Weekend Roundup: Steve Austin WM Update, RAW 30, Stephanie McMahon, Jay Briscoe Funeral, NJPW, Negro Casas & AAA, Indies

WWE

• This past Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,430,000 viewers on FOX, according to SpoilerTV.
• As noted before, WWE changed their original plans for the advertised cage match between Becky Lynch and Bayley at this past Monday’s RAW 30 show due to timing-related issues. In a recent interview with BT Sport, Bayley gave her thoughts about the online backlash against WWE over them cutting the women’s cage match in favor of a short angle segment instead. Bayley stated “They have our backs and stuff, but I don’t want them to think that women’s wrestling is moving backward or that we’re not seen in the same light as Roman Reigns or anybody like that. We are very appreciated backstage, we’re treated super well, and we are a part of big conversations when it comes to big stories, big matches, big premium live events. We’re in conversations with that. I don’t want the fans to get the wrong idea with what happened. It was just what happened, happened. We’re going to make the best of it and they’re going to see how it made everything so much bigger and better.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• This past Wednesday’s NBA game between the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers in Philadelphia featured 76ers player Joel Embiid taunting the Nets with a D-X crotch chop gesture. This resulted in Nets player Kevin Durant being vocal on Twitter about his issues with Embiid’s taunt and the NBA fining Embiid $25,000 for his actions. Following the news of the fine, WWE’s Paul “Triple H” Levesque responded on Twitter stating “Curious, @JoelEmbiid… If you wrote a bigger check now, could you get a volume discount to cover the rest of the season??#IllChipIn #SuckIt“
• In a recent investor’s meeting, Comcast stated that NBC’s Peacock service had around 20 million subscribers at the end of 2022. It was also stated that Peacock had generated $600 million in revenue for the fiscal year against $2.5 billion in losses. It was also announced that subscriptions for their fiscal 2022 fourth quarter rose by 5 million but also saw a net loss of $978 million for the quarter. In regards to their fiscal 2023 projections, it was stated that they are currently expecting around $3 billion in losses for 2023 but also are expecting these losses to start declining starting in 2024.
• As noted before, WWE had considered plans for a potential match between Brock Lesnar and Stone Cold Steve Austin at this April’s WrestleMania 39 event in Inglewood, California. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that WWE officials had pitched this idea to Austin as recently as a few weeks ago. Meltzer reported that WWE had plans at one point for the main events for this year’s two-night WrestleMania 39 was for Austin vs. Lesnar on Night 1 and Roman Reigns vs. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on Night 2. In regards to Austin vs. Lesnar, this idea reportedly revolved around WWE wanting a first-ever “dream” match on the card for this year’s event.
• Cody Rhodes made his official in-ring return from torn pectoral injury at WWE’s Royal Rumble 2023 event on Saturday in San Antonio, Texas. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestlign Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Rhodes had undergone what was described as a boxing training camp to get back into shape ahead of WWE’s Royal Rumble event. Meltzer reported that this type of training emphasizes improving Rhodes’ cardio performance in order to be able to work a long match without suffering from exhaustion effects early into it.
• As noted before, WWE recently announced that this past Monday’s RAW 30 show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania broke the all-time record for largest live gate ever for a RAW show in RAW series history. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that RAW’s attendance was 14,451 with the split being 13,900 paid and 551 as comp tickets. WWE’s official inflated number announced for the show was 16,957. In regards to live gate revenue, Meltzer reported that WWE generated around $1.5 million for RAW’s live gate.
• As noted before, the January 23rd episode of RAW drew 2,344,000 viewers and a 0.70 key demographic rating. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that RAW’s overall viewership was the highest since their February 17, 2020 show and their key demographic viewership of 905,000 viewers was the highest since their April 6, 2020 show. In regards to the first-to-third hour drop, Meltzer reported that RAW’s drop of 611,000 viewers would be one of the largest ever first-to-third hour declines for a RAW show in RAW series history. Meltzer also reported that the main reasons for this huge drop was due to the show’s very high first hour viewership that was commercial free and the show’s third hour having a lot more commercials than usual to make up for it.
• WWE reportedly generated an attendance of 12,480 (11,200 paid) for their Jan. 20th SmackDown show in Detroit, MI, 3,256 for their Jan. 21st house show event in Erie, PA, and 2,521 for their Jan. 22nd house show event in Binghamton, NY, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 5,986 tickets for their Jan. 30th RAW show in Tulsa, OK, 5,873 tickets for their Feb. 3rd SmackDown show in Greenville, SC, 3,948 tickets for their NXT Vengeance Day 2023 event in Charlotte, NC, 2,914 tickets for their Feb. 4th house show event in Columbus, GA, 2,539 tickets for their Feb. 5th house show event in Pensacola, FL, 7,295 tickets for their Feb. 6th RAW show in Orlando, FL, 4,197 tickets for their Feb. 10th SmackDown show in Uncasville, CT, 7,522 tickets for their Feb. 13th RAW show in Brooklyn, NY, 13,226 for their Feb. 17th SmackDown show in Montreal, 13,493 tickets for their Feb. 18th Elimination Chamber 2023 event in Montreal, Canada, 6,208 tickets for their Feb. 20th RAW show in Ottawa, Canada, 4,957 tickets for their Feb. 24th SmackDown show in Evansville, IN, 2,121 tickets for their Feb. 25th house show event in Champaign, IL, 2,502 tickets for their Feb. 26th house show event in Rockford, IL, 4,603 tickets for their Feb. 27th RAW show in Grand Rapids, MI, 4,360 tickets for their March 3rd SmackDown show in Washington, DC, 1,721 tickets for their March 4th house show event in Syracuse, NY, 4,073 tickets for their March 5th house show event in Trenton, NJ, 4,915 tickets for their March 6th RAW show in Boston, MA, 4,464 tickets for their March 10th SmackDown show in Pittsburgh, PA, 3,088 tickets for their March 11th house show event in Youngstown, OH, 4,793 tickets for their March 12th house show event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY, 54,383 tickets for their April 1st WrestleMania 39 Night 1 show in Inglewood, and 54,914 tickets for their April 2nd WrestleMania 39 Night 2 show in Inglewood, California as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, former WWE co-CEO Stephanie McMahon resigned from the company earlier this month. McMahon’s resignation took place several days following her father Vince’s return to the company’s Board of Directors. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that McMahon made the decision to resign from the company due to her father had been planning to demote her from her co-CEO position. Those spoken to reportedly stated that they felt McMahon had done a great job as WWE’s co-CEO considering the circumstances of how she got the job and being thrown right into a high level leadership role in the company. In regards to Vince McMahon, those spoken to reportedly stated that Vince no longer works extra longer work days in the office unlike his previous time in the company. Vince reportedly also has fewer duties than before running the company allowing him to leave earlier during work days.
• As noted before, Matt Riddle has been out of action for WWE since this past December due to him failing a second drug test and being sent to rehab as punishment. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Riddle recently completed rehab and speculated that Riddle could be able to make a surprise appearance in the Men’s Royal Rumble match assuming he was not suspended. This did not take place in the end and Riddle likely will be serving out the remainder of his drug rehab suspension.
• As noted before, Sheamus and Drew McIntyre recently formed a new tag team under the name of The Banger Bros. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE officials made the decision this past week to drop the Banger Bros team name due to their issues and awareness with a porn company named The Bang Bros.
• As noted before, Quincy Elliott has been out of action for WWE’s NXT brand since this past October due to an unknown injury. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources confirmed that Elliott was recently medically cleared for an in-ring return. In an interesting note, Elliott has been dealing with an online controversy since his time away revolving around him allegedly having “burner” social media accounts. These “burner” accounts reportedly contained comments disparaging his co-workers in NXT and also featured the usage of homophobic and other slurs.
• During a recent interview with the WWE La Previa show, Dragon Lee gave his thoughts about his recent signing with WWE. Lee stated “I feel very happy and excited. I can not believe this. This is something that surprised me a lot. I’m going to do my best like I always have. Representing my country, representing my people, showing all that I have achieved by working hard by being every day in the ring training, going to the gym every single day. The time has come, some may not believe this, but every Sunday I bought DVDs of WWE shows. Some of my favorite superstars were Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Batista. They inspired me to become a WWE superstar. Now my dream comes true. I’m going to be in the number one sports entertainment company and I’m happy about it. I’ll give my best. I am going to stand out, as I have done in all the places I’ve been. WWE see you very soon.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

AEW & ROH

• As noted before, Warner Bros Discovery recently lifted their ban on the Briscoe Brothers appearing on AEW programming following the backlash over their initial rejection of a tribute show for the late Jay Briscoe. In a recent episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, co-host Matt Hardy gave his thoughts about WBD “softening” their stance against the Briscoes. Hardy stated “It made me really happy that the network kind of softened their stance up on the Briscoes and Jay Briscoe specifically, and they’re going to let Mark wrestle and they’re gonna honor Jay tonight. I mean, it’s really the right thing to do and I’m proud of them for making that decision. He was my friend. I worked with him quite a bit and I liked him a lot personally. We shared a lot of the same bonds and a lot of the same loves of family and children, so it’s very sad to see him gone. It’s a very hard reminder that life is precious, you know. Live every day like it’s your last. You never know. Tomorrow’s not guaranteed for anyone.”
• Hardy also gave his thoughts on the match Mark Briscoe and Jay Lethal had in tribute to the late Jay Briscoe at this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show. Hardy stated “I really can’t imagine what Mark Briscoe has been through the last week, losing someone who’s that close to you, so it’s a lot of pressure on him to be performing tonight.Knowing Mark as I do, I know he’s going to give it his all to really honor Jay tonight and make people remember how special and how great and how influential the Briscoes were. Wrestling can absolutely be cathartic, especially if you’re someone who is so extremely passionate about it, and I know Mark Briscoe is. I think for Mark Briscoe it will be cathartic and I think it means a lot to him to be able to honor Jay and produce a proper tribute for him to remember his life and his legacy.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
• Former WWE and Major League Wrestling talent EJ Nduka made his official debut for AEW at their AEW Dark tapings on Saturday in Orlando, Florida. Kduka faced off against Konosuke Takeshita in a singles match at the tapings.
• In a recent episode of the ARN podcast, co-host Arn Anderson gave his thoughts on his son Brock Anderson forming a new tag team with Brian Pillman Jr. in AEW during the January 3rd episode of AEW Dark. Anderson stated “It is a work in progress. I hope so. There’s so much difference in their style and look, the way they approach things. My experience is that some of the best teams in history, the guys were completely different. I think this is one of those situations. I think Brian’s untapped. He’s a little bit a loose cannon if you’ve ever talked to him. How much of that is Brian or Brian’s dad filtering himself into his brain, I don’t know. But we’re gonna give it a try cause their singles careers are going nowhere quick. We’re gonna put the brakes on them right now.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• AEW reportedly generated an attendance of 5,700 (5,300 paid) for their Jan. 25th Dynamite show in Lexington, KY, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• AEW reportedly has sold around 3,188 tickets for their Feb. 8th Dynamite show in El Paso, TX, 2,558 tickets for their Feb. 15th Dynamite show in Laredo, TX, 6,126 tickets for their Feb. 22nd Dynamite show in Phoenix, AZ, 2,818 tickets for their March 1st Dynamite show in San Francisco, and 6,401 tickets for their March 5th Revolution 2023 event in San Francisco, CA, 6,306 tickets for their March 15th Dynamite show in Winnipeg, Canada, 1,291 tickets for their March 22nd Dynamite show in Independence, MO, 1,817 tickets for their March 29th Dynamite show in St. Louis, MO, 4,247 tickets for their April 5th Dynamite show in Long Island, NY, and 1,994 for their Rampage & Battle of the Belts VI shows in Kingston, RI as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• In a recent interview with 98 Rock Baltimore radio show, AEW CEO Tony Khan gave his thoughts about the current concussion protocol in AEW and their handling of Adam Cole’s recent concussion injury. Khan stated “It’s a very important concern. When Adam Cole was injured, we absolutely wanted to take as much time and evaluate what we could do for him, how we could treat him, and do whatever we could to put his health first before we even considered any possibility that he was going to return to the ring. It’s only now that he’s made this kind of progress in his brain therapy and his recovery to where we believe Adam Cole is ready to return to the ring. I’m very excited about that and it’s great to have him come back to AEW Dynamite and we’re so excited about more Adam Cole in AEW going forward.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• This past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Lexington, Kentucky featured a therapy session segment involving The Acclaimed, Billy Gunn, and The Gunns. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that indie wrestler Tiffany Nieves was the person who played the role of the therapist in the segment.
• Beyond Wrestling recently announced that they have pulled Willow Nightingale from card of their event today in Worcester, Massachusetts due to her recently suffering a minor injury.
• In a recent interview with the AEW Unrestricted podcast, Big Bill (former W. Morrissey) gave his thoughts about his current career in AEW and the warm reception from AEW’s locker room. Bill stated “It’s been really fun. Of course, when you first come in, people are a little suspicious of you. I know that’s how I would be when the new guy comes in. You come in and you’re trying to feel everyone out, there’s a bit of a process there. It takes a few weeks, maybe a few months. Everybody has been super kind and everybody has been accommodating. Any questions I’ve had, everybody’s been really really awesome. I really appreciate that because coming into a new locker room in professional wrestling isn’t the easiest thing in the world. It’s been really smooth. There’s people in the locker room that I know from years past and that definitely doesn’t hurt. It’s a very different atmosphere in AEW. For me, it’s fun.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• AEW recently announced that they will be holding two new sets of Dynamite and Rampage shows on April 12th in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and on April 19th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Tickets for these upcoming sets of shows was also announced to officially go on sale starting on February 10th.
• The funeral for the late Jay Briscoe, real name Jamin Pugh, took place earlier today at the Laurel High School in Laurel, Delaware. This funeral was made available to the public online in a video posted by the Laurel School District on their official YouTube channel in memory of Briscoe.

Indies & Misc. Wrestling

• Over The Top Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their ScrapperMania VII event on Match 17th in Wolverhampton, England. This is a singles match of Jon Moxley vs. Trent Seven.
• As noted before, Jennacide was recently pulled from the card of National Wrestling Alliance’s live NWA Powerrr show on January 31st due to medical-related reasons. The NWA recently announced that La Rosa Negra will be replacing Jennacide for her scheduled match at the show.
• WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus recently announced that she had pulled out of her scheduled booking for WrestleCon’s event on Saturday in San Antonio, Texas due to a family-related issue. Stratus revealed that her daughter recently fell ill and needed to take care of her at home.
• New Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 5,533 for their Jan. 21st Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Yokohama Arena event in Yokohama, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This event was held in co-promotion with Pro Wrestling NOAH.
• NJPW also reportedly generated a paid attendance of 1,650 for their Jan. 22nd The New Beginning In Nagoya 2023 event in Nagoya, 705 for their Jan. 24th Road to The New Beginning 2023 event in Tokyo, and 670 for their Jan. 25th Road to The New Beginning 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• NJPW recently announced a new start time for their upcoming Battle in the Valley 2023 event on February 18th in San Jose, California. It was announced that the event’s pre-show will now be starting at 9:20PM EST while the main show will be starting at 10PM EST. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that NJPW will not be having their usual NJPW Strong production crew for this event and instead their home network Asahi TV will be sending their own crew to run the event’s production.
• NJPW recently announced a new match for the card of their Battle in the Valley 2023 event. This is a NJPW Strong Openweight Championship match of KENTA vs. Fred Rosser (c).
• Mascara Dorada recently announced that he is currently a free agent. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Dorada was believed to have been under a contract with NJPW that recently expired but this is something that has yet to be confirmed. Meltzer reported that the reason why Dorada has not worked in Japan nor Mexico in recent months is due to visa-related issues.
• As noted before, the January 19th episode of Impact drew 115,000 viewers and a 0.02 key demographic rating. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that NJPW’s show on AXS TV that aired after that night’s Impact managed to top Impact for the second week in a row in key demographic viewership. Impact’s show drew 22,000 viewers while NJPW’s show drew 28,000 viewers in the key demographic.
• As noted before, Gail Kim stated in a recent interview with the Generation of Wrestling podcast that she has held recent talks in Impact Wrestling regarding the idea of partnering with Stardom and other companies over the idea for an all-women’s event in the future. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Impact has yet to have actual talks with Stardom regarding this potential plan.
• Pro Wrestling NOAH reportedly generated a paid attendance of 8,433 for their Jan. 22nd Great Muta Final Bye-Bye event in Yokohama, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre reportedly generated an attendance of over 7,000 for their Jan. 20th Super Viernes show in Mexico City, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, former CMLL talents Negro Casas and Dalys made their surprise debuts for Lucha Libre AAA at their television tapings on September 21st in Queretaro, Mexico. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that prior to their debuts, AAA officials had been in talks with Casas regarding a potential contract for about a year. Meltzer reported that Casas had indicated to AAA a growing level of interest of signing after every talk between the two sides. Meltzer reported that his sources stated that Casas was more loyal to the late Paco Alonso and not the current ownership as the reason why he finally decided to join AAA. In regards to Dalys, Meltzer reported that AAA officials were not that interested in signing her to a deal due to her bad reputation in CMLL but it gave them a better chance of signing Casas if they included her as a package type deal.
• AAA reportedly generated an attendance of 4,400 for their Jan. 21st Luchando Por Mexico event in Queretaro, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Stardom reportedly generated a paid attendance of 307 for their Jan. 20th New Blood 7 event in Tokyo and 710 for their Jan. 21st Stardom Award 2022 In Takadanobaba event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• All Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly generated a paid attendance of 504 for their Jan. 22nd New Year Giant Series 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, Major League Wrestling recently announced that they have signed a new television deal with REELZ Channel. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that REELZ currently has a national coverage of around 38.4 million homes based on recent data from Nielsen. This reportedly is around just over half of the homes that TNT, TBS, USA Network, and FS 1 currently have for national coverage in the United States.
• MLW recently announced a new match for the card of their SuperFight 2023 event on February 4th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is a singles match of Calvin Tankman vs. Akira.
• The Japanese government reportedly recently lifted their COVID-19 restrictions for public indoor events in the country, according to Kyodo News. In regards to wrestling, all events starting this week will be allowed to return to full capacity with vocal cheering allowed. Despite the rules lifting, the government still suggests for people to continue wearing masks for indoor events as a COVID-19 safety precaution.