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Saturday Night’s Main Event results for 01/25/2025

By
Colin Vassallo
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Saturday Night's Main Event

Saturday Night’s Main Event returned last night for the first of four shows of 2025 live from a jam-packed, sold out Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas.

The super popular Rhea Ripley opened the show defending the Women’s World title against Nia Jax. Jax attacked Ripley during the ring introductions but Ripley had the last laugh, delivering the Riptide on Jax and pinning her in “Mami is always on top” fashion to retain the title.

The Intercontinental title match was up next and WWE Hall of Famer Jesse “The Body” Ventura was on hand for commentary for this match. This was the first-ever IC title match on an episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event since 1992. Incredible! It was a hard-hitting match between Sheamus and champ Bron Breakker but Sheamus came up short in his quest of winning the title as the Steiner kid pulled a big spear to win the match.

Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens had their contract signing, with Shawn Michaels as the enforcer. Obviously, you knew things were going to get physical and they did. After both handed their respective titles to be hung above the ring, HBK tried to shake hands with Owens, but he refused. Cody was receptive, of course, but Owens delivered a cheap shot and then set up Michaels for the package driver. Rhodes saved him by hitting a superkick and then the WWE Hall of Famer hit his own Sweet Chin Music to send Owens packing.

Two monsters – Braun Strowman and Jacob Fatu – were up next and boy did we ever get a physical match here! It was a stupid finish, as Fatu destroyed Strowman with repeated running hip attacks to the corner and the referee had enough and tried to stop it. Fatu threw the ref out and was DQed much to the annoyance of the fans. Security ran down along with WWE officials but Fatu did two moonsaults on Strowman, leaving him helpless and bleeding everywhere. The fans were behind Fatu chanting “one more time” and Fatu agreed. By the time the Samoan Werewolf left the ring, the fans pretty much turned him a face.

And in the final match of the night, Gunther defeated Jey Uso to retain the WWE World Heavyweight title. Uso came mighty, mighty close on more than one occasion and the match did give you the feel that a new champion will be crowned but Gunther managed to kick out in the last possible second to leave the fans breathless. Gunther finished Jey with two huge powerbombs to keep the gold.

WrestleMania 41 individual tickets go on general sale

By
Colin Vassallo
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WrestleMania 41

Individual tickets for WrestleMania went on sale to the general public yesterday after two days of pre-sale on Ticketmaster.com.

The cheapest tickets available for both WrestleMania Saturday and Sunday are $300 per night and these are limited view. In fact, most seats released are either limited view or else very expensive in the 300 and 400 Levels. Limited view seats go up to $700 in price and are in the corners next to the stage.

Seats in the 400 Level, the farthest and highest section of the stadium go up to $1,300 plus taxes and fees per night. Ringside seats are currently at $10,000 plus taxes and fees per night.

Ticketmaster is using dynamic pricing so prices will fluctuate depending on how popular the event is. Judging from the seating chart, WrestleMania Sunday is slightly ahead in ticket sales.

Combo tickets are still available, with the cheapest being $1,000 for both nights in the 400 Level.

Collision goes “home” to Daily’s Place tonight with packed show

By
Colin Vassallo
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Tonight’s live Collision is being billed as Homecoming since the show takes place from the Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida. It will air on TNT and live streams on Max as well.

With the show going head-to-head against WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC, AEW has loaded up tonight’s broadcast big time with no less than seven matches.

Set for tonight are AEW International champion Konosuke Takeshita defends his title against Katsuyori Shibata, AEW Continental champion Kazuchika Okada vs ROH Television champion Komander, Big Bill vs Powerhouse Hobbs, Brody King and Buddy Matthews vs The Gates of Agony, a trios match with Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard, and Angelo Parker vs Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, and Roderick Strong, and a #1 contenders match for the TBS title featuring Yuka Sakazaki vs Queen Aminata vs Deonna Purrazzo vs Serena Deeb.

All this plus AEW Women’s champion Mariah May will come face-to-face with her Grand Slam: Australia challenger Toni Storm for the first time since All In.

iShowSpeed invited to live stream from the 2025 Royal Rumble by Triple H

By
Colin Vassallo
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Royal Rumble 2025

Popular streamer iShowSpeed was invited to the Royal Rumble next week by WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque.

During one of his streams, iShowSpeed received a FaceTime call from Levesque and after some chit chatting, Triple H invited him over for the show.

“I wanted to give you a call, wanna see if you want to come to the Royal Rumble next week,” Triple H asked Speed. “Next Saturday, Indianapolis, Royal Rumble, you’ll have a blast!”

“Can I stream?” asked Speed.

Levesque replied in the positive, giving him full access to stream backstage, anywhere, and even invited him at Gorilla to sit next to him and stream from there.

An excited Speed accepted the invitation and asked if he can stream with John Cena next to him.

“If you can see him, you can stream him,” joked Triple H.

iShowSpeed is not a stranger to WWE and was even on the receiving end of an RKO on the announce table at WrestleMania XL when he was dressed as a Prime bottle.

Large streamer 'IShowSpeed' has been invited to the 2025 Royal Rumble to livestream backstage during the event by Triple H
byu/TurntUpTurtles inSquaredCircle

Omos wraps up stint in Japan with NOAH, heading back to WWE

By
Colin Vassallo
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Omos’ stint in Japan with Pro Wrestling NOAH has come to a close as the Nigerian giant relinquished his GHG Tag Team title and announced that he is going back to WWE.

Omos won the tag titles with Jack Morris earlier this month at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo after they beat Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura and now he handed over his title to Daga, making Daga and Morris the champions. He promised to eventually return to the Land of the Rising Sun.

He wrestled six times for Pro Wrestling NOAH in January and had his first match since April 2024 on the NOAH The New Year show on January 1 where he won the tag team titles.

Omos will be appearing at the Royal Rumble meet and greet sessions next weekend.

Saturday Night’s Main Event returns on NBC tonight with Gunther vs Uso main event

By
Colin Vassallo
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Saturday Night's Main Event

Over 15,000 fans will be at the sold out Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas tonight for the second Saturday Night’s Main Event since its return. Tonight’s broadcast will serve as the show of the first quarter of 2025, with three more to go throughout the rest of the year.

There will be four matches on the show tonight, headlined by Gunther vs Jey Uso for the WWE World Heavyweight title, Rhea Ripley vs Nia Jax for the WWE Women’s World title, Bron Breakker vs Sheamus for the WWE Intercontinental title, and Braun Strowman vs Jacob Fatu.

Plus, Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens will surrender the WWE Championship and the Winged Eagle title and sign their Royal Rumble contract or else the ladder match will be called off.

Saturday Night’s Main Event will air on NBC at 8PM ET and will also stream live on Peacock. Internationally, the show will air on YouTube.

TKO stocks soar as they reach new all-time high

By
Colin Vassallo
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TKO

TKO stocks reached an all-time high of $154.25 yesterday and closed the day at $153.08.

The stocks surged 8% this week, with a jump on Thursday. From one year ago, the stocks are now valued 74% more, giving the company a market cap of $26.15 billion.

Goldman Sachs raised the target price to $165 from $142 which contributed to the spike this week. Guggenheim also raised the price target to $170 from their $142 valuation.

Royal Rumble 2025 crosses 60,000 tickets

By
Colin Vassallo
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Royal Rumble 2025

The 2025 Royal Rumble has surpassed the 60,000 ticket mark according to ticket tracking service @WrestleTix and is just a few hundred away from surpassing the attendance of the 1997 Royal Rumble.

WWE has moved nearly 5,000 tickets in just five days, with the count now standing at just over 60,400 tickets. The Lucas Oil Field is currently set up for 62,335 seats, but could be expanded a little bit more as there are a few sections still closed.

The 600 Level on the hard cam side, which was supposed to be all closed, now has four unopened sections while the other 12 sections are almost fully open, with the last four rows still blocked off and some sections having alternate rows opened only.

The cheapest tickets available are $160 plus taxes and fees. Ringside seats are priced $4,000 plus taxes and fees.

WWE sells Titan Towers building for $3.75 million

By
Colin Vassallo
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The Titan Towers building at 1241 E. Main Street in Stamford, Connecticut, which for over 30 years was the WWE global headquarters, was sold for just $3.75 million to MB Financial Group according to CT Insider.

The new owners plan to convert the building into an apartment complex.

“The location is superb,” Michael Massimino, CEO and managing partner of MB Financial, told CT Insider. “It’s on the Stamford-Darien line, and it overlooks Long Island Sound and the Noroton River. The views of Long Island Sound really make this property unique.”

WWE moved into Titan Towers in 1991, 10 years after it was built.

The iconic building had its fair share of television time and even hosted an episode of Monday Night Raw once on its rooftop. The building was also featured in a popular WWE Super Bowl commercial which aired in 1999.

Most recently, Titan Towers was the host of the two Money In The Bank ladder matches in 2020 during the pandemic, with male and female WWE Superstars fighting their way from the ground floor all the way up to the roof.

WWE Tag Team titles to be defended at the Rumble in a 2-out-of-3 falls match

By
Colin Vassallo
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Another match has been added to the 2025 Royal Rumble card and apart from the two over-the-top rope Rumble matches, it’s only the second match currently on the show.

The WWE Tag Team titles will be defended in a two-out-of-three falls match with DIY taking on The Motor City Machine Guns.

The match was made official by Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis last night in a backstage segment after MCMG defeated Pretty Deadly earlier in the show.

Cody Rhodes vs Kevin Owens in a ladder match for the WWE Championship is the only other match currently on the card.

Four WWE Superstars swap brands

By
Colin Vassallo
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Four WWE Superstars swapped brands last night as “transfer season” continues on Raw and Smackdown.

Former WWE World Heavyweight champion Damian Priest has switched from Raw to Smackdown, finally getting away from The Judgment Day storyline once and for all…at least for now.

Also moving to Smackdown from Raw is The Miz, who was not thrilled considering the Wyatt Sicks are now also on Smackdown and Karrion Kross and AOP are not there to save him.

Moving the other way to the red brand are former WWE Tag Team champions, the lovable Grayson Waller and Austin Theory.

Hulk Hogan not appearing at tonight’s Saturday Night’s Main Event

By
Colin Vassallo
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While Hulk Hogan was used in advertising for tonight’s Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC, the WWE Hall of Famer will not be showing up in San Antonio for the broadcast.

Hogan’s son Nick is getting married to adult actress Tana Lea this weekend and the date was known before Hogan was used to promote tonight’s event so he was actually never booked for the show.

It was an interesting tactic as Hogan was loudly booed at the Raw on Netflix premiere in Los Angeles. He was not involved in the return broadcast of Saturday Night’s Main Event last month and instead was in attendance for a UFC show at the same time.

One person who will be on the show though is Jesse “The Body” Ventura, who returns for his second SNME broadcast after his return last month. Ventura and Hogan aren’t exactly buddies so Nick’s wedding saved these two from being in the same room in decades.

Charlotte Flair and others declare for the 2025 Royal Rumble

By
Colin Vassallo
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Charlotte Flair will be returning at the Royal Rumble next Saturday following 13 months out due to injury.

Flair announced her intentions to enter the women’s Royal Rumble match last night during a vignette which aired last night on Smackdown.

Bayley was the only other female who declared herself for the Rumble until yesterday, when Nia Jax, Naomi, Bianca Belair, and Liv Morgan all threw in their names for the match.

That leaves 24 other empty spots, many of which will be filled up on next week’s broadcasts plus some which might be a surprise on the day of.

Mance Warner makes TNA debut

By
Colin Vassallo
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The mysterious #23 that has been flashing on Impact was unveiled last night as TNA’s newest arrival, Mance Warner.

Warner made his TNA debut, taking out Sami Callihan, who came out to the ring to demand an end to the 23 mystery.

Warner’s arrival was introduced by the returning Steph De Lander, calling herself as the new TNA Digital Media champion, a title she won “in divorce” from PCO. She said that now that her husband is gone, she wanted to introduce everyone to her boyfriend, Mance Warner.

Prior to joining TNA, Warner wrestled mostly on the independent circuit and spent a few years with Major League Wrestling. He made a couple of appearances for AEW in 2022 but those did not result in anything.

Warner and De Lander are a couple in real life.

Report: Nikki Bella rumored for WWE in-ring return

By
Colin Vassallo
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@WrestleVotes is reporting that WWE has been in discussions with Nikki Bella to return to WWE, with multiple sources suggesting that it’s happening “sooner rather than later.”

The X account, which usually posts reliable information, added there were “significant discussions” in place to get Nikki back in the ring and both sides seem eager for it to happen.

The last time Nikki wrestled was at the 2022 women’s Royal Rumble match and with the same match just a week away, it would be a great opportunity to have the leader of the Bella Army step back in the ring in front of over 50,000 fans.

Nikki appeared on WWE television during the Raw Netflix premiere earlier this month, her first appearance for WWE since her departure in 2023.

The former champ has recently finalized her divorce from her husband Artem Chigvintsev following a few rocky years which culminated in a domestic violence case.

2-for-1 ticket offer for AEW Grand Slam: Australia

By
Colin Vassallo
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There is a buy one get two offer for tickets for the upcoming AEW Grand Slam: Australia show which is taking place on February 15.

The event has gone from one of the most anticipated to one of the most badly-managed, if not the worst ever, in AEW’s short history.

Originally set to take place from the Suncorp Stadium, the show was moved indoors to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre after dismal ticket sales. AEW took too long to move the show despite knowing the very slow ticket sales, with AEW President Tony Khan also being somewhat in denial saying that they had sold “thousands and thousands” of tickets when the show was still scheduled for the stadium.

But eventually, AEW pulled the plug and moved it to the much smaller location late last year, going from a potential 50,000 audience to a maximum of 13,000, and it still has not sold out. While the show is largely full, there are still empty seats, enough to offer a two-for-one promotion.

The show is set to air on TNT after the NBA All Star weekend, with AEW now advertising the show without any fixed start time after originally listing an 8PM kick off. It will replace that weekend’s Collision and will also stream on Max, some 17 hours or more after the show originally takes place.

Dragon Lee and wife welcome second baby daughter

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE Superstar Dragon Lee and his wife Lupita Orozco welcomed their second baby this week, another daughter.

Lee posted a photo from hospital, holding his newborn while sitting on a sofa chair, adding, “Welcome to this wonderful world.”

The couple have been married since 2019 and had their first baby in 2021.

The former NXT North American champion has been absent from WWE television for the past few weeks, with him saying that he opted to stay home and help his wife as she prepared to deliver the baby.

Sting says no more “Stinger war paint” at conventions after 2025

By
Colin Vassallo
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In a post on social media, WWE and TNA Hall of Famer Sting announced that 2025 will be the last year that he will be appearing in full paint and gear at wrestling conventions.

The former AEW Tag Team champion appears in his crow Sting costume at many conventions during the year to meet wrestling fans.

“I have enjoyed meeting fans at events around the world. As much as I have loved interacting with you all in the traditional Stinger war paint, I’ve decided that 2025 will be my last year appearing in full gear,” Sting wrote. “I guess it’s 2025 or never. Wow. Tough to speak that out.”

Sting, who retired from in-ring competition in March of last year with a final tag match at AEW Revolution, remains with AEW through a licensing deal.

He first donned the crow costume and paint on an episode of WCW Nitro in October 1996.

Dynamite rating for 01/22/2025

By
Colin Vassallo
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Dynamite logo

This week’s episode of Dynamite drew 655,000 viewers, down 24,000 viewers from the prior week. The show had a 0.19 rating in 18-49, up 0.01 from the previous episode and was #6 on the top 50 cable chart for the night. The number of viewers does not include those on Max. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)

Alexa Bliss’s WWE return scrapped after new contract request

By
Colin Vassallo
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PWInsider.com is reporting that Alexa Bliss’s return to WWE came to a halt after requesting a new contract instead of keep working under the current extended deal that she has in place.

Apparently, WWE refused that request and her planned returned this month on Monday Night Raw was scrapped, and so were future creative plans. The two sides are now trying to come to an agreement but remained apart on terms.

The 33-year-old was supposed to return and be part of the Wyatt Sicks world due to her past involvement with Bray Wyatt’s storylines. PWInsider adds that her return was penned for the January 13 episode of Raw live from San Jose.

Bliss has not been seen on WWE television in two years, last appearing at the 2023 Royal Rumble in a losing effort against Bianca Belair. She gave birth to a baby girl in November of that same year.

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