Weekend Roundup: Drew McIntyre WWE Absence Update, Angel Garza Underwent Wrist Surgery, Montez Ford Frustrated with WWE Career, Samoa Joe AEW Absence Update, Shota Umino Challenges Jon Moxley, Indies

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

Nov 3, 2024

WWE

Drew McIntyre has been absent from WWE since suffering a head wound injury at their Bad Blood 2024 event earlier this month. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that while WWE officials had planned to give CM Punk a break following their Bad Blood 2024 event, it is not known if WWE officials had originally planned the same for McIntyre. It was reported that McIntyre would have needed some time off in order to heal up from his cut that required staples to close his head wound. McIntyre reportedly has been in Europe visiting his family during his current time away from the company. McIntyre reportedly has been dealing with several losses in his family over the past year. A timetable for McIntyre’s return reportedly is currently not known.
During Sunday’s WWE RAW taping in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, WWE announced that they will be holding a new European tour in March of 2025 as part of next year’s Road to WrestleMania 41. This upcoming tour was announced to be twelve shows in total and taking place from March 14 to March 31st in Spain, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland, Austria, and Netherlands.
WWE announced one new match for the card of this Tuesday’s NXT show. This is a singles match of Je’Von Evans vs. Wes Lee.
Angel Garza announced on Facebook that he will be out of action from wrestling for the the time being due to him recently undergoing surgery to remove ganglion cysts in his wrist.
In a recent interview with The Daily Mail, Montez Ford gave his thoughts about his current frustrations with the direction of his career in WWE. Ford stated “For me to sit here and go like, how’s it going, that it’s good, that’d be a lie. There’s always pleasure in doing what you love, what you admire, what you have dreamt of, what you have goals in and passion for, but it does get to that sense of frustration where anything you try to accomplish in life, where you may feel like it’s either taking too long, or it’s been too long, or nothing’s happening. I’m not going to lie and say I don’t sit here and watch all the comments and everything. I watch everything. We’re not in conversations when it comes to top tag teams. We’re not in conversations when it comes to anything wrestling-related besides the fact of getting handled by The Bloodline, and that doesn’t sit well with me. So as well as is it is going in terms of being my dream job, it is enjoying as it is frustrating.” Ford continued giving his thoughts about his time together with Bobby Lashley as part of The Pride in 2023 and the group being quietly disbanded. Ford stated “I’m glad with what we had for the short period of time, B-Fab and the All Mighty when he was here. But what I took from that lesson is anything can happen, anything can transition, anybody can leave, anybody can just depart at any time. And you kind of just have to pick up whatever’s left and just run with it. And that’s exactly what I’m doing right now. When all of those things were happening, we were very, very excited, because he (Lashley) was somebody we looked up to, somebody I watched as a kid, and now I’m being paired with him, and he’s being my mentor, and he’s ushering us in this new chapter of The Street Profits. All these things are running, we have a WrestleMania win, and then boom, it just stops. And it’s been this constant stop and go and stop and go and stop and go with the Profits where we’ll get momentum and then the momentum will stop, then momentum will start again, and the momentum will stop. And for us, that’s frustrating, because it’s hard to get behind a team whose momentum starts and then it shifts again.“
In a recent interview with the Julian Dorey Podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle stated that he was not paid for the “ANGLE” documentary based on his life that was acquired by WWE earlier this year. Angle stated “You know what? I got approached for that (‘ANGLE’ documentary) and it was by a young producer in Hollywood. His name was Alex Perry. He was a big wrestling fan and he knew my story and so he said, ‘Listen, I’d love to do a documentary on you,’ and you know, he’s like, ‘We could make a lot of money’ and I thought, okay, I can make some money. By the way, I didn’t get a penny for it so, I didn’t make any money. But, the reason why is because WWE bought it. So, he sold out to WWE when he probably should have shopped it around to Netflix or — so WWE got the documentary and they aired it on Peacock, which isn’t worldwide and I wanted it to reach all over the world because I wanted to help people with addiction. But, unfortunately, the WWE, all they did with it was show it on Peacock which is fine and then they gave it to A&E to air and then A&E has put it on YouTube. So now, you can look at it for free on YouTube and I didn’t get a dime for it, and I know people made money from it; WWE, I know Alex might’ve made some money but I didn’t make any… He (Alex Perry) did a great job (with the documentary). Yes.” Angle also gave his thoughts about another movie that is currently in production that is also based on his life. Angle stated “Well, right now we’re in the development stages (of the movie about my life). We almost got the script done. We’ll be getting investors, which shouldn’t be a problem. Then, we’ll start picking the cast, and so I’d imagine we’ll probably start shooting in about a year and I know they want the movie to be released before the 2028 Olympics.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
As noted before, CM Punk is currently on a break from WWE following his Hell in a Cell match against Drew McIntyre at WWE’s Bad Blood 2024 event earlier this month and appearance on the October 7th WWE RAW show. Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp reported that his sources stated that the current expectation within WWE is that Punk will be returning by the November 11th RAW show in Grand Rapids, Michigan at the earliest. Sapp reported that WWE officials never had any plans for Punk for their Crown Jewel 2024 event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
NXT Head referee Daryl Sharma announced on Twitter that WWE NXT signee Vicky D’Errico made her official debut as the newest referee for WWE’s NXT brand at their NXT house show event on Saturday in Orlando, Florida.
WWE recently released three new videos to their WWE Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was a No Disqualification match of The Undertaker vs. Triple H from WWE Super Show-Down 2018. The second new video was a 5-on-5 Surivor Series match of Team Andre (André the Giant, Butch Reed, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang, & Rick Rude) vs. Team Hogan (Bam Bam Bigelow, Don Muraco, Hulk Hogan, Ken Patera, & Paul Orndorff) from WWE Survivor Series 1987. The third new video was Perry Saturn’s official in-ring debut for WCW from the November 3, 1997 episode of WCW Nitro.
As noted before, Tegan Nox was released from WWE this past Friday. Nox recently provided an update on Twitter confirming that she will officially become a free agent in 90 days as of Saturday.
Besides Tegan Nox, Baron Corbin was also among those released by WWE this past Friday. In a recent response to a fan on Instagram, Corbin gave his thoughts agreeing to the fan’s comments about WWE had fumbled by letting him go. This fan stated “WWE fumbled the bag letting you go” and Corbin responded back stating “I appreciate that and feel the same.“
Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that the top merchandise sellers on WWEShop this past October in order were Jey Uso, CM Punk, Roman Reigns, John Cena, Steve Austin, Chris Jericho, Cody Rhodes, Jimmy Uso, Rhea Ripley, and nWo. In regards to specific items, the top sellers in order were Reigns “OTC” black shirt, John Cena Farewell red shirt, Punk “Best in the World” green shirt, Reigns “OTC” black hoodie, Austin “Austin 3:16” black shirt, Jey Uso “Yeet” black shirt, Jimmy Uso “They Not The Ones” shirt, Jey Uso “Yeet” pink shirt, Reigns “OTC” black sleeveless hoodie, Jey Uso “Yeet” white T-shirt.
As noted before, a lawsuit was filed this past October against WWE, WWE’s parent company TKO Group, former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, and Linda McMahon regarding the infamous WWE Ring Boys scandal in 1992. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that due to the lawsuit being filed in Maryland and legal jurisdiction issues, this lawsuit only covers former WWE ring boys who were transported to and were abused within the state. Meltzer reported that this means any alleged victims abused by Mel Phillps in Baltimore or Landover for WWE events would not be covered by this lawsuit. Meltzer also reported that had this lawsuit been filed in Pennsylvania, it would have been a lot more damaging against WWE and the McMahons. This lawsuit reportedly stated that the alleged abuses had taken place in Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania.
WWE’s Bad Blood 2024 event earlier this month in Atlanta, Georgia reportedly generated around 17,000 cable television pay-per-view buys based on updated late buys purchases, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Meltzer reported that Bad Blood 2024’s buys are up 77.7% compared to this past August’s Bash In Berlin event.
WWE reportedly drew an attendance of 11,482 for their Oct. 25th Smackdown shows in Brooklyn, NY, 5,011 for their Oct. 27th NXT Halloween Havoc 2024 event in Hershey, and 7,763 for their Oct. 28th RAW show in Hershey, PA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE reportedly has sold under 1,000 tickets for their Nov. 6th NXT show at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA, 15,040 for their Nov. 30th Survivor Series WarGames 2024 event in Vancouver, Canada, and 9,903 for their Dec. 14th Saturday Night’s Main Event show in Long Island, NY as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

AEW & ROH

AEW announced one new match for the card of this week’s AEW Collision show on November 9th in Providence, Rhode Island. This is a singles match of Nick Wayne vs. AR Fox.
Saturday’s AEW Collision show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania featured Johnny TV giving an offer to MxM Collection to join forces as a potential new Trios group.
This past Friday’s AEW Rampage show featured Deonna Purrazzo and Taya Valkyrie’s new team being officially called The Vendetta.
Twisted Metal television series producer Michael Jonathan announced on Instagram that production for Season 2 of the series recently wrapped up production. This series features Samoa Joe among its cast and portraying the Sweet Tooth character.
In a recent interview with WRESTLESPHERE, Brody King gave his praise of Julia Hart for the growth she has shown for her wrestling career and the “future is literally endless” for her career. King stated “I think you’ve seen someone come out of their shell completely and mature into the performer that they are today. I don’t think anybody would have ever thought that the bubbly little cheerleader would have been this gothic powerhouse, coming in with fire and the crazy hat and all that stuff. It’s night and day from what she started with and what she is now, whether she’s the same Julia her entire career or that changes, I think it shows range. It shows what she can evolve into as a competitor and as an entertainer. She’s 22 years old and I think that the future is literally endless for her. She’s athletic, she has the full package of what you would want in a professional wrestler or even if she wanted to translate that to film or TV, she’s got it all.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent interview with the AEW Unrestricted podcast, AEW commentator Excalibur gave his thoughts about Bryan Danielson’s first usage of “Final Countdown” in AEW for his entrance at AEW’s Forbidden Door 2023 event and being told on the headset to “shut up” because he was talking too much during it and they were concerned he would ruin the crowd chanting the chorus part. Excalibur stated “The most memorable moment in Forbidden Door, it was not actually anything to do with a match itself. It was when the first time that (Bryan) Danielson came out to Final Countdown in AEW. I think that was at Forbidden Door in Toronto. He’s entering and he’s doing the entrance, the song is playing and I didn’t realize this at the time but as it was going on, I have an internal clock for that song because he used it on the indies for so many years and I’d called so many of his matches in PWG where he used that song that when that chorus kicks in, I know that that’s when the fans are gonna shout and so, I’m doing this whole preamble. You know, talking about Danielson, talking about what this match means; blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and while I’m doing that, everybody is screaming in my ear just saying, ‘Shut up! You gotta wait for the chorus! You gotta wait for the chorus!’ And then Tony (Khan) gets on. He’s like, ‘The chorus! The chorus! The chorus!’ And I just somehow was able to ignore him, finish my thought. I finish my thought and then you hear the crowd hit ‘The Final Countdown’ and then Tony gets in my ear and goes, ‘That was f*cking great! After he said, ‘Oh! That was f*cking great,’ I just keyed back to him. I said, ‘Thank you for trusting me.’ That’s all I said. I legitimately meant that because it’s a high-level of trust to put in one person, put in me, that, you know, I am for better or for worse the soundtrack of the broadcast and I could have very easily trampled what could have been a huge moment and I obviously would have been super disappointed in myself but I also let my boss down and so, for him to put me in that chair, to put me in that position, it requires a lot of trust and that’s not something I take for granted.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
In a recent interview with Video Game Collective, Yukes Studio’s producer Takashi Takezawa gave his thoughts about working with Kenny Omega on the development of AEW’s Fight Forever video game. Takezawa stated “It was very collaborative. We did get a lot of feedback from them. Of course, we had play sessions where we could have meetings and let them play the latest build and get feedback directly from them. In one such meeting, Kenny Omega actually joined from the green room backstage after a big wrestling show – you could tell he was holding his phone and talking to us. And he was giving feedback on one of the animations in the game and he actually grabbed another wrestler that was nearby and was like “no, it’s not like this, you do it like this,” and started dragging the guy around the room. So we got, let’s say, very detailed feedback from him, for sure.“
In a recent interview with FOX Sports’ Levack and Goz radio show, Darby Allin gave his thoughts about him still having plans to climb Mount Everest in 2025. Allin stated “I have to stay pinpoint on my physical recovery because I’m getting ready to train for Mount Everest. I’m climbing Mount Everest in April and I can’t go in there with a bad wheel or a banged up piece of body. Every day, I’m in the ice bath, I’m in the sauna, I have this breathing machine. Everything I can do to stay healthy. Yoga. I do everything. I’m crazy about physical recovery.” Allin also gave his thoughts about his broken foot injury earlier this year that prevented him from climbing the mountain this past Spring. Allin stated “Yup. Two weeks before I was supposed to leave, I broke that foot. It was the most depressing thing ever. Everybody was like, ‘It’s a sign that you shouldn’t climb.’ Hell no. It’s a sign that I should climb next year. We’re coming up and it’s right around the corner. I’m ready to do it.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that the top merchandise sellers on ShopAEW this past October in order were AEW, The Outrunners, Will Ospreay, Darby Allin, Bryan Danielson, The Conglomeration, FTR, Orange Cassidy, Britt Baker, and Jamie Hayter. In regards to specific items, the top sellers in order were AEW Double or Nothing 2024 Blu-Ray, FTR “Summit coffee” shirt, Britt Baker “Brittsbugh” football jersey, Willow Nightingale Micro Brawler, Danhausen mystery box. AEW Dynamite Five-Year Anniversary shirt, 2024 WrestleDream Danielson vs. Moxley shirt, AEW original logo shirt, Ospreay “Aerial Assassin Assassin’s Creed Shadows” shirt, and Adam Copeland AEW Unmatched figure.
AEW reportedly drew an attendance of 1,561 for their Oct. 26th Collision show in Cedar Rapids, IA and 3,487 for their Oct. 30th Fright Night Dynamite show in Cleveland, OH, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW reportedly has sold around 1,749 tickets for their Nov. 6th Dynamite show in Manchester, NH, 5,577 tickets for their Nov. 23rd Full Gear 2024 event in Newark, NJ, and 3,476 tickets for their Dec. 28th Worlds End 2024 event in Orlando, FL as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

TNA, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

People Magazine reported that former WWE wrestlers Mandy Rose and Tino Sabbatelli got married on Saturday in East Brunswick, New Jersey.
The National Wrestling Alliance announced that they have recently signed a new deal with World League Wrestling for the promotion to become a new official NWA affiliate.
Freedom Pro Wrestling recently filed new trademarks for a variety of past WWE, WCW, and ECW events names. These trademarks were for “Greed”, “Guilty as Charged”, “SuperClash”, “November To Remember”, “The Big Bang”, and “Mind Games” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that WWE has yet to respond to these new trademarks filings.
In a recent interview with New Japan Pro Wrestling, Zack Sabre Jr. gave his thoughts about the future of his wrestling career. Sabre Jr. stated “No matter how long this first title reign lasts, obviously I’m aiming to reach the record number of defenses in a title reign for this new championship, because that’s the goal. But whatever happens after, we’re still in the early days of my career. I’m 20 years in, I’ve got 20 more top-level years. So yeah, my goal now is to really start the hard work. Being champion of one of the largest wrestling companies in the world is not gonna be easy. I’m fully aware of that but, I’ve bet on myself this entire time and now the gamble starts.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
Saturday’s NJPW Super Junior Tag League 2024 event featured Just Five Guys (Taichi, DOUKI, & SANADA) defeating Jado, Master Wato, & Shota Umino in a 6-Man Tag Team match. Following the match, Umino called out Jon Moxley in a post-match backstage press conference for a match between the two at “any place, any time” over his disapproval with his mentor Moxley’s recent violent conduct and change in AEW. Umino stated “SANADA, you’re getting hot. But I will definitely pay you back for this debt in Osaka… One more thing, Jon Moxley, right now, the most important thing to me is the fight against SANADA right in front of me… so if I just think about you all night, I won’t find an answer. But we have the trust we’ve built up so far. There’s time we spent together that no one else would understand; that we couldn’t understand each other. Get in the ring with me, one-on-one. I’ll look you in the eye and I’ll know how you feel. And you will know how I feel. Anytime, anywhere, face-to-face… I absolutely do not approve of your methods. I know how to fix you. First of all, send me a message, anything is fine. Since the IWGP (World Heavyweight Title match) in America, there has been no message, phone call or exchange. Maybe it’s time.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
NJPW reportedly drew a paid attendance of 667 for their Oct. 26th Super Junior Tag League 2024 event in Kawasaki, 1,367 for their Oct. 27th Super Junior Tag League 2024 event in Tokyo, 1,145 for their Oct. 28th Super Junior Tag League 2024 event in Tokyo, 702 for their Oct. 30th Super Junior Tag League 2024 event in Tsubame, and 591 for their Oct. 31st Super Junior Tag League 2024 event in Toyama, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
TNA Wrestling reportedly drew an attendance of 3,000 (2,500 paid) for their Oct. 26th Bound For Glory 2024 event in Detroit and around 1,500 for their Oct. 27th Impact! tapings in Detroit, MI, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre reportedly drew an attendance of slightly under 10,000 for their Oct. 25th Grand Prix de Amazonas 2024 event at the Arena Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Stardom reportedly drew a paid attendance of 499 for their Oct. 26th Goddess of Stardom Tag League 2024 event in Tokyo, 1,292 for their Oct. 26th Goddess of Stardom Tag League 2024 event in Tokyo, and 384 for their Oct. 31st Goddess of Stardom Tag League 2024 event in Takamatsu, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
All Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly drew a paid attendance of 503 for their Oct. 27th Giant Series 2024 event in Sapporo, 488 for their Oct. 28th Giant Series 2024 event in Tomakomai, 517 for their Oct. 29th Giant Series 2024 event in Tokkaichi, and 510 for their Oct. 30th Giant Series 2024 event in Kushiro, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Wrestling TV Ratings for Week of October 25 to October 31, 2024

WWE Friday Night SmackDown – 1,418,000 viewers, 0.43 rating (prior week – 1,378,000 viewers, 0.42 rating)
WWE RAW – 1,401,000 viewers, 0.42 rating (prior week – 1,578,000 viewers, 0.51 rating)
WWE NXT – 588,000 viewers, 0.14 rating (prior week – 702,000 viewers, 0.16 rating)
AEW Rampage – 241,000 viewers, 0.09 rating (prior week – 234,000 viewers, 0.06 rating)
AEW Collision – 321,000 viewers, 0.09 rating (prior week – 346,000 viewers, 0.10 rating)
AEW Dynamite – 628,000 viewers, 0.19 rating (prior week – 637,000 viewers, 0.19 rating)
AEW Battle of the Belts XII – N/A (prior week – 304,000 viewers, 0.08 rating)
TNA Wrestling Impact! – N/A (prior week – N/A)

Total wrestling television viewership for the week: 4,579,000 viewers, down 600,000 viewers from the prior week’s 5,179,000 viewers.

AEW held their Battle of the Belts XII special on October 19th.

The viewership and ratings numbers for the October 24h and October 31th TNA Impact! shows are currently not known.