Tonight’s Collision is marketed as Playoff Palooza and it will air on TNT right after the NBA Playoff match ends, currently slated for an 8:30PM ET start time.
Seven matches were taped for tonight’s broadcast including Toni Storm vs Queen Aminata, Max Caster vs Hologram, Anna Jay vs Taylor Gainey, The Cru vs Top Flight in a tornado tag team match, Bandido vs Dralistico for ROH title, AR Fox vs Rush, and FTR vs Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong.
Last week, Collision aired on Thursday and there will be other episodes which will air on Thursday instead of Saturday due to sports on TNT. AEW is said to be “testing the waters” with Thursday airings for an eventual permanent move from Saturday night.
Tickets for the AEW Grand Slam: Mexico went on general sale on Ticketmaster.com.mx with pretty much the whole Arena Mexico open.
The cheapest tickets available are MX $610, equivalent to $31 US, while the most expensive are MX $8,174, or equivalent to $415 US.
Tickets for this AEW/CMLL show were quickly snapped up and will be sold out by the time the show arrives. The Arena Mexico holds around 16,000 for a wrestling setup so this will be one of the biggest shows in terms of attendance for AEW.
Grand Slam: Mexico takes place on Wednesday, June 18 and will air live on TBS and Max instead of Dynamite.
WWE Superstars John Cena and Seth Rollins were involved in the NFL Draft yesterday, introducing draft picks for the two teams they support.
Seth Rollins appeared live on stage in Green Bay, Wisconsin to introduce the third selection for the Chicago Bears. Rollins is a huge Bears and football fan and last month he was a guest host of the Good Morning Football NFL Network show for three days.
Later in the broadcast, the new WWE champion John Cena appeared via video along with his Heads of State co-star Idris Elba to announce the third round pick for the New England Patriots. Cena said that he couldn’t be there live as he was still dealing with the aftermath from WrestleMania.
Cena had a live appearance at Smackdown last night, preventing him from appearing in person at the NFL Draft.
The Beach Break themed episodes of Dynamite and Collision will not air back-to-back as previously reported, but instead will keep their regular time slots on TBS and TNT respectively.
While Collision will be taping on May 14 right after Dynamite, the episode will air on May 17. Originally it was thought that it will be another four-hour block on TBS but that is not the case now.
AEW were going to do a separate tapings for Collision on May 17 but those were scrapped in favor of recording it from the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois right after Dynamite.
The upcoming Fyter Fest and Summer Blockbuster theme shows will still be four-hour blocks.
Combo tickets for the Worlds Collide and Money In The Bank events have gone on sale.
The two events, set for Saturday, June 7, will see the NXT/AAA event first at the Kia Forum starting at 3PM ET / Noon PT and then it’s followed by MITB at the nearby Intuit Dome at 7PM ET / 4PM PT.
The cheapest two tickets available are $330 and go all the way up to $2,600 for ringside. At the moment, specific seats cannot be chosen, but only sections.
WWE announced no date for single event tickets although usually those come later as the event date gets closer.
The Nevada Current reported yesterday that WWE received an additional $4.2 million in tax credits on top of the $5 million they received from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority for bringing WrestleMania to Sin City.
The $4.2 million sum was approved by the Nevada Film Office and the Governor’s Office for Economic Development.
“The $4.2 million in transferable film tax credits represents roughly 12% of the $33.7 million total production budget WWE estimated for two nights of WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and three nights of wrestling events at nearby T-Mobile Arena,” the Nevada Current wrote. “But $4.2 million is more than half of what the company estimated it would spend on local labor and at local businesses.”
In total, WWE paid $2.4 million for Nevada stagehands, $2.7 million for non-resident “below-the-line” labor, $17 million for non-resident “above the line” talent (wrestlers, executives, etc.), $5.3 million in Nevada expenditures, $8.6 million in non-Nevada expenditures, and $260,000 for Nevada security workers.
Former NXT Tag Team champions Fraxiom, the team of Axiom and Nathan Frazer, received their call-up to the main roster and will now be part of the Smackdown brand moving forward.
The duo had a match against Legado Del Fantasma, which they won, as their first match on the blue brand.
“A new era of Innovation. Speed. Energy. Welcome to #Smackdown, Fraxiom,” Triple H posted on X later.
The two lost their NXT Tag Team titles to Hank and Tank at last week’s Stand & Deliver, ending their incredible 230-day reign as champs. They had two title reigns in NXT, totaling 356 days as champions.
Raw General Manager Adam Pearce has announced a storyline suspension for former WWE World Heavyweight champion Gunther.
Gunther attacked Raw ring announcers Michael Cole and Pat McAfee on the broadcast a few days ago, and while Cole returned to commentary, McAfee missed the rest of the broadcast after he was choked out for a long time.
“Your actions were reprehensible and disgusting. You will never again put your hands on a member of my announce team, because there ain’t no heat in beating up an announcer,” the Raw General Manager said in a video posted on social media. “You’re frustrated because you lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Jey Uso and I get that. But if you want to blame somebody, then park your ass in front of a mirror and ask the person staring back at you.”
Pearce said that Gunther has been suspended indefinitely and also fined a sum of money.
The Backlash main event was confirmed last night on Smackdown, with new champion John Cena defending the WWE Championship against Randy Orton.
The event will take place from Orton’s hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, and over 14,000 tickets have already been sold for the show, making it close to a sell-out.
The two were involved in a long opening segment on Smackdown, with multiple insults thrown each way, and ultimately, Cena attacking Orton with the title. But The Viper had the last laugh after he landed his second RKO on Cena in the span of a few days, leaving the champion laid out in the ring.
While Cena and Orton wrestled several times over the past 25 years, this will be the first time that it will be a heel Cena against a face Orton.
Backlash is on Saturday, May 10 and tickets are available from Ticketmaster.com.
Bianca Belair will be out of action for a while after the former champion suffered an injury at WrestleMania during the triple threat match for the WWE Women’s World title.
Appearing on Smackdown last night in a backstage segment, Belair revealed she suffered multiple broken fingers, with her left hand heavily wrapped, fingers taped together, and her ring finger also sporting a splint.
It’s unclear at what point in the match she suffered the broken fingers but Belair finished the match as expected.
No timeframe was announced as to when she will be returning to the ring.
On the night her husband returned to the company, Zelina Vega won her first singles title in WWE, beating out Chelsea Green to capture the WWE Women’s United States title.
Vega’s odds were stacked against her due to the interference from the Secret Hervice, but eventually both Piper Niven and Alba Fyre were ejected from the match, allowing Vega to have a proper singles match.
She won the title with her finishing move, the Code Red, ending Green’s 131-day reign as the inaugural champion.
“Perseverance and hard work will always rise to the top,” Triple H wrote later on X, posting a photo with the new champion. “Congratulations @ZelinaVegaWWE on your first-ever WWE singles championship.”
Alisteir Black returned to WWE last night on the post-WrestleMania episode of Smackdown.
He interrupted an in-ring segment featuring The Miz, who was complaining about being left out of WrestleMania. Black did his old WWE entrance, complete with his original NXT theme song to confront The Miz and quickly took him out.
The 39-year-old will wrestle his first match back with the company next week, one on one against The Miz.
Black wrestled for WWE between 2016 and 2021 and then the Dutch star moved to AEW for another four years where the only title he won was the AEW Trios championship with Brody King and Buddy Matthews.
He was released from his AEW contract in February of this year, with his last match being a four-way tag match with Brody King against Private Party, The Acclaimed, and The Outrunners at Full Gear in November 2024.
Black only wrestled 55 times in AEW over a four-year period, most of them being in a tag match.
WWE released the transcript of the words which Randy Orton told Joe Hendry after their WrestleMania match.
Orton lost his original opponent, Kevin Owens, due to injury and then issued an open challenge for WrestleMania, which was answered by TNA champion Joe Hendry.
Following the match, Orton told Hendry in the ring, “Hey, listen to me, for everybody back there, you showed up. You showed up for all these people.”
With Hendry still selling the effects of the RKO, Orton had one final thing to say to Hendry.
“It means a lot to me, man,” Orton said, before turning Hendry around and hitting him with another RKO.
Hendry expressed his gratitude to WWE, Triple H, and Randy Orton for his WrestleMania moment and dismissed claims that he was “buried” in the match, telling critics that if that’s what being buried means, then bring it on.
Three new participants were announced for the upcoming ROH Women’s Pure Championship tournament.
On last night’s episode of ROH on HonorClub, Deonna Purrazzo, Taya Valkyrie, and Leila Grey were revealed as tournament participants, joining Queen Aminata and Serena Deeb.
Only one match has been announced, and that’s Queen Aminata vs Serena Deeb. The total number of participants in this tournament to crown the inaugural champion have not been revealed either.
Very little has been announced for this tournament so far and there are no dates for a final yet.
TNA Impact next week on May 1 will air at 10PM ET instead of the usual 8PM ET time slot on AXS TV.
The show will be a live airing from the Bren Events Center on the campus of the University of California in Irvine and will feature the fallout from this Sunday’s Rebellion pay-per-view.
At the 8PM ET time slot there will be a replay of the Unbreakable show which took place last week in Las Vegas so that will serve as the lead-in for the new episode of Impact.
Dynamite this week drew 521,000 viewers, down a whopping 103,000 viewers from the previous week. The show aired live coast-to-coast which probably helped in the drop of viewers. Dynamite had a 0.14 rating in 18-49, down 0.03 from the prior week and finished #7 on the top 50 cable chart for the night. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
WWE, AEW, and TNA all honored Steve “Mongo” Michael with posts on social media.
WWE’s statement read, “WWE is saddened to learn that Steve “Mongo” McMichael has passed away. WWE extends its condolences to McMichael’s family, friends, and fans.” The company also added an entry on WWE.COM, with a short bio.
WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H added, “From the gridiron to the squared circle, Steve brought every bit of intensity to everything in his life. True legend in every regard. Our thoughts are with his family at this time.”
AEW’s post said, “AEW and the wrestling world mourns the passing of pro wrestler and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Steve “Mongo” McMichael. Our thoughts are with his family, his friends and his fans.”
TNA, which hosted McMichael at Bound For Glory in 2008, posted, “We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of football and pro wrestling legend Steve “Mongo” McMichael, who appeared as a special guest referee at Bound For Glory 2008 in Chicago. We offer our sincere condolences to his friends, fans and family.”
The Hurt Syndicate, the faction consisting of Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, and MVP, appeared on Insight With Chris Van Vliet.
They talk about getting the group back together, a possible Shelton Benjamin World Title run, whether MVP has retired and more!
Some of the most interesting quotes are below:
On knowing that the group would one day get back together:
Bobby Lashley: “I did. I mean, it was inevitable. When we came together originally, it was so natural, it was so real. The crowd, you guys knew it. This isn’t just a couple of guys that got thrown together. You see it all the time. You see it in WWE, you see it in AEW, guys that get thrown together and the minute they leave the show, they all go their separate ways. That’s not how we work. We are really friends, we really do stuff together, we really argue, we really fight like brothers. This is real, you guys feel it, and that’s why it gets over so well.”
On the plan to reunite the group:
MVP: “Well, the plan originally was to get Bobby to join me. I was like, ‘Bobby, let’s go man, let’s get out of here. Shelton’s already at home. All we gotta do is just not sign, get Shelton back and we can run this back. Our final act, we could do this.’ Bobby, finally, he relented, and he said, Alright.”
On what the group can do now that they couldn’t in WWE:
Shelton Benjamin: “Well, first of all, being actually seen in front of a live crowd. That’s a good start. But I think this time around we have a bit more control of our destiny, obviously, a lot more. What happened before, everything ended way prematurely. None of us were happy about that, and by us, I mean everyone. So the fact that we’re able to come here and give you the product that we want to give you, and everything’s going great. Like I said, we’re having the time of our lives.”
On a possible Shelton Benjamin World Title run in AEW:
Shelton Benjamin: “I’m going to just say yes. I definitely still want a world title. If you watch my performances, I’m not performing like a guy who wants to just retire and ride off into the sunset. While I definitely want to help elevate other talent, because that’s a big part of why we’re here, I still have goals. Being a World Champion in a prominent company is definitely on top of that list. Now, I have been World Champion for Puerto Rico, WWC, but I don’t know if we want to count that one. It counts? ok. But as far as WWE, AEW, the big name companies, I want a World Championship, and I’m working every day to make sure that dream stays alive.”
On whether MVP has retired from the ring:
MVP: “No, not yet. I got a little bit left in me. It’s funny. We did a six-man about a month ago now, give or take, and they were teasing me because I was actually in there for a little while, and it felt good. It was coming back to me, and Shelton said, ‘Are you ever gonna tag out?’ I’m like oh yeah, maybe I should.”
On the WrestleMania 37 rain delay:
Bobby Lashley: “When you have a match with somebody like Drew, because Drew brings out a lot of intensity there. I remember at one point we said, I was telling MVP, man, I’ll just go fight him backstage, just bring a camera back. Because once you get so amped up and go and get ready for a match like that and it starts raining, you don’t want to just break that. You don’t want to keep waiting and waiting and going back and forth. I knew something was going to happen. I knew we were going to go out there eventually, but I think at some point I was just going to go and punch Drew in the mouth and maybe we start just fighting. Because Drew was actually one of my favorite opponents. He’s up there on my list, just because he brought something out of me that a lot of guys didn’t. Because I think a lot of guys get out there and they hide behind a microphone, they can say whatever they want, try to be a tough guy. You really know they’re not. Drew just embodied a little bit more than that, and that’s why I was really amped up to have that match with him. So I was ready to go. We kept walking by, and I was like we might just have to start fighting back here. And then if it stops and we can just take that out to the ring. It was going to happen, especially just coming out of the pandemic; this was the first opportunity for us to be in front of a crowd. We were going to have a match no matter what.”
On what’s next for them in AEW:
MVP: “Look, I’m spoiling it for you. I’m telling you what’s going to happen. We are going to hold these Tag Team Titles until we’re done, until we decide as a group that okay, we’re now ready to move on to that next level and then we are coming for singles championship gold. No tag teams, that’ll be done, but we gotta beat a few more people first and imprint The Hurt Syndicate label on these tag team titles so people will know we were here. They will remember. Then it’s on to the next phase, and that’s singles championships for these two gentlemen.”
Nia Jax appeared on today’s episode of SiriusXM’s The Nikki and Brie Show.
During the episode, Nia Jax and Nikki Garcia discussed their dating lives and Nia revealed she was waitlisted for Raya. Nia also opened up about her relationship with Tiffany Stratton and Brie urged WWE to call her, joking that they haven’t yet.
The Nikki & Brie Show hosted by Nikki & Brie Garcia is available anytime on the SiriusXM app. New episodes every Monday and Thursday. Listen to the full episode HERE.
Highlights, courtesy of SiriusXM’s The Nikki & Brie Show, are below.
Nia Jax on her relationship with TiffanyStratton (7:06-8:26)
Nikki Garcia: Going back to your point with helping and seeing, especially Tiffany versus Charlotte this Saturday, you did. You put that path there. You built that road this past year and Tiffany’s going in with such great equity because of the work you guys have been doing for a little over a year. Right?
Nia Jax: Yeah, her, I think, technically debut was at last year’s Royal Rumble, you know, and then she was on the road with us. Every tour, every live event, like she really put in the work, and I really like we had a trip to Australia. It was a 20-hour flight, and she was just sitting by herself and she’s just really quiet, and so I just sat next to her because I could tell like, you know, it’s intimidating. Everybody has their cliques and stuff, so I sat next to her for 20 hours on a flight and then totally hit it off with her because I’m 25, too, and then she was talking about Total Divas and I’m like, “Oh my gosh, this is crazy.” You know what’s weird? I feel like it was like a different lifetime. When she was bringing up stuff, I’m like, “Oh my gosh, I did that? Oh, I said that?” Sometimes I’m like, “Gosh, some of the shit I said.” But now, you know, she’s been, she’s very coachable. You know, she’s really good at taking criticism and taking any kind of like help. She always wants to do better, so we had fun. It was, you know, Naomi, Bailey, me. We were really like, because she was on our brand and we just kind of like kept her, we called her our little baby, you know.
Nia Jax on dating, getting waitlisted on Raya (12:34-13:40)
Brie Garcia: Would you ever go on like, is it Raya? Raya. Have you been on that dating app?
Nia Jax: You know what? There was a time where the girls were all getting into it. I think it was like Becky and Charlotte and they were all on Raya and I was like, “Okay, maybe I’ll try it,” and then I got wait listed.
Brie Garcia: What?
Nia Jax: Yeah. It was back when they were super like, very strict.
Brie Garcia: Okay, well, you need to try again.
Nia Jax: And then I was like, “Okay, well, that’s a sign.”
Brie Garcia: I mean, gosh, we were on Kristin Cavallari’s show and she was telling me she’s on it. She had like two dates lined up. Yeah.
Nia Jax: Wait, is somebody else on it speaking of dating?
Brie Garcia: Well, I’m trying to get her on it.
Nikki Garcia: I don’t know. You know what’s funny is I don’t know if I could do a dating app. I feel like I’m kind of like you. I’m not a big dater, and so being single now, it’s like, it’s just weird to think of like meeting someone on an app and then showing up and meeting them for the first time like, “Hi, I’m Nicole. Nice to meet you.”
Nia Jax: Genuine connections are something that like I would prefer and I don’t know. A dating app, I tried like a couple of times, then one person didn’t believe it was me and then it was just like, it’s awkward.
Nia, Nikki & Brie think Tom Brady is “too pretty” (14:16-14:30)
Nia Jax: Isn’t Tom Brady coming to Mania?
Brie Garcia: Oh, really. He’s single right?
Nia Jax: Isn’t he?
Nikki Garcia: I feel like he’s into supermodels.
Nia Jax: You are a supermodel. What are you talking about?
Nikki Garcia: But he’s a little too pretty right now.
Nia Jax: He’s botoxed to the max.
Brie Garcia says WWE hasn’t called (20:26-21:33)
Nikki Garcia: You know, this is one thing with Mania. I wish there was just a way to get everyone involved. I feel like that’s, like I loved when they had-
Brie Garcia: The Battle Royals and all that.
Nikki Garcia: Exactly, like the Battle Royals. Now, with two nights, they should do a male one and a female one or do an intergender one. How fun would that be?
Nia Jax: Actually, I would love to do that. That’s a good time. The guys are so much fun to work with.
Brie Garcia: The fans would love it. It would be so fun. It would be such a great way to start WrestleMania 2.
Nia Jax: And the fun part for the girls is just getting our gear and our look. Even the fans love it. They always want to see what our look is. It’s like everybody wants to be showcased on this and I get it. It is what it is, but it would be nice if it was all, especially with two days.
Brie Garcia: I always think it’s fun when they add lumberjacks, lumberjills. Actually, that would have been a great one for Tiffany and Charlotte, but actually. Do you know what I mean?
Nia Jax: Book it.
Brie Garcia: WWE, call me. I’ll join creative, which, you know, they haven’t called, so if you guys want to call. No, I’m kidding.
