Weekend Roundup: Bruce Prichard on Vince McMahon Allegations, Kenny Omega Update, Danielson Issues Best 2-of-3 Falls Challenge to Zack Sabre Jr., Rossy Ogawa Stardom Firing Update, Indies

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

Feb 11, 2024

WWE

This past Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,460,000 viewers on FOX, according to TVSeriesFinale.
People Magazine reported that Sonya Deville and her partner Toni Cassano were married on Saturday at The Legacy Castle in New Jersey. It was reported that Maria Menounous officiated the ceremony and WWE’s Charlotte Flair, Andrade, Bayley, Montez Ford, Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Vic Joseph, and Chelsea Green, and former WWE talents McKenzie Mitchell, Matt Cardona, and Mandy Rose were among this in attendance.
WWE released an official teaser trailer for this April’s WrestleMania 40 event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson recently responded to comments made by a person online claiming that the boos Johnson received at WWE’s WrestleMania 40 Kickoff press event this past Thursday was due to the recent controversy around the Maui wildfire relief fund that Johnson and Oprah Winfrey launched following the devastating wildfires this past August. This person stated “❗️ CROWD IN VEGAS BOOs “THE ROCK” DEMANDING HE FOLLOW THROUGH WITH AID FOR MAUI Oprah and Dwayne @TheRock Johnson promised TENS OF MILLIONS to the victims of the Maui fires, but many victims still have not seen a dime. It looks like the audience is fully AMERICA FIRST and is demanding The Rock and Oprah follow through with their commitment to take care of the people of Lahaina. The crowd started booing and chanting “MAUI! MAUI! MAUI!” MAKE IT HAPPEN!” Johnson responded stating “I typically refrain from responding to toxic, false clickbait garbage like this because I hate dignifying bullshit with a response, but when you use Hawaii’s tragic events to draw attention to yourself I won’t stay quiet. This moment you’re referring to is from our @WWE press conference this past Thursday where I turned “heel” – wrestling parlance for bad guy. I’m playing it up with our crowd as they boo. It’s what we do in our WWE universe, and we all love every second of it. For the record: Our People’s Fund of Maui has already DELIVERED over $50 MILLION DOLLARS to over 8,000 survivors who were affected by the fires, and I’m grateful to the bone that we’ve been the primary funders. Hawaii is where I grew up, where I raise my children throughout the year and where my ancestors are buried. These are my Polynesian people and these are OUR American people. You can’t imagine how much they are still struggling daily to put their lives back together and take care of each other. Our Poly American people are as resilient as people come, and they will raise and get back on their feet. Nick, instead of posting bullshit like this that you know is false – I encourage you to post something positive for Hawaii, for our Polynesian American people. Or actually take positive action and come to Hawaii to help out in an uplifting way. I’m in Hawaii now, and I guarantee you, you’ll get great content that can actually make a difference in people’s lives. Genuinely. Let’s put our energy and our online platforms into lifting people up. Acknowledging the good things that people do. Raising awareness for the suffering in ways that can effectively help. It takes so much effort to be negative, and create and spread bullshit – but when you spread positivity, kindness, and lead by example you can really impact lives. I’m sorry to all our Poly/Hawaiian ohana of Maui, for shining light on this toxicity as you struggle through tough times – I always try to be Na’au Pono. Love U. Aloha, DJ“
A recent episode of the Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard podcast featured WWE Executive Director and co-host Bruce Prichard’s thoughts about the recent Vince McMahon sex trafficking lawsuit allegations. Prichard stated “Well, first of all, as far as lawsuits and things of that nature, I’m not at liberty to discuss any legal matters with the company whatsoever. So to that, there’s nothing that I can say or do. So there can’t be a response from a legal standpoint, and you can ask till you’re blue in the face, and that’s going to be your answer.I’m not involved. I’m not being sued. I’m not accused of anything, and nor, you know — it’s a legal matter. And as I said to you, you know, sometimes it is as simple as: for those who believe, explanations are needed; for those that don’t, no explanation will do. And that’s kind of where we are. And we’ll let the rest of it sit in the hands of the fine legal system that we have here in the United States of America.” Following co-host Conrad Thompson’s comments about a topic they referenced that involved litigation against WWE on a past episode of their podcast on the WWE Network, Prichard responded stating “No one told me not to do anything on the podcast other than the simple fact that I work for a company that is involved in a lawsuit right now. I can’t comment. Folks, if you work at a large company and your large company is being sued, there is very little you can say about it. If you do, that’s a good way for you to lose your job.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
WWE recently announced two new matches for the card of this week’s NXT show on February 13th. These two matches are a singles match of Carmelo Hayes vs. Joe Gacy and a Gauntlet match of Ridge Holland vs. Gallus (Wolfgang, Mark Coffey, & Joe Coffey)
Saturday’s NXT house show event in Venice, Florida featured Shotzi making a surprise NXT return appearance. Following Shotzi & Gigi Dolin’s victory over Tatum Paxley & Lyra Valkyria, Shotzi challenged Valkyria for her NXT Women’s Championship at this week’s NXT show, which Valkyria accepted.
As noted before, Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair recently qualified for the Women’s Elimination Chamber at next month’s Elimination Chamber 2024 event in Perth, Australia. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE officials current plans are for Liv Morgan, Naomi, Tiffany Stratton, and Jade Cargill to be the other official competitors for this upcoming match.
As noted before, NXT talent Sol Ruca has been out of action for WWE since this past April due to a torn ACL injury. This past Friday’s NXT house show event in Crystal River, Florida featured Ruca making her official in-ring return from injury. Ruca teamed up with Brinley Reece in a tag team match against Jacy Jayne & Thea Hail, which was won by Jayne & Hail. Ruca recently reflected on Twitter about her in-ring return from injury. Ruca stated “Wooohooo it’s good to be back 👀 #NXTCrystalRiver“
Kawasaki recently released their Super Bowl LVIII commercial for their Kawasaki Ridge featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Saturday’s comedic exhibition baseball game for the Savannah Bananas featured John Cena making his official baseball debut appearance for the team.
As noted before, WWE officially announced that the main event for this April’s WrestleMania 40 event will be Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. This announcement was made during a WrestleMania 40 Kickoff press event that was held this past Thursday in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that the reason why WWE decided to hold their press event at the T-Mobile Arena was due to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was scheduled to be at this event after he had signed a deal to join TKO’s Board of Directors and get a match with Reigns at WrestleMania. Meltzer reported that had Johnson not been planned for the event, WWE would have booked a smaller venue instead. Meltzer also reported that despite WWE calling it a press event, the reason for the lack of questions from reporters during it was due to WWE had informed the press who were invited on the day of the event that no questions would be allowed.
WWE reportedly drew an attendance of 10,819 (9,800 paid) for their Feb. 2nd SmackDown show in Birmingham, AL, 5,328 for their Feb. 3rd house show event in Knoxville, TN, 3,970 for their Feb. 4th NXT Vengeance Day 2024 event in Clarksville, TN, 3,846 for their Feb. 4th house show event in Corbin, KY, and 9,943 (9,000 paid) for their Feb. 5th RAW show in St. Louis, MO, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE reportedly has sold around 8,465 tickets for their Feb. 12th RAW show in Lexington, KY, 7,759 tickets for their Feb. 16th SmackDown show in Salt Lake City, UT, 5,119 tickets for their Feb. 17th house show event in Oakland, CA, 6,410 tickets for their Feb. 18th house show event in Fresno, CA, 10,694 tickets for their Feb. 19th RAW show in Anaheim, CA, 43,936 tickets for their Feb. 24th Elimination Chamber 2024 event in Burswood, Australia, 8,053 tickets for their Feb. 26th RAW show in San Jose, CA, 9,244 tickets for their March 1st SmackDown show in Glendale, AZ, 3,622 tickets for their March 2nd house show event in Palm Desert, CA, 3,180 tickets for their March 3rd house show event in Bakersfield, CA, 8,724 tickets for their March 4th RAW show in San Antonio, TX, 9,137 tickets for their March 8th SmackDown show in Dallas, TX, 1,639 tickets for their March 9th house show event in Alexandria, LA, 3,139 tickets for their March 10th house show event in Lafayette, LA, 4,787 tickets for their March 15th SmackDown show in Memphis, TN, 2,630 tickets for their March 16th house show event in Augusta, GA, 2,274 tickets for their March 17th house show event in North Charleston, SC, 8,477 tickets for their March 18th RAW show in Raleigh, NC, 6,826 tickets for their March 22nd SmackDown show in Milwaukee, WI, 2,443 tickets for their March 23rd house show event in Springfield, IL, 2,568 tickets for their March 24th house show in Rockford, IL, 11,854 tickets for their March 25th RAW show in Chicago, IL, 4,686 tickets for their Match 29th SmackDown show in Unacasville, CT, 3,482 tickets for their March 30th house show event in Manchester, NH, 7,343 tickets for their April 1st RAW show in Brooklyn, NY, 15,959 tickets for their April 5th SmackDown show in Philadelphia, 8,000 tickets for their March 6th NXT Stand & Deliver 2024 event in Philadelphia, 57,442 tickets for their March 6th WrestleMania 40 Night 1 event in Philadelphia, 57,867 tickets for their WrestleMania 40 Night 2 event in Philadelphia, and 15,795 tickets for their April 8th RAW show in Philadelphia, PA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE reportedly generated around 19,000 cable television pay-per-view buys for this past January’s Royal Rumble 2024 event based on updated data and estimates from late buy purchases, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As noted before, WWE have dropped all of their plans for a potential return for Brock Lesnar to the company due to his involvement in the recent Vince McMahon sex trafficking lawsuit. Lesnar was recently dropped from WWE’s SuperCard mobile game,the cover of WWE 2K24’s 40 Years of WrestleMania special edition, and WWE’s signature opening video for shows. In regards to WWE 2K24, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the current belief from those within the wrestling industry is that both Lesnar and McMahon will still be featured in the game’s Showcase of the Immortals mode due to the game being too far in development for them to be properly removed. Meltzer reported that WWE and 2K Games very likely will just not bother promoting Lesnar and McMahon’s inclusion for this mode.
In a recent interview with WCCFTech, WWE 2K series gameplay producer Bryan Williams revealed that WWE 2K24’s Showcase of the Immortals mode will feature 12 playable matches from WrestleMania history.
WWE filed trademarks for “Je’Von Evans” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on January 6th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Je’Von Evans is the new WWE ring name of indie wrestler Jay Malachi who made his official in-ring debut for WWE at this past week’s NXT LVL UP show.
WWE filed trademarks for “WWE Speed” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on January 7th to the USPTO.

AEW & ROH

As noted before, Kenny Omega has been out of action for AEW since this past January due to him suffering from diverticulitis. In a recent interview with SportsGrid, AEW CEO Tony Khan provided a health update for Omega. Khan stated “Kenny, we were all very worried about him. He’s doing better but he was seriously sick, and his life could have been threatened had he not gotten to the doctors when he had. He was really sick and he’s thankfully doing much better and we’re all wishing Kenny the best and hoping and looking forward to seeing Kenny Omega back in AEW as soon as he’s healthy.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)
Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Shane Taylor had signed an official contract with AEW at some point last year and it is currently set to expire at the end of this July. It was also reported that AEW officials have held recently talks about adding more members to Taylor’s Shane Taylor Promotion stable within the near future.
AEW recently announced that they have partnered with Best Friends Animal Society for the celebrations of this weekend’s 2024 Puppy Bowl festivities.
In a recent interview with Denise Salcedo, AEW CEO Tony Khan gave his thoughts about the recent announcement of a joint sports streaming service by Warner Bros Discovery, Disney, and FOX and what it could mean for a future streaming deal for AEW. Khan stated “It’s really exciting timing. AEW, we do not have a streaming platform that we are with domestically right now. I think it’s something the wrestling fans have been calling for. We have the library, we have the content. We also produce great new content, including the great pay-per-view events we do that are streaming pay-per-views right now. I think there’s a ton of opportunity in the market, and clearly demand for it, seeing what’s happening in the industry right now. People have seen other big streaming deals happening in wrestling. And I think in particular for AEW, the stage is set for us to have a great media rights year.” Khan also gave his thoughts about the current status of AEW’s talks for a new television deal. Khan stated “By the end of the year, we’ll know the home for AEW going forward. Right now, we have a great, great thing going with every Wednesday night on TBS, every Friday and Saturday on TNT. I love that. That’s great. We have a great opportunity to find out where Dynamite, Rampage and Collision are going to live going forward, as well as the streaming service.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
In a recent interview with Sports 610 Radio’s Payne & Pendergast show, AEW CEO Tony Khan gave his thoughts about if WWE’s recent deal with Netflix lifts the world of wrestling and how it can be beneficial to AEW. Khan stated “Absolutely. We’re excited to get big media rights renewals in the wrestling business. That’s great to see for everybody. We’re in a big contract year, too, and I think AEW is going to get big media rights. Right now, we have a great partnership on TBS and TNT that I want to continue for a long time. We’ve been on since 2019, it’s five years now we’re going on TBS and TNT, and it’s been great and I want to keep it going because there is a great tradition of wrestling on those channels.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
Alex Marvez recently revealed on Twitter that AEW is currently working on plans to hold the April 27th AEW Collision show at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida during this year’s NFL Draft Weekend.
Andrew Zarian reported in a recent episode of The Mat Men Pro Wrestling podcast that his sources stated that AEW officials are currently working on plans to hold a pay-per-view event at a stadium location in the United States in 2024.
In a recent interview with The Mark Hoke Show podcast, Orange Cassidy gave his thoughts about the transformation his character has gone through over the past year in AEW. Cassidy stated “I did what I had to do to get the job done and when people start to understand your strategy or what you do in the ring, you have to change it up. I also think I’ve been challenged a lot. From Chris Jericho, Matt Hardy, Adam Cole, and then the International Championship run that I’m on now, that first match with Jon Moxley changed something within me. He brought it out of me. It’s the things that I need to do to continue to be successful. I don’t know if I were in another place or in another company that I would be able to go through that transformation. I think people have this idea about someone like me as a comedy wrestler that, and I hate the word comedy wrestler. But they say that and then that’s the one note joke I do for however long I can do that one note until you get sick of me and I leave and I’m very grateful that I have a company like AEW and Tony Khan that saw that like no we can show a wide variety of who Orange Cassidy is and I feel it’s important I treat professional wrestling very seriously and I consider it an art form. I do think that when you look at something or see something that’s art, you should feel all emotions, you know, sadness, happiness. I try to do whatever I can to make those emotions come through and if AEW were to not exist, I don’t think I’d be able to do that.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In the same interview, Orange Cassidy also gave his thoughts about the development of his laid back slacker character in wrestling. Cassidy stated “So I could consider myself lucky or I could consider myself desperate. I have been wrestling for quite a long time and I have lots of friends in professional wrestling and at a certain point, when you wrestle as long as I have been and you see all the people that you came up with and all the people that are your friends get signed to different places, go do great things, travel around the world, and you’re still doing the small town stuff, you kind of have nothing to lose, right? Clearly no one was interested in me. It wasn’t anything I was doing that was working because I was listening to advice of people that worked for them. So I just decided to just do the opposite. Whatever I could do to stand out and be able to show everyone who Orange Cassidy is by being different is what I did and it started to work. I just started to be who I really am. I started just being lazy. I started doing what I want to do. I try to get in people’s heads and I think it resonated with people because you can identify with everybody. Everybody can identify with having to get up and go to work and not really wanting to be there, but still doing a good job. I think that’s what I try to embody.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent interview with Adrian Hernandez, Claudio Castagnoli gave his thoughts about the evolution of storytelling tradition in wrestling and how Orange Cassidy’s work is an example of non-traditional storytelling. Castagnoli stated “What is tradition? Tradition is always expanding, right. Especially now, there’s six days of wrestling on TV. So you want to do something that is different but still in, in my personal preference that is, respectful to the tradition. So that is the challenge. What can we do to be different, to keep it fun, to keep it great, to keep the action going, to evolve this business while staying true to the tradition and being respectful towards it? Someone like Orange Cassidy, he’s certainly polarizing, and I think that’s good because that means he strikes a nerve. He is extremely good at what he does, and he is different and very entertaining. If I like the guy or not, that’s indifferent, and if you see the kids and the people come to the show, they’re dressed like Orange Cassidy, and the place is going crazy when he comes out. Don’t let him fool you, he can go. He can go like very few other people can in this business. I think that’s what fools other people. But that is our job, to evolve and make it fun and better and try to find new things.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW had around 590,000 unique households in the United States purchase at least one of their pay-per-view events in 2023. Meltzer reported that this was up compared to the 520,000 total households from their last study that covered the timeframe of May of 2022 to March of 2023. Meltzer reported that this recent study covered cable television PPV purchases, which was around 9% of all buyers for AEW PPV events, and then used to project what would be the total amount for PPV buyers. Meltzer reported that around 11,500 households (1.9%) purchased every AEW PPV event, down from 19,000 households compared to the prior study. Around 399,300 households (67.2%) reportedly only purchased one event, up from 305,800 (58.8%) compared to the prior study. Around 69,000 households (11.8%) reportedly purchased two events, down from 80,000 (15.4%) compared to the prior study. Around 34,700 households (5.9%) reportedly purchased three events, down from 51,500 (9.9%) compared to the prior study. Around 34,700 households (4.2%) reportedly purchased four events, down from 43,500 (8.4%) compared to the prior study. Around 19,400 households (3.3%) reportedly purchased five events, down from 39,000 (7.5%) compared to the prior study. In regards to AEW’s expanded PPV schedule this past year, Meltzer reported that around 16,200 households (2.8%) had purchased six events and around 17,700 households (3%) had purchases seven events.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW officials still have plans in place for Will Ospreay to wrestle at next month’s AEW Revolution 2024 event in Greensboro, North Carolina.
AEW reportedly drew an attendance of 3,177 for their Feb. 3rd Collision show in Edinburg, TX and 5,248 for their Feb. 7th Dynamite show in Phoenix, AZ, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW reportedly has sold around 2,321 tickets for their Feb. 14th Dynamite show in Cedar Park, TX, 1,995 tickets for their Feb. 21st Dynamite show in Tulsa, OK, 1,938 tickets for their Feb. 24th Collision show in Springfield, MO, 1,939 tickets for their Feb. 28th Dynamite & Collision shows in Huntsville, AL, 15,651 tickets for their March 3rd Revolution 2024 event in Greensboro, NC, 1,731 tickets for their March 6th Dynamite show in Duluth, 1,270 tickets for their March 7th Collision show in Duluth, GA, 2,165 tickets for their March 16th Collision show in Ottawa, Canada, 3,136 tickets for their March 20th Dynamite show in Toronto, Canada, 2,145 tickets for their March 27th Dynamite show in Quebec City, Canada, and 3,138 tickets for their March 30th Collision show in London, Canada as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW reportedly also has sold around 38,985 tickets for their Aug. 25th All In 2024 event at Wembley Stadium in London, England as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletetr. Dave Meltzer reported that his current belief is that ticket sales for this upcoming event will still not expected to see a noticeable increase until around six weeks till the event.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that those spoken to within AEW stated that the current backstage morale has been at its best level in some time. Those spoken to reportedly stated that the increase in morale had been really picking up of late.
In a recent interview with Compas On The Beat, Anthony Bowens gave his thoughts about Ring of Honor being under AEW’s umbrella and working for Tony Khan. Bowens stated “It’s cool to have them under our umbrella. I think it’s a great opportunity for people to work on things and to get more reps. It’s a fantastic company with great lineage, where a lot of our top guys have come from, Ring of Honor back in the day. The Adam Coles, the Adam Hangman Pages, the Young Bucks, all the way back to Cody. So a lot of rich wrestling history in Ring of Honor. I mean, Tony’s, I kind of call him a mad scientist in a sense. It feels like no matter if it’s the Jacksonville Jaguars, you guys, Fulham even, it feels like they’re always trying to be competitive. They always want to be the best and I feel like he does a really good job with it. Well, considering all the things that he does, he does a fantastic job multitasking. Barely. It’s awesome to work for somebody who cares about you. He genuinely cares about his performers and takes care of us. So that’s number one to me, one that understands that we’re human beings at the end of the day. So it’s been great to work with him the last four years and he’s the guy who created The Acclaimed. It’s been very cool to, I guess, make him proud. We brought his vision to life in a very, very large way and I think that’s cool.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent interview with The Fan 105.3’s K&C Masterpiece radio show, Ring of Honor owner Tony Khan stated that the current subscriber base for ROH’s HonorClub service is at an all-time high in HonorClub history. Khan stated “Ring of Honor, we have a great streaming service. They were operating a streaming service when I purchased the company, HonorClub. We’ve built it up, and now it’s at the all-time high, higher than even when they put the MSG show on it. We’ve built it up and grown the subscriber base, which is amazing because we killed it completely, shut it down, started from scratch, and built it back up with the great wrestling we’re doing.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

TNA, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

Sunday’s The New Beginning in Osaka 2024 event for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Osaka, Japan featured Chase Owens & KENTA defeating Hikuleo & El Phantasmo to become the new IWGP Tag Team Champions.
Sunday’s NJPW’s The New Beginning in Osaka 2024 event also featured Zack Sabre Jr. defeating Bryan Danielson in a very hard fought grapple and technical wrestling heavy match, evening up the score at one win each for their feud. In a backstage post-match press conference, Danielson issued a challenge to Sabre Jr. for a Best 2-out-of-3 Falls match at a neutral ground to determine who really is the better wrestler of the two. Danielson stated “The best technical wrestler in the world, it’s not me anymore, it’s Zack Sabre Jr. I hope the Japanese fans appreciate every time we get to see him. I didn’t tap out, but he caught me. To be fair, if I’m going to give myself the benefit of the doubt, I think I might want one more. I beat him in AEW, he beat me in New Japan, I say we do two out of three falls somewhere on neutral ground and I’ll leave it at that. Let’s find a promoter, any promoter in the world who wants to do a two out of three falls match with me and Zack Sabre Jr, we’ll find a way to get it done. Thank you, guys, and god bless New Japan, I love this place.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)
Sunday’s NJPW’s The New Beginning in Osaka 2024 event also featured Will Ospreay’s final match for his current NJPW career. Following the match, Will Ospreay gave his thoughts in a backstage press conference about a potential future return to NJPW. Ospreay stated “I signed my deal with AEW, and I’m allowed to come back and do New Japan matches. I don’t know when that’s going to be. I need to find balance first because I have no idea what I’m doing right now. I’m scared for this next job. I’ve had anxiety traveling to America. It’s not that I don’t enjoy it, I just get scared. I’ve always done this on my own. I promise you guys on fucking everything, I will be back. I promise you. I will be back.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
Sunday’s NJPW’s The New Beginning in Osaka 2024 event also featured the official announcement of NJPW holding this year’s NJPW Strong Resurgence event on May 11th at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.
NJPW reportedly drew a paid attendance of 838 for their Feb. 3rd The Road to The New Beginning 2024 event in Saitama, 1,433 for their Feb. 4th The Road to The New Beginning 2024 event in Osaka, 1,015 for their Feb. 5th The Road to The New Beginning 2024 event in Tokyo, and 493 for their Feb. 6th The Road to The New Beginning 2024 event in Kasukabe, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As noted before, NJPW recently dropped their plans for Giulia to defend her NJPW Strong Women’s Championship at this April’s Windy City Riot 2024 event due to Giulia’s upcoming departure from Stardom. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that NJPW officials had planned for Giulia to drop her title to Stephanie Vaquer at this upcoming event.
VICE TV’s Dark Side of the Ring series and The Lapsed Fan podcasst recently announced that they have partnered together for the launch of a new wrestling-based podcast series titled Dark Side of the Ring: Unheard. The official synopsis for this new series: “From the creators of the hit VICE TV show ‘Dark Side of the Ring’ and the co-hosts of The Lapsed Fan wrestling podcast Jack Encarnacao and JP Sarro, this is ‘Dark Side of the Ring: Unheard. This podcast dives into the show’s deep reservoir of unaired interviews with pro wrestling’s most famous and infamous, its least and most heralded, its most honest and of course, its most duplicitous. New episodes every Wednesday.“
AJ Francis, former Top Dolla in WWE, recently announced that he will be making an appearance for the National Wrestling Alliance at their Hard Times 2024 event on March 2nd in Dothan, Alabama.
As noted before, former WWF, WCW, and NWA wrestler Billy Jack Hayes, real name William Albert Haynes III, was arrested this past Thursday in Portland, Oregon following a shooting incident at his home that resulted in the death of his wife. While Haynes’ name was not specifically identified during the arrest, the Portland Police Office confirmed on Saturday that Hayes was the “former wrestler” in question who was arrested during their homicide investigation. It was also stated that Haynes is currently in police custody at a local hospital for treatment for a medical condition unrelated to the homicide incident nor his contract with law enforcement. It was also stated that Haynes is currently expected to be booked into jail once he is discharged from the hospital and the official charges against him will be released afterwards.
Former Reality of Wrestling talent Raychell Rose claimed in an interview with Fightful that she was recently fired by Booker T from the promotion over an incident involving a former RoW talent stalking her at multiple wrestling events and talent gatherings. It was reported that the stalker in question is indie wrestler Shawn Reed and he had been informed multiple times by ROW staff, talent, police, and Rose to stop appearing at events and gathering due to Rose being uncomfortable around him following stalking incidents. In the lengthy article by Fightful, it was reported that at one point Reed had threatening to commit an act of violence at ROH’s wrestling school in December of 2022 and even threatened a shooting attack but was escorted out of the venue by Booker T who attempted to defuse the situation. It was reported that while Reed claimed to others that he was in a longtime relationship with Rose, this was something Rose denied being the case to others. In regards to the reason for her firing from ROW, those spoken to reportedly stated that Booker T and ROW officials blamed Rose for “causing the problematic personality to be around, even though he’d been warned numerous times to stay away.” It was reported that they had contacted Booker T for his side of the story and was told by him that Rose was indeed fired from his promotion. Booker T also told Fightful that an incident at a tavern resulting in the arrest of Reed and another ROW talent following a fight that ROW talent should have just avoided Reed being in the same place as them and not confront him despite Reed being told to stop hanging out with them. It was also reported that multiple talent from ROW have recently left the promotion over Booker T and ROW officials handling of this situation.
As noted before, Stardom founder and head booker Rossy Ogawa was fired by Bushiroad this past Sunday over allegations that he was he was poaching Stardom talent and staff for a new Joshi promotion. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Stardom talent had been aware for months that Ogawa was preparing to leave Stardom and had been originally expected to leave this past November. Meltzer reported that Stardom’s top talent knew for around six months about Ogawa’s planned departure and launch of a new promotion and had kept quiet over it. Meltzer also reported that Ogawa’s plans to start a new promotion was part of the reason why KAIRI decided against signing a new deal with Stardom and returned to WWE. This reportedly was the same for Giulia’s reason to not sign a new deal with the company as well since she had promised Ogawa that she would help him launch his new promotion well before WWE held talks with her for a potential deal. Meltzer reported that the current belief is that the Japanese media is expected to be portrayed more positively in Japan over time due to his strong longtime media connections and the respect for being a key part of the marketing of legendary tag team the Crush Gals and the booking and the business boom of the 90s women’s wrestling industry.
In regards to Stardom’s talent, Meltzer reported that Mayu Iwatani is currently expected to remain in Stardom due to her being the only one who is currently locked down to a long term deal. Iwatani reportedly was furious when she found out about Ogawa’s firing. Meltzer reported that the situation with Stardom’s top talent should be made clear by next month in regards to their current champions with teh belief that those who drop their titles very likely will be leaving once their contract expires and join Ogawa’s new promotion. One person close to the situation reportedly stated that of the 8-woman tag team match that took place at Stardom’s Feb. 4th show between Iwatani, Utami Hayashishita, AZM, & Nanae Takahashi vs. Giulia, Syuri, Mirai, & Suzu Suzuki, at least four of them are expected to join Ogawa’s new promotion.
In regards to the issues between Bushiroad and Ogawa, Meltzer reported that those spoken to clarified stating that Busiroad was not constantly overruling Ogawa’s booking plans for Stardom but there were enough backstage incidents that took place between the two sides that led to Ogawa’s decision to leave. One person close to the situation stated that Ogawa’s decision was less due to him competing with Bushiroad over the direction of Stardom and instead him simply being the type of person who just wants to run a promotion and make decisions on his own without outside interference. Meltzer reported that this view would very likely rule out Ogawa working with WWE for his new promotion since a similar issue would very likely end up happening as well and would be way more involved in business decisions than Bushiroad ever was for Stardom.
In regards to the longtime issues between Ogawa and AEW CEO Tony Khan, Meltzer reported that the reason for the bad blood between the two is due to the long term belief within AEW that Ogawa was purposely preventing Stardom talent from working in AEW and the rumors of him working in secret with WWE. Meltzer reported that those within AEW are currently hopeful of being able to work with Stardom now that Ogawa is gone and Bushiroad being much easier to work with for a partnership. In regards to Stardom, Meltzer reported that one source spoken to stated that many Stardom talent were upset over Khan’s recent tweets about Ogawa’s firing that were viewed as him gloating over the it. This same source reportedly stated “You have no idea how upset wrestlers and media are about Tony’s sticking it to Rossy.” In a follow-up report, Meltzer reported in a recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio that his sources stated that neither Bushiroad nor New Japan Pro Wrestling officials were upset over the comments Khan had made about Ogawa.
In regards to Ogawa and WWE, Meltzer reported that WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque was the point person for the talks Stardom and WWE held this past December. Levesque reportedly was aware of Ogawa’s intentions to depart from Stardom and one of the few people outside of Stardom who knew about this. In regards to a potential working partnership between WWE and Stardom, Meltzer reported that there is nothing on the table right now regarding this and Ogawa did not factor in WWE for his decision to leave Stardom and start a new promotion. Meltzer reported that WWE likely will make a decision over to partner with Stardom or Ogawa’s new promotion based on which of the two promotions are the stronger one for a women’s promotion partnership.
Stardom reportedly drew a paid attendance of 369 for their Feb. 3rd event in Kyoto and 1,377 for their Feb. 4th 13th Anniversary event in Osaka, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
TNA Wrestling reportedly had generated around 13,300 pay-per-view buys from cable PPV providers for this past January’s Hard To Kill 2024 event based on updated data from late buy purchases, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that when including streaming buys, TNA is currently estimated to have generated around 31,000 PPV buys for their event.
Consejo Mundial De Lucha Libre reportedly drew an attendance of around 12,000 for their Feb. 2nd Super Viernes event in Mexico City, Mexico.
TheCubsFan reported that CMLL talent Oro Jr. suffered a torn ligament and meniscus right knee injury at CMLL’s Martes de Arena Mexico event on February 6th in Mexico City, Mexico. It was reported that Oro Jr. will be undergoing reconstructive surgery to fix his knee.
Lucha Libre AAA reportedly drew an attendance of 8,400 for their Rey de Reyes 2024 event in Hidalgo, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
The CubsFan reported that Lucha Libre AAA talent Sam Adonis suffered a broken hand injury during his match against Psyco Clown at AAA’s Rey de Reyes 2024 event.

Wrestling TV Ratings for Week of Feb. 2 to Feb. 8, 2024

WWE Friday Night SmackDown – 2,469,000 viewers, 0.74 rating (prior week – 2,475,000 viewers, 0.71 rating)
WWE RAW – 1,890,000 viewers, 0.58 rating (prior week – 1,909,000 viewers, 0.61 rating)
WWE NXT – 650,000 viewers, 0.19 rating (prior week – 648,000 viewers, 0.18 rating)
AEW Rampage – 314,000 viewers, 0.10 rating (prior week – 382,000 viewers, 0.13 rating)
AEW Collision – 404,000 viewers, 0.12 rating (prior week – 300,000 viewers, 0.06 rating)
AEW Dynamite – 805,000 viewers, 0.28 rating (prior week – 818,000 viewers, 0.26 rating)
TNA Wrestling Impact! – N/A (prior week – N/A)

Total viewership in terms of overall tally for the week: 6,538,000 viewers, up 6,000 viewers compared to prior week’s 6,532,000.

The viewership and ratings numbers for this past Thursday’s TNA Impact! show are currently not known.