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Number one contenders matches for NXT title and NXT Women’s title set for next week

By
Colin Vassallo
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The number one contenders for the NXT title and the NXT Women’s title will be decided on next week’s broadcast and the winners will get their title shot at the upcoming No Mercy premium live event.

A triple threat match will determine who will face Ethan Page for the NXT title and the competitors will be Wes Lee, Pete Dunne, and TNA’s Joe Hendry. Hendry appeared on the broadcast last night to interrupt Page but was then taken out by Wes Lee with a superkick.

Meanwhile, a gauntlet match has been set up to see who takes on Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s title. Participating in this match will be six women who never received an NXT Women’s title shot before including Sol Luca, Jaida Parker, Karmen Petrovic, Wren Sinclair, Adriana Rizzo, and Kendal Grey.

NXT No Mercy will take place live from the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on Sunday, September 1.

NXT back on USA Network tonight at 8PM ET

By
Colin Vassallo
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NXT returns to USA Network live tonight at 8PM ET after it spent two weeks airing on SyFy due to the Olympics coverage. Four matches, including two for titles and one for a cup have been announced.

Nathan Frazer and Axiom will defend their NXT Tag Team titles against Chase U while North American champion Oba Femi’s open challenge has been answered by Alpha Academy’s Otis. Plus, Tony D’Angelo defends the NXT Heritage Cup against Charlie Dempsey and Eddy Thorpe takes on Lexis King.

Plus, Wes Lee will be in the house to discuss turning on his tag team partners of The Rascals.

Collision rating for 08/10/2024

By
Colin Vassallo
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Collision last weekend, returning to its usual time slot, drew 370,000 viewers, up 181,000 viewers from the prior week which aired against the SummerSlam pre-show at 5PM. This was the second least-watched episode ever of Collision in its regular time slot. In 18-49 the show had a 0.11 rating, up 0.04 from the prior week. (Ratings credit: Wrestlenomics)

Randy Orton signs new five-year deal with WWE

By
Colin Vassallo
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Randy Orton is staying with WWE for the foreseeable future as Sean Sapp of Fightful is reporting that The Viper has signed a new five-year deal with the company.

The deal will take Orton to pretty much almost the end of 2029 and would mark a whopping 29 uninterrupted years with WWE once it expires.

His previous deal was signed in 2019.

Orton will be taking on Gunther at the upcoming Bash In Berlin premium live event as he targets his 15th world title in the company. He is a former 10-time WWE champion and four-time World Heavyweight champion.

Mixed tag team match announced for Bash In Berlin

By
Colin Vassallo
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The second match for Bash In Berlin was made official last night during Raw and it’s a highly-anticipated mixed tag team match.

WWE Women’s World champion Liv Morgan will team up with her Daddy Dom to take on former champions Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest. The angle was furthered last night at the start of the show ahead of the Priest vs Carlito match. After the match, Judgment Day attacked Priest but Ripley came for the save and was also about to hit the Riptide on Dom but he was saved by Morgan.

This is the third match announced for the Berlin premium live event so far, with Cody Rhodes vs Kevin Owens for the WWE title, and Gunther vs Randy Orton for the WWE World Heavyweight title.

Rampage rating for 08/09/2024

By
Colin Vassallo
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Rampage

Rampage this past Friday on TNT drew 219,000 viewers, up 10,000 viewers from the previous episode. In 18-49, Rampage had a 0.09 rating, up 0.02 from the prior week. It was the second least-watched episode of Rampage ever, thanks in part to the Olympics coverage. No cable rankings are available. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)

Dakota Kai out with torn meniscus, to undergo surgery

By
Colin Vassallo
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Damage CTRL member Dakota Kai is out injured again, this time with a torn meniscus.

Raw commentator Michael Cole delivered the news yesterday during the show and said she will be undergoing surgery and could be out of action for up to 10 weeks. Kai was written out of TV last week when she was attacked by Deville, Baszler, and Stark.

She is the second Damage CTRL member to be out injured with a knee injury as Asuka has been off television since May.

The Kiwi star tore her ACL in May of last year and also had to undergo injury.

Otis accepts Oba Femi’s open challenge for tonight’s NXT

By
Colin Vassallo
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After a brief face-to-face last night on Raw, Alpha Academy’s Otis has answered Oba Femi’s open challenge for the NXT North American title set for tonight’s broadcast which returns to USA Network.

Before their match against American Made, Oba Femi was shown in the crowd and he and Otis had an interaction before Otis eventually made it to the ring. At that point, Cole reminded viewers that there’s an open challenge for Femi on NXT, a challenge which was accepted by Otis in a digital exclusive after Raw.

Femi laid out the challenge on last week’s NXT Great American Bash. It will be one of the two title matches set for tonight’s broadcast.

Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn interrupt tag match to crown new #1 contenders for their titles

By
Colin Vassallo
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A match to determine the new number one contenders for the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles ended up in a no contest after the current champions – Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn – interfered in the match.

The match featured Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane taking on Zoey Stark and Shayna Baszler and with Sky about to win the match for Damage CTRL, Dawn jumped in to break the pinfall and the champs took out both set of teams. Just moments earlier, Stark went to superkick Sky outside the ring and Sky ducked and instead Stark hit Fyre who was sitting at ringside along with Dawn.

A three-way tag team match seems to be the way forward, with the Bash In Berlin premium live event expected to be the place for it.

Stark, Baszler, and Sonya Deville are now going by the name of The Pure Fusion Collective.

Mark Henry and Candice Michelle appear on Raw

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry and former WWE Diva Candice Michelle were both at Raw last night and shown on camera.

Henry and his son Jacob were sitting at ringside and the former World Heavyweight champion received a big pop from the Texas crowd. Jacob was acknowledged on TV as a WWE NIL athlete, having recently signed a deal. This was Henry’s first WWE TV appearance since 2021 as he joined AEW afterward. He left AEW a few months ago after he decided not to renew his contract.

Meanwhile, Candice Michelle was also shown on screen before the women’s match. The 45-year-old was a big part of the Divas division for five years after she was discovered during the Diva Search contest. Her last WWE on-screen appearance came in 2019 during there Raw Reunion episode.

Smackdown rating for 08/09/2024

By
Colin Vassallo
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The post-SummerSlam Smackdown with the return of Roman Reigns drew 2,269,000 viewers on FOX, up 90,000 viewers from the prior week. Smackdown had a 0.64 rating in 18-49, up 0.04 from the previous episode and was #3 on the chart for the night behind two Olympics broadcasts on NBC. The Olympics dominated Friday night with 12 million viewers. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)

WWE Raw back on USA Network tonight

By
Colin Vassallo
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Raw

With the Olympics now done and dusted, Monday Night Raw will return to USA Network starting from tonight’s broadcast after two weeks airing on SyFy. Raw on SyFy still beat USA Network’s coverage of the Olympic Games when it comes to ratings the past two weeks.

Four matches have been announced, including one for the Intercontinental title which will see Bron Breakker defend his newly-won gold against Sami Zayn in a two-out-of-three falls match. Other matches on tap are Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark vs Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane, The Creed Brothers vs Tozawa and Otis, and Damian Priest vs Carlito.

Rhea Ripley, Randy Orton, and Odyssey Jones will also be on the broadcast as the road to Bash In Berlin continues.

The former Mandy Rose participates at the WBFF Bikini World Championships

By
Colin Vassallo
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Former NXT Women’s champion Mandy Rose, who now goes by the name of Mandy Sacs, participated in the 2024 WBFF Bikini World Championships in Miami this weekend.

She came in second place in the bikini category and third in the wellness category, a culmination of 12 weeks of intensive training.

“It felt really great to step back onstage after 10 years, now at 34 years old I feel even better than I did at 24,” she told TMZ Sports.

Mandy posted several photos and videos from the competition on her Instagram account, receiving nearly 70,000 likes in one day. And if you wonder why, well, you gotta see for yourself!

MJF says backstage altercation with Britt Baker was overly exaggerated

By
Colin Vassallo
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MJF has said that the incident with Britt Baker has been blown way out of proportion online and everyone has co-workers at work that they do not get along with and professional wrestling is no different.

A backstage incident at the 250th episode of Dynamite saw Britt Baker getting suspended after she made some comments about MJF which his girlfriend, Alicia Atout, overheard. What happened afterward is contested by MJF.

“Tell me if this passes the smell test,” the AEW American champion told Cultaholic. “I barge into a woman’s locker room. I scream in the face of an 110-pound woman, and then I physically threaten her by punching a wall in her vicinity…and I don’t get suspended. Does that pass the smell test to you? Almost everything that was written didn’t happen.”

MJF blamed the clickbait English wrestling commentary websites that make money off people like him for exaggerating what happened.

“I can sit here and I can say wrestling is a very competitive sport. It breeds a level of insecurity like no other. However, I can easily put over any talent, regardless of whether or not I like them as a human being.” MJF continued. “I can sit here and I can tell you that Britt Baker vs. Mercedes Mone at Wembley on August 25 is going to be an epic match and we should all be excited to watch it.”

MJF added that he doesn’t have to like all his co-workers and it’s okay, admitting that reading all the online commentary of what supposedly happened was “wild.”

John Cena vows to never come out of retirement once he is done

By
Colin Vassallo
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The saying of “never say never” is often used in professional wrestling, but John Cena is making sure that “never” actually remains like that when he retires.

Speaking to ComicBook.com, former 16-time world champion John Cena said that he will not break his word and come out of retirement once his 2025 farewell tour is done, saying that he values the trust he built with fans over the year and he’s not going to break that.

“There isn’t a check writer with enough money to change my mind,” Cena told Comic Book. “When I hang it up in December, it isn’t something — I don’t want to continue for ego or financial gain. I built a relationship of trust and authenticity over the years with the WWE, and that’s people who think I suck and people who believe in me. They know that I shoot them straight and I’m trustworthy. I mean what I say.”

Cena noted that when he’s done in December 2025, he is done and that is the last time he will ever perform in a wrestling ring.

The former champion said that he will remain a grateful member of the WWE family as an ambassador, wearing a suit and not his usual sorts, baseball cap, wristband, and t-shirt.

“In December 2025, that goes away. And that’s the reason why we’re putting so much equity and emphasis on this farewell tour. Because it truly is the last time for generations — for grandparents and parents and kids to get together in the same time,” he continued.

Cena will kick off his farewell tour with the inaugural Raw on Netflix in January 2025 and will work between 30 and 40 dates throughout the year, culminating in a final match sometime in December.

Daniel Garcia still not signed to new AEW deal

By
Colin Vassallo
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Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Wrestling is reporting through his Select service that AEW star Daniel Garcia has still not signed a new deal and remains off television following the attack from MJF of several weeks ago.

Garcia’s contract is about to expire and while he has a new deal offered, he is taking his time to most likely weigh his options when he is legally able to. Officially, Garcia cannot talk to WWE, or anyone for that matter, as long as he is still under an AEW contract.

The 25-year-old has been signed to AEW since 2021 after a tryout with WWE didn’t result in his hiring.

He could be one of the three stars who are potentially leaving the company along with Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix.

Sidney Akeem makes ROH debut

By
Colin Vassallo
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Sidney Akeem, the man formerly known as Reggie and Scrypts in WWE, made his Ring of Honor debut last night during the television tapings held at the Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

It’s unclear if Akeem has signed with AEW/ROH at this point but he did wrestle against Johnny TV on the show.

Akeem, who signed with WWE in 2020, left the company a few months ago after his contract expired and was not renewed. He made his debut as Carmella’s sommelier first but then was sent to NXT two years later and wrestled under a mask and name Scrypts.

The 31-year-old is a former performer for Cirque du Soleil.

Will Ospreay makes surprise RevPro appearance, goes after MJF

By
Colin Vassallo
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Will Ospreay returned to UK-based RevPro today and came out after MJF successfully defended the AEW American title against Michael Oku in the main event of RevPro’s Summer Sizzler 2024 in London.

MJF came out with an American flag, yellow trunks and boots and red kneecaps, channeling his inner Hulk Hogan as he continues his feud with the Brits.

After the match was over, the champion was about to hit the Tiger Driver on Amira Blair but Will Ospreay’s music hit the speakers to a thunderous ovation from the crowd. Ospreay removed his shirt at the top of the ramp and then ran down for MJF, but MJF bailed out as the fans sang along to Ospreay’s theme.

Ospreay then cut a promo in the ring and promised that he will do whatever it takes to regain the title from MJF at All In.

Triller TV offering combo packs for All In and All Out pay-per-views

By
Colin Vassallo
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Triller TV is offering an AEW All In and All Out pay-per-view pack for those in the United States and internationally.

For those in the U.S., the combo pack will cost $84.99, while those residing internationally will have a much better price of $34.99 if you have the AEW Plus subscription. An AEW Plus subscription is $7.99 per month.

For those in the U.S., All In will have the regular $49.99 price as a standalone pay-per-view while those outside the U.S. will have to pay $24.99 or else $19.99 if you have an AEW Plus subscription.

AEW Plus subscriptions are not available in the United States.

For more information go to TrillerTV.com.

WWE NIL athlete Masai Russel wins Olympic gold medal

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE NIL athlete Masai Russel won her first Olympic gold medal in the 100m hurdles, besting her closest rival by just 0.01 seconds.

Russel has been signed to a NIL deal since 2021 and was part of the inaugural class of the program.

“Huge congrats to inaugural #WWENIL class member Masai Russell on taking home Olympic gold in the 100m hurdles,” wrote WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque on X.

The WWE NIL – Next In Line – program provides a pathway from college athletics to WWE through collaborative partnerships with college athletes from diverse athletic backgrounds. Upon completion of the NIL program, select athletes may earn an exclusive opportunity to be offered a WWE contract.

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