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WrestleMania 42 not coming to Philly after all, Governor’s office issues retraction

By
Colin Vassallo
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The video that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro uploaded where he said that WrestleMania was coming to Philadelphia agin 2026 has been deleted.

His office then issued a retraction via a statement published by several wrestling outlets, confirming that WrestleMania 42 will not be coming to Philadelphia after all.

“This statement was mistaken, and we apologize for the confusion amid all the incredible events Pennsylvania is excited to host in 2026,” the statement read. “While WrestleMania won’t be here in ‘26, we look forward to continuing to work with WWE and wrestling fans all across our Commonwealth to bring more great events to PA in the future.”

WrestleMani XL was hosted in Philadelphia earlier this year and it seemed unlikely that WWE would return to the same host venue and city two years later.

Bash In Berlin results

By
Colin Vassallo
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Here are the results from today’s Bash In Berlin premium live event which took place live from the Uber Arena in Berlin, Germany.

Cody Rhodes defeated Kevin Owens to retain the WWE title; Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill defeated Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn to become the new WWE Women’s Tag Team champions; CM Punk defeated Drew McIntyre in a strap match; Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley defeated Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan; Gunther defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE World Heavyweight title.

Mercedes Mone successfully defends NJPW Strong Women’s title at Capital Collision

By
Colin Vassallo
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Mercedes Mone successfully defended her NJPW Strong Women’s title against Mono Watanabe last night at the NJPW Capital Collision live event which was held in Washington, DC.

Mone vs Watanabe main evented the show and she came out with both the NJPW Strong Women’s title as well as the TBS title she currently holds for AEW. Mone won the match after she hit the Mone Maker and transitioned into the Statement Maker, with Watanabe tapping out.

This was the first time since May 2023 that Mone has wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling where she lost the match against Willow Nightingale in the tournament final to crown the inaugural NJPW Strong Women’s champion. She won the title from Stephanie Vaquer at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view this past June.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro says WrestleMania 42 is taking place in Philly again

By
Colin Vassallo
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In a video posted on X, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro answered a question of if anything cool is happening in Philly for America’s 250th anniversary in 2026.

“So get this, in Philly we got the Major League Baseball All-Star game, we got the FIFA World Cup, we got WrestleMania, we got a little golf action, the PGA Championship and if you go over to Pittsburgh, we got the NFL Draft,” Shapiro said in the video.

WWE has not officially announced where WrestleMania 42 will be taking place but Governor Shapiro has seemingly spilled the beans and that means that WrestleMania returns to Philadelphia just two years after hosting WrestleMania XL.

While it is not uncommon for WWE to return to the same stadium for another WrestleMania, returning after two years is not something that has been done. New Orleans’ Mercedes-Benz Superdome got WrestleMania four years apart in 2014 and 2018 and that was the closest in-between years. WWE held WrestleMania in the same location back-to-back once, in 1988 and 1989 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

WrestleMania XL was at the Lincoln Financial Field earlier this year and was touted as the biggest WrestleMania of all time. It was, financially, the most successful WrestleMania ever, something that Las Vegas is aiming to break next year.

Latest betting odds for Bash In Berlin

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE’s Bash In Berlin is just minutes away and with over 13,000 fans in attendance, the Uber Arena is surely going to be loud!

Not much has changed in terms of betting odds compared to yesterday but we’ll go over each match to give you the latest numbers. Remember, please bet responsibly if you are using real money.

Gunther’s World Heavyweight title reign is surely going to continue as the Austrian star remains firmly in control with his odds at 1/50 to win while Randy Orton is 9/1 for the huge upset.

The Cody Rhodes vs Kevin Owens match for the WWE title shares the exact same odds as the one above, with the champion at 1/50 and favorite to retain and the challenger at 9/1.

CM Punk also remains the favorite heading into tonight’s strap match with his odds at 1/7 while those of Drew McIntyre are at 15/4.

In the mixed tag team match, the team of Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley are favorites with 3/10 odds and The Judgment Day’s Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan are 11/5.

And in the last match, Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill are slight favorites to become the new WWE Women’s Tag Team champions with 7/10 odds while The Unholy Union are 21/20 to keep their gold.

Nikki Garcia confirmed as the victim in the domestic violence arrest of her husband

By
Colin Vassallo
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TMZ reports that it was Nikki Garcia’s husband himself, Artem, who dialed 911 early in the morning to report the domestic violence at his house but then later called again to drop it.

The website obtained the 911 radio dispatch call which said that the reporting party asked for medical assistance but then said that his wife threw shoes at him and he got into an argument with her.

The 911 dispatcher noted that there is a child on scene and he is with his mother and told EMT services to check on the house, but Artem then called again and canceled it. Police still showed up around an hour later and arrested the Dancing With The Stars pro after they found evidence of physical violence on his wife, Nikki.

Nikki Garcia’s representatives were contacted by various media outlets and responded with, “This is a private matter, and Nikki asks for privacy for her and her family at this time.”

Nikki is supposed to host the Netflix live event Chestnut vs Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef on Monday.

JBL makes surprise appearance at TNA Emergence

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE Hall of Famer John “Bradshaw” Layfield showed up at the TNA Emergence show last night and came out following the Iron Man match main event.

JBL walked out slowly sporting a trench coat and cowboy hat, entered the ring and said something in Nic Nemeth’s ear and then walked back out. Nemeth then continued to celebrate his 3-2 win against Josh Alexander.

The former WWE champion accompanied Nemeth to his AAA Mega title match against Alberto El Patron a few weeks ago in Mexico during AAA’s Triplemania show and then showed up at the GCW Homecoming event a week later delivering some clotheslines to Effy.

This was his first time appearing in TNA Wrestling.

[TNA Emergence Spoilers] Surprise appearance
byu/taffe316 inSquaredCircle

Collision to air live head-to-head against Smackdown on September 6

By
Colin Vassallo
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Next week’s episode of AEW Collision will be moved to Friday night and will air head-to-head with WWE Smackdown as the All Out pay-per-view is on a Saturday.

The show, airing live from the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, will also be followed by a live Rampage in its usual 10PM time slot, making Friday night on TNT a three-hour AEW block.

Most AEW pay-per-views will revert to a Saturday night due to the NFL returning, at least until January of next year, so that will mean more Collision vs Smackdown in the future on a more even-playing grounds as both shows will be on cable television.

Smackdown next week is the final broadcast ever on the FOX network as the show moves back to USA Network a few weeks earlier.

Ludwig Kaiser answers LA Knight’s open challenge in his home country

By
Colin Vassallo
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Raw Superstar Ludwig Kaiser answered LA Knight’s open challenge on Smackdown last night for a crack at the United States title.

The German-born star received a thunderous ovation as you can expect from the Berlin crowd and despite Knight being super over, it was Kaiser who was treated as the babyface during the match. Before the match started, Kaiser vowed to change the name of the United States title to the European title if he won, but that was not meant to be as Kaiser lost thanks to a BFT.

Earlier in his promo, Knight was booed when he mentioned the United States title and the capital city of Washington, DC, and made a joke that people don’t have to boo that.

Prior to moving to WWE, Kaiser spent six years working for the German-based wXw as Axel Dieter Jr.

Giovanni Vinci returning to Smackdown next week

By
Colin Vassallo
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Former Imperium member Giovanni Vinci will be making his return to Friday Night Smackdown next week. The promo video hyping up his return aired yesterday on Smackdown from Berlin.

Vinci has not been seen in five months and last wrestled on the April 22 episode of Raw when The New Day defeated him and Ludwig Kaiser in a tag team match. Kaiser then turned on Vinci with a vicious attack, writing him off television.

During the draft, the Italian was moved to Smackdown, moving him from his former Imperium partners who remained on Raw.

Emergence 2024 results

By
Colin Vassallo
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Here are the results from last night’s TNA Emergence show which aired live from the Old Forester’s Paristown Hall in Louisville, Kentucky on TNA+.

Frankie Kazarian defeated Kushida in the pre-show; PCO defeated Shera to retain the TNA Digital Media title in the pre-show; Zachary Wentz defeated Mike Bailey, Hammerstone, Jason Hotch, Laredo Kid, and Riley Osborne in an Ultimate X match to become the new TNA X Division champion; Steve Maclin defeated Eric Young; Jordynne Grace, Dani Luna, and Jody Threat defeated Ash by Elegance, Alisha Edwards, and Masha Slamovich in a six-knockout tag team match; Ace Austin and Chris Bey defeated A. J. Francis and KC Navarro to retain the TNA Tag Team titles; Moose, Brian Myers, JDC, and Eddie Edwards defeated Joe Hendry, Mike Santana, Matt Hardy, and Jeff Hardy in an eight-man tag team match; Nic Nemeth defeated Josh Alexander in a 60-minute Iron Man match to retain the TNA World title.

Bash In Berlin live today on Peacock and WWE Network

By
Colin Vassallo
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Live tonight from the Uber Arena in Berlin, Germany, WWE presents Bash In Berlin on Peacock and WWE Network. The full card is as follows:

Gunther vs Randy Orton for the WWE World Heavyweight title; Cody Rhodes vs Kevin Owens for the Undisputed WWE title; Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn vs Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles; Drew McIntyre vs CM Punk in a strap match; Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley vs Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan in a mixed tag team match.

The premium live event will start at 1PM ET / 10AM PT / and 7PM local time in Central Europe. The Bash in Berlin Countdown starts two hours earlier and airs on WWE.com, Peacock, WWE Network, and WWE social platforms, including YouTube and TikTok.

A press conference headed up by WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque will air immediately following the conclusion of the show.

Early betting odds for Bash In Berlin

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE is back on Peacock and WWE Network tomorrow afternoon with Bash In Berlin.

It’s a fairly small card so we are giving you the early odds for all the matches below and tomorrow morning we will update them with the latest ones. Remember, these odds will likely change.

Cody Rhodes is the overwhelming favorite to retain the Undisputed WWE title with his odds set at 1/50. Kevin Owens is at a very, very distant #2 with 9/1 odds and it’s safe to say that KO will not walk out champion.

Interestingly enough, the same odds as above are attributed to the WWE World Heavyweight title match and champion Gunther is also 1/50 favorite to keep the title and Orton is 9/1.

In the strap match, CM Punk is the big favorite with his odds at 1/7 while those of Drew McIntyre are at 4/1 for him to go 2-0 on Punk.

Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest will walk into Berlin as favorites as their odds are 3/10 compared to those of Liv Morgan and Dom Mysterio who are at 9/4.

New WWE Women’s Tag Team champions are predicted as the team of Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill are the slight favorites with 8/11 odds while The Unholy Union team is 1/1 to retain.

Smackdown preview for 08/30/2024

By
Colin Vassallo
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The Bash In Berlin go-home episode of Smackdown airs tonight on FOX but it will not be a live broadcast as the show has already been taped from Berlin.

Two title matches will be part of tonight’s broadcast including LA Knight defending his United States title in an open challenge, Baron Corbin and Apollo Crews team up to go against Angel and Berto of Legado del Fantasma, Andrade vs Carmelo Hayes, and a street fight for the WWE Women’s title with Nia Jax vs Michin.

Also, Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens have a face-to-face segment ahead of their match tomorrow night.

Emergence 2024 live on TNA+ tonight

By
Colin Vassallo
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Live tonight from Old Forester’s Paristown Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, TNA Wrestling presents Emergence exclusively on TNA+. The full card is as follows:

Nic Nemeth vs Josh Alexander in a 60-minute Iron Man match for the TNA World title; Mike Bailey vs Zachary Wentz vs Riley Osborne vs Jason Hotch vs Hammerstone vs Laredo Kid in an Ultimate X match for the TNA X Division title; Joe Hendry, Mike Santana, Matt Hardy, and Jeff Hardy vs Moose, Eddie Edwards, Brian Myers, and JDC in an eight-man tag team match; Jordynne Grace, Dani Luna and Jody Threat vs Ash by Elegance, Alisha Edwards, and Masha Slamovich in a six-knockout tag team match; Steve Maclin vs Eric Young; Kushida vs Frankie Kazarian in the pre-show; and PCO vs mystery opponent for the TNA Digital Media title in the pre-show.

A TNA+ subscription is required to watch the show starting at 8PM ET. A subscription is $9.99 a month and you can cancel at any time.

WWE begins two-night stay in Berlin

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE kicks off its two-night stay in Berlin today with Friday Night Smackdown and Bash In Berlin tomorrow, both shows at the Uber Arena.

The two events, surprisingly and not, are not sold out yet, with Smackdown nearing 11,800 tickets and Bash at just under 13,000. Bash should be able to sell out by tomorrow as the arena is configured for just over 13,300 seats.

The cheapest tickets remaining for tomorrow’s premium live event are priced €480.50 and the most expensive is currently on the floor at €796. Smackdown tickets are not being sold online anymore since the show is literally going on at time of this publication.

Bash In Berlin could very well break the record of the highest grossing arena event in WWE history as the prices of the tickets were extraordinarily high and the bulk of them were sold at those high prices.

WWE is also running a store next to the arena with tons of merchandise available for sale. It’s open until tomorrow night.

AEW announces tapings of Battle of the Belts XII for October 17

By
Colin Vassallo
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Battle of the Belts

Fans attending the October 17 taping of Collision will get to enjoy an extra hour of action as the Battle of the Belts XII event will be taping immediately following the conclusion of Collision.

This show will be taking place from the Adventist Health Arena in Stockton, California.

It’s a Thursday night taping so neither Collision nor BOTB will be live, and they will both air on October 19. The night before, Dynamite will be held close by in San Jose at the SAP Center so this will be part of back-to-back TV tapings.

Tickets for the show will go on sale on September 6.

More details on the arrest of Nikki Garcia’s husband Artem Chigvintsev

By
Colin Vassallo
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TMZ had an update on the arrest of Artem Chigvintsev, the husband of WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Garcia.

According to the Napa County Sheriff’s office, deputies responded to a domestic violence call in the town of Yountville before 10AM yesterday. Chigvintsev was arrested at the scene as there were injuries visible on the victim.

The Sheriff’s office also said that the victim in this case has asked for confidentiality although the report said that he was arrested for “felony corporal injury to spouse or cohabitant.”

An earlier TMZ update stated that someone from the house that Artem and Nikki share called 911 for a medical emergency around 8:30AM but as paramedics and fire department were on the way, another call from the same house came in to cancel the request. The first responders turned around as requested and did not show up at the house.

Public records show that Chigvintsev was booked in jail at 10:40AM, 41 minutes after law enforcement officials responded to the call. The 42-year-old had a $25,000 bail, which was posted at 2:18PM yesterday so he spent just over 3 hours locked up.

The couple, who live in Napa Valley, have been married since 2022 and have a four-year-old son together.

Nikki is supposed to co-host a Netflix live event on Monday.

Dynamite rating for 08/28/2024

By
Colin Vassallo
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Dynamite logo

The post-All In Dynamite this week drew 691,000 viewers, down just 7,000 viewers from the prior week, experiencing no bump from the pay-per-view. The show had a 0.22 rating in 18-49, down 0.02 from the previous episode but still was #1 on the top 50 cable chart for the day. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)

Nikki Cross signs new mutli-year deal with WWE

By
Colin Vassallo
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Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Wrestling is reporting that Nikki Cross has signed a new multi-year deal with WWE.

Cross is now a member of the Wyatt Sicks faction after she was unused for several months. In fact, Cross has not wrestled on television since the November 2023 episode of Raw and prior to that most of her appearances were on Main Event.

The Scottish star is now portraying the role of Sister Abigail but has yet to wrestle under that gimmick.

The 35-year-old has been working for WWE since 2016 and is a former Raw, Tag Team, and 24/7 champion as well as the 2021 Money in the Bank winner.

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