AAA recently announced that this year’s Verano de Escandalo event will be taking place on August 2nd at the Palenque de la Feria in Aguascalientes, Mexico.
As noted before, AAA recently signed a new television deal with Televisa to air their shows in the United States. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that AAA officials were recently informed that should the numbers for their shows on the network perform well in the U.S., then Televisa would be interested in airing their shows on their network in Mexico. Meltzer reported that this would be a huge gain for AAA due to Televisa in Mexico is bigger than any network in the United States.
The National Wrestling Alliance reportedly is currently scheduled to run a live event in Queens, New York this Fall, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that this would be the first time that the NWA will be holding an event in the New York City area since Billy Corgan’s purchase of the company.
In a recent Q&A article, PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that TNA Wrestling officials are currently working on trying to lock down a new permanent location venue for their Impact! television tapings. Johnson reported that TNA officials are also considering potentially holding weekly live tapings at this new location. In regards to potential locations, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that this would not include Full Sail University due to university officials no longer believed to be interested in the idea following Anthem Vice President of Marketing Lou D’Angeli’s recent departure from Anthem and TNA.
In a recent interview with Fightful, Evan Husney stated that they had explored the possibility of interviewing former WCW owner Ted Turner for their Who Killed WCW? docuseries. Husney stated “We explored the possibility of being able to interview Ted Turner himself, and his son even tried for us and said that it even might’ve been possible still. He does have health challenges. So that’s from what I’ve heard. I don’t know what’s exactly going on. So we were very excited to the possibility of that, but we wanted to get somebody from Ted’s perspective because it is very important, because it is sort of his baby at the end of the day. Eric Bischoff is a huge part of it, making it successful, but it was kept around for so long and sort of insulated and protected because of Ted Turner. He sort of is the foil to Vince McMahon in a lot of ways during that time. So it was important we get someone who could speak to that because I think he is sort of an underrepresented voice or figure in this story and he’s a huge part of it. So we had to definitely make sure we covered that. So his son who was super cool, great guy, I think he comes off great in the show, he was super helpful. It was it was awesome to work with him. I think it shows like wrestling was a huge part of building that empire and showing that this was almost guaranteed loyal programming too, and Ted saw that. Obviously, you know, the sort of culture around it would change, but that’s how you can see how [and] why Ted protected it for so long or felt that there was value to it for so long.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre reportedly drew an attendance of around 10,000 for their May 24th Super Viernes event in Mexico City and slightly under 10,000 for their May 31st Super Viernes event in Mexico City, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Stardom reportedly drew a paid attendance of 240 for their May 31st event in Sendai and 771 for their June 1st event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Marigold reportedly drew a paid attendance of 339 for their June 2nd Grand Opening Wars 2024 event in Hamamatsu, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Game Changer Wrestling reportedly drew an attendance of 950 for their June 1st Tournament of Survival 2024 event in Atlantic City and 750 for their June 2nd Cage of Survival 2024 event in Atlantic City, New Jersey, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan stated on Instagram this past Friday that his Twitter account was hacked this past Thursday for the reason why it was promoting cryptocurrency that night. Hogan stated “Hello Family, Appreciate your love and support always. Please do not take notice of any posts posted today. They are not from me and will be promptly removed. Thank you, Hulk.” Following the hacking attack, Hogan deleted all of his tweets from his Twitter account including his famous tweet of “GOODNIGHT HULKAMANIACS and jabronie marks without a life that don’t know it a work when you work a work and work yourself into a shoot, marks.”

Wrestling TV Ratings for Week of May 31 to June 6, 2024

WWE Friday Night SmackDown – 2,310,000 viewers, 0.64 rating (prior week – 2,147,000 viewers, 0.56 rating)
WWE RAW – 1,679,000 viewers, 0.53 rating (prior week – 1,690,000 viewers, 0.55 rating)
WWE NXT – 768,000 viewers, 0.22 rating (prior week – 703,000 viewers, 0.24 rating)
AEW Rampage – 255,000 viewers, 0.09 rating (prior week – 222,000 viewers, 0.08 rating)
AEW Collision – 378,000 viewers, 0.11 rating (prior week – 415,000 viewers, 0.15 rating)
AEW Dynamite – 790,000 viewers, 0.28 rating (prior week – 787,000 viewers, 0.25 rating)
TNA Wrestling Impact! – N/A (prior week – N/A)
Various – Biography: WWE Legends (A&E) – 288,000 viewers, 0.08 rating (prior week – 218,000 viewers, 0.05 rating)
Various – Who Killed WCW? (VICE) – 138,000 viewers, 0.03 rating (prior week – N/A)

Total wrestling television viewership for the week: 6,606,000 viewers, up 424,000 viewers from the prior week’s 6,182,000 viewers.

The viewership and ratings numbers for the May 30th and June 6th TNA Impact! shows is currently not known.

The June 4th episode of Who Killed WCW? was the series premiere episode on VICE TV.