August 30, 2023 News and Notes

• Sounds like Father (or Mother) Time has finally finished off Venus Williams.  The 43-year-old phenom was ousted in the first round of the US Open, 6-1 6-1, by Greet Millen, a qualifier from Belgium.
• Serena retired after last year's US Open.
• The more we hear of the CM Punk situation in London, the more likely they might as well cancel this weekend's AEW Chicago pay-per-view All Out.
• Did not have a vehicle pick him up at the airport.  Tried to use public transportation and got lost.  Was lucky to find fans to point him in the right direction.
• Punk and AEW head Tony Khan have completely lost contact -- his apparent suspension from the pay-per-view was relayed to him through his lawyer.
• They are still investigating the "Gorilla Position" (right near the curtain, just before you go out) incident with Jack Perry (both have been suspended by the company), and there was talk that Punk quit the company on the spot (before his match with Samoa Joe), forcing a possible reshuffle of the card.
• Apparently, there had been a number of statements regarding the use of glass in hardcore/deathmatch spots in the company, and Perry decided to mouth off, on camera, during his pre-show match with Hook (the son of ECW legend Taz -- who commentates for the company) that the glass being used on a British car was, in fact, real, and not sugar glass.
• A second possible incident, though verification on this one is spotty, involves a carryover effect between Punk and long-idle Miro (FKA Rusev in the WWE).  Miro and Punk talked, there was some at least allusion to "you wanna fight me too?", but there's no word as to whether the two former WWE talents were joking at that point -- and no word as to how many other people backstage believe otherwise!
• Tony Khan, after the show, estimated that, by what is considered "WWE math" (including comps, visitors, etc.), he could've claimed over 90,000 in attendance at Wembley on Sunday.  The 81,305 stated was a 100% paid number, and exceeds any similar number the WWE (or any other company) has actually had reported on any given night. 
• The Angels finally threw in the towel, placing six players on the waiver wire as the teams will be making waiver moves to gain playoff-eligible players by the deadline at the end of the month.
• Sports Illustrated made their Daily Cover:  "The Inevitable College Football Super League".  It's happening.  Just a question of when.