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An emotional CM Punk says thanks for WrestleMania main event

By
Colin Vassallo
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It has been quite the week for CM Punk as he got to main event his first WrestleMania ever.

Punk got a tremendous video package before he appeared on stage and was the last one to walk in for the main event and the last one out of the ring at WrestleMania 41 Saturday

“There’s too many people to thank. I didn’t get here alone. I’ve been lifted up and comforted in bad times by people, family, who have always believed in me,” the Chicago native wrote in a post on social media.

“It wasn’t a straight road. I took the long way. Along that way I’ve learned lessons. I’ve been wrong. I’ve been right. I’ve been mean. I’ve been humbled. I’m grateful for all the lumps. The good and the bad,” he continued.

Punk said that what’s certain is that you get back what you put in, although maybe not instantly or not the next day.

“But never say never. With a full heart and gratitude that goes to 11, I’m overwhelmed and in search of the perfect words to describe my last few days. Thank you. I love you. If it was the last one, it may very well have been the best one,” Punk concluded.

WrestleMania 41 the most-successful and highest-grossing WWE event in history

By
Colin Vassallo
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WrestleMania 41

WWE, part of TKO Group Holdings, today announced that WrestleMania 41, which emanated from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, became the most-successful and highest-grossing event in company history.

Highlights include:

GATE: WrestleMania 41 generated the largest gate for any event in WWE history. The Premium Live Event drew 124,693 fans across two nights at Allegiant Stadium.

VIEWERSHIP: WrestleMania 41 was the most-viewed WrestleMania of all time, up 114 percent from the record set last year at WrestleMania XL.

MERCHANDISE: In partnership with Fanatics, merchandise sales onsite were up more than 45 percent versus the previous all-time event record set by WrestleMania XL in 2024, making WrestleMania 41 the highest-grossing event of all-time. Additionally, ecommerce sales were up 86 percent versus last year’s record.

SPONSORSHIP: WrestleMania 41 featured a record 28 total partners and set an all-time event record for revenue.

ON LOCATION: On Location, the exclusive hospitality experiences partner for WWE, saw a 75 percent increase in hospitality sales and packages.

WWE WORLD: WWE World at WrestleMania 41, the five-day interactive fan experience in partnership with Fanatics Events, became the most-attended WWE fan convention of all time with more than 50,000 attendees – a 21 percent increase over last year’s event surrounding WrestleMania XL.

SOCIAL: WrestleMania 41 became the most socially viewed WWE event of all-time, generating 1.1 billion social views throughout the weekend. Additionally, WWE’s YouTube channel saw its most-viewed day ever on WrestleMania Sunday.

The record-breaking event was highlighted by John Cena defeating Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship, Seth Rollins winning the Triple Threat Match featuring Roman Reigns and CM Punk, IYO SKY retaining the Women’s World Championship, the return of Becky Lynch and more.

Smackdown rating for 04/18/2024

By
Colin Vassallo
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The final Smackdown before WrestleMania on Friday drew 1,741,000 viewers, up 190,000 viewers from the previous week and matches the best number of 2025 so far. The show had a 0.55 rating in 18-49, up 0.10 from the previous show and was #2 on cable and in all of television for the night behind the NBA game. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)

AEW moves two ROH shows, cancels one Collision taping

By
Colin Vassallo
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AEW announced several changes to its upcoming schedule which will affect mainly ROH shows.

The ROH Supercard of Honor has been moved to Friday, July 11 at the Esports Arena in Arlington, Texas as part of the All In: Texas week. The show was originally set for Friday, May 2 at the Broadwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. A full refund for those tickets are available at points of purchase.

The ROH Death Before Dishonor show has now been moved to the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Friday, September 5. Ticket information will be released soon.

Also, the May 17 episode of Collision from the INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas, has been canceled. Refunds are available at points of purchase.

That Collision will now be part of a special Beach Break taping on Wednesday, May 14 at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

John Cena eats an RKO out of nowhere as Orton eyes WWE title

By
Colin Vassallo
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It looks like John Cena’s first title defense will come against his long-time rival Randy Orton.

During the opening segment of Raw, the new WWE champion came out and promised to leave WWE with the title. Cena pointed out that he only has 27 dates left, and that’s not just wrestling matches, but appearances included.

Cena said he’s the last real champion and invited fans to take their cameras out and get a great picture of him with the title. As the camera focused tightly on him, Randy Orton appeared from behind and as soon as Cena turned, Orton delivered an RKO out of nowhere and the crowd went absolutely bananas.

With Cena laid out, Orton grabbed the WWE title and posed with it, before gently putting it on Cena.

Next month’s Backlash is from Orton’s hometown of St. Louis and a face Orton vs heel Cena is expected to main event the show. The two share a long history together but it was always a face Cena with a heel Orton.

Stephanie Vaquer and Giulia make their Raw debut

By
Colin Vassallo
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NXT Women’s champion Stephanie Vaquer and former champion Giulia made their Raw debut last night in Las Vegas.

Vaquer interrupted Iyo Sky’s in-ring celebration segment, coming out to a loud pop from the crowd. She challenged Sky to a match, which fans were looking forward to…until Raw General Manager Adam Pearce came out to loud boos.

Thankfully, Pearce was on board and was only out to make sure the crowd wanted to see the match!

After 13 minutes of action, the match ended in a no contest after Roxanne Perez came out of nowhere to attack Sky. She was helped by former NXT Women’s champion Giulia who attacked her former friend Vaquer.

The faces were saved by Rhea Ripley, who sprinted to the ring to chase the heels away. She did have a stare down with Giulia and then handed Sky the title.

Gunther chokes out Pat McAfee on Raw

By
Colin Vassallo
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It has been a while since WWE commentators were part of an angle, but last night on Raw, former WWE World Heavyweight champion Gunther took out Michael Cole and Pat McAfee.

Gunther was angry at Michael Cole for his criticism and then Cole pressed the wrong button by saying he was not the one who tapped out on Saturday.

That was enough to trigger Gunther, who put Cole in a chokehold. Cole’s broadcast partner, Pat McAfee, interfered to get Cole out of the hold but then was on the receiving end of a rear naked choke by Gunther, who did not let go for a long time.

Several officials came out to break it off and also prevent the rest of McAfee’s team from making things worse, who jumped the barricade to help him.

Eventually, Gunther broke the hold and left McAfee gasping for air. McAfee was assisted to the back and did not return to the show but Cole returned to a huge ovation with Joe Tessitore to call the final segment.

Survivor Series 2025 announced for Petco Park in San Diego

By
Colin Vassallo
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Survivor Series 2025

WWE announced that this year’s Survivor Series will be taking place from the Petco Park in San Diego, California on Saturday, November 29.

This will mark the first time that Survivor Series will be held in a stadium, being the last of the so-called big five PLEs to get the stadium treatment.

Petco Field, the home of MLB’s San Diego Padres, seats almost 40,000.

Fans can register for pre-sale access at https://www.wwe.com/presale-registration-survivor-series-2025.

Rusev returns to WWE after five years

By
Colin Vassallo
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Rusev returned on the Raw After Mania, interrupting what was supposed to be the start of The New Day vs Alpha Academy match for the WWE World Tag Team titles.

The Bulgarian star came out to a big ovation and a new theme song and destroyed Otis and Tozawa as Kingston and Woods bolted before he could get his hands on them.

Deadline.com reported later that Rusev signed a two-year deal with WWE while his wife CJ “Lana” Perry signed a WWE Legends deal.

“We have been cooking this up from our Bulgarian kitchen since the day we left, and with the help of Paradigm, we were able to make this a reality! Machka Crush,” Perry told Deadline. Paradigm is the talent agency that represents them.

Rusev was originally released from WWE in 2020 and then joined AEW. He spent more time sidelined than in the ring for AEW and was finally released from his contract in February. He won the TNT title once while wrestling for AEW.

A new dangerous alliance forms on Raw After Mania

By
Colin Vassallo
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Raw

A new dangerous alliance was formed on Raw after Paul Heyman and Seth Rollins introduced their latest acquisition: former WWE Intercontinental champion Bron Breakker.

Rollins and Heyman kicked off the main event of the show but were quickly interrupted by CM Punk, who came to the T-Mobile Arena looking for a fight.

And fight he did as he and Rollins sparred, but eventually, Punk fell to Rollins after he turned his attention to Paul Heyman. With Punk down and out, Heyman proclaimed that there’s a new undisputed #1 in WWE and his name was Seth Rollins.

With credits already running, Roman Reigns’ theme song hit the speaker and Reigns came out also looking for a fight. He took Rollins out first and then hit a Superman punch on Heyman. But as he was about to do a spear on Heyman, a hooded individual came running in and hit a spear of his own on Reigns.

Removing the hoodie, Bron Breakker sent the crowd wild as he hit another spear on CM Punk, before Seth Rollins hugged him.

The action continued outside the ring as Breakker ran around and hit a missile spear on Reigns through the barricade and then the three posed in the middle of the ring before the show faded to black.

Karrion Kross goes off on WrestleMania recap show with epic promo

By
Colin Vassallo
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Karrion Kross dropped a pipe bomb, or more of a nuclear bomb, after appearing on the WrestleMania recap show, leaving hosts Megan Morant and Sam Roberts, as well as his wife Scarlett, shocked!

Kross was not happy that he was not wrestling on the show, but a YouTuber was. He went off on Logan Paul, saying that Paul represents one thing – a shortcut.

“Feels so good to be in the business, thinking about all of the funerals that I wasn’t able to attend for the last 11 years in this business, all of the holidays I missed,” Kross said as he started venting. “You know…I could have just started a YouTube channel, could have just jumped in there with AJ Styles. Feels really good. It’s awesome.”

He then said that in 2021, Bill Goldberg told him to be a “good soldier,” so he decided to be one…and then got released.

“Being a good soldier gets your time cut. Being a good soldier is coming to your hometown where you cut your teeth when you got started and not being on the card,” Kross, who is from Las Vegas, continued.

Kross also went off on giving Joe Hendry a “viral moment” rather than putting someone like him to face Randy Orton.

“You want a viral moment? On behalf of all of the true fans of professional wrestling: guy with the suit and tie in the truck…go f*ck yourself. That’s from Killer Kross,” he concluded, before storming off the set.

Later, his wife Scarlett said on X that whatever happens next, they did it their way.

“Proud to stand beside a man who never plays it safe,” she wrote.

Joe Hendry will have more WrestleMania moments, says Triple H

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque said that the reason he chose Joe Hendry to answer Randy Orton’s open challenge is because they wanted a different scenario as they couldn’t put anyone to fill Kevin Owens’ spot and match that intensity.

“Just incredibly difficult to try to put somebody in the spot to fill that in,” Levesque said. “It has to be a completely different scenario, and that’s where Joe Hendry came in. And to me was the perfect opportunity to put him in there.”

He said it was the right thing, right moment, right time, and right spot to showcase Hendry on the biggest stage of them all and have that incredible WrestleMania moment for him.

“And I will just say…I love Joe Hendry,” Triple H continued, saying that he’s great, smart, and respectful.

He said he was really happy that they could put Hendry in WrestleMania and also revealed what he told him before walking out.

“I said, ‘You will be here again, so enjoy this one because the pressure gets heavy from here. This will be the easiest WrestleMania you ever do, and you will do more,'” Triple H told the press.

Austin misses the ramp, crashes ATV in side of stage before WM entrance

By
Colin Vassallo
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Fan footage from last night’s WrestleMania show that Steve Austin missed the ramp to come out for his entrance, then backed up his ATV and crashed into the stage.

Austin took his time before he appeared on stage after his music kicked in and now additional footage filmed from the side of the stage showed that Austin sped in but completely missed the ramp, going around it instead.

When he realized it’s a dead end, Austin put the ATV in reverse but wasn’t driving straight and hit the stage, eventually getting his back wheel stuck.

Five stage workers then rushed to manually lift the ATV back in position, before Austin got his bearings right and was pointed towards the right direction: the ramp!

And if he thought that was bad, well, thinks got worse for him as he then crashed his ATV into the LED barricade!

I guess it’s safe to say that was the last time we’ll see Steve Austin coming down the ramp on an ATV at a WWE show!

Another three new champions crowned at WrestleMania 41 Sunday

By
Colin Vassallo
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WrestleMania 41

Just like night one, three new champions were crowned at WrestleMania 41 Sunday, bringing the total to six title changes from eight on the card.

Dominik Mysterio, an unlikely hero in Las Vegas, defeated Bron Breakker, Finn Balor, and Penta in a fatal four-way to become the new Intercontinental champion. The crowd was firmly behind young Dirty Dom and supported him throughout the match, going batshit crazy for the finish. Dom pinned Finn Balor after a frog splash to win the title, ending Breakker’s reign of 180 days as champion.

Lyra Valkyria and Becky Lynch became the new WWE Women’s Tag Team champions, beating Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. It was Morgan who ate the pin from Lynch this time. This makes Valkyria a double champion as she’s also the Intercontinental champion. Their reign lasted 55 days.

And last but not least, John Cena ended Cody Rhodes’ role as the quarterback in a rather lackluster main event to win his record-breaking 17th world title. It’s Cena’s last year and it was bound to happen, now the question is, how long will he keep it for?

Only Iyo Sky managed to retain her gold on night two, with an incredible performance to beat Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair in the opening match of the night.

Full press release: WWE acquires AAA

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE, part of TKO Group Holdings, has announced its acquisition of leading Mexican lucha libre promotion AAA in partnership with Mexico-based sports and entertainment holding company, Fillip.

The announcement was made in Las Vegas during the WrestleMania 41 Saturday Countdown show with WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Fillip’s Chairman Alberto Fasja, AAA’s Marisela Peña and Dorian Roldán Peña, alongside talent including WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio and El Hijo Del Vikingo. The announcement video can be seen here.

Additionally, Worlds Collide was announced to take place at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on Saturday, June 7 at 12pm PT featuring WWE Superstars alongside stars of AAA.

AAA was founded in 1992 by Antonio Peña and has been a family-operated business for more than 30 years, with some of the greatest talent in lucha libre history, including Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio and Penta, calling AAA home throughout their careers. The Peña family will continue to be involved in the next chapter of the AAA business alongside WWE and Fillip.

“AAA has a rich cultural heritage with some of the most passionate fans in the world and it’s an honor to work with the Peña family to embark on this journey,” said Levesque. “By bringing together WWE’s global capabilities and AAA’s amazing tradition, we look forward to an exciting future filled with new opportunities.”

“We look forward to partnering with WWE and TKO on this venture to secure the future of AAA for fans and to help take this business to the next level,” said Fillip Co-Founder and Co-CEO Hugo López-Velarde.

“AAA has been a family-operated promotion for over three decades and our trust could not be better placed than with one of the biggest sports entertainment businesses in the world,” said AAA General Manager Dorian Roldán Peña.

The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and is expected to close in Q3 2025.

For more information on Worlds Collide including the opportunity to sign up for exclusive news and offers visit: https://www.wwe.com/presale-registration-wwe-la-2025.

The list of celebrities who appeared at WrestleMania 41

By
Colin Vassallo
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WrestleMania 41

As it is every year, WrestleMania is a hot ticket for celebrities and this year was no different.

Celebs who appeared on night one include NFL player George Kittle, musical artists Lil Yachty, UFC’s Dana White and Israel Adesanya, actor Stephen Amell, music producer Rick Rubin, popular magician and illusionist Criss Angel, and Bill Simmons. Jelly Roll performed the God Bless America song before the show started.

Night two had musical artists Quavo, Flavor Flav, and Rich The Kid, NFL player Jahmyr Gibbs, UFC’s Merab Dvalishvili, Colby Covington, and former fighter Daniel Cormier, DJ Metro Boomin, boxer Terence Crawford, and actors Dean Norris, Rana Daggubati, and Vanessa Hudgens, who is now a mainstay when it comes to WWE PLEs! Also performing the national anthem was Ava Max.

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who was set to host The Roast of WrestleMania after night two, was also at ringside and booed out of the building.

WWE: Unreal docuseries to air on Netflix in the Summer

By
Colin Vassallo
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A new WWE documentary series is coming to Netflix, titled WWE: Unreal, and will make its premiere in a couple of months in the Summer, although no exact date was given.

Announced during WrestleMania yesterday, WWE: Unreal will give a look inside WWE’s inner workings, including how they come up with storylines and writing TV in the writers’ room. There will be a total of 10 episodes for the series, with each of them running 50 minutes.

Executive producers will be Peyton Manning, Jamie Horowitz, Ross Ketover, Keith Cossrow, Ken Rodgers, Jessica Boddy, Lee Fitting, Ben Houser, Marc Pomarico with a joint collaboration from Omaha Productions, NFL Films, Skydance Sports, and WWE.

A series compared to the popular Drive To Survive one on Netflix has been rumored for months and that documentary has catapulted the Formula 1’s popularity in the United States to a whole new level.

The series will be available to all Netflix subscribers worldwide.

WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas out-draws last year’s WrestleMania from Philly

By
Colin Vassallo
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WrestleMania 41

WrestleMania 41 had a total of 124,693 fans over two nights, beating out last year’s number from Philadelphia.

A big late surge in ticket sales, where thousands of additional tickets were sold, saw the first night doing 61,629. The number was announced on Saturday by WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels.

WrestleMania Sunday drew an additional 63,226, selling out the stadium. This was announced by another WWE Hall of Famer, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

Metrics from this year’s WrestleMania will be announced by WWE later in the day.

WWE Takeover weekend in Perth, Australia set for October

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE logo

WWE is returning to Perth, Australia in October of this year, but exact dates have not been announced yet.

During WrestleMania last night it was revealed that a WWE Takeover of Perth will feature Smackdown, a premium live event, and Raw following each other, with all shows taking place from the RAC Arena.

WWE announced its return to Perth last month following a successful Elimination Chamber premium live event last year where over 52,000 fans attended the show held at the Optus Stadium.

John Cena is being advertised for the show and will be the last time he wrestles in Australia as part of his farewell tour.

WWE returning to the Intuit Dome for Money In The Bank 2025

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE announced that the 2025 Money In The Bank premium live event will take place from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, on Saturday, June 7.

It will be a double-header for WWE that night as they will also hold the NXT/AAA Worlds Collide event from the nearby Kia Forum.

The Worlds Collide event is set to start at 12PM PT / 3PM ET while Money In The Bank will follow at 4PM PT / 7PM ET.

The Intuit Dome hosted the Raw Netflix premiere this past January.

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