Corey Graves is back where it all started for him: NXT.
Graves returned to the brand last night at the New Year’s Evil show on CW, joining Vic Joseph and Booker T in a three-man commentary team.
Up until last week, Graves was doing Smackdown commentary with Michael Cole but Cole has moved to Raw with Pat McAfee while Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett have moved to Smackdown.
Graves was an NXT wrestler before a career-ending injury forced him to take on a new role with the company. He started commentary in 2014 before he moved to the main roster three years later.
With NXT now on network television and on Netflix everywhere else in the world, there will be a bigger effort in trying to present the brand as more than just a developmental property.
The #1 contender for the AEW Women’s championship will be decided next Wednesday on Dynamite in a Women’s Casino Gauntlet match.
The announcement was made by AEW President Tony Khan in a post on social media yesterday. This will be the first-ever women’s version of the popular Casino Gauntlet match.
The winner of this match will get the title shot at the upcoming Grand Slam: Australia event next month.
The Casino Gauntlet concept involves two wrestlers starting off the match and new entrants coming in at intervals like a battle royal, but the winner is decided after whoever scores the first pinfall, rather than over the top rope elimination. Being early in the match is an advantage as participants who are supposed to come in later in the match might not have the opportunity if someone scores a pinfall early.
Speaking on The Nikki & Brie Show in a new episode dropped today, Nikki Garcia said that it felt incredible to be accepted and loved at the Raw Netflix premiere this past Monday.
Nikki, along with her sister Brie, departed from WWE in 2023 under some rocky circumstances and were not allowed to use the name Bella as it was an intellectual property of WWE.
Nikki said that no matter if it’s business or family, there’s always going to be a rocky road and that’s life.
“We had that rocky road with WWE,” Nikki said.
She admitted that she realized that there were times where she made outbursts out of emotions that probably shouldn’t have happened but also there were times where she was hurt and wanted to be heard.
“I felt all these emotions because I felt at home and I was so happy to be home,” Nikki continued. “And then to be so accepted and loved felt so incredible because things were rocky and then there’s nothing better…there’s no better feeling than going back home.”
She said that things were mended with WWE and they had great conversations and it felt like a big family reunion.
“It was like all is well, we have all made up,” she said.
Interviewed on the red carpet and asked if we’re going to see The Bella Twins back in WWE, Nikki was careful not to reveal anything and she said maybe she’s there to scout her competition.
Nikki was shown at ringside during the broadcast and listed under her WWE name, receiving a big pop from the crowd.
Brie was not at the show, likely because of her association with AEW due to her husband, Bryan Danielson.
There’s a new sheriff in NXT town and his name is Oba Femi. The 26-year-old became the NXT champion last night at New Year’s Evil, beating titleholder Trick Williams and Eddy Thorpe in a triple threat match.
The ending came with Femi, in the middle of the ring, about to get sandwiched by Thorpe and Williams who were in opposing corners. Williams went for the Trick Shot while Thorpe swung a chair, only for Femi to move out, throwing Williams into the steel chair, knocking out Thorpe in the process. Femi then followed with a popup powerbomb and a pin to end the match.
Femi, and new NXT Women’s champion Giulia, then posed together at the top of the stage, signifying a new start for NXT.
Femi earned a title shot after winning the Iron Survivor Challenge last month at Deadline. Originally he wasn’t part of the match and replaced Thorpe who at the time faked an injury to get out of the match, only to get a title match the following week against Williams.
He becomes the first Nigerian-born star to hold the NXT title.
A new NXT Women’s champion was crowned last night on New Year’s Evil as Giulia defeated Roxanne Perez for her first gold in WWE.
Perez vs Giulia kicked off the first NXT show of 2025 and despite the interference of Cora Jade, Giulia still managed to find a way to get to the finish line, winning the highly-praised match with a northern lights bomb.
This ends Perez’s 276-day reign as NXT Women’s champion, a title show won from Lyra Valkyria at the Stand & Deliver show last April during WrestleMania 40 weekend.
This match was Giulia’s second for the title, receiving her first one on the premiere episode on CW but it was Perez at that time who ended up victorious.
The party in Los Angeles continues tonight live on NXT as New Year’s Evil takes place from the Shrine Expo Hall in front of a sold-out crowd of nearly 2,000.
It’s a packed episode of NXT with two huge title matches including Trick Williams defending the NXT title against Oba Femi and Eddy Thorpe in a triple threat match and Roxanne Perez defending her NXT Women’s title against Giulia.
Also set for tonight are Charlie Dempsey vs Lexis King in an NXT Heritage Cup match, a six-woman tag match featuring Shotzi, Gigi Dolin and Tatum Paxley vs Fatal Influence, and a fatal four-way match with Stephanie Vaquer vs Kelani Jordan vs Lola Vice vs Cora Jade.
Plus, a certain someone by the name of The Rock will be in the house to make his NXT debut!
All this and more live tonight on CW at 8PM ET and on Netflix everywhere else.
Facing NFL on ESPN and ABC, AEW Collision dropped to 345,000 viewers last Saturday, down 290,000 viewers from the last episode which had the big lead-in from college football. NFL did around 22 million viewers head-to-head. Collision drew a 0.9 rating in 18-49, down 0.11 from the prior week and was #3 on the top 50 cable chart for the night, beating every other show other than NFL. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
The next NXT premium live event, Vengeance Day, will be taking place on Saturday, February 15 live from the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington, DC.
The show will be preceded by a live Smackdown on the night before from the Capital One Arena also in Washington. The two shows are in partnership with Events DC, the official convention and sports authority for the nation’s capital.
“Following a historic night, we are excited to bring the first premium live event to Washington, D.C. in nearly nine years with our great partners at Events DC,” said WWE Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels. “We look forward to showcasing our extraordinary talent in front of a rich wrestling town come February 15.”
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, January 10 at 10AM ET and a pre-sale will kick off tomorrow. To receive the code, you can register at https://www.wwe.com/vengeanceday-2025-presale.
Last night after the opening Tribal Combat Rules match, The Rock went live on Instagram for 15 straight minutes, giving fans a look of what happens backstage during a show.
The video, now uploaded as a post on The Rock’s Instagram account, starts with The Rock walking to the backstage area following his involvement in giving the Ula Fala to Roman Reigns.
The Rock hugged everyone backstage, from those who were part of the match, to producers, and everyone in between and waited for Solo Sikoa to come back through the curtain to hug him as well.
The People’s Champion then left gorilla position and walked through the backstage area, stopping to say hello to Rhea Ripley, Drew McIntyre, Travis Scott, and then proceeds to leave in his truck before someone tells him that Cody Rhodes is around.
Cody and Rock shared a moment together, drinking a little bit of Teremana tequila with The Rock explaining to his viewers the history between the two.
He then jumps in his truck, after complaining that he does not have a bus and admiring Travis Scott’s car, and prepares to leave, only to reverse and drops the news that he would be appearing on NXT tonight.
The stars were out in full force at the Raw Netflix premiere last night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
There were probably more celebrities than the past 10 WrestleManias combined and the location made it more convenient for everyone to show up and get a (free) ticket.
Getty Images were on hand to capture the stars arriving at the arena including WWE Superstars who were dressed to impress for the special occasion!
VIP early access tickets for the Revolution pay-per-view went on sale this morning on AXS.COM. The pre-sale code to unlock tickets is TIX5REV.
This sale will run till tomorrow, January 8 at Midnight and then the pre-sale will start on January 9 at 10AM PT. Tickets go on sale to the general public on January 13 at 10AM PT also on AXS.COM.
The show will be held at the Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles, California, which is a venue debut for AEW. Prior to this, shows in LA were held at the Kia Forum in the neighboring Inglewood.
Roman Reigns is once again the Tribal Chief after he defeated Solo Sikoa last night in a Tribal Combat Rules match to kick off Raw on Netflix.
The match had the interference of Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga on behalf of Sikoa while Jimmy Uso and Sami Zayn evened the odds for Reigns. After that dust cleared, it was Kevin Owens who came out to hit the Stunner on Reigns but Cody Rhodes came out to fight off his Royal Rumble opponent.
After the ring was cleared, it was Reigns who won the match after a spear, ending Sikoa’s reign as Tribal Chief.
While Heyman was supposed to present Reigns with the Ula Fala, The Rock came out again and asked Heyman if he could do the honor. Heyman obliged, and Rock presented Reigns with the Ula Fala. A handshake and a hug later and all was well on the Island of Relevancy.
Reigns, along with Heyman, were part of the post-show press conference as well. Heyman said that Reigns, along with himself and Paul “Triple H” Levesque should win an Emmy for their WWE work. Reigns, answering a question about a potential Rock vs Reigns match down the road, said that they will let the “internet do its thing” before committing to an answer.
It looks like Roman’s next appearance will be on the January 27 Raw live from Atlanta. During Raw, Heyman was walking with Reigns backstage and asked him when he should book the acknowledgement celebration and Reigns responded with the 01/27 date.
The first three-hour Smackdown this past Friday night drew an average of 1,528,000 viewers, up 92,000 viewers from the prior week and the best number since November 22. The show had a 0.45 rating in 18-49, up 0.04 from the previous show and was #2 on the top 50 cable chart for the night behind college football on ESPN. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
Penta’s debut was moved from last night’s Raw to next week’s broadcast and so was the match between The New Day against Rey Mysterio and a partner of his choosing, which was eventually supposed to be the former AEW Tag Team champion.
Vignettes hyping his arrival showed the January 6 date but the luchador was nowhere to be seen last night. Another vignette aired, with his mask clearly showing his name this time around.
Later in the broadcast, Chad Gable confronted Raw General Manager Adam Pearce and said he wanted to face the best luchador he could find next week. Pearce said he needed to make a phone call to end the segment.
During the post-show press conference hyping next week’s show, Triple H said that fans kinda already know who the opponent will be but fell short of saying his name.
The 17,000 plus fans inside the Intuit Dome were not happy to see Hulk Hogan and they made their voice heard very clear as everyone booed the Hulkster out of the building.
Hogan, along with Jimmy Hart, came out for a promo at the top of the stage prior to the main event and after an initial pop when Real American hit the speakers, everyone started booing, drowning out his voice.
Ironically, Hogan thanked the fans for sticking with him through thick and thin, even though he was getting booed big time and said that he had a lot of partners throughout the years, mentioning Andre The Giant and Randy Savage.
“In the past, I’ve had a whole bunch of partners down the line,” Hogan told the crowd. “I had incredible partners, like the Macho Man Randy Savage. I’ve had giant-sized partners like Andre the Giant. But the greatest partner the WWE has ever had, is the fact that tonight, we’re making history, and the WWE has tag teamed up with Netflix, the greatest tag team partner of all time.”
He then put over his Real American Beer, which is now a WWE partner and ripped his t-shirt off to reveal a Netflix Is Raw shirt.
Hulk, to his credit, soldiered on and continued with his promo as expected, but the reception clearly got to him.
Hogan getting booed received a lot of mainstream publicity on websites such as New York Post, Variety, Deadline, Sports Illustrated, and others.
Several Hollywood celebrities and artists descended upon the Intuit Dome last night to witness the Raw premiere on Netflix.
Holding the show in the Los Angeles area was one of the reasons as many of the celebrities live in the region, making it easier to get them on camera. And boy did they show up!
Celebrities who were shown sitting at ringside included Gabriel Iglesias, Ashton Kutcher, Michael Che, Wale, Seth Green, Macaulay Culkin, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong, Bill Simmons, Vanessa Hudgens, Richard Gadd, Tiffany Haddish, and Stephen Amell. Macaulay Culkin definitely got the loudest pop of them all and rivaled any pop from any WWE Superstar on hand last night.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos and Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria were also present and so were several TKO executives including TKO CEO and Chairman Ariel Emanuel and President and COO Mark Shapiro.
There were way more many celebrities in the building but not all of them got on camera. Former WCW champion David Arquette was also there but never shown on TV.
Many WWE Superstars also took rounds sitting at ringside for some camera time including LA Knight, Rey Mysterio, The War Raiders, Bianca Belair, Naomi, X-Pac, Shinsuke Nakamura, Michelle McCool, Lyra Valkyria, Iyo Sky, Dakota Kai, Bron Breakker, Tiffany Stratton, and Nikki Garcia. Stephanie McMahon was also filmed and received a big pop although new WWE Women’s champion Tiffany Stratton probably beat all of them with her pop.
Also, who can forget about Travis Scott? The music superstar entered the arena to the FE!N song, smoking weed and the crowd went absolutely bananas. The pop got even louder when he accompanied Jey Uso to his entrance, creating one of the most iconic entrances in WWE history, with drones giving a spectacular look of the Intuit Dome.
Hell, even Michael Cole was yeeting on the commentary table along with Pat McAfee. Cole at one point told McAfee to watch his yeeting and not yeet on him as he did not have another clean suit to wear!
Rhea Ripley regained the WWE Women’s World title last night on Raw, beating Liv Morgan in a match which was originally advertised as a last woman standing match and turned into simply a one-on-one with no reasons given.
Morgan, who had Raquel Rodriguez and Dom Mysterio also interfering on her behalf, still fell short on extending her reign which ended at 226 days. She won the title from Becky Lynch at the King and Queen of the Ring event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in May of last year.
As for Ripley, this is a title she never lost but had to surrender following WrestleMania 40 due to a shoulder injury she sustained at the hands of Liv Morgan herself. Her first reign lasted 380 days.
After the match ended, Dom Mysterio tried to sneak up from behind and then offered a hug. Rhea went for the hug but instead punted him between the legs and hit the Rip Tide for a big ovation from the crowd.
And just when things couldn’t get better for her, The Undertaker came out on his motorbike and celebrated with Ripley at the top of the stage, raising their hands together similar to what he used to do with Kane.
At the post-show press conference, Ripley said that the moment she shared with The Undertaker is something she’ll never forget.
There were several changes to the presentation of Raw last night on Netflix, but perhaps the biggest one was the ring, where the mat is now covered with sponsors.
The mat, now black with white ropes, had sponsor logos around and in the middle.
In the top left and bottom right was the logo of Real American Beer, the Hogan beer which WWE now owns a minority stake in. The top right and bottom left featured the logo of Riyadh Season, a major partner for WWE considering they’re a source of hundreds of millions of dollars with their annual shows.
Epic Games’ Fortnite logo took the most prominent center spot, with the Snickers logo, another major sponsor for WWE at the top and the Netflix logo at the bottom, both centered as well. Rounding out the squared circle was the Cricket logo, which was on the two sides of the Fortnite logo.
These logos are likely to be for Raw shows only moving forward. The Prime logo will remain for Premium Live Events.
Apart from the ring, several new camera shots were also used last night, including the use of drones which did make for some epic footage. A new commentary table which will make it harder to break was also on display and referees used a new, darker uniform.
The first two WWE Superstars to throw their names in for the Royal Rumble match were John Cena and CM Punk and both announced their intention last night on Raw.
Cena was the first one to do it during his in-ring promo, stressing that he can’t see him going for the 17th world title due to the losing streak he’s currently on.
He said that he can’t expect to go and ask for a world title shot but there are other ways, maybe, to earn one, including winning the Money In The Bank briefcase and the Rumble itself.
Cena then said that he will enter this year’s Royal Rumble, his last one, and vowed to win it.
Meanwhile, after defeating Seth Rollins in the main event of the show, CM Punk also declared for the Rumble. Speaking to Jackie Redmond at ringside, Punk said that being 46 is just a number and so is being #1 through #30.
“Royal Rumble, you’re next on the list,” Punk said, telling Gunther and Cody Rhodes that he’s coming for them.
Corporate Rock showed up on Raw last night with no hints of The Final Boss and the former WWE champion left the Intuit Dome with another message: he’ll be at NXT New Year’s Evil tonight on CW Network and Netflix!
As expected, The Rock kicked off the show last night, coming out with the People’s Championship which was given to him by the widow of Muhammad Ali. He gave the title to his two young daughters who were sitting at ringside along with his mother, Ata Johnson.
The Rock hugged TKO and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel before he got in the ring and put over their Netflix partners, name dropping each of the executives who were sitting in a suite.
Johnson then said that he needed to thank a couple of people before the show starts, and one of them is someone who he spilled blood with in the past and someone who for the past year has carried the company on his back. That man ended up being none other than Cody Rhodes.
Rhodes was shown at ringside as he thanked The Rock back for his words. Rock and Cody had quite the journey last year but with no Final Boss around, it was all nice and friendly between the two. Rock told Cody to say hello to Mama Rhodes for him, which popped the crowd.
Rock also thanked his cousin Roman Reigns who he called the tribal chief. He said he would be watching the match considering the family history and the importance of the Ula Fala and eventually he was the one who put the Ula Fala on Reigns’ shoulder after Reigns won it back. The two had a face-to-face but both shook hands and hugged, with Rocky taking a step back in the corner allowing Reigns to celebrate in the middle of the ring.
Several video clips that Rock filmed for his Instagram were later shown during the broadcast, including sharing a drink with Cody Rhodes backstage, meeting Travis Scott, and then before he drove off in his truck, he told everyone that he’ll see them at NXT…tonight!
