The September 1 episode of Raw on Netflix which aired at 2PM ET live drew a record low of 2,400,000 global views, down 200,000 from the prior week.
The show was edited to a total of 2 hours and 6 minutes and had 5,200,000 global hours watched, placing the show in the #8 spot on the top 10 global chart.
The early start time seems to have affected the popularity of the broadcast, with Raw from Paris only hitting the top 10 chart in six different countries including Bahrain, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Canada, United Kingdom, and United States.
Hulk Hogan’s will was obtained by Us Weekly and revealed that the former WWE champion left behind less than $5 million in assets.
Modified last in 2023, Hogan’s will names his son Nick as his sole beneficiary of his father’s estate. His daughter Brooke had preferred to be left out of the will to avoid further issues and family drama.
The will includes $799,000 in personal and intellectual property, $200,000 in crypto, and publicity rights estimated to be worth of $4 million. The will did not include his real estate property which is valued at around $11 million according to Us Weekly.
Also, Nick Hogan and Hulk’s financial advisor Terry McCoy were named as co-personal representatives of Hogan’s estates according to documents filed in court yesterday.
Former WWE Superstar Tyler Breeze joined the long list of surprise appearances on NXT last night.
Breeze, donning his regular WWE outfit, including the selfie stick, and music, came out after Tavion Heights defeated Ethan Page in a flag match.
With Page laid out in the middle of the ring with the Canadian flag draped over him, Breeze walked out out of frame and entered the ring. Prince Pretty then laid down and took several selfies with Page.
A match between the two for the NXT North American title was made official afterward. The match will take place next week at NXT Homecoming.
Collision this past Saturday, which AEW President Tony Khan described as “a really perfect wrestling show from top to bottom,” drew 300,000 viewers, up 105,000 viewers from the prior week’s record low. The show had a 0.07 rating in 18-49, up 0.03 from the previous episode and was #16 in the top 50 cable chart for the night. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
Carmelo Hayes showed up on NXT unannounced yesterday and came to the aid of his former associate, TNA World champion Trick Williams.
Williams was being confronted by Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano of DIY before Hayes made the surprise appearance.
The former NXT champion told Williams that they’re not friends and Trick was just squatting his house. Hayes informed Williams that when NXT OGs are in the ring, he should sit down, touch nothing and be quiet when OGs are talking.
Williams bit back, saying that he squats wherever he wants to squat and NXT was still his house.
But as bickering continued, Gargano said that people want to see two generations of NXT in the biggest tag team match in NXT history, suggesting Trick and Melo vs DIY at NXT Homecoming next week.
NXT ended on not one, not two, but three big surprises as Stephanie Vaquer, WWE Women’s champion Tiffany Stratton, and Rhea Ripley came out to confront Fatal Influence.
After Fallon Henley and Jazymn Nyx lost their number one contenders match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles, Jacy Jayne went off on them and said that she was the greatest NXT Women’s champion of all time and she was sick of carrying the faction on her back.
Out came Vaquer first, who reminded Jayne that she was the NXT Women’s champion and the NXT Women’s North American champion at the same time. She then asked Jayne if she knew what time it was.
WWE Women’s champion Tiffany Stratton walked out and went over her accomplishments as the current longest champion in WWE, beating the likes of Charlotte, Jade, Trish, and others.
Jayne then said that Vaquer and Stratton are like the super seniors who graduated that want to go back to high school to feel cool again.
“I don’t know how Mami is gonna feel being called a super senior,” replied Stratton as the crowd erupted.
Cue in the Demon In Your Dreams theme song and Rhea Ripley walked out to join the fray to an enormous pop from the crowd. Ripley questioned Jayne’s greatest women’s champion of all time statement and then said, “There’s three of you…and there’s three of us!”
And just like that, next week on NXT Homecoming, Ripley, Stratton, and Vaquer will team up to take on Jayne, Henley, and Nyx in a six-woman tag team match!
TKO stocks hit an all-time high of $200.71 yesterday and closed the trading day at $200.47, the first time that stocks have hit the $200 mark.
While today it’s trading a little bit lower in the mid $190s, the TKO market cap is now at a whopping $39.75 billion, with the new WWE and UFC media rights deals with ESPN and Paramount Skydance driving up the value of the stocks.
Year-to-date, TKO stocks are up 40% and when you go all-time from when it was trading under the WWE ticker symbol in 1999, they are up a staggering 735%.
A24 published the second official trailer of The Smashing Machine, showing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s incredible transformation as former MMA legend Mark Kerr.
The movie, which already won the Silver Lion Best Director award at the Venice Film Festival last week, has been getting sensational reviews from critics and calling this movie Johnson’s best-ever work as an actor.
There’s also rumors that the movie will be nominated for an Academy Award and Johnson’s portrayal of Kerr could land him his first Oscar nomination next year.
“Here’s our newest trailer for THE SMASHING MACHINE, written and directed by Silver Lion Best Director winner, Benny Safdie,” Johnson wrote on X introducing the trailer. “Emily is phenomenal and extraordinarily heartbreaking in the film, and Benny’s infinite humanity created our safe place to touch very raw nerves. Excited for you all to see our film.”
AJ Lee used her first promo on Raw in 10 years to put a spotlight on mental health and urged viewers who are battling mental health issues to fight because it’s worth it.
Lee said that when she retired in 2015 she thought she did everything there was to do in professional wrestling but she wasn’t healthy and she needed to get right, so she went to therapy.
She got cheers from the crowd for opening up about her struggles and also a “therapy” chant from the crowd, who were respectful throughout her promo.
“I wasn’t healthy. I needed to take care of myself, get right. I went to therapy, I got treatment, and I found a way to turn all this mental chaos into my superpower,” AJ said.
“And man…the fight is not easy, everyday is a fight. But let me tell you, if you’re going through the same thing, that fight is worth it, you’re worth it,” she continued.
Her promo was eventually interrupted by Becky Lynch, and then Seth Rollins, and then CM Punk.
More than 1.7 million views on YouTube alone were recorded for her segment since it went up online just over 12 hours ago.
The pre-sales for the Raw in Boston at the TD Garden and New York at Madison Square Garden featuring John Cena’s last appearances in the cities kicked off this morning.
The Boston Raw pre-sale needs the code WWEVIP to unlock tickets and tickets available are really expensive, with the cheapest ones at $383.25 at the moment.
The New York Raw pre-sale can be unlocked with the code MSGWWE and the cheapest singular ticket is $163.25.
Both shows have limited tickets on the pre-sale and more will be unlocked over the next few days before the general on-sale.
The premiere of the documentary Video Killed The Radio Star, which tells the Bubba “The Love Sponge” side of the story of the infamous Hulk Hogan sex tape, was held this past Friday at the Centro Asturiano de Tampa on the edge of Ybor City.
The Tampa Bay Times said hundreds of friends, fans, and radio sponsors were in attendance, and so was Brooke Hogan, the daughter of the late Hulk Hogan, who sat down next to Bubba “The Love Sponge” during the screening.
The 190-minute documentary needed eight seconds of footage edited out before the screening though as on the day of the premiere, the venue informed Bubba that they would not be able to screen it due to a temporary restraining order issued by a federal judge after Nick Hogan sued Bubba over the use of Hogan’s trademarks and clips of the unauthorized sex tape.
After the eight seconds from the sex tape were removed, the venue was assured that producers assumed full liability and the screening was held.
Video Killed the Radio Star is available for pre-order on Apple TV for $14.99 and will be released on September 12, unedited including the eight seconds which were edited off from the premiere.
Dwayne Johnson has attributed his recent weight loss to be ready for his next movie role where he will portray a 70-year-old called Chicken Man in the upcoming Lizard Music film.
Variety says that the movie is an adaptation of Daniel Pinkwater novel and tells the story of a septuagenarian whose best friend is a 70-year-old chicken. It will be directed by Benny Safdie, who also directed The Smashing Machine.
Variety notes that Johnson shed around 30 pound of muscle and still has a long way to go.
“I’m so excited to get a chance to hopefully transform again like I was able to do in ‘Smashing Machine,'” Johnson added. “[It means] eating less chicken.”
The Rock’s next filming will be Jumanji 3 which starts in November.
Smackdown on Friday night with the return of Brock Lesnar and AJ Lee drew 1,585,000 viewers on USA Network, up 438,000 viewers from the prior week. This show went head-to-head with an NFL game which aired on YouTube exclusively and drew 17 million viewers. Smackdown was #1 on cable and all of television among the 18-49 demo with a 0.51 rating, up 0.23 and the highest since April 18. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
AJ Styles went off in an in-ring promo which aired during a Raw commercial break on Netflix for international broadcasts.
Styles said that for the first time in his career, there was nobody to back him up, mentioning that Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson are no longer in WWE and Michin is on Smackdown.
“It’s like someone orchestrated a way for me not to win anymore. Not to have help. I’ll let you make your own conclusions,” the former WWE champion said.
“I’m telling you something that you’re not supposed to hear, but somebody doesn’t want me here,” Styles continued as the crowd gasped.
Styles added that he was going to beat the piss out of El Grande Americano next so the person who doesn’t him there anymore, can feel some of his pain.
AJ did end up winning his match despite some interference but Dragon Lee had Styles’ back his time around, coming to his aid during the match.
Two big tag team matches were officially announced for Wrestlepalooza in Indianapolis.
The Vision’s Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed will go up against former WWE Tag Team champions The Usos. The match was made official during the opening segment of last night’s Raw.
The other match is one which many are looking forward to as CM Punk teams up with his wife AJ Lee to take on Seth Rollins and his wife Becky Lynch. Lee made her first appearance on Raw in 10 years last night and proposed the mixed tag team match which at first was shot down by the heels, but later agreed to after Punk tried to hit a GTS on Rollins.
Wrestlepalooza takes place on Saturday, September 20 with tickets available via Ticketmaster.com.
Monday Night Raw tonight will feature the return of AJ Lee to the red brand for the first time since March 2015 as the mixed tag team match between Punk and Lee against Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch is expected to be made official for Wrestlepalooza.
“You’ve had my back for a decade. This run is for you, my wonderful weirdos,” Lee wrote on X today following her successful return this past Friday on Smackdown in Chicago.
Only two matches have been announced for the show so far including AJ Styles vs El Grande Americano and Lyra Valkyria vs Raquel Rodriguez. Plus, Jimmy and Jey Uso will appear live as their battle against The Vision continues.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful is reporting through his Select service that Wardlow, who just returned to the company at All In following a 17-month absence, injured himself and is out for another extended period of time.
Sapp says that Wardlow suffered a torn pec, and while the exact time of the injury isn’t known, it probably came during the All In pay-per-view return when he attacked Prince Nana following the Okada vs Strickland match.
Wardlow joined the Don Callis Family after he took out Nana but that was not followed up in subsequent AEW television shows.
While recovery process from a torn pec depends on how severe it is, it will probably be several months before Wardlow is back on AEW TV.
Wardlow recently participated in the American Gladiators filming which will relaunch on Amazon Prime Video soon.
NXT is hitting the road in October for three consecutive non-televised live events.
The shows are on Thursday, October 9 in Columbus, Ohio at KEMBA Live!, on Friday, October 10 in Detroit, Michigan at The Masonic Temple, and on Saturday, October 11 in Cleveland, Ohio at The Agora Theatre.
Tickets go on sale to the general public this coming Wednesday, September 10 at 10AM ET. A pre-sale kicks off tomorrow with the code WWENXT.
WWE is advertising that main roster stars will also be showing up at these events but did not mention who will be there.
In an interview with Nick Stav on YouTube, Bryan Danielson revealed that then-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon tried to get him to re-sign with WWE just days before his debut at AEW All Out in 2021.
He noted that he gave notice to Vince McMahon in early August that he made the decision to join AEW and WWE tried to do a counter offer, but Danielson stuck to his guns.
Danielson said that he did not sign his AEW contract until two or three days before his debut on the pay-per-view and somehow, someone in WWE found out and McMahon reached out to try and sweeten their deal.
“It was maybe five days before the pay-per-view and he called me,” Danielson said. “And this is just what I told him, I said ‘Sir, I’ve already agreed to this thing and if I was somebody to go back on this…like, I feel like you have a decent amount of respect for me, would you still respect me? One of the things that you respect about me is I honor my word.’ But it was a great conversation and he said, ‘Dammit, you’re right!'”
Danielson went on to make his debut at All Out to a massive pop after fans were treated to another surprise with the arrival of Adam Cole just minutes earlier.
AEW has surpassed 10,000 tickets distributed for All Out with two weeks left for the show.
The Scotiabank Arena is currently set for just over 11,300 seats but it can sit around 18,000 so more sections can be opened if there’s enough demand.
According to @WrestleTix, the show is a 10,034 tickets out at the moment, making it the highest-attended All Out since the pay-per-view started in 2019. Apart from 2020 during the pandemic, all previous All Out PPVs took place in the Chicago area, with the NOW Arena hosting four and the United Center hosting one.
Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.ca starting from CA $69.75. Two offers – AEW 5 Plus Pack and Me+3 4-Pack – are also available for purchase.
