Sat. Roundup: Nick Aldis WWE Update, Kota Ibushi AEW Signing, Tony Khan, Grizzled Young Vets, Lio Rush, Impact Ratings, Indies

WWE

• Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,330,000 viewers on FOX, according to TV Serie Finale.
• Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Tulsa, Oklahoma featured Kevin Owens being officially traded to the SmackDown brand as trade compensation for the Jey Uso trade deal. In a digital exclusive backstage interview with WWE, Owens gave his thoughts about being traded to SmackDown and the status of his tag team partnership with Sami Zayn. Owens stated “Well, actually, it’s my mom’s birthday tomorrow. So I’m going to fly back to Canada and go spend the day with her, which is lovely. Without my mom, I wouldn’t be here, literally because she gave birth to me, but also her support throughout my career. I needed it. Without her, I wouldn’t be here. So it’s great to get to go celebrate my move to SmackDown by spending my mom’s birthday with her. So that’s it, really. Just gonna go home and spend some time with my mom. Actually, I would say it’s pretty close to that. She constantly tells me how annoying she thinks Dominik is. Really, really, really does not like Rhea as well. Rhea is always on my case. Although look, I’m on SmackDown now, so hopefully she won’t be around so much. But Dominik showed up for no reason today, so you never know. I’m actually surprised Rhea let him out of the house. But anyway, look, I’m excited to be on SmackDown. It’s bittersweet. My tag team partner and friend Sami Zayn is still on Raw, so I think that effectively ends our partnership, for now anyway. So that’s kind of a hard one to take, but what can you do? I’m here on SmackDown. I’m gonna make the best of it.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Tulsa also featured WWE official Adam Pearce being officially announced as the new General Manager of RAW. Following the show, Pearce reflected on Twitter about becoming RAW’s new General Manager. Pearce stated “For the last ~4 years I’ve been honored to lead the governance of #SmackDown. Without question, it’s one of the great blessings in my professional life. But for everything, there is a season… With great yet bittersweet pride, I now turn her reins over to @RealNickAldis. I know that Nick will treat this shared legacy with the same respect he’s given to our past shared honors, and I’m excited to see what path he sets the blue brand on going forward. As for me, 100% of my passion now goes to the flagship, #WWERaw. Here’s to new beginnings, renewed passion for the tasks at hand, and to gratitude for all that have crossed my blue path for the last 4 trips around the sun. See ya at the #WWEDraft, Nick! It is official.”
• Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Tulsa also featured Nick Aldis making his official on-screen debut in WWE as SmackDown’s new General Manager. Aldis recently reflected on Twitter about becoming the new General Manager for WWE’s SmackDown brand. Aldis stated “The opportunity of a lifetime. Thank you @TripleH @WWE Onwards and upwards for the blue brand!“
• Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Nick Aldis had signed an official contract with WWE this past week. It was reported that while Aldis had been working on a producer tryout basis for the company prior to his signing, he was not listed among the producers for WWE’s SmackDown brand based on a recent internal producer list. It was reported that Aldis is currently listed instead as SmackDown General Manager but it is currently not known if this means that Aldis will no longer be working as a backstage producer for the company. It was reported that WWE official and new RAW GM Adam Pearce had worked as both an on-screen talent and backstage producer for years in WWE while MVP had been originally brought in to work as a backstage producer before moving to full-time on-screen role. It was also reported that Aldis had received a lot of praise by many within the company over him being easy to work with and being willing to make the most of the opportunity given to him.
• Saturday’s NXT house show event in Largo, Florida featured Lexis King, former Brian Pillman Jr., making his official in-ring debut for WWE. King defeated Brooks Jensen in a singles match at the event.
• WWE NIL signee Haley Cavinder announced on Instagram that she recently entered NCAA’s transfer portal and currently intends to play one more year of NCAA basketball. It is currently not known if Cavinder’s sister and WWE NIL signee Hanna will also be returning to college basketball as well.
• In regards to The Cavinder Twins status with WWE, The Cavinder Twins’ agent Jeff Hoffman stated in a recent interview with TheStreet that Haley and Hanna Cavinder are still in talks with WWE for actual contracts with the company. Hoffman stated “We’re still in deep and heavy conversations with WWE. We were out the training facility a few months ago. We were discussing upcoming trainings.“
• As noted before, this past Tuesday’s NXT show featured Cody Rhodes being given guest General Manager booking powers for the show. Rhodes recently announced on Twitter that he had one final decision as guest General Manager that will be officially revealed during next week’s NXT show on October 17th.
• As noted before, Ronda Rousey left WWE following this past August’s SummerSlam 2023 event. Rousey recently provided an update on Instagram stating that she is currently retired from wrestling. Rousey stated “Sorry, I couldn’t hear you through my retirement. Bernie Lumen ❤️🔥”
• PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that several readers had informed him that CM Punk was seen in Orlando, Florida on Friday. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Punk did not visit WWE’s Performance Center. It was reported that the reason for Punk’s visit was due to Cage Fury Fighting Championship holding an event that night in Tampa and Punk working the event as a commentator.
• As noted before, Lacey Evans departed from WWE this past August. In a recent interview with the Road Trip After Hours with Teddy Long and Mac Davis podcast, Evans gave her thoughts about her decision to leave WWE. Evans stated “It wasn’t a bit much as far as I couldn’t do it. It was a bit much as far as it wasn’t for me. I lasted seven years in WWE, I invested and made a lot of money. I’m a business owner, I own investment properties, I really sunk a lot of good money into making sure I’m squared away. My priorities, where my priorities in comparison to a lot of professional wrestlers are way different, night and day. I think I was blessed to start that business venture with a full blown awesome husband and relationship. I’ve already had a baby. I was a business owner, making six figures, before I even joined. I took a pay cut to be able to try and use the platform to make a difference for my community. It was a lot in that regard because my priorities and idea in life was not running on red carpets and sniffing people’s asses for opportunities. I’m not cut out for that, unfortunately.” Evans also gave her thoughts about if AEW’s work schedule would be better for her. Evans stated “Absolutely. I’m mean as hell. I’m one mean son of a gun. That was probably my fault, at requesting my release, there are no hard feelings at WWE, it’s great. That lifestyle is for people that, when they hold that title above their head, that’s what makes them feel significant or feel like they’ve accomplished something. Me being able to make my kids food or cook my old man, that to me is worth all the weight in gold.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• As noted before, WWE terminated their merchandise deal with Panini this past September over allegations of breach of contract which led to Panini filing a lawsuit in return over the issue. Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that WWE filed an injunction this past Thursday demanding for Panini to cease all sale of WWE branded trading cards based on recent court records.
• WWE’s Fastlane 2023 event earlier this month reportedly is currently estimated to have generated around 7,100 pay-per-view buys, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that this was down 6% compared to this past September’s Payback 2023 buys after its first week.
• This past Saturday’s Fastlane 2023 event featured Carlito making his surprise return to WWE and being revealed as the mystery tag team partner for the LWO against Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that WWE officials originally had different plans for Carlito’s return to the company following his signing with them this past June. Meltzer reported that the reason for the long delay for Carlito’s official return was due to WWE officials simply not having any creative plans for him after their original plans were dropped.

AEW & ROH

• In a recent interview on his YouTube channel, Kota Ibushi revealed that he is currently signed to a contract with AEW. Ibushi stated “I signed the contract.” Ibushi provided more details stating that he had signed his contract on the day of AEW’s Blood & Guts 2023 show this past July and the terms of his deal allows him to stay in Japan and work for promotions there. Ibushi stated “In a manner of speaking, yes. But during the discussion, they asked me how we could come to a deal. I said unless it has this and this and this, unless it has these conditions, I don’t want to sign a contract. I said if we’re just going to sign a contract, let’s do it today. That was the hardcore match, double ring, cage [Blood & Guts], on that day. That’s the day we signed the contract. We had a verbal agreement. It has to be this way for me. I’m based in Japan, and I will travel for the matches. Basically, I’m in Japan, I work in Japan. I will be active. I’ll be free to do that do. There are other things that make the contract even more flexible. Like if I could appear for another promotion. That kind of thing is normal, like can I compete in another match? We talked about all those kinds of details. I still got the OK. Tell us anything you want. We’ll listen to whatever you say. Reduce the number of matches a little bit more. Because if I go too many times, my activities in Japan will be limited, so reduce the number of matches a little bit more. When I said that, that is OK too. It’s the best deal.” In a follow-up, Ibushi clarified his comments on Twitter stating that he is under contract with AEW and not with any other company as well. Ibushi also stated that while he will only be a part-timer performer due to other projects on the side, he is still dedicated to having a career in AEW. (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In regards to Ibushi’s comments about him working at AEW’s Blood & Guts show without a deal, Fightful Select reported that their sources within AEW stated that this was true and that AEW officials and Ibushi had a very productive meeting that night leading to both sides being excited to continue to work together afterwards.
• As noted before, this past Tuesday’s AEW Dynamite show featured a controversial segment involving Juice Robinson writing MJF’s last name on a roll of quarters and threatening to attack him with it in an act that is rooted in antisemitism. This led to MJF responding on Twitter over the matter stating that he was using this incident as a way to bring awareness to #StandUpToJewishHate. AEW officials cleared the segment due to it being a story MJF wanted to tell on AEW programming. MJF recently provided more thoughs about the online criticism over this segment on Twitter stating “Muhammad Hassan was portraying an evil Muslim terrorist. I’m actually Jewish. I’ve actually gone through this. This is my real life!!!!! MY STORY! And I Look forward to giving Catharsis to every single person who’s ever been oppressed or bullied. If you think I’d play with that or take it lying down or WORST OF ALL Hide from the hard conversations like a coward… You’re on crazy pills. I look forward to the hard conversations this starts and creates. I look forward to people being further educated. My life’s work is to stand up to any and all injustices done to people due to something as Stupid as being different. To anyone that thinks that can’t be done through the avenue of professional wrestling. Then that’s an indictment on things that have happened in this sports past. I look forward to bringing this sport into the present. I look forward to knocking Juice Robinson’s teeth down his throat. And most of all I look forward to getting back the Triple B!“
• While AEW has not given any official public statement over this controversial segment, AEW CEO Tony Khan held a private talk with Duval School Board Dist. 7 Candidate Travis Akers who had contacted Khan over his disgust of the segment. Akers first stated “We were watching @AEW when this happened live last night. It was tasteless and a horrible decision by @TonyKhan to pursue an angle woven with anti-Semitism. We changed the channel. AEW lost me as a fan with this one, which sucks because I really enjoyed their product.” In a follow-up tweet, Akers stated that Khan had contacted him and held a private talk over his issues with the segment but he was not satisfied with the response Khan had given. In an interview with Awful Announcing, Akers stated “Yes, Tony reached out via DM. However, we are having an on-going conversation now regarding the angle and my concerns about the anti-Semitic content.“
• In a recent interview with The Ringer’s The Masked Man Show podcast, Adam Copeland gave his thoughts about his approach when it comes to giving advice to other wrestlers. Copeland stated “Generally, what I’ll do, if it’s something that I saw, I’m like, ‘That’s a good point that I can tell them.’ Usually, I’ll go back and re-watch everything without like talking to Eddie Kingston while we’re watching. Usually, I’ll sit home and properly watch something before I really dive into it because I don’t want to half-ass it. I want to make sure that I’m telling points that I saw and felt and take it for what it’s worth. I’m not one of those guys that’s like, ‘Listen to what I say, damnit.’ You have to have that filter as to who you trust as a person you go to in terms of advice. I’ve always said I’m wide open to anybody, and that still holds true to talent in WWE and they know that.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent interview with DAZN, Swerve Strickland gave his thoughts about why he feels that Adam Copeland’s recent arrival in AEW is intriguing. Strickland stated “Lineage. That’s a man who’s been a legend in the game for like 27 years, and has never been anywhere else. This is his first time being on another television product in 27 years. It’s the first time seeing him mix it up with new fresh blood, new fresh talent in another new, fresh company. It’s been four years that AEW has been around, but it’s still a new, fresh company. That’s intriguing in itself. The knowledge that he’s going to bring, the presence, the persona, and we’re anticipating seeing something different and new that we haven’t been seeing from him. There’s a lot of creative freedom that comes with that too, we’re getting to see Adam Copeland just flush out and go wild, not be contained or locked in on certain things. You’re really getting to see him be fluid and free with his career at the tail end, saying this is where he wanted to end his career with Christian, and Christian is on a big resurgence in his career with what he’s doing right now. You’re seeing a hungry, creative free guy in Adam Copeland, a legend, going up against a resurged, better than he’s ever been character, evil, maniacal, turtle neck wearing TNT Champion in Christian. You’re seeing elements of an eighteen year old Nick Wayne, you have Darby Allin & Sting involved, you have Luchasaurus involved. There’s a lot of different webs of storytelling, that right there should sell everything.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• As noted before, Miro and CM Punk were involved in a backstage incident at this past August’s AEW All In event that was later discovered to be just the two of them joking around and not an actual serious incident between the two. In a recent interview with Haus of Wrestling, Miro’s real-life wife CJ Perry gave her thoughts about the backstage incident that Miro and CM Punk had at AEW All In. Perry stated “There’s so many parts of that story that’s outrageous. Well, first thing is, I didn’t know about this story until it was blowing up online. That’s when Miro decided to tell me about it, and I was like, ‘What is happening right now?’ I was like, ‘Why are you picking a fight with him? Why?’ I stay off Twitter a lot. I just really don’t try to; in WWE, I would stir the pot a lot because I felt like that was my character, but that’s not really my nature. I mean, maybe sometimes, it’s a lot of fun. But I was like, ‘What are you doing?’ You know? Like, ‘Why? Why? Why are you doing that?’ There’s a part of me that knew I was debuting, I’m like, ‘Oh, God. Can we just lay low, please? Can we just like lay low? You’re gonna be picking at the showrunner? Are you insane?’ So, I was getting hot. Then, the next thing I hear is Miro was pissed that CM Punk went to the dirt sheets and said he was joking. I’m like, ‘Were you joking?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah.’ So then for, like, five hours or until that time, he was selling the whole story to me like it was real. Selling it to me like it was all real. I’m like, ‘So, wait, you’re telling me it was a joke?’ He tells me the story of how CM Punk is like, ‘Do you have a problem with me?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah,’ and CM Punk goes, ‘You want to fight?’ Miro goes, ‘Here, or in the ring?’ I’m like, ‘You’re telling me that was a joke?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah.’ I’m like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me right now.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, I forgot you take everything literal, CJ.’ I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m done. I’m literally done.’ So he finds it really funny that I believe everything.“
• This past Tuesday was the first time since October of 2022 that WWE NXT and AEW Dynamite went head-to-head against each other. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW and WWE will be going head-to-head against each other again on November 17th in regards to wrestling television shows. Meltzer reported that this will be in the form of AEW’s Collision show going directly against WWE’s SmackDown show that night. Meltzer reported that the reason why that week’s Collision show was moved up a day is due to AEW will be holding their Full Gear 2023 event on November 18th and AEW officials did not want to air a Collision show on the same day.
• In regards to upcoming competition with WWE PLEs, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW Collision is currently scheduled to go head-to-head against WWE’s Survivor Series 2023 event on November 25th and against WWE’s NXT Deadline 2023 event on December 9th.
• MJF is currently on track to break the all-time record for longest ever reign as AEW World Champion on November 1st. MJF has been champion for 329 days and counting while the all-time record is 346 days held by Kenny Omega, who held the belt from December 2,2020 to November 13, 2021.
• Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that the reaction within AEW over AEW CEO Tony Khan’s barrage of tweets and shots at WWE following this past Wednesday’s ratings releases for WWE NXT and AEW Dynamite was one of little concern. It was reported that most were surprised over Khan’s shot at The Undertaker and John Cena for helping draw less than one million viewers for NXT’s show. Those spoken to reportedly stated that Khan does not clear his tweets with PR beforehand. One source spoken to reportedly stated that those who have taken issue with Khan’s tweets should take a glance at the type of replies that Tony Khan, WWE’s Triple H, or any top wrestling executives receive on any given day from others online. Those spoken to reportedly stated that while they did not have any real concern or issues with Khan’s tweeting, some did feel that Khan shouldn’t have tweeted it at all while others felt that it was likely Khan’s way of having some fun with a situation that did him no favors. One source spoken to reportedly pointed out that right after the tweet, Khan quickly shifted over into promoting matches for next week’s Dynamite show while people were engaged on his profile.
• AEW recently announced that AEW, Warner Bros Discovery, and toy manufacturer Jazwares will be donating $1 million worth of AEW toys merchandise for the Toys for Toys charity organization.
• As noted before, Adam Copeland, former Edge in WWE, made his official debut for AEW at their WrestleDream event earlier this month. In a recent interview with CBS Sports Radio’s Maggie & Perloff show, AEW CEO Tony Khan gave his thoughts on when AEW’s negotiations with Copeland for him to potentially join AEW began. Khan stated “Not long after AEW Grand Slam, we had Adam Copeland reach out, he was out of contract. He is one of the most popular and one of the most successful wrestlers of all time. To have Adam Copeland in AEW is a huge deal for us.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent episode of The Nikki & Brie Show podcast, guest co-host Bryan Danielson gave his thoughts on if he will ever wrestle in Japan again. Danielson stated “Maybe … I never say never. Wrestling in Japan is one of my favorite places in the world to wrestle if not the favorite place and so, yeah, I’ve loved wrestling in Japan and would love to wrestle there more. It’s just a matter of schedule and it’s just a matter of, you know, time.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
• As noted before, Jeeves Kay, also known as VSK in the indies, contract with AEW recently expired and departed from the company. VSK recently confirmed on Twitter that his contract with AEW had expired and is no longer with the company. VSK stated “Don’t expect a notes app post… Jeeves is Dead. Now let’s have some fun.“

Impact, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

• The Grizzled Young Veterans, Zack Gibson & James Drake, announced on Twitter that their contracts with WWE officially expired today and they are currently accepting bookings for a “global takeover” tour. The GYV also confirmed that they will be based in the United States going forward. In a video posted, Drake stated “We took a long look around and we said to ourselves, ‘If this is the big life, then we’re not looking to live it.’ We are sick of taking the safe option. We are sick of reading the same old boring scripts that go absolutely nowhere.” Gibson responded stating “A very famous British wrestler told us when we arrived in the States that it was time for us to put our head down and start listening to orders if we wanted to succeed. He said that he wanted us to have all the fun out of our system because there’s no pirates here. Well I am sorry for anyone that had different expectations for us. I am sorry that we can’t be who you wanted us to be. Simply put: we are not politicians. It’s a pirate’s life for us.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)
• As noted before, Lio Rush has been out of action from New Japan Pro Wrestling since earlier this month due to a flu-related illness. Rush provided an update earlier today on Twitter stating that this illness was very serious and he is currently taking a break from wrestling while he recovers and to process the future of his career. Rush stated “2 weeks ago I got really sick during a crucial time in my career, changing the path that I was on. Im not entirely sure how to handle it other than to be home with family while I process the changes that this event has caused. I don’t know what’s next other than to heal and I’m hoping that this time away will help me do just that. I’ll be releasing an album, titled No time to heal, on my birthday, Nov 11th, that I hope will tell my story.“
• Saturday’s Royal Quest III event for New Japan Pro Wrestling in London, England featured one new match announced for the card of NJPW Strong Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2023 event on October 28th in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is a NEVER Openweight Championship match of Shingo Takagi vs. Tama Tonga (c).
• As noted before, NJPW is currently in the process of revamping their New Japan World streaming service and for this new revamped service to launch this Fall. NJPW recently announced that their new revamped streaming service will officially launch on November 9th.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that NJPW officials currently have plans for Mayu Iwtani to defend her IWGP Women’s Championship against Stephanie Vaquer at next month’s Lonestar Shootout 2023 event in Garland, Texas.
• Impact Wrestling drew 97,000 viewers and a 0.01 key demographic rating for their October 12th episode on AXS TV. This was down compared to last week’s 110,000 viewers. (Source: PWInsider.com)
• Impact announced that tickets for their Bound For Glory 2023 event on October 21st in Cicero, Illinois recently reached sold out status.
• As noted before, Impact Wrestling talent Gisele Shaw was involved in a transphobic incident with WWE Hall of Famer Rick Steiner at an autograph signing convention for WrestleCon this past April. In a recent interview with the Cultaholic Wrestling podcast, Shaw gave her thoughts about her transphobic incident and being grateful to everyone who has supported her over the issue. Shaw stated “It is very unfortunate that that incident happened, especially that they are certain people that I watched growing up and that I looked up to growing up. It’s just unfortunate that it did happen. I don’t know what the motive was, but all I can say is that I’m just so grateful for the people that supported me and have been there for me when I went through that, because that was really rough for me personally. I didn’t want to get out of bed because of what happened, there’s been so many people that have supported me and said, hey, no, you’re not sleeping, you need to get out. Things like that happen unfortunately still. We’ve come so far as a community, but I feel like there’s still so much work to do so all we got to do is keep pushing forward and make sure we support in and out of wrestling.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• Game Changer Wrestling recently announced one new match for the card of their Please, Buddy event on November 3rd in St. Louis, Missouri. This is a GCW World Championship match of Warhorse vs. Blake Christian (c).
• House of Glory recently announced that Swerve Strickland will be making an appearance for the company at their Darkest Hour event on December 1st in New York City, New York.
• In a recent interview with Fightful’s In The Weeds podcast, Major League Wrestling talent Salina De La Renta gave her thoughts about her reasons why she left MLW in 2021. De Le Renta stated “I got a full scholarship to being at Full Sail University in Orlando, and I didn’t think I was going to be able to juggle everything as a full-time student. I didn’t think it was the right move to be on the road, sacrifice my studies, and potentially lose the scholarship. I dedicated the last two years to going to school full-time. Now, I’m graduating in November, so I felt like the timing was right. Now that I know what school is like and how I’ve been doing well, I’m going to continue to do my Masters and do both. I feel more confident now.” Del La Renta also gave her thoughts about her decision to return to the company this past September. De La Renta stated “I was really excited to come back. It was different, very different, not what I expected. What I remember from MLW looked very different than what I saw, but it changed for the better. Court Bauer has done a really good job filtering through who is really not supposed to be there and who is actually contributing to the roster. It was very enlightening to see. I felt good. It felt like I never left. I got to see some of my friends, mainly production, since the roster has changed a lot. It really just felt like I’ve been on vacation.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• In a recent interview with Slam Wrestling, National Wrestling Alliance owner Billy Corgan gave his thoughts about Tyrus’ final match in NWA at this past August’s NWA 75 event. Corgan stated “Tyrus, he’s the champ versus EC3. Their history, of course, even going back to TNA but even further back to WWE developmental. Sometimes when you put people in a ring who are very tight as people, they’re going to tell a very different story because the heart is there and there’s real love and deep affection between the two men and they wanted to go out and tell a good story. Tyrus wanted to tell a story where he went out in his shield and he did for people that complain that it wasn’t a five-star Meltzer jerk-off match, right? To me, it told a very compelling story.” Corgan continued stating “We’re not wrestling to impress anybody. We do professional wrestling in a way that has gotten lost over the last few years, and I’m not the one running around saying that everybody should be wrestling the way we’re wrestling. All I’m saying is this is the way we’re going to wrestle. We’re going to wrestle in a somewhat traditional frame and that doesn’t mean ‘throwback.’ That means those people wrestled for 100 years for a reason in certain ways because it drew money and it drew the general public in because the public appreciated the storytelling, and if people wanna go back and look at Dusty versus somebody in a match in 1976 you’ll see all those matches were not match classics, but they told good stories and they drew big houses. “So, I’m of the belief very publicly that the NWA will become the best proponent at telling those stories again without being driven by the trendiness of the public, telling us who we have to be every five seconds and us worrying every five seconds what the public thinks we’re a professional wrestling company. It’s a rugged physical business and we’re going to present it that way. And as far as I’m concerned, if it’s not for the faint-hearted or you want a zillion high spots, there’s, there’s great competition out there that’s worth watching.“
• West Coast Pro recently announced that KENTA will be making his official debut for the company at their Monster event on December 3rd in Los Angeles, California.
• DDT Pro Wrestling recently announced that they have pulled Yuki Ueno from their set of events this weekend due to him recently falling ill with a flu.
• DDT Pro Wrestling also recently announced that they will be holding an event called Ultimate Party 2023 Official After Event in Ryogoku on November 13th in Tokyo, Japan. It was also announced that this event will be held on a houseboat and will also feature the first ever houseboat match.