Home Blog Page 251

Three matches added to Dynasty 2025

Three matches were added to the Dynasty 2025 pay-per-view card last night on Dynamite.

The Owen Hart Cup tournament will kick off with two matches, featuring Will Ospreay vs Kevin Knight and Mercedes Mone vs Julia Hart in the quarter finals. The brackets were announced yesterday, with the final matches set for the Double or Nothing pay-per-view in late May.

Also, the AEW Tag Team titles will be on the line with The Hurt Syndicate defending their gold against Bryan Keith and Big Bill of The Learning Tree.

Dynasty has nine matches so far, with the team of Samoa Joe, Hook, and Katsuyori Shibata also looking for action that night, but no match has been officially announced.

Brackets for the 2025 men’s and women’s Owen Hart Cup tournament

The brackets for the men’s and women’s Owen Hart Cup tournaments were revealed last night on Dynamite.

In the men’s tournament, it’s Will Ospreay vs Kevin Knight and Brody King vs Konosuke Takeshita in the left bracket, and Mark Briscoe vs Kyle Fletcher, and “Hangman” Adam Page vs wild card in the right bracket.

The women’s tournament has Jamie Hayter vs Billie Starkz and Thunder Rosa vs Kris Statlander in the left bracket, and Mercedes Mone vs Julia Hart, and Athena vs Harley Cameron in the right bracket.

The tournament finals will take place at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view on May 25 with the winners of the two tournaments receiving an AEW title match at All In: Texas.

Kross and Petrovic get their Bloodsport XIII opponents

Bloodsport

Karrion Kross and Karmen Petrovic learned the names of their Bloodsport opponents for WrestleMania week.

Josh Barnett announced that Kross will face NWA and NJPW Strong’s JR Kratos during the event while NXT’s Petrovic will take on Stardom’s Maika.

Kross and Petrovic are two of the five WWE Superstars who will be participating in the Bloodsport XIII event. In the other matches, Pete Dunne will take on Timothy Thatcher, Charlie Dempsey will battle Shinya Aoki, and Natalya takes on Miyu Yamashita.

Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport XIII is promoted by GCW and will take place on Thursday, April 17 at The Palms in Las Vegas.

Report: Rusev re-signs with WWE

PWInsider.com is reporting that Rusev, the man also known as Miro in AEW, has re-signed with WWE.

The Bulgarian star has been at the new WWE world headquarters in down Stamford, Connecticut all day long according to the site, although his wife CJ Perry was not tagging along.

He received his release from AEW in February of this year after four years with the company. Miro joined AEW in September 2020 and after a stint as TNT champion he wasn’t used much on television in the following years. Injuries and outside projects kept him on the shelf for months at a time, wrestling only 11 times from 2022 onward.

His last match came at the Worlds End pay-per-view in December 2023, defeating Andrade El Idolo.

He spent 10 years with WWE prior to joining AEW, starting with FCW and then NXT before moving to the main roster. He left the company in April 2020 as part of budget cuts.

AEW announces broadcast details for All In: Texas week

All In: Texas

AEW has revealed the week of events leading up to All In: Texas in July.

The week will start with Dynamite live on Wednesday, July 9, on TBS from the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland. It continues Thursday, July 10, with a live Collision also from the Curtis Culwell Center on TNT. On Friday, July 11, there will be ROH’s Death Before Dishonor from the Esports Stadium in Arlington, and then on Saturday, July 12, it’s All In: Texas from the Globe Life Field in Arlington.

All In is listed to start at 2PM CT, which is 3PM ET.

On Friday and Saturday there will also be Starrcast, the fan convention which returns after a few years hiatus. This will be held at the Sheraton Arlington in Arlington.

Tickets for the live Dynamite and Collision go on sale on Monday, April 21 at 10AM.

WrestleMania IX: Become a Spectacle Peacock documentary announced

WWE and Peacock announced a new exclusive documentary titled WrestleMania IX: Becoming a Spectacle, which will premiere on Friday, April 11 only on Peacock.

The documentary will take a behind-the-scenes look with never-seen-before footage of WrestleMania IX which took place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

A one-minute trailer shows new interviews with the likes of Bret “Hit Man” Hart, Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker, Bruce Prichard, and former WWE exec Basil DeVito.

It was the first time that Las Vegas hosted WrestleMania with a made-up arena in the parking lot of Caesars Palace, with WWE managing to fit nearly 17,000 fans.

Top two NXT title matches announced for Stand & Deliver in Las Vegas

NXT Stand & Deliver

The main event for NXT’s Stand & Deliver on WrestleMania Saturday has been announced and will feature NXT champion Oba Femi defending the NXT title against Trick Williams and Je’Von Evans in a triple threat match.

The match was announced on last night’s episode of NXT on The CW after Williams tried to call out Femi during an in-ring segment but was interrupted by Evans. Femi eventually did show up, as did NXT GM Ava, who booked the match for the premium live event.

The NXT Women’s title will also be defended as Stephanie Vaquer will put her title on the line against either Jordynne Grace or Jaida Parker. The two will meet next week to see who will face Vaquer in Vegas.

Mick Foley in hospital after serious car accident

Mick Foley wrote in a post on social media that he was involved in a car accident which left his car totaled and is now in hospital, sore from his knees to his neck and also suffering from a concussion.

Foley uploaded a photo of the wreck, posing with the totally destroyed car behind him with a fire truck in the background.

“I have no idea how I am still walking around after this accident,” the 59-year-old Foley wrote, adding a title of ‘Tough day for Mick.’

Collision rating for 03/29/2025

With no lead-in from the NCAA March Madness and actually facing competition from the tournament, Collision drew 339,000 viewers, down 214,000 viewers from the Saturday show and 245,000 viewers from the Sunday show of last week. It had a 0.9 rating in 18-49, down 0.11 and 0.12 from the previous two episodes of the weekend. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)

Ricky Saints wins the NXT North American title

Ricky Saints won his first NXT gold in his first opportunity at a title, defeating NXT North American champion Shawn Spears in the main event of last night’s NXT on CW.

A lot of interference played in the finale of the match, with Brooks Jensen and Niko Vance both trying their best to help Spears retain. But Saints hit a spear on both of them to take them out, then another spear to Spears in the ring before hitting his Roshambo finisher for the three-count.

His celebration was short-lived though as fellow former AEW star Ethan Page attacked him from behind. The show faded to black with Page standing tall holding the NXT North American title above Saints.

This win ends Spears’ reign which only lasted 28 days. He defeated Tony D’Angelo a month ago.

Six-woman ladder match to determine new NXT Women’s North American champion

NXT Women's North American title

A six-woman ladder match will determine the new NXT Women’s North American champion at Stand & Deliver, with qualifying matches on who will be in the match starting already on NXT.

The first qualifier featured Zaria defeating Lash Legend while Kelani Jordan got the best of Roxanne Perez, also advancing to the ladder match.

The next four competitors will be determined over the next two weeks on NXT.

The inaugural NXT Women’s North American champion was also determined via a ladder match at the Battleground premium live event in June 2024. Kelani Jordan won that match which also included Sol Ruca, Lash Legend, Fallon Henley, Jaida Parker, and Michin.

Stephanie Vaquer relinquishes the NXT Women’s North American title

As expected, Stephanie Vaquer has relinquished her NXT Women’s North American title, just weeks after also winning the NXT Women’s championship at Roadblock.

The announcement was made last night during the opening segment of NXT with NXT General Manager Ava and double champ Vaquer in the ring, relaying the news to the crowd, a crowd who did not like the decision.

A new champion will be crowned at the upcoming Stand & Deliver premium live event on WrestleMania Saturday as six women will be taking on each other in a ladder match.

Vaquer defeated Fallon Henley for the title at Vengeance Day, holding on to it for 45 days before surrendering it.

WWE files new trademark applications for podcasts

WWE logo

WWE has filed four new trademark applications with the United States Patent & Trademark Office which look like they are related to their upcoming podcast business.

Last month, WWE and Fanatics announced a new podcast deal together where Fanatics became the primary partner of all WWE future podcasts.

The four trademarks are The RAW Recap, Six Feet Under With The Undertaker, What Do You Wanna Talk About?, and What’s Your Story? with Steph McMahon.

The Raw Recap is already on the air and drops every Tuesday morning following Raw. It’s hosted by Megan Morant and Sam Roberts.

The Undertaker’s current podcast is titled Six Feet Under but has no WWE association. This probably means that his podcast will fold under the WWE umbrella soon enough. The third trademark listed is a catchphrase that Cody Rhodes uses during most of his in-ring promos. A Stephanie McMahon podcast was also rumored when the deal was announced.

Lex Luger reveals he got married

Appearing on Eric Bischoff’s 83 Weeks podcast, soon-to-be WWE Hall of Famer Lex Luger reveled that he got married this past week after not dating for 17 long years.

“17 years, didn’t date. No women in my life at all,” Luger said. “And I met this girl last year, Robin. We started hanging out a little bit and, you know, sparks started flying a little bit!”

He said that the same pastor who baptized and ordained him was the one who led the wedding ceremony, which was held in the back patio of their house with just a few people in attendance.

This is his second marriage. He is divorced from his first wife Peggy, with whom he has two children.

2025 has been a good year for the former WCW champion, with help from Diamond Dallas Page to get him back in shape and walking and in three weeks, a WWE Hall of Fame induction.

The big question now is who will be inducting Luger in the Hall of Fame. He asked for one of his best friends, Sting, to do the honor, but that remains up in the air since Sting remains under an AEW Legends deal. Luger was not allowed to appear on camera at Revolution during Sting’s retirement match last year due to being under a WWE Legends deal.

WWE ID tournament details announced

WWE ID

WWE has announced how the first-ever WWE ID men’s and women’s champions will be crowned.

The men’s tournament will see a double elimination opening round and when a competitor loses two matches, they are eliminated. The opening round will continue across various independent wrestling promotions until there are four remaining. The final four will then compete in a single elimination format to determine the first champion.

The women’s tournament, which will have less participants, will be determined in a round robin format, which will take place in various independent wrestling promotions. The one with most points will be crowned champion.

The WWE ID Tournament will begin during WrestleMania week in Las Vegas. The first event will take place on Wednesday, April 16 at 4PM in an event promoted by GCW at The Palms. It continues on Friday, April 18 at 8:30PM at the FSW Arena promoted by Future Stars of Wrestling. Both nights will air on Triller TV.

Smackdown rating for 03/28/2025

Smackdown got a smackdown in the ratings as the show drew 1,350,000 viewers, down 109,000 from the prior week thanks to the NCAA March Madness programming going head-to-head which in total drew over 22 million viewers across different games. This was the least-watched Smackdown of 2025 so far. In 18-49, Smackdown had a 0.40 rating, up 0.01 from last week and was #2 in the top 50 cable chart for the night and #5 in all of television. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)

Cena and Rhodes turn it up with AEW and Vince McMahon references during Raw promo

There were a couple of AEW and Vince McMahon references on yesterday’s Raw in the in-ring promo between John Cena and Cody Rhodes.

After two weeks of more of the same, things got heated yesterday, with Cena calling Rhodes a “paint-by-numbers, sociopathic, nepo baby” and nothing else but an errand boy.

“I don’t bury talent, I am talent. I bury mediocrity,” Cena told Rhodes after Rhodes said that Cena might “cook him” on the mic.

Rhodes had told Cena that there are a lot of things he could make fun of, including that he was booed in a company he helped create.

Cena didn’t touch any of that, but he did tell Cody that while he makes empires for billionaires, all Cody ever did was steal money from their kids, referring to Tony Khan.

Rhodes had one up his sleeve too, and said that the fans chose him, unlike Cena, who was chosen by an individual in the office who is not there anymore and cannot be mentioned, referring to Vince McMahon.

The segment ended with Cody hitting the Cross Rhodes on Cena after Cena attempted a cheap shot.

One man who liked the promo was AEW’s own MJF, who said he doesn’t get why fans “get up in arms” when WWE mentions or references AEW and vice versa.

“If you want to be treated like children, watch Elmo. Or better yet. Tell VKM to start a new promotion,” he wrote.

Tyler Bate returns to the ring after nine months out

After nine months away injured, Tyler Bate made his return to WWE television yesterday on Raw in London.

Bate teamed up with Pete Dunne to reassemble the New Catch Republic in a match against The New Day. Unfortunately for the Brits, they were on the losing end of the match as The New Day continued their push for a WWE World Tag Team title match against The War Raiders.

The former WWE United Kingdom champion got injured in July of last year during a match on NXT, where he and Dunne defeated Hank Walker and Tank Ledger. Bate suffered a torn pec, requiring surgery and extensive rehab before getting cleared to return.

Bate is expected to remain on the Raw brand moving forward.

New match added to WrestleMania 41 card

A new match has been added to the WrestleMania card following last night’s Raw with AJ Styles taking on Logan Paul in a one-on-one match.

Both Styles and Paul were in London for Raw yesterday and got themselves into a physical confrontation which ended with Paul hitting his new finishing move, The Paulverizer, on Styles to end the segment.

Raw General Manager Adam Pearce then made the match official after seeing what happened.

This is the seventh match announced for WrestleMania, with the card probably around 50% complete now with less than three weeks away from the show.

WWE now available on Netflix in India starting today

Starting today, WWE is getting an additional exposure of 12 million subscribers on Netflix as subscribers in India now also have access to the WWE library.

With the TV deal expired, Netflix has taken over the WWE rights in the country, a country which represents one of the largest WWE fan-base in the world.

Just like almost the rest of the world, excluding the United States and some other countries, Netflix India will air Raw, NXT, Smackdown, and all the premium live events live, as well as select number of shows from the vault.

Outside the U.S., the India TV deal was the company’s second largest in terms of revenue but that is now all gone with the arrival of Netflix, which has the international rights for WWE programming. Netflix will continue to add WWE coverage to its service as more TV deals around the world expire.