Live tonight from the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas, TNA Wrestling presents Genesis on pay-per-view. The full card is as follows:
Nic Nemeth vs Joe Hendry for the TNA World title; Masha Slamovich vs Rosemary in a Clockwork Orange House of Fun match for the TNA Knockouts title; The Hardys vs The Rascalz for the TNA Tag Team titles; Moose vs Ace Austin or the TNA X Division title; Spitfire vs Ash by Elegance and Heather by Elegance for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team titles; Jordynne Grace vs Tessa Blanchard; Josh Alexander vs Mike Santana in an I Quit match; The System vs Eric Young and Steve Maclin; and Frankie Kazarian vs Leon Slater in the pre-show.
TNA Gensis is available through TNA+ for $39.99 or else those living outside the United States can purchase it through Triller TV for $19.99. The show will start at 8PM ET.
In an interview with the Daily Mail in the United Kingdom, Drew McIntyre put over CM Punk for the magic they created in the ring and for also taking his social media shots “like a man” and not complaining about it.
Drew said that he went pedal to the metal with him when it comes to insults via social media and was ready to tell WWE no if they interfered, as that is his personal social media.
Admitting he went overboard and went at him in more ways than one, Drew said that he was impressed how Punk took the shots especially since he knows he did the same to other people and they were not happy about it.
“Not that I care, but he didn’t. He ate it like a man, and then came back with what he had to say. So I’ll give him that,” Drew said.
McIntyre added that everyone knows about the history between the two and that they have certain feelings towards each other, but they’re both professionals and created magic together in the ring for fans.
“It’s a tale as old as time,” McIntyre said. “The more people have a genuine disdain for each other, people can truly feel it. And if you’re actually good at your job, like we are, it does create magic. And the whole process was magic, and the cell itself was a match that we talked about forever.”
Hulk Hogan has become a grandfather after his daughter Brooke and her husband welcomed twins this week.
Brooke, who is married to former NHL player Steven Oleksy, posted on her social media for the first time in a long time yesterday saying, “So… just been staying off socials cooking these two cuties,” holding her two newborn babies.
The couple named them Oliver Andrew and Molly Gene.
“Our hearts have been made whole by the arrival of these two sweet souls we get to love. God is good,” she continued.
The two secretly got married in June 2022.
Brooke appeared on WWE and TNA broadcasts in the past and was also working for TNA at one point.
The Maximum Carnage Collision for tonight is not a live broadcast as the show was taped on Thursday from the Brady Music Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. A total of seven matches are part of the broadcast.
Scheduled for tonight are “Hangman” Adam Page vs Christopher Daniels in a Texas death match, Top Flight vs Murder Machine, Kazuchika Okada vs Tomohiro Ishii for the AEW Continental title, Julia Hart vs Harley Cameron, Dustin Rhodes vs Adam Priest, Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, and Kyle O’Reilly vs The Infantry and Lee Moriarty, plus a huge 12-man tag team main event match featuring Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Chris Jericho, Big Bill and Bryan Keith vs Cope, Powerhouse Hobbs, The Outrunners, and FTR.
Collision will simulcast on Max as well starting in its usual time slot of 8PM ET.
The third match for the next Saturday Night’s Main Event was announced last night on Smackdown and it will feature Braun Strowman taking on The Bloodline’s Jacob Fatu.
Fatu, along with Tama Tonga, were beating on LA Knight and Strowman came out for the save. After the two teased going against each other, Tonga grabbed Fatu and pulled him out of the ring, saving their confrontation for another time.
Strowman vs Fatu joins Gunther vs Jey Uso for the World Heavyweight title and Bron Breakker vs Sheamus for the Intercontinental title. Another match is expected to be added to the card next week, likely one featuring the women.
Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens will also be on the show for their contract signing along with Shawn Michaels.
The WWE Women’s Tag Team titles will be defended on the January 28 episode of NXT live from Center Stage in Atlanta, Georgia.
Earlier this week, the Meta Girls – Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson – defeated The Unholy Union to become the #1 contenders for the titles and the champions, Bianca Belair and Naomi, successfully defended them last night on Smackdown against Nia Jax and Candice LeRae.
The match was then announced for NXT, with Belair returning to her old stomping grounds.
This is the second title match on the show, with NXT Women’s North American champion Fallon Henley also defending against Shotzi.
Center Stage is a popular location for wrestling shows and was the home of WCW Saturday Night between 1989 to 1996. GCW, MLW, ROH, and TNA also hold tapings there from time to time.
Pat McAfee will miss Monday Night Raw next week due to his ESPN duties where he will host Field Pass during the CFP National Championship game between Notre Dame and Ohio State in Atlanta.
McAfee is expected to return for the next broadcast and will be free from his college football work after next week with the end of college football season.
Replacing McAfee on the commentary table with Michael Cole will be Smackdown color commentator Wade Barrett. Corey Graves looks like he’s still in the doghouse and has not been recalled yet following the controversial tweet on X earlier this week.
The first vignette hyping Charlotte Flair’s return to WWE aired yesterday night on Smackdown.
The vignette showed the self-proclaimed queen living the luxury life on a private jet, yacht, wearing fur coats, and driving a Rolls Royce in expensive-looking clothing.
The 14-time champion has been out of action since December 2023 when she suffered a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus in a match against Asuka on Smackdown.
No return date has been announced, but Flair has been busy training to dust off her ring rust and with the Royal Rumble around the corner, it would be the perfect time for a return.
Shawn Michaels will be appearing at this Friday’s Saturday Night’s Main Event and will be the “special enforcer” of the contract addendum signing between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens for the Royal Rumble.
Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis kept mentioning the contract addendum throughout the show but never really specified what it is, presumably to leave everyone guessing until Friday night. Both Rhodes and Owens were ordered to be at the show and relinquish the WWE Championship and the WWE Winged Eagle title so they could be hung for the match.
HBK, who is from San Antonio where the show will be taking place, will be there to keep the order…and also for a cheap pop! The NXT head honcho rarely makes appearances on WWE television anymore unless it’s on NXT.
Over 13,000 fans are expected at the Frost Bank Center for the second Saturday Night’s Main Event since its revival after the company moved over 2,000 additional tickets in a week.
TNA announced full details of their meet and greet sessions for the Genesis Kickoff event which will be held tomorrow starting at 5PM at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas, the site of Sunday’s Genesis pay-per-view.
Scheduled to be there tomorrow are Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Joe Hendry, Nic Nemeth, Masha Slamovich, Ash By Elegance, Rosemary, and Mike Santana.
A second meet and greet will be held on Sunday, January 19 after the Genesis show on the concourse level of the Curtis Culwell Center.
Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Joe Hendry, Zachary Wentz, and Trey Miguel will all appear and tickets can be purchased on site near the official TNA merchandise stand.
WWE today announced that individual tickets for WrestleMania 41 will be available starting Friday, January 24 with a pre-sale on Wednesday, January 22 at 9AM PT on Ticketmaster.com.
As of now, only two-day combo tickets are available for purchase, with the cheapest tickets at $1,000 for the two nights and the most expensive at $15,000, without taxes and fees.
There are no sections opened behind the WrestleMania stage for now, suggesting either a massive stage or sections reserved for individual tickets. WWE has nearly 40,000 tickets out for both nights so far.
Wrestling’s most popular magazine, Pro Wrestling Illustrated, announced its 2024 Achievement Award winners as voted by their readers.
The magazine, sold worldwide, was founded in 1979 and is the longest published English language wrestling magazine still in production.
WWE champion Cody Rhodes won Wrestler of the Year with Gunther, Will Ospreay, and Bryan Danielson coming behind.
Woman of the Year went to former AEW Women’s champion Toni Storm, with Liv Morgan, Rhea Ripley, and Jordynne Grace in the top four.
Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill won the overall Tag Team of the Year in a surprise win beating out The Young Bucks, Fraxiom, and The Judgment Day.
The Bloodline took Faction of the Year, with The Wyatt Sicks, The Judgment Day and BCC/Death Riders rounding up the top four.
Match of the Year was won by Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40. CM Punk vs Drew McIntyre at Hell In A Cell, Bryan Danielson vs Swerve Strickland at All In, and Bryan Danielson vs Will Ospreay at Dynasty came behind.
Feud of the Year went to CM Punk vs Drew McIntyre. The others were Adam Page vs Swerve Strickland, Liv Morgan vs Rhea Ripley, and Mariah May vs Toni Storm.
Most Popular Wrestler of the Year was won by Cody Rhodes, followed by Jey Uso, Joe Hendry, and Rhea Ripley.
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year went to Dominik Mysterio. Solo Sikoa, MJF, and Logan Paul followed.
Liv Morgan won Comeback of the Year with Mercedes Mone, Randy Orton, and The Rock rounding it up.
Most Improved Wrestler of the Year went to AEW Women’s champion Mariah May. Nia Jax, Oba Femi, and Maxxine Dupri came behind.
Indie Wrestler of the Year was awarded to Mustafa Ali who was joined by Matt Cardona, Mance Warner, and Allie Katch in the top four.
Inspirational Wrestler of the Year went to Cody Rhodes. Bryan Danielson, Sami Zayn, and Jeff Jarrett were also in the top four.
Kelani Jordan won Rookie of the Year followed by Jaida Parker, Karmen Petrovic, and Oleg Boltin followed.
Most wrestlers who won posed with their PWI plagues, with Cody Rhodes thanking readers and telling everyone to lower the bar for this year!
Some additional information regarding the WrestleMania 41 weekend events in Las Vegas were revealed yesterday at Vegas Chamber’s Preview Las Vegas held at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal was present for the discussion with WWE President Nick Khan, who said that the Friday Night Smackdown on April 18 and Monday Night Raw on April 21 will both be held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It’s the largest arena in the city and the home of the UFC for the major Vegas events.
The WWE World fan convention will take place between April 17 and April 21 and will be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. WWE World replaces the Axxess convention and was introduced with last year’s WrestleMania.
The location for NXT Stand & Deliver has not been announced but it’s likely taking place at the T-Mobile Arena as well considering WWE likes to push combo tickets for all their shows during Mania weekend.
Khan also said that they sold more WrestleMania tickets in the first 72 hours than any other WWE event in history. Single tickets are still not available and only very expensive combo tickets remain on sale for now.
Dynamite had a growth for its third straight week, with this week’s viewership hitting 679,000 viewers, up 64,000 viewers from the prior show. Dynamite had a 0.18 rating in 18-49, up 0.01 from last week and ranked #5 in the top 50 cable chart for the night. The numbers does not include viewers from Max. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
WWE President Nick Khan revealed that both France and Germany will be getting premium live events this year. Khan spoiled the news at a roundtable discussion on Global Entertainment held in Las Vegas yesterday.
Both countries got PLEs in 2024, with Backlash in Lyon and Bash In Berlin in Berlin. The Lyon show was originally supposed to be in Paris but due to the Olympics, it was not possible.
Which cities will get the events remains to be seen, but WWE remains keen on doing a show in Paris. Last year’s Backlash ended up being one of the most talked-about shows ever due to the rowdy crowd which chanted and jumped during the whole show, shaking cameras along the way.
WWE held eight premium live events outside the United States in 2024, breaking several revenue records throughout the year.
Just minutes after the breaking news of the talent partnership between TNA and NXT, TNA Wrestling uploaded a new video for their Genesis pay-per-view featuring the NXT logo as well.
The video features TNA stars in action in the ring as fans chant “TNA” in the background and parts of the NXT logo appearing every few seconds.
The logo is then revealed with the TNA logo at the top, Genesis in the middle, and the NXT logo at the bottom.
Genesis will take place from the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas on Sunday, January 19. The show is headlined by Nic Nemeth vs Joe Hendry for the TNA World title.
NXT this week drew 779,000 viewers, down 9,000 viewers from the revised number of last week. The show had a 0.17 rating in 18-49, down 0.04 from the New Year’s Evil episode. This week’s show had unannounced appearances from Bayley, DIY, and TNA Knockouts champion Masha Slamovich. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
The first count for the Revolution pay-per-view at the Crypto.com Arena is of just under 5,500 tickets according to ticket tracking service @WrestleTix.
Tickets officially went on general sale on Monday following few days of pre-sale. The massive 20,000-seater arena is configured to hold under 7,000 fans at the moment judging by which sections are opened, but that will obviously increase once the demand increases.
This will be AEW’s first time at the Crypto.com Arena as usually they use the Kia Forum in Inglewood. The downtown LA location will make it easier to access.
Tickets are available through AXS.COM with the cheapest tickets at $61.51 and the most expensive at $2,012.51.
Last year’s Revolution, which featured Sting’s farewell, had over 16,000 fans in attendance.
In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, current TNA Tag Team champion Matt Hardy said that a return to WWE with Jeff Hardy as the TNA Tag Team champions is not out of the question considering the current relationship TNA has with WWE.
Talking about his podcast partner predicting that The Hardys will have a match in WWE this year, Matt said he feels good about it and it’s one of the great things about working with TNA at the moment.
“They know that we do have a lot of love for WWE. They know that we would like to one day do the Hall of Fame,” Matt told Van Vliet. “But we have a good working relationship with them. I think if the perfect storm arose, I think you could see us pop up even as TNA champs on some WWE show at some point.”
Matt also had good things to say about the current TNA/NXT talent swap, adding that if a TNA star goes to NXT they seem like a bigger star and vice versa.
Nielsen, the company which measures television ratings, has revised its NXT rating and viewership for the New Year’s Evil episode with The Rock.
Originally, the viewership reported was of 957,000 with a 0.25 rating in 18-49. NXT did not air in the Los Angeles market due to the coverage of the wildfires, but the viewership included numbers from the news which aired instead.
The revised number, taking out the LA market from the number, is now of 798,000 viewers and a 0.21 rating in 18-49, an increase of 172,000 viewers from the prior week and an increase of 0.06 in the 18-49 rating.
A replay of this particular episode of NXT aired again nationwide on Saturday night which drew an additional 279,000 viewers and a 0.04 rating in 18-49.
