Wrestling

Alexa Bliss (And Lilly) Sells More Merchandise Than Any Active WWE Star Per Report (Forbes SportsMoney) Alexa Bliss’ (kayfabe) descent into madness has translated to strong merchandise sales, polarizing as it may be.

In a recent report from US Bookies, Bliss’ Lilly Doll was listed behind only Stone Cold Steve Austin as WWE’s highest-selling merchandise. Austin’s Legacy Championship Collector’s title topped the list with estimated earnings of $1,359,984. Bliss’ Lilly Doll came in second, with $863,712. In fact, total sales for Bliss’ merchandise came in at over $1.6 million, trailing only Austin ($3.7 million) and John Cena ($2.6 million).

Yesterday, Bliss cryptically tweeted a GIF of her and the polarizing plush doll, possibly in reaction to the story.

Bliss has portrayed a darker, infantilized version of herself since aligning with Bray Wyatt in 2020. Shortly thereafter, the character came under fire from fans and critics during a bizarre storyline alongside Wyatt and Randy Orton.

“If you’ve enjoyed this ridiculous storyline more than I have, then you probably enjoyed this a lot more than I did,” said Jason Powell of Prowrestling.net following a supernatural match between Orton and Bliss.

Last year, WWE rolled out Lilly dolls as merchandise during SummerSlam week. WWE officials reportedly kept a close eye on sales of Lilly dolls during SummerSlam week to determine if the character would be sustainable in the future. This was clearly the case as not only does the character persist to this day, but the plush dolls reportedly sold out.

“Lilly is available on @WWEShop !! Well… when she’s back in stock. Keeps selling out… darn [winking emoji],” said Bliss in a tweet responding to criticism of her booking.
WWE’s Highest Selling Superstars

1.     Stone Cold Steve Austin | $3,657,224
2.     John Cena | $2,649,836
3.     Alexa Bliss | $1,645,945
4.     nWo | $1,292,561
5.     Roman Reigns | $1,164,253
6.     The Rock | $992,114
7.     Jimmy Uso | $885,930
8.     Jey Uso | $862,130
9.     Ultimate Warrior | $825,841
10.     Eddie Guerrero | $704,436

MLW Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against WWE; WWE Responds (Forbes SportsMoney) MLW Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against WWE; WWE Responds

Major League Wrestling (MLW) has filed a federal court antitrust lawsuit against WWE.

The case, captioned MLW Media LLC v. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc, alleges WWE’s “ongoing attempts to undermine competition and monopolize the professional wrestling market by interfering with MLW’s contracts and business prospects,” per a statement released by MLW Public Relations. MLW is represented by Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP.

“WWE has been wrongfully depriving its competitors of critical opportunities for many years, but its latest conduct has been even more unconscionable,” said MLW President and CEO Court Bauer. Bauer is a former member of WWE’s writing staff.

“I think we speak for the rest of the professional wrestling world when we say that this anti-competitive behavior has to stop.”

The complaint, filed in the Northern District of California, also alleges that WWE pressured third parties to abandon contracts and prospective relationships with MLW. MLW feels WWE’s alleged misconduct included “disrupting every level of MLW’s business, including a major streaming deal for which would have been transformative for the company.”

WWE, which currently has a billion-dollar television deal with Fox for the rights to air SmackDown, reportedly caused a MLW’s content deal with Fox-owned Tubi to get nixed. MLW currently has a deal with Vice TV, which is also implicated in the lawsuit. 

WWE Reportedly Has ‘Significant Plans’ For AJ Styles, Omos After Split (Forbes SportsMoney) WWE has split up one of Raw’s top tag teams in order to ignite two big singles pushes on the road to WrestleMania 38.
According to WrestleVotes, AJ Styles and Omos are officially going their separate ways following what transpired on this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw:
Although Styles and Omos have been paired together on-screen for more than a year, it sure seemed as if WWE rushed into a storyline split for the two. That angle had been developing over the past couple of weeks and was expected to potentially play out on the road to WrestleMania 38, but now, WWE is apparently planning on getting this feud over and done with very quickly.

Hook Dethrones CM Punk As AEW’s Merchandise King (Forbes SportsMoney) Fresh off the heels of Hook’s anticipated debut, the AEW rookie has taken his social media sensation to the pocketbooks of All Elite Wrestling. Pro Wrestling Tees, the official merchandise store of AEW, recently announced that Hook has overtaken CM Punk as the top seller on ShopAEW.com.
CM Punk has had the top-selling t-shirt on Shop AEW since his debut with the promotion on August 20. But nothing was going to stop the walking viral video that is Hook—not even CM Punk, who expectedly took the news in stride.

Kevin Owens Re-Signs With WWE, Ends AEW Speculation (Forbes SportsMoney) Kevin Owens has re-signed with WWE per Fightful (h/t Wrestling Inc). Owens previous contract, signed in 2019, was restructured to extend to the end of January 2022. This led to a wave of speculation of Owens possibly jumping ship to AEW as his contract was set to expire.
As a Caucasian former ROH star with WWE credentials, Kevin Owens represents the prototypical talent whom AEW typically pushes as a main eventer. Former ROH stars Hangman Adam Page, Adam Cole, Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, CM Punk and Bryan Danielson have all thrived as top stars in AEW. Jay Lethal, perhaps the greatest ROH star in history, has not. No surprise there.