Various: Mustafa Ali Reportedly Credited With Big Push To Establish New Talent In TNA, Jacques Rougeau Posts Tribute Video To Himself & The Rougeau Family, Indies/Misc.

Mustafa Ali Reportedly Credited With Big Push To Establish New Talent In TNA

As noted before, this past Thursday’s live TNA Impact! show in Philadelphia, Pennslyvania featured Jason Hotch defeating Mustafa Ali to become the new TNA International Champion.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Hotch and Ali’s match received heavy praise internally within TNA. Those spoken to reportedly stated that both Hotch and Ali are very well-liked within the company. Those same sources reportedly also stated that they believed their match was one of TNA’s best matches of this year.

It was reported that Ali has also received a lot of credit within TNA to help get newer talent established and he specifically wanted to help Hotch get a bigger spot in the company. Ali reportedly has also been “informally” scouting talent on the independent scene and has been recommending names to TNA as potential new signees for the company.

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Jacques Rougeau Posts Tribute Video To Himself & The Rougeau Family

As noted before, former WWE wrestler Jacques Rougeau was involved in a backstage incident at AEW’s Redemption event on July 26 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. This incident revolved around Rougeau throwing a “tantrum” backstage after AEW had refused to use a video he created for the Rougeau Family tribute on the show. This video contained footage and music that AEW did not have the rights to and also had A.I.-generated content that AEW did not want to use for the show.

Jacques recently posted on Facebook the full tribute video he had created to himself and his family.

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Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Friday’s The Top Play event for Game Changer Wrestling in Omaha, Nebraska featured Avery Styles, son of WWE Hall of Famer AJ Styles, defeating Alex Lev in his official in-ring GCW debut. Styles won the match with the Spiral Tap which was a finisher move his father AJ used early in his career.

GCW recently announced one new match for the card of their Rude Awakening event on August 1 in Minneapolis, Minnesota:

• Bustah & The Brain (Alec Price & Jordan Oliver) vs. Janelasus (Joey Janela & Megan Bayne)

Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling reportedly has sold over 1,000 tickets since their announcement this past Wednesday of Adam Copeland making an appearance for the company at their Norther Rising 2026 event on October 3 at the TMU’s Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, according to the Wrestling Observer.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Maple Leaf Pro officials were very happy over the early ticket sales for their upcoming Northern Rising 2026 event. Those spoken to reportedly stated that they feel this is a sign of success for their MLP Mayhem series on TSN2 and an acknowledgment of how big Adam Copeland’s appearance will be.  Those same sources reportedly also stated that MLP officials are very thankful to Tony Khan and AEW for facilitating Copeland’s appearance.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that TNA Wrestling’s talks with Ohio Valley Wrestling for a partnership deal for OVW to act as a developmental system are closer to completion than their talks with WWE Hall of Famer Brian “Road Dogg” James to bring him into the company for a creative position.

As noted before, Mara Sade’s contract with TNA recently expired and she is currently a free agent. Fightful Select reported that Sade had not signed a new contract with TNA as of this week but negotiations remain on-going for a potential new deal. It was reported that despite Sade not having a new deal in place, TNA officials did not have any concern internally that she would miss her scheduled TNA Knockouts Television Championship tournament match at this week’s TNA Impact! tapings in Philadelphia.

House of Glory recently announced that Kyle Fletcher will be making an appearance for the company at their Fallout event on September 4 in Los Angeles, California.

The premiere episode of the new animated series Rey Mysterio vs. The Darkness was recently released on the official YouTube channel for the series.

Amanda Saccomanno and Sabby Piscitelli, former Mandy Rose and Tino Sabbatelli in WWE, announced on Instagram the birth of their first child.

NJPW reportedly drew a paid attendance of 2,027 for their July 25 G1 Climax 2026 event in Tokyo, 1,580 for their July 26th G1 Climax 2026 event in Tokyo, and 2,025 for their G1 July 29th Climax 2026 event in Suita, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Lucha Libre AAA reportedly drew an attendance of 7,000 for their July 25th Verano de Escandalo 2026 event at the Arena San Marcos in Aguascalientes, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

CMLL reportedly drew an attendance of 13,200 for their July 24th Super Viernes event at the Arena Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that CMLL tied their all-time record of 21 sellouts at the venue for a single calendar year. CMLL also broke the all-time record for most sellouts of a 10,000 seat arena during one calendar year in pro wrestling history.

Stardom reportedly drew a paid attendance of 581 for their July 25th 5STAR Grand Prix 2026 event in Ishikawa, 542 for their July 26th 5STAR Grand Prix event in Joetsu, and 1,344 for their July 28th 5STAR Grand Prix 2026 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.