This past Thursday’s edition of IMPACT Wrestling, featuring the ‘Belt Collector’ Austin Aries retaining his World Heavyweight Championship in a main event victory over Eddie Edwards drew a total of 168,000 viewers.

This is down from last week’s 248,000 viewers and sets a new low viewership score for 2018, a record that is second only to their December 14th episode, which drew 161,000 viewers.

Impact ranked #127 on the Cable Top 150 this week, with last week’s slotting in at #138. This number will undoubtedly be disappointing for IMPACT Wrestling, who have seemingly been riding a wave of recent good-will coming off the back of their Slammiversary XVI event.

Recent reports have indicated that current reigning IWGP Intercontinental Champion and sure-fire WWE Hall of Famer Chris Jericho may well be heading to the company in the near future. Could this be the answer to IMPACT’s fall in their viewership? It is difficult to assess the drawing power of Jericho who, whilst still performing at a top level across the globe, is not perhaps a star on the level of Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy who themselves did not make much of a difference to weekly ratings, at least over the entirety of their runs in TNA.

Are you watching IMPACT week to week? Let us know in the comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66MgOHqU7JA

Wrestlemania weekend may be the better part of eight months away at this point in time, but that hasn’t stopped speculation amongst fans over the kind of unsigned talent that could potentially show up over that April weekend when WWE descends upon New Jersey.

With Ring Of Honor holding their G1 SuperCard show on April 6th at the legendary Madison Square Garden, that places the company in direct opposition to WWE’s NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn event at the Barclays Center.

This move from ROH has already been paying dividends as the eyes of the wrestling world have turned towards it, leading to the show selling out, with fans anticipating the mix of ROH/NJPW action.

#HonorClub pre-sale IS LIVE!
Ticket link: https://t.co/WrkQAUnxyw

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General on-sale THIS FRIDAY at 10am ET#G1Supercard @TheGarden #ItsHappening @njpwglobal pic.twitter.com/55lWR7OhUw

— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) August 8, 2018

There are a few wrestlers, however, that may not be present to take part in ROH’s historic event at the Garden.

Aggressive Negotiations

Contracts for The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, and the Best Bout Machine; Kenny Omega, all expire months before the G1 SuperCard show takes place, and speculation is rife with whispers and rumours revolving around a potential jump to WWE, with the behemoth wrestling company in a position to offer them deals that other companies like ROH and NJPW may not be able to match.

General Manager for Ring Of Honor, Greg Gilleland, had this to say on ROH’s plans to keep the Bullet Club members within the ranks of ROH:

“They’re our top guys, right? Of course, we’re going to do everything that we can to keep them. And we have fair offers and fair plans to retain them.” He goes on to say, “We always operate with solid backup plans. And we have to always think about what if this, and what if that. If they go to the WWE, and they very much deserve that opportunity, we’ll continue to offer the best wrestling that we can. There’s other talent out there.”

Greg is candid over ROH having lost top talent in the past, referencing Kevin Owens, Bryan Danielson, and CM Punk as all top tier ROH stars that have jumped from ROH to the WWE, and is fully confident in ROH’s ability to thrive despite this.

“They all went to the WWE, and the brand has continued to grow and prosper. […] We pride ourselves on the ROH experience, and it goes back to the question of losing top guys. Do I wanna lose the Young Bucks and Cody? No. Of course not. Why would I wanna lose them?”

He ends his discussion on the Bullet Club members, declaring, “Am I gonna make an aggressive attempt to retain them and sign longer-term agreements? Of course, we are. But, at the end of the day, the ROH brand is about the ROH experience, and that’s how we continue to grow.”

‘All In’ is set to take Chicago by storm come September 1st. If Cody’s latest Instagram post is anything to go by, they’re certainly going all in with a Bullet Club-inspired stage design.

In the post, Cody has leant into every millennial-with-an-Instagram’s favourite pastime and taken a picture of his dinner, accompanied by the caption, “Bit of grub, bit of work.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmTmY75BWdT/

However, artfully placed next to his meal is an iPad that appears to show off what could be the set design for the “All In” event, replete with banners or video screens (a la Ring Of Honor), lighting rigs, ramp, and a large Bullet Club logo below the “All In” banner. 

Upon releasing the tickets on May 13th, it only took thirty minutes for the show to sell out, despite only having one match announced for the show at the time.

Updated lineup for All In

Below is the current card, comprising the rest of “All In”:

NWA World Heavyweight Championship

Nick Aldis (c) vs. Cody Rhodes

ROH World Championship

Jay Lethal (c) vs. Winner of The Over Budget Battle Royale

Kazuchika Okada vs. Marty Scurll

Adam Page vs. Joey Janela (with Penelope Ford)

Rey Mysterio, Bandido, and Fenix vs. The Young Bucks and Kota Ibushi

Stephen Amell vs. Christopher Daniels

Madison Rayne vs. Tessa Blanchard vs. Britt Baker vs. Chelsea Green

The Over Budget Battle Royale (Winner will get a future ROH Title shot) – All In: Zero Hour

Jordynne Grace, Moose, Rocky Romero, Colt Cabana, Ethan Page, and TBA

All In: Zero Hero

The Briscoes vs. Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky

“All In” will be available to stream via PPV, Fite TV, and ROH HonorClub as it unfolds live from the Sears Centre Arena in Chicago from 7 PM ET on September 1st.