According to Dave Meltzer in this week s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Impact Wrestling s first pay-per-view of 2021 Hard to Kill brought in the company s second-highest PPV buys since the company lost their Spike TV deal in 2014.
Meltzer didn t report the actual number, but said last July s Slammiversary, which was built around the surprise appearances of former WWE wrestlers on the show, has the number one spot.
The January 16th show featured the in-ring debut of AEW World Champion Kenny Omega as part of an AEW/Impact angle that began in December after Omega won the title with Don Callis help. Omega teamed with Impact Tag Team Champions the Good Brothers against Impact World Champion Rich Swann, Moose and Chris Sabin, picking up the win.
A week after they earned the right to be the official tag team of the Inner Circle, Chris Jericho and MJF will begin their run at the AEW Tag Team Titles on the next AEW Dynamite.
The two will face the Varsity Blonds (Griff Garrison and Brian Pillman Jr.) on Wednesday in their first outing since defeating Santana and Ortiz and Sammy Guevara and Jake Hager in a three-way. As part of an agreement within the faction, Jericho and MJF will be the ones to pursue a tag title shot.
Another new match announced Thursday was Dr. Britt Baker vs. Shanna as Baker prepares to face Thunder Rosa on the Beach Blast episode of Dynamite the following week. Baker will be looking for her fourth straight singles win dating back to late-September.
Following his declining of an offer to join the Dark Order, Hangman Page will return to singles action this Wednesday on AEW Dynamite against the debuting Ryan Nemeth.
Nemeth, known on the indies as Hot Young Briley, is the brother of WWE s Dolph Ziggler (Nic Nemeth) and hasn t wrestled since 2018. He could be seen in the crowd on last Wednesday s Dynamite.
This will be Page s first singles match since the November 19th Dynamite when he beat John Silver, his first match after losing to Kenny Omega in the AEW World title eliminator tournament finals. On last week s Dynamite after a win in an eight-man tag, he finally told the Dark Order he wasn t going to join their group.