Weekend Roundup: SD Ratings Note, All Out 2022 Update, Kris Statlander, CM Punk, Kota Ibushi, Good Bros & Impact, Indies

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

Aug 21, 2022

WWE

This past Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,354,000 viewers on FOX, according to SpoilerTV. Fightful reported that the final viewership number is currently expected to be lower due to similar issues as last week. Several FOX television markets had preempted this week’s show for NFL preseason coverage and some of NFL’s viewership was included in SmackDown’s numbers.
BT Sport recently announced that WWE’s upcoming Clash at the Castle event on September 3rd in Cardiff, Wales will be airing live on their BT Sports 2 channel in the United Kingdom instead of their usual BT Sport Box Office channel for WWE PPV events.
As noted before, this past Friday’s WWE SmackDown show featured a “Viking Funeral” segment with the Viking Raiders and a mystery masked person. This mystery person was recently discovered to have been former WWE talent Sarah Logan.
WWE reportedly is currently scouting to find a new Mexican and Japanese top star for the company, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated that WWE officials are currently looking for someone who has a good size to be their next top star and heir to Rey Mysterio for their Hispanic market. Meltzer reported that while his name was not specifically mentioned, WWE likely is interested in potentially signing DDT Pro Wrestling talent Konosuke Takeshita to a contract in the future. Takeshita recently held a four month long tour of the United States and worked for several promotions, most notably AEW.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE sold around 114,300 tickets for this past April’s two night WrestleMania 38 event in Arlington, Texas. Meltzer reported that based on WrestleTix’s numbers of 66,859 tickets distributed for Night 1 on April 2nd and 65,653 tickets distributed for Night 2 on April 3, WWE had given out an average of 9,106 tickets as comp tickets per night. Meltzer reported that WWE’s inflated numbers given to the public was 77,899 for Night 1 and 78,459 for Night 2 with Night 2 being higher due to that night’s show had the real main event for WrestleMania. Meltzer also reported that WWE had a higher paid attendance for Night 1 than they did for Night 2 based on estimates at around 57,753 for Night 1 and 56,547 for Night 2.
In regards to WWE’s recent announcement of the first day ticket sales for WrestleMania 39’s two-night event being the highest ever in WWE history at 90,000 total, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE’s announcement was misleading since the number also included pre-sale tickets that were held over the course of several days. Meltzer reported that despite the misleading stat, this was still the highest ever first day sales for a WrestleMania event in WrestleMania history when including pre-sales. The previous record reportedly was held by this year’s WrestleMania 38 event, which generated around 63,000 total sales for its first official day.
WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 9,057 (8,200 paid) for their Aug. 12th SmackDown show in Raleigh, NC, 3,761 for their Aug. 13th house show event in Salisbury MD, 3,540 for their Aug. 14th house show event in Atlantic City, NJ, and 8,944 (8,100 paid) for their Aug. 15th RAW show in Washington, DC, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE reportedly has sold around 12,610 tickets for their Aug. 22nd RAW show in Toronto, Canada, 7,478 tickets for their Aug. 26th SmackDown show in Detroit, MI, 2,917 tickets for their Aug. 27th house show event in Springfield, MA, 3,002 tickets for their Aug. 28th house show event in Manchester, NH, 4,883 tickets for their Aug. 29th RAW show in Pittsburgh, PA, 63,803 tickets for their Sept. 3rd Clash at the Castle event in Cardiff, Wales, 3,065 for their Sept. 5th RAW show in Kansas City, MO, 7,146 tickets for their Sept. 9th SmackDown show in Seattle, WA, 1,799 tickets for their Sept. 11th house show even in Eugene, OR, 6,598 tickets for their Sept. 12th RAW show in Portland, OR, 4,706 tickets for their Sept. 16th SmackDown show in Anaheim, CA, and 3,370 tickets for their Sept. 19th RAW show in San Jose, CA, 4,610 tickets for their Sept. 23rd SmackDown show in Salt Lake City, UT, 9,554 tickets for their Sept. 26th RAW show in Edmonton, Canada, 7,051 tickets for their Sept. 30th SmackDown show in Winnipeg, Canada, 2,297 for their Oct. 2nd house show event in Saskatoon, Canada, 2,682 tickets for their Oct. 3rd RAW show in St. Paul, MN, and 8,898 tickets for their Oct. 8th Extreme Rules 2022 event in Philadelphia, PA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE recently announced that WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus will be making an appearance for the company at this Monday’s RAW show in Toronto, Canada.
WWE recently released the official logo for this year’s Survivor Series 2022 event, which takes place on November 26th in Boston, Massachusetts.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE’s management is currently very optimistic at getting a new television contract similar in value to the Big Ten’s recent $8 billion, seven year deal with FOX, CBS, and NBC. Johnson reported that the current feeling within WWE’s management is that WWE co-CEO Nick Khan’s current plans and vision are leading the company in the right direction to achieve a massive amount of money for their next television and streaming rights contracts.
During a recent interview with the Jobbing Out podcast, Top Dolla gave his thoughts about Swerve Strickland no longer being involved with Hit Row in WWE. Top Dolla stated “Nah, to be honest with you. You have to remember; me, [Ashante], and [B-Fab] have been doing this for over two years. Swerve was added to the crew two weeks before we debuted. When we got released, he told us he wanted to do his own thing, we didn’t tell him he couldn’t be in Hit Row or the HitMakerz, he said he wanted to do his own thing. So, he’s doing his own thing.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
As noted before, WWE recently banned their employees from trading and purchasing company stocks following Vince McMahon’s retirement from the company this past July. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE’s staff were informed this past Thursday that the ban had been lifted and they could resume buying and selling company stocks.
During a recent interview with Inside The Ropes, AJ Styles gave his thoughts on his video message to Impact Wrestling at their Slammiversary 2022 event this past June and wanting both Impact and AEW to do well. Styles stated “I’m glad I got the opportunity. I still want IMPACT Wrestling to do well. I want AEW to do well. Competition is a good thing, it makes everybody better, there that. We want to see people succeed and to tell the truth, I have friends in every company, I would like to see them do well. So, they have my support, just like anybody else. I want to see them do well, I don’t want to see anyone lose their job and you never know who might show up in WWE.” Styles also gave his reasons why he decided to not go to AEW and stay in WWE in 2019. Styles stated “I didn’t really sign a new deal. Basically, I had a player option and I just used that option. I had no plans, really, looking back. I want to be with WWE. As much as I’d like to be with my friends see, this is what I know. I know what is expected of me, I understand what they need from me here in WWE and I want to be a part of it.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

AEW & ROH

AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 4,300 (4,000 paid) for their August 17th Dynamite House of Dragon event in Charleston, WV, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW reportedly has sold around 3,846 tickets for their Aug. 24th Dynamite show in Cleveland, OH, 5,537 tickets for their Aug. 31st Dynamite show in Chicago, 4,836 for their Sept. 2nd Rampage show in Chicago, 7,732 tickets for their Sept. 4th All Out 2022 event in Hoffman Estates, IL, 4,509 tickets for their Sept. 7th Dynamite show in Buffalo, NY, 2,920 tickets for their Sept. 14th Dynamite show in Albany, NY, 10,009 tickets for their Sept. 21st Dynamite Grand Slam 2022 show at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, NY, 3,554 tickets for their Sept. 28th Dynamite show in Philadelphia, PA, 1,792 for their Oct. 5th Dynamite show in Washington, DC, and 1,669 for their Oct. 7th Rampage & Battle of the Belts IV shows in Washington, DC as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW announced during this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show that an AEW World Championship unification match between CM Punk and Jon Moxley would be taking place at this Wednesday Dynamite show in Cleveland, Ohio. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that AEW officials are currently planning for the main event for next month’s All Out 2022 event to be a unification match for the AEW World Championship between Punk and Moxley. Those same sources also stated that there is currently no backup plans for a different match for the event.
AEW reportedly had several flight-related issues for their Dynamite show this past Wednesday in Charleston, West Virginia, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that the main reason was due to the small number of flights that were available both in and out of the city for their show last week. Johnson also reported that his sources stated that this was the reason why Malakai Black was absent from this past week’s Dynamite show.
AEW CEO Tony Khan recently responded on Twitter over fan criticisms of the Trustbusters’ current push in the company. Khan stated “Coming less than 48 hours off of maybe the best @AEWonTV show we’ve ever done out of a few hundred + given it’s an #AEWRampage Friday, I feel emboldened to point out that in 2021, I got very similar reactions for strapping the TV rocket to Garcia/2.0, and in 2020 to The Acclaimed.“
During a recent interview with Steven’s Wrestling Journey, Jungle Boy gave his thoughts on his most memorable moments of his AEW career so far and why he was not fond of the way Jurassic Express won their first ever AEW World Tag Team Championship. Jungle Boy stated “My most memorable moments would be, the first tag team match we had in AEW, the very beginning. People just had such a great reaction to us being together and we had both been coming off the independents and had been working really hard to get signed and we were finally there. To have such a great response to what we were doing, felt really cool. Winning the tag team belts was really cool. I kind of didn’t like the way it happened, exactly, there was some stuff that went wrong at the end. Fenix got hurt, which is never nice, and there were some hijinx going on that I didn’t fully love. Still, to win the tag team belts in the best wrestling company in the world with my best friend was a really special experience. The last tag match we had, we ended up losing it and Christian ended up smashing my head with a chair right after, which wasn’t great, but the match before it, the ladder match with the Young Bucks, they are probably my favorite tag team to watch, they are amazing. We felt it was one of the best matches we ever had. It was really cool, after everything we had been through, to go out there with people we had watched and idolized, who were like mentors to us, to go out there and have this amazing match. What happened after has taken over, but we’ll always have that match. We came from, not even being a team, to being one of the top teams in the company. It’s been a cool ride.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
During a recent interview with PWMania, former AEW talent Jack Evans gave his thoughts about how his time in AEW helped motivate his career and if he is interested in a potential return in the future. Evans stated “Honestly, one of the things that has motivated me recently was my AEW stint. I didn’t do as well there as I could’ve, but nonetheless, I was grateful for the experience. I don’t know how likely it is that I’ll be back there, even though I would love to. It’s a very sought-after promotion that everyone’s trying to go to.“
As noted before, Kris Statlander suffered a torn ACL injury earlier this month and is currently expected to be out of action for the next six to eight months. During a recent interview with the Busted Open Radio podcast, AEW CEO Tony Khan gave his thoughts about Statlander’s recent injury and the big plans he had for her prior to the injury. Khan stated “Of course, Toni Storm was up there, one of the top two contenders for sure with Kris Statlander and Kris Statlander, really unfortunate injury. We’re sorry to see her out. I really had a lot of big plans and do still have big plans for Kris Statlander and terrible timing for one of our great stars to get hurt but we’ve had a lot of injuries this summer and over and over, the wrestlers in AEW have stepped up to help the company when there’s been injuries and I think that’s been the real theme of this summer.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
In regards to AEW’s plans for Statlander prior to her injury, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Statlander had been planned to challenge Jade Cargill for the TBS Championship at next month’s All Out 2022 event.
This past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show featured a Best 2-out-of-3 Falls match between Bryan Danielson and Daniel Garcia. Garcia recently reflected on Twitter about his match with Danielson. Garcia stated “My match on Wednesday was the kind of match that I always dreamt of having when I was a kid. I hope there’s a kid somewhere that watched it and wants to have one like that. And maybe it’s pretentious, but if they don’t have wrestling aspirations I hope they can apply lessons form the match into other avenues of their life.“
CM Punk recently reflected on Instagram about this past Saturday being the one year anniversary of his official debut in AEW. Punk stated “One year ago began the best year of my professional career. Too many great moments, not enough space to post all the great pics. Rekindled passion, made new friends, reunited with old ones. Can’t stop smiling, won’t stop until the wheels fall off. Thank you most of all to all the fans who made it possible. I’m having the time of my life, as there’s a drive into deep left field by Castellanos and that’ll be a home run. And so that’ll make it a 4-0 ballgame.“

Indies & Misc. Wrestling

As noted before, Kota Ibushi has been out of action for NJPW since this past October due to a shoulder injury. During his time away from the company, Ibushi accused NJPW’s management of “power harassment” against him over the past year. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that the general feeling within NJPW’s locker room is that Ibushi will not be returning to the company.
NJPW reportedly generated a paid attendance of 2,212 for their Aug. 13th G1 Climax 2022 event in Machida, 1,728 for their Aug. 14th G1 Climax 2022 event in Nagano, 3,227 for their Aug. 16th G1 Climax 2022 event in Tokyo, 3,179 for their Aug. 17th G1 Climax 2022 event in Tokyo, and 6,716 for their Aug. 18th G1 Climax 2022 Finals event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
During a recent interview with NJPW’s English website, NJPW President Takami Ohbari stated that the company managed to sell over 48,000 tickets for this year’s G1 Climax 2022 tournament. Obani also stated that while the amount was lower than the company’s goal of 50,000 tickets, he is still proud of the ticket sales amount and thanked the fans for their support. Obani stated “We underwent the tour with a goal of bringing 50,000 spectators across our 20 events, and eventually achieved 96% of that goal. Over 48,000 fans attended G1 events this year, a 180% increase over last year’s G1. Thanks to all of you for being a part of G1 Climax 32. I myself met many fans who were coming to venues for the first time in two years or more. Many children were in attendance, and I even saw fans who were able to make the trip to see G1 from overseas. There were new fans, returning fans and international fans all experiencing the energy and power that the G1 creates. We all plan to bring that same energy with us through this 50th Anniversary year, right up until January 4 2023. Finally, I want to make note of the fact that we were able to complete the tour without any cases of COVID arising. This is in no small part thanks to the efforts of all our great fans who were able to abide by our event protocols throughout the tour, and for that, and all your support, I thank you very much.’“
KENTA stated in an excerpt from his recently published autobiographical book that he was not fond of the ring name choices WWE gave to him to use in the company. KENTA revealed that some of the ring names were KAGE (shadow), KOSETSU (bone fracture) and SENTOKI (fighter plane). KENTA also stated that he had suggested to use his regular ring name and even the name of his dog but both were rejected by WWE. KENTA stated “Among WWE names put in front of KENTA: KAGE (shadow), KOSETSU (bone fracture) and SENTOKI (fighter plane) ‘I’d be so embarrassed I couldn’t ever return to japan. My real name, Kenta was obviously out. I suggested my surname, Kobayashi. That was out. Even my dog’s name was out’” (English translation via Chris Charlton)
As noted before, this past Thursday’s episode of Impact! drew 92,000 viewers and a 0.02 18-49 key demographic rating. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that part of the reason for Impact’s low viewership numbers this week was due to several cable and satellite television providers had listed an incorrect listing for the show stating that it was a repeat and not a new episode.
Impact Wrestling reportedly generated an attendance of 750 for their Aug. 12th Emergence 2022 event in Cicero, IL, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that the Good Brothers, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson, are currently expected to leave Impact Wrestling following their upcoming set of Impact! tapings on August 26-27 in Dallas, Texas.
During a recent episode of the Wilde On podcast, host Taylor Wilde stated that despite her absence from Impact Wrestling since September of 2021, she is still currently under contract with the company. Wilde stated “When COVID was at peak time, that’s when my divorce was at peak time so long story short, not to get into too many details because I don’t need anything used against me in court. I am good. I am good to come back at any time. I am ready now but you know, IMPACT’s got a lot of stuff going on. There’s a lot of new Knockouts. Still under contract so… that’s it [just a case of IMPACT writing her into a storyline]. You know, it’s funny because it was really disheartening. I retired, I took 10 years off, I became a firefighter, I’m still doing it and it was amazing. IMPACT really pushed me hard, they did all these big buildup vignettes. I came back at a weird time when there was no audience and I fcking loved it and I had this good momentum and just like anything, you do well in one part of your life and something fcking else falls apart and it was a real catastrophic loss, but you know, I think with all those failures, it makes you stronger and I’m sure there’s some sort of innate reason and I’ve been working on the indies just locally and I have started to work heel for the first time in my career so maybe that’s something that IMPACT can bring me back as. Like Kelly Bundy and most of the girls from The Craft.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
Stardom reportedly generated a paid attendance of 403 for their Aug. 13th 5STAR Grand Prix 2022 event in Matsue and 525 for their Aug. 14th 5STAR Grand Prix 2022 event in Okayama, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Game Changer Wrestling reportedly generated an attendance of 875 for their Aug. 13th Homecoming 2022 Part 1 event and 625 for their Aug. 14th Homecoming 2022 Part 2 event in Atlantic City, New Jersey, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Pro Wrestling NOAH reportedly generated a paid attendance of 505 for their Aug. 13th N-1 Victory 2022 event in Osaka and 704 for their Aug. 14th N-1 Victory 2022 event in Hiroshima, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre reportedly generated an attendance of 9,000 for their Aug. 12th Super Viernes event in Mexico City, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
During a recent interview with Lucha Libre Online, Konnan stated that Lucha Libre AAA is currently working on plans to bring a United States-based tag team, a former WWE female talent, and an AEW talent that have never worked before in Mexico for a future AAA event. In regards to the mystery AEW talent, Konnan stated that it is not someone of the caliber of Chris Jericho or CM Punk due to AAA would not be able to afford their high asking price tag. (Transcript h/t: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
During a recent interview with The Sessions with Renee Paquette podcast, Diamond Dallas Page revealed that Ric Flair had asked him if he was interested in being part of his match at last month’s Ric Flair’s Last Match event. Page stated “Ric actually called me and asked me if I would be in the match with him, do a six-man. At first he said, ‘D, how old are you?’ ’66.’ ‘I’ve seen you, you’re in great shape. I’d really love to have you be in this match.’ I said, ‘Ric, I can’t do it. I feel so good, I can’t take a chance on hurting myself.’ He goes, ‘I feel great!’ ‘You’re not from this planet.’ That’s when he talked me into doing the roast and I said I would only do it for him. I’m not a roast guy.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
The National Wrestling Alliance announced that Taryn Terrell is the next official participant for their The Burke Invitational Battle Royal match at their NWA 74 Night 1 event on August 27th in St. Louis, Missouri.