Fightful Wrestling Weekly 1/1: NJPW US, Lars Sullivan, Lance Archer, AEW, Impact, More
Aubrey Edwards
Aubrey Edwards moved from software work to working AEW full-time, and it’s actually freed up her social life because she’s not working all through the week and then working the indies on the weekend.
She’s really happy to see how far Seattle wrestling has come over the past few years, and said that seeing herself and Darby Allin on a big stage from that area has made her very proud. She also mentioned working with Chris Jericho as a highlight. Aubrey told Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert that she stepped away from dance because of the toll it took on her body, and she got depressed and tried out as a ref. She says that she trained for a couple of months as a ref, but said she sucked at first and the watching wrestling from a screen instead of in the ring is a big transition. Earl Hebner has been helping her learn a lot of late.
Nyla Rose
Nyla Rose told Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert that critics of the AEW Women’s division should be patient and give it time. There are still names that were still to be revealed, but it had only been weeks at that point. Since this interview, both Big Swole, Shanna, and Kris Statlander emerged. She said she won the battle royal that put her in the position to fight for the title, but now that she lost that she’s “crushing bitches one by one.” She also joked that she just grabbed Leva Bates backstage a while back to team with her because she had to have a partner, and otherwise wouldn’t have wanted anything to do with her. I like that touch, because adding that makes sense for her character.
Notes
– We’ve heard there’s an NDA associated with Killer Kross’ IMPACT release, but there’s no non-compete clause. He’s free to go anywhere he wants.
– There are some rumblings that there were other venues or cities considered for AEW Revolution, but we’re told that wasn’t the case.
– IMPACT Wrestling and AXS are looking to step up media participation for Hard To Kill in January.
– As of now, we’re told that Women of Honor Kelly Klein still has the company’s championship belt in her possession. There is a lot more to emerge about that situation, from all sides.
Matt Taven
Matt Taven has been sidelined with an injury and surgery since Final Battle, but we’re told he’d been working hurt for quite a while, maybe even as far back as September in Milwaukee. He only had six more dates through the end of the year, dropped the ROH Title at Death Before Dishonor, and kept the injury quiet so he could work through it.
We reached out to Taven for a comment on the situation, but haven’t heard back from him.
WWE Network Names
Fightful was told by several that many of the names the company trademarked from old WWE and WCW PPV shows will be used for live events and video games. This came after AEW registered several themselves, and the source we spoke to said that was likely a motivating factor from WWE’s side.
Lars deleted his Twitter, and it led to several wrestlers reaching out to us if we heard about how he was handling the news. We don’t have any insight on that, but several wrestlers told Fightful that Lars was incredibly apologetic when message board posts from him emerged Lars also allegedly sought out family members that were around backstage or on the roster of those he commented on or could have affected and apologized to them, too. Those we spoke to said that when he apologized, he attributed it to him “being stupid and trolling on the internet,” noting that he didn’t believe the things he wrote.
There have been huge plans for Lars Sullivan, but injuries and other things have sidelined him. At one point, WWE had plans to build to a Brock Lesnar vs. Sullivan match, but that was early in 2019.
NJPW/Archer
We had a hefty talk with Lance Archer that was as much about New Japan Pro Wrestling’s expansion as anything else. He told me that he’s still under a tour-to-tour deal, even as United States Champion, and he isn’t quite sure how that will change after Wrestle Kingdom. He wasn’t even sure if he’d be sticking around in New Japan this year, much less be where he is now. Archer wasn’t actively trying to leave the company, he just wanted He wasn’t originally supposed to be in the G1 and isn’t sure what happened to change that. He credits his match with Ospreay to helping him launch himself into the forefront of the company.
Archer joked that Shota Umino will lost his mentor in Moxley soon, and he’s not going to adopt him. He didn’t seem that keen on adopting any young lions, really. We also spoke about women making their debut at Wrestle Kingdom, and he said he wasn’t surprised since Bushiroad owns both properties and it was a natural way to help start a crossover and promote the brand.
He doesn’t keep in touch with Davey Boy Smith Jr., but says there’s no ill will. He won’t rule out the potential of them reuniting, and says he wishes DBS luck. He keeps up with what Davey Boy is doing in the wrestling world.
NJPW US
It was reiterated to me by talent that New Japan USA isn’t it’s own brand, it’s basically an extension of the tours that New Japan is doing. At least that’s the impression New Japan is giving them. It was stated to us that it won’t be a company that runs independently of New Japan, it’s a subsidiary of it that runs side-by-side with Japan. There will be more American talent featured and given shots on these shows, as is tradition and as one would expect.
NJPW talent also is under the impression that landing on another cable network isn’t out of the question.
