The women’s triple threat match for the WWE Women’s title on Smackdown last night had a big botch in the ending, with Nia Jax not kicking out and the referee awkwardly stopping the count at two.
The ref put up her hand with the two sign when clearly Jax did not move to break the pin. That was followed by Jax turning to the referee and asking her something and then lifting her shoulder way, way longer afterward.
Stratton, not impressed, put her hands on her head and then the referee went over to communicate something to her as commentary tried to make the best out of the bad situation.
The champ then hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever on Jax for the eventual three-count to retain the title.
Both Randy Orton and Jacob Fatu returned on Smackdown last night in two separate segments.
Orton came in to even the odds for Cody Rhodes, who was being outnumbered fighting Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed of The Vision. Orton cleaned house and hit an RKO on Reed, ending the segment standing tall in the ring with the WWE champion.
The Viper last appeared on the September 12 episode of Smackdown, losing to Drew McIntyre.
Meanwhile, former United States champion Jacob Fatu also returned, interrupting Drew McIntyre who was complaining about his loss to Cody Rhodes at Wrestlepalooza. Fatu told McIntyre to stop bitching about it and was met with a headbutt by McIntyre. The two ended up brawling, with Fatu leaving McIntyre laying.
Fatu last wrestled on Smackdown on the August 28 episode and then did two dark matches the following two weeks.
Another match for Bound For Glory was made official last night at Victory Road and it involves yet another NXT star gunning for a TNA title.
After Leon Slater successfully defended the TNA X Division title last night, Santino Marella came out to make an announcement. He said that he talked to NXT General Manager Ava and the two agreed that Slater’s opponent for BFG would be Je’Von Evans.
Evans then appeared via video and said that he never had a chance to compete in a TNA ring and was excited to lock up with Slater.
“So, Leon, at Bound For Glory, it’s going to get real bouncy,” an excited Evans said.
Evans was also on Smackdown last night, answering Sami Zayn’s U.S. title open challenge.
NXT star Kelani Jordan was crowned the new TNA Knockouts champion last night at Victory Road after champion Ash by Elegance announced that she is no longer able to compete, relinquishing the title to TNA President Carlos Silva and TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella.
Jordan, a former NXT Women’s North American champion, won a battle royal held earlier in the night along with Lei Ying Lee to determine who would go on to fight for the vacant title.
Ash’s announcement and the subsequent battle royal opened the Victory Road event, leaving enough time for the ladies to get some rest before going at it again later in the broadcast.
The match was refereed by Indi Hartwell, who at Bound For Glory will be next in line for the TNA Knockouts title and will now face Jordan on the show.
This is the second time that an NXT star is holding the TNA Knockouts title after Jacy Jayne did it a few months ago. Both the men’s and women’s main titles are now in possession of NXT.
The TNA Knockouts title was vacated last night at Victory Road as champion Ash by Elegance announced that she was no longer able to compete.
Ash, the artist formerly known as Dana Brooke, made the announcement in the middle of the ring and handed over the title to TNA President Carlos Silva. She embraced both Silva and Santino Marella before she left.
She was supposed to also defend the TNA Knockouts Tag Team titles on the show but that match never happened and instead would be moved to Thursday’s Impact with Heather and M by Elegance defending the gold.
It’s unknown why the 36-year-old is stepping away. This was her first major singles title in any promotion after spending nine years in WWE before joining TNA.
She won the title at the NXT Heatwave PLE, defeating then-champion Jacy Jayne and Masha Slamovich.
Here are the results from last night’s TNA Victory Road which took place from the Edmonton Expo Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The event aired on TNA+.
Zachary Wentz defeated Trey Miguel and Cedric Alexander in a three way match in the pre-show; The System defeated Order 4 in a six-man tag team match; Léi Ying Lee and Kelani Jordan won a battle royal to determine the new TNA Knockouts champion later in the night; Matt Cardona and The Home Town Man defeated The Nemeths; Mike Santana defeated Ridge Holland; Mustafa Ali defeated Moose; Joe Hendry defeated Eric Young; Matt Hardy defeated A. J. Francis in a tables match; Kelani Jordan defeated Léi Ying Lee to win the vacant TNA Knockouts title with Indi Hartwell as the special guest referee; Frankie Kazarian defeated Steve Maclin to become the new TNA International champion; Leon Slater defeated Myron Reed to retain the TNA X Division title.
Tonight’s Smackdown is headlined by a triple threat match for the WWE Women’s championship.
Originally set to take place at Wrestlepalooza but later moved due to Tiffany Stratton’s injury, the match will see Stratton defending her title against Nia Jax and Jade Cargill. Stratton is currently the longest-reigning champion among all champions in WWE with 266 days.
Also tonight, Sami Zayn will defend his WWE United States title in an open challenge and Michin teams up with B-Fab to take on Giulia and Kiana James. Plus, WWE champion Cody Rhodes appears.
Smackdown airs at 8PM ET live on USA Network and on Netflix internationally.
WrestleMania 42 ticket sales have been a big disappointment so far, with thousands of tickets remaining unsold four days in.
The rush to purchase tickets for the biggest wrestling show of the year was not there this year, as evident by the quick entry into Ticketmaster.com during the pre-sale.
Ticket sales were not helped by the expensive ticket prices in most sections, with the cheapest ticket available as of now being at $661.80 plus fees for the two nights at the very top of the stadium. Dynamic pricing has not even kicked in for this event.
Some ringside seats were even placed back on sale and that requires a $32,083 payment. Tickets a few rows further back are going for $11,563.
A lot of sections at Allegiant Stadium remain closed off and won’t be open until WWE can move more tickets.
Holding WrestleMania again in Las Vegas following WrestleMania 41 was a big gamble, pun intended, as unlike other cities, the majority of fans have to fly in to Las Vegas as the city is not synonymous with being one of those popular wrestling cities. Thanks to high prices at restaurants, hotels, and everything in between, Las Vegas is experiencing a slump in tourism and considering how expensive everything was this year, from just buying a bottle of water to a simple meal, fans have seemingly put on the breaks when it comes to visiting Sin City for WrestleMania.
The show was originally set to take place in New Orleans, Louisiana but WWE set a dangerous precedent by pulling the show from NOLA after it was announced and handed it to Vegas again.
This was a TKO move that might ultimately backfire, although the show is still seven months away and the build for it is not even close to a start. But compared to previous years at this stage, 42 is still lagging behind previous events.
Deadline is reporting in an exclusive story that WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre has joined the cast of Highlander, the new movie from United Artists.
McIntyre will play the role of Angus MacLeod, the brother of main star Henry Cavill. Russell Crowe, Marisa Abela, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Max Zhang and Dave Bautista are also part of the main cast.
Production is set to start in early 2026 according to Deadline and that will take McIntyre away from WWE television for a while.
The Hardys vs Team 3D match at Bound For Glory next month has a new stipulation and the two teams will be wrestling in a bout they’re very familiar with – a tables match!
All four appeared on last night’s episode of Impact Wrestling for a face-to-face in the middle of the ring, with both teams recounting their old matches which made them all famous.
Bully Ray then brought up the fact that The Hardys beat them in the first-ever tag team tables match in WWE and now, they don’t just want a TNA Tag Team title match, they also want revenge in a tables match.
Both Matt and Jeff agreed to the new stipulation and TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella wanted them to sign a contract. But D-Von ripped the contract up and instead, the two teams agreed to the match the old fashioned way…with a handshake.
AJ Styles told Tokyo Sports in an interview that he plans to retire in 2026, although he did not give a time frame on when that will happen.
Styles said that the upcoming WWE tour in Japan, set for October, will likely be the last time he wrestles in the country, a country he knows too well from his NJPW days.
The former champ added that although it’s not confirmed, he will probably be at WrestleMania 42 and said that he does not want to expose a version of himself which does not meet the standards of AJ Styles.
“That’s the main reason. I decided to retire before my body stops working,” Styles told Tokyo Sports.
The 48-year-old also hinted that after retiring from in-ring competition, he plans on staying with WWE doing other jobs like coaching, but obviously, that is not up to him.
Styles will be wrestling John Cena at the Crown Jewel: Perth premium live event next month.
The post-All Out episode of Dynamite this week drew 638,000 viewers, down 29,000 viewers from the prior week. The show had a 0.14 rating in 18-49, the same number it did in the previous episode. Cable rankings are not yet available as of press time. (Ratings credit: Wrestlenomics)
Japanese promotion Marigold announced that former WWE Women’s World champion Iyo Sky will be wrestling Mayu Iwatani at The Dream Destiny event on Sunday, October 26.
Sky taped a promo which was published on Marigold’s social media, saying that she and Iwatani have not crossed paths over the past few years and they need to tell their story inside a ring.
“Hey Mayu, let’s show the world what an amazing match we will have! See you soon,” she added.
The two were former tag team partners in Stardom and have not wrestled each other since 2018.
The Dream Destiny will take place at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.
Live tonight from the Edmonton Expo Center in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, TNA Wrestling presents Victory Road 2025 streaming exclusively on TNA+. The full card is as follows:
Leon Slater vs Myron Reed for the TNA X Division title; The Elegance Brand vs The IInspiration for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team titles; Steve Maclin vs Frankie Kazarian for the TNA International title; Mike Santana vs Ridge Holland; The Nemeths vs Matt Cardona and The Home Town Man; Moose vs Mustafa Ali; Eric Young vs Joe Hendry; and Cedric Alexander vs Trey Miguel vs Zachary Wentz in a three-way match in the pre-show.
The pre-show will kick off at 8:30PM ET and airs free on TNA’s social media properties while the actual show will start at 9PM ET. A TNA+ subscription is required to watch.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson teared up during an interview promoting his new movie The Smashing Machine while speaking to MTV UK regarding his daughter’s WWE journey.
With the NXT GM by his side, he said he’s so proud of her, before he had to take a step back to contain his emotions.
“I am so proud of her. Because it’s what I did, you know? And I love what I did. And I love wrestling, I grew up in wrestling…she was born into it too, just like I was,” Johnson explained.
He said that the fact that she wanted to do what he did but with a difference that she wanted to carve her own path without having his influence behind it, is what makes it a big deal for him and what makes him emotional.
“Because it’s easy, I think…for any kid who wants to come up and do what their parents are doing to, maybe it’s not overt, but to utilize the influence,” Johnson continued. “I’m telling you, it never happened. I never got that call. Like, ‘Hey, can you call someone?’ I never got that call, and that’s the truth.”
Johnson said that had he got that call, he would have been there and he would have made that call, but when he didn’t get it, it gave him a sense of pride because he knows he and her mom raised an amazing human being.
Ava, real name Simone Johnson, started on NXT television in late 2022 as part of The Schism faction and eventually transitioned to an on-screen assistant to Shawn Michaels and then NXT General Manager.
WWE has trademarked the term Invasion with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a possible upcoming event between NXT and TNA.
The filing was done yesterday on September 24 by WWE’s Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of Intellectual Property, Lauren A. Dienes-Middlen.
WWE is rumored to be using the Invasion name again for a premium live event featuring NXT and TNA stars. TNA invaded NXT on Tuesday night, interrupting the NXT vs TNA title-for-title match in the main event. The show ended with TNA stars standing tall in the ring after a massive brawl from both rosters.
The company used the Invasion name for a pay-per-view in July 2001 which saw several WWE vs WCW matches. The event was held at the Gund Arena, now known as the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
NXT this week drew 707,000 viewers, down 30,000 viewers from the Homecoming episode of last week. The show had a 0.17 rating in 18-49, the same number it pulled the prior week. The show was headlined by the NXT vs TNA title-for-title match and the TNA invasion. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
Five AEW/ROH stars will be participating in the upcoming CMLL Women’s International Grand Prix, joining the Team International against Team Mexico in a Torneo Cibernetico elimination match.
ROH Women’s TV champion Mina Shirakawa, Diamante, Skye Blue, Julia Hart, and Thekla will be joining Hazuki and Koguma from Stardom, Kanji from RevPro, and Shoko Nakajima from TJPW.
Team Mexico will consist of Zeuxis, Reyna Isis, Peresephone, Olympia, Catalina, India Sioux, La Jarochita, and LLuvia.
Reyna Isis was the winner of last year’s match.
The match will be part of a show set for Friday, October 24 from Arena Mexico, the home of CMLL.
WWE referee Charles Robinson sat down with Chris Van Vliet in Indianapolis, Indiana to discuss his legendary career in both WCW and WWE, refereeing some of the biggest matches of all time, being the first WWE referee to ref in 4 different decades, his viral run at WrestleMania, taking a spear from Goldberg, a shoulder block from John Cena, getting to work with Ric Flair as Lil’ Naitch, being hospitalized after getting bitten by a bat, the worst bump he ever took, and more!
On being bitten by a bat:
“Sleeping, 2 am in the morning, hear a noise in the bedroom. We have two cats. One’s named George, the other is Michael, George Michael. So I got up, used my flashlight, saw the two cats sitting there with their toys. I said ah, cats, they’re just playing, having a good time. Well, there was a big black blob right in the middle of the room, and we carry black latex gloves as a referee. So I said, hey, they got my glove. I better pick it up so they don’t choke on it. Being the good cat dad that I am, I bent down, picked it up, and that sucker bit me. Came down the chimney. So, five hours in hospital, seven shots later, and no reflection [laughs]. I’m a vampire.”
On the worst bump he has taken:
“Randy Savage elbow. But it wasn’t a ref bump. I was a worker then, but that was the worst bump I’ve taken, the elbow from Randy Savage. He put me in the hospital for 12 days. It was Ric [Flair] and I against Medusa and Savage, and he came off the top with the elbow and Ric Flair wasn’t going to take the elbow from Savage, so they let Little Naitch. Cracked my sternum, collapsed my lung. So two hours later, I went to my room and I said, Oh, man, I just can’t breathe. Went to my room, two hours later, still can’t breathe. I called Jimmy Hart, lifesaver. He called the EMTs. They came to my room, said, ‘Hey, we need to put you in the hospital.’ So that hospital, I won’t say what city, they released me the next day to fly home to Charlotte, which with a collapsed lung you’re not supposed to do that. So I went straight to the hospital for 12 days. But Randy Savage called me every day just to check on me.”
On the WrestleMania run:
“When I did the run to the ring for WrestleMania, that was epic. I mean, there’s so many memes. It’s fantastic. But I run down then Undertaker goes to choke slam me, and he’s slippery, and I didn’t post right. He got me up off the ground about six inches. Made him look so weak, and I felt so bad for him.”
On the John Cena body check:
“With Cena, when I did it recently, I didn’t run as fast for a reason, he didn’t want me to run past him. So he goes, ‘Just take it easy coming down the ramp.’ I saw the camera guy, so I looked. I wasn’t looking at him, I was looking at the camera guy. And then I kept going straight, and then, boom, knocked me out of my shoes.”
On the Goldberg spear in his final match:
“I mean, normally he picks you up, lays you down, nice and soft. He went right through me. [And he cracked your rib?] Well, no, my girlfriend and I were in the movie. I said, What can I do to put this over to make Goldberg feel good. I said, Hmm, there’s an image of a broken rib online, so I just posted that.”
WWE will have an EVOLVE special, titled Succession, on Wednesday, October 15 which will air on Tubi, the broadcast partner of the developmental brand.
Stevie Turner announced that both the men’s and women’s EVOLVE titles will be on the line, which Jackson Drake defending the men’s title against either Keanu Carver or Brooks Jensen, and Kali Armstrong defending the women’s title against Kendal Grey.
For international viewers, EVOLVE airs on YouTube at the same time it airs on Tubi in the United States.
