Various: TNA Hard To Kill 2024 TV PPV Buys Reportedly Over 19,000 Buys, AZM & Mina Shirakawa Reportedly Expected to Stay in Stardom, Indies

Mar 2, 2024

Updated PPV Buys Estimates for TNA Hard To Kill 2024

TNA Wrestling reportedly generated over 19,000 cable television pay-per-views for this past January’s Hard To Kill 2024 event, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Dave Meltzer reported that based on updated late buys data, TNA is currently estimated to have generated around 19,700 buys from cable PPV providers. Meltzer reported that this would be more than double what this past October’s Bound For Glory 2023 generated for TV PPV buys, which was under 6,900.

Meltzer reported that when including streaming buys, TNA’s Hard To Kill 2024 event is currently estimated to have generated around 60,000 buys and would tie the record for most ever PPV buys for a TNA/Impact event, currently held by Genesis 2006.

In an interesting note, Meltzer reported that one rural based PPV tracking company had more buys for TNA’s event than this past December’s AEW World’s End event. Meltzer reported that making this even more of a surprise is that TNA’s success for Hard To Kill 2024 has not led to any real major boost in ticket sales for their events nor ratings for their Impact! television shows since then.

AZM & Mina Shirakawa Reportedly Expected to Stay in Stardom

As noted before, Stardom founder and head booker Rossy Ogawa was fired by Bushiroad this past February over allegations that he was he was poaching Stardom talent and staff for a new Joshi promotion. Following Ogawa’s firing, several Stardom talents including Giulia are expected to be leaving the company once their contracts expire at the end of this month

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that AZM and Mina Shirakawa are currently expected to be signing new deals with Stardom to remain in the company.

Meltzer reported that speculation of AZM and Shirakawa staying in Stardom originated after New Japan Pro Wrestling had recently announced both would be competing at their Windy City Riot 2024 event this April in Chicago, Illinois. Meltzer reported that this was a strong indication of AZM and Shirakawa staying in Stardom and one of them dethroning Giulia for the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship if Giulia were to retain her title against Stephanie Vaquer at Stardom’s upcoming event on March 10th.

Meltzer also reported that AZM and Shirakawa are also both currently scheduled to make an appearance for Ring of Honor for their Supercard of Honor 2024 event this April. AZM and Shirakawa reportedly are also currently scheduled to also make an appearance in AEW and possibly during that same week.

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Wrestling legend Paul “The Butcher” Vachon passed away this past Thursday at the age of 86. Vachon’s passing was first announced by Pat Laprade on Twitter. Prior to his passing, Vachon had battled colon cancer and throat cancer over the years. Vachon’s career in wrestling spanned from 1957 to 1985 and was most known for being one half of the legendary Vacohn tag team with his real life brother Mad Dog Vachon. Besides his in-ring career, Vachon was also known for being the co-founder and promoter of Grand Prix Wrestling. Vachon’s career achievements and accolades included being a one-time AWA World Tag Team Champion, one-time AWA Midwest Tag Team Champion, one-time Mid-Atlantic NWA Southern Tag Team Champion, and as a member of the Nebraska Pro Wrestling (2003), Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (2004), and George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (2010).

As noted before, former WWF, WCW, and NWA wrestler Billy Jack Hayes, real name William Albert Haynes III, was arrested this past February and officially charged with Murder in the Second Degree and Unlawful Use of a Weapon this past Thursday following a shooting incident at his home in Portland, Oregon that resulted in the death of his wife. KPTV reported that Haynes was arraigned this past Thursday in Mulnomah County Court in Portland. It was also reported that Haynes is currently scheduled to stand trial over the charges against him on April 1st.

Ring of Honor recently confirmed that this year’s Supercard of Honor event on April 5th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania will air live exclusively on their HonorClub service.

As noted before, former WCW and National Wrestling Alliance wrestler Ole Anderson passed away this past Monday at the age of 81. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that while the cause of death has not been released as of this past Thursday, Anderson had been in hospice care and was suffering from dementia.

As noted before, Tokyo Sports held a recent interview with Kazuchika Okada that featured Okada stating that he has no intentions of ever returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling. This interview was later criticized for containing an English translation error that was being shared on Western media outlets that completely changed the tone of Okada’s comments. Those familiar with the Japanese language system stated that Okada was talking more about taking a clean break for now from NJPW and not him actually saying he has no intentions of ever going back.

Dave Meltzer announced that Steve McMichael, The Pugh Family, and Valerie Coleman have been named as the winners of the Shad Gaspard/Jon Huber award for pro wrestling for the 2023 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards. Meltzer reported that these winners were selected by himself and Post Wrestling’s John Pollock and this category was not eligible for fan voting over a recommendation by Lance Storm for the handling of this award.

Lucha Libre AAA talents Arez, Latigo, and Toxin reportedly recently quit the company, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated that the reason for all three leaving the company was due to their issues with AAA head booker Konnan. Arez, Latigo, and Toxin reportedly had hoped that Konnan would be able to get them booked with a United States-based promotion due to them not being booked on AAA shows of late due to AAA’s new change in direction for bookings. Meltzer reported that when Konnan was not able to do so, all three decided to leave the company instead. Lucha Blog provided an update and reported that their sources stated that all three have not officially left the company yet but are currently expected to do so within the next few days.

TNA Wrestling recently announced one new match for the card of their Sacrifice 2024 event on March 8th at the St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, Canada: