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All In: Texas surpasses 10,000 tickets moved

By
Colin Vassallo
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All In: Texas

Ticket tracking service @WrestleTix is reporting that AEW has so far distributed 10,000 tickets for their upcoming All In: Texas pay-per-view. It was believed that AEW sold around 3,000 tickets during the pre-sale before tickets went on sale to the general public.

The Globe Life Field hosts up to 40,000 seats but judging from the seating chart and open seats, it’s configured for just 18,000 at the moment. That will obviously expand if the demand is there.

AEW President Tony Khan has stated that the show has already surpassed the $1 million gate with strong VIP tickets which were sold at a much higher price. It’s projected that All In will be the biggest attendance for AEW for 2025, although it will fall short from the previous two All Ins which took place from Wembley Stadium.

Tickets on Ticketmaster.com start from just $31.

TNA Wrestling to air on Sportsnet 360 in Canada

By
Colin Vassallo
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TNA logo

TNA Wrestling has signed an exclusive multi-year agreement with Sportsnet to air its flagship weekly TV show, TNA iMPACT!, every Thursday from 8-10 p.m. ET nationally in Canada on Sportsnet 360, beginning on Thursday, January 2, 2025.

Additional programming to air on Sportsnet 360 includes TNA’s Xplosion, TNA in 60 and other TNA Classics from the 20+ year library, showcasing over 6,000 hours of unforgettable matches and moments.

Sportsnet is Canada’s No. 1 sports network. In addition to being the official Canadian NHL national multiplatform rights holder, and regional broadcaster for the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs, Sportsnet also has extensive coverage of the Toronto Blue Jays, Toronto Raptors, UFC and much more.

“We are thrilled to bring TNA Wrestling to Sportsnet 360,” said Anthony Cicione, president of TNA Wrestling. “Anchored by our flagship weekly TNA iMPACT!, this partnership is a major step forward for TNA Wrestling as all our fans in Canada can now watch on one of Canada’s largest sports outlets.”

TNA iMPACT! will continue to air on AXS TV and TNA+ in the US, in addition to being distributed internationally on TNA+ and other leading broadcast platforms.

Bandido suffers concussion seconds into his return

By
Colin Vassallo
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Bandido, who made his return to ROH’s Final Battle after a broken wrist injury in June, suffered a concussion just seconds after he hit the ring.

Bandido came out to save Matt Cardona from The Learning Tree and executed a missile dropkick on Chris Jericho as his first move. But doing so, he landed right on the back of his head. The injury was immediately noticeable as he took some time to recover and then continued his part by taking out Big Bill and Bryan Keith.

Dave Meltzer of the Observer is now reporting that he was confirmed to have suffered the concussion and it’s not known how long he will be out for.

The former ROH champion signed an AEW deal in October 2022 but in June, he suffered a broken wrist during a match against Konosuke Takeshita on Rampage. He eventually underwent a couple of surgeries to repair the problem.

Stardom’s Momo Watanbe joins the International Women’s Cup match

By
Colin Vassallo
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The last entrant in the International Women’s Cup at Wrestle Dream is Momo Watanbe, representing the Japanese Stardom promotion.

Watanbe beat Saki Kashima, Yuna Mizumori, and Hanan in a four-way match to punch her ticket to Wrestle Dream.

She now joins Athena from Ring of Honor, Persephone from CMLL, and Willow Nightingale from AEW in this four-way match.

The winner of this match earns a title shot for any title in any of the participating promotions.

Ash By Elegance joins OnlyFans

By
Colin Vassallo
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Ash By Elegance, the TNA star formerly known as Dana Brooke in WWE, has joined the OnlyFans platform.

She made the announcement via a video on her social media.

“It’s the time you’ve all been waiting for. I’m officially moving over to OnlyFans which is the gift that keeps on giving,” she said while sporting a Santa hat.

The recently-married star is selling subscriptions for $5.99 a month and already has 20 posts up.

More seats added to the 2025 Royal Rumble

By
Colin Vassallo
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Royal Rumble 2025

WWE has added more tickets for the 2025 Royal Rumble at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis with more sections on the side where the stadium was supposed to be tarped off opening up.

Unless it’s a WrestleMania, WWE uses half a stadium for their premium live events and then more sections are opened up depending on demand. According to ticket tracking service @WrestleTix, WWE has nearly 47,000 tickets out for the Rumble, with the stadium now configured for 53,500 seats.

The cheapest tickets added are $150 plus taxes and fees and are in Section 400. The cheapest tickets are in Section 600, which is at the very top of the stands, with tickets at $125 plus taxes and fees. The most expensive tickets are second row for $5,100 and the majority of the floor area remains unsold.

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.com.

TBS title match added to Worlds End 2024

By
Colin Vassallo
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The TBS title will be on the line at the Worlds End pay-per-view next weekend after the match was made official last night on Collision.

Prior to her match against Penelope Ford, Kris Statlander challenged the champion Mercedes Mone for the title. After the match was over, Mone came out with her answer, initially saying that she was going to take that weekend off, but since it’s the holiday season, she would give Statlander a present and defend her title on the show.

Statlander is a former TBS champion herself, winning the belt from Jade Cargill at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view in 2023, ending Cargill’s 508-day reign as champion. Statlander lasted 174 days as champion before losing it to Julia Hart at Full Gear later that year. Statlander was never pinned in that match as it was a three-way involving Skye Blue as well and Blue was the one who got pinned.

Continental Classic update following Christmas Collision

By
Colin Vassallo
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Continental Classic

Four Continental Classic matches took place on last night’s Christmas Collision from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.

In the blue league, Daniel Garcia defeated Shelton Benjamin to move to seven points while Benjamin stays at six and second-to-last place. The other blue league match saw Mark Briscoe defeating The Beast Mortos. Briscoe is now at nine points and second in the table while Mortos is dead last with zero points.

Over in the gold league, Ricochet defeated Will Ospreay to get to nine points and top of the table, leaving Ospreay with six following yesterday’s loss. Claudio Castagnoli also sits at the top of the gold league with Ricochet with another nine points after he yesterday overcame Darby Allin thanks to his brass knuckles which he used to knock out Allin. Allin remains at six points.

The remaining five Continental Classic matches will be held on Dynamite this Wednesday with three gold league matches including Ospreay vs Brody King, Allin vs Ricochet, and Castagnoli vs Komander. And the blue league matches will have Kazuchika Okada vs Benjamin and Garcia vs Fletcher.

Christmas Collision live on TNT from Hammerstein Ballroom tonight

By
Colin Vassallo
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The Christmas Collision will be live coast-to-coast tonight on TNT from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.

The Continental Classic tournament will take center stage on tonight’s show with four tournament matches scheduled to take place including Mark Briscoe vs The Beast Mortos and Daniel Garcia vs Shelton Benjamin from the blue league plus Will Ospreay vs Ricochet and Darby Allin vs Claudio Castagnoli from the gold league.

Also announced is Penelope Ford vs Kris Statlander, Adam Cole and MJF come face-to-face, and we’ll also hear from TBS champion Mercedes Mone.

Collision and Dynamite tapings at Hammerstein Ballroom this weekend

By
Colin Vassallo
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AEW logo

AEW will continue their weekend at the Hammerstein Ballroom tonight and tomorrow with a live Collision set for later today and then Dynamite tapings tomorrow.

The Christmas Collision will air on TNT live at 8PM ET but the Christmas Day Dynamite, titled Dynamite on 34th Street, will be taped tomorrow to give everyone Christmas week off.

The New Year’s Smash Rampage, the last Rampage for AEW, will also be taped tomorrow in conjunction with Dynamite.

Both tonight’s Collision and tomorrow’s Dynamite will be sold out with just over 1,300 in attendance.

The next time AEW is live again will be at the Worlds End pay-per-view on December 28.

Photo and autograph opportunities announced for Royal Rumble 2025 weekend

By
Colin Vassallo
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Royal Rumble 2025

WWE is now selling photo ops and autographs with many WWE Superstars for Royal Rumble weekend.

Price for each Superstar varies and does not include a printed photo unless you pay an extra $16.28 fee on top.

Appearing on Thursday, January 30 will be Bayley, Bianca Belair, Jimmy Uso, and Tiffany Stratton.

Appearing on Friday, January 31 will be Bron Breakker, Chad Gable, Dakota Kai, Damian Priest, Rey Mysterio, Iyo Sky, Jey Uso, Kairi Sane, Kayden Carter and Katana Chance, Kofi Kingston, Lyra Valkyria, Maxine Dupri, Natalya, Omos, Otis, R-Truth, Rey Mysterio, Rhea Ripley, The Miz, Tiffany Stratton, Wyatt Sicks, and Zelina Vega.

Doing photo ops on Saturday, February 1 will be American Made, Dominik Mysterio, Ludwig Kyser, Joaquin Wilde and Cruz Del Toro, Pete Dunne, Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre, and Xavier Woods.

Closing the weekend on Sunday, February 2 are Apollo Crews, Authors of Pain, Big E, Liv Morgan, Shayna Baszler, Sonya Deville, and Zoey Stark, and Sami Zayn.

The event will take place at the Indianapolis Convention Center inside Hall E located at 100 South Capitol Avenue. For more information go to https://store.epic.leapevent.tech/wwe-royal-rumble-2025/2024.

NXT senior writer and producer Jim Smallman resigns to return home to the UK

By
Colin Vassallo
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Jim Smallman, a senior writer and producer on the NXT creative team, has resigned from his position to return to the United Kingdom to “be a better dad” to his two children.

Smallman, the co-founder of British indie promotion PROGRESS Wrestling, announced the decision himself via a post on social media.

“This was an incredibly difficult decision as I was lucky enough to work with some of the most talented and excellent human beings on the planet, and yesterday was a very emotional day as I said goodbye – for now – to so many great friends,” Smallman wrote.

He cited that it’s impossible to be a good dad from 4000 miles away and that combined with some health issues made it time to go home and “make up for lost time.”

Smallman said he wrote 216 episodes of NXT UK, 150 episodes of Level Up, worked on 190 episodes of NXT, and produced hundreds of in-ring and backstage promos.

“I am forever grateful to Shawn and Hunter for giving me my chance, Johnny and the writing team for being amazing, Mr Regal for putting me forward for everything, Joe for showing me the ropes… and to every gifted talent that I’ve worked with in both Europe and the USA,” he continued. “I wish I could have thanked every single person yesterday but we had a TV show to film! Thank you for tolerating a strange British idiot.”

He added that while this might be a goodbye to the NXT creative team, it’s not a goodbye to WWE and he hopes to see everyone again down the line.

“I’m a very lucky man to have lived this life, but even luckier to be heading home now to an 8 year old who wants to play Fortnite and Hot Wheels and a 21 year old who wants to come to Japan with me,” he concluded.

Danhausen makes surprise appearance at Final Battle

By
Colin Vassallo
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After being off AEW television for a year and absent from Ring of Honor for 10 months, Danhausen made a return at the Final Battle event last night.

The popular star interfered in the opening match of the show where Mansoor was battling Atlantis Jr. Danhausen came out from under the ring and confronted Mason Madden, giving him a low blow and then doing his usual curse thing, offering enough distraction for Atlantis Jr to pick up the victory.

The relationship between Danhausen and AEW took a nose dive in 2024 and the star admitted that the two sides had not talked for months apart from getting the go-ahead to work other indie dates. Danhausen was a big supporter of CM Punk, which might have played some part in him being somewhat exiled.

Nigel McGuinness returns to the ring at Final Battle

By
Colin Vassallo
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AEW commentator Nigel McGuinness made a surprise in-ring return last night at the ROH Final Battle event in New York, coming out to answer the open challenge for the ROH Pure title.

McGuinness is a former ROH Pure champion himself, having held the title for a whopping 350 days between 2004 and 2005. The British star wanted the match to be contested under the old ROH Pure rules, which means no judges. Unfortunately for him, Moriarty came out on top and retained the title.

This was his third match of 2024 after coming out from retirement at All In in August where he participated in the Casino Gauntlet match as a surprise entrant and then wrestled Bryan Danielson in September on Dynamite.

ROH Final Battle 2024 results

By
Colin Vassallo
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Here are the results from last night’s ROH Final Battle 2024 event which took place live from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, New York.

ZERO HOUR: The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated The Dark Order; Hanako defeated Harley Cameron; The Undisputed Kingdom defeated The Infantry; Gates of Agony defeated LEEJ.

PPV: Atlantis Jr defeated Mansoor; Katsuyori Shibata defeated Tommy Billington; Jay Lethal defeated QT Marshall; Red Velvet defeated Leyla Hirsch to retain the ROH Women’s TV title; Lee Moriarty defeated Nigel McGuinness to retain the ROH Pure title; The Sons of Texas defeated The Righteous in a Texas Bull Rope match to retain the ROH Tag Team titles; Komander defeated Brian Cage, AR Fox, Blake Christian, Willie Mack, and Mark Davis in a Survival of the Fittest match to become the new ROH TV champion; Chris Jericho defeated Matt Cardona to retain the ROH World title; Athena defeated Billie Starkz to retain the ROH Women’s title.

Smackdown moving to three hours starting with January 3, 2025 episode

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE has confirmed that Smackdown will expand to three hours starting with the January 3, 2025 episode.

A WWE.COM entry on where to watch the weekly WWE shows and premium live events come 2025 states, “At the start of 2025, SmackDown will expand to three hours starting with the Jan. 3 episode from Phoenix, Arizona.”

Rumors have been flying around for months that Smackdown was moving to three hours once the new year kicks in but WWE did not make any official announcements until now. Raw is also expected to revert to three hours once it moves to Netflix, although their run time will have no constraints on the streaming service since there’s no other live programming before or after Raw.

This will be the first time that Smackdown will move to three hours and WWE will obviously get more money on top of their current deal with NBCUniversal for 52 additional hours of original programming per year.

NXT Level Up weekly series to end

By
Colin Vassallo
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Fightful is reporting that NXT Level Up is being discontinued moving forward and this month will be the last time the show will air.

The show aired every Friday night on Peacock, replacing the WWE 205 Live series. It made its debut on February 18, 2022 and gave a platform to those up-and-coming stars who were not yet ready for NXT television, but still offered a chance to wrestle in front of an audience.

Level Up is being replaced by the new reality competition seres WWE LFG, which is set to air next year on A&E.

Matches for Level Up usually taped before NXT went live on air and many of today’s NXT stars all featured on the show throughout the past two years.

Charlotte Flair steps up in-ring training ahead of WWE return

By
Colin Vassallo
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Charlotte Flair has stepped up her in-ring training ahead of her impending return to the WWE.

Flair thanked Lainey Reid, currently signed to NXT, for helping her in the ring for the past few weeks in a post on social media and urged her followers to keep an eye on the 26-year-old.

Charlotte tore her ACL, MCL, and meniscus on the December 8 episode of Smackdown in a match against Asuka and underwent surgery in January of this year. She started light training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, in late July and is now set to return to the company in a matter of weeks.

During her time away, the 14-time champ signed a new WWE deal and was also cast in an indie horror movie titled You Lose You Die with Freddy Rodriguez.

WWE looking into adding more international premium live events in 2025

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE logo

Speaking on the Sports Business Journal Sports Media podcast, WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent Relations Chris Legentil revealed that WWE is looking into holding more premium live events internationally in 2025 and are working with Netflix to identify key markets.

WWE held a total of eight premium live events outside the United States this year, a record for the company.

“This year alone, we did more than half our [premium live events] outside the U.S…look for more of that when we’re in partnership with Netflix because we’re going to be working with them hand-in-hand to select locations across the world where we can grow our audience and hopefully gain some subscribers for them,” Legentil said.

In 2024, WWE held Elimination Chamber in Perth, Australia, Backlash in Lyon, France, King and Queen of the Ring in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Clash at the Castle in Glasgow, Scotland, Money In The Bank in Toronto, Canada, Bash in Berlin in Berlin, Germany, Crown Jewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Survivor Series: WarGames in Vancouver, Canada.

WWE premium live events will be moving to Netflix internationally starting with the 2025 Royal Rumble.

Dynamite rating for 12/18/2024

By
Colin Vassallo
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Dynamite logo

The Holiday Bash themed episode of Dynamite drew 625,000 viewers, up 31,000 viewers from the prior week and their best number in one month. The show had a 0.19 rating in 18-49, up 0.02 from the previous week and was #3 on the top 50 cable chart for the night. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)

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