The TNA World title match between Nic Nemeth and Joe Hendry set for next week’s Bound For Glory pay-per-view will have a special guest referee: Frankie Kazarian.
The news was announced during yesterday’s episode of Impact.
Kazarian lost to Hendry in the number one contenders match for the TNA World title last month on Impact.
Bound For Glory will take place on Saturday, October 26 live from the Wayne State Fieldhouse in Detroit, Michigan.
The post-WrestleDream Dynamite drew 633,000 viewers, up 316,000 viewers from last week’s show which aired on a Tuesday. Excluding last week, the overall viewership was the lowest since August 7. In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite had a 0.20 rating, up 0.10 from last week and was #6 on the top 50 cable chart for the night. Dynamite had the same competition as NXT did yesterday in terms of sports. (Ratings: Programming Insider)
WWE President Nick Khan announced yesterday at the Next Level Sports Conference held at USC in California that WWE and Netflix will be teaming up to produce a behind-the-scenes docuseries which will be filmed similar to the popular Formula 1: Drive to Survive show, also on Netflix.
The announcement was picked up by Bloomberg in a news story published on their website.
WWE’s partnership with Netflix will provide unlimited content possibilities between the two companies in addition to the weekly television series Raw, Smackdown, and NXT, which will air in most worldwide locations from January 2025. In the United States, only Raw will air on Netflix.
Netflix stock soared 10% today on Wall Street after their earnings report, sending it to over $755 at time of this writing. TKO also increased 2% to $130, its highest ever.
Thunder Rosa returned to the ring six weeks after suffering a concussion.
The former AEW Women’s champion wrestled Nina Samuels at the Riot Cabaret Road live event two days ago, her first match since the August 31 episode of Collision.
Rosa’s last AEW match was in a four-way against Hikaru Shida, Queen Aminata, and Serena Deeb and that’s where she suffered the concussion.
On a recent episode of Busted Open Radio last month, Rosa made a plea to fellow wrestlers that if they feel like they have a concussion, they need to stop because it’s not worth it continuing while ignoring symptoms.
Interim UFC Heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall showed up at the non-televised WWE live event in Manchester, England yesterday and even got in the squared circle.
It was WWE champion Cody Rhodes who introduced Aspinall to the ring, who was then interrupted by World Heavyweight champion Gunther.
Gunther congratulated Aspinall for being the champion and shook his hand and then told Cody Rhodes that at Crown Jewel, may the best man win.
All three top TKO heavyweight champions then posed together for photos in the ring.
Interviewed after the show by British tabloid newspaper The Sun, Aspinall said that after he retires from MMA, he will be switching over to WWE.
THE CHAMPIONS are in Manchester!
Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall almost gave these UK fans a preview of #WWECrownJewel! pic.twitter.com/9qXHA6fYhb
— WWE (@WWE) October 17, 2024
Tickets for the Crown Jewel and Raw tapings at the Mohammed Abdo Arena next month have been selling relatively well, especially Crown Jewel which is close to sold out.
Crown Jewel tickets start from 50 SAR, the equivalent of $14 and go all the way up to 1,000 SAR, or $265 for ringside. All the VIP, Platinum, and VVIP tickets have sold out already and not much are available, with the bulk of tickets available being the cheapest at 50 SAR.
Meanwhile, Raw the following day, which is being taped on Sunday, has slightly cheaper tickets starting from 45 SAR, equivalent to $12 and all the way up to 800 SAR, or $214. Some platinum and VIP tickets remain but the majority are the 45 SAR and 70 SAR, or $19, tickets.
The Mohammed Abdo Arena in Riyadh can fit up to 22,000 people in a full setup, but obviously a few thousand less for wrestling.
Tickets are available at webook.com.
Rhino and Bob Ryder have been selected for the 2024 TNA Hall of Fame Ceremony which will take place next week during the pre-show for Bound For Glory.
Rhino still works for TNA Wrestling and is a former TNA Tag Team champion and NWA World Heavyweight champion when that belt was the company’s main title. The Detroit native has been with the company since 2019.
Bob Ryder, who co-founded TNA Wrestling with Jerry and Jeff Jarrett, worked for the company since its inception until his death in 2020. He was a very well-liked individual backstage in the industry and prior to his TNA venture, he worked for WCW.
Eric Young will be accepting Ryder’s induction while Rhino will be there in person.
NXT this week on CW drew 639,000 viewers, down 235,000 viewers from the prior week and the lowest since moving to network television. The show faced competition from MLB and NHL and had a 0.18 rating in 18-49, down 0.06 from last week’s number. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
The Wednesday, October 30 edition of Dynamite will be labeled Fright Night to coincide with the popular Halloween.
AEW applied to trademark the name earlier this week with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The spooky episode also received its own logo and has one match announced so far: newcomer Shelton Benjamin vs Swerve Strickland.
The fallout from WrestleDream takes place tonight live on Dynamite from the SAP Center in San Jose, California on TBS.
A total of six matches have been announced for the show, including Shelton Benjamin vs Lio Rush, Jay White vs Christian Cage, Mercedes Mone vs Queen Aminata, Kyle O’Reilly, Orange Cassidy, and Rocky Romero vs The Young Bucks and Kazuchika Okada in a trios match, and FTR vs Big Bill and Bryan Keith.
Plus, new AEW World champion Jon Moxley will be in the house and Adam Cole returns to Dynamite following last Saturday’s surprise appearance.
Suites at the Allegiant Stadium will be on sale for the two-night WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas. Over 100 suites are up for grabs, each suite holding different amount of people.
The cheapest suite is $6,000 for both nights and can accommodate three people. For four people, there are $8,000 and $10,000 suites. One suite for 18 people will go for $20,000 while a better-placed suite for 12 people is selling for $24,000. 20 people in a suite will cost $27,000 and 26 people will go for $36,000. The highest-priced suites are $50,000 and there are those which can hold 20 and 26 people respectively.
All prices above are for the two nights.
For more information and booking e-mail allegiantstadiumsales@raiders.com.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has teased a project with filmmaker J. J. Abrams and screenwriter Zak Penn in his latest post on social media.
“Years in the making – we finally broke bread, we drank, we laughed, got a lil’ drunk (maybe that was just me, we talked life stuff, love stuff, dude stuff and took our time chopping up our passion for movies and storytelling,” Johnson wrote, adding a photo from the meeting.
“Then we all raised a glass and toasted to…yup, this one is gonna be fun. JJ & DJ. From the mind of Zak Penn. ‘…tonight, it comes to life,'” he continued.
Abrams was the mind behind classic TV shows such as Alias, Lost, Person of Interest, and worked on movies such as the Mission Impossible series, Star Wars, Star Trek, and others.
Penn was involved in writing movies like X-Men: The Last Stand, The Incredible Hulk, The Avengers, Free Guy, and others.
The Mr. McMahon docuseries dropped from the Netflix Global Top 10 chart last week in its third week of release.
The series also dropped from the top 10 chart in major markets such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, India, and others, staying only in the chart in Canada sitting at #9 after it was #3 the week before.
Released on September 25 and split in six, one-hour episodes, the series chronicled the life of the former WWE CEO and Chairman, from transforming WWE from a small, regional business into a global entertainment powerhouse to the explosive sexual misconduct allegations that led to his eventual resignation.
It is directed by Bill Simmons and executive produced by Chris Smith.
Kathy Colace, the mother of WWE Hall of Famers Nikki and Brie Garcia, has confirmed that she has divorced from former WWE executive John Laurinaitis.
The two got married in 2016 and their relationship was also occasionally part of the Total Bellas E! reality series.
It was her daughter Brie who actually revealed the news during her mother’s appearance on The Nikki & Brie Show podcast.
Colace gave some advice to those who are going through the same ordeal, saying that as someone who’s going through the process, you need time and silence and you need to let your body feel every emotion, including anger, heartbreak, and sadness.
“One day life is fine and the next day you’re hit with something that just rocks your world,” she said.
Her now ex-husband was named as one of the defendants along with Vince McMahon and WWE in the sex trafficking and sexual abuse lawsuit brought forward by Janel Grant.
Raw this week with a taped episode drew 1,540,000 viewers, down 5,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast but facing tougher competition in an NFL game which drew 17.2 million viewers and MLB playoffs game which had an additional 4 million viewers.
The show started with 1,530,000 viewers in the first hour and then increased slightly to 1,550,000 viewers in the second hour.
Raw had an average of 0.44 rating in 18-49, which was down 0.03 from last week and ranked #5 on cable for the night. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
The 2024 Halloween Havoc premium live event has started to take shape following last night’s NXT on CW.
Ethan Page became the number one contender for the NXT title after he defeated Je’Von Evans and Wes Lee in a triple threat match. After the match, Page and Williams stood across each other as the Halloween Havoc Wheel made its rounds before it stopped on a Devil’s Playground match.
Tony D’Angelo will make his first NXT North American title defense against former champion Oba Femi and just like the NXT title, the Halloween Havoc Wheel also determined the stipulation for this match: Tables, ladders, and scares.
The other match announced for the show so far is NXT Women’s champion Roxanne Perez teaming up with Cora Jade to take on new arrivals Giulia and Stephanie Vaquer.
Halloween Havoc takes place on Sunday, October 27.
The road to Halloween Havoc starts tonight on NXT on The CW as it returns back to the WWE Performance Center after two weeks on the road.
Five matches have been announced for the broadcast so far and the show will be headlined by a #1 contenders match for the NXT title featuring Ethan Page vs Wes Lee vs Je’Von Evans in a triple threat match.
Also, Stephanie Vaquer will make her NXT in-ring debut as she takes on Wren Sinclair, Oro Mensah battles Lexis King, Nikkita Lyons wrestles in her first match after eight months against Lola Vice, and former Chase U team mates collide when Riley Osborne wrestles Ridge Holland.
Plus, Tony D’Angelo will celebrate his NXT North American title win and the Halloween Havoc Wheel returns!
Joe Koff, the former Ring of Honor Chief Operating Officer during the Sinclair Broadcast Group era, has passed away at age 73 from cancer.
His death was announced by Major League Wrestling on social media, noting that Koff always led with honor, integrity, and a passion for the sport we all cherish.
“His legacy will live on in the hearts of everyone he inspired. Thank you, Joe, for your contributions and unwavering dedication to wrestling,” the MLW post continued.
Koff served as the Chief Operating Officer for ROH from September 2011 to May 2022 while he was the Senior Vice President of Training and Development at Sinclair Broadcast Group. He spent pretty much his whole adult life working in the television industry.
After ROH was sold to Tony Khan, Koff described his time with the promotion as “the journey of a lifetime” and thanked the fans, staff, and the brilliant athletes who made ROH special.
After news of his death was announced, AEW wrote, “The AEW & Ring of Honor Family, along with the wrestling world mourn the passing of Joe Koff. Our thoughts are with his family and his friends.”
WWE champion Cody Rhodes, who worked with Koff when he was in ROH, added, “Really great man that I learned a lot from and was always happy/lucky to be in his presence. All love to his family.”
Rampage on TNT drew 253,000 viewers this past week, up 37,000 viewers compared to the prior episode. The show had a 0.09 rating in 18-49, up 0.02 from the last one. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
Former AEW Women’s champion Toni Storm topped the PWI’s Women 250 chart, climbing from last year’s #12 place to take the top ranking.
Storm enjoyed an amazing year with AEW as their Women’s champion, holding on to the title for a whopping 281 days, winning it in November 2023 from Hikaru Shida and losing it at All In this past August against Mariah May.
Storm was one of four AEW women who placed in the top 10, with the others being Willow Nightingale, Mariah May, and Athena in #8, #9, and #10 respectively.
Coming in #2 was TNA’s Jordynne Grace, who also had a great year, with an appearance at the Royal Rumble, multiple NXT matches, and also holding down the fort at TNA.
Rhea Ripley came in #3 and surprisingly enough, only she and Bayley, who came in at #7, represented WWE this year in the top 10.
Rounding up the top 10 list were Maika in #4, Stephanie Vaquer in #5, and Sareee in #6.
