NXT champion Oba Femi made a surprise appearance at Impact last night which was held at Full Sail University, the former home of NXT.
Femi came out to assist Leon Slater and Matt and Jeff Hardy from a beat down from The System. While Slater and Hardys were outnumbered, the lights went out and Femi’s theme kicked in with the fans popping. Femi came out with the NXT title around his waist and single-handedly took out The System.
TNA X Division champion Moose didn’t want part of it and exited the ring before Femi got to him. Earlier this week, Moose appeared on NXT and challenged Femi.
The NXT champion then celebrated in the ring with Matt and Jeff and Slater.
The champ will appear on next week’s episode of Impact as well and will be in action as he teams up with The Hardys versus Moose, Brian Myers, and Eddie Edwards in a six-man tag match.
Former WWE Superstar Elias made his TNA Wrestling debut last night on Impact, coming out to save TNA champion Joe Hendry from an attack from The Colons.
Now known as Elijah, he came out just in time before Primo and Epico got in the ring to double-team Hendry, who was giving a concert.
He said his name is Elijah as fans chanted “holy shit” and said that he joined TNA Wrestling.
“If you wanna walk with me, or you believe in Joe Hendry…you’re in luck,” he said, as fans started chanting “Oh, walk with Elijah,” to the tune of White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army. Elijah then started playing the tune with his guitar to an even bigger pop from the crowd who acknowledged with “This is awesome.”
Elijah eventually teamed with Hendry in the main event to beat The Colons.
Elijah is said to have signed a deal with TNA Wrestling just weeks after there were reports that he was joining AEW/ROH.
WWE announced that The Rock will be onSmackdown tonight live from New Orleans on USA Network.
In a short press release, Triple H told everyone to “strap in” because when The Final Boss shows up during this time of the year, everything could change in an instant.
“Bold and disruptive. Unpredictable and dangerous,” The Rock wrote on X. “The Final Boss returns, LIVE.”
It is rumored that Rock will be announcing that WrestleMania 42 will be returning to New Orleans next year although possible involvement in this year’s WrestleMania is not out of the question.
TNA Wrestling’s Impact will be live on AXS TV tonight with the show held at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, the former home of the black and gold NXT.
TNA champion Joe Hendry will have an “encore championship concert” on the show and for the first time in four years, Tessa Blanchard will be in action on the broadcast.
NXT will have a presence in the form of Tyson and Tyriek taking on The Rascalz. But with Moose appearing on NXT a few days ago to challenge Oba Femi, will the NXT champion also “cross the line?”
Plus, Lei Ying Lee takes on Rosemary and JDC battles Leon Slater in a no disqualification match.
Deadline.com is reporting in an exclusive story that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Emily Blunt are being tipped to star in Martin Scorsese’s new untitled drama.
Deadline describes the movie as being based on the untold story focused on a turbulent time in Hawaii when an aspiring mob boss took on rival crime factions to seize control of the underworld of the Hawaiian islands.
The film will be written by Nick Bilton and Johnson will also serve as a producer.
The site also reveals that Johnson and Blunt, who will star together in the upcoming Smashing Machine movie, brought the idea to Scorsese and DiCaprio.
The movie is currently in the bidding phase where Deadline reports that there are either bids already in place or “are fast mobilizing.”
After topping 800,000 viewers last week, NXT had a hit in viewership this week, drawing 689,000 viewers, down 112,000 viewers from the prior episode. The show had a 0.17 rating in 18-49, down 0.01 from last week and ties the lowest of 2025 so far. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
On his podcast The Hacksaw Hour, WWE Hall of Famer “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan revealed that he signed a new WWE Legends deal recently, his first one in several years.
“Just recently signed the Legends deal. I haven’t signed it for a while…there was a little kind of discrepancy what was going on,” Duggan told his listeners. “But we got it all worked out and was able to sign it. So hopefully the action figures and the games will be coming back out again.”
The WWE legends who are being invited to appear at shows have spoken highly of the new WWE regime in charge, all saying that they are treated with more respect now than when things were under the leadership of Vince McMahon.
Duggan said that it looks like a “whole new day” in WWE and is now proud to be a part of it, although he said he never had a bad word to say against the company or its previous chief Vince McMahon.
“I never blasted the WWE. I never blasted Vince. As bad as he was, I still wouldn’t be where I am without him. Wrestling wouldn’t be where it is without him,” he said.
Duggan was recently at ringside for the second episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event.
Linda McMahon is one step closer to becoming the Secretary of Education after a Senate committee voted Thursday to advance her nomination.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted 12-11 to send her nomination to be considered by the full Senate according to the Associated Press.
McMahon’s hearing last week raised some eyebrows, mainly due to her answers on several hot topics related to education but the Republicans have toed the party line on her nomination so far.
President Trump has ordered McMahon that once elected, she should work on shutting down the Department of Education, effectively working herself out of a job.
AEW President Tony Khan has boasted about Grand Slam: Australia doing “one of the biggest #AEWCollision ratings ever on TNT,” but quarter hour numbers paint a whole different picture.
The show had the benefit of a big lead-in in the form of the NBA All-Star Weekend programming on TNT, and the first quarter hour of Grand Slam with Omega and Ospreay vs Takeshita and Fletcher drew 1,003,000 viewers.
But it was a very slippery slope from there. The second quarter, which had the continuation of the opening match, dropped to 669,000 viewers according to data published by Wrestlenomics, representing a drop of 334,000 viewers after just 15 minutes.
It got even worse from there as subsequent quarter hours had 567,000, 525,000, 453,000, 421,000, 401,000, and 351,000 viewers for the final quarter hour which was between 12:30AM and 12:45AM.
The 11-minute overrun with the ending of Mariah May vs Toni Storm for the AEW Women’s title registered just 294,000 viewers, meaning that the show lost a whopping 709,000 viewers in two hours.
The ratings for the first week of the WWE Superstar Sunday three-hour block on A&E were published by Programming Insider.
The first episode of WWE LFG had a total of 160,000 viewers and a 0.05 rating in 18-49.
Following LFG, the first episode of the new season of Rivals featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Undertaker aired, with 178,000 viewers and the same 0.05 rating in 18-49. This was way down from the last episode of season three which had 338,000 viewers and a 0.12 rating.
Rounding up the night at 10:30PM was the first episode of WWE’s Greatest Moments featuring Raw in the 90s as the subject. This drew 169,000 viewers and a 0.04 rating in 18-49.
Stardom’s Momo Watanabe has challenged Mercedes Mone for the TBS title at next month’s Revolution pay-per-view.
Watanabe challenged Mone via a video which aired while Renee Paquette was interviewing the champion during Dynamite. Mone told Watanabe to appear on Dynamite live in person if she wants an answer.
The 24-year-old former Wonder of Stardom champion was ringside at Grand Slam: Australia during the Mone vs Harley Cameron match for the TBS title last weekend and shown on camera.
Watanabe won the International Women’s Cup at the Wrestle Dynasty pay-per-view last month, earning a title shot in a promotion of her choosing. She defeated ROH’s Athena, CMLL’s Persephone, and AEW’s Willow Nightingale in the four-way match.
Orange Cassidy became the #1 contender for the AEW International title after he defeated Roderick Strong in last night’s main event of Dynamite.
This was match one of the International Championship Series, a mini tournament which will now see Cassidy take on Konosuke Takeshita for the title on next week’s episode of Dynamite.
The winner of Takeshita vs Cassidy will then move on to Revolution where whoever the champion might be will defend the International title against former AEW World champion Kenny Omega.
Last Saturday’s Grand Slam: Australia episode drew 502,000 viewers, up 115,000 viewers from the previous week’s episode of Collision. The show was helped greatly by the NBA All-Star Weekend programming which served as the show’s lead-in, getting the highest number since December 21, 2024 when Collision had a lead-in from the college football playoffs. In 18-49, Grand Slam drew 0.21, up 0.11 from last week. It was their best number since July 2023. The show was #8 on the top 50 cable chart for the night. Grand Slam aired from 10:52PM until 12:56AM. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
Dynamite tonight will be at a new venue for the company as it debuts at the Arizona Financial Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona. Collision will also be taped tonight in the same location.
Set for tonight are Powerhouse Hobbs vs Big Bill in a street fight, a trios match between Samoa Joe, Hook, and Katsuyori Shibata vs Christian Cage, Nick Wayne, and Kip Sabian, Megan Bayne vs Kris Statlander, and Orange Cassidy vs Roderick Strong in an AEW International Championship Series match.
Plus, MJF and Hangman Page will be coming face-to-face. AEW World champion Jon Moxley and TBS champion Mercedes Mone are also advertised for the show.
Dynamite airs on TBS at 8PM ET and will also stream on Max.
Appearing on Busted Open Radio, the newly renamed Ricky Saints discussed the idea behind his new name.
Now formerly known as Ricky Starks, he said that the new name is as close as you’re going to get to Starks and he likes the name as it’s pretty indicative of New Orleans.
“I know a lot of people are going to be…it’s going to take time for people to get used to it and I respect that they care so deeply about me, um, that they rebel against the name change but at the same time I am a product of New Orleans and I want to pay respect to that as well,” Saints told Bubba Ray.
The former AEW Tag Team champion signed his NXT contract on last night’s episode and it was the first time that he was addressed by the name after WWE didn’t mention it since his surprise appearance last week.
He also tackled the issue of his AEW release and why he was never brought back to television after he got injured in March 2024 among other topics.
“There are some people who stuck their nose in my creative business that shouldn’t have happened,” Saints said. “Veterans. And that’s it, I’ll leave it at that. And if they got a problem with me, they got my number. And text me about it.”
Last week’s episode of Raw had 2,800,000 views globally on Netflix, the lowest number since the show has moved to the streaming service. It was down 300,000 views from the post-Royal Rumble show and 100,000 less than the prior week which was until then the least-watched episode.
Netflix listed a total of 5,500,000 hours consumed watching Raw which placed #8 on the top 10 chart for the week.
The show was in the top 10 in four different countries, Bolivia, Canada, Nicaragua, and United States. It was the first time that it didn’t crack the list in the United Kingdom.
Matt and Jeff Hardy are returning to WWE television as TNA Tag Team champions on next week’s episode of NXT.
The popular Hardy Boyz appeared via video on last night’s episode of NXT to respond to No Quarter Catch Crew after they issued a challenge to the TNA tag champs.
Matt and Jeff agreed to take on Tavion Heights and Myles Borne and promised a “Hardy party” at NXT.
“Two men who have re-defined tag-team wrestling for over 25 years,” wrote Triple H on X after the video aired. “The Hardy Boyz have reached the pinnacle of our industry (and often jumped off of it) to the amazement of fans worldwide… …and they return to a @WWE ring NEXT WEEK on #WWENXT in Cincinnati.”
Matt has not appeared on WWE television since March 2020 while Jeff got himself fired after he casually walked out during a tag match at a non-televised live event in December 2021.
Next week’s episode will take place from The Andrew J Brady Music Center and some tickets remain starting from $49.
WWE is currently one of the leading wrestling promotions in the world. Therefore, betting enthusiasts might need a detailed guide on how to bet online on WWE.
The first thing to realize is that betting on WWE is illegal in many countries that control gambling. They have banned betting on WWE and other wrestling promotions. This is because, unlike real fights, the outcome of a battle in wrestling is predetermined. Most states prohibit betting on events with specific outcomes. Scripted matches have caused problems, such as regular leaks of results on internet forums and wrestling magazines.
As such, the 28 regulated mobile betting markets are expected to legalize betting on WWE eventually. In the UK, for example, wrestling betting is completely legal. Based on the market analysis, sites that may offer wrestling betting will mainly provide money-line betting and future betting options.
There are a few tips that will help you make better bets after this market is legalized. So, first of all, browsing internet forums and specialized magazines is not a waste of time. Of course, such information is not necessarily accurate, but it still contains facts that can give valuable hints.
Beginners will also have to learn how the odds on bets are determined and master the principles of predicting fights. And for those who don’t like to know all these rules, there are other options, such as the JetX instant game. This game is as fast-paced and exciting as wrestling matches but offers instant winnings. You can also start betting almost immediately without studying the rules. You can learn more about it on several gambling-related websites, but the most visited one is jet-x-game com. There is also a selection of casinos offering to play JetX for money.
However, whether playing JetX or placing bets on WWE, betting should be done responsibly, not to hurt one’s financial health. WWE airs multiple shows weekly, but its most significant event is a pay-per-view, where major storylines culminate in high-stakes title matches.
WrestleMania is the flagship event in the professional wrestling arena. It is a multi-day event worth watching. The Battle Royal, which takes place in January and features 30 competitors, also deserves much attention. This is the first pay-per-view event of the year. .
Double or Nothing will be moving away from Las Vegas for the first time – apart from the COVID era – since its inception in 2019 and will be taking place from the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
AEW announced the show for Sunday, May 25, with the pre-sale starting on Friday, February 21 while general on-sale is set for Monday, February 24.
“The fans in the Phoenix area have been so incredible for AEW,” Tony Khan told the Arizona Republic. “We’ve done several shows around Phoenix and we’ve had great support from the fans.”
Khan added that the great fans of Phoenix deserve a pay-per-view event after their last show in the area.
Double or Nothing was AEW’s first-ever pay-per-view and was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The 2020 and 2021 shows went to Daily’s Place due to the pandemic, and then in 2022 and 2023 it was held at the T-Mobile Arena before returning to the MGM Grand in 2024.
The Desert Diamond Arena can hold up to 17,000 seats.
Facing the NBA All-Star Weekend programming, Smackdown last Friday drew its lowest number since moving on USA Network, getting 1,384,000 viewers, down 123,000 viewers from the previous show. Smackdown had a 0.42 rating in 18-49, down 0.06 from the prior week and was #2 on the cable chart and on all of television behind the NBA, which beat it by a 0.01. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
