Author: John Bass

ROH Reportedly Struggling To Sale Tickets For Final Battle 2023

AEW Worlds End may be the biggest wrestling event on Tony Khan’s calendar in December, but it’s not the only one. His other promotion, Ring of Honor, is set to hold its marquee event, Final Battle, in Garland, Texas, in a little more than ten days, airing exclusively on HonorClub. And so far, it appears fans aren’t viewing Final Battle as a big deal.

WrestleTix reports that, as of this past Friday, Final Battle has yet to cross the 1,000 tickets sold threshold, with the event only selling 996 tickets. The news doesn’t get much better, as the event is currently set up to hold 3,722 fans, meaning that 2,726 tickets remain available for purchase.

Should ticket sales continue at this current pace, this year’s Final Battle would be well down from last year, though that event itself only drew 2,700 tickets at Arlington, Texas’ College Park Center. Final Battle 2023 will be the third show under Khan’s umbrella to take place in Texas that week, with “AEW Dynamite” and “AEW Rampage” airing out of the College Park Center, while “Collision” will take place out of the Curtis Cullwell Center, the same arena Final Battle is booked for.

Only three matches have been announced for Final Battle so far, including Athena defending the ROH Women’s World Championship against former protege Billie Starkz, Keith Lee vs. Shane Taylor, and a Six-Way Survival of the Fittest match to determine a new ROH TV Champion. It’s unknown if either the ROH Tag Team or ROH World Championships will be defended, as both ROH Tag Champs, MJF and Adam Cole, are dealing with injuries, while ROH Champion Eddie Kingston has put his title up in the ongoing Continental Classic tournament.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE RAW Preview 12/4/2023

WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network from the MVP Arena in Albany, New York.

  • WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Jey Uso
  • Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn
  • Two Out of Three Falls: DIY (Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano) vs. Imperium (Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci)
  • Shayna Baszler vs. Nia Jax
  • Katana Chance & Kayden Carter vs. Tegan Nox & Natalya
  • The Creed Brothers (Brutus & Julius Creed) vs. Judgment Day’s Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh
  • Cody Rhodes to address Shinsuke Nakamura

Spike Dudley Makes In-Ring Return

Spike Dudley returned to the ring for the first time in eight years, competing at LIVE Pro Wrestling’s show this weekend.

Dudley hasn’t competed since 2015, and he stepped into the ring with Leon St. Giovanni at the indie event.

St. Giovanni later tweeted,

“I wrestled Spike Dudley tonight. Life is crazy.

Don’t worry about the footage. Trust me, I beat him senseless afterwards.

@LIVEpwevents”

https://twitter.com/LeonStGiovanni/status/1731514037773464045

Source: eWn

Backstage News On Randy Orton’s WWE Contract Status

Fightful Select is reporting that after being out of action from WWE for a year and a half before returning to WWE at Survivor Series last weekend, he might end up sticking around for longer than originally expected.

Orton was teasing free agency for the first time in 2019, before ultimately putting pen-to-paper on a new five-year WWE contract at a time when the company was mass-signing several talents to long-term deals. One particular WWE source noted he would be surprised if the company didn’t extend Orton’s current deal.

The original WWE contract for Orton was scheduled to last until the Fall of 2024, which would put him around one-year remaining. After missing nearly 18 months, there is a strong possibility that WWE could add “injury time” to the deal, which would keep him locked up by the company until 2026. Having said that, it is not a guarantee that this is how things will play out.

There have been similar situations in the past where talents were injured but didn’t have time added to their existing contracts because they worked in other roles, or in some other capacity that involved company-related projects or efforts. It is believed that the situation with Orton right now is not like those, however, and that it is ultimately up to the company as to whether or not they go the former route or the latter.

Source: Rajah.com

The NWA Adds Another Promotion To Its List Of Territories

The National Wrestling Alliance has added a new promotion to its territories — Joe Cazana Promotions. The promotion announced its new working relationship on the social media site, X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Did you see the big announcement? JCP is now officially a territory of the National Wrestling Alliance! Now along with @ExoProWrestling, they’ll be a part of growing the Alliance and developing the next generation of professional wrestlers! @CazanaJoe @Billy,” wrote NWA.

The owner of the promotion and its namesake, Joe Cazana, who wrestled in the NWA and WCW in the late ’80s and early ’90s, also reacted to the news on X.

“I’m so very humbled and appreciative of @Billy and all the super talent that made last night possible. Special thanks to @drtomprichard @TheRealTMurdoch @MissaKate23 @JoeGalliNews @nwa and there in spirit @KyleDavisATL now it’s time to get to work. NWA/JCP Southeast,” wrote Cazana.

JCP was created in 2017 in the Tennessee area. The promotion and the NWA held a joint event this past Saturday, “How Coalfield Stole Christmas” in Coalfield, Tennessee. Scheduled to appear at the event were several NWA stars including the current NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion Colby Corino, former two-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Trevor Murdoch, NWA World Women’s Champion Kenzie Page, the former NWA United States Tag Team Champions Country Gentleman (A.J. Cazana and Anthony Andrews), and NWA World Television Champion Mims. It was at this event that the NWA first announced that JCP was going to be part of one of the company’s territories.

The NWA’s next big live event is PARANOIA, which will be on January 13, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Collision Preview 12/2/2023

Tonight’s AEW Collision airs live on TNT at 8:00 pm EST. from the Erie Insurance Arena in Erie, Pennsylvania.

  • AEW Continental Classic Match (Blue League): Bryan Danielson (0) vs. Eddie Kingston (0)
  • AEW Continental Classic Match (Blue League): Daniel Garcia (0) vs. Andrade El Idolo (0)
  • AEW Continental Classic Match (Blue League): Claudio Castagnoli (3) vs. Brody King (3)

Merger between Dwayne Johnson’s XFL and USFL approved for March 2024 launch

A report from Sports Business Journal has indicated that federal regulators have approved the merger of the XFL and the USFL.

The combined league is now set for its debut on March 30, 2024 to play a combined season, with terms being finalized of the definitive agreement per a statement from both parties.

The USFL, owned by Fox Sports, re-launched in 2021, while the XFL was purchased by RedBird Capital Partners, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Dany Garcia before playing a full season in 2022, following a shortened season in 2020.

Source: NBCSports via eWn

Report – Nearly 34,000 AEW All In 2024 Tickets Sold On The First Day

AEW President Tony Khan took to Twitter on Friday to announce that the AEW All In 2024 pay-per-view event has already grossed $4 million on the first day of ticket sales.

https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1730742435989356753

According to a report from WrestleTix, 33,923 tickets have been distributed so far. The current setup allows for 44,452 fans to be in attendance. As of this writing, there are 10,529 tickets still available. It should be noted that more tickets will be released as time goes on.

AEW All In 2024 is still nearly nine months away and no matches have been announced for the show as of this writing. The event takes place on Sunday, August 25, from the historic Wembley Stadium in London, England.

https://twitter.com/WrestleTix/status/1730759589136642184

Source: eWn

AEW World Champ MJF Won’t Get Surgery, Thinks He Can Work ‘Careful Matches Or Smoke And Mirrors Matches’

MJF is currently dealing with two significant injuries — a torn labrum and a dislocated hip — but the AEW World Champion reportedly plans to work through the pain. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, MJF won’t be getting surgery to fix either injury, and will instead be undergoing stem cell therapy and rehab to get ready for his title defense against Samoa Joe at Worlds End.

The 27-year-old reportedly opted against surgery, as going under the knife would put him on the shelf for a couple of months. It’s presently unknown if MJF plans to work any more matches before his clash against Joe, but WON notes MJF believes he can deliver “careful matches or smoke and mirrors matches” in the lead-up to AEW’s last pay-per-view of 2023. This injury isn’t new to MJF, as he worked through a torn labrum at Double or Nothing 2020, where he wrestled Jack Perry in a critically acclaimed match between two of AEW’s four pillars. However, the tear he’s dealing with currently is said to be worse than his previous one.

MJF announced the news of his shoulder injury via X, informing fans an MRI revealed he had suffered a torn labrum in his left shoulder. According to Dave Meltzer, MJF suffered the tear while on the receiving end of a top rope Uranage from Jay White at Full Gear, aggravating his already injured shoulder in the process. As for the hip injury, MJF got hurt while delivering an elbow drop off the top rope to White on the floor. The original intent was for White to be placed on the announce table rather than the floor, which would have broken MJF’s fall, but the table collapsed prematurely. MJF dislocated his hip later in the match, and since then, Meltzer’s sources say that his swelling has subsided but he continues to deal with pain. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Rampage Preview 12/1/2023

Tonight’s AEW Rampage on TNT.

  • Danhausen, Orange Cassidy, Hook & Trent Beretta vs. Evil Uno, Alex Reynolds, Matt Menard & Angelo Parker
  • The Don Callis Family’s Konosuke Takeshita, Powerhouse Hobbs & Kyle Fletcher in action
  • Saraya, Ruby Soho & Anna Jay vs. Kris Statlander, Hikaru Shida & Skye Blue
  • Penta El Zero Miedo, El Hijo del Vikingo & Komander vs. Brian Cage & The WorkHorsemen’s JD Drake & Anthony Henry
  • Sting and Ric Flair to appear