Lucha Libre Online is reporting that WWE is looking partner up with companies in Puerto Rico and Mexico as they continue to kick open their own version of the forbidden door.
The website, in their exclusive story, continues saying that WWE wants something similar that they have with Pro Wrestling NOAH and Marigold in Japan and TNA in the United States and some sort of an alliance would allow wrestlers to appear sometimes on other shows.
With WWE’s recent push internationally, it’s no surprise that they’re targeting promotions outside the United States. Mexico is believed to be on the list for a future premium live event while Puerto Rico already very successfully hosted Backlash last year.
While the sport of professional wrestling carries a Las Vegas style showbiz element, there’s no doubt that this is a global phenomenon. The bases of the main organizations are located in the US, but they enjoy loyal followers all around the world.
A strong core of fans exists in the UK, where Sky Sports first showed a WrestleMania event back in 1985. Those supporters continue to tune in to the big events, so is it finally time for London to enjoy its WrestleMania moment?
A Big Draw
Great Britain has long been a hub for US sports. Live broadcasts of NFL games began in the mid-80s and franchise teams began to build significant fanbases throughout the region. Baseball and basketball followed as satellite sports coverage took a hold in the 1990s.
Sports fans here love to watch these events and another reason why there is interest lies in the betting markets. The UK is an established area for the industry, and many NFL lines are published for the big games.
Wrestling was a natural progression for fans and the TV companies. Early competitors such as Rowdy Roddy Piper, Hulk Hogan, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan became cult heroes on the east side of the Atlantic.
In short, professional wrestling built a solid fanbase in a short period of time and those followers have stayed loyal to the sport. All that’s missing is the opportunity to host major events.
Taking the Show on the Road
The organizers of WrestleMania, World Wrestling Entertainment, have previously taken top events outside of the USA. In 2024, WWE is set to take Premium Live Events into Saudi Arabia, Australia, France and Germany.
It seems that the only competition not open to change is Wrestlemania. First held in 1985 in New York’s Madison Square Garden, it has yet to move outside of the United States. It’s a big prize sought by overseas countries, but there are reasons why London could be in pole position.
Sadiq Speaks
London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, told the organization that the capital was ready to host its most important event. As Khan correctly pointed out, London is a major destination for all of the top sports.
London regularly hosts top soccer events. In 2021, the final of the European Championships took place here, while more recently, Wembley Stadium also hosted the 2024 Champions League final.
Across from Wembley in North London is the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which is another significant venue with a large capacity. The O2 in East London, which hosted 2023’s Money in the Bank, is another potential location, so London is clearly fine in terms of infrastructure.
A Precedent is Set
WrestleMania could head into London in the same way that the National Football League has a presence in the English capital. The NFL has taken games outside of the USA and into Mexico, and certain countries in Europe for years.
The iconic Wembley Stadium has held games, while the NFL has recently signed a multi-year deal with the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London. Major League Baseball has also traveled to London with official games taking place at the former Olympic Stadium.
Both organizations have been successful in their endeavors to take the sports into London, and the trend will continue. There is an undoubted demand to see the wrestling franchise here, and WrestleMania would have a huge audience.
WWE Reluctance
London is waiting for the go ahead, but there are no signs that WWE will move WrestleMania anytime soon. In the past, the organization has spoken of taking the event outside of the United States, and hopes were raised among international wrestling fans.
Those hopes were dashed in April 2024 when WWE President Nick Khan confirmed that the governing body would be looking to keep its top five events in the US.
It was a blow for the London Mayor and for fans around the capital, but the city has support from within the wrestling community. When Money in the Bank came to London in 2023, John Cena made a surprise appearance at the event, and he gave his support to more top class wrestling tournaments.
Cena stated that UK wrestling fans were the best, and he even went as far as saying that he wanted his final battle to be at the 02. London may need a bigger venue for WrestleMania, but there are options.
There are several elements already in place to suggest that London is ready for its WrestleMania moment. There is the fanbase, and a choice of great stadiums across the city.
If the event were to come here, whichever venue it chooses would be packed with wrestling fans, and there is no doubt that the organizers would see a significant return on their investment. Everything is in place for a memorable event, and we’re just waiting for WWE to give the go ahead.
Smackdown got ripped by the NBA Finals and had its lowest rating of 2024 with just 1,991,000 viewers tuning in for the taped episode from Glasgow, Scotland. That was down 216,000 viewers from the prior week and the lowest first-run show on FOX since August 2022. The show had a 0.52 rating in 18-49, down 0.09 from last week and was #2 on all of television behind the NBA. (Ratings credit: SpoilerTV)
After two months of hype, The Wyatt Sick6 faction made their debut last night on Raw and as promised, left a massacre behind them.
At the end of Raw following the main event, the lights started to go out and then the opening note of Bray Wyatt’s theme song Shatter by Code Orange kept playing on repeat.
A door, the same one that was used for Wyatt’s return in 2022 then appeared and Nikki Cross crawled out to a lantern which was at the top of the stage. She then pointed backstage where a camera followed to show total destruction. WWE Superstars, including the likes of Chad Gable, Gunther, etc all were shown beaten and Gorilla Position was destroyed, with everyone laid out with Erick Rowan, Dexter Luis, and Joe Gacy – all in masks – shown along the way.
Uncle Howdy then walks up and is joined by the other three as they walked out to the stage to meet Nikki Cross. Uncle Howdy picks up the lantern and says “We’re here!” and turns off the lantern as the show went to black. This was an impressive single camera shot from the moment Nikki came out until the last frame.
Judging from tonight, Nikki Cross has assumed the role of Sister Abigail, Erick Rowan is the Ramblin Rabbit, Dexter Lumis is Mercy the Buzzard, and Joe Gacy is Huskus the Pig. Bo Dallas is of course Uncle Howdy and together they are being called the Wyatt Sick6, a take off from Bray Wyatt’s Wyatt 6 world. The sixth member is obviously Wyatt.
After the show, Triple H tweeted a photo of Bray Wyatt which was used during his tribute show.
Jason Baker, who created everything that had to do with The Fiend, also chimed in, writing that all masks and costumes were created by him and his amazing crew at Callom Studios.
Joe Gacy and Nikki Cross both wrote “We’re here” on X while Rob Fee, the mastermind behind the original White Rabbit reveal posted five fire emojis along with a photo of the group.
Drew McIntyre “quit” on Monday Night Raw in a short in-ring segment.
With “CM Punk” chants in the background, a dejected-looking former World Heavyweight champion said that he can’t do this anymore.
“Screw this company…I quit,” McIntyre said and exited the ring.
Raw General Manager Adam Pearce met him in the aisle to try talking some sense into him but McIntyre kept walking and the show cut to commercials.
After the show returned, they showed McIntyre backstage talking with Triple H at Gorilla, who told him that he’s done and walked away. Pearce once again tried to tail McIntyre with no success.
This past weekend, McIntyre lost his second shot at winning the championship at Clash at the Castle when CM Punk screwed him out of a win.
Former World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins returned to Monday Night Raw and quickly inserted himself in the title picture.
Rollins opened up the show, his first appearance since night two of WrestleMania 40, and said that he returned to win the title and would be entering the Money in the Bank ladder match to earn it.
The current champion, Damian Priest, interrupted and said that Rollins doesn’t need to earn it, he will give him one at the premium live event in Toronto.
Rollins accepted Priest’s generous offer and the title match was made official.
Rollins had been dealing with a knee injury leading up to WrestleMania and underwent surgery right after it to repair it.
The Money In The Bank qualifying matches will begin on Monday Night Raw tonight as with Clash at the Castle in the rearview mirror, it’s full speed ahead towards the next premium live event in just three weeks.
WWE has not announced how many participants will be in this year’s MITB ladder matches and as of time of this writing, the qualifying matches for tonight’s show are not known yet.
While CM Punk will not be in the house, a very pissed off Drew McIntyre will be and we will see the fallout from Clash at the Castle.
Two matches have been otherwise scheduled for the broadcast, including Xavier Woods vs Karrion Kross and Dragon Lee vs Carlito.
WWE announced a fourth show for Money in the Bank weekend in Toronto next month – a comedy show featuring current WWE Intercontinental champion Sami Zayn.
Titled Sami Zayn & Friends Do Toronto, the show will take place on Thursday, July 4 at The Danforth Music Hall starting at 8PM.
The comedy and variety show will have guests from the worlds of comedy, television and WWE.
Tickets for the show go on sale Wednesday, June 19 at 10AM ET via Ticketmaster.ca. An exclusive presale opportunity will be available starting Tuesday, June 18 at 10AM ET at https://www.ticketmaster.ca/event/100060CE78E2101D.
A limited number of post-show meet-and-greet tickets with Zayn will also be available to purchase.
Apart from the premium live event, WWE will also have Smackdown the night before and NXT Heatwave the night after.
Anthem Sports and Entertainment today announced that it hired Rob Klingman as the new Chief Revenue Officer who will oversee TNA’s increasing sponsorship and developing strategic partnerships.
“Anthem Sports Group has quickly built a diverse portfolio packed with world-class content offerings from across the entertainment spectrum,” Kligman said. “TNA Wrestling remains one of the most iconic brands in the sport, while Invicta FC continues to break new ground as the premier destination for all-female MMA action. I look forward to working with Anthem’s dynamic team to build upon the success that they’ve already enjoyed, driving revenue growth by serving TNA and Invicta’s vocal and loyal fan base, and forging new and innovative strategic partnerships.”
Klingman is not new to the world of professional wrestling and worked for WWE as Vice President of Global Digital & Integrated Sponsorship Sales from 2014 to 2021.
“Rob has built a distinguished track record in the sports arena, guiding some of the biggest brands in the business to grow existing revenue and develop new revenue streams,” said Anthony Cicione, President of Anthem Sports Group. “His duties as Anthem Sports Group’s CRO will place special emphasis on TNA Wrestling and Invicta FC, for which he is uniquely suited after spending eight successful years with WWE. His professional wrestling prowess and sports industry relationships will prove vital, as we continue to create and cultivate new areas of growth and opportunities to take TNA and Invicta to even greater heights.”
The counter from the QR code that has been showing up on WWE television lately will run out on Monday Night Raw tonight.
“You refused salvation. The reckoning is inevitable,” the page with the counter says. The QR code, which also aired during the Clash at the Castle: Scotland premium live event, promised that the “ma$$acre is coming.”
The counter is for the arrival of the new faction based on the world of Bray Wyatt, with Bo Dallas, Erick Rowan, Joe Gacy, Dexter Lumis, and Nikki Cross in it. It’s unclear if they will keep their current names, or in the case of Dallas, continue as Uncle Howdy.
The Bray Wyatt and Uncle Howdy characters were taken off television in March 2023 after Bray Wyatt had an illness, an illness which ultimately led to his death in August of last year.
Gacy, Lumis, and Cross have also been absent from WWE television for a very long time, although Gacy not as much, while Erick Rowan just recently re-signed with WWE.
Tickets for the Dynamite: Blood & Guts episode on Wednesday, July 24 are now on sale for general public at Ticketmaster.com.
The lowest price is $49.55 including all taxes and fees and there’s already a Me+3 four-pack and AEW 5 Plus Pack offers available. The most expensive ticket is $725.55 for front row. Only 20 sections of the arena are open for this show, way below the 20,000-seater arena capacity.
WrestleTix reports that AEW moved over 2,000 tickets in the opening weekend but the set up is only for 3,600 seats as of now. This can obviously grow depending on ticket sales over the next few weeks.
Blood & Guts is taking place from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
Former multi-time WWE women’s champion Asuka is moving to a rehabilitation center to focus on getting her knee back 100% following surgery.
The Japanese star underwent a 90-minute knee surgery last week which was a success, but obviously very painful. Asuka revealed details of her surgery in her latest YouTube video on her Kana Chan TV channel.
Asuka was last in the ring at Backlash France where she lost the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles along with Kairi Sane to Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill. She had been in pain for a long time and required help during the tour, although she soldiered on and wrestled as expected.
AEW star Konosuke Takeshita will be participating in the 2024 G1 Climax tournament.
The tournament begins on July 20 and will wrap up a month later, on August 18 in Tokyo.
Takeshita is the only AEW star in the tournament this year and that means he will probably be very limited to AEW television during the duration of the tournament.
Eddie Kingston was part of last year’s tournament which was won by Tetsuya Naito.
It was Abema, the Japanese platform which airs both WWE and Pro Wrestling NOAH, who facilitated the negotiations between the two promotions that led to AJ Styles being announced for the July 13 card against Marufuji.
Arihiro Takeda, CyberFight’s Director, said that the promotion chose AJ Styles and WWE chose Marufuji when it came to decide who would be taking on who for the event.
“It was like there was only one choice. If there’s a NOAH wrestler who’s well-known in America, it’s got to be Marufuji,” Takeda told Tokyo Sports. “He’s a Japanese legend.”
Takeda added that this is just the start of the relationship between the two companies and hinted that there are many things to come which will strengthen that relationship.
WWE does not typically work with other promotions but there was a shift in mentality when Triple H and Nick Khan took over the reigns and that led to more doors being open.
The company is also working with TNA and Marigold.
Fans at the OVO Hydro were not happy with the ending of last night’s Clash at the Castle and booed ring announcer Samantha Irvin when she said goodnight to everyone who came along.
“Glasgow, that does it for Clash at the Castle,” Irvin said as the crowd booed and chanted “bullshit.”
“I know it didn’t end up the way you wanted it to,” Irvin continued, as more boos drowned her voice. She eventually told everyone to get home safely.
Drew McIntyre also lost it after the match and went on an F-bomb rampage, nearly attacking the referee and Corey Graves. He then started talking trash with Wade Barrett, who during the main event voiced his utter disappointment at what happened to Drew.
It’s the second time that McIntyre got screwed in the UK at Clash at the Castle, the first time by the debut of Solo Sikoa and now by CM Punk.
WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque was super complimentary of CM Punk and his behavior since he returned to the company late last year.
Acknowledging that yes, there is a change, and yes, there are things that CM Punk fought for back in the day which are now in place, Triple H admitted that at a time, he and Punk, for a lot of reasons, “just saw things differently from each other” and while they saw eye-to-eye, it was more of angry and eye-to-eye and opposition eye-to-eye.
“I cannot tell you how happy I am to have him back. I cannot tell you how exciting it is for me to see the Phil Brooks that I wanted to see then, and while maybe my efforts to get that were taken wrong and that’s what led to friction, I always knew that the Phil Brooks I see today was always there,” Triple H told the media.
Triple H said that he’s excited for the future and not just to work with him, but be around him and he’s a pleasure to be around in the locker room, noting that Punk is helping with the talent by teaching them not just from a performer point of view, but as a person too.
“I’m thrilled and excited to have him here and thrilled and excited to not only to work with him in a talent world but work with him to create the WWE that both he and I always wanted it to be,” Triple H continued.
Former AEW Women’s champion Hikaru Shida has thrown her name to participate in the upcoming Owen Hart Cup tournament.
Shida announced her intentions last night during the one-year anniversary of Collision.
The Japanese star now joins Willow Nightingale, Kris Statlander, and Mariah May as the only entrants so far. While Shida qualified for the tournament last year, she ended up not taking part in it due to travel issues.
Shida has not wrestled on AEW television since January.
The winners of both the men and women tournaments will receive a title shot at All In in Wembley.
Damian Priest was very lucky to escape serious injury last night at Clash at the Castle when he tried a dive while stepping on the top rope but his ankle got caught in the ropes. Priest flipped over and his leg got tangled in the ropes, making it a scary few seconds.
Asked how his leg is during the post-show press conference, Priest said it feels “like trash” at the moment and didn’t get a chance to get it checked out because he had to rush to come and do the press conference.
“Docs will check it out but I mean…I ain’t going anywhere. I was able to beat Drew McIntyre with one foot, so I’m pretty sure I’m all good to go,” Priest said.
Later in the press conference, Triple H said that he’s hoping there’s nothing serious and while Priest is walking okay for now, he’s sure the adrenaline is a major reason why.
At the Clash at the Castle post-show press conference, CM Punk said that he’s hoping to get cleared next week and will appear on Friday’s Smackdown from Chicago to hopefully deliver the good news.
Punk said that he was given permission to skip Raw on Monday to go back home and visit the doctors to get the all clear. He noted that his arm feels “amazing” after nearly five months of rehabilitation. Punk suffered a torn triceps during the Royal Rumble at the hands of Drew McIntyre and Punk made sure to screw McIntyre out of the World Heavyweight title again last night at Clash at the Castle.
Punk, wearing a Celtic t-shirt, which is a big no no in Glasgow, said Scotland loves him despite screwing McIntyre and wearing that green shirt in the city. “Maybe the biggest guy in Scotland doesn’t like me, but I think people in general are happy to see me,” Punk said.
Punk said he doesn’t wish on anyone, even McIntyre, to suffer any injury and take away food from their family’s table and doesn’t harbor any animosity towards McIntyre for the freak accident at the Rumble, saying this is a combat sport and accidents do happen to all athletes.
Asked by someone from the media if he would take on Drew McIntyre in a Hell In A Cell in his first match back, Punk didn’t mince his words.
“I mean this with all due respect, this is why I am happy you do not run a professional wrestling company,” Punk said bluntly. “First match is a Hell in a Cell match? Brother, you gotta take that fantasy booking shit somewhere else!”
With his time up, Punk didn’t want to leave and wanted another question from a female this time around because of too much testosterone in the room already!
Asked how it feels to be back now, several months in, Punk joked that it’s great because they even have donuts now!
“The climate has changed. It is a completely different culture. I try not to do media because I honestly don’t like a lot of you,” Punk said while cracking a smile.
“Somebody here, and I’m very bad at compliments, told me they were extremely happy that I was back to experience the atmosphere and culture that I started to grow here and a lot of it was because of me, why this place is like this now. A lot of things I fought for, asked for, and begged for, and they are in place, and it’s a much better place,” Punk responded. “I’m older and wiser. It’s a great crew. It’s magic.”
Pro Wrestling NOAH today announced that former WWE champion AJ Styles will be participating in a match against Naomichi Marufuji on the Saturday, July 13 show Destination 2024.
This was the major announcement that Pro Wrestling NOAH, along with WWE, hyped for today.
The match will air on the Abema PPV platform, the same platform which carries WWE programming and WWE Network in the Land of the Rising Sun.
This will be the first match in Japan for AJ Styles for a different promotion other than WWE since 2016. Styles had an illustrious career in Japan and is a former IWGP World Heavyweight champion for New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
🚨 #BREAKING A MAJOR announcement from NOAH & WWE！🚨
A special match between “The Genius of the Ark” @noah_marufuji_ & “THE PHENOMENAL ONE” AJ Styles is urgently scheduled!!
