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Fenix to stay in AEW as extra time added to his contract due to injuries

By
Colin Vassallo
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While both Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix are on the way to WWE, Fenix will have to wait a little longer, actually, a lot longer to join his brother.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that even though both have refused new deals from AEW and Penta’s contract is up really soon, the company has opted to extend Fenix’s contract to make up for his extended period of time out injured.

This is a common practice used both in WWE and AEW but it was thought that AEW President Tony Khan was going to let Fenix go without adding any extra time to his deal.

Fenix was injured in October 2023 and was out of action for six months. After his return in April, he was slightly injured again and returned a month later. He has not wrestled since July 26 for CMLL and his last AEW match was on July 20.

Penta’s last AEW match came on July 17 but has been wrestling in Mexico lately.

Big E open to return to the ring if he can do it safely

By
Colin Vassallo
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In an interview with the Sports Talk Philly website, former WWE champion Big E seemed more open to return to the ring more than ever before, of course, depending on the outcome of scans on his neck.

In previous interviews, E shot down the idea of returning due to his injury, but now with stem cell therapy, he’s hopeful that one day he can lace up his wrestling boots again.

“I’m just taking every day as it comes. I know that sounds like a cliche. But I get scans again in another three-to-six months, and if they look great and the doctors say it’s healthy for me to go back, then that’s something where we’ll sit down and talk about it,” Big E said when asked if he wants to return or officially retire.

He said that he tries not to worry about things he cannot control, knowing that to return to the squared circle, a lot of things have to properly align.

“But it’s nice to know that if I get the opportunity to get back in the ring, and I can do it healthily, then let’s do that,” he continued. “Let’s attack it fully. But if not, I know exactly what I want to do, and I’m excited about that path, too.”

TNA moves Impact television tapings by a day due to Hurricane Helene

By
Colin Vassallo
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TNA Wrestling announced that the scheduled Impact television tapings set for tomorrow, September 27 and Saturday, September 28, have been moved by a day due to Hurricane Helene.

The tapings are being held in Spartanburg, South Carolina at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium, which is in the path of the hurricane over the next two days.

To avoid holding tapings during the hurricane, the first show will now be on Sunday, September 29 and the second show will be held on Monday, September 30.

The exact start time for the shows will be announced on TNA’s social media properties soon.

Tickets for the Friday show can be used on Sunday and tickets for the Saturday show can be used on Monday.

Danielson vs Moxley to main event WrestleDream 2024

By
Colin Vassallo
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The main event for WrestleDream was confirmed last night after Jon Moxley defeated Darby Allin in the main event to get the title shot Allin earned a few months ago.

After the match ended, Danielson got his revenge on his former Blackpool Combat Club partners when he choked out Moxley with a tie. Claudio Castagnoli, Pac, and Marina Shafir then came out to help Mox and attack Danielson but Private Party and Komander came out to even the odds.

Danielson had earlier in the broadcast defeated Nigel McGuinness to retain the AEW World title. Each title defense is like a retirement match for Danielson as he has previously stated that when he loses the title, he will retire from full-time active roster.

WrestleDream will take place on Saturday, October 12.

 

Cardi B featured in SummerSlam 2025 promo

By
Colin Vassallo
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Cardi B, one of the most successful female artists in music, is featured in the advert for SummerSlam in New Jersey.

In the video released by Cardi B on her social media, she is seen calling Bianca Belair.

“I got two words for you…SummerSlam,” Cardi B says. “I’m pretty sure that’s one word,” Belair responds.

“Met. Life,” Cardi B continues as Belair tells her that she’s listening.

Her song ‘Enough (Miami)’ is then played, which looks like will be the official theme song for the event. It’s her fifth single from her second studio album and was released in March of this year.

NXT rating for 09/24/2024

By
Colin Vassallo
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The last NXT on USA Network drew 620,000 viewers, down 57,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. The show had a 0.19 rating in 18-49, down 0.02 from the prior week and was #3 on the top 50 cable chart for the night and #9 in all of television. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)

AEW pay-per-views moving off Bleacher Report

By
Colin Vassallo
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AEW logo

AEW pay-per-views will no longer be available on Bleacher Report in the United States and starting from next month’s WrestleDream, AEW shows will be offered on Triller, YouTube, and PPV.COM.

The announcement came last night during Dynamite after Tony Khan hinted earlier that the WBD-owned Bleacher Report is being closed down.

Up until earlier this year, Bleacher Report was the only streaming outlet in the United States to offer AEW pay-per-views but AEW expanded their options in April, adding Triller, YouTube, and PPV.COM as partners.

It’s unclear what will happen to those pay-per-views which fans bought on Bleacher Report, although it was assumed that they will be migrated to another service.

Two-night SummerSlam 2025 to be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority today announced that MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will host the first-ever two-night SummerSlam on Saturday, August 2 and Sunday, August 3, 2025.

Ahead of the general ticket on-sale date for SummerSlam 2025, which will be announced at a later date, fans can register now to receive an exclusive presale offer by visiting https://www.wwe.com/summerslam-2025-presale.

“New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and the entire NJSEA team have been phenomenal partners, hosting several major UFC events in recent years including the record-breaking UFC 302 in June,” said Peter Dropick, TKO Executive Vice President of Event Development and Operations. “We’re excited to bring WWE back to New Jersey in a major way with the first-ever two-night SummerSlam at MetLife Stadium.”

This is the first SummerSlam in New Jersey since 2007 and they also had SummerSlam 1989 and 1997 in the past. All events were at the Meadowlands Arena.

SummerSlam Priority Passes will be available from On Location, giving fans the chance to be ringside for every exhilarating moment, including premium seating, pre-show hospitality with WWE Superstar appearances, ringside photo opportunities, and much more. To place a deposit or sign up for exclusive presale access, please visit https://onlocationexp.com/summerslam.

MVP makes AEW debut at Dynamite: Grand Slam

By
Colin Vassallo
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MVP made a surprise appearance at Dynamite: Grand Slam last night, trying to cook up some trouble between Prince Nana and Swerve Strickland.

While Nana was giving an update on Swerve’s condition, MVP walked out to rudely interrupt him, labeling Swerve as the most phenomenal and dangerous man in AEW.

MVP blamed Swerve’s loss on Prince Nana, telling him that he was more worried about his dancing rather than Strickland, a comment which Nana obviously didn’t appreciate.

The former manager of the Hurt Business then told Nana that when Strickland is up and ready to go again, he should give him a call because he’s ready to talk “business.”

MVP left WWE last month along with Bobby Lashley, who is also expected to join AEW. MVP has also reportedly signed a deal with AEW.

Dynamite: Grand Slam 2024 live on TBS tonight

By
Colin Vassallo
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AEW will present its biggest Dynamite of the year tonight live from Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York with over 7,000 fans expected in attendance. AEW will also record an episode of Collision immediately following the conclusion of Dynamite.

A huge, PPV-level card is set for tonight’s broadcast including Bryan Danielson defending his AEW World title against his arch nemesis Nigel McGuinness, Jon Moxley battles Darby Allin with Allin’s AEW World title shot on the line, Mariah May defends her AEW Women’s title against Yuka Sakazaki, The Young Bucks put up their AEW Tag Team titles on the line against Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher, and Hook defends the FTW title against Roderick Strong.

Plus, Prince Nana will be on hand to provide an update on former AEW World champion Swerve Strickland.

William Regal talks AEW departure after getting poked on X by fan

By
Colin Vassallo
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After William Regal posted a message on X on NXT’s last show on USA Network before its move to The CW, a fan responded thanking him for everything he did for NXT and for “snaking out the competition” that is AEW.

Regal left AEW after his contract expired in late 2022 and asked for it not to be renewed and returned to WWE in January of the following year where he was given the title of Vice President of Global Talent Development.

“Although it serves some people’s agenda, and having a massive amount of people who work in AEW that can only back me up, I went to AEW to help because Bryan Danielson asked me to,” Regal replied on X. “Please find me one person who can say otherwise.”

He wrote that he arrived at the arena at 10AM and stayed until 6:15PM to train anyone who wanted to learn, stressing that he never attended a single production meeting nor did he ask anyone when their contract was expiring.

“I showered and got into a suit by 6.30 then watched he monitor with everyone else. I’m giving you the right to ask anyone who works backstage or talent the right to ask them if I did anything but help with no agenda. Feel free,” Regal continued.

Regal also mentioned that he did not call Tony Khan when his mother was ill and said that Khan called him and when he told him where he was, he ended the call and spoke two weeks later about his desire to leave.

“These are all facts I can prove. Anyone trying to twist this has the right to check this out. I am friendly with 60% + of the talent and backstage crew. Feel free to do some real research,” he concluded.

Mone says a lot of things happened between her and Vince McMahon which led her leaving WWE

By
Colin Vassallo
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While doing media in New York to promote tonight’s Dynamite: Grand Slam, TBS champion Mercedes Mone was asked why she left WWE when appearing on The Breakfast Club radio show.

Mone said that she left for a variety of reasons, but put an emphasis on things that happened between her and Vince McMahon, without directly mentioning his name.

“A lot of personal stuff happened with myself and the Chairman at the time, and I didn’t like how he talked to me and how I was…you know….just talked down to,” Mone said.

After that day, she said it was time to “legit listen” to her heart and soul and made the decision to get out.

“That day he talked to me a little crazy,” Mone said, referring to McMahon and what led to her and Naomi storming out of the May 22 episode of Monday Night Raw.

Mone also said that there was zero protection for the women in WWE at the time, but they’re all changing that every day and she continues to help ushering change every day for women’s wrestling in general.

Bill Simmons on directing Mr. McMahon Netflix doc: “Strangest documentary process”

By
Colin Vassallo
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Bill Simmons, who directed the Netflix docuseries Mr. McMahon, labeled working on this project as the “strangest documentary process” he’s ever been involved with.

Speaking on his own podcast with The Ringer’s David Shoemaker, Simmons said that McMahon was always very late to shooting and sometimes he didn’t even bother to show up at all, and when he did, he came with an entourage of people to keep everyone in check.

The two said that when they showed up to film, they would get updates from McMahon’s secretary on his scheduled arrival time and they would get pushed back hour by hour until he showed up at 11 at night.

Shoemaker noted that they had enough footage of McMahon that they could make this a 10-part docuseries, including when Vince “sounded like a frog” because he was sick, all of which ended up on the editing floor because he did not have a voice.

“Chris Smith and the entire production team have done so many documentaries of this sort, and of all sorts. They’ve been working in this world forever. This is the guy that did The Tiger King, and none of them had ever experienced a working situation like we encountered in Stamford, Connecticut,” Shoemaker said.

 

Dynamite: Grand Slam gets a push in tickets, over 7,500 expected

By
Colin Vassallo
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Tonight’s Dynamite: Grand Slam managed to move over 1,500 tickets in two days with the attendance now hovering over the 7,500 mark, a more respectable number than just a few days ago, although still falling short over last year’s attendance.

The 21,000-seater home of the U.S. Open will still be largely tarped-off and unless AEW manages to distribute over 3,000 tickets more, it will be the least-attended Dynamite: Grand Slam since its inception.

Regardless of tonight’s attendance, tonight’s show marks the biggest Dynamite of the year in terms of crowd size and possibly even match card-wise, with four title matches.

Clarification on NXT episodes on Peacock and The CW app

By
Colin Vassallo
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Several rumors popped up this week about NXT episodes moving off Peacock and on to The CW app next week when the show officially makes the jump to the network.

The rumors did not go down well with those who subscribe to Peacock but a representative for The CW shot down those rumors, telling us that only new episodes will be on the app.

The catalog of past NXT episodes will not be available on The CW app and will remain on Peacock, however, beginning on October 1, new episodes of NXT will become available on The CW app.

Weekly episodes will be released on the app a day after the broadcast in the United States on a weekly basis.

Episodes on Peacock are expected to be added 30 days after they air similar to Raw and Smackdown.

Raw rating for 09/23/2024

By
Colin Vassallo
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Raw

WWE Raw had a bad night on Monday, drawing its second-lowest viewership ever and the worst number of 2024, with just 1,338,000 viewers tuning in.

The show faced two NFL games, one on ESPN which drew 6.4 million viewers and one on ABC which drew an additional 13.1 million viewers.

Raw started with 1,360,000 viewers in the first hour, dropped to 1,329,000 viewers in the second hour, and then finished the night with 1,327,000 viewers.

Raw was #2, #3, and #4 on the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demo, with 0.44, 0.43, and 0.41 ratings respectively for an average of 0.43, down 0.05 from the prior week. Raw was overall #2 on cable and #5 on all of television. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)

Napa County DA declines to file criminal charges against Nikki Garcia’s husband Artem Chigvintsev

By
Colin Vassallo
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The Napa County District Attorney’s Office issued a press release declining to file criminal charges against Artem Chigvintsev in connection with his arrest on suspicion of felony domestic violence against his wife and WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Garcia.

“While we take every arrest seriously and stand firmly against domestic violence, we have an ethical obligation to only file charges when supported by the evidence,” Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley said. “We are required to prove any and every criminal charge ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ which is the highest standard in the American criminal justice system. If the available evidence doesn’t rise to this level of proof, then we cannot ethically file charges.”

The press release stated that the decision was only taken after a thorough review of the criminal investigation and careful evaluation of the evidence presented to the DA’s Office.

The Napa County District Attorney’s Office does not typically issue press releases when it declines to file charges against any given individual but did so for this case due to the intense media interest it has received since Chigvintsev’s arrest.

Nikki Garcia has since filed for divorce.

Cody Rhodes to present award at the 2024 People’s Choice Country Awards

By
Colin Vassallo
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Cody Rhodes has been chosen as one of the presenters of the 2024 People’s Choice Country Awards.

The show, taking place tomorrow night live on NBC and on Peacock, will be held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee.

Country music superstar Shania Twain will be hosting the show.

In a message on X, Rhodes wrote, “Excited for this one” when he reposted the announcement by the People’s Choice X account.

Stephanie Vaquer appears on NXT via video in show-closing angle

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE’s latest signee, Stephanie Vaquer, made her NXT debut last night appearing via a video in the closing moments of the last NXT broadcast on USA Network.

The show-closing angle saw a press conference held featuring Roxanne Perez and Giulia, with Byron Saxton fielding questions. At one point, a voice was heard over the speakers and Saxton said that the media who asked the question should wait until it’s their time.

At that point, Vaquer appeared on the screen and asked her question, quizzing the champion and the challenger what they were planning to do knowing that she will be waiting on the other side of the NXT Women’s title match.

The camera then turned around with the closing image being Giulia on the left side, Perez on the right side holding her title up, and Vaquer square in the middle on the video screen.

The former NJPW Strong Women’s champion and CMLL Women’s champion signed with WWE in July of this year, weeks after she lost the NJPW title to Mercedes Mone at the AEWxNJPW: Forbidden Door pay-per-view.

‘Mr. McMahon’ Netflix docuseries now available to stream

By
Colin Vassallo
-

The ‘Mr. McMahon’ docuseries has landed on Netflix and is now available to stream.

The long-awaited series, split into six different episodes, is directed by Bill Simmons and executive produced by Chris Smith. It will chronicle the rise and fall of the former WWE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

“The goal behind ‘Mr. McMahon’ was to pull back the curtain and reveal the true Vince McMahon, obscured beneath the persona he presented to the world,” producer Chris Smith said. “Over the four years of production, the story evolved in truly shocking ways, culminating in some extremely harrowing allegations. The final product is a revealing documentary that we believe offers a rich and nuanced portrait of the man and the complex legacy he left behind.”

The full synopsis describing the series reads as follows, “From his transformation of the WWE from a small, regional business into a global entertainment powerhouse to the explosive sexual misconduct allegations that led to his eventual resignation, this six-episode series offers a deep dive into McMahon’s life and his enduring franchise. Culled from over 200 hours of interviews with McMahon himself (prior to his resignation), his family members, business associates and some of the most iconic names in wrestling history, as well as the journalists who uncovered McMahon’s allegations — filmmaker Chris Smith (‘Tiger King’) and executive producer Bill Simmons (’30 for 30′) present an unflinching, no-holds-barred look at one of the most enigmatic figures in sports entertainment.”

The official poster of the series has the words “mastermind” and “madman” with Vince McMahon pulling strings on…Vince McMahon.

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