Sat. Roundup: Tiffany Stratton, CM Punk AEW Firing Update, AEW All In Notes, Impact Ratings, Terry Funk Passing Update, Indies

WWE

• Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,280,000 viewers on FOX, according to TVSeriesFinale.
• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE Hall of Famer and Japanese wrestling legend Keiji Mutoh was seen in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ahead of tonight’s WWE Payback 2023 event in the city. Johnson reported that the reason for Mutoh being in Pittsburgh nor his recent trip to the United States is currently not known.
• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that NXT talent Tiffany Stratton is in attendance backstage at tonight’s WWE Payback 2023 event in Pittsburgh. Johnson reported that while WWE officials exact plans for Stratton are currently not known, it is very likely she will be involved in some form regarding the Steel Cage match between Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus at the event.
• Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Hershey, Pennsylvania featured John Cena making a special appearance and revealed himself to be the official host of today’s Payback 2023 event in Pittsburgh. WWE held a digital exclusive backstage interview with Cena discussing his thoughts about his return to WWE. Cena stated “Every single chance I get to go out there becomes more and more special. There is no denying the fact that I’m 46 and staring down 47. I’ve been here for over two decades. As I said out there in the ring, the last one is not tonight, but I know it’s soon. To speak candidly, when you’re involved in this every day in a full-time capacity, you just think about what’s next. The WWE Universe being gracious to invite me and allow me back to be part of this family, for the last two or three years, I’ve been able to focus on what’s now. I never miss any of those wonderful moments in the ring. I know it may sound repetitive, but so is me saying ‘Never give up,’ and I never mind saying that, so I never mind saying ‘thank you’ to the people that make this special. Without them and them caring, I don’t get to come back.” Cena also gave his thoughts about being the host of tonight’s Payback 2023 event. Cena stated “I’ve never quite hosted. I just found that out right before I went down there and I want to make sure everyone knows I’ll be at the premium live event Payback as the host, and I don’t even know what that means. I have a lot of mutual respect for The Miz, he’s a man that wears many hats, maybe I can engage in a conversation with him and get some suggestions, he’s done the job quite well.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Fightful Select reported that those spoken to within WWE stated that Cena’s availability for WWE for the next two months of shows was due to the ongoing Hollywood strike. Cena and WWE officials reportedly had reached a deal to bring him in for several SmackDown shows. One high level source spoken to reportedly stated that if Cena ends regularly appearing on WWE television but the strike wraps ends during this time period, then WWE will wrap up anything he’s involved in and he will return to his outside projects. WWE officials reportedly currently do not have any concerns over the possibility of Cena not being able to fulfill all of his scheduled bookings if the strike were to end before then. It was reported that while WWE has advertised Cena to be appearing at upcoming shows, there is no guarantee that this would all be for televised appearances.
• WWE held one dark match prior to the start of Friday’s SmackDown show in Hershey. This was a singles match of Butch vs. Kit Wilson, which was won by Butch.
• WWE also held one post-show dark match following the end of Friday’s SmackDown show in Hershey. This was a singles match of Drew McIntyre vs. Karrion Kross, which was won by McIntyre.
• Friday’s NXT LVL Up show featured Duke Hudson defeating Akira Tozawa in a NXT Global Heritage Invitational Tournament Group B match. Hudson is currently tied with Joe Coffey at two points each for the top spot in the group.
• In a recent interview with the WWE After The Bell with Corey Graves podcast, Cody Rhodes gave his thoughts about what he had appreciated the most during his time away from WWE and return to the company in 2022. Rhodes stated “The things I appreciate in WWE is, it’s almost like we’re tailor-made for each other in that I’m a bit of a control freak. I want to really have a say in what my merch [merchandise] will look like. I also want to see how well that’s doing in every single market, not just the general conversation once a week, not unlike I watched Cena [John Cena] do. Not just that, but everything with the presentation, all of these things that I felt like I had to do myself, there is a department at WWE that wanted to do it and knew how to do it better than me. That appreciation, I didn’t have as a kid. I’ll be honest, when I was here the first time, went like two years before I introduced myself to Marty the cameraman, two years before I knew Stu on the floor by name. I was immature and flying at a million miles an hour and not knowing what’s what and how important everybody is. At the end of the night, I stay a little longer, perhaps more than production wants, but at WWE, that’s a big thing I appreciate, how accommodating they are in terms of ‘the big machine.’ It is an unbelievably well-oiled machine. There’s Vince [Vince McMahon], Hunter [Triple H], and plenty of top brass, but I’ll tell you a guy who I feel gave me the keys to the kingdom was Nick Khan. I feel he really gave me the keys to the kingdom when I signed and ever since then, every department, everybody, I have such an appreciation for that. They aren’t nine to fivers. They live it and breathe it. I kind of don’t love the nine to fivers who say, ‘it’s done for the day’ and put it away. This is a passion industry, a passion job. Nine to five doesn’t work for me. I’m texting people at 11. Poor [VP of Creative Writing] Ryan Ward, getting texts from me, he’s probably on vacation. I have such an appreciation for the machine, how accommodating the machine has been for me.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent interview with ReviewSTL, LA Knight gave his thoughts about why him needing to win a championship during his current run in WWE is necessary to him. Knight stated “It’s necessary for me. People might have different philosophies of whether it’s necessary for you to be popular. No, maybe it’s not necessary to be popular but for me, to be where I want to be and do what I want to do, I think it’s very necessary because you can’t be in those conversations as far as who’s the best now or maybe even possibly all time unless you’ve held those titles. So, is it necessary from a popularity standpoint? Maybe not, but is it necessary for me and what I want to accomplish? Yeah.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• WWE filed a trademark for “Riley Osborne” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on August 28th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• WWE’s stock rebounded in value on Friday following its large drop related to the news of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund purchasing a minority stake in Professional Fighters League. WWE’s stock rose to $104.58 following the close of regular trading hours.
• WWE reportedly has sold around 12,475 tickets for tonight’s Payback 2023 event in Pittsburgh, PA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• As noted before, Bray Wyatt, real name Windham Rotunda, passed away last week due to a heart attack. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that he had been told off the record that the official reason for Wyatt’s release in July of 2021 was due to Wyatt’s heart-related issues that WWE wanted to keep as a secret for their reason. In regards to Wyatt’s bout with COVID earlier this year, Meltzer reported that he was also told off the record that this illness was serious enough that it had caused even more damage to Wyatt’s heart at the time.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Bray Wyatt’s passing on August 24th was was the top searched topic with around two million searches on Google for that day.
• Sami Zayn recently announced on Twitter that Edge recently donated the special gear he wore for his 25th Anniversary match against Sheamus at the August 18th SmackDown show in Toronto, Canada. Zayn stated that Edge wanted his gear to be auctioned off with all proceeds going towards the Sami For Syria charity.

AEW & ROH

• As noted before, AEW officially terminated CM Punk’s contract with the company earlier today. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated the backstage reaction by those in attendance for tonight’s AEW Collision show was mixed. Those spoken to reportedly stated that some within the company are really down on Punk being fired while others felt it was the right move and are happy over it. Some reportedly are also just happy that AEW CEO Tony Khan made a decision over the issue and they can now move on forward with the focus being towards AEW and the shows themselves. Johnson reported that Bryan Danielson, The Young Bucks, and Ricky Steamboat are in attendance backstage while Jack Perry is not due to his current suspension.
• AEW recently announced that Chicago Bulls legend Dennis Rodman will be making an appearance for the company at tonight’s AEW Collision show in Chicago, Illinois.
• As noted before, AEW recently announced a potential new match of Ricky Starks vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat for the card of this Sunday’s All Out 2023 event in Chicago. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated that AEW’s current plans for Starks’ match challenge segment on tonight’s Collision show is for someone else to take Steamboat’s place for this match and would originally had been CM Punk if not for his current suspension from AEW.
• During Friday’s AEW Rampage show, AEW commentator Excalibur revealed that the AEW International Championship match of Jon Moxley vs. Orange Cassidy (c) will be the main event for this Sunday’s All Out 2023 event.
• In a recent interview with CBS Chicago, Darby Allin stated that he suffered a spinal-related injury at AEW’s All In event this past Sunday in London, England. Allin stated “I’m not 100%. We had a show in London, I really messed my spine up. I’m trying to take it easy before Sunday. My lower back is really banged up. At the show in Wembley, I jumped off the top rope and landed on a metal coffin on my lower spine. Luchasaurus, he’s a huge dude. I think a lot of it has to do with where I’m willing to go in that ring. A lot of people aren’t willing to go where I’m willing to go mentally. I can take a big butt kicking. When things are going, there are things I’m capable of that I believe nobody else is.” In response to if this injury could potentially cause him to miss AEW’s All Out 2023 event this Sunday, Allin stated “No, I can touch my toes still, so I’m good.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent interview with the Talk Is Jericho podcast, Aussie Open’s Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis gave their reasons why they signed a deal with AEW and their talks with NJPW and WWE. In regards to NJPW, Davis stated that NJPW officials wanted to wait until this past July to give them a new contract which would have left them without an official contract with the company for eight months. Fletcher stated that this was the reason why they started to look elsewhere for a new deal while Davis stated that they rejected offers from WWE since it would have meant they could no longer work for NJPW. Davis also stated that a backstage talk he had with AEW CEO Tony Khan at a taping for Ring of Honor over his knee injury was the reason why Khan decided to cover his medical costs despite the injury not taking place in his company. In regards to AEW, Aussie Open stated that it started off as NJPW asking them if they would be interested in a joint deal with AEW which led to a series of talks with NJPW and AEW for their eventual signing with AEW. (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• AEW recently uploaded a video featuring all of Orange Cassidy’s title defenses as their current AEW International Champion ahead of this Sunday’s All Out 2023 event.
• In a recent interview with Barstool’s Rasslin podcast, Orange Cassidy gave his thoughts on the importance of The Elite for AEW. Cassidy stated “This company wouldn’t exist without them. It’s very clear, it’s very apparent, if you don’t think that, then you don’t know what AEW is, and that’s fine. They are the heart, they are the soul, they are everything AEW represents. Without those guys, I wouldn’t be sitting here with you while toilets are being flushed over my head. I am forever grateful to those people, and they allow us to do what we want to do. They allowed me to be me, I can thrive in an environment where you can be yourself. Them re-signing is a huge deal. I kind of want to wrestle them at some point.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent live episode of the AEW Unrestricted podcast at Starrcast’s Starrcast VI convention, AEW CEO Tony Khan stated that All In’s live gate at Wembley Stadium was “several times the prince he paid for ROH.” Khan stated “It is part of our video library. When I purchased Ring of Honor, Ring of Honor produced the show, I was able to buy the tape in the sale, which was a very lucrative part of the sale. In fact, the gate for Wembley Stadium at All In was several times the price of the entire company. I got quite a steal, to say the least.” Khan also stated that the origin of the All Out pay-per-view name was meant as both AEW paying homage to the original All In event and not wanting to be potentially sued by Ring of Honor had they used the All In name. Khan stated “All Out, honestly, got named because I didn’t want to name it All In and get sued by ROH.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• As noted before, AEW’s All In event this past Sunday at Wembley Stadium in London, England set a new all-time record for largest paid attendance for a wrestling event in wrestling history at 81,035. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW was able to surpass the record due to the last two days of ticket sales being very strong. Meltzer reported that AEW had officially broke the record either the day before or on the day of the show. Meltzer reported that those spoken to within AEW confirmed that the reason why the company only announced the paid number and not total number for attendance was due to them wanting to release an accurate number for historical purposes. Meltzer reported that this is a different mindset compared WWE and how they announce their record-setting attendances for events. In regards to total attendance number, Meltzer reported that AEW Tony Khan had stated during the All In post-show media scrum that AEW had around 90,000 for the total attendance when including comp tickets and hospitality suite booths while WrestleTix listed 82,140 tickets distributed. In regards to max capacity for paid tickets, Meltzer reported that AEW had set the max capacity to over 84,000 in the days leading up to their event.
• In regards to the potential of WWE breaking AEW’s all-time paid attendance record for a wrestling event, Dave Meltzer reported that this would be very diffcult based on their current stage setup for major events and would need to downscale it to free up enough seats to make it possible. Meltzer also reported that there are a few stadiums in the United States where WWE could hold a WrestleMania event without needing to make major changes to their stage setup to try to break this record but they are mostly in markets where the local governments would not be expected to make a bid for WWE events.
• In regards to AEW’s All In live gate of around $10 million, Dave Meltzer reported that when Tony Khan first announced that they had reached $10 million, the real number was slightly lower but ended up reaching that amount with late ticket sales. Meltzer reported that All In’s live gate fell short of tying WWE’s WrestleMania 39 Night 2 event live gate of $10,286,884 for largest gate since 2019 but it was still the largest gate for a non-WrestleMania event in wrestling history.
• As noted before, Bryan Danielson has been out of action for AEW since this past June due to a fractured forearm injury. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Danielson was recently informed by doctors that he could be medically cleared from his injury by this October. Meltzer reported that this would open up the possibility of Danielson being able to work at AEW’s upcoming WrestleDream event on October 1st in his hometown of Seattle but it would be a photo finish type situation.
• As noted before, Mercedes Mone has been out of action for New Japan Pro Wrestling since this past May due to an ankle injury. Mone most recently made an appearance in the crowd at this past Sunday’s AEW All In event in London, England. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Mone was seen with her foot in a full cast while she was in town and had someone wheeling her in a wheelchair to move around while at the airport.
• As noted before, British indies wrestler and former Impact talent Grado made a surprise appearance at this past Sunday’s AEW All In pre-show event in London. In a recent interview with the Cultaholic Wrestling podcast, Grado gave his thoughts about his appearance in AEW. Grado stated “I got [called] probably Thursday night to be at Wembley. Nothing was ever confirmed. I had people congratulating me after the TalkSPORT spot, ‘Oh my God, you’re wrestling at Wembley, you vs. Jeff Jarrett.’ People were making graphics. I felt so uneasy. I never tweeted anything since the thing with TalkSPORT. ‘I’m staying out of this.’ I didn’t want [to upset anyone]. People were asking ‘why don’t you jump on the hashtag campaign?’ I felt so uneasy. I need to thank everybody that sent a heartwarming and positive Grado tweet in the last seven days because I reckon that had a big part to play in the fact that I ended up being at Wembley. At the end of the day, it’s an AEW show. Those are guys that have worked hard for years to get on a show like that on the AEW roster. I always knew, if it doesn’t happen, I don’t really deserve to be at their show, so I’m going to go with the flow and hope for the best.” Grado also stated that he only learned about the actual plans for him that afternoon. Grado stated “Quite later on in the afternoon.” Grado also stated that he did try to get “Like A Pray” by Madonna for his theme song at the event but was unable to get it approved for legal reasons. Grado stated “There’s a wrestler who was going to speak on my behalf to secure Like A Prayer. I was like, ‘I’m only here for one night, I’ll speak to him. I don’t care.’ ‘Okay.’ ‘Tony my man! How are you! Thanks for bringing this event to the UK! Big fan of your work.’ We make small talk. Elephant in the room, Like A Prayer. Maybe he wants to see me wrestle, maybe he’s interested in seeing me wrestle. ‘Is there any chance we can get it? Mute the feed, play it through the host. We turn off any audio, send a message to the truck, cut the audio, blast it through the arena, and let’s party.’ He was like, ‘Absolutely not. I’m not [fucking] with Madonna.’ We had ideas if I could sing it walking to the ring. There was the whole rip-off stuff. Even at that point, we were getting lawyers involved. ‘I need this song.’ I didn’t want to piss him off. At the end of the day, he’s got the biggest wrestling show of all time, and he’s worried about some jabroni coming in his office [before the show] pleading, ‘Can I get my music.’ I thought, I’m only here for one night, what’s the harm in asking? I was clutching at straws.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent episode of the My World with Jeff Jarrett podcast, co-host Jeff Jarrett gave his thoughts about the rumors that AEW had considered plans for a match between him and Grado at their All In event this past Sunday. Jarrett stated “The promotional stunt that took place, there was no master plan of where this was going to go or where that was going to. I have to give Tom Campbell of Cultaholic, he got word that Jarrett-Grado….I can assure listeners this, a Jarrett-Grado singles match, I don’t believe was ever discussed. He is not on the AEW roster. He may have been in the corner, maybe a six-man, at one time there was an eight-man, at one time there was a ten-man discussion, all kinds of different things. At the end of the day, a lot of chatter that went on with it. Ol’ Tom led the charge, and he went heavy with it. The amount of social media buzz that took place the seven days beforehand, my gosh. When Grado’s video wall popped up, what a roar. It was a big pop. Great moment.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

Impact, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

• Impact Wrestling drew 134,000 viewers and a 0.02 key demographic rating for their August 31st episode on AXS TV. The viewership and ratings for Impact’s August 24th episode is currently not known. (Source: SpoilerTV)
• Impact Wrestling recently announced that America’s Most Wanted (James Storm & Chris Harris) will be making an appearance for the company at their Impact 1000 event on September 9th in White Plains, New York.
• Impact also recently announced one new match for the card of their Impact 1000 event on September 9th in White Plains. This is a singles match of Jake Something vs. Dirty Dango.
• Tommy Dreamer filed a trademark for “Tommy Dreamer” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on August 23rd to the USPTO.
• As noted before, a new Joshi promotion called Sukeban will be officially launching this Fall in the United States and will be holding their debut event this September in New York City, New York. The company recently announced that ticket sales for their debut event reached sold out status after just two hours of being put on sale.
• Game Changer Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their GCW vs. The World 2023 event on September 23rd in Oberhausen, Germany. This is a GCW Ultraviolent Championship match of Lou Nixon vs. Rina Yamashita (c).
• In a recent episode of The Kurt Angle Show podcast, WWE Hall of Famer and co-host Kurt Angle provided a health update following his recent back surgery. Angle stated “I have to get shoulder replacement surgery. [I found out that I need surgery] about six months ago. My doctor told me before he injected it with Novocaine. I get injections in my shoulder right now… My knees are good. My back is okay. My neck is not too bad, but my shoulder is hurting pretty bad. So, I’m eventually going to have shoulder replacement surgery. Actually, I want to do this movie first before I do it.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• House of Glory recently announced a new match for the card of their Fallout event on September 15th in New York City, New York. This is a singles match of El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Low Ki.
• This past Thursday’s Art of War 2023 event for AAW Wrestling in Berwyn, Illinois featured Jon Moxley making a surprise appearance for the company. Moxley made his appearance during a Barbed Wire Deathmatch between Mance Warner and Robert Anthony helping Anthony win the match.
• As noted before, Calvin Tankman’s contract with Major League Wrestling expired at the end of this past August. Tankman recently confirmed on Twitter that his contract with MLW has expired and has left the company and is currently a free agent.
• Japanese wrestling legend and former Pro Wrestling NOAH talent Keiji Mutoh revealed on Twitter that he recently traveled to Chicago, Illinois. It is currently not known if Mutoh’s trip to Chicago is related or not to AEW’s upcoming All Out 2023 event in the city.
• Reforma reported that Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and NFL team Denver Broncos recently reached a partnership deal that will involve CMLL talent Místico, Volador Jr., Atlantis Jr., and Templario competing in a Lucha Lubre exhibition match on October 22nd at the Empower Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado. It was also reported that the Broncos will be releasing a limited edition Lucha Libre themed football jersey as part of the team. (English translation via LuchaBlog)
• As noted before, wrestling legend Terry Funk passed away on August 23rd. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that those close to Funk stated that prior to his passing, Funk had been in hospice care for the past several months. Meltzer reported that Funk had also been dealing with dementia that had gotten worse in recent months.