Weekend Roundup: Kelly Kelly Interested in Wrestling Return, More on WWE & GCW, AEW Backstage Reaction Over Mone’s WWE Return Interest, Gabe Kidd Signs New NJPW Deal, TNA, Indies

WWE

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

Mar 17, 2024

WWE

In a recent virtual fan signing event for RDP Promotions, former WWE wrestler Kelly Kelly gave her thoughts about her currently being interested in the idea of a potential return to wrestling in the future. Kelly stated “I would be open to a comeback. We’ll see. I want my twins to come and watch me one day.” Kelly last wrestled at WWE’s Royal Rumble 2022 event in January of 2022. (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
This past Friday’s SmackDown show in Memphis, Tennessee featured Damage CTRL attacking Bayley to close out the show. During their attack, Naomi ran out trying to save Bayley only to get quickly beaten up instead as well. During Saturday’s WWE SmackDown LowDown show, IYO SKY issued an official challenge to Naomi for a match at the March 22nd SmackDown show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Michael Hayes was the producer of The Rock Concert segment during this past Friday’s SmackDown show. It was reported that The Rock’s concert segment was orignally only scheduled to go for one segment in length but went over its allocated time. Those spoken to reportedly stated that people backstage were not surprised that The Rock would end up going over the time he was given for the show. In regards to what affected for timing issues afterwards, it was reported that the Dragon Lee vs. Santos Escobar match and post-match brawl angle with LWO and Legado was originally scheduled to be two segments in length but this was cut down to just 11 minutes in the end.
WWE recently announced two new matches for the card of this Tuesday’s NXT show. The first new match announced was a singles match of Trick Williams vs. Noam Dar. The second new match announced was a singles match of Sol Ruca vs. Brinley Reece.
WWE also recently announced that WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque will be making a special guest appearance for the April 5th live episode of The Pat McAfee Show at the WWE World in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Angelo Dawkins announced on Instagram that his mother recently passed away.
In a recent interview with the Gorilla Position podcast, Drew McIntyre provided an update about the ear injury he suffered during the Men’s Elimination Chamber match at this past February’s Elimination Chamber 2024 event in Australia. McIntyre stated “Physically, I still feel terrible from the (Elimination) Chamber. I took most of the big falls it seemed even though — I guess Randy’s maybe bigger than me these days and (Bobby) Lashley’s jacked but basically the biggest guys somehow ended up taking all the worst falls. Logan (Paul) diving on my face and getting my eardrum perforated so, I’m kind of staring at your lips watching what you’re saying because I found out about a year-and-a-half ago from an ear specialist because I have bad hearing in general that I taught myself to lip read which I had no idea. We did a little test where he was talking, had me put my fingers in my ears where I could still hear him, was telling him what he was saying and he slowly slipped up a piece of paper in front of his face and I was like, ‘I can’t hear what you’re saying. You’ve lowered your voice.’ My wife was like, ‘He hasn’t. He’s the exact same volume.’ He went, ‘Yeah, you’re a smart guy. You just taught yourself to lip read because your hearing is so bad.’ Oh, fantastic. Then it got perforated. So, I won’t say who it was because I don’t want them to feel bad, but it’s very annoying because I can’t hear jack.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
Becky Lynch was among the guests who visited the White House as part of President Joe Biden’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities. Besides Lynch, Ireland Prime Minister Leo Varadka was also among those who attended.
Front Office Sports recently released an article detailing how the recent Vince McMahon sex trafficking and sexual abuse lawsuit scandal has not led to any noticeable negative financial effect on WWE’s current business for now.
As noted before, Game Changer Wrestling and Josh Barnett recently announced that Shayna Baszler will be making an appearance at their Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport X event next month in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that this was not the first time that Barnett had asked WWE if they potentially work together for a Bloodsport event. It was reported that Barnett had previously asked WWE several years ago if they could lend then NXT talent Jessamyn Duke for a Bloodsport show, which Duke was in favor of but WWE rejected the request. It was also reported that Barnett and WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque have known each other for years and Barnett had personally called Levesque requesting to use Baszler for his upcoming event. In regards to a photo that had circulated several years ago involving GCW owner Brett Lauderdale and Stephanie McMahon in a suite together at a WrestleMania event, it was reported that those spoken to stated that this was not meant to be any indication of a potential working relationship between GCW and WWE at the time and instead just them pulling a friendly “rib” on wrestling fans and both had a good laugh at the rumors going around at the time. It was reported that there were no actual issues between both companies over it.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that a recent study regarding WWE pay-per-view buyers revealed that there were around a total of 103,000 unique homes or buyers for WWE PPV events over the past year starting with WrestleMania 39. Meltzer reported that only 500 homes (0.49%) purchased all 11 PPV events last year compared to 6.28% of all buyers for AEW events last year. Only 0.38% of all homes reportedly purchased 10 WWE PPV events, 0.37% purchased 9 PPV events, 1.01% purchased 8 PPV events, 1.21% purchased 7 PPV events, 1.44% purchased 6 PPV events, 2.21% purchased 5 PPV events, 3.82% purchased 4 PPV events, 2.68% purchased 3 PPV events, 11.06% purchased 2 PPV events, and 77.04% only purchased 1 PPV event. Meltzer reported that this means that out of the 103,000 homes that purchased WWE PPV events over the past year, around 79,350 homes only purchased one event.
WWE reportedly has generated around 9,200 PPV buys for this past February’s Elimination Chamber 2024 event based on updated late buys purchases numbers, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that a current planned script for the promotional video for the Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns match at WrestleMania 40 features Rhodes being heavily tied to Philadelphia, host of this year’s event. Meltzer reported that the idea being that “Philadelphia we know the American Dream and we know the American Nightmare, we know good times and hard times and that being an underdog isn’t something to be feared, it’s something to be embraced.” One person who recently got the script for voice over work reportedly stated that Rhodes in the script is going to be pushed as a Philadelphia style Rocky underdog for his match against Reigns.
WWE reportedly drew an attendance of 14,001 for their March 8th SmackDown show in Dallas, TX, 4,439 for their March 9th house show event in Alexandria, LA, 5,179 for their March 10th house show event in Lafayette, LA, and 12,962 for their March 11th RAW show in Houston, TX, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE reportedly has sold around 11,823 tickets for their March 18th RAW show in Raleigh, NC, 10,718 tickets for their March 22nd SmackDown show in Milwaukee, WI, 3,412 tickets for their March 23rd house show event in Springfield, IL, 3,745 tickets for their March 24th house show event in Rockford, IL, 13,221 tickets for their March 25th RAW show event in Chicago, IL, 5,428 tickets for their March 29th SmackDown show in Uncasville, CT, 4,798 tickets for their March 30th house show event in Manchester, NH, 2,341 tickets for their March 31st house show event in Syracuse, NY, 9,057 tickets for their April 1st RAW show in Brooklyn, NY, 15,700 tickets for their April 5th SmackDown and Hall of Fames 2024 shows in Philadelphia, 9,000 for their April 6th NXT Stand & Deliver 2024 event in Philadelphia, 57,768 tickets for their April 6th WrestleMania 40 Night 1 event in Philadelphia, 58,978 tickets for their April 7th WrestleMania 40 Night 2 event in Philadelphia, 15,909 tickets for their April 8th RAW show in Philadelphia, PA, 10,605 tickets for their April 12th SmackDown show in Detroit, MI, 8,732 for their April 15th RAW show in Montreal, Canada, 8,780 tickets for their April 19th SmackDown show in Pittsburgh, PA, 3,437 tickets for their April 21st house show event in Fort Wayne, IN, 6,103 tickets for their April 22nd RAW show in Columbus, OH, 5,616 tickets for their April 26th SmackDown show in Cincinnati, OH, 6,015 tickets for their April 29th RAW show in Kansas City, MO, 4,617 tickets for their May 10th SmackDown show in Wilkes-Barre, PA, 2,082 tickets for their May 12th house show event in Macon, GA, 3,928 tickets for their May 13th RAW show in Greenville, SC, and 4,797 tickets for their May 17th SmackDown show in Jacksonville, FL as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
In a recent episode of The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore podcast, co-host Booker T claimed that Sami Zayn was upset over the negative online reactions he received from fans following his victory over Chad Gable at this past Monday’s RAW show. Booker T stated “I talked to Sami Zayn on Tuesday morning. We were flying to Orlando. We were sitting next to each other on the plane. Like you said, so many people were pulling for Chad Gable in that match. I said, ‘Sami, what a match. You’re going to look back on this one day and say that was the one that catapulted me to the next level. That was the one that put me in the light and let people see exactly what I can do.’ He was so, literally upset, about the online heat that he got from fans. He was like, ‘I thought the fans love me. Then I see all this stuff.’ I said, ‘You can’t listen to that white noise. You have to think how great that match was and you’re going to look back one day and say that was some really great work.’ He was still feeling like he let someone down just because the fans didn’t think the match was as good as I thought it was. I thought it was excellent.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent interview with the Cultaholic Wrestling podcast, PROGRESS Wrestling co-owner Martyn Best gave his thoughts about PROGRESS’s past working relationship with WWE and issues with WWE over the airing of PROGESS matches on the WWE Network that featured talent from WWE rival promotions. Best stated “Well it certainly gave you an insight into the absolute professionalism that they have and how they — we all know they transformed the world of professional wrestling, typically for the good I would say (Best said about him & Lee McAteer learning from WWE during the relationship). Just how they do it is very business-like from behind the scenes. Very organized. The deal for example, it’s an extension of probably their decision last year. The Netflix deal has clearly been a very clear, thoughtful business decision which is gonna generate a lot of income for the Endeavor group now. I think the relationship we had with WWE was very much about putting our shows on their network. So seeing how they did that has given us some insights into what we have now created with DEMAND PROGRESS PLUS and I think having control of your content and how you market it and promote it was something that we gleaned from how WWE did it. They didn’t have any editorial or content control over the shows before — in what we did. There were a couple of times where we were bringing in wrestlers and talents from other promotions which maybe they would have viewed as competitive to the WWE landscape. So I know on a couple of occasions, they omitted one or two particular contests. But after a while, we said, ‘Look, you either take it all or what’s the point of us creating this show with different strands in it?’ And they accepted that and then we had wrestlers from other promotions. They just then left us unfettered to deliver our own personal brand of wrestling to them and that went well. The contract that PROGRESS had with them was due to expire at the end of January anyways so we were mindful that-that was gonna happen. As a consequence of that, we were already making our plans to create our own, essentially, network, on DEMAND PROGRESS PLUS. So hence why that was launched sort of relatively quickly afterwards and fans didn’t miss out on too much of being able to see our content online.” Best continued stating “Yeah, we were indeed (prepared for there to be pushback from WWE about not wanting to air certain PROGRESS matches on the Network that featured other companies’ signed wrestlers) and we’d been very open with them about it and you know, people like Anthony (Ogogo) and Jonathan (Gresham), Swerve Strickland I think at the time were signed to AEW. We were aware that-that might have prevented some of that content from going on the Network but, we were absolutely not prepared to just compromise the quality of our shows because ultimately, we’ve gotta deliver a wrestling match and a wrestling show that satisfies our fans and the greatest of respect to WWE. The fans had to take priority here. We did keep a good relationship with the Network. There’s still quite a lot of our content historically on the Network and accessible. We reached a concluding agreement that we would allow them to keep that on there. Just many strands of some of the great wrestlers we’ve had through our ring: Pete Dunne, GUNTHER, Toni Storm spring instantly to mind. So they are still available on the Network and both parties are really pleased that we got — we haven’t ended the relationship. It just changed. Never close doors. Even the so-called forbidden doors. Always keep doors and relationships open.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

AEW & ROH

AEW recently announced that they will be holding four new events for this April and May. These are the April 24th Dynamite show at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, the April 27th Collision show at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida, the May 15th Dynamite show at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Washington, and the May 22nd Dynamite show at the Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield, California.
In regards to the reason why AEW will be holding shows during the week of April 24th at Daily’s Place, the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in Sunday’s Daily Update that this is due to that being the same week as this year’s NFL Draft.
Saturday’s AEW Collision show in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada featured Adam Copeland revealing the mystery item he had in a box called labeled “Spike” was a nails studded 2×4 wood he called “Spike.” In a promo segment to close out the show, Copeland stated that this was a gift he received from WWE Hall of Famer and wrestling legend Mick Foley and promised to use it on Christian Cage to help him say “I quit” during their I Quit match for the TNT Championship at this Wednesday’s Dynamite show.
AEW recently released a new AEW Timelines video featuring Julia Hart’s evolution and TBS Championship reign in the company.
Saturday’s NBA game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzles in Memphis, Tennessee featured Jeff Jarret and Satnam Singh being involved in that night’s game festivities. During a break in the game’s first quarter, Jerry “The King” lawler was presented a Lifetime Achievement Championship for his contributions to Memphis Wrestling. This led to Jarrett coming out and giving a promo and him and Singh stealing Lawler’s belt. During the halftime festivities, Singh faced off against five guys in a match and proceeded to squash four of them with the fifth guy being a no show. During a break in the game’s third quarter, the Grizzles mascot Super Grizz came out and revealed that he was the mystery fifth opponent leading to him and Singh wrestling a match, which ended with Grizz pinning Singh after hitting a top rope crossbody.
A recent AEW-themed panel at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) convention featured Bryan Danielson among the speakers. One of the topics discussed included Danielson’s thoughts about his current goal in AEW being to help advance younger stars into bigger stardom for the company. Danielson stated “I don’t use the R-word [retirement]. I already had to do that once and I want to leave it open to wrestle when I’m 75 if I so choose. When I came to AEW, CM Punk had just debuted several weeks before and he talked about wanting to help the younger talent. I watched his interview and was like, ‘that’s what I was going to say.’ Then, when they asked me my goals, I was like, ‘I’m going to come in and kick everyone’s head in. I don’t care about pushing younger guys to the top. I’m just going to stomp them in the face and show them I’m the best.’ That’s actually not the reality. As someone who is 42 years old and has two kids. AEW made the pro wrestling industry healthier. When I look at that, how do I make this industry that I’ve loved since I was a child, how do I make it healthier? The idea is to pass on my opinion to younger wrestlers. I’ve had people say, ‘Bryan, you should be champion.’ The reality is, to me, no. The champions that we’ve had have been great. Hangman was a great champion. MJF was a great champion. It elevated these younger people to where now these people are stars. You put Hangman and MJF on TV now and they draw a rating. It would be easy to take stars of the past and make them your champion and top guy. That’s the easy way. It’s much harder to take someone like MJF, who hadn’t been on national television, and turn him into a star that draws ratings. That was my bigger goal. To transfer stardom from one generation to another.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent interview with Gabby AF, Chris Jericho gave his thoughts about the future of his career in AEW and why he does not see any reason for why he would want to leave at this point. Jericho stated “I don’t really think about that sort of thing, I kind of live in the now. We talk about being 33 years in wrestling, I’m like, ‘Wow, really?’ It doesn’t feel that way because I can still have the best match on any given show. Not every night, but a couple weeks ago, I wrestled Takeshita [Konosuke Takeshita] on Dynamite and it was the best on the show. There are still great moments for Jericho and a lot I can do. I don’t shut the door on anything. To me, WWE isn’t the be all-end all. It was great to be there, I had a great 20 years there, but I’ve had a great going on five years in AEW. I love working here. I love working with, not even for, with Tony Khan. WWE is a completely different animal now than when I left in 2017. It’s been six years. It’s not something I’ve really thought about. I like watching and reading about what’s going on, the buzz that they have, but I also like my company and I helped start AEW. I don’t really see any reason why I would want to leave at this point. Never say that I wouldn’t go, but I have zero plans of that. I like it here and I like the people I work with. I enjoy coming to work every week, which was not always the case in WWE, and it’s weird how that is the case here, but it’s a different vibe and I have a lot of fun here in AEW.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In the same interview, Chris Jericho gave his thoughts about his current work with HOOK and his mission in AEW being to elevate younger guys and his belief that he has contrary to his critics. Jericho stated “Things got kind of thrown into a loop, storyline-wise, when Kenny got sick. You do the best you can when you have to switch midstream. We kind of did the best we could with the Don Callis story, and then it was time to go into something new. The idea of working with HOOK was something I thought about for a while. It just seemed to fit with the match that we had at Revolution with the eight-man scramble and HOOK was in that. I thought, ‘let’s do something with this.’ The story is just beginning. I think we have good ideas and good stuff going on. That’s kind of what my mission in AEW has been since day one; do the best I can to elevate the younger guys. Contrary to popular belief, it usually works. Most of the time, when people work with me, they end up on a higher platform than they were prior. If you look at Orange Cassidy, Darby Allin, MJF, Hobbs [Will Hobbs], Takeshita [Konosuke Takeshita], guys in the Inner Circle, the Jericho Appreciation Society. Look at Daniel Garcia now compared to where he was a year ago. HOOK is another guy we’ve done a lot with, I think we can do some more with, add some depth to him, and give him a little more experience. You’re only as good as the guys you’re in the ring with. If you look at HOOK vs. Samoa Joe, that’s probably the best match he’s ever had because Joe has such experience. With the experience that I have, working with HOOK, and his persona is so unique, I think he’s lighting in a bottle and something we can really get to the next level and that’s what my idea is for this story.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
As noted before, Mercedes Mone made her official debut for AEW at this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite Big Business show in Boston, Massachusetts. During her debut, Mone revealed that she had signed an official contract with AEW. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Mone’s contract is currently believed to be lower than the $5 million per year figure that had been initially rumored but substantially more than what WWE’s offer was to her for a potential deal. One female WWE talent spoken to reportedly stated that the number they heard for Mone’s deal with AEW would make her the current highest paid women’s wrestler in pro wrestling. This same talent reportedly stated that they were thrilled at AEW for making that offer and happy for Mone to have accepted it since it opens the door to a better paying market for top women’s wrestlers in the long run. This same talent reportedly stated “I think it sets a standard that woman should be paid, too. The women do great numbers and have huge social followings” and also said that it was “a huge deal for women in the industry who are paid a lot less than men.“
Sports Business Journal reported that the NBA and Warner Bros Discovery are currently in serious negotations for a potential new television deal to keep NBA programming on TNT. It was reported that their sources stated that both sides are in about a 75% agreement for the terms for a new deal. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the current belief is that serious negotiations between WBD and AEW will be taking place after the NBA deal is completed due to that being the higher priority of the two TV deals for WBD.
AEW’s Revolution 2024 event earlier this month is currently estimated to have generated around 165,000 to 167,000 pay-per-view buys based on updated numbers and estimates, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that the reason for the lower estimate range is due to week two late buy purchases increase was slightly below what this past December’s Worlds End event had generated. Meltzer reported that Revolution 2024 is currently up 19.3% in television buys and around the same for digital buys compared to Worlds End for the same time period after the event.
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 Twitch stream, Omega revealed that had he not gotten ill, the current plan was for him to wrestle in a match for Pro Wrestling NOAH against Kenoh.
AEW reportedly drew an attendance of 2,565 for their March 7th Collision show in Duluth, GA and over 9,500 for their March 13th Dynamite Big Business show at the TD Garden in Boston, MA, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
AEW reportedly has sold around 4,936 tickets for their March 20th Dynamite show in Toronto, Canada, 2,204 tickets for their March 27th Dynamite show in Quebec City, Canada, 3,281 tickets for their March 30th Collision show in London, Canada, 2,126 tickets for their April 3rd Dynamite and Collision shows in Worcester, MA, 1,662 tickets for their April 10th Dynamite show in Charleston, WV, 1,210 tickets for their April 13th Collision and Battle of the Belts X shows in Highland Heights, KY, 1,228 tickets for their April 17th Dynamite show in Indianapolis, IN, 879 tickets for their April 20th Collision show in Peoria, IL, 4,904 tickets for their April 21st Dynasty event in St. Louis, MO, 2,887 tickets for their May 1st Dynamite show in Winnipeg, Canada, 2,402 tickets for their May 8th Dynamite show in Edmonton, Canada, and 5,349 tickets for their May 11th Collision show in Vancouver, Canada as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW generated a live gate of around $425,000 for their March 13th Dynamite Big Business show at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Mercedes Mone filed a trademark for “Bo$$ton” for merchandise-related purposes on March 14th to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
As noted before, a recent episode of The Kick Rocks Wrestling Podcast featured Mercedes Mone stating that she currently feels that she will return back to WWE one day. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Mone’s comments had rubbed some people the wrong way in AEW and felt that the timing of her comments was bad considering she made them prior to her official debut appearance for the company. Meltzer reported that AEW’s locker room is pretty much split in two when it comes to former WWE talents working in the company. One group reportedly views AEW as the place they want to be at while the other group views as just a place to make money while they wait for the call to go back to WWE. Meltzer reported that the latter has been in general more of a determent to the company. Meltzer also reported that fueling the concerns of some having the view of Mone being in the latter group is due to WWE did not give her the money she asked for while AEW did and those who were skeptical of her intents in AEW are even more skeptical now. Meltzer also reported that should Mone become a long term valuable asset for AEW, then these concerns and view would be moot but if not, then it would just prove those people right in the end.
Ring of Honor reportedly has sold around 1,580 tickets for April 5th Supercard of Honor 2024 event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

TNA, NJPW, Indies, & Misc. Wrestling

Sunday’s New Japan Cup 2024 event for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Shizuoka, Japan featured Yota Tsuji and EVIL advancing to the Semifinal round of this year’s New Japan Cup tournament. They join Hirooki Goto and SANADA who advanced following Saturday’s show.
Gabe Kidd confirmed on Twitter that a recent report from Fightful Select about him recently signing a new contract with NJPW is true.
NJPW reportedly drew a paid attendance of 696 for their March 8th New Japan Cup 2024 event in Yamanashi, 2,476 for their March 10th New Japan Cup 2024 event in Amagasaki, 668 for their March 11th New Japan Cup 2024 event in Ehime, 838 for their March 12th New Japan Cup event in Ehime, and 1,207 for their March 13th New Japan Cup 2024 event in Okayama, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Saturday’s Ready Or Not event for Pro Wrestling Revolver featured actor Paul Walter Hausen defeating Matt Cardona in a Slammys & Emmys Awards Winner Takes All match. Near the end of the match, Bully Ray came out to help Hausen and powerbombed Cardona through a flaming table to setup Hausen pinfall victory. Following the match, Sami Callihan came out and challenged Hausen to a match for Wrestling Revolver’s Highspot SuperShow event next month in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
TNA Wrestling announced that this April’s Starrcast Downunder convention in Australia will be featuring Moose defending his TNA World Championship against Josh Alexander at Oceania Pro Wrestling’s Australian Stampede event and Jordynne Grace defending her TNA Knockouts World Championship against Delta at OPW’s HER event.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that the reason why tickets for TNA’s Under Siege 2024 event on May 3rd and Impact! tapings on May 4th in Albany, New York did not go on sale as scheduled for Saturday was due to a ticketing-related issue that is currently in the process of being resolved.
TNA announced one new match for the card of their Impact! tapings on March 23rd in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is a Monster’s Ball match of PCO vs. Kon.
TNA reportedly drew an attendance of around 650 (600 paid) for their March 8th Sacrifice 2024 event in Windsor and 600 for their March 9th Impact! tapings in Windsor, Canada, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
TNA reportedly has sold around 333 tickets for their April 20th Rebellion 2024 event in Paradise and 215 for their April 21st Impact! tapings in Paradise, Nevada as of this past Thursday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
TNA’s Hard To Kill 2024 event reportedly generated around 20,900 cable television pay-per-view buys based on updated late buys purchases, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that TNA’s event is currently estimated to have generated over 65,000 PPV buys once streaming buys are included which would be the highest ever PPV buys for an event in TNA/Impact history. Meltzer reported that despite the big success for TNA’s rebranding event, it has not lead to any real increase in ratings for TNA’s weekly Impact shows nor for ticket sales for their events afterwards.
In a recent interview with Proresu-TODAY, current Stardom President and Executive Producer Taro Okada gave his thoughts about his position in the company. Okada stated “To be honest, it is quite difficult (Okada said about his position in STARDOM). But my role is to lay the groundwork for the athletes to perform to their fullest potential. We will support them and make sure that they are moving in the right direction. Right now, the wrestlers are extremely motivated, so we are actually being pulled along by them as we prepare the path. We listen to what the athletes want to do, and if what they want to do is in line with the company’s performance and goals, we can make it happen. Until now, Mr. Ogawa led with his strong leadership and charisma, and the wrestlers followed him. Actually, I wonder if the company was watching this from a distance.” (English translation via PostWrestling.com)
Stardom reportedly drew a paid attendance of 1,555 for their March 9th Cinderella Tournament 2024 event in Yokohama and 1,344 for their March 10th Cinderella Tournament 2024 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As noted before, All Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced the field for this year’s Champion Carnival tournament. AJPW recently announced two more surprise competitors for this year’s tournament. They are Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Rei Saito.
AJPW drew a paid attendance of 1,076 for their March 9th Dream Power Series 2024 event in Tokyo, 651 for their March 10th Dream Power Series 2024 event in Gunma, and 342 for their March 12th Dream Power Series 2024 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Saturday’s Origenes event for Lucha Libre AAA featured AEW talent Parker Boudreaux making a surprise appearance and debut for the company. Following Octogan Jr. defeating Mecha Wolf to retain the AAA Latin American Championship, Boudreaux made his surprise appearance and attacked both guys. This led to El Mesías running out to save Octogan Jr. and Mecha Wolf and confronted Boudreaux in the ring.
AAA reportedly drew an attendance of 3,000 for their March 9th Origenes event in Saltillo, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Pro Wrestling NOAH recently announced that Kaito Kiyomiya and Masa Kitamiya will be making an appearance at their co-promoted tour of the United Kingdom with PROGRESS Wrestling this September.
NOAH reportedly drew a paid attendance of 339 for their March 8th Sunny Voyage 2024 event in Hiroshima, 434 for their March 9th Sunny Voyage 2024 event in Fukuoka, and 465 for their March 10th Sunny Voyage 2024 event in Kumamoto, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
NOAH recently announced that Manabu Soya will be out of action for the company for the foreseeable future due to him currently being scheduled to undergo elbow surgery soon. (English translation via PostWrestling.com)
Westside Xtreme Wrestling drew a paid attendance of 862 for their March 8th 16 Carat Gold 2024 event in Oberhausen, 989 for their March 9th 16 Carat Gold 2024 event in Oberhausen, and 843 for their March 10th 16 Carat Gold 2024 Finals event in Oberhausen, Germany, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Consejo Mundial De Lucha Libre reportedly drew an attendance of 6,700 for their March 8th Funcion Especial Conmemorando El Dia Internacional De La Mujer event at the Arena Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This event was notable for being CMLL’s first ever all-women’s event at the Arena Mexico and was held in honor of this year’s International Women’s Day.
Dragon Gate drew a paid attendance of 368 for their March 9th Rey de Parejas 2024 event in Himeji and 1,362 for their March 10th Rey de Parejas 2024 event in Nagoya, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Wrestling TV Ratings for Week of March 8 to March 14, 2024

WWE Friday Night SmackDown – 2,439,000 viewers, 0.69 rating (prior week – 2,348,000 viewers, 0.64 rating)
WWE RAW – 1,751,000 viewers, 0.56 rating (prior week – 1,649,000 viewers, 0.54 rating)
WWE NXT – 588,000 viewers, 0.16 rating (prior week – 654,000 viewers, 0.16 rating)
AEW Rampage – 364,000 viewers, 0.13 rating (prior week – 344,000 viewers, 0.10 rating)
AEW Collision – 427,000 viewers, 0.13 rating (prior week – 455,000 viewers, 0.13 rating)
AEW Dynamite – 798,000 viewers, 0.27 rating (prior week – 779,000 viewers, 0.27 rating)
TNA Wrestling Impact! – N/A (prior week – N/A)
Various – Biography: WWE Legends (A&E) – 407,000 viewers, 0.13 rating (prior week – 276,000 viewers, 0.07 rating)
Various – WWE Rivals (A&E) – 368,000 viewers, 0.12 rating (prior week – 316,000 viewers, 0.06 rating)
Various – Dark Side of the Ring (VICE) – 121,000 viewers, 0.04 rating (prior week – 141,000 viewers, 0.05 rating)

Total wrestling television viewership for the week: 7,263,000 viewers, up 301,000 viewers compared to the prior week’s 6,962,000 viewers.

The viewership and ratings numbers for the March 14th and March 7th TNA Impact! shows are currently not known.