Weekend Roundup: WWE Touring Update, Million Dollar Belt, Jim Ross, Okada Contracted COVID, Will Ospreay Update, Indies

WWE

• WWENetworkNews.com reported that WWE will be uploading eight episodes of WWF Superstars for June’s Classic Content Drop on the WWF Network. These episodes span the time period of WrestleMania X to King of the Ring 1994 in WWE history.
• As noted before, WWE recently announced that they will be resuming touring with fans in attendance starting in mid-July. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that WWE officials did not inform their talent beforehand of the announcement although talent had been expecting it to be made for some time. Johnson reported that the reason for WWE’s decision was due to them not wanting the news to leak early and them being unsure over the start date prior to the announcement due to the nature of the on-going coronavirus pandemic in the United States.
• Ringside News reported that WWE received a “seven figure payday” from WarnerMedia for their use of zombies at last Sunday’s WrestleMania Backlash event. This was part of an ad tie-in for the upcoming Army of the Dead film featuring Dave Bautista.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that while WWE recently shut down their Talent Management Group, talent have been left in the dark regarding the future of the ban on outside third party deals and if they will be allowed again to do third party deals outside of the company.
• Dave Meltzer also reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the early estimates for the television pay-per-view buys for this past Sunday’s WrestleMania Backlash is around 5,500. Meltzer reported that this would be the third highest PPV buys this year for a WWE event following Royal Rumble 2021 at 6,400 buys and WrestleMania 37 at 6,000 buys.
• WWE recently announced that they took the award for Best Global Brand for this year’s PRWeek Global Awards event, which took place this past Thursday.
• HeelByNature.com reported that WWE was recently hit with a patent infringement lawsuit. It was reported that SITO Mobile filed the lawsuit on May 21st to The United States District Court For The District Of Delaware alleging that WWE violated twelve of their patents pertaining to their streaming tech. It was also reported that SITO Mobile is currently requesting monetary damages to be awarded to them via a trial by jury.
• As noted before, WWE officials are currently considering plans for John Cena to make an appearance at their July 16th episode of Friday Night SmackDown. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that while he has not been able to confirm WWE’s plans for Cena at the moment, Cena’s filming schedule for the upcoming Peacemaker television series is currently expected to end on July 6th.
• WWE reportedly is currently working on plans to bring back the Million Dollar Championship for their NXT brand, according to the Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast. Andrew Zarian reported that several people within the company were stated to be very happy over the idea of the return of the Million Dollar Championship.

AEW

• During a recent interview with the Wrestling Perspective Podcast, Darby Allin gave his thoughts on him recently losing the TNT Championship to Miro. Allin stated “I was hyped to go out when I did because I was having those string of main events and we were drawing good numbers when I was main eventing. I didn’t want to overstay my welcome. Like, ‘What the f*ck, when’s this guy gonna lose?’ I didn’t want to be that guy. I don’t have no ego when it comes to this. I was like, ‘Dude, I’m ready to roll out when I’m on top with it,’ so it was good. I really liked it.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
• AEW filed a trademark for “AEW Rampage” on May 17th for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This is the official name of AEW’s upcoming second television series on TNT.
• Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW sold over 3,800 tickets for their Double or Nothing 2021 event on May 30th at Daily’s Place as of this past Friday. In regards to their upcoming shows outside of Daily’s Place, Meltzer reported that AEW has sold around 1,200 tickets for their July 7th Dynamite show in Miami, Florida, around 3,100 tickets for their July 14th Dynamite show in Cedar Park, Texas, and around 3,000 for their July 21st Dynamite show in Garland, Texas as of this past Friday.
• Dave Meltzer reported in a recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio that AEW officials currently do not have any plans to rename the TNT Championship when they move to TBS next year.
• DAZN held a recent interview with Jim Ross. One of the topics discussed included his thoughts on the future of his wrestling commentary career once his current contract with AEW expires in January of 2022. Ross stated “I do. You have to. Like, yeah, I’m not John Wayne where I can take an arrow by the stick and pull it out of my own arm or something. We all got a shelf life. I started my third year with AEW recently. I don’t really pay a lot of attention to that stuff. You’re having fun. You’re not thinking about it.”
• Ross also stated “I hope that in a perfect world, I would like to stay working for Tony Khan and AEW and take it a year at a time. The contract I came in here was three years because that’s what he (Khan) wanted. He wants stability. It made Time Warner happy because they’re used to my work in their company for many years and the WWE stuff as well. I’d like to, in a perfect world, Steven, I would say I’ll do this year, and then let’s evaluate and see where we are health-wise, motivational-wise. Then if I come back, I’d like to come back for a year at a time. That way, it doesn’t put Tony in any unnecessary stress. Because by the time my contract ends, I’ll be 70. So some young dude like you that’s 40 is going to be like ‘Jesus Christ, he’s old, dude’. But I’m having fun doing this. I’m not going to work every day. We do four shows a month. I’m required to be somewhere four times a month. It’s not bad. I’m not complaining. It’s just a matter of getting back in that travel groove. I’m a good packer. I have this saying, ‘I don’t have any room in my carry-on for negativity.’ But I think a year at this stage of my life to be realistic and not be egocentric, a year at a time is smart money for me.”
• Fightful Select reported that AEW officials are currently planning for this year’s Full Gear event to take place on November 6th in St. Louis, Missouri.
• AEW recently announced that they have signed a partnership deal with Cinemark to air their upcoming Double or Nothing 2021 event in theaters.

Other Wrestling

• Fightful Select reported that neither Juice Robinson nor David Finlay worked at Impact Wrestling’s recent set of television tapings in Nashville, Tennessee. It was also reported that Impact officials currently do not have any creative plans for the duo although both sides are interested in working together again at some point in the future.
• Cassie Lee And Jessica McKay, former Peyton Royce and Billie Kay in WWE, filed a trademark for “Off Her Chops” on May 18th for entertainment-related purposes to the USPTO. This is the name of Lee and McKay’s new podcast series, which debuted this past week.
• Sports Illustrated reported that NJPW officials originally had plans for Jon Moxley to team up with Shota Unimo against Ren Narita & Yuji Nagata for their May 7th episode of NJPW Strong. Those plans were dropped following Unimo suffering an injury prior to the event and Moxley requesting for Chris Dickinson to be his new tag team partner.
• During a recent interview with Radio Oshabering (English translations via Fightful), Kazuchika Okada confirmed that he was among those within NJPW who have recently tested positive for COVID-19. Okada stated that he had repeatedly tested negative for the virus until he fell ill one day resulting in him developing a fever and testing positive for the coronavirus.
• As noted before, NJPW recently announced that Will Ospreay vacated the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship due to him recently suffering a neck injury. Voices of Wrestling reported that there has been a growing unrest within the locker room, mainly with NJPW’s foreign-based talent, over their issues with the company’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic in recent weeks. It was reported that some of their sources stated that Ospreay’s neck injury is legitimate but him vacating the IWGP World title was also due to a dispute backstage between him and NJPW officials. This dispute reportedly revolved around Ospreay wanting to travel back home in the U.K. while NJPW officials wanted him to stay in Japan for medical treatment. Ospreay reportedly has recently left Japan but did not give a return date which caused more frustrations to boil between both sides.
• Pro Wrestling Tees is currently holding a pre-order sale for a special edition New Jack microbrawler until May 24th at 1PM EST with all proceeds going directly to New Jack’s family.
• Moose recently denied reports of him signing a new contract with Impact Wrestling. Dave Meltzer had reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that a deal between the two sides was either very close to being made or has already signed based on his sources within the company.
• Major League Wrestling is currently planning to film several new non-wrestling vignettes for their Aztec Underground crew around two weeks from now in Los Angeles, California, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
• Daga reportedly is currently expected to be leaving Lucha Libre AAA soon, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that Daga recently removed all references to AAA from his social media accounts and changed his name to Dios Drago.
• Mexican Lucha wrestler Dr. Wagner Jr. reportedly is currently battling COVID-19, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that Wagner revealed that he recently contracted COVID following him traveling to the United States on April 26th to receive a Pfizer vaccine shot.
• Absolute Intense Wrestling recently announced on Twitter that recently released WWE NXT referee Jake Clemons will be making his return to the company at their June 18th event in Cleveland, Ohio.
• Pro Wrestling NOAH announced that Kotaro Suzuki recently tested positive for COVID-19 and as a result, he has been pulled from their upcoming events for health safety reasons. The company also announced that they pulled Kai Fujimura, Yasutaka Yano, and YO-HEY from their event earlier today in Niigata, Japan due to all three being in recent close contact with Suzuki.