Weekend Roundup: Becky Lynch & Kevin Owens on Vince McMahon Allegations, 3/1 AEW Rampage Taping Spoilers, NJPW, Sat. TNA Talent Meeting Notes, 2023 WON Awards Winners, Indies

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

Feb 25, 2024

WWE

This past Friday’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown drew a preliminary viewership of 2,160,000 viewers on FOX, according to TVSeriesFinale.
Saturday’s WWE Elimination Chamber 2024 event in Perth, Australia featured WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque making an appearance and announced that the attendance for this year’s event was 52,590.
Following Saturday’s WWE Elimination Chamber 2024 event, Rhea Ripley reflected on Twitter about getting to compete in a WWE event in front of her home country. Ripley stated “Australia… Thank You! ❤️🇦🇺 #WWEChamber” In a separate tweet, Ripley also reflected about getting to celebrate her victory over Nia Jax with her family at the event. Ripley stated “This one was for little Demi Bennett 🇦🇺🖤” Demi Bennett is Ripley’s real name.
Saturday’s WWE Elimination Chamber 2024 event also featured Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell competing in a losing effort against the Kabuki Warriors for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. Following the match, WWE held a digital exclusive backstage interview with LeRae and Hartwell for Hartwell’s thoughts about getting to compete in front of her home country. Hartwell stated “Well, Byron, it was my first time performing in Australia as a WWE superstar, so the only word I can use to describe it is surreal. I had my parents, my family there. My real parents, not my mom over here. But obviously, we lost, and we’re not too happy about that. But we don’t take no for an answer. And our sights are still set on the tag team titles. We’re former tag team champions.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that WWE’s roster flew out of Australia to return back to the United States following Saturday’s Elimination Chamber 2024 event.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that many of the talents who worked at Saturday’s Elimination Chamber 2024 are very sore and banged up but there were no injures suffered.
Bodyslam.net’s Cassidy Haynes reported that his sources stated that WWE recenty hired indie wrestler Patrick Scott for a WWE creative job as their new writer’s assistant for their SmackDown brand. Haynes reported that Scott will officially start his new job with WWE starting with this Monday’s RAW show in San Jose, California.
Saturday’s UFC Mexico City event for UFC in Mexico City, Mexico featured Rey Mysterio among those in attendance at the event.
In a recent interview with Daily Mail, Becky Lynch gave her thoughts about never having a one-on-one match against Ronda Rousey during Rousey’s time in WWE. Lynch stated “I suppose at the end of the day, I was still able to get the win [in] the main event of WrestleMania, be the first ever woman to win the main event of WrestleMania. Do I think that was the match that everyone was clamoring for? Yes it was. Everyone wanted that singles match. And I think, people thought that moment in time would be evergreen and it wasn’t. That’s OK too. I think you can’t force things when they’re not there and I think we see that with what’s currently going on with the product. For years, everyone wanted The Rock vs Roman Reigns, but it’s not the time for it right now. Everyone wants Roman vs Cody (Rhodes). Some things have their seasons and we didn’t have that season. If she ever comes back again, maybe that season will be right there. Maybe it will be springtime on that story again, but it never got back to that.“
The Daily Mail also held a recent interview with Kevin Owens and Becky Lynch discussing their thoughts about the recent sex trafficking lawsuit allegations against Vince McMahon. Owens stated “Everything that has come out is awful. Just terrible. There’s really no words to describe how sad this makes me feel. If the people spoke out went through what they went through, that’s terrible. It’s shameful and it can’t ever happen again. That’s what it comes down to.” Lynch stated “I have been fortunate in my career that I have always felt supported by the company. These allegations are horrible and it’s hard to reconcile as a talent and as a woman. But, my experience in WWE has only ever been amazing. Yes, in the beginning, there was some restrictions on some things; we couldn’t punch, grabbing hair – there was some weird stuff there – but I was able to push us forward, push women forward and I’m very grateful for that. So this company… [right now] some of these things are hard to reconcile.“
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources provided more details regarding the timeline of when Cody Rhodes was aware of the plans for him at WrestleMania 40 and The Rock’s status for the event. Meltzer reported that Rhodes had been told as far back as this past Fall that he would be facing Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 40. Rhodes reportedly was not informed when The Rock signed a deal with TKO to join their Board of Directors that The Rock would be getting that match against Reigns instead. Meltzer reported that Rhodes was only told of these new plans on the day of this past January’s Royal Rumble 2024 event and his promised match against Reigns would be pushed to a later date. The Rock reportedly wanted this to be kept a secret from almost everybody else in order to keep the reveal of his match against Reigns a surprise until the Feb. 2nd SmackDown show. Meltzer reported that the plans for an injury angle to write out Rhodes at the show was also kept as a surprise from almost everyone as well.
In regards to the process that led to WWE changing their plans for WrestleMania 40 back to Rhodes vs. Reigns, Dave Meltzer reported that one of the key factors was CM Punk suffering a triceps injury since it caused WWE officials to change their major plans for both the Elimination Chamber 2024 and WrestleMania 40 events. The other key factor reportedly was the fallout from the Feb. 2nd SmackDown show where WWE officials had felt that Rhodes giving up his match and endorsing Rock was a big success due to the live crowd cheering for Rock. WWE officials reportedly only started to have second thoughts after the very negative online reception to this angle and The Rock’s name being booed at shows afterwards. This reportedly led to The Rock making the decision to turn heel and opened the door for Rhodes to get back his match with Reigns for WresleMania 40. Meltzer reported that despite his heel turn, WWE officials still have plans for Rock to face off against Reigns in a match in the future.
WWE reportedly drew an attendance of 11,033 for their Feb. 16th SmackDown double tapings in Salt Lake City, UT, 7,578 for their Feb. 17th house show event in Oakland, CA, 9,770 for their Feb. 18th house show event in Fresno, CA, and 11,032 for their Feb. 19th RAW show in Anaheim, CA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE reportedly has sold around 11,356 tickets for their Feb. 26th RAW show in San Jose, CA, 11,405 tickets for their March 1st SmackDown show in Glendale, AZ, 3,821 tickets for their March 2nd house show event in Palm Desert, CA,3,513 tickets for their March 3rd house show event in Bakersfield, CA, 9,900 tickets for their March 4th RAW show in San Antonio, TX, 10,485 tickets for their March 8th SmackDown show in Dallas, TX, 1,776 tickets for their March 9th house show event in Alexandria, LA, 3,490 tickets for their March 10th house show event in Lafayette, LA, 9,794 tickets for their March 11th RAW show in Houston, TX, 56,591 tickets for their April 6th WrestleMania 40 Night 1 event in Philadelphia, and 57,906 tickets for their April 7th WrestleMania 40 Night 2 event in Philadelphia, PA as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As noted before, the February 16th episode of SmackDown drew 2,555,000 viewers and a 0.75 key demographic rating on FOX. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that week’s show managed to set a new record for television history by being the first time ever that a wrestling television show was ranked first for the week in network ratings. Meltzer reported that while WWE’s viewership was only in sixth place for the week, the key demo rating was in first place to give them the win for the week. Meltzer reported that teh key demo for second place was a 0.67 for the premiere episode of this season of Ghosts on CBS. Meltzer also reported that two key factors helping WWE win the week was that week’s 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend festivities was on cable television and this year’s NASCAR Daytona 500 race being postponed by one day due to weather which pushed its ratings to be counted for the following week instead. In an interesting note, Meltzer reported that the most watched ever wrestling show in the United States was only ranked #32 for the week for WWE’s live special on NBC in 1988 featuring Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant, which drew a 15.2 rating. In regards to NXT moving to The CW, Meltzer reported that due to The CW’s low standing as a network, it is very unlikely that NXT will ever come close to topping the rankings for weekly shows on network cable.
WWE recently announced for new matches for the card of this Tuesday’s NXT show. These new matches are a tag team match of The OC (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) vs. Edris Enofe & Malik Blade, a singles match of Lexis King vs. Von Wagner, a singles match of Kelani Jordan vs. Kiana James, and a singles match of Dijak vs. Luca Crusifino.
WWE filed a trademark for “New Catch Republic” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on February 18th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
As noted before, WWE officials had considered plans to change Randy Orton’s entrance theme music for his return from injury at this past November’s Survivor Series WarGames 2024 event. In a recent interview with Graham “GSM” Matthews, Orton confirmed that there were plans to change his entrance theme and he was the person who had pushed for this to be done for his return. Orton stated “Rev Theory is great. My song is great. A lot of people enjoy it. I have never loved, loved, loved it. You see me bouncing my head to New Day’s music or AJ Styles comes to the ring with his music. I’m singing along. Samoa Joe, when he was with us. The instrumentals. Roman, Judgment Day. There is some music that gets me going. The kind of music I listen to in the gym, the kind of music that pumps me up, doesn’t really fit Randy Orton the character. There is some truth to what you read. I was just as much behind it as WWE. We actually were working throughout the summer, me and Neil Lowry, with a new song. It kind of kept evolving and evolving, and when we thought we had something, a higher-up, some WWE brass would listen to it, and they’d go, ‘That kind of sounds like Roman’s here. Take that out.’ It would evolve again. ‘Now what do you think?’ ‘We need to change this part because we need better cues for camera angles.’ It would evolve. It got to a point where, we played it at Survivor Series with the intent of, ‘Am I going to come out to a new song tonight?’ The decision in the 11th hour was ‘Voices’ is a song that people have learned to love and goddamnit, even though it doesn’t necessarily get my blood pumping, it gets all those fans pumping and they know when they hear the first few notes, they know who is walking down to the ring and how that makes them feel. To change all of that…I was going to change my gear, I was going to try and make all these changes. I bought a pair of fucking kickpads. ‘Let me try and change my look.’ In the 11th hour it was like, ‘What am I doing? I’m going to look like some old guy who changed his clothes.’ I think the only change I had was, instead of ORTON on the back of my gear, it says RKO. That’s the kind of change, unless you’re looking for it, you’re not going to notice. I like the fact that, throughout my career, I’ve worn the same shit, come out to the same shit, done the same shit, and it’s worked. If it ain’t broke, why change it? As far as the music goes, I would love, before it’s all said and done, to have some music that gives me goosebumps. ‘Voices’ is great. It makes sense. The words make sense. It’s damn near written for me, I feel like. Rich from Rev Theory is a hell of a singer and the band is great, no problem with them at all, but it’s not the kind of music that pumps up Randy Orton.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent interview with the K/100 with Konnan & Disco podcast, Dominik Mysterio gave his thoughts about the heat he receives from the live crowd for shows when it comes to him trying to give promos. Mysterio stated “They like it when I do that, when I go out and try to cut a promo, especially if they need to cut time out of something or they need to save time, I can go out there with a mic for two to three minutes, pretend to cut a promo. I’m still blessed to get booed. I can’t tell you, every city I go out to, it gets louder and louder.” Mysterio also claimed that the boos he received are not pipped in for television. Mysterio stated “No, it’s not piped.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

AEW & ROH

Saturday’s AEW Collision show in Springfield, Missouri featured Bryan Danielson defeating Japanese wrestling legend and DDT Pro Wrestling talent Jun Akiyama in the main event. This was Akiyama’s first match in AEW since Full Gear 2022 in November of 2022. Following the match, Akiyama reflected on Twitter thanking AEW fans and promised to return in the future. Akiyama stated “Thank you very much to all AEW fans! Everyone’s cheering helped me. See you again. #ddtpro #AEW #JunAkiyama“
Kenny Omega announced on Twitter that he will be co-hosting the official Final Fantasy VII Rebirth launch stream with Naomi Kyle on February 28th on his Twitch account. Omega has been out of action for AEW since this past January due to him suffering from diverticulitis.
As noted before, QT Marshall will be returning to AEW but with some changes in regards to him returning to his prior Vice President role but not as an in-ring talent for the company. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Marshall has yet to officially return back to AEW but the current expectation is that he will be backstage at this Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Huntsville, Alabama.
Tay Melo recently praised her husband Sammy Guevara for the hard work he has done over the past week for AEW. Melo stated “Sammy didn’t sleep well for the last 4 days. He didn’t go home since Wednesday. He is a hustler, he is going to airport at 4am and he will do it again tomorrow to meet me for a signing. His last name should be “hard work”. He does it all and still find time to be the best husband and dad !!! I’m so proud of you @sammyguevara ❤️ and I’ll forever put you over bc you fucking deserve it !!! The best EVER.“
AEW held a new set of television tapings for their Rampage series on Saturday in Springfield, Missouri. This will be for the March 1st Rampage show that was taped early due to AEW will be holding a double Dynamite and Collision tapings this Wednesday. The matches taped were Claudio Castagnoli defeated Rugido in a singles match. Lance Archer & The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch) defeated Luke Langley, Anaya, & a local talent in a Trios match. Riho defeated Trish Adora in a singles match. CMLL talent Magnus defeated Matt Sydal in a singles match. (Source: F4WOnline.com)
In a recent interview with The Athletic, Orange Cassidy gave his thoughts about why he dislikes the term “comedy wrestler” to describe wrestlers who use some comedy aspects for their matches. Cassidy stated “I don’t really like the term comedy wrestler because I feel that professional wrestling is an art. This is the art I create and art, to me, should generate emotions out of people. Those emotions could be laughter. They could also be joy, it could also be sadness, it could be regret, it could be depression. If I was just a comedic wrestler, would people really care, would they be invested? You can watch a movie that’s just laughs for 90 minutes, but there’s always a part that makes you really care. It’s why I’m very grateful for AEW, because I can flex those different muscles, evoke those different emotions that I wouldn’t be able to if I was somewhere else. I’d be a one-note joke, people would get tired of it after six months and I’d be done. You have to be a professional wrestler first and foremost to evoke any type of emotion.“
Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Chris Jericho is currently expected to return to AEW as early as the week of their Revolution 2024 event due to his current tour with Fozzy ends this week.
AEW filed a trademark for “AEW: Dynasty” for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes on February 22nd to the USPTO.
AEW reportedly drew an attendance of 3,277 for their Feb. 21st Dynamite show in Tulsa, OK, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW reportedly has sold around 2,295 tickets for their Feb. 28th. Dynamite and Collision tapings in Huntsville, AL, 15,910 tickets for their March 3rd Revolution 2024 event in Greensboro, NC, 2,283 tickets for their March 6th Dynamite show in Duluth, 1,700 tickets for their March 7th Collision show in Duluth, GA, 6,205 tickets for their March 13th Dynamite Big Business show at the TD Garden in Boston, MA, and 39,190 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 Newsletter.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Draltisico had stated in a recent interview in Mexico that his brother RUSH and himself are still working on getting new work visas in order to be able to resume working in the United States for AEW.
As noted before, AEW CEO Tony Khan recently stated that this past week was one of the most hectic weeks in AEW history in regards to injuries and unexpected availability issues for AEW shows. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that another person who had been originally planned for the February 21st Dynamite show but was unable to appear as Jeff Hardy. Meltzer reported that Hardy had been planned to compete in a match at the show but those plans were dropped due to an injury or illness-related issue. Meltzer reported that Darby Allin and Sting had also been planned to make a live appearance for the show but those plans were changed to a taped promo at Sting’s house following Sting’s father passing away.
As noted before, Queen Aminata is currently believed to have been signed to a contract with AEW since this past January that was confirmed by AEW on February 16th following Aminata’s match on that night’s taped Rampage show. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Aminata became the first ever African born woman wrestler to sign an official contract with a major wrestling promotion.
As noted before, AEW recently hired former WWE senior writer Jennifer Pepperman to be their new Vice President of Content Development. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Pepperman officially started her new job with AEW at the February 21st Dynamite show in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In regards to Pepperman’s duties in AEW, Meltzer reported that Pepperman is currently expected to be heavily involved in the booking of women’s storylines in the company but will also work on men’s storylines as well. Meltzer also reported that Pepperman’s hiring does not mean that AEW will start shifting more towards scripted promos for their talents and instead will continue with the bullet point style they currently use. In regards to the current belief within WWE over Pepperman’s recent signing with AEW, one WWE source spoken to reportedly stated “the rumor is that she’s going to work for Sasha (Mone) as her exclusive writer.”

TNA, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

Sunday’s Into The Fight 2024 event for DDT Pro Wrestling in Tokyo, Japan featured Zack Sabre Jr. making a surprise appearance for the company. During the show, Chris Brookes gave a promo stating that he has a friend who has a dramatic dream for a match. This led to Sabre Jr. coming out and asking Brookes that he wanted to fight Yoshihiko which Brookes responded back telling him that would be too expensive to book. After some more banter between the two, Sabre Jr. requested to wrestle against the current top two champions in DDT, Yuki Ueno and MAO. Brookes responded asking Sabre Jr. if he could be his tag team partner which Sabre Jr. agreed. DDT announced that this tag team match was made official for their April 7th event in Tokyo, Japan.
This past Saturday’s The New Beginning in Sapporo 2024 Night 2 event for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Sapporo, Japan featured Tama Tonga’s final match for the company. Following the show, Tonga reflected on Twitter about his final match in New Japan. Tonga stated “Thank you G.o.D! Thank you @njpwglobal @njpwworld ! Thank you New Japan Fans! 🫡“
Saturday’s NJPW The New Beginning in Sapporo 2024 Night 2 event also featured Kazuchika Okada’s final match as well for New Japan. In a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, Okada gave his thoughts about his interest in having one more match with Tetsuya Naito in NJPW in the future. Okada stated “I’m already looking ahead to what’s next, and I’m going out with the intention of never coming back to New Japan. I’m sorry about that, but I don’t think so. Of course, I want to treasure the feeling and the words I received.” (English translation via Fightful.com)
This past Friday’s NJPW The New Beginning in Sapporo 2024 Night 2 event for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Sapporo featured three championships changing hands. The first was SHO defeating El Desperado to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. The second was Matt Riddle defeating Hiroshi Tanahasi to become the new NJPW World Television Champion. The third was Nic Nemeth defeating David Finlay to become the new IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion.
NJPW reportedly drew a paid attendance of 1,150 for their Feb. 16th Fantasticamania 2024 event in Nagoya, 1,495 for their Feb. 17th Fantasticamania 2024 event in Chiba, 1,455 for their Feb. 18th Fantasticamania 2024 event in Tokyo, and 1,455 for their Feb. 19th Fantasticamania 2024 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
NJPW recently announced that their upcoming Windy City Riot 2024 event on April 12th in Chicago, Illinois will be airing live as a pay-per-view purchase on New Japan World.
NJPW reportedly has sold around 5,054 tickets for their April 12th Windy City Riot 2024 event in Chicago as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Fightful Select reported that their sources confirmed that TNA officials held a meeting with their talent on Saturday in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was reported that this meeting featured newly appointed executives in TNA and had been meticulously planned in advance and featured a mix of familiar faces and new leadership figures in the company. It was reported that several talents had prior meetings with high level TNA officials ahead of this talent meeting. It was also reported that the general reaction from the meeting was one of wanting to uphold the collective efforts of the roster despite their reservations over the decision to replace Scott D’Amore. It was also reported that one prominent TNA official was considering leaving the company but this person opted instead to assess the situation after this weekend’s tapings and the outcome of the talent meeting. It was also reported that TNA’s new leadership was receptive to the feedback given by talent during this meeting. Several talents spoken to reportedly stated that they are currently optimistic about the future of the company following this meeting.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that morale within TNA Wrestling was stated to be high following this past Friday’s No Surrender 2024 event in Westwego, Louisiana. Johnson also reported that there were no injuries that were suffered at the event that his sources are aware of.
TNA reportedly drew an attendance of around 750 for this past Friday’s No Surrender 2024 event in Westwego, according to PWInsider.
As noted before, TNA recently picked up the option year for Josh Alexander’s contract pushing back the expiration date from February 14, 2024 to now a new date of February 15, 2025. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Alexander had informed TNA officials to not pick up his option year and wanted to negotiate a new deal or allow his contract to expire and become a free agent. TNA officials reportedly rejected Alexander’s request and picked up the additional year in his contract due to them having the right to do so as part of the terms in his deal. Alexander reportedly was not upset over this happening since he was the one who had agreed to include the option year in his deal.
As noted before, TNA President Scott D’Amore’s contract was terminated by Anthem Entertainment earlier this month. Prior to his firing, D’Amore had attempted to purchase TNA from Anthem which was rejected by Anthem. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that two sources spoken to close to the situation stated that D’Amore’s offer was for $10 millions and would also include D’Amore taking on all of TNA’s existing debts and trade debts. This reportedly would have allowed Anthem to walk away with the $10 million instead of having some of that be spent resolving their debts with TNA. In regards to TNA’s value, Meltzer reported that D’Amore and his group believed that TNA was worth somewhere between $7 million to $12 million as a company.
Indie wrestler Anthony Gaines, real name Anthony Nicometi Jr., passed away on Saturday at the age of 30. The announcement of Gaines passing was first made by Empire State Wrestling who stated “We are devastated to hear of the passing of Anthony Gaines. He was a remarkable performer in the ring who also touched the hearts of many lives outside of it. You will always be loved and never be forgotten. Without a doubt, you were authentically ‘None of a Kind.’” No other details are currently known regarding Gaines’ cause of death. Gaines’ wrestling career spanned from December of 2014 to September of 2023 and was most known for his work in Pro Wrestling Rampage, and Empire State Wrestling. Gaines’ notable career achievements and accolades including being a one-time ESW Interstate Champion and a two-time PWR Tag Team Champion.
Major League Wrestling recently announced one new match for the card of their MLW Fusion taping on February 29th in New York City, New York. This is a singles match of AJ Francis vs. Mr. Thomas.
This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter featured the full list of winners for the 2023 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards. Some of the notable winners included Will Ospreay taking the Wrestler of the Year and Most Outstanding Wrestler awards, FTR taking the Tag Team of the Year award, and Eddie Kingston taking the Best On Interviews (Talker) award. In regards to promotions, WWE took the Promotion of the Year award, Paul “Triple H” Levesque took the Booker of the Year award, WWE CEO Nick Khan took the Promoter of the Year award, AEW Dynamite took the Best Weekly TV Show award, and the National Wrestling Alliance took the Worst Promotion of the Year award. In regards to other notable winners, Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 took the Pro Wrestling Match of the Year award, Julia Hart took the Most Improved award, SANADA took the Most Overrated award, Rhea Ripley took the Women’s MVP award, and WWE Enabling Vince McMahon and Him Being Back in Power/TKO Keeping Him in Position of Power took the Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic of the Year award. In regards to best and worst PPV events awards, AEW’s Revolution 2023 event took the Best Major Wrestling Show award and WWE’s Crown Jewel 2024 event took the Worst Major Wrestling Show award.
Joey Janela recently announced one new match for the card of Game Changer Wrestling’s Joey Janela’s Spring Break Clusterf*ck Forever event on April 6th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is a Four-way Punjabi Prison Tag Team match of Jacob Fatu & Zilla Fatu vs. Violence Is Forever (Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku) vs. Bollywood Boyz (Gurv Sihra & Harv Sihra) vs. Los Macizos (Ciclope & Miedo Extremo).
Revolution Pro Wrestling reportedly drew a paid attendance of 1,780 for their Feb. 18th High Stakes 2024 event in London, England, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This event was notable for being Will Ospreay’s final match in RevPro and the U.K. indies.
Stardom reportedly drew a paid attendance of 956 for their Feb. 17th Stardom in Korakuen 2024 Night 2 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As noted before, El Hijo del Vikingo suffered a serious right knee injury at an indie event on February 17th for Alianza Universal De Lucha Libre (AULL) in Ciudad de México, Mexico. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Vikingo is still currently delaying having surgery on his knee and will try to rehab it on his own. Meltzer reported that even without surgery, Vikingo is still expected to be out of action for a while.

Wrestling TV Ratings for Week of Feb. 16 to Feb. 22, 2024

WWE Friday Night SmackDown – 2,555,000 viewers, 0.75 rating (prior week – 2,578,000 viewers, 0.75 rating)
WWE RAW – 1,870,000 viewers, 0.63 rating (prior week – 1,747,000 viewers, 0.56 rating)
WWE NXT – 616,000 viewers, 0.18 rating (prior week – 650,000 viewers, 0.17 rating)
AEW Rampage – 300,000 viewers, 0.09 rating (prior week – 456,000 viewers, 0.12 rating)
AEW Collision – N/A (prior week – 491,000 viewers, 0.15 rating)
AEW Dynamite – 828,000 viewers, 0.29 rating (prior week – 811,000 viewers, 0.30 rating)
TNA Wrestling Impact! – N/A (prior week – 86,000 viewers, 0.02 rating)

Total viewership in terms of overall tally for the week: 6,169,000 viewers, down 650,000 viewers compared to prior week’s 6,819,000.

The viewership and ratings numbers for the Feb. 22nd TNA Impact! show are currently not known.

AEW did not hold a Collision show on Feb. 17th due to Collision being preempted due to TNT’s commitments with the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend that night.