Various: Xia Zhao TNA Debut Vignette Airs on 9/5 Impact Show, RevPro Owner on Reason for No WWE Partnership Being Reached & Current AEW Relationship, Indies

Sep 6, 2024

Xia Zhao TNA Debut Vignette Airs on Thursday’s TNA Impact Show

Thursday’s TNA Impact! show featured Xia Zhao, former Xia Li in WWE, making her official debut video appearance for TNA Wrestling.

During the video, a mystery woman was shown and while no face nor name was revealed, this person spoke in Chinese similar in voice to Zhao and also held up the same fan Zhao used for her entrances in WWE. This video also announced that Zhao would be “coming soon” to the company.

COMING SOON…..

Subscribe to TNA+ watch #TNAiMPACT NOW: https://t.co/5d1avcET9n pic.twitter.com/dFGh3roZRO
— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) September 6, 2024

RevPro Owner Andy Quildan Comments on Reason Why Partnership with WWE was Not Reached & Current Relationship with AEW

F4WOnline contributor Markus Gronemann held a recent interview with Revolution Pro Wrestling owner Andy Quildan. One of the topics discussed included Quildan’s thoughts about the reason why his company did not sign a partnership deal with WWE when WWE was forming partnerships in Europe for their NXT UK brand was due to WWE wanting the option to purchase the company at the end of their deal.

“I wouldn’t say we didn’t want to work with them. I think it was very much on the table for us to work with them. Like I said, partnerships have to be two-sided. So, we never (got) to the stage of offers on the table to turn down. We had the conversations. But the offers, what was being put my way, wasn’t — I’m trying to think of the right thing to say without getting myself in trouble. Basically, what was being put to me wasn’t something — look, as a fan of WWE, of course I wanted to do it. One of the terms they used was, ‘We’re bringing you under the WWE umbrella.’ Of course I wanted to be under the WWE umbrella. Of course I wanted to wear my WWE merch and say I work with WWE and get tickets to all the shows and do you know what I mean? It’s the biggest show on earth. It’s a show that I’ve watched since childhood and you know, I love it. I’m not gonna say anything bad about WWE because WWE helped so many people and when I say helped so many people, I’m not talking about, like, the wrestlers. Obviously, it’s great for the wrestlers. But I’m talking about the fans. Think about how many lives that WWE has made. Including mine. If it wasn’t for WWE, I wouldn’t be doing this right now. So I’m never gonna say anything bad about WWE, and of course I would have loved to be involved but, you have to approach these things, not as a fan. I could’ve just had my blinkers on and just been like, okay, yep. Whatever. Whatever you want. Yep. We’ll agree, we’ll agree. Which I think some people did. But, I think ultimately, it turned out okay for those that kind of signed up to the WWE thing but there were little caveats in there like, they would have the option to buy the promotion. It’s a loan deal. I forget how it was termed. Like, loan your footage or X amount of time for the Network and at the end of the term of the contract, they had the option to buy, and it’s like, ‘Option to buy the footage?’ ‘No, the whole promotion.’ So I think that’s a bit of a leap, when you get to that stage. Then what’s gonna happen to you? Are you gonna get a job there? Can you get fired? Is there gonna be a no-compete? So there’s all these aspects of what next and for me, you could essentially — because of all the uncertainty, any difficult question was just TBD, it’s TBD. Any difficult question was asked. What’s gonna happen to this? It’s TBD. What’s your mindset on this? TBD. We need to explore that at the moment. It was no clear gameplan. Which is fine when you’re in the early stages of conversation but when you’re talking about buying someone’s business outright, you kind of need to have clear lines of thought, and of course I had my partnership with New Japan. We had two sets of conversations. The initial set of conversation happened with William Regal. The later set was with Triple H and then his team. But, which was initiated by William Regal but William Regal was the person who reached out originally and he’s obviously got a relationship with — had a relationship with PROGRESS, Jim Smallman. Their friends, whatever so, he’s always gonna go in with the mindset of, you know, they’re number one. We’re number two. Whatever. We had the conversation. We agreed we’re open to doing stuff in the future. But at the moment, it’s very difficult because we’ve got our relationship with New Japan and my relationship with New Japan, I’m loyal to them because they’ve been loyal to me, therefore I’m loyal to them. So I’m not the type of person that’s gonna be like, sorry New Japan. See you later. I’m the type of person that says, I’m interested, but I need to have a discussion with New Japan. This is gonna be a lot more complicated than other deals that perhaps you’re trying to put together, and that’s where the initial set of conversations stopped and then, a while later — and then they did the championship tournament. I didn’t really realize a championship. The conversations had stopped. Until they did the championship tournament and everyone’s there suited and booted at the show and I’m sat watching it in my pants in my living room. But then we had another set of conversations a little bit later. Obviously, at this stage, I can’t even remember the timescale. We had another set of conversations a little bit later and that’s what involved Triple H’s team, and that’s when all the non-answers came into play. So, nothing happened and it’s — can something happen in the future? Maybe. Like I say, it’s one of those things. I’m open to working with anyone, and I feel like I’ve reached this stage in my professional wrestling career where I’ve put in a lot of time, I’ve put in a lot of hours. I’ve dedicated my whole life this and because I’ve dedicated my whole life to this, of course I’m not gonna walk away from it. But, I feel like we need to be taking those steps. We need to be moving forward and obviously, forging these relationships with New Japan, CMLL, AEW, etcetera.”

Quildan also gave his thoughts about RevPro’s current working relationship status with AEW.

“And the AEW relationship, it’s not an official relationship. I respect Tony (Khan) a lot, I like Tony. I’d say I consider Tony a friend. Very friendly every time I see him. Obviously, he’s so busy. It’s not like I call him up for hour-long chats, and you know, I’m sure we could have great chats because, you know, Tony obviously runs Fulham and Fulham have obviously just signed Emile Smith Rowe from Arsenal and just took Reiss Nelson from Arsenal on loan so I’m sure we could have a lot of fútbol conversation as well. As well as professional wrestling. When we get to American football though, I’m done. I have no idea. But yeah, so it’s not really an official relationship with AEW but it’s kind of like, we work alongside each other and we’re respectful of one another. Tony knows and his team knows that if they need anything, all they’ve got do is ask, and occasionally, I might ask for a favor from them and hope that they realize that I’m more than happy to do as many favors for them as they like. So yeah, it’s nothing official but we work alongside each other nicely and that’s all you can ask for and who knows what the future holds for any of this? Apart from the fact that I remain determined to keep pushing this thing forward.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com 1 & 2

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced that this year’s World Tag League tournament will be taking place from November 19th to December 8th in Japan.

NJPW also recently announced that Takashi Iizuka will be making an in-ring return appearance for the company at their Road to Destruction 2024 event on September 14th in Hokkaido, Japan. It was announced that Iizuka will be competing in a 20-Man Rambo match at the event.

As noted before, WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Garcia’s husband Artem Chingvintsev arrested for domestic battery this past August in Napa, California. Garcia recently contacted lawyers for her intention to file a divorce for her marriage. TMZ reported that Chingvintsev’s domestic violence case was turned over to the Napa County district attorney’s office this past Wednesday. It was reported that a spokesperson spoken to stated that the case is current being reviewed and no decision has been made yet on the charges Chingvintsev could face.

TNA Wrestling recently thanked on Twitter all of their fans for help the company surpass the milestone of five million subscribers on their official YouTube channel. TNA stated “We Hit 5 Million Subscribers on YouTube! Thank YOU! #TNAWrestling“

In a recent issue of the Mone Mag fan newsletter, Mercedes Mone stated that AEW CEO Tony Khan had tried to come see her match against Momo Watanabe for her NJPW Strong Women’s Championship at NJPW’s Capital Collision 2024 event this past Friday in Washington, DC but wasn’t able to make it in time. Mone stated “Jen Pepperman told me that Tony [Khan] was jumping on his jet to come to catch my match. Unfortunately, Tony’s flight got stuck leaving Champagne, but he called me the moment he landed to say what a great job I did and that he will try to be there for my next fight! What an honor to know someone who shoulders so much responsibility as Tony does was trying to fly all the way to DC just to see my match! What an amazing boss and leader with such infectious passion. It makes me want to work even harder for him, the women and AEW.“

This past Wednesday’s CMLL Informa show featured Chris Jericho as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Jericho’s thoughts about his interest in wanting to make many more appearances for CMLL after their 91st Anniversary Show. Jericho stated “I would love to be in the Grand Prix and I would love to do a Mask vs. Hair match. All of the things that I’ve done in Mexico in the past, I would love to return to again. It’s amazing to me that it took 30 years to return to Arena Mexico, but I don’t think that this match versus Mistico is the only time that I’ll return. I would like to come back many times. I love wrestling in Mexico, I love the fans, and there’s so many great luchadores in CMLL. There’s no reason why I can’t come back many, many times.” Jericho also gave his thoughts about his interest in continuing his feud with Mistico after CMLL’s 91st Anniversary Show. Jericho stated “Yeah, I think that this could be the first of many matches. I could, after I beat him at the Anniversario, then challenge him for his title, and then when I beat him for his title, then I could challenge him for his mask. I think that that’s something that is a long time coming, as a matter of fact. So maybe we could do a best-of-three series. First one in Arena Mexico at the anniversary, second one can be for the NWA Title, and the third one can be for his mask.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with the Talk Is Jericho podcast, Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling owner Scott D’Amore stated that he current has the goal of wanting to run an event at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada in 2025. D’Amore stated “I don’t think I’ve said this publicly, one of the things about re-launching this brand, we want to be back in Maple Leaf Gardens. Maple Leaf Gardens, for those that don’t know, doesn’t exist as a 17,000 seat arena anymore, but the structure is still there. The building is still there, the facade is the same. The marquee is there, it says Maple Leaf Gardens. The main floor is like a grocery store, you can still see the center where the ring used to go. One of the things they have there is an ice rink, they have a 3,000 seat ice rink. I think it’s apropo that 2025, Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling makes its return to the building that it’s most synonymous with and what, to me, after Madison Square Garden is probably the second most iconic wrestling building in history. It’s the one building that, if you look at it historically, every company came into Maple Leaf Gardens. The AWA guys, you’d see the NWA guys, you see the WWF guys all come in until WWE bought it in 1984. It was the one place where everybody came in. Multiple champions, world champion versus world champion matches. It was a cool meeting place. That’s one of our things. We’re gonna get content out there, we’re gonna run some more shows after these two, but we’re gonna run these two, decompress, take a look at what we do right and what we need to tackle differently and then plan for 2025. That’s our game plan to get out there and see what we can do.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling recently announced two new matches for the cards of their Forged In Excellence events on October 19-20 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada:

Night 1 (Oct. 19) – “Speeball” Mike Bailey vs. Konosuke Takeshita
Night 2 – (Oct. 20) – Josh Alexander vs. Konosuke Takeshita

Major League Wrestling recently announced two new matches for the card of their Fightland 2024 event on September 14th in Atlanta, Georgia:

MLW Opera Cup 2024 Finals – Winner of KENTA/TJP vs. Winner of Mistico/Bad Dude Tito
The Andersons (Brock Anderson & CW Anderson) vs. Bomaye Fight Club (Alex Kane & Mr. Thomas)