Weekend Roundup: Jacob Fatu in Walking Boot After Ankle Injury at SummerSlam, WWE SummerSlam 2024 News, AEW Announces Title Tuesday 2024 & Dynamite 5-Year Shows for This October, Steve McMichael, Mina Shirakawa, Indies

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

Aug 4, 2024

WWE

Saturday’s WWE SummerSlam 2024 event at the Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio featured Jacob Fatu suffering a potential leg injury following a table breaking spot during the Bloodline Rules match between Solo Sikoa and Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship. Following the show, Fatu was seen wearing a walking boot on his right foot. Bryan Alvarez reported on Sunday’s episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio that his sources stated that Fatu was assisted to the back after the match and was seen visibly limping. Alvarez reported that WWE’s original plans were for Fatu to be involved in the finish of the match but was unable to do so due to his leg injury. Dave Meltzer reported in Sunday’s Daily Update that his sources provided additional details. Meltzer reported that WWE officials had always planned for Fatu to sell his injury after the top rope splash spot through the table in order to keep him away from Roman Reigns for Reigns’ return. Meltzer reported that the word backstage was that Fatu had suffered a potential legit ankle injury but this has yet to be confirmed by high level sources within the company.
The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer also reported in Sunday’s Daily Update that while Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston was invited for WWE’s SummerSlam 2024 post-show press conference, WWE officials was not called on when it came to questions allowed for WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s portion. Meltzer reported that Post Wrestling’s John Pollock was not invited for the press conference with the reason given by WWE being small space limitations in the backstage area.
Saturday’s WWE SummerSlam 2024 event also featured former WWE co-CEO Stephanie McMahon among those in attendance in the crowd. During the post-show press conference, WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque stated that his wife currently does not have an official role in the company and gave his thoughts about the potential of her returning in the future. Levesque stated “She does not have an official role right now, but I can tell you this: She loves this, absolutely loves it. Sometimes it’s harder to love it and sometimes it’s easy to love it. It’s easy to love it again for her. She’s enjoying watching it. She’s enjoying coming to the shows. She’s enjoying seeing everybody in the back. She loves it. So, if I’m the little kid booking or writing or however you want to say it, sitting on his couch, she’s sitting there right next to me [like] a little kid enjoying it and loving it. It’s been her whole life since she was little. No official role right now. Right now, her official role is she’s enjoying our kids getting too old too fast, but we’ll see. We’ll see what the future holds. I would expect to see her around because, I think, she just loves it and she’s enjoying being around it again.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
During Saturday’s WWE SummerSlam 2024 event, show host The Miz announced that the official attendance for the event was 57,791 and broke the record largest attendance for a SummerSlam event in SummerSlam series history.
As noted before, Saturday’s WWE SummerSlam 2024 also featured Gunther defeating Damian Priest to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. During the post-show press conference, Gunter gave his thoughts about his title victory. Gunther stated “Nothing’s tainted, no reservations. Nothing to be ashamed of. From this day forth, Monday Night Raw and the legacy of the World Heavyweight Championship belong to me. If anybody out there thinks I don’t deserve this, they know where to find me.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
WWE Hall of Famers Kevin Nash, Sgt. Slaughter, Diamond Dallas Page, and Sean Waltman reportedly were among those in attendance backstage at Saturday’s SummerSlam 2024 event, according to PWInsider.
Saturday’s Countdown pre-show for WWE SummerSlam 2024 featured Mayrse making a surprise appearance. This was Maryse first appearance in WWE since January of 2022.
WWE announced two new matches for this Monday’s WWE RAW show in Baltimore, Maryland. The first new match announced was a tag team match of New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston) vs. AOP (Akam & Rezar). The second new match announced was a tag team match of Awesome Truth (The Miz & R-Truth) vs. A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory & Grayson Waller).
Fightful reported (via @lexveraux) that WWE had invited 32 collegiate athletes for their talent tryouts this past week in Cleveland, Ohio.
The CW released their first ad video hyping up NXT’s upcoming debut on their network this Fall.
In a recent interview with The Ringer’s Wrestling Show podcast, Jey Uso gave his thoughts about his father and WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi’s recent comments about him being very upset and criticizing WWE’s current booking and handling of Uso in the company. Uso stated “(Rikishi) just said what he said out there about my creative. It’s an opinion, yeah, but I’m like, ‘Dad, just watch the show. It’s okay, let me work. Let me go out and work, enjoy the show, make your rap track. That’s pops, though, that’s my dad so shoutout to my dad.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)
As noted before, WWE’s WrestleMania 41 event will be taking place on April 19-20, 2025 at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority paid WWE a $5 million site fee to host next year’s WrestleMania event. Thurston reported as part of the terms of the deal, WWE will get to use the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall for free for WrestleMania 41 weekend. Thurston also reported that WWE’s deal with the city of Las Vegas came together less than two months before WWE’s official announcement for the host of next year’s event.
As noted before, WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque revealed in a recent interview with the Daily Mail that WWE is currently open to the idea of Brock Lesnar making his return to the company in the future if it was something that Lesnar wanted to do. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Levesque’s comments about Lesnar’s future with WWE was misleading since that is not a decision Lesnar would be allowed to make. Meltzer reported that the final decision is still with WWE’s legal department who would have to give their approval in order for him to potential be able to come back to the company. WWE’s legal department currently remain unchanged on not allowing Lesnar to be on WWE programming due to the on-going Vince McMahon sex trafficking lawsuit.
WWE’s Money in the Bank 2024 event this past July reportedly generated around 7,400 pay-per-view buys based on updated late buys purchases, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Meltzer reported that Money in the Bank 2024’s buys are currently up 13% compared to this past June’s Clash at the Castle 2024 event based on the same number of days after the event.
Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that WWE’s top merchandise seller for this past July on WWEShop in order were CM Punk, Jey Uso, Cody Rhodes, WWE, John Cena, Steve Austin, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, and Liv Morgan. In regards to specific items, the top ten in order reportedly were Cena “Farewell Tour” shirt, Uso black “Yeet” shirt, Punk black “Return of Punk” shirt, Punk “Best in the World” shirt, Uso white “Yeet” shirt, Wyatt Sicks shirt, Punk black “lightning fists” shirt, Jacob Fatu shirt, Cena red “Farewell Tour” shirt. and Rollins “Visionary Revolutionary” shirt.
WWE reportedly drew an attendance of 12,077 for their July 29th WWE RAW show in St. Paul, MN, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
In a recent interview with the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast, WWE EVP of Talent Relations & Head of Communications Chris Legentil gave his thoughts about WWE being in compliance with all active legal matters involving the Vince McMahon sex trafficking lawsuit and investigations. Legentil stated “Related to active legal situations, there is clearly a limit on what we’re able to say. That said, as that investigation as gone on over time, we’ve been compliant all the way along and all the way through. When we have had the opportunity to answer questions, we do. When there is not that opportunity, we don’t. The media, we’ve found, have understood that because they realize sometimes there is a lane we can take and other times there is not. We agree that Brandon (Thurston) and John (Pollock) do good work and you see them as regulars at our shows and press conferences. They’re doing their job as reporters, we’re doing our job as a company.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

AEW & ROH

AEW announced that they will be holding this year’s AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday special on Tuesday, October 8th at the Spokane Arena in Spokane, Washington. The reason for the Tuesday special is due to TBS’ commitments with this year’s MLB Playoffs on their network.
AEW also announced that they will be holding their AEW Dynamite AEW Dynamite Five-Year Anniversary show on October 2ns at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
During Saturday’s AEW Collision show, one new match was officially announced for the card of this week’s Collision show on August 10th at the Esports Stadium Arlington in Arlington, Texas. This is a Texas Bull Rope match of Thunder Rosa vs. Deonna Purrazzo.
As noted before, Shane McMahon and AEW CEO Tony Khan held a private meeting this past Monday in Arlington, Texas to discuss “possibilities moving forward” in regards to McMahon potentially working for AEW in the future. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that both McMahon and Khan had agreed for the photo of their meeting to be leaked out to the public. Those spoken to reportedly stated that the leaking of this photo was not meant to add some interest for this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show as a ratings grabber attempt. Those spoken to within WWE reportedly stated that McMahon has been trying to get back into the wrestling industry but the company currently has no interest in bringing him back. Those same sources within WWE stated that the reason for the lack of interest is not related to the Vince McMahon sex trafficking lawsuit and his last name being viewed as a negative by the company. Those spoken to brought up Stephanie McMahon’s appearance at WrestleMania 40 as their case for this not being the reason. In regards to McMahon’s meeting with Khan, those spoken to reportedly stated that this was more of a meeting for McMahon and Khan to get familiar with each other since they had never met before in their lives and mostly talked about wrestling.
Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp reported that the portion of the Wrestling Observer’s report about Shane McMahon and Tony Khan were the ones who leaked the photo is not true. Sapp reported that the photo they received for their report was not given by anyone connected to either McMahon or Khan. In regards to the identity of the person who took the photo, Mercedes Mone stated on Twitter that she was the one who took the photo of the meeting.
AEW’s Forbidden Door 2024 event this past June reportedly is estimated to have generated around 115,000 to 120,000 pay-per-view buys based on updated late buys purchases numbers, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that Forbidden Door 2024’s PPV buys are currently down 16.4% compared to this past May’s Double or Nothing 2024 event based on the same number of days after the event for the reason for the current updated estimate range.
Brandon Thurston reported that AEW’s top merchandise sellers for this past July on ShopAEW in order were AEW, Will Ospreay, MJF, ROH, Swerve Strickland, Kazuchika Okada, Britt Baker, Adam Page, Rob Schamberger, and Chris Jericho. In regards to specific merchandise, the top sellers in order were Worlds End 2023 Blu-Ray, AEW logo shirt, Full Gear 2023 Blu-Ray, Revolution 2024 Blu-Ray, ROH Supercard of Honor 2024 Blu-Ray, MJF “The Wolf of Wrestling” shirt, Young Bucks vs. Jin & Lars Tekken shirt, 8. Adam Page “World on Fire” shirt, ROH Death Before Dishonor 2023 DVD, and All In 2023 Blu-Ray.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Pat Buck returned from his break this past week to resume his work as a backstage producer for the company.
As noted before, Ortiz is currently out of action for AEW since this past January due to a torn pectoral injury. In a recent video interview with AEW’s Renee Paquette, Ortiz provided an update on his injury and revealed that he was recently medically cleared for an in-ring return.
Swerve Strickland recently released the official music video for his Big Pressure Trill Mix song featuring Bun B and Westside Gunn.
As noted before, the Lucha Brothers Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo recently filed several new trademarks for potential new ring names. TheCubsFan reported that the reason why Fenix and Penta filed trademarks for new ring names was very likely due to them wanting to avoid any potential legal issues with Lucha Libre AAA who own the rights to both ring names in Mexico. It was also reported that AAA officials are currently rumored to be considering debuting a new Pentagon Jr. character in the company. It was reported that this was also likely the reason why Fenix and Penta performed under different ring names for their appearance at CMLL’s event this past July.
AEW reportedly drew an attendance of 1,333 for their July 27th Collision and Battle of the Belts XI shows in Arlington, TX and 2,961 for their July 31st Dynamite show in Greenville, SC, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW reportedly has sold around 44,646 tickets for their Aug. 25th AEW All In 2024 event at Wembley Stadium in London, England as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and WrestleTix.
Ring of Honor reportedly drew an attendance of 1,157 for their July 26th Death Before Dishonor 2024 event at the ESports Stadium Arlington in Arlington, TX, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Dustin Rhodes recently reflected on Twitter about winning the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship and his promise to treat ROH and its talent with honor and respect. Rhodes stated “After much reflection on @MarshallVonEric@RossVonErich and our huge win at @roh, I can humbly say what an honor to be your #ROH World 6 man Champs. I never got the chance to compete in ROH before, watched a ton of todays biggest stars make their names there. Unbelievable talent in @roh. My promise to you: I will continue to treat ROH and it’s talent with respect and “Honor “, as we traverse through whatever lands our way next. These titles mean a lot to me and the boys and I will not let you down. Please feed me your energy as we are nothing without you. We love what we do and will continue to do our best to elevate this win. These boys, The Von Erichs, are the future and I am glad to be here leading the way for them. Thank you all again!“

TNA, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

Former WCW wrestler and NFL player Steve “Mongo” McMichael was officially inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Due to McMichael’s serious health issues from his battle with ALS, the induction ceremony for him was held at his home.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre recently announced one new potential match for the card of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Capital Collision 2024 event on August 30th in Washington, D.C. This new match was a tag team match of Hechicero & Virus vs. TMDK (Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls). Hechicero & Virus issued a challenge for TMDK’s tag team titles but did not specify if their match would be for the IWGP Tag Team, NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team, or for both titles.
NJPW reportedly drew a paid attendance of 1,616 for their July 27th G1 Climax 2024 event in Nagasaki, 1,780 for their July 28th G1 Climax 2024 event in Fukuoka, 1,757 for their July 29th G1 Climax 2024 event in Fukuoka, and 1,021 for their July 31st G1 Climax 2024 event in Yamaguchi, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
CMLL reportedly drew an attendance of over 15,000 for their July 26th Super Viernes event at the Arena Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This event was notable for AEW’s Death Triangle (Rey Fenix, Penta El Zero Miedo, & PAC) competing at the event.
As noted before, El Hijo del Vikingo has been out of action for AAA since this past February due to a right knee injury. TheCubsFan reported that Vikingo had stated in a recent interview that he was recently medically cleared to start training for his in-ring return in the future.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that a screenplay for a potential new film based on the infamous Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker lawsuit trial, titled Killing Gawker, is currently being shopped around. Johnson reported that progress on finding a potential buyer had picked up considerable steam of late and is currently expected to officially move forward as a project soon. Johnson reported that among the notable names being considered for this film is Ben Affleck and him being planned to portray Hogan. Johnson reported that this film is currently planned to be produced by Matt Damon and Affleck’s Artist Equity production company and a potential start date of January 2025 for its production.
Game Changer Wrestling recently announced one new match for the card of their GCW Homecoming 2024 Night 2 event on August 25th in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This is a tag team match of Matt Hardy & Nick Gage vs. Matt Cardona & Broski Jimmy.
GCW also recently announced one new match for the card of their Live Fast Die Young event on August 31st in Chicago, Illinois. This is a singles match of Mustafa Ali vs. Sidney Akeem (former Reggie in WWE).
This past Friday’s GCW Now And Forever event in Cleveland, Ohio featured Raj Dhesi, former Jinder Mahal in WWE, reuniting with The Bollywood Boyz as a group. During Dhesi’s match against EFFY at the event, two masked people ran out and attacked EFFY. These mystery masked people then took off their masks revealing themselves to be the Bollywood Boyz’s Gurv & Harv Sihra and joined forced with Dhesi.
WOS Wrestling announced that Tom Campbell recently joined the company for their announcer’s team for their upcoming WOS tapings on September 14th in Norwich, England.
TNA Wrestling’s Slammiversary 2024 event this past July reportedly generated around 4,000 cable television pay-per-view buys based on updated late buys purchases, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that Slammiversary 2024’s buys are currently up 260.9% compared to this past April’s Rebellion 2024 event based on the same number of days after the event. Meltzer reported that when including estimated streaming buys, Slammiversary 2024 is currently estimated to have generated around 13,000 total buys. Meltzer also reported that this would be a big indication of TNA’s working relationship with WWE helped a lot in generating interest for their event. In regards to this past January’s Hard To Kill 2024 event, Meltzer reported that Slammiversary 2024’s current buys estimate is nowhere close to what Hard To Kill 2024 had generated for the same number of says after the event. In regards to crossovers with AEW PPV purchasers, Meltzer reported that around 27% of the people who purchases AEW’s Forbidden Door 2024 event also purchased TNA’s event.
Stardom reportedly drew a paid attendance of 701 for their July 27th Sapporo Wonder Rendezvous event in Sapporo and 732 for their July 28th Sapporo Wonder Rendezvous event in Sapporo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Following Sunday’s event for Stardom, Mina Shirakawa announced that she will not be competing in this year’s 5 STAR Grand Prix and instead she will be returning to America for a new tour. It is currently not known if Shirakawa will be returning to AEW as part of this new upcoming tour of America.
Pro Wrestling NOAH reportedly drew a paid attendance of 1,316 for their July 28th Sunny Voyage 2024 event in Ishikawa, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Marigold reportedly drew a paid attendance of 818 for their July 30th Summer Gold Shine event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
The National Wrestling Alliance recently announced one new match for the card of their NWA 76 event on August 31st in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is a NWA Women’s World Tag Team Championship match of Ella Envy & Ms. Starr vs. The King Bees (Charity King & Danni Bee) (c).

Wrestling TV Ratings for Week of July 26 to August 1, 2024

WWE Friday Night SmackDown – 2,058,000 viewers, 0.52 rating (prior week – 2,313,000 viewers, 0.65 rating)
WWE RAW – 1,412,000 viewers, 0.51 rating (prior week – 1,790,000 viewers, 0.59 rating)
WWE NXT – 468,000 viewers, 0.15 rating (prior week – 633,000 viewers, 0.19 rating)
AEW Rampage – 306,000 viewers, 0.10 rating (prior week – 284,000 viewers, 0.10 rating)
AEW Collision – 382,000 viewers, 0.12 rating (prior week – 472,000 viewers, 0.15 rating)
AEW Dynamite – 609,000 viewers, 0.18 rating (prior week – 786,000 viewers, 0.26 rating)
AEW Battle of the Belts XI – 308,000 viewers, 0.09 rating (prior week – N/A)
TNA Wrestling Impact! – N/A (prior week – N/A)
Various – Biography: WWE Legends (doubleheader first) (A&E) – 297,000 viewers, 0.07 rating (prior week – 208,000 viewers, 0.05 rating)
Various – Biography: WWE Legends (doubleheader second) (A&E) – 262,000 viewers, 0.05 rating

Total wrestling television viewership for the week: 6,102,000 viewers, down 384,000 viewers from the prior week’s 6,486,000 viewers.

The viewership and ratings numbers for the July 25th and August 1st TNA Impact! shows are currently not known.

AEW aired their newest Battle of the Belts special on July 27th.

A&E aired a doubleheader for their Biography: WWE Legends series on July 28th.