The Money In The Bank store will open for business this morning in Toronto.
Located at the REC Room, the MITB store will have the largest collection of Money in the Bank merchandise under one roof with exclusive merchandise, replica championship titles, Superstar apparel, signed memorabilia, collectibles, mini-titles and so much more!
The WWE Money in the Bank Store is a Fanatics experience and will be free and open to the public.
The REC Room is located at 255 Bremner Blvd and will open today from 10AM to 8PM, tomorrow and Saturday from 10AM to Midnight, and Sunday from 10AM to 7PM.
Renee met us backstage to hype the show and brought in ‘the backbone of AEW,’ Daniel Garcia.
She asked him about pressure. He said it’s the most important night of his life. ‘Respect…respect…respect…’ for Ospreay. Garcia said he ‘put it on his mother’s life’ that he’ll win. MJF came in and said that’s the right attitude. Got a huge pop. He offered to be in Garcia’s corner.
Yesss! He’s going back heel! Thank the gods!
Menard said MJF was alright with him after the past few weeks.
Vomited a lil at the ‘backbone’ comment. This is some Rocky Maivia ’97 ish. But will exchange that for heel MJF.
PAC vs Bryan Danielson
Backstory: Winner advances to Owen final
‘Holy S’ chant before this got started. Good crowd by AEW standards. Tentative start with cagey grapples and circling. Danielson takedown, Pac right out, both back up, reset. Pac armdrag and twist, Danielson trying to block, trying to pivot; Pac forcing him to the mat with wrist control.
BD back up, rolling through, bridging back, pivoting round to snap Pac’s arm across his shoulder then force him to the mat. Pac front flipped to escape, armdrag exchange, Pac got two after a trip, flipping to avoid Danielson’s attempt: BD on his knees, Pac his feet, fans clapping.
Start again – dueling chant – stiff grapple, Danielson forced to the corner and nailed with a chop. Firing back with stinging ones, Pac handspringing out to avoid a corner attack, BD flipped off the buckle to avoid Pac, both crashed thinking cross body.
Super start.
Danielson feeling his neck as they got up, exchange of strikes: lifters and forearms till Danielson hit the mat. Ref checking as Pac swarmed in and was forced away but raced back to nail a boot sending Danielson outside. Following with a gorgeous Asai. Big reaction from the crowd.
Rushing back in to apply the Brutalizer, Danielson got the break with his feet.
Ads.
Pac nailing yes! kicks to a downed Danielson. BD landed on his feet out of a German, missed much of what came next cause Tony was blathering about a Tony Khan announcement. Both down, fans chanting ‘A-E-Dub.’ Danielson got revenge with yes! kicks against the ropes, Pac bailed outside to avoid the roundhouse but couldn’t avoid a diving knee attack off the apron.
Pac now sat in a ringside chair but popping up to nail a thrust kick as Danielson raced at him. Pac atop the barricade, picture perfect diving elbow, BD thrown inside, springboard elbow this time from Pac, Danielson wobbly, hauled into a tombstone for two. Two more quick pins getting the same result, Pac frustrated.
Complaining to the ref and turning into a LeBell, dead center. As Danielson had earlier, Pac got the ropes with his feet. Kicks and chops in the corner now, Pac followed out with an elbow strike, Danielson returned the favor with his running leg lariat, BD to the apron, to the top, holding his neck, shotgun coming, cut off.
The Geordie seeking a superplex from the very top, almost a brainbuster, which is what Excalibur called it. Pool empty on a Black Arrow, Danielson firing up, crowd with him, hauling himself up in the corner, busaiku out but the vet too spent to make the cover.
Finally crawling over, one leg hooked, ref at two when Pac transitioned into a Brutalizer, tilting his weight to synch it, Danielson countering his weight back to break it, rolling through to a LeBell, exchange of cradles until Danielson bagged three.
Better than anything on Sunday sans the main event and one of the best tv clashes this year. Very hard to complain after such a tremendous match. But would it kill AEW to have strong wins in this? The doc was checking on Danielson afterward.
Winner: Bryan Danielson
Renee with Willow. Who looked very sad. She said ‘nothing matters, smile anyway.’ Those are the words she lives by. Life can be so miserable. So you have to look on the bright side. She does that for her and for all the fans.
But Stokely and Stat mock her cause they don’t understand and don’t try to. But ‘smile anyway’ is for anyone who works hard and never gets appreciation. For her friend battling depression. For the little girl who wanted to be a wrestler, got knocked down but got back up again. And became TBS champ.
And she’s going to kick down that door and be a two-time Owen winner and go to Wembley and become a two-time champion. And now she’s about to go to the ring and kick Stat’s butt.
God damn, that was incredible. Goosebumps. Nice changes of cadence and emotion… if this woman’s losing here, they’d better have something for her for Wembley. She’s the best all-rounder in the division at the moment. And one of the best in the company.
Ads. Great start to the show.
*****
TNT ladder match package. Highlighting Jack Perry’s win.
*****
Mark Briscoe in the ring. ‘Dem Boyz’ chant. They call him chicken, but he ain’t scared of shit (bleeped). He came within inches of winning the title but Jack Perry must’ve shoved a horse shoe up his ass so he got lucky and snatched the win.
But that was last week and this week is Shark Week. Which makes him think of blood. And Blood & Guts. He’s the first member of ‘Team AEW.’ (This was Tony Khan’s announcement.) He said the Elite didn’t know what violence is. As Jack Perry attacked from behind with his belt.
Big heat. Though no Punk chants.
Kyle O’Reilly came in and walloped him till Okada laid him out via Rainmaker. Perry the opportunist then rained blows on a downed Kyle.
The Bucks came out too. More loud boos. Still no Punk chants. They laid Briscoe out with an EVP trigger. And all four posed with their gold. Apparently the Acclaimed were happy to let their teammates get walloped if it maximized their entrance. So they finally came out to their music.
And the Elite left through the crowd. Outside of Briscoe, that’s a lame ass team. Though presumably Swerve will get involved later. Excalibur wondered who the Elite’s fifth would be.
*****
Toni Storm and Mariah backstage. Mariah was on Toni’s bosom. Renee asked her about facing Shida Friday in the Owen. Toni said Shida was dangerous but nothing can stop Mariah. This was badly mic’d so the crowd were louder than most of it.
Mariah did Toni’s jammed-in closing line.
Btw, no need to worry about her head, glass bottles being broken over them are meaningless. As they have been in many badly booked wrestling companies throughout history.
Kris Statlander vs Willow Nightingale
Backstory: First meeting since Stat turned on her former friend; winner advances to Owen semis
Flat reaction for Stat, not so for Willow, who Stat met on the ramp. Till Willow pounced her down it. Loud chants for Nightingale as she rammed Stat’s head into the apron. Snap suplex outside.
Good crowd tonight.
Willow threw her in, bell rang, she went for a cover, got two. Then clubbed Stat across the back and rammed her to the buckle. Until an eye rake led to Statlander leaping back at her from the middle rope. Not the smoothest.
Ads.
Stat pulled Willow to the apron, the latter hit rights till Stat ducked and tried a German, Willow landing an elbow to drop her former friend to the ringside mats. Stokely came to check on her, Willow went to cannonball him, he moved and she hit Stat. Then a middle buckle shotgun back inside. For two.
She went for Babe with the Powerbomb, Stat fought it off to hit an armwringer thrust kick then an axe kick, the whole sequence a la Booker T except for the execution. Stat tried to go upstairs and was hauled off via German from the middle. Crowd behind Willow as she climbed the ropes but was herself caught via bootwash, into Wednesday Night Fever position. Willow rolled through, each got two counts.
Stat fought out of a dvd and hit an F5 for a near fall. As Stokely put a chain in the corner. Willow was distracted by Stokely getting on the apron but ducked Statlander’s attack from behind. Managing to roll her up to win after she nearly crashed into her manager.
So that’s back-to-back cradle finishes in matches between ‘names.’ Brave booking. Not much of a match. Crispness and fluidity present in the women’s efforts Sunday lacking here.
Might Willow be facing Toni as they delay May/Storm’s split?
Winner: Willow Nightingale
Renee with Jarrett and the other goons. She asked a question and he just left. Lethal said Jeff’s never been more prepared.
Hangman! Hangman! Hangman!
*****
Schiavone in the ring to bring out Britt. Whose pop didn’t get near Sunday’s but that’s a high bar. She had a big hug with her ‘old friend Schiavone, key word: old,’ as Taz noted.
Crowd chanted ‘welcome back.’ She said she’d missed the fans and had overthought what she was going to say. So she’s just going to talk about three things we all have. A past, a present and a future.
The past is our lesson, present is a gift and the future is our motivation. Re: the past, for the last ten months people have been wondering where she was. The answer was she was injured. But Britt said that wasn’t totally the case. She was banged up but that wasn’t all of it. She was running on empty.
She’d kept looking in the mirror and telling herself she was ‘good.’ Until one day, she started feeling really sick and the room started spinning and her right arm was numb. But she looked herself in the mirror and said ‘I’m good.’ She tried to open water and couldn’t because her whole right side shut down.
She spent a week in hospital. And what happened was a major warning sign for a stroke. And she finally looked in the mirror and admitted she wasn’t ‘good.’ She needed to get herself together. And asked for time off.
Re: the present. She’s here, cleared and healthy. But she was never more nervous than she’s been before Sunday. She’d never doubted herself more. She didn’t know if people would give a damn about her returning. We’ve all felt the fear of rejection. And Sunday when she needed wrestling, AEW, the fans, she was welcomed back with open arms.
So she’s always there for us because ‘at the end of the day I’m one of you.’
Re: the future. When you are going through a hard time, go through that shit. It’ll be better when we get to the other side. ‘We all possess the impulse to be Elite.’ And speaking of Elite, she heard there’s a new female face of AEW. And winning Sunday must have felt really good after having been here the whole time and having helped build the company.
And Mone must also have worked very hard to earn the letters ‘CEO,’ the way she did her doctorate. And it must be so gratifying to push fans into chanting those letters by piping them through speakers. She said we all know the only three letters are ‘D-M-D.’
A horn blared and Mercedes arrived outside, stepping out of a car. The Bucks were there to welcome and congratulate her and say her championship celebration was ready. She continued inside; the Bucks told the guys to get everything ready.
Mone came out to have her celebration. All while Britt remained in the ring. Guys brought out balloons and stuff as Britt looked on. She remained in the ring as Mone went into it. She’s dressed in black today, in case fraternizing with the Bucks didn’t make things clear.
She danced as usual. Decent number of boos. Then a loud ‘DMD’ chant. As Britt smiled.
Mone took a mic and said ‘…oops, did I interrupt?’ She said it’s time to celebrate with the crowd’s double champion. Britt said she gets it. She outshone Mone Sunday so now Mone’s trying to do it back. Mone said she made the Forbidden Door ppv famous.
‘STFU!’ Loud.
Mone said she wants Britt to get a good look at what a real star looks like. Britt said two words: ‘All In.’ She wrestled at the first one right here in Chicago. Was the first female to go All In by signing an AEW contract. She wrestled at All In last year while Mone was ‘looking like a broke bitch with a broken leg’ in the stands. So wants to face Mone at All In.
Mone face-palmed Britt. Called her ‘bitch’ and said she needs to go to the back of the line. Britt called her a ‘bitch’ again. Mone did her ‘price to pay’ line and posed with her belt.
The idea was good. But this never properly grabbed me. Britt didn’t really have the crowd with her during her promo, which also had a good idea behind it but was a little meandering. And one ‘bitch’ is bad enough, but three? In a feud that’s just starting? Then it just kind of ended.
Though at least Mone was clearly a heel here.
*****
They finally remembered there’d been a world title match Sunday, showing Ospreay not using the screwdriver and eventually losing. ‘Ospreay’s undoing,’ per Excal.
Renee with Will and Kyle Fletcher.
She asked how he was. Callis interrupted, Ospreay asked Renee to give them a minute. Then said Callis doesn’t have to say anything. It’s his fault, he couldn’t bring himself to hit the tiger driver. He doesn’t think he’s that guy anymore.
Callis gave him Kenny and Jericho last summer, which helped his career, so Ospreay owes him. But now he wants out of the Family.
Callis said he’s not normally in the habit of letting people out of signed agreements. But he’s so proud of Ospreay that he’ll do him the favor. And maybe one day he’ll ask Ospreay for a favor back. Ospreay said no probs. They hugged.
Callis’ face betrayed him when they did. He told Fletcher to come with him. To emphasize that Ospreay had left the group.
At least they tried to explain why Will stayed with uber heel Callis so long. Btw, where’s Swerve? We’re an hour in.
*****
Jericho out. They replayed Hook beating him with a Judas Effect Sunday. Thankfully I gave that one a miss.
Jericho said he’d come down to guest commentate ‘cause he has to have his tv time. He said Hook broke a cardinal rule of wrestling when he ‘stole someone’s finish. That doesn’t work for me brother.’
Then said Taz had stood and clapped like a mark. When he’s supposed to be impartial. So he spoke to the Bucks and has an ‘executive order’ removing Taz for the rest of the show (from the arena too). Crowd booed.
Please tell me that doesn’t mean we’re getting Jericho for the next fifty mins?
Schiavone said this was BS, course Taz would cheer, ‘it’s the man’s son.’
Brian Cage & Gates of Agony vs Samoa Joe, Hook & Katsuyori Shibata
Backstory: NONE
Jericho said Schiavone’s been in the business since the 50s so should understand stealing someone’s finish is a no-no. Have to admit, laughed at that.
Joe and Toa to start, Leona landed a back elbow then hit rights in the ropes. Crowd has flattened out after a long, flat pair of segments. Shibata in with a flurry of forearms to Cage in the corner. The big guy popped up with a shoulder block, Shibata leg tripped him to the mat then dragged him back to tag Hook.
Who was driven to the heel corner where Kaun came in. Lariat in the corner. Cutter across the top rope. Pump kick off.
Ads. As usual, a pushed act is selling way too much for a bunch of losers.
Shibata grabbed a sleeper on Leona then sent him out and tagged Hook. Kaun in too, he nailed an elbow strike and took out all three heels with strikes and throws. Leona distracted Hook and Kaun hit a lungblower.
Joe broke a pin attempt but was blocked from a tope by a Leona pounce. Cage nailed Shibata, he and Hook left in the ring. Hook countered into a ddt and tagged Joe. Snap powerslam to Kaun, STJoe to Leona, Manhattan drop to Cage, all three faces in, corner attacks leading to Shibata’s hanging dropkick.
Hook and Shibata suplexed Leona into a Joe splash. Btw, Jericho’s just saying very obvious things like ‘ddt!’ and ‘he made the save!’ The faces all countered suplexes into chokes to win a match which would’ve been much better with half the time. Crowd into the face act though.
Jericho stood and clapped; the faces are dumb so his goons attacked from behind. Keith took off his sling and nailed Shibata with a chair. The announcers said there was never anything wrong with his arm. He Pillmanized Shibata’s arm. The heels continued to attack with chairs.
A ‘please retire’ chant started as Jericho nailed Hook with a knuckle duster. Crowd booed; droning boos, this wasn’t heat.
Will this feud never end? The faces are fun but not if they’re facing these guys again.
Jesus and we’re still not done. They got a table ready and Bill chokeslammed Hook through it. So that’s a broken arm, a knuckle duster and a table in like ninety seconds.
Winner: Samoa Joe, Hook & Katsuyori Shibata
Ads. Show’s gone downhill since Willow’s win.
Jeff Jarrett vs Hangman Adam Page
Backstory: the Elite entered their ‘wild card’ last week; Jarrett’s vowed to win for his ‘best friend’ Owen and advance to the semis
Jarrett came out and despite the schmulzy crap, didn’t get much of a response. Almost like he was a massive heel and his character didn’t change.
They haven’t spent much time pushing who the mystery man will be tonight. Seems like Hangman judging by a cowboy-ish video. Yep, new heel music. In a continuing issue for AEW, fans cheered and chanted ‘cowboy shit!’
Those chants continued as the bell rang.
They locked up, Page sent Jarrett flying back to his corner. They did so again, Page backed him to the corner. Then launched a right. Jarrett tried to hit back but was knocked on his ass. The announcers said Page was using cheapshots.
Jarrett hit his thing where he sits on someone in the middle rope, Page no sold and nailed him with a lariat. Fallaway, Jarrett ending up on the apron. Page’s face has been fixed in a growl all match. As the announcers pointed out.
Page powerbombed him against the apron (very carefully). Then rammed his head into the steps. Very weakly.
Ads. Seems like AEW have misjudged their audience again. They expected sympathetic babyface Jarrett to generate a ton of heat for bully Page. But fans are either indifferent or chanting for Hangman.
Back to Page down on the apron, exchange of rights, weak yay/boo till Page bit Jarrett. Jarrett slipped out of a dead eye and hit a Stroke on the apron. Which did draw a reaction.
Both down outside, Aubrey at six before they stirred. Jarrett in first, Hangman at close to ten. Jarrett tried to fire the crowd up then hit rights and lefts and a Russian legsweep. Page countered the figure four but took an enziguri.
Page blocked a Stroke, Jarrett rolled through dead eye again and looked for a sharpshooter. Page hit rights to escape then got dead eye.
A ‘Whose house!?’ chant started, the first real noise in a while, as Schiavone said it’d be nice if they chanted for Jeff. Page thought Buckshot but wandered back in to the ring and was shoved back out. Seemed Jarrett forgot what they were doing or wasn’t in the right place. He countered a Buckshot into a sharpshooter. Which did get a big reaction.
Page got the ropes. Right as Page hit a Buckshot but rained punches instead of a pin. He just about got Jarrett up for another dead eye. Then pinned him.
Well, we passed the ‘return with impact’ point a good few minutes ago. A returning ex-champ you wanted to portray as a badass wouldn’t take this long with an old loser. Page faces Jay White Saturday. So White is yet another guy who has turned without turning. Jarrett was dead and Karen checked on him as we raced away to another attack.
Winner: Adam Page
Backstage. Jericho is doing his stupid fireball gimmick again. As they attacked Hook. Again. Chairs, broken arms, brass knucks, tables and now fire. You can almost see them going down a list of ideas to try to get fans to care.
*****
Renee with Page. The Bucks rushed in and hugged him and stuff and said he could thank them any time he wanted. They said they’d continue scratching his back if he scratched theirs. They need a fifth for B&G.
Page grabbed Matt by the jacket and said he’s not their puppet or the Elite’s man and doesn’t need any more of their bullshit (bleeped) games. He said he’s in the Owen and is going to win. Then shoved Matt as Nick said that was embarrassing and told the camera to cut.
****
MJF came out to another big pop before Disco Daniel came out to gyrate on the ramp. Excalibur said his only losses were to Christian and some champion. Almost as if he beats a bunch of nobodies and loses when he faces names. Like 80% of the roster.
Ospreay got a huge pop as usual.
Will Ospreay vs Daniel Garcia (International Title)
Backstory: Ospreay offered him the match last week, upstaging MJF
Big cheer as the bell rang. They grappled to a rope break. Where the hell is the world champion!!!???
Ospreay knocked Garcia down with a shoulder, Garcia hit back with a mare and weak kick to the spine. Then was sent flying across the ring with a big chop. MJF gave him a pep talk. Ospreay telegraphed a back body and Garcia hit a hip toss, they grappled to the mat, Ospreay tried to kip up and was caught into a low piledriver.
Garcia took him to the corner, shots to the gut, cravate, dropkick, as fans chanted for Will. Not much reaction for DD. Some fans tried to start a chant and it quickly died. He hit a lariat in the corner then aimed ten punches. But Ospreay slipped under after three to hit Nando’s. Then his vaulting press to the outside. Max stepped in front and they eyed one another before MJF backed up. Garcia tossed back in.
Ads.
Ospreay hit a chop in the corner, another, Garcia plummeting into the middle rope. Btw, no update on Hook getting his face burnt off. Garcia fired up but Ospreay rushed out of the corner with a boot. Garcia no sold this too and hit two neckbreakers and a ddt when he ducked a rushing Ospreay. Then the third neckbreaker for two.
Fans again tried to start a chant for him.
Ospreay hit an AJ forearm for a near fall. Before hooking the arms, Garcia fought free, Ospreay hit Kawada kicks, Garcia backed up, Ospreay offered his own head for Kawada kicks but Garcia did his devastating dancing dick to the face instead. Twice. In a match where he could win a title.
Ospreay nailed a Spanish fly in response. Garcia hit back for two. Ospreay hooked the legs to counter a rana for two, then hit a step up enziguri, then his floatover into a powerbomb for two right back up into a Styles clash. For two. Just unbelievably fast and smooth. Crowd ‘oohing’ at every move.
Garcia climbed his back into a sleeper then lowered himself into a front chancery but was thrown off face first. He blocked a stormbreaker, Ospreay blocked Red Cross, Garcia caught an Oscutter into a piledriver for a near fall.
MJF put his ring down for Garcia to use. Garcia picked it up and looked at it like he’d never seen metal before so was rolled up for a bunch of twos but popped up to hit a lariat. MJF again tried to get him to use the ring. Garcia looked at it again. Then handed it back.
And was nailed with a Hidden Blade. AEW: where the best wrestle to cradle or distraction finishes.
Probably good but I wasn’t at all invested: you may have picked up the subtle message that I’m less than uninterested in Garcia, and the outcome was so very obvious.
Garcia was literally crying in the corner so Ospreay called for Ginuwine’s ‘Pony’ over the PA to cheer him up. Or offered some words of encouragement. Will let you decide. Excalibur put over Garcia’s youth and said there’d be other opportunities.
Leaving Garcia and MJF. Max told him that the loss was his fault, not Garcia’s. Then held his arm up and hugged him. Then kicked him in the nuts. And I audibly cheered. He set his face to ‘heel,’ took out his ring and loaded it.
Nailing Menard who ran out to help. He spat on Garcia, yelled for him to get up then knocked his ass out so the only dancing was those little birds you see in cartoons when someone’s KO’d.
The announcers called him despicable. Good amount of boos but also chants of ‘he’s our scumbag.’ AEW have a real problem getting heels booed. He fought off security (who showed no interest in the million other attacks tonight), then continued pounding on Garcia, who was bleeding from the head.
Then took him upstairs for a tombstone from the middle rope. Chris Daniels was out and begged him not to. But he did it anyway. Ospreay finally came back out and Max bailed through the crowd, getting into spats the whole way, even going head to head with a fan.
Garcia was being strapped to a board. Ospreay was pissed. Might be argued a stretcher job and someone getting their face burnt off on the same show is too much. But then again, it does mean I don’t have to see Garcia for a while…
Where in the blue hell was the world champion!!?? He finally, finally, gets some momentum with a win over another top guy and they don’t mention him all night!? If dude genuinely can’t make the show, it needs to be a big deal, he’s the damn champ. If it’s a personal matter, we don’t need to be told what it is, just that he’s not here. But it needs to matter
Poor job pushing the mystery of the Wild Card, as usual
Britt/Mercedes, for the reasons mentioned previously
After such a strong start the show nose-dived into nothing matches, a whole lot of Jericho and too many extreme angles for a single show, especially when Mariah May having a glass bottle broken over her head last week proved meaningless
Which is possibly why it’s so hard for heels to get booed
Appreciate you reading. Hope you’re having a good week.
The Forbidden Door fallout will take place tonight on Dynamite: Beach Break live from the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois presented by Shark Week.
Ticket sales picked up a bit over the past few days and the show is now at just over 4,600 tickets distributed according to @WrestleTix, and has a chance of surpassing last year’s Dynamite in the same location on Thanksgiving Eve which had 5,066 in the venue.
Three Owen Hart Cup tournament matches will take place, with Kris Statlander vs Willow Nightingale, PAC vs Bryan Danielson, and Jeff Jarrett vs the tournament wild card.
Plus, Will Ospreay takes on Daniel Garcia with the AEW International title on the line, Mercedes Mone will have her double championship celebration, and Britt Baker returns!
Monday Night Raw this week drew 1,878,000 viewers, up 64,000 viewers from the prior week and the third week in a row that viewership increased from the previous episode. This was the most-watched episode of Raw since the Raw after Mania in April.
Hourly numbers are not available as of press time, with cable ratings information being very hard to find for the past few weeks.
The show drew a 0.62 rating in 18-49 demo, up 0.01 from the prior week. No cable chart info is available. (Ratings credit: PWTorch)
During a recent interview with The A Show on RNC RADIO, NXT North American champion Oba Femi named Moose as his ideal opponent if he ever makes it on TNA television as part of this fledging partnership between the two wrestling promotions.
The TNA champion took note of the interview, and said he would take him down.
“Ok @Obaofwwe my Nigerian brother,” Moose wrote on X. “Get your boss @ShawnMichaels the chef to call My Boss and I’ll gladly take down NXT’s juggernaut.”
NXT stars will be part of the upcoming Impact television shows following their involvement in the tapings last week. The partnership will continue through Slammiversary, the next TNA pay-per-view later this month.
TKO smashed through its all-time high on Wall Street today, reaching over $112 at time of this writing.
TKO, which traded under the symbol WWE before, had a high of $110 which they reached on August 1, 2023. Stocks went down to $77 in December but then started an ascent since then, reaching the all-time high point today.
The current share price gives the company a market cap of $18.76 billion and shares rose almost 40% since the start of 2024.
This week’s WWE on A&E block had one episode of Biography focusing on former WCW and WWF Tag Team champions The Steiner Brothers.
The episode drew 221,000 viewers, down 8,000 viewers from the RVD episode. It had a 0.03 rating in 18-49, down 0.04 from the previous episode. (Ratings credit: Wrestling Observer)
TNA Wrestling has teamed up with La Belle & La Boeuf Burger Bar in Montreal to create The PCO Burger ahead of Slammiversary.
The PCO Burger is available only at La Belle & La Boeuf Promenades Saint Bruno and all participating franchises to celebrate for a limited time only.
The 56-year-old Pierre Carl Ouellet is from the area and is being used for marketing as well to promote the show.
TNA will be in Montreal for Slammiversary on July 20 with the show held at Verdun Auditorium and the biggest TNA attendance in many years is expected at the 4,000-seater arena.
The Forbidden Door go-home episode of Collision drew 422,000 viewers on Saturday, down slightly by 7,000 viewers from the prior week. The show had a 0.12 rating in 18-49, down 0.02 from the previous episode. No cable rankings are available as of press time. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
Olympic gold medalist Tamyra Mensah-Stock will be making her TV debut this week as part of the next episode of NXT Level Up.
Wrestling under her new name of Tyra Mae Steele, the Olympian taped a match against Wren Sinclair. It follows her NXT in-ring debut from late March where she wrestled Breanna Covington in her first match in front of a crowd at an NXT non-televised live event.
Mensah-Stock, 30, became the first black female athlete to win a gold medal in the women’s freeystyle wrestling at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. She signed with WWE two years later and has been under a developmental deal ever since.
Level Up airs on Fridays at 10PM ET on Peacock and WWE Network internationally.
In a 35-minute interview with HOT 97 in New York, AEW TBS and NJPW Strong Women’s champion Mercedes Mone said that Tony Khan saw her as “the best women’s wrestler of all time.”
Mone said she’s thankful for AEW and for “such a beautiful boss and leader” in Tony Khan who saw her for who she is – the best of all time.
“He worked endless amount of years to try to get me and to get me down. He finally got me,” Mone said. “The numbers were right, the conversations were right, the alignment was right, and the goals were aligned. That’s the biggest thing.”
The champ champ revealed that signing a big money deal wasn’t just about her, but for her family too. She said she financially supports her special needs brother and her mother and spent nearly two years without a stable income, although she did have a stream of income from other opportunities.
“I wanted the goals of what his mission was for AEW and the women’s wrestling in AEW. And I wanted him to know how much I care and how much I want to bring to women’s wrestling here in AEW. And the alignment was just there,” she continued. “And now here we are making magic!”
Talking about walking away from WWE in May 2022, Mone said that something did not feel right that day and the way she and Naomi were talked to, “didn’t settle in my heart.”
She said that if she didn’t take control of her life right there, she was not going to be happy by having someone talk to her like that and make her feel like she doesn’t belong.
Mone added that she loves WWE and it was always her dream to wrestle there but it was time to walk away.
The Scotiabank Arena in Toronto is just under 1,000 seats shy of a complete sell out for this weekend’s Money In The Bank premium live event.
According to @WrestleTix, WWE has moved a total of 16,896 seats so far, with the arena set up for 17,893.
The bulk of the available seats are floor ones, with the majority of the floor remaining unsold due to the high prices. Two sections on the hard cam side were also recently opened.
Floor seats start at $397.75 CA and go up to over $2,000 CA for ringside. WWE is not using a stage for this weekend so it’s pretty much a 360 degree use of the arena.
WWE is also hosting Smackdown and NXT Heatwave in the same arena a day before and a day after MITB.
A fantastic pay-per-view. My favorite since at least All Out ’23. Let’s get the bad out the way then get to the good.
Khans
Heat/Investment/Engagement
As we’ll get to later, the matches AEW really put booking effort into bore fruit. As for much of the rest, an ongoing issue is fans watching and enjoying without being particularly engaged.
Which might be enough for the core audience. But heated feuds are what draws a wider fanbase. And are largely missing from AEW.
Takeshita & Okada’s Booking
Kazuchika Okada again had to use every trick in the book to get booed. But that’s not even close to the problem. A guy who got one of the biggest reactions on the show without even trying, who then pretends to DJ like a total goof, is.
Crossed the line from funny to corny.
While Konosuke Takeshita smashed a bunch of babyfaces and was left alone in the ring. And fans cheered the prospect of him climbing the ladder. If anyone but Mark Briscoe had cut him off they’d have been booed out of the building. Even Excalibur was forced to acknowledge the crowd support.
Not only are these examples of mis-use, they’re further examples of the crowd being detached from the booking. We don’t care how you’ve positioned these guys, we like them.
Mercedes Mone
Then there’s the reverse problem.
A sign in the aisle read, ‘Mercedes Mo-meh.’ But even that didn’t prepare us for what was to come. As we’ll get to below, Stephanie Vaquer had a hell of a showing. And about half-way through the match she started slamming Mercedes’ head into the mat. And fans cheered. Loudly. Then came chants of ‘Ste-pha-nie!’ Then Mercedes was booed applying a crossface; Vaquer cheered when she broke out.
Then… ‘F*** the Celtics… F*** the Celtics…’
As the announcers, who’d again been forced to acknowledge the crowd, tried to explain it away as an NY/Boston thing. Which a small part of it was. But most of it was Mercedes stopping to dance and floss. While Stephanie just wrestled. Very well.
Zack/Orange
Dull, not helped by the crowd not caring.
Moxley/Naito
‘Spitting, stalling, posing, back rakes, flat crowd who were up 4 it at start,’ read my notes a few minutes in. Then Naito spat for the third and fourth times. Before a sloppy finish saw him win what felt a long time later.
‘Real Injuries’ & Learning from Mistakes
A lesson to learn: Bryan Danielson and Dante Martin played up previous, genuine injuries. Both times the crowd died.
A lesson not learned: Mark Briscoe tried a splash from a high place and came up short. Fortunately, this veteran did not break his leg. Stop being the cool dad Tony.
Selfless vs Selfish
Hiroshi Tanahashi came out first so the Acclaimed could get the big entrance. And took the clean loss. That it was for the sake of Max Caster’s lame rap rhyming ‘bitch’ with ‘bitch’ four times in a row (you think I’m exaggerating…).
And so Billy Gunn could save Tana from a post-match beating, when any number of younger wrestlers might have benefitted, is sad. Keep an eye on your spotlight, Hook.
Prince Nana
Swerve Strickland is cool. As is Jim Jones. Despite his age. So when the former Dipset Capo introduced Swerve to a hyped Long Island crowd, the music kicked in and the champ came out decked in sweet new black and gold gear, the presentation screamed big deal. This is a top guy.
Then Nana came out and started dancing. A human womp, womp, womppppp.
Nigel McGuinness
If you’ve ever set eyes on one of my Collision recaps (appreciate it btw), you’ll know how much this pains me. But Dios Mio did this guy try his best to ruin Danielson/Shingo.
The oft repeated message being that Danielson’s putting his health at risk and needs saving from himself. We get it! You’re very clearly wrestling Danielson soon. Now please stop overshadowing everything.
Pros
Danielson/Shingo
A very good match; great in places. Undone by crowd indifference outside of ‘yes!’ chants. Felt very real.
Women’s Wrestling
Easily the best night for the ladies in AEW history. Two very good matches. Starting with:
Mina/Toni
Another very entertaining match which had easily the most crowd investment of anything sans main event. Almost like if you give tv time to two women with personality, and make the match meaningful, they can be as good as the men!
A sizeable chunk of the audience here siding with Mina. And really, what’s not to like? She’s fun, attractive, likes to dance and drink. Could have a nice side hustle selling excess charisma. The woman’s a star.
Wrestling’s not bad either. Couple very cool and unique ways to attack the knee. But the timing of her strikes was what stood out here. On point every time. Storm exceptionally unselfish in being battered around Long Island for 90% of this.
Before a good finish saw her snatch away victory via Storm Zero. All added to by Mariah May’s facials. Poor thing couldn’t enjoy a second of this. And the way she motioned for them to hug at the end was very amusing. And ‘hug it out’ they did.
It’s cool to mix it up once in a while and not have everything end in a blood feud. And all three were total babyfaces here. Which only makes the turn more effective and less predictable.
Vaquer/Mone
Another excellent match. Gun to head, probably preferred Mina/Toni, but I’m very easily swayed by hot crowds. And that had more atmosphere. This was very different to the above. Nice sprinkling of lucha. Mercedes’ wrestling certainly can’t be critiqued.
Though as the boos rained down, her act didn’t change, and perfectly fit the situation. Which says a lot.
Stephanie Vaquer
God damn, this woman’s ass…tonishingly good. Three moments tonight made me audibly ‘woah!’ And one was Vaquer’s Fenix-esque rope-hopping into an armdrag. As noted already, Mercedes made her own bed. But Vaquer’s ring skills and plethora of cool attacks didn’t help.
A crowd ready to be turned. But someone needed to spin them.
Britt Baker
And if it hadn’t been Stephanie, it would have been Britt Baker. The ‘Original’ returning to a goosebumps pop with just perfect timing considering the crowd turn. Though it did leave Vaquer as an afterthought.
New Japan
Their guys beat big AEW names and they’re getting their own Forbidden Door in the form of Wrestle Dynasty. Among President Tanahashi’s priorities was not being portrayed as less than other companies: a good start which bodes well for the future of this event.
New Japan Mox
Came out by himself, with a title, without BCC gear, to a huge pop. Needs a title to chase, a purpose and a return to being a lone wolf in AEW.
Booking
AEW gave two matches on this card real tv time and build. Both were easily the most heated. On a pleasantly surprising show booking-wise. Ooh, clean finish. Ooh, clean finish. The referees were competent. Mox tried and Red Shoes had none of it. And fans chanted his name. Which, yes, is partly because of his rep. But also shows fans hate that crap.
Wrestlers felt like they’d moved up or down the pecking order based on the match outcomes. Winners can move on, stories to tell with losers like Orange and Ospreay. More. Please.
TNT Ladder Match
Fun, creative and outside of that Briscoe spot, not too dangerous.
Jack Perry
Man does this dude know his character. And clearly thinks about how said character would perform in a match. An opportunist who always takes the easiest path to victory: now that’s a heel!
Anthony Bowens & Nick Jackson
Easily the best exchanges in an otherwise meh match. Can someone toss Bowens a rubber ring before Max Caster’s ‘tache steers the SS Acclaimed into Billy Gunn’s ego?
Swerve/Ospreay
‘Fast, smooth, lots of room for the sort of quick-hit breathtaking sequences fans lust after,’ it said in the preview. A colossal understatement.
The second ‘woah!’ moment tonight came here. Then the third. First, when an exchange saw both land on their feet out of ranas. Then when Ospreay landed flawlessly, flawlessly, on his feet after a barricade edition.
As if we’d leapt from the Stone Age of the IWGP to the future.
A match with urgency, rapidity, big moves: Ospreay hitting the finishers he’d promised, Swerve first kicking out then showing he had counters. Love it; if a boxer told his opponent what he was going to do, his opponent would be ready.
Capped when Will did indeed call for that tiger driver. And the champ countered through into a Hidden Blade of his own. With a grace and fluidity we mere mortals can’t dream of mustering.
And it might all have been spoiled. First ref bump of the night, Don Callis out, screwdriver handed over. Ospreay’s facials perfect as he slowly realized what he’d nearly done. Before we got right back to it: House Call, Stomp, Ospreay out, crowd nuts. Strickland’s killer instinct seeing him snap the Blade arm, another House Call, Ospreay out again!
Not a shred of indifference in these fans. For a match dramatic in its stakes and outcome in a way Ospreay/Danielson just wasn’t. That was an exhibition. This was for the gold.
Ospreay (big red mark on his face courtesy Swerve’s boots), stumbling valiantly into a last-gasp Blade attempt, Strickland catching him in his arms like a child he was about to smother, third House Call, JML, win.
A mostly clean win (Ospreay got a visual pin during the ref bump) in a match Swerve left as a stronger champion. Consoling a devastated Ospreay, the ‘agony of defeat’ all over his face. Meaning he came out stronger too. He’s not a ‘loser.’ He’s someone worthy of our sympathy, who came up just a little short this time, who we can now rally behind.
‘Maybe someday if we’re all lucky, we’ll see a return match,’ said Jim Ross. A perfect summation for a perfect wrestling match. The best this year.
AceOdds recently sat down with professional wrestling commentator, actor and retired WWE Superstar, Wade Barrett.
In this interview, we discussed Wade’s opinion of WrestleMania coming to the UK, the development of Drew McIntyre, his views on Cody Rhodes, whether Logan Paul deserves to be in the position he is in, his honest verdict on his feuds with John Cena, his time in Nexus and much more.
ACE ODDS: John Cena and other WWE superstars have been campaigning for WrestleMania to go overseas. As an England native, what makes the UK a perfect host for ‘Mania?
WADE BARRETT: Well, I would say WrestleMania in the UK would be the ultimate dream for all of us Brits who are associated with this industry. We clearly have the infrastructure. There are a lot of countries out there that we love going to, but you turn up and maybe the facilities aren’t top level. Maybe the roads, the hotels, maybe the building itself isn’t capable of hosting a top-level event like a WWE WrestleMania. In the UK, we already have that. We have everything in place that you can just sign the contract and get it done.
But I think more than anything else, I think we have this vocal fan base. And I would say it extends outside of the UK too. Even the French, as we saw in Lyon at Backlash a few months ago, were absolutely wild. I think the Germans are going to be crazy. We do Berlin at some point in September, I think. So, I think the whole European or Western Europe fan base would descend upon somewhere like Wembley Stadium or Spurs Stadium or the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Principality as it’s called now and I think it would be huge. Just the noise, the sound, and the passion that the fan base will have would make it a very special occasion. So, I hope it happens at some point. I’ve no doubt we’re going to get huge, huge premium live events over there. Whether it’s going to be at WrestleMania, I don’t know, but the way things are going at the moment. I think it’s increasingly likely that we could end up over there.
ACE ODDS: Few fans will remember that you, wrestling under the ‘Stu Sanders’ moniker at the time, formed ‘The Empire’ tag team with Drew McIntyre early in your FCW days. What area has Drew grown the most in the years since and has he portrayed the UK in WWE well?
WADE BARRETT: Back when we were the Empire, we were a tag team in Florida Championship Wrestling. So, this would have been about 2008, 2009, something like that. Drew at that point in time, we kind of just moved over from the UK. I’m about five or six years older than Drew, I think. This doesn’t sound like much now, but back when I was probably 27 and Drew was maybe 21, that’s a huge difference in life experience more than anything. So, I’d moved away from my parents’ house. I’ve had a career in the UK, working in London and working in offices, being a manager and kind of being a grownup. Whereas Drew had never left his parents’ house. He’d kind of done some stuff in university, but he was still a kid.
So, I very much felt when we were living together and working together, I was almost like a big brother role for him because he would be making some mistakes and doing things wrong. The most noticeable thing for me has been just the growth of Drew away from the cameras and the kind of man he has become and the kind of leader he has become. He’s just a no-nonsense guy. At this point, he’s completely focused. So that’s something I personally noticed in the difference from the days of the Empire to today.
And I think everybody who’s a fan has seen the growth of Drew from when he first debuted on SmackDown in 2008 with Dave Taylor all the way through to now. It’s night and day. It’s a different person. Physically, he looks completely different, but just his confidence, his poise on the mic, his brilliance in the ring, just seeing that growth of him as a man and a performer over the last 15 years has been really cool to watch as a friend and as a fan of Drew.
I think Drew has been fantastic. I think he’s one of those guys who can do it all. He can be the big hero as we saw in Glasgow and the whole city or whole country is going nuts for him. He can be the most vile human being imaginable, which is what we saw a few days later in Chicago at CM Punk’s home. And he really is fantastic in the ring. He looks great. He’s a complete pro when it comes to representing WWE in the media and then on the mic, I think in the last 12 months, Drew has hit a whole new level on the mic where he’s potentially the number one guy in the entire industry when it comes to talking.
I would say historically that was Drew’s biggest weak point, especially when we first moved over to the U.S. He wasn’t confident on the mic. He had a lot of difficulties with his accent. People couldn’t understand him. I was having to translate for Drew when we’d be going into restaurants and things like that but his growth in all areas has been massive. And I think he’s the perfect guy to have become the first-ever British WWE World Champion. I think they knocked it out of the park with that guy and he’s going to keep on getting better and delivering over the next few years.
ACE ODDS: You also worked with Cody Rhodes, back in the ill-fated ‘Stardust’ days. Did you know he would be a future world champion at the time? Could you have ever imagined that he’d become ‘The Man’ of the company?
WADE BARRETT: So, I’ll say this about Cody and I worked a lot with his father, the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes, is the guy I owe a lot to. I’ve always been a big fan of Cody Rhodes, the performer, even in 2008, and 2009. And then when I started working with him in 2011, 2012 kind of period, we tagged up and did a couple of, I think we did a Survivor series together and maybe a Summer Slam together as a tag team. He’s the guy to me who’s always been brilliant. And that potential has always been there. I think with Cody, the biggest thing he was lacking maybe 10 years or so ago was an opportunity. I don’t think people in management looked at Cody and saw him as a guy who could be capable of pulling the entire train.
So, I think the potential was always there but once an opportunity came along Cody grabbed every opportunity that came his way after about 2015 and he’s just gone from strength to strength.
Did I ever foresee him being the number one guy in the entire industry? I can’t honestly say I did because it’s so rare that anyone gets to that level. If you look over the last 10 or 15 years in our industry, you can perhaps only say Randy Orton, John Cena, Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes. They are probably the four who’ve actually achieved that level of superstardom. So no, I didn’t see that coming. I absolutely thought he’d be capable of it, but it needed to be a perfect storm of opportunities and then Cody being motivated enough to make them count. And thankfully all those things happened.
ACE ODDS: Back in 2015, you became WWE royalty by winning the King of the Ring tournament. How will wearing the crown impact this year’s winner, Gunther? Is he ready to become a full-time main event player?
WADE BARRETT: So, I think as long as this year’s winners, Gunther and Nia Jax, do everything completely differently from how I did it, they will do really well. So, one of the cool things we mentioned was the Triple H era a little earlier, one of the cool things for me about this Triple H era is that things aren’t wasted. And I think when I won King of the Ring in 2015, and probably for a couple of King of the Rings prior to me like Seamus had it, a couple of other guys had it too. I don’t think anyone ever really capitalized on that. And that was management decision-making. “Hey, we’ve put this crown on this guy. This guy is the king of the ring. Are we going to highlight him?” No, we’re not. We’re going to move on. We’re going to have this guy go out and kind of compete in what I felt were meaningless feuds and very little storytelling and very little to really hook viewers in.
But I think this is a very different era, as I mentioned. And I think Gunther and Nia Jax are going to have really, really strong 12 months with the King and Queen of the Ring behind them and I think the current creative crew and the management team are going to make sure of that. So, I’m really excited to see where those guys go and I’m glad that the King and indeed Queen of the Ring tournaments have got this added shine to them, added gloss to them, which they deserve. Because it’s a great achievement, it’s a great accolade, it’s got tremendous history. And now I think we’re going to maximize that.
ACE ODDS: After spending most of your adult life in the professional wrestling business, what are your feelings on Logan Paul joining the WWE and becoming a champion so quickly? Is it deserved? Does it bother you at all that Paul, who didn’t have the same journey to WWE as you, is being pushed heavily?
WADE BARRETT: So normally when guys from the outside come in and try and compete in our industry, it is an embarrassment. It’s normally pretty obvious that these guys are not very good. It’s pretty obvious that we’re having to kind of roll out the red carpet and make sure they look good, usually at the expense of the guys who are dedicating their lives to being in the ring and they’ve trained for years. So that’s a historic thing. I don’t think we’ll ever do that again. Not in this era anyway, because someone like Logan Paul has come in and he’s got this tremendous number of eyeballs on him from the outside world. So business-wise it makes sense but what has impressed everyone is A, his natural athleticism and B, more importantly, Logan Paul’s work ethic. In the matches he’s put on since coming in, I think he’s only had five or six matches. Every single one of them has been outstanding. And I’ve been lucky enough to be ringside calling a couple. Probably his biggest match of his career, I would suggest was against Roman Reigns at one of the crown jewels a couple of years ago.
No one knew just how good Logan Paul could be prior to that. He’d never had that level of spotlight put on him in our industry. He absolutely smashed it to the point where Roman Reigns who had been on this unbeatable run for a couple of years at that point as WWE champion, you genuinely bought with about five minutes left in that match that Logan Paul was going to do it. Logan Paul was going to win. That is because he is so good in the ring. He is such a natural performer. You just cannot complain when a guy like that is given the spotlight because he deserves it. If the cards had fallen differently and Logan Paul hadn’t been this YouTube star and hadn’t been this boxer and hadn’t been this business mogul and all the other ventures that he does. If he’d have had that passion from being very young and decided I’m going to dedicate my life to WWE and being a wrestler, he’d have made it anyway. And seeing a guy like that achieve things and come along and help our show and bring more eyeballs to our product is great. So, no beef at all with Logan Paul. I would say I’m actually a fan of his and I’ve really enjoyed everything he’s done on the show.
ACE ODDS: What did you learn from feuding with three future WWE Hall of Famers — John Cena, CM Punk, & Randy Orton — so early in your career?
WADE BARRETT: So, I’d say CM Punk I really didn’t do too much with. Ours was more a bit of verbal jousting. There was very little physical between CM Punk and me, which is a regret of mine. I think it’s something we should have run with in 2010, and 2011 when we were kind of beefing over the future of the Nexus.
I’d say working with John Cena and Randy Orton though, and that was kind of right out of the gate for me in 2010, so I’ve been wrestling for a few years at that point. I’ve been through the developmental system but most people only really became aware of Wade Barrett when I burst onto the scene in 2010 on Raw and SmackDown.
So, to go from this nobody to suddenly being the guy who was beating up the two biggest names in the industry at the time,John Cena and Randy Orton, that was massive for me. And there was clearly going to be a steep learning curve going from competing with guys who maybe had one to two years of experience in development to working with the absolute best guys on the planet. And it was a steep learning curve for me. That six-month run from June, July to December of 2010 is probably the toughest period of my entire career. And realizing I’m not as good as these guys, I’m not as experienced as these guys, but guess what? I’ve got a 30-minute main event pay-per-view match coming up and I better be able to deliver something good here. So, it was a steep learning curve. I probably was wrapped with anxiety every single day of that run for six months but what an experience and what a crazy change of lifestyle to go from a complete nobody where I can walk down the street to within a few months being recognized everywhere I go. So, it was a pretty wild time for me.
ACE ODDS: Speaking of Cena, some WWE fans criticize him for “burying talent” during his ‘Super Cena’ run. Do you feel like you were a victim of this?
WADE BARRETT: Yeah, I’d say for me personally, I’ve gone on record before saying that the Nexus Summer Slam match in 2010 should not have ended the way it did. And I don’t think you will find a single person of note in the wrestling industry who will agree with how that match ended, which is where John Cena beat the Nexus at our first real test. How much of that was down to John Cena, I don’t know. I think the problem we had at the time in WWE was that management had a philosophy that we’re going to make one, two, maybe three stars and everybody else on the roster is essentially cannon fodder for these top names.
So, it might have been a Randy or an Undertaker or a John Cena, for example. The rest of us were an irrelevance. We were just there as backing dancers for the top names. So that was just a management thing. I’m thankful that today that is not the case. It’s not like we just have these handpicked two or three guys that are important. Now it feels like everyone up and down the card is treated as a star, is treated as important. They’re given good writing, and opportunities to do storytelling, and therefore we don’t have these kind of dead segments in Raw and SmackDown of things that really don’t matter. I think that is where people were tuning out. So, I can’t really blame John Cena for what he was doing. If I was in his position and management came to me and said, “Hey, you’re going to beat everybody on the roster, every single night for the next 10 years”, I’d probably say, yeah, that’s great.
Awesome, let’s go with it. But that, as I say, was just a philosophy at the time that I don’t think many people agree with, but I don’t necessarily think John Cena is personally to blame for that.
ACE ODDS: You’ve said that Davey Boy Smith vs Bret Hart for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam 1992 is your favorite match of all time. As a five-time winner of that belt, what was that feeling like when you won the Intercontinental title for the first time? A full circle moment?
WADE BARRETT: So that was a really cool moment for me. And I remember that moment, I picked up that championship. So obviously as a kid, you dream about certain things. You dream about just being in the ring. You dream about having a t-shirt or being on a video game and having action figures of yourself made and stuff like that. And I’d say personally on that checklist, becoming the Intercontinental Champion was right up there on the list for me. As you mentioned, as an 11-year-old, I watched Davey Boy and Bret Hart and that completely captivated me more than anything.
The fact that I knew this was not a British production, I knew these people that I was watching on my TV, they were nothing like the guys I was seeing around Preston, for example. These guys look muscular, long hair, they look cool, they got tans and even Davey Boy was like “that guy’s from the same part of the world as me? This is crazy.” So, I mean, seeing him perform and going out there and become one of the absolute biggest stars on the planet at some level must have told me in my head, hey, you can do this too. So, I’m following in his footsteps. And when you look back at the history of the Intercontinental Championship, I think pretty much all the greatest of all time have held that championship. So, to be in that bracket and to have my name etched in history five times, is really cool for me and I’d say that was the kind of highlight of my career. Especially winning it the very first time.
ACE ODDS: Your background as a bare-knuckle fighter is known to wrestling fans, as it even became a part of your WWE persona. Was there ever any interest on your part to take up mixed martial arts and pursue a career in the UFC, given that background?
WADE BARRETT: So, I’d say when I was younger, UFC wasn’t the behemoth that it is today. I’d say in the kind of late 90s when I was figuring out, I was just kind of doing university, what am I going to do with my life? I knew I was athletic. I knew I was a big, strong guy and I could do a number of things if I wanted to. UFC was really kind of a hidden fight league that was illegal in most states. And it was probably never at that point, at least to anyone looking from the outside, going to be as big as it is today.
It felt like a bit of a flash in the pan, a bit of a freak show. So, it’s not something I ever really thought about seriously. I did think about becoming a boxer. That was something I was really into as well and I was going to some boxing training schools for a while, but ultimately, I made the decision, what am I more passionate about? Is it boxing or is it professional wrestling? And it was really no contest. So, once I figured that out, then it was a question of right now, how do I make this pathway to WWE? Where do I find that’s going to have a training school? And that was not as easy back then as it is today. I don’t want to sound like back in my day it was tough, but the internet was terrible back then and they just simply didn’t have many schools in the UK to train you how to wrestle. So, it took a lot of work just to figure out where to even get started back in those days. Whereas I think now if you go online, you can probably find a wrestling school not too far from your house and take it from there. So yeah, things are very different.
ACE ODDS: You dabbled in the film industry during your time away from wrestling. Was that a seamless transition?
WADE BARRETT: Yeah, so I was very lucky when I left WWE. I’d done a couple of movies with WWE Studios. So, I had a bit of experience. I also very quickly moved into working with a group called Evolutionary Films that did the Vengeance movies or I Am Vengeance movies with me. So, I kind of got very lucky in landing those roles and I felt like I took to it like a duck to water. I think there’s a natural performance element that you develop as a wrestler. There’s a lot more improv in wrestling and one of the hard things I found going to do fight scenes for example in movies is how specifically choreographed everything is to the point where you cannot put your foot an inch to the left here. It has to be right here and this punch needs to go three millimeters past this guy’s left cheekbone and you’re doing a whole fight scene like that which wrestling is nothing like that. It’s very much a more free form of fighting and improvisation. Yeah, there were definitely some things I had to learn and develop and realize I had to slow down and we can shoot this 10 times if we need to get it right, it’s not one take and we’re done like in wrestling but something I really enjoyed and something I’m planning to do more of in the future. I think there are a lot of people in the wrestling world who would really enjoy acting, especially in action movie-type roles. It’s just an extension of what we do already in WWE, just a fine-tuned version.
ACE ODDS: What was the initial reaction when you were told about the Nexus angle and how you were going to debut it on Raw?
WADE BARRETT: So, I’d won NXT season one the week prior and as part of winning NXT season one, I knew I was golden. I knew I had a raw contract; I was going to be on TV. They’re going to have to do something with me. I had no idea it was going to be as big as it was though. When we turned up that day, it was in Miami, at some point I think it was June 2010, they brought us all in, even the guys who hadn’t won NXT season one and told us all, hey, here’s what we’re doing today. It’s going to be massive; you’re attacking John Cena; you’re going to trash the place. So, us guys were all at that point in time paid a very small wage to train essentially. And personally, I was living in an apartment that had cockroaches in there. I had a tiny little car in Tampa, Florida that had no air conditioning, quite simply because that’s all I could afford. To live with cockroaches and have this boiling hot car in the burning heat of Tampa, Florida. So, the opportunity to actually become stars, become players on the biggest wrestling show on the planet and actually earn some good money finally in our career after several years of really struggling financially, it was a big relief to a lot of us to suddenly know that this is going to be huge. We are going to be established WWE stars after we do this and to have that play out the way it did and solidify a lot of us as pretty big-time players in WWE was huge for all of us.
ACE ODDS: What are some of the best memories of your time as part of Nexus?
WADE BARRETT: I’d say the best memory with Nexus would probably be when we did a show in the O2 Arena, it may have been Manchester, but around November 2010. So, I’ve been running with Nexus for a little while and I ended up having a match with Randy Orton in the UK on one of our tours, it was on Raw. Just being out there in front of that UK audience after achieving what I had just achieved with Nexus and being this focal point of the show. I remember going out there and beating Randy Orton in front of a UK crowd. It was a bit of cheating admittedly, but that was always the case when I won. But I remember at the end of that show, the Nexus guys all lifted me on their shoulders and the crowd went crazy. And it felt like, wow, I’ve actually made it. I can now, after all I’ve done in this game, after all the struggles and low payoffs and injuries and bad times, pressure and stress, all that stuff, I actually was being hoisted on people’s shoulders in front of this UK crowd and having this UK crowd go crazy after beating one of the top names in the history of the industry, that was definitely up there with my happiest moments.
ACE ODDS: You’ve been back for nearly four years now, how are you enjoying your role as a commentator?
WADE BARRETT: I love commentating for WWE. You’re right, I started about four years ago. I would say in my professional life working in many different disciplines and industries and roles within different industries, this is the happiest I’ve ever been. I Love commentating for WWE. I think it was a long-term goal of mine even while I was in the ring. It was something I did a little bit of in about 2009, and 2010, and I’ve done bits and pieces here and there, but to be a full-time commentator for WWE, is absolutely a dream come true.
ACE ODDS: You have done both Raw and Smackdown commentary, which show do you prefer to call and why?
WADE BARRETT: Well, it doesn’t make too much difference because I think all of the shows and I’ll include NXT on this. I love calling them all. So, if they gave me a call tomorrow and said “hey, Wade, you got to go to NXT and call NXT from now on”, I’d be very happy with that. Same with Raw. I’d say the one difficulty with Raw is the fact that it is a three-hour show versus NXT and SmackDown, which are two-hour shows. There’s a certain exhaustion that can come from doing commentary for three hours that I don’t really get in two hours. So, I say two hours for me personally has been the perfect size or length of the show to commentate where I feel like I’m hitting a 10 all the way through. There can be times on a three-hour show, it’s such a massive beast that you can kind of slow down at some point. You may need a couple of energy drinks or something like that to get you through. So, I’d say just mechanically speaking, the two-hour shows are definitely more in my wheelhouse.
Ricochet’s WWE contract officially expired during the weekend and he is now a free agent.
The former NXT North American champion is expected to join AEW at any moment and his WWE profile has already been moved to the Alumni section of the website.
His seven-year run with WWE ended on the June 10 episode of Raw when he was destroyed by Bron Breakker and did the stretcher job. He was offered a new contract but he opted not to sign it. He has no no-compete clause so in theory he could appear on any show at any time.
Another star, Natalya, is also reportedly about to, if not already, lose her WWE deal. Natalya was not at Raw yesterday and her status remains unknown. The in-ring veteran has been offered a new WWE deal but last known information was that she did not sign yet.
Pat McAfee was absent from Raw again last night and was replaced by Smackdown lead commentator Corey Graves.
This is the second week in a row that McAfee missed Raw, with last week pulling out of the show after his father-in-law died on the same day as Raw from his hometown of Indianapolis.
But the former NFL player is returning on next week’s broadcast for the fallout from Money in the Bank in Ottawa, Canada. Michael Cole made the announcement at the start of Raw last night.
The Miz did commentary with Michael Cole last week.
It was not specified why McAfee missed last night’s Raw considering he has been filming his Pat McAfee Show everyday.
WWE tag team Brutus and Julius Creed of The Creed Brothers have been announced as participating in the upcoming Josh Barnett Bloodsport XI event.
The announcement was made by Barnett himself yesterday in a post on X, writing that the pair of brutes are now storming their way to the Bloodsport mat. No opponents have been named yet.
The Creed Brothers join Shayna Baszler on the show who was announced a couple of weeks ago. This is Baszler’s second time wrestling for Bloodsport after she made her debut during their WrestleMania week event in Philadelphia.
Bloodsport XI will take place on Sunday, July 28 from Brooklyn, New York.
Friday Night Smackdown from Madison Square Garden drew 2,256,000 viewers last Friday, down 80,000 viewers from the prior week. The show had a 0.66 rating in 18-49, down 0.07 from the previous show and was #2 overall on all of television. The Olympic trials on NBC won the night in terms of viewers and 18-49 demo, getting 5.5 million viewers and drawing a 0.80 rating head-to-head with Smackdown. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
The final two participants in the Money in the Bank ladder matches qualified last night on Monday Night Raw.
Zoey Stark was the first one to qualify after she defeated Dakota Kai and Ivy Nile. The match saw the interference of Kairi Sane, Alba Fyre, and Isla Dawn, allowing Stark to take advantage of the distractions and hit Kai with the Z-360 for the pinfall.
Later in the show during the main event, Drew McIntyre defeated Sheamus and Ilja Dragunov in another triple threat match. McIntyre advanced after he pinned Sheamus following a Claymore kick. McIntyre vowed to win MITB and walk out of Toronto as the new World Heavyweight champion.
Stark now joins Iyo Sky, Chelsea Green, Lyra Valkyria, Tiffany Stratton, and Naomi in the ladder match while McIntyre joins Jey Uso, Andrade, Carmelo Hayes, Chad Gable, and LA Knight.
Tonight’s Monday Night Raw is the go-home episode for Money In The Bank and it has two ladder qualifying matches as part of the broadcast.
The final two participants of both men’s and women’s matches will be decided tonight, with Sheamus vs Drew McIntyre vs Ilja Dragunov and Zoey Stark vs Dakota Kai vs Ivy Nile as the two qualifying matches.
Also tonight, Xavier Woods will take on Karrion Kross, Rey Mysterio battles his son Dom Mysterio, Seth Rollins will be in the house, and Liv Morgan will put up her WWE Women’s World title on the line against Zelina Vega of the LWO.
