17-time champ John Cena spent hours at the WWE Performance Center yesterday and posed for some photos with NXT stars inside the NXT arena.
Both Blake Monroe and Izzi Dame posted photos on social media with Cena, with Monroe putting the goat emoji while Dame said that it’s always a blessing and inspiration getting to Sith with Cena to pick his brain about the business.
It’s unclear what Cena was doing at the PC but the X account of The CW re-posted Monroe’s photos on their account and said, “@JohnCena at the PC … very interesting.”
Cena, who has four contracted dates to appear on television, is not advertised for NXT tonight.
John also posted on X about his day at the PC, thanking everyone for allowing him to learn from what he described as the “incredibly gifted future.”
“Staying curious and open minded is a gateway for new knowledge and ideas,” Cena wrote. “Any time I get to spend with the present and future of the business I love challenges the way I see it and I always leave with new perspectives. I can’t express how meaningful these visits are for me. Truly grateful.”
All wrestling fans will be well aware that companies, especially behemoth ones like the WWE, like to get their branding on merchandise, basically anything from lunchboxes to action figures to NFTs, but that stretches to other areas, too, including, more recently, casino games. Of course, if you say “blackjack” to a typical wrestling fan, the first thing that might pop to mind is the legendary tag team featuring Blackjack Mulligan and Blackjack Lanza. Yet, the WWE recently announced a bunch of new officially-branded online casino games, including its signature WWE Blackjack.
You can appreciate that fans who enjoy a flutter on casino games will see appeal in playing WWE-branded games, but is it a gimmick (in the non-wrestling sense), or are these games worth your attention? It’s an interesting question, not least because, like all casino games, wrestling-themed ones can vary in quality, style, and might not necessarily match up with your personal taste.
It’s also worth noting that there are many other games to explore beyond the corporate-backed releases from WWE and its iGaming partners (Booming Games, Games Global). For example, Legends of Lucha Libre Superstars by Everi Digital can be accessed at several top online casinos and is a good illustration of an organically popular game, rising to the top due to player engagement.
Below, we take a look at some of the best options, including some of the best official ones from the WWE:
Legends of Lucha Libre Superstars
There are actually three versions of this game, found in both online and offline casinos. Everi has partnered with Masked Republic, allowing the games to feature the images of legendary luchadores, including Psychosis, Ultimo Dragon, and Mascarita Dorada. Gameplay will keep players’ attention, as there are several wrestling-themed bonus features and modifiers to experience.
WWE Legends: Link & Win
This game was one of the first experiments from the WWE in bringing branded material to the casino. It features many of the all-time greats from the promotion, including Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, and others. It is arguably more aesthetically pleasing than it is entertaining, but it’s not a bad slot game by any stretch. Note that image rights and licensing scenarios mean that the game is not available in all territories.
Wrestling Queen
This title from KA Gaming is not very official, but we do suspect that the title character might be somewhat based on Becky Lynch. Nonetheless, this game carries all the hallmarks of classic slots play – Free Spins, Expanding Wilds, Multi-Way Reels, etc. – and we can see it appealing to players who enjoy wrestling but don’t want all the faff with branded games.
Lucha Maniacs
For our money, this is probably the most popular non-branded wrestling casino game that’s popped up in the last decade. Lucha Maniacs comes from the globally recognized studio at Yggdrasil, and it has lots of ways to keep you on the edge of your seat, including with its unique Golden Bet feature.
WWE: Clash of the Wilds
We will finish with another one from the WWE. This game is arguably its most modern release, with imagery from contemporary stars like Roman Reigns, Charlotte Flair, Bianca Belair, and John Cena. There are loads of special features, often to do with Wild Symbols, as well as a Ladder Match themed Free Spins Bonus Game.
Jey Uso won a battle royal last night to earn a title shot at the vacant WWE World Heavyweight title against #1 contender CM Punk next month at Saturday Night’s Main Event.
The match main evented the Raw broadcast and featured a total of 17 WWE Superstars, who along with Uso were AJ Styles, Akira Tozawa, Dominik Mysterio, Dragon Lee, El Grande Americano, Finn Balor, Grayson Waller, Ivar, JD McDonagh, Jimmy Uso, Kofi Kingston, LA Knight, Otis, Penta, Rusev, and Sheamus.
Uso was in the final four with LA Knight, his brother Jimmy Uso, and Dominik Mysterio, and eliminated all of them, first dumping both LA Knight and Jimmy together and then eliminating Mysterio last.
Following the conclusion of the match, Uso was met by CM Punk, who stood face-to-face as both former champions are now set for a November 1 battle to crown the new champion.
The WWE World Heavyweight title was declared vacant last night on Raw after General Manager Adam Pearce stripped Seth Rollins off his gold due to his injury.
Pearce said that Rollins had to undergo surgery due to his injuries he suffered at the hands of Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed last week on Raw. In reality, Rollins suffered a shoulder injury during his match against Cody Rhodes when he went for the coast-to-coast diving headbutt.
Breakker, who was in possession of the title, toyed with Pearce and didn’t want to give back the title unless he said please. Breakker eventually handed the title to Paul Heyman, who then gave it to Pearce.
A new champion will be crowned on Saturday Night’s Main Event on November 1 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The injury comes a bit as an irony for Rollins, who a few months ago faked a knee injury to return to SummerSlam and cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase on CM Punk who had just won the title from Gunther. Rollins’ second reign with this title lasted a total of 79 days.
There will be three title matches live tonight on Netflix, starting in its usual time slot of 8PM ET.
AJ Styles will team up with Dragon Lee to go for the WWE World Tag Team titles currently held by Finn Balor and JD McDonaugh. This is only the third title defense since The Judgment Day won them in June.
Also, Maxxine Dupri faces Becky Lynch for the WWE Women’s Intercontinental title after a shock win a couple of weeks ago and Dom Mysterio defends the WWE Intercontinental title against Rusev.
Plus, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, and Paul Heyman appear after they turned on Seth Rollins and Raw GM Adam Pearce will give an update on Rollins’ status.
There are big rumors within the Japanese circles that Shinsuke Nakamura might have a legit shot of becoming Hiroshi Tanahashi’s final opponent come Wrestle Kingdom next year.
Nakamura did pay homage to Tanahashi during the non-televised live events in Tokyo last week, with Tanahashi even responding on X, writing, “Huh? I thought I heard something…”
The NJPW President is having his retirement match on January 4 at Wrestle Kingdom 20 and it’s a highly coveted spot to be standing across from the Japanese legend on this show.
NJPW enjoys a fantastic working relationship with AEW and having a WWE star being Tanahashi’s final opponent would of course not look great for AEW considering they’ve been working together since 2019. But Wrestle Kingdom is purely an NJPW production and no one is going to tell Tanahashi who he should have his final match with.
If selected, it’s highly likely that he would be granted permission by WWE to do the match as it would be a huge honor for Nakamura, and to a certain extent, even WWE.
The Smashing Machine did a $329,751 weekend in the box office charts after the 3,000+ theaters screening it dropped to just 819 after three weeks.
The movie, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the leading role, is now at a domestic total of $11,121,428 according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. It did another $7,378,572 in international box office revenue for a total of $18,500,000 so far.
This remains Dwayne Johnson’s worst-performing movie so far and it’s set to be a money loss for the independent studio A24.
Jacob Fatu’s injury looks to be dental-related and a recent procedure which he has not fully healed from is keeping him on the sidelines.
Fatu was written off television last Friday on Smackdown after he was attacked backstage prior to his match against Drew McIntyre. The attacker was not shown, and Fatu was left lying on the floor with some teeth knocked out and blood all over.
Originally it was reported by some sources that he would miss a lot of months but it looks like the popular star will be back in a few weeks, maybe even in time for Survivor Series.
Fatu last wrestled in a dark match after the September 12 episode of Smackdown, defeating Rusev.
Mercedes Mone added an unprecedented 12th wrestling title to her collection last night, winning the Winnipeg Professional Wrestling Women’s title from Jody Threat.
The match took place at WPW’s Rumble in the Burt event held at the Burton Cummings Theatre.
Mone took two titles in two days, first winning the ROH Interim Women’s TV title at WrestleDream from Mina Shirakawa and then the following day winning this WPW title. In addition, she also successfully defended the CMLL Women’s title on Friday night in Mexico City against Persephone.
The 12x champ is now gunning for (un)lucky 13 at Full Gear as she has challenged AEW Women’s champion Kris Statlander for a match for the title.
Bobby Horne, known better among wrestling fans as Mo of the tag team Men on a Mission, passed away yesterday at the age of 58.
The news was reported by Book Pro Wrestlers on their social media page.
Horne was admitted into intensive care unit earlier this month suffering from a severe blood infection and pneumonia.
In 1993, Horne joined WWE along with Mabel to form the Men on a Mission tag team, managed by Oscar. After turning heel when they dumped their manager, Mabel won the King of the Ring tournament in 1995 and Mo was renamed to Sir Mo, moving more towards a managerial role.
The duo left the company in 1996, winning the WWF Tag Team titles once…albeit for two days.
Mo continued to wrestle on the independent scene following his departure from WWE and retired in 2007, only to return to part-time active competition in 2014, running an indie promotion with his wife in Dallas.
Former AEW producer and coach Sarah Stock has slammed her former employer for one of the stunts pulled during the WrestleDream main event last night.
At one point during the I Quit match between Jon Moxley and Darby Allin, Moxley tried to drown Allin in an aquarium, keeping his head underwater for a bit as Allin fought to stay in the match.
The stunt was met with mixed reactions online, with AEW fans obviously loving it as something different and original and others equally hating it.
Stock took to social media to slam the move.
“You know who should stop this? Mothers. With their remote control,” Stock wrote while also tagging AEW. “This is worse than the plastic bag over the head. Kids are going to end up dead trying this stuff at home.”
Stock joined AEW in early 2023 as a coach and also a producer but was released in April of this year from her role.
Raw General Manager Adam Pearce will be addressing the status of WWE World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins tomorrow night on Raw.
Rollins was attacked by Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed last week, with creative seemingly pulling the plug on The Vision, or at least this version of The Vision.
The champ injured his left shoulder during Crown Jewel and is expected to undergo surgery in the coming days, meaning that the title has a big chance of being declared vacant in the coming days.
The injury has been somewhat of an irony for Rollins, who faked a knee injury a few months ago to cash in his Money In The Bank contract at SummerSlam, winning the title from CM Punk who had just won it minutes earlier.
Hungrier for more gold, Mercedes Mone issued a challenge to AEW Women’s champion Kris Statlander last night after Statlander crashed her celebration following her 11th belt win.
After Mone won and she was being showered by confetti for breaking Ultimo Dragon’s record, Statlander ran out to attack the TBS champion, delivering a Samoan Drop for her trouble. This was payback from earlier, when Mone came out after Statlander defeated Toni Storm to retain her title and Mone told her to get out of her ring.
In a backstage segment, Mone was livid that Statlander disrespected her after winning her 11th title and warned her that at Full Gear, the AEW Women’s title was going to be hers.
This will be the second shot for the AEW Women’s title for Mone. She was unsuccessful in her first attempt, registering her only loss so far in AEW, after Toni Storm beat her. Mone already has two wins over Kris Statlander and this will be their third meeting.
Amazon Prime Video started issuing refunds to customers who bought the WrestleDream pay-per-view from their platform following technical issues.
The issues were solely on Amazon’s end and other feeds, like HBO MAX, PPV.COM, and YouTube, were not affected by it. Amazon’s problems culminated when the feed was cut during the main event, leaving many angry customers who stared at a blank screen midway through the Jon Moxley vs Darby Allin match.
Fans who bought the show complained on social media about it during the show but unfortunately for them, the problem was not fixed in time. AEW President Tony Khan addressed this issue during the media scrum in the post-show, saying that he was disappointed that both Death Before Dishonor and this show had problems with the feed.
Customers who bought WrestleDream via Prime Video should expect to see their $50 refund coming their way.
Andrade’s scheduled match at last night’s World Wrestling Council event in Puerto Rico did not take place as his no-compete situation with his old WWE contract remains in effect. The match, for the WWC Universal title, was apparently pulled after WWE intervened.
With his firing, Andrade triggered his one-year no-compete clause in the United States, preventing him from working for any wrestling or fighting company, effectively preventing him from earning a living for a full year. The clause was widely panned by fans and critics and at this point, it remains to be seen if it will be challenged in court.
Andrade has already been pulled from AEW as his appearance on the Dynamite sixth year anniversary show is now dead and buried, not to be mentioned again. AEW were unaware of the clause and Andrade either did not know or did not tell them about it, prompting WWE to send a cease and desist letter.
The no-compete clause wording seems to indicate that it’s only for the United States so presumably he can still work in Mexico and other countries.
Mercedes Mone broke Ultimo Dragon’s record last night at WrestleDream, winning her 11th title after her TBS title open challenge.
The challenge, which required whoever was answering to also put their title on the line, was answered by the ROH Interim TV champion Mina Shirakawa. As expected, Mone beat Shirakawa, adding an ROH title to her ever-growing collection.
Mone holds titles from all over the world and has a chance to get the 12th belt next Sunday as she takes on Jody Threat for the Winnipeg Pro Wrestling Women’s title.
Sting returned to AEW last night at WrestleDream, helping Darby Allin defeat Jon Moxley in the main event of the pay-per-view.
The former multi-time champion showed up towards the end of the match, saving Allin after he was being drowned in an aquarium by Moxley. Sting, assisted by his trusted baseball bat, took out the Death Riders and smashed the aquarium before handing over the bat to Allin.
Marina Shafir tried to stand up to The Icon, but Sting carried her away, leaving Allin one-on-one with Moxley. Allin unloaded on Moxley with bat shots and then choked him with the AEW flag. He hit the Scorpion Death Drop, Coffin Drop, and then applied the Scorpion Death Lock and finally Mox quit.
Sting has not been seen on AEW television since last year’s All In pay-per-view when he came out to save Allin again before The Young Bucks and Jack Perry set his coffin on fire.
Allin and Sting were AEW Tag Team champions until Sting’s retirement match.
Here are the results from last night’s AEW WrestleDream 2025 pay-per-view which took place from the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri.
TAILGATE BRAWL: Death Riders defeated Roderick Strong and The Conglomeration in an eight-man tag team match; Eddie Kingston and Hook defeated The Frat House; Harley Cameron and Willow Nightingale defeated Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford; FTR defeated JetSpeed.
PPV: Jamie Hayter defeated Thekla; Jurassic Express defeated The Young Bucks; The Hurt Syndicate defeated The Demand in a Tornado Trios match to become the #1 contenders for the AEW World Trios titles; Kyle Fletcher defeated Mark Briscoe to retain the AEW TNT title; Kris Statlander defeated “Timeless” Toni Storm to retain the AEW Women’s title; Mercedes Mone defeated Mina Shirakawa in a winner-takes-all match to become the Interim ROH Women’s TV champion; Brodido defeated Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita to retain the AEW Tag Team titles; “Hangman” Adam Page defeated Samoa Joe to retain the AEW World title; Darby Allin defeated Jon Moxley in an I Quit match.
Mercedes Mone can get to 11 title belts tonight at WrestleDream as AEW President Tony Khan announced that whichever champion challenges Mone for the TBS title tonight in the open challenge will also have their title on the line.
“10 Belts Moné aims to set the record for most held simultaneously TONIGHT,” Khan wrote in a post on X.
The 10 belts record is a joint one with Ultimo Dragon, who also held that same amount of title belts at one point during his career.
It’s unknown who will answer Mone’s challenge tonight and that is currently being kept a secret.
She successfully defended the CMLL Women’s title against Persephone yesterday in Mexico.
It looks like Rhea Ripley suffered a broken nose during the Tokyo non-televised live event today.
Ripley was part of a fatal four-way match for the WWE Women’s World Heavyweight title which also included champion Stephanie Vaquer, Iyo Sky, and Raquel Rodriguez. The injury seemed to happen when Rodriguez threw Sky into Ripley, busting her open.
The match ended with Vaquer pinning Rodriguez, retaining the championship, but Ripley had to be helped by WWE medical to the back.
Later on X, Ripley posted a video of her swollen face with a purple swollen nose, writing, “Thank you Japan (smiley face) I still love you!”
Despite the injury, Ripley still made it out for the AJ Styles segment at the end of the show.
