Americas

© Triller

Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling

Northern Rising
10/05/25
Mattamy Athletic Centre, Toronto, Canada
Reported Attendance: 2,400
Watch on: Triller PPV

By Aaron Wrotkowski of GrapPro.com

The unfortunately named MLP (My Little Pony? Major League Pickleball?) holds their fifth pay per view, this time at the historic Maple Leaf Gardens (now known as Mattamy Athletic Centre), after their first four shows were held in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I attended the second Forged in Excellence show back in October of last year.

Holding this in historic Maple Leaf Gardens is appropriate for a promotion that’s sharing the history of the classic Maple Leaf Wrestling, founded as Queensbury Athletic Club back in 1930 by Jack Corcoran and run by the Tunney family from 1939 until 1984. While not officially the same promotion, it is a spiritual successor to the point of owning footage of Maple Leaf Wrestling.

Commentary is being handled by Don Callis and Mauro Ranallo, which I think has a serious argument to be the best English commentary team in the world. I know Mauro has his critics from his days on NXT and WWE SmackDown, but he absolutely tries to be more of a pro wrestling play-by-play instead of a pop culture reference distributor. Callis, who sometimes works colour on All Elite Wrestling when his Don Callis Family faction is in the ring, is still arguably the best heel colour commentator of the 21st Century, best known in his work for New Japan Pro Wrestling.

The event opened with Josh Alexander versus QT Marshall, with Sheldon Jean ringside for QT to attempt well-timed interferences. QT Marshall is his usual self, quite possibly the most average wrestler in pro wrestling today. I don’t say that as an insult or a compliment. He’s perfectly capable of performing a wrestling match. Don’t ask for much more than that. Alexander survives Jean’s interferences and QT’s arm work to be submitted by a Sharpshooter.

Next was Jonathan Gresham versus Zack Sabre Jr., and I have to shout out this fan who brought a ZSJ sign designed like the 1990s YTV logo. If you’re not Canadian you probably don’t understand. Zack definitely wouldn’t have understood. But real ones know. The Zone. HitList. Anti-Gravity Room. Clips. Video and Arcade Top 10. Okay I’ll stop being old.

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Good to see ZSJ come from New Japan Pro Wrestling. I believe Gresham is now done with TNA Wrestling, which makes sense for him to work what is essentially TNA Wrestling: Canada. Both men used their wrestling ability to get a hold on the crowd instead of any heel/face antics or character work. Mauro referencing Cagematch.net to talk about their individual results was a nice touch.

I love the little things Gresham and Sabre will do against each other, but I think the match went a little too long. I understand that the two men likely didn’t want to do something shorter since ZSJ was just recently the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and Gresham likely wanted to showcase himself on a show like this, but the match definitely was losing me at one point. Thankfully the finishing stretch was the best part, with the speed of their counters being countered into new counters, countered into pinfall attempts, switched into pinfall attempts, and ended when Sabre Jr. was able to reverse into a European Clutch for the three count. Sabre originally refused sportsmanship during the match but gave Gresham his handshake when the match was over.

Next up is Miyu Yamashita, fresh off her match against Timeless Toni Storm on AEW Dynamite, taking on AEW veteran Serena Deeb. Deeb certainly fancies herself as a technician and focused on essentially humiliating Yamashita with holds and reversals in the opening of the match. It’s good strategy to force Yamashita to work on Deeb’s level instead of working on Yamashita’s striking level.

Deeb’s locks and twists were quickly cut off the first moment Yamashita was able to start firing kicks, which the Toronto crowd enjoyed. Once Yamashita tried to go back to slams, Deeb was able to switch the momentum with a dragon screw into the corner. Deeb would focus on Miyu’s legs but Yamashita would eventually get back up to get back into the strikes.

The damage however had been done as her kicks just didn’t have the same impact on Serena. Yamashita would reverse the Death by Deeb to smash some knees into Serena in a fireman’s carry before hitting a Death Valley Driver, definitely her best momentum so far in the match since her early kicks. Deeb would make the mistake of trying to go strike-for-strike only for Yamashita to get her kicking strength back. Yamashita hit a skull kick with Deeb falling out of the ring. When trying to go for a second, Deeb was able to push Miyu into the referee and hit a chop block before finally executing the Death by Deeb.

Well laid out match that presented the match as a clash of styles and match plan with Deeb changing her strategies enough times to stay ahead of Yamashita’s striking prowess.

Saturday, July 5 was announced for Maple Leaf Pro’s next show in Montreal, Quebec, Canada for MLP Resurrection. The event will be held at Colisée de Laval, home of the Laval Rocket of the American Hockey League. This included a promo by PCO, who was the primary reason for the major success TNA Wrestling had at their show last July, at Verdun Auditorium for TNA Slammiversary 2024. He will likely be relied upon to bring the house once again. I’m hoping AEW allows Speedball Mike Bailey and Evil Uno, fellow Quebecers, to also come to that show.

Next was the battle of BULLET CLUB’s present versus past, as current BULLET CLUB leader David Finlay and Drilla Moloney faced The Good Brothers Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson, fresh off their releases from the WWE. The Good Brothers tron video looked like they were launching a bitcoin. Back to a TNA connection, back in 2021, Good Brothers had a decent feud with FinJuice, or Juice Robinson and David Finlay. One of the last tag matches the Good Brothers lost before going back to WWE in 2022 was against Finlay and Hiroshi Tanahashi.

This match also ended up happening the day after The Good Brothers made their return to New Japan Pro Wrestling, by teaming with The Young Bucks to beat the War Dogs in Finlay, Clark Connors, Gabe Kidd, and Gedo.

Don Callis tried his hardest to put over Doc Gallows by comparing him to Dirty Dick Murdoch, which I’m sure he was trying to compare him to 1980’s Murdoch and not late career 1996 Murdoch – but it would be wrong for me to assume.

The match kept going to the outside and essentially falling apart, struggling to find control. When it finally did in the ring, it went right to Gallows throwing a ground headlock onto Drilla Moloney as if the match needed to slow down. Moloney tried a reversal DDT on Gallows the crowd didn’t know was a reversal. Finlay made what he tried to be a hot tag, as the crowd was only now realizing Finlay and Moloney are supposed to be the babyfaces in this match as they do stereo 10 punches in the corners.
Anderson and Gallows would hit the Magic Killer on Moloney but he kicked out. Finlay would run into the match to break up the double team attacks with the referee completely losing control of the match. With both teams fighting on the ramp the match would end on a double countout. First real disappointment of the night. Finlay is now an extremely good singles competitor so seeing him just be a wishy-washy babyface the crowd didn’t pick up on until late into the match in a tag match against an over-the-hill Good Brothers was a poor use of what he can bring.

The first title match of the night was next as Stu Grayson (who should be an important part of the show in Montreal) faced NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion Thom Latimer. Stu has been on the losing end of every match he’s had in MLP aside from the first show where he was on the winning squad of a trios match. Alex Zayne won a four way against Stu, Taiji Ishimori, and Kaito Kiyomiya on the last show. I guess he opted out of a chance to win one of the oldest prizes in pro wrestling in order to be in the MLP Canadian Championship instead.

Latimer, another TNA alumni (BRAM), isn’t a bad wrestler by any means. He’s had a controversial past including a domestic assault charge, has admitted his mistakes, burned bridges, and admitted he had a drinking problem throughout his past issues and has since found sobriety. That past is likely why he can only find consistent work in the National Wrestling Alliance, where, in his faction with Nick Aldis and Kamille, he is now the only one left in the promotion.

Stu Grayson had two runs in All Elite Wrestling and unfortunately neither of them really got the most out of him. In this match we got to see more of what he’s capable of, and I’m glad he got that chance. Grayson is a fantastic wrestler, capable of slams against wrestlers much larger and strikes you’d expect from a wrestler with a martial arts gimmick. He’s in a lot of ways everything we wanted to see in AEW from Malakai Black and instead just got bad theatrics.

Latimer had a great chance with a huge piledriver, which at that point both men really had the Toronto crowd into the match. Grayson struggled up to the corner and rushed Latimer for what was likely a hurricanrana attempt, but Latimer reversed into a sitdown powerbomb for the victory. I know I spent a lot of the match talking about the men’s careers instead of the match itself but I did enjoy it. A good defence for Latimer.

Next is the triple threat match between Chet Hanx (Gabe Kidd of BULLET CLUB War Dogs), Michael Oku, and AEW’s Speedball Mike Bailey. The crowd definitely favours Mike Bailey in this match for the opening. It’s possible they don’t know Gabe Kidd well enough from his recent work in New Japan Pro Wrestling, and most likely don’t know Michael Oku’s work in RevPro.

Don Callis said he used to beat up kids who challenged him with Taekwondo backgrounds. As a black stripe in Taekwondo (I was a black stripe as a 13-year-old) I’ll say… yeah it’s possible.
I definitely appreciate Gabe Kidd putting natural weight on and looking like an absolute unit instead of trying to get a personal trainer and looking like, well, Thom Latimer. Kidd looks like an old school 1980s heavyweight. He just needs to stop being bald with a beard. Too many bald with beard white guys in pro wrestling. Too many bald with beard white guys in… life.

Gabe Kidd got a microphone to say that every time he comes to Canada he’s reminded it’s only a “Fake little England” before singing, “Eng-Ga-Lund” for extra heat. Come on man. Just play the hits. “White Boy Summer” or drop the microphone. Gabe got me back into him by biting Mike Bailey’s bare foot while the PRESENTED BY SAVEWITHCONRAD ad was up.

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After Kidd’s heel heat, the match started to feel like Oku and Bailey working a handicap match against Gabe, with both men firing dropkicks to finally stop Kidd’s dominance. The match now moved into classic TNA Wrestling X-Division territory as Oku and Bailey went high spot for high spot with Oku’s lip even getting busted open by a Bailey kick.

Gabe worked hard to get German Suplexes both on Oku and Bailey before getting two for the price of one due to Oku waist-locking Bailey. The match was now a true triple threat, as they essentially worked a triangle against one another. Any time two would focus on each other it’d leave the third to catch them both, as Oku did with a top rope splash followed by a Fosbury Flop. Bailey stopped Oku’s momentum with a moonsault from the turnbuckle to the outside. Bailey almost beat Kidd with a sit out powerbomb like Latimer did to Grayson. With Kidd in a single leg crab by Oku, Bailey had Oku with an open season of kicks. Oku tried the half crab on Bailey now open to heavy chops by Gabe Kidd.

Kidd would try to piledrive Oku in the corner but instead ate an Ultimate Weapon to the back. Bailey then hit Time Adventure on Oku to get the big victory. My hope is this leads to a title shot for Bailey.

The PWA Champion’s Grail holder Rohan Raja announced an open challenge at MLP Resurrection, as he was angry he was on the pre-show, even though he admitted he turned down a chance to be in the 20 Man Gauntlet for the main event. This was followed by a quality video explaining the history of Maple Leaf Wrestling and the history of wrestling at Maple Leaf Garden before the two Championship title matches and the history of the Tunney family before an ovation for the remaining Tunney family in the crowd.

We then go into 32-year-old WWEID holder Kylie Rae facing Gisele Shaw to decide the first MLP Women’s Canadian Champion. The Personal Concierge of Gisele Shaw, George Iceman, would come out to get some cheap heat on the Toronto Maple Leafs and say Canada should become the 51st United State. For those who don’t know, George Iceman is the president of Destiny Wrestling in Toronto. One must wonder if he’s essentially doing the role Scott D’Amore would want to do but he has to produce the show. Anyway, here’s the match.

This is unfortunately coming after a very strong three way match and is going to be compared to Serena Deeb and Miyu Yamashita, which I thought was also a very good match. Rae has a WWEID contract for a reason, because despite all of her experience she struggles to connect to the audience in anything other than a basic “nice person” babyface level. Shaw is playing the heel complete with dork manager, but it felt like the crowd preferred her early.

Rae constantly tries the Crossface, which has Iceman going right in the ring to pull Shaw to the ropes. The referee immediately throws him out ringside, which wakes up the crowd. Rae goes for a flash pin only to then go for an armbar on the mat which loses the crowd after Iceman’s exit. Shaw steals Rae’s bow and gets some boos and some cheers.
Shaw continues on the offence, doing a better job getting heat than her Personal Concierge tried to do, before Kylie counters Gisele to Irish Whip her to the outside. A faint, “Let’s Go Kylie” chant starts, the first of the match. Shaw cuts Rae off with a Shock and Awe combo. Rae after a superkick goes right back to the Crossface which is still not getting much reaction from the Toronto crowd. Probably not best to use the move of Chris Benoit as the happy-go-lucky babyface.
Shaw gets the best reaction of the match thus far with a Tombstone piledriver for a near fall, before going for her own crossface. Gisele now with wrist control just dusts Kylie with kicks while Kylie does her over-acting on both the selling and her firing up. The two exchange forearms before having a Donnybrook in the middle of the ring.
The best reaction for Kylie comes when she reverses a Tombstone into a driver of her own and goes right back to the Crossface, which once again kills the said reaction. Kylie rolling Gisele back into the ring did get the crowd excited, finally into the move, thinking that would be the finish only for Gisele to get to the ropes. Gisele then rolled up an international object into her hand, punched Kylie, and hit a running knee strike to become the first MLP Women’s Canadian Champion.
Not sure who gets the first shot against Shaw since Deeb won her match with Miyu but both Deeb and Shaw work heel. Doubt they just try a rematch. They really shouldn’t with Kylie barely getting a reaction as the pure babyface screwed out of the title. I liked Miyu and Deeb better, and think Miyu should have won to set her up for a rematch against Gisele in Montreal.
We’re now into the 20 Man Gauntlet to crown the inaugural MLP Men’s Canadian Champion. The match begins with Rich Swann and NJPW World Television Champion El Phantasmo. Love the classic CBC logo for ELP.

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El Phantasmo has been recently compared unfavourably to Logan Paul and I hope that stops. He should be called blonde dye job Nate Bargatze. ELP and Swann do some X-Division work (or Junior Heavyweight work in ELP’s case) and a dance spot before Bhupjinder Gujjar comes out next. Gujjar basically hits spots on Swann and ELP before Brent Banks comes out to a fantastic tron video. I’m a big fan of Brent Banks since his early days in Ontario indie wrestling and hope he really breaks out here in Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling.

Banks gets unfortunately eliminated quickly by Gujjar only for the Manbeast Rhino to come out next. Everyone gets a Gore before a quick 10 count this time for Billy Gunn to come out. Gunn gets a nostalgia pop which makes me hope Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling can just keep Billy Gunn so I don’t need to deal with him in AEW anymore. 

Gunn and Rhino basically run into each other and fall down before ELP tries to eliminate both at the same time. ELP gets a Fameasser and is thrown out by Rhino. Nostalgia rules over all. 

Big pop though for Psycho Mike, another wrestler I’ve followed since the 2000s in Ontario. The MLP crowd absolutely adores Mike and his bodyslam as he comes out with a house of fire, only to eat a big boot and a shoulder by Billy Gunn and Rhino. 

Amazingly, Mike got the best of them before trying to bodyslam Billy Gunn and Rhino, unable to get either up. Mike ends up sad he can’t bodyslam them. He then eats a back body drop before Rhino attempts to eliminate Billy Gunn. Slex comes out next. Slex is another bald white man with a beard.
Slex comes in guns blazing and eliminates Bhupjinder Gujjar before Michael Allen Richard Clark comes out. M.A.R.C. loves his push ups. If you’ve ever wondered how long it would take for a wrestler to essentially be a poor man’s Maxwell Jacob Friedman? Well, he’s here. Unlike other guys who got their little fire moment, M.A.R.C. got very little. Rollins then gets his bodyslam moment with Rich Swann, M.A.R.C., and Slex. He even gets up Rhino which got a big reaction. Mike checked his pulse after. He then impressively gets Billy Gunn up for the bodyslam to one of the biggest reactions of the night. M.A.R.C. then gets bodyslammed onto the steel walkway which counts as an elimination. M.A.R.C. eliminates Mike despite already being eliminated, which is somehow allowed in this Gauntlet.

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PCO comes out next complete with black and white entrance and wearing the “International Heavyweight Championship” and quickly eliminates Slex, Billy Gunn, and Rhino. Swann is able to stop the destruction temporarily as “Swingman” Johnny Parisi starts making his way in, only for Danny Maff of all people wearing a HEEL4LIFE shirt to throw a fireball in PCO’s face. Even Mauro didn’t know who the heck Danny Maff was. You probably don’t know who Danny Maff is. I forgot who Danny Maff is. At least David Bixenspan remembered who Danny Maff is. Jimmy Jacobs hands Maff a chair to beat up PCO. What a useless angle. If this is Jacobs’ idea, I’m glad he’s in MLP now. Oh great, QT Marshall is here while PCO is getting choked out with a leather belt.

This has honestly caused the show to crash to a screaming halt. Marshall easily eliminates PCO to tepid boos. QT signals for a Diamond Cutter, Swann handsprings, hits a cutter of his own to a big pop, only for QT Marshall to once again show he doesn’t really get it and has to hit a diamond cutter right after and cut off Rich Swann to very little reaction. Sigh.

Josh Alexander now comes out to essentially save this show after the Maff crap and QT mediocrity. Alexander hits multiple Germans on QT Marshall, which honestly kept me from shutting off the show and throwing out the 3,500 words I just worked on for this review. Sheldon Jean comes out next only to eat rolling Germans himself. After some double teaming, QT Marshall then gets eliminated by the Walking Weapon.

Johnny Parisi tried to sneak behind Josh to throw him out, but it didn’t work. Santino Marella then comes out to a giant pop. I guess that’s one of the first TNA wrestler appearances in Maple Leaf Pro. Marella eliminates Parisi before eating an axe kick by Sheldon Jean. Santino then gets out the Cobra to add to nostalgia acts being very over with the Toronto crowd. The next entrance is “The Nomad” Bishop Dyer who looks like an absolute giant in the ring.
Dyer and Alexander have a good forearm exchange in the middle of the ring. Dyer hits the End of Days on Jean and stops a Cobra from Marella, turns it around, and hits Marella with his own cobra before throwing him out to the entrance. Maybe the most I’ve liked Dyer since his broke gimmick in WWE. Mo Jabari enters next.

Raj Dhesi is next, who also gets his one on one confrontation with Josh Alexander and makes Josh look like a little guy. Dhesi beats up Rich Swann who started in this gauntlet before Alex Zayne enters. Hey, remember when Raj was WWE Champion? That was a fun time. Anyway. Matt Cardona comes out next, laying on the USA stuff very thick with a half Macho Man jacket.

Cardona mistakenly goes after Dyer and gets a Deep Six for his efforts. Dyer then eliminates Alex Zayne and tries to take out Swann only for Cardona to get both out. The final four ends up Cardona, Alexander, Jean, and Dhesi.

QT Marshall returns, deciding he hasn’t done enough mediocrity in this world, only to help Sheldon Jean to get Raj eliminated. QT tries to essentially do the same to Josh Alexander but it backfires. Alexander throws Jean over the top right onto Marshall. With Cardona and Alexander the last two, the match turns into a singles match in which the championship can be won by pinfall, submission, countout, or disqualification.
Cardona starts with the advantage because he was fresh compared to Walking Weapon.

The crowd definitely got into Alexander as the babyface and hero of this. Cardona hit Radio Silence after using the referee as a distraction only to get a two count. Cardona missed a top rope leg drop to get hooked into an Ankle Lock. Cardona reverses into a roll up, only to eat a hard right hand shot from Josh that knocks him flat face first onto the canvas. Alexander hooked the arms for the C4 Spike, connects, and pins Matt Cardona to become the MLP Men’s Canadian Champion.

Alexander wins the championship as a babyface in MLP, but Don Callis essentially makes it clear that he’s going to be wearing that title on his next appearance in All Elite Wrestling. Interesting to crown an AEW roster member but I feel like the relationship between AEW and MLP is good enough to do it.

Overall I felt this was an excellent show. Maple Leaf Pro, I feel, will eventually build a reputation as sort of an AEW North, a company that can produce very good pro wrestling up and down the card with very few blemishes when you pay for the show. I don’t think anyone watching on Triller feels like they didn’t get some of their money’s worth, let alone all of it.

I don’t know if PCO requested Dan Maff as a feud for the show in Montreal or what but whether it was PCO’s idea, Jimmy Jacobs’ idea, or Scott D’Amore’s idea? It was an absolutely terrible idea and should be scrapped immediately. If you don’t pay off the angle, nobody is going to care. Trash it immediately and go with someone else for PCO to face. The fans in Montreal deserve better. MLP fans deserve better. Pro wrestling deserves better. Everyone makes mistakes. Don’t make this one again.

It’s frustrating to see so many nostalgia acts from the 90s and 00s get over when there’s some great young talent to push in the company, but that’s been a problem for most wrestling promotions. I do believe MLP has something special in the likes of Psycho Mike, Brent Banks, and Sheldon Jean. Make them the focus. Give them wins over some of these mediocre acts like QT Marshall.

I don’t want to keep sounding negative on a show I liked but the tag match was a big miss. It sounds like they plan to do a rematch and they shouldn’t. David Finlay should do something that doesn’t involve the Good Brothers if he’s coming to the show in Montreal. Have him face Josh Alexander or Speedball Mike Bailey. Give him someone he could have the match of the night against. Have someone else from the War Dogs work the Good Brothers. Clark Connors and Drilla already have experience as a team.

I thought this was overall a good show. Going forward I hope Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling realizes they can provide some of the best pro wrestling in North America and lean towards that over nostalgia acts and WWEID prospects in their 30s. When the pro wrestling was great? Northern Rising was great. Stick to that.

By Aaron Wrotkowski of GrapPro.com

Full Results

Josh Alexander defeats Qt Marshall

Zack Sabre Jr. defeats Jonathan Gresham

Serena Deeb defeats Miyu Yamashita

Bullet Club War Dogs (David Finlay and Drilla Maloney) vs The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows)- Time Limit Draw

NWA World Heavyweight Championship:
Thom Latimer defeats Stu Grayson

Speedball Mike Bailey defeats Michael Oku and Gabe Kidd

MLP Women’s Canadian Championship Tournament Final:
Giselle Shaw defeats Kylie Rae to become the inaugural Champion

MLP Men’s Canadian Championship Gauntlet:
Josh Alexander defeats Slex, Sheldon Jean, Santino Marella, Rich Swann, Rhino, Raj Dhesi, QT Marshall, Psycho Mike, PCO, Mo Jabari, Michael Allen Richard Clark, Matt Cardona, Josh Alexander, Johnny Parisi, El Phantasmo, Brent Banks, Bishop Dyer, Billy Gunn, Bhupjinder Gujjar, Alex Zayne and Matt Cardona by pinfall to become the inaugural champion

Canada News

Maple Leaf Pro’s next event, entitled “Resurrection”, will be held in Montreal on July 5th. A bundle is available on Triller for this show as “Northern Rising”. The promotion took out ads in downtown Toronto ahead of last weekend’s show, as well as TV ads during AEW on TSN to drive ticket sales.

Smash Wrestling will hold the 9th edition of their Northern Tournament on May 25th in an afternoon show ahead of a watch party for AEW “Double or Nothing” at the Rec Room in Toronto. Carter Mason vs Santana, Judua Icarus vs Jason Hotch, Mark Wheeler vs Brent Banks and Jonny Deluca vs Jay Williams are all set for the first round. Previous winners have included Matt Cross, Candice LeRae, Mark Haskins and Mike Bailey.

Kingsley, from IWA Australia, will make her Canadian debut on the show.

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Philly Marino Experience captured the Alpha-1 Tag Team Championships at “Immortal Combat 9” on May 4th in a four way elimination tag match, whilst BMD was able to retain the Alpha Male Championship in the Omega Ladder match. Martian Webb and Riley Reinhart, trained by Trey Miguel, made their Canadian debuts on this show where Alec Price also overcame TJ Crawford to win the Zero Gravity Championship. The show is available on demand on Highspots.

The next Alpha-1 show will be “The Forge” on July 20th in Hamilton, Ontario. The event is headlined by an appearance of Steve Corino and has another unique concept, in that there will be no rules enforced for the duration of the show.

Top Talent Wrestling will hold their 3rd Anniversary show on June 27th at the Midway Music Hall in Edmonton, with Harlon Abbott and Gabriel Lestat the first two names announced for their annual ladder match. Elayna Black (the former Cora Jade) and Ultimo Guerrero have also been announced, with Top Talent promoting Ultimo’s appearance as his first in Canada.

All Star Wrestling Canada are holding a training seminar on May 17th with Al Snow at the Cloverdale Rodeo, where they will also run their own show the day after.

Sheldon Jean vs Brandon Cutler is the first match signed for C4’s “10 To Midnight” event on May 30th in Ottawa.

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WWE

WWE will run up a double header of shows next weekend in Tampa, Florida, with “Saturday Night’s Main Event” on Saturday and the NXT show “Battleground” on Sunday, as they provide indirect and direct competition in viewership to AEW’s “Double or Nothing” PPV on May 25th.

“Saturday Night’s Main Event” will have a much stronger line up than January (and arguably than last week’s “Backlash” PLE) with Jey Uso making a 2nd defense of his World Heavyweight Championship against Logan Paul, Sami Zayn and CM Punk teaming against new top heel group Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker, a steel cage match between Damian Priest and Drew McIntyre and an appearance from John Cena, who will face R-Truth. This was expected to be Uso’s 1st defense post Wrestlemania, but a haphazard match with Seth Rollins was thrown onto Raw last week against Seth Rollins, in what was mainly a set up for the return of CM Punk. It certainly does not feel like a strong start to his reign.

NXT’s Sunday show, which goes head to head with AEW, carried an interesting note in its marketing choices, in that there is no mention of NXT at all, being solely referred to as “WWE Battleground” across all promotional material and event listings. It is a curious ploy that is hard to ascertain the intention but may leave fans disappointed if they are unaware that the event is solely for WWE’s development brand.

The card sees NXT Women’s Champion Stephanie Vacquer defending against Jordynne Grace, the Men’s Champion Oba Femi facing off against Myles Borne and a TNA World Championship defense for Joe Hendry against Trick Williams on the WWE event rather than on TNA’s “Under Siege” special a couple of days prior.

The Saturday show will air on NBC and Peacock simultaneously in the US whilst the Sunday show will air solely on Peacock. Both shows will be broadcast globally via Netflix.

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Jeff Cobb made his WWE debut at “Backlash”, being immediately inserted into the Bloodline story and the ongoing issues between Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu. Cobb was recognised by large parts of the crowd in St. Louis, assisting Fatu in retaining his US Championship against LA Knight. Cobb has been renamed this week as JC Mateo.

WWE have denied that Cobb was pulled early from New Japan and expressed confusion to Fightful over him being booked to hold the IWGP Tag Team Championships during his final time with the promotion where he was not under contract. Several New Japan sources have refuted that and had communicated with us that Cobb was to be there until “Wrestling Dontaku” where Cobb currently resides and had laid out said plans to use before the decision to pull Cobb was made. We have been able to collaborate this with Voices of Wrestling, amongst others. The decision to not allow Cobb to complete the “Dontaku” tour he had agreed upon and was building in his post event promos prior to his announcement did not lead to Cobb being used in the immediacy by WWE, nor did he spend a substantial amount of time in the US before being called up for TV for any other contract requirements.

Rusev and Malakai Black have returned to in-ring action in WWE, with Rusev running over Otis and Black besting the Miz as both men fulfill much the same role that they did in AEW at the start. There was also a brief return to WWE programming for Elijah, who appeared in a battle royale on NXT.

El Grande Americano won the WWE Speed Title from Dragon Lee on Cinco de Mayo as he continues to beat luchadors repeatedly. The match was screened two days later on X.

WWE’s Evolve brand is launching its own Men’s and Women’s World Championships (yes, more belts), with 4 way matches on the May 28th and June 4th editions of the show determining who will be the inaugural holders.

Tiffany Stratton defended her WWE Women’s Championship successfully on last night’s “Smackdown” against Nia Jax, whilst Alexa Bliss is also back as part of the Friday night brand.

WWE aired a trailer during “Backlash” for “WWE: Night of Champions 2025” which will emanate from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on June 28th. Saudi Arabia will hold only 1 show this year, with “Crown Jewel” relocating to Australia, before holding the “Royal Rumble” in early 2026. CM Punk was included in the original promotional video but had been replaced by Seth Rollins later on in the week. Smackdown will also air live from Riyadh on the 27th.

Another event yet to be announced but that has been widely discussed has been the prospect of “Evolution 2” following on from the first running of the PPV in Long Island, New York, in 2018. Local recruitment advertisement in Atlanta, Georgia, have mentioned the name as an event, and speculation is now that it will occur on the same weekend as the “Saturday Night’s Main Event” taping on July 12th that will also be in Atlanta, avoiding a location clash with AEW’s “All In” show that many had expected. Fightful reported that no talent had been told that the additional PLE was due to take place, but WWE has also not denied that there are plans to run an all women event on that weekend.

Wrestlenomics is now unable to provide quarter hour data for WWE programming as the stranglehold on the availability of data continues. ThinkBox in the UK, which has previously provided a breakdown of BARB data of UK TV ratings, has not been able to update their numbers for over a month.

WWE News

The ongoing legal action against Vince McMahon and WWE as well as other individuals had further developments across the last fortnight. The judge in the Janel Grant lawsuit has approved the request by Grant’s team to allow her complaint to be amended whilst also giving John Laurinaitis, Vince McMahon and WWE until June 13th to refile their motions to compel arbitration, as a result of the agreement to allow for the amended complaint.

A Connecticut judge also denied Dr. Carlon Colker’s motion to dismiss the petition filed against him by Grant, meaning that Grant and her team are now free to pursue evidence from the Doctor and the clinic for evidence in regards to the treatments she received there under the direction of Vince McMahon.

Vince McMahon is also attempting to delay full compliance with discovery, in a lawsuit filed by WWE shareholders in concern of the TKO merger that alleges that McMahon had predetermined that WWE would merge with Endeavour before any bidding process had began and therefore had not obtained a higher possible value with the completion of the transaction that had allowed him to maintain power in the new group momentarily. McMahon has until May 14th to oppose the motion to force discovery, or the request could be granted automatically.

© WWE

WWE continued with their regular cuts across staff and talent last week, with firings occurring across Thursday and Friday. Christine Lubrano, one of the last women involved in the WWE creative process, who held the title of Senior Vice President, was let go after 4 years with the company, having previously been part of the IFC and Bravo television networks for much of the previous 2 decades. PWInsider reported that around a dozen support staff were let go including Ryan Pappolla, who had previously co-hosted “The Bump”.

The staffer firings were a prelude to a series of talents suffering the same fate, as Paul Levesque made the decision to let go of Braun Strowman, Katana Chance, Kayden Carter, Shayna Bazler, Dakota Kai, Gigi Dolin, Eddy Thorpe, Cora Jade, Jakara Jackson, Riley Osborne, Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey, Wolfgang, Oro Mensah, Javier Bernal and Dani Palmer. Shotzi was also informed that her contract, which is due to end during the next month, will not be renewed. The released talent will either have a 90 day or 30 day no compete clause depending on whether they were signed to the main roster or NXT. Shotzi will be free to work wherever she chooses as soon as her contract ends.

The biggest name release was Braun Strowman, who was on his second stint with the company, having been released previously in 2021. He suffered a torn groin in September 2023, missing a large part of 2024 before engaging in a short feud with Jacob Fatu. He would have been the most expensive of those who have departed. Amazingly, Strowman will still be associated with WWE after his release as NBC Universal announced that “Everything on the Menu with Braun Strowman” will debut in the autumn as part of fall programming for the USA network. The programming is being produced by WWE Studios.

Dakota Kai may have seen the writing on the wall when she tweeted last Wednesday, “I miss wrestling and I miss you guys” before adding “Not hurt btw!” This appeared to be in direct contradiction to Nick Khan’s recent comments that WWE does not “bench” talent. The post on X may have been an acknowledgement of her upcoming fate or perhaps the precursor to her release. It is her second departure from the company also, having been in talks to potentially join AEW in 2022 before making the choice to return to WWE for the formation of Damage CTRL, after Paul Levesque had regained power in the company.

© WWE

Shayna Baszler is a former 2 time NXT Champion and a 3 time tag champion on the main roster who came in from MMA in the footsteps of friend Ronda Rousey but never managed to establish herself at the top level as a singles competitor. Both Strowman and Baszler had been topics for the “Roast of Wrestlemania” which caused disruption during Wrestlemania weekend, which now has an even more uneasy undercurrent with their firings being in the follow up. It has also been pointed out that across the last year, WWE has released a number of their LGBT talent, sparking questions on how inclusive they are as a workplace under the TKO banner. WWE have offered no comment when approached on the matter.

Gigi Dolin and Cora Jade have already begun to set up a string of appearances on the independents, including for GCW, Wrestling Revolver, AIW and Top Talent in Canada. They are 2 of the most likely talents to be able to bounce back following these decisions. Eddy Thorpe, who previously wrestled as Karl Fredericks in New Japan, was scathing on his former employer after his contract expired in 2022 but time is often a healer. It might be budgeting restraints for the organisation that will play a larger part on any decision to bring him back than the thoughts of the office on the wrestler himself.

Dave Meltzer reported that WWE sources had told him that many of the NXT cuts were perceived as not working hard enough in training and that “the ones who are lazy are going to be gone, and the ones who didn’t stand out are going to be gone.” Several released talent have hit back at this characterisation, but it should also be of note how similar the language is to what Paul Levesque used to describe NXT talent arriving on the main roster during interviews in the week prior to “Wrestlemania”.

TKO posted their Q1 results before announcing staff and talent cuts last week, proclaiming that the company had exceeded expectations in Q1 with WWE’s quarter aided by the launch of programming on Netflix, with “Raw” receiving its full media rights value in this quarter compared to the reduced rate paid by the USA Network to air the property in Quarter 4. The company also cited the European tour, where much higher ticketing prices were in operation, as increasing their live revenue during the period. TKO included the Professional Bull Riders league, IMG and On Location in their results, as they displayed revenue in Quarter 1 of $1,268 million with a net income of $165.5 million.

Mark Shapiro, on the results conference call when asked about the upcoming acquisition of AAA, cited that they hope to grow their new arm in regards of sponsorship, live events, merchandising and media rights whilst gaining access to more of the Mexican market than they have been able to previously. Shapiro would also appear at the JPMorgan Conference this week, where he revealed that Summerslam received a $7 million site fee from New Jersey to hold the 2 night event in Metlife Stadium this summer as well as noting the “tremendous upside” they are seeing from increasing ticket prices across their products as well as the usage of dynamic pricing through sites such as Ticketmaster. He also talked up his belief that 200 events a year is much more optimal for the company than the 300 a year they used to run and that they will likely eliminate further dates from the calendar as time goes on.

CW President Brad Schwartz has cited NXT as “an absolute gamechanger” for his network, noting that they are now regularly beating Fox in the key demo on a Tuesday night and that the move to CW has seen NXT achieve 19% like-for-like growth in total viewership compared to being aired on the USA Network.

The Miz will be the host of “American Gladiators”, as Amazon becomes the latest outlet to commission a remake of the show after the latest UK remake was deemed as a success.
Chelsea Green has re-signed with WWE for an undisclosed term. Her previous deal had been set to expire later on this year. Green has been with the company since 2022.

Jazz and Erick Rowan have been working out of the WWE Performance Center in the last few weeks, according to PWInsider.

Liv Morgan will be away from WWE whilst filming for “Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo”. Her absence is only expected to be for a few weeks.

We offer congratulations to Carmella and Corey Graves, who have announced that Carmella is pregnant with the couple’s 2nd child and also to Big E and partner Kris Yim who are now engaged. Pete Dunne also announced on social media that he and his partner have now welcomed a 2nd child into the world.

© AEW

All Elite Wrestling

TV News

AEW’s “Double or Nothing” PPV now has 3 matches official for May 25th in Glendale, Arizona, with Toni Storm defending the AEW Women’s World Championship against recent signee Mira Shirakawa, after the former Stardom wrestler returned through a 4-way eliminator (which also featured the returning Skye Blue and new NJPW Strong Champion AZM), pinning Storm in the process. There was no mention of Mariah May when recounting the history between the two.

This was Shirakawa’s first appearance since signing full time with the promotion and included a rather funny switch then switch back of her entrance music as feedback to the newly written music online was not good, leading to Tony Khan switching back to her “Danza Kuduro”-inspired Stardom theme (one Dale Oliver would be proud of). Khan acknowledged on X that the move was in direct response to the immediate online reaction.

Joining the Women’s World Title defense and the Owen Finals, but yet to be officially announced, is “Anarchy in the Arena”. The lineups are yet to be completely finalised but one thing that is clear is the involvement of Gabe Kidd, who helped Jon Moxley retain his Men’s AEW World Championship in a steel cage against Samoa Joe in Chicago this past Wednesday. Kidd, like a number of Heavyweight New Japan wrestlers, has close to a month off during the Best of the Super Juniors tour before returning to Japan for his Global Title match with Yota Tsuji at “Dominion” in mid June.

© AEW

His inclusion did lead to some confusion from a narrative sense; Kidd aligning with Moxley may be able to be explained away with all his anti AEW rhetoric over the past 12 months to go alongside Moxley’s cryptic promos, and opposing Omega is a natural follow on from their “Wrestle Dynasty” match back in January, but an alliance with the Young Bucks feels out of place following the 8 man tag at NJPW “Resurgence”, where Kidd spent a lot of the match proclaiming they should retire and the War Dogs refusing to acknowledge the former Bullet Club at the end. There is some work to do with this one over the next week.

One element where Gabe Kidd’s involvement does make sense is in getting ahead in the building of “Forbidden Door” as he and most other major names from NJPW will be unavailable for the majority of the build, with New Japan’s G1 tournament running adjacent to the build period for AEW’s London show.

Dynamite is now opening with Sum 41’s “You Wanted War”, having gone without a theme song since “I’m So Excited” was pulled shortly after its first usage.

Rhino appeared at the Masonic Temple Theatre shows in Detroit on May 7th and 8th, putting over Nick Wayne on “Dynamite”. Rhino also carried out a local media run in the area in the run up to the show. Monty Brown was also visiting at the show.

Satnam Singh, Harley Cameron and Swerve Strickland all visited with the Detroit Pistons basketball team in the afternoon before the show.

AEW taped a tribute to Steve “Mongo” McMichael for “Collision” in Chicago this past Wednesday. The former NFL player and wrestler passed away on April 23rd aged 67 after a four year battle with A.L.S. Ric Flair took part in the segment in his first TV usage since Sting’s retirement. Flair revealed in the run up to “Wrestlemania” that he is still under contract with the promotion.

The Grizzled Young Vets returned to AEW television on May 8th, confronting the Paragon trio. Zack Gibson and James Drake signed with the company last summer but have been used sparingly, especially on AEW TV. This was their first appearance on the two main shows since last October.

News

The announcement of a 3 week residency at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia between August 27th and September 11th has been followed up with a further 3 weeks to come in late July in Chicago, as “Dynamite” and “Collision” will broadcast from the Aragon Ballroom for all their television between July 16th and the 31st. This includes 2 Thursday “Collision” tapings on July 17th and July 31st, with the later date likely to be a live broadcast to avoid a head to head with WWE’s “Summerslam” PLE.

The usage of these smaller venues over multi-week periods allows for massively reduced costs in regards of setup, with Tony Khan telling Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer that the venues will also create “hot” atmospheres for the TV product. Residencies have their positives and negatives, but right now they feel part of an ongoing trend across entertainment to reduce live costs whilst also attempting to make the bigger shows much more destination events by creating scarcity in other areas.

The announcement was officially made by Tony Khan in an interview with the Chicago Sun Times, where Khan discussed the residency as a way to keep “this awesome momentum going, because 2025 has been special” and acknowledged the roles of MJF, Mercedes Mone, Toni Storm and Adam Page in rebounding their numbers in 2025 “after the promotion saw its ratings and attendance numbers decline in 2024”. This makes for much different rhetoric to what we saw post “Dynasty” and is also the first time the 2024 decline has been acknowledged by the promotion.

A vignette for “Dynamite 300” aired at the NJPW “Resurgence” show at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California, for the July 2nd date at the same venue. The arena is the closest to a home arena for AEW “Founding Fathers,” the Young Bucks, and will also hold the 100th episode of “Collision” on the same night.

© AEW

Willow Nightingale has re-signed with AEW over the last week, right after news of this being her contract year was broken by Fightful. The popular roster member has received inconsistent match and TV time so far this year, mainly acting in a supporting role in the Death Rider story, but she is expected to be a key figure for the AEW Women’s division going forward. The length of the deal has not been officially announced, but it has been confirmed to be multi-year in duration.

Thekla has signed with AEW, with the company having already begun to run teases in the form of a spider running down the screen. The former Stardom wrestler has been planning to relocate for some time and had received interest from WWE prior to signing.

Josh Matthews is now officially part of the company, according to PWInsider. Matthews was released by TNA Wrestling in February 2025 and has been working with various parts of AEW’s production team in recent months.

EJ Nduka’s contract has expired and is not to be renewed. Nduka, who was formerly with MLW and WWE, signed with AEW in 2023 but has not been used on a regular basis on either main programming or for Ring of Honor. Fightful were told that a reason for his non-usage was that his size would “outshine” other talent but this line has been heavily disputed by AEW.

Also departing the company is the Righteous, who had joined AEW following the company’s takeover of Ring of Honor in 2022. Vincent and Dutch had at one point been planned for a match at “All In” 2023, before a change in the Elite’s contract status led to a full card redesign. They would face MJF at “Wrestledream” in what was essentially a 2 on 1 handicap match that did not help Vincent and Dutch in the long run. Opportunities were much harder for the pair to come by thereafter.

The team last wrestled at the RoH tapings on April 12th and are said to have asked for and been granted their releases, with their original deals having been set to expire later on in the year. PWInsider reports that they are leaving the company on amicable grounds and could be potentially used on a per date basis in the future.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts announced on Tuesday that he was to have heart ablation surgery that day for treatment of an irregular heartbeat. This is one of the follow-up treatments that came from Roberts’ stay in the hospital when he was suffering from pneumonia. Roberts has been with AEW since 2019. We wish him all the best in his recovery.

Jim Ross has announced that he has been diagnosed with colon cancer and will be undergoing surgery in the coming weeks in an attempt to overcome the illness. We wish him all the best also in his battles with the disease.

Fightful have reported that Juice Robinson is nearing a return from injury, having broken his fibula during his Continental Classic match with Will Ospreay last November. Skye Blue also returned to TV action this week after 10 months on the sidelines due to an ankle injury.

© AEW

Keith Elliot Greenberg is producing a book on AEW’s history from its inception up until Sting’s retirement for publisher Penguin. The book, entitled “This Book Is All Elite: The Inside Story of All Elite Wrestling” is being produced alongside the promotion and is due to be released on November 25th. The cover features prominent figures from the 1st phase of AEW with the notable exception of Cody Rhodes.

AEW has also announced a new partnership with Idrinq, making the performance product the “official Productivity Drink of AEW.” The brand has already begun to be featured within AEW TV programming as of this week.

Swerve Strickland continues to display heavy crossover appeal with the release of his latest single “Outta Control” on all major platforms on May 6th and being named the 3rd recipient in the company of a custom Reebok shoe. The custom “Answer 3 Swerve” reflects the colour scheme of the Killmonger outfit Strickland wore at “Dynasty” and has his catchphrase of “Whose House?” on the tongue of the shoe. The shoes will be available from Champ Sports from May 28th.

Matches have begun to be announced for Dean~!!!2 in conjunction with Action Wrestling for May 24th outside of the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. A 10-man Cibernetico will feature wrestlers from Action, AEW and CMLL, with the first names announced as AEW’s Hologram, Gringo Loco and Dr. Cerebro. Tom Lawlor will also face Josh Woods on the free show in tribute to Dean Rasmussen. AEW branding on the advertisements has been replaced by Ring of Honor, with the live broadcast also set to be carried on the RoH Youtube channel.

Darby Allin set a world record during his climb of Mt. Everest, performing a kickflip on his skateboard at 20,958 feet.

Eddie Kingston is expected back to TV in the near future after a year-long stay on the sidelines. He is training with Cezar Bononi ahead of his return.

© TNA Wrestling

TNA

TNA have set up most of the key matches for TNA+ event “Under Siege” on May 23rd.

Masha Slamovich will face Victoria Crawford (formerly known as Alicia Fox), Cody Deaner hopes to surpass Eddie Edwards in order to earn a kayfabe contract extension and Joe Hendry will team with Elijah against Frankie Kazarian and NXT’s Trick Williams. Hendry will not defend the TNA Men’s World Championship on the show, with the tag acting as a lead-in to a defense against Williams on the NXT “Battleground” show on May 25th. The tag match will main event the show.

A second tag match on the card will feature Matt Hardy and Leon Slater looking to avenge the loss of the TNA Tag Team Championships to the Nemeth Brothers at last month’s “Rebellion” PPV. Regular partner Jeff is unable to compete as the show is taking place in Canada and his past legal issues affect cross-border travel.

TNA are also co-producing “The Border Brawl” event on May 25th which will stream on Zone-ify, who are also their partners for this event. Brutus “the Barber” Beefcake, former UFC Fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and “The Mountie” Jacques Rougeau will all feature at the Niagara Falls Convention Centre alongside TNA talent.

PWInsider were first to report that Ross Forman and Eric Tompkins have been named Vice Presidents of TNA Wrestling. Both men are being promoted upwards, with Forman previously Head of Media Relations and Tompkins the Director of TV Production.

In contract news, Savannah Evans has finished up with the promotion and is now a freelancer. She has been with the promotion since 2021. Also finished up is Alan Angels, who is still listed on the TNA roster page but left the company in December of last year after his contract expired. Fightful Select were able to confirm his status with the promotion.

Jack Price, winner of the 2022 “Gut Check” competition, has also seen his contract expire. He announced his free agency on social media this past Tuesday. The 39 year old had been unable to break through onto television on a regular basis.

Octagon Jr. announced on social media that he has signed a contract with TNA Wrestling. The agreement is yet to formally be announced. He previously appeared for TNA during the tapings in El Paso and also wrestles under the “Golden Magic” moniker.

Further additions to the roster that are now announced have been made in the form of Harley Hudson and Myla Grace. Hudson was the winner of TNA’s “Gut Check” during their 2023 UK tour and has both faced and teamed with Grace for TNA. Grace comes to the promotion after a tour with Marigold in Japan at the end of last year.

TNA have also opened up contract negotiations with Ace Austin, who had previously re-signed in March 2024.

Austin was announced as re-signing with TNA back in March 2024.

© MLW

MLW

Azteca
10/05/25
Cicero Stadium, Chicago, USA
Watch on: Youtube

MLW returned to the Chicago area for a show that continues their string of being lucha heavy and that the promotion claimed was sold out before a single match was announced. The headline match was the return of Mistico in the ring with the promotion, as he faced off with his scheduled opponent for last month in Templario, and Ikuro Kwon, who stole his former MLW World Middleweight Title after it was vacated at “Battle Riot”. This match was non-title and was very much ‘every man for himself,’ with Mistico and Templario often more focused on each other rather than on Contra’s Kwon. This played into the finish as Ikuro tries to take advantage of this but is caught by Mistico, face planted and hit with a senton atomico and then pinned. His reaction to the finish was to attack Mistico, take off his mask and depart with the World Middleweight Championship still in his possession. 

The MLW World Heavyweight Championship was defended in the semi main event, as Matt Riddle faced off with Donovan Dijak for the second time in MLW as his issues with Saint Laurent and his henchmen continued. Riddle went after Dijak early but was soon grounded with a chokeslam to the apron and targeting to the ribs, which were wrapped going into the match. Riddle managed to down Dijiak with kicks and forearms but handed momentum back after missing a top rope moonsault. Dijak hit a top rope moonsault of his own, but only for 2 before a dive to the outside on both Riddle and the accompanying Tom Lawler. The action returned to the ring, with Riddle reversing a Feast Your Eyes attempt into a cutter before Laurent and Lawlor got involved with stopping referee counts, opening the door for Krugger to attempt a cash-in with his briefcase. Krugger managed only to hit Dijak with his briefcase before being taken out by Tom Lawlor, leaving Riddle a pathway to tie up Dijak in a body scissors and forcing the tap. A match that had the potential to break out into a good one but never quite got there before becoming overrun by shenanigans at the end.

© MLW

Ultimo Guerrero defended the MLW National Openweight Championship for the first time after winning the belt from Matthew Justice on May 2nd in Arena Mexico in a three way battle with Barbero Cavernario and Zandokan Jr. This was Zandokan Jr.’s first appearance with the promotion and he took a lot of the action before being uninvolved with the finish. A tower of doom got him a 2 count before he was pushed to the outside and dived upon by Cavenario, only for Barbero to be caught with a Guerrero Special and pinned in a match which felt somewhat ‘paint by numbers’. MLW crowds continue to get behind Hechicero, regardless of whether he is working as a rudo or a technico, and that was again on display during his tag match teaming with Guerrero Maya Jr. against Esfinge and Atlantis. The crowd sat heavily in his favour despite the rudos holding control for much of the match and it was sensible that the finish saw Hechicero moved to the outside before Esfinge was able to pin Maya Jr. with an Egyptian knot.

© MLW

Alex Hammerstone wrestled Satoshi Kojima in his first MLW singles match since December 2023 and held most of the match, with Kojima restricted to bursts of offense against his much larger opponent. Hammerstone put him away with a german suplex and a Nightmare Pendulum, in what was a fairly decisive win for the newly returned wrestler, that would later set up a challenge to Ultimo Guerrero for the National Openweight Championship. Also returning was Myron Reed, who took out Azteca 13 before declaring his intentions to challenge for the currently vacant MLW World Middleweight Championship.

In the opener, Rugido and Magnus, known as Los Depredadores, defended the MLW World Tag Team Championships that they captured at Arena Mexico on May 2nd against Dark Panther and Blue Panther Jr. This was Blue Panther Jr.’s first appearance in MLW and was pretty standard fare, with Rugido and Magnus in control early on before the Panthers answered back with dives and a flurry of backbreakers. The finish saw the referee get in the way between Blue Panther Jr. and Magnus, allowing Magnus to hit a low blow with his knee and get the pin for the retention.The post match saw the teams set up a rematch for Arena Mexico that appears as though it might be a masks vs titles match.

The show ran 4 and a half hours live with it being a dual taping for both “Azteca” as a live screening and “War Chamber”, which will air on delay on June 7th, and feature a rematch for the MLW Women’s Featherweight Championship between new Champion Shoko Nakajima and previous Champion Delmi Expo and the Rogue Horseman vs Matthew Justice, Paul London, Mr. Thomas and Alex Kane in the War Chamber match itself. The crowd were lively and saw some good action but this was mostly a missable affair.

Results

MLW World Tag Team Championships:
Magnus & Rugido (c) defeats Blue Panther Jr. and Dark Panther (13:22)

Alex Hammerstone defeats Satoshi Kojima (12:21)

Atlantis & Esfinge defeats Guerrero Maya Jr. & Hechicero (11:47)

MLW National Openweight Championship:
Ultimo Guerrero (c) defeats Barbaro Cavernario and Zandokan Jr. (10:28) 

MLW World Heavyweight Title:
Matt Riddle (c) defeats Donovan Dijak (14:31)

Mistico defeats Ikuro Kwon and Templario (11:16) 

MLW News

MLW announced multiple upcoming shows on the back of “Azteca”, with a return to the Cicero Stadium in Illinois announced for November 15th for “Lucha Apocalypto” alongside a date at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York, on June 26th. “Summer of the Beasts” will feature the MLW debut of TJPW wrestler Yuki Kamifuku.

A vignette for Shotzi Blackheart ran last Saturday for the 26th. MLW have confirmed to Fightful that Shotzi is planned for a number of future dates with the promotion and that a match with Shoko Nakajima is part of future plans. Blackheart is currently in the final days of her WWE contract, which is not being renewed.

© GCW Triller+

US Independents

An interview by Joey Janela for Yahoo’s Sports “Uncrowned” with Phil Schneider has led to further examination and criticism over the decision to have Sabu wrestle at GCW’s “Joey Janela’s Spring Break 9” on April 18th, in what was his first match in 4 years and billed as his retirement match in the build up. With Sabu’s sad passing, aged 60 on May 11th, this would indeed be the final match of his career.

The interview was published on May 12th, a day after Sabu’s death was announced, contained the following comments from Janela on the run up to the match:

“I was fairly confident that he was fine. I had kept in contact with him and he had a team of people around him, [a group of] guys this time. They were all saying he was ready to go, that he was going to the gym, that he was on a training program. I believed them until the day of the show. Then two hours before, I got a call: ‘Sabu can’t walk.’

What do you mean Sabu can’t walk? They said, ‘Yeah, Sabu, [it is] something with his knees – they’re locked up. He can’t walk and his feet are bleeding. He’s not coming. Sabu’s not coming.’ I said, ‘Sabu’s f***ed.’

So we talked to Matt Tremont, and Tremont is about to be the replacement for the match and I feel like this is going to be the most embarrassing moment of my wrestling career. There’s 2,000 people here, this is one of the biggest Spring Breaks ever, the biggest crowd ‘Mania weekend, indie-wise, and I’m going to have to go out there and announce that Sabu, once again, no-showed. And no-showed his own retirement match.

Janela would also address the most controversial spot in the match, where Sabu went through a barbed wire board before his head hit the concrete hard. It received criticism at the time of the show alongside the match as a whole, with suggestions that Sabu was not protected in the match and also should not have been participating in it. Janela described the happening as follows;

“He was definitely out cold. He was done. They were telling me there was no way. The refs were communicating to me that there’s no way he’s continuing this match. Like holy s***, that is the one time you want the barbed wire to stop you, he just blew right through it. And then The Sandman came out and that was all Sabu needed, then the resurrection happened. Jesus resurrected two days later, the anniversary … [I] couldn’t f***ing believe it, dude. He was ready to go again. I guess that concussion knocked him back into 1996 or something, I don’t know.”

“Just because how ridiculous it was, if you were one of the wrestlers or one of the staff in the locker that night, you knew the panic in my f***ing eyes, and to see that get pulled off and the crowd to be on their feet, I mean, it’s like f***ing dancing through raindrops and not getting wet.”

The release of the interview led to much greater criticism and an ask for explanation from both GCW and Janela whilst also asking further questions over the condition performers are allowed to enter the ring in and what liability the promotion holds in such cases. This is not a new issue in pro wrestling, but that does not mean it isn’t something that does not require attention or that does not need to change.

Joey Janela and GCW Owner Brett Lauderdale released statements after the comments came to light. Janela said the following on X:

It is important to note that there is no suggestion that the death of Terry Brunk is related to the match.

We have more on the passing of Sabu and the tributes paid by the wrestling world in our Retro section.

Kevin Ku had surgery on a torn meniscus this past week after announcing the injury after returning from Japan. Ku’s Violence is Forever team dropped the GCW Tag Championships at “Joey Janela’s Spring Break 9” during Wrestlemania week.

The boot laying by Fuego Del Sol, after losing his mask at the aforementioned event to Atticus Cogar, paved the way for a gimmick change and a heel turn rather than a retirement, as Del Sol was rechristened under the name KJ Orso and aligned with Cogar at GCW’s “Crazy Scary Spooky Hilarious” show. Orso is already booked under his new moniker for New Texas Pro against Epydemius Jr. on June 1st. New Texas Pro Wrestling have also announced a return to the ring for AQA on the same show in what will be her first match since June 2022.

© GCW

Indi Hartwell won House of Glory’s Women’s Championship at “Waging War” in Chicago on May 9th. Hartwell saw off Miyu Yamashita for the belt which was vacated by previous holder Megan Bayne. On the same show, Mike Santana retained the Men’s World Title by reversing a victory roll to pin Cedric Alexander, and Matt Riddle was unsuccessful in his challenge for the Crown Jewel Championship after being DQ’d for a low blow on Champion Zilla Fatu.

House of Glory will open their Orlando Wrestling School on May 31st with a Grand Opening event at 14:00 on the above date.

Pro Wrestling Symphony will debut as a promotion in Nashville, Tennessee on June 1st, with the first main event for the newly formed company announced as Colby Carter vs Donovan Dijak.

Fightful reports that a number of wrestlers have been approached to take part in Pro Wrestling Power Slap with Sinn Bohdi (who wrestled under Kizarny) in charge of recruitment for the show. Mecha Wolf, Juicy Finau, Christi Jaynes and Marty the Moth are amongst the talent who have already signed on for the controversial project, many of who met with UFC President Dana White this past week.

Gail Kim will act as the special referee for the Natalya-Kenzie Page bout at the NWA Crockett Cup show this Saturday at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.

West Coast lucha libre promotion PW Revolution has entered into a collaboration with middle eastern company Lucha Libre Fest to produce shows in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Vancouver, Canada.

Shane Haste will debut for Prestige as part of their “UNIT3D” collaboration show with West Coast Pro and Deadlock Pro on June 1st in Los Angeles. Trevor Lee, Alan Angels, Kevin Blackwood, DPW World Champion Adam Priest, Cedric Alexander and Cowboy Way are all booked for the date.

Brii Combination Wrestling teams with Shadow Wrestling for “Anniversary 8: A Jurassic Celebration” on May 25th in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey. The show will be a tribute to Vince Steele, who passed away during a show on March 16th after suffering a medical emergency in the ring. Steele was known as the “Jurassic Juggernaut” and was 39 at the time of his passing.

AIW will hold their “20th Anniversary” show in Cleveland on May 16th and feature a rematch between MDogg Matt Cross and Vincent Northill from their first ever show on May 29th, 2005. Their June 21st show is centered around an appearance from ex-WWE and ECW wrestler Kid Kash, with the name “Kash Rules Everything Around Me” but will also feature the return of Priscella Kelly to the promotion.

Glory Pro Wrestling are holding a second edition of their “Road Warrior Cup”, which consists of a 2-day Tag Team Tournament for the trophy, across May 24th and 25th. The shows from St. Louis, Missouri, will stream live on Highspots. The 24th will also feature a Crown of Glory Championship match between WWE ID prospect Marcus Mathers and Kody Lane and a singles match between Freya the Slayer and Vertvixen.

AAA

Alianzas
03/05/2025
Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera
Watch On: Space/MAX/Youtube

There was always expected to be additional eyes on this live “Alianzas” show, with the in ring debut of the 3rd La Parka as the promoted highlight of this show, but those eyes only increased after the announcement of WWE and Fillip’s purchase of the promotion. In reality, if you were looking for a host of changes brought about by the upcoming change of ownership, there was not much to see. The show opened with a video narrated by Rey Mysterio before continuing into standard AAA content with no other notable differences and a lack of promotion for both “Triplemania Regia” and the “When Worlds Collide” show with NXT on June 7th.

© AAA

The live TV taping opened with Las Toxicas taking on Lady Shanno, Dalys and Chik Tormenta with Las Toxicas in matching outfits of a dalmatian-like print and assless chaps that also led to some ass based offense later on in the match. They were notable, at the very least.

Lady Shanni had most of the offense in the match, which was probably a bit of a clue to the finish. Shanni and Flammer ended up left in the ring by themselves with the technico getting the better of the exchanges. She looked to run the ropes to deliver a finish, only to have her legs taken under her by her own teammate in Dalys. Flammer took advantage, nailing Shanni with a kick into the corner before picking up the win.

The second match from the top held the show’s biggest attraction, with the 3rd incarnation of La Parka wrestling for the first time in a trios match alongside Octagon Jr. and Laredo Kid against the Tokyo Bad Boys. This match almost felt foreign to AAA as of late, as it was a straightforward affair involving good workers executing a well thought out match with the overall aim of presenting La Parka as a star.

It is Laredo Kid who starts out the match but soon finds himself outnumbered, leading to Octagon Jr. to enter and end up in much the same predicament. This brought Parka in, who attempted to stop a 3 on 1 onslaught with a cartoon-like “stop” motion and a bow in a bit which didn’t really work and deserved the follow up boots that came after. He then followed this up with some breakdancing rather than going for a dive to the outside and a roll through sit down powerbomb for a 2 count.

The middle section of the match saw the technicos on the rise, with Laredo Kid lifting up the crowd before all 3 men hit a 450 onto their opponents below from separate corners of the ring followed by a string of dives to the outside, with La Parka’s being the final one. Takuma and La Parka rolled back into the ring for the final exchanges with Parka hitting a top rope splash for the victory.

© AAA

It is perhaps something of note that the reaction to Vampiro coming out to endorse La Parka once more got much less reaction than the match itself. This variation does not feel like it has the charisma that others have displayed in the role, so instead they are relying on some high flying and some energetic dance moves to draw the reactions.

The Tokyo Bad Boys returned to Japan after this weekend of shows.

The main event was an even more chaotic mess than you would have expected, with the addition of a Latin Lover referee angle where he took out heel referee Hijo del Tirantes, declared himself as the referee, threatened El Patron’s team with disqualification in a match where weapons and interference were aplenty before brawling to the back, meaning Tirantes ended up counting the pinfall.

The “fun” didn’t stop there as Negro Casas had time to dance with a kendo stick between taking and giving several lashings before Alberto attempted to put him through a table in the corner, only for it not to break. Not to be deterred, he opened one leg of the table in the ring, laid Casas on it and splashed onto him for the win.

Psycho Clown also appeared mid match to deliver a guitar shot to a kneeling Alberto.

In the taped part of the show El Mesias successfully defended the AAA Latin America Title for a second time against Rey de Reyes winner Nino Hamburgesa and was challenged by El Hijo de Wagner Jr. in the aftermath. Hamburguesa was seconded by Mr. Iguana, as the build to the Mr. Iguana turn continues at a somewhat glacial pace.

In the opener, Noisy Boy and Spider Fly replaced Lucha Solos, with Noisy Boy taking the pin to Mini Vikingo in the Alas de Oro Tag Tournament.

Full Results

Billie Starkz & Lady Frost defeat Las Infernales (Dark Silueta & Zeuxis) (7:04)

Campeon Universal Del CMLL 2025 Semi Final:
Titan defeats Mephisto and Stigma (6:54)

Campeon Universal Del CMLL 2025 Semi Final:
Esfinge defeats Akuma and Niebla Roja (14:51)

Campeon Universal Del CMLL 2025 Semi Final:
Angel de Oro defeats Euforia and Flip Gordon (11:05)

Kushida defeats Ultimo Guerrero (15:50)

Campeon Universal Del CMLL 2025 Final:
Titan defeats Angel de Oro and Esfinge (13:45)

© AAA

Other Results

Strangely, the El Patron – Nino Hamburguesa match which has been building for much of the year occurred on a show which did not appear to be taped. AAA claimed a sell out for the Showcenter show on the back of it.

Full Results

Billie Starkz & Lady Frost defeat Las Infernales (Dark Silueta & Zeuxis) (7:04)

Campeon Universal Del CMLL 2025 Semi Final:
Titan defeats Mephisto and Stigma (6:54)

Campeon Universal Del CMLL 2025 Semi Final:
Esfinge defeats Akuma and Niebla Roja (14:51)

Campeon Universal Del CMLL 2025 Semi Final:
Angel de Oro defeats Euforia and Flip Gordon (11:05)

Kushida defeats Ultimo Guerrero (15:50)

Campeon Universal Del CMLL 2025 Final:
Titan defeats Angel de Oro and Esfinge (13:45)

AAA News

WWE has featured 4 AAA workers in their advertisements for the joint AAA-NXT show in Los Angeles on June 7th. El Hijo del Vikingo, Pagano, Laredo Kid and La Parka are all included in the promotion for “When Worlds Collide” at the Kia Forum, seemingly confirming that all 4 are under contract as no uncontracted talent are likely to appear on the show.

A list of wrestlers thought to be under contract has been leaked with the names Alberto El Patron, El Hijo de Wagner Jr, Hijo del Vikingo, La Parka, La Hiedra, Lady Flammer, Lady Marvella and Nino Hamburguesa. There is dispute between reporters as to whether these deals are inherited contracts or whether the talent has signed fresh deals under the WWE/TKO banner and whether this is the actual number or if there are others also under a deal. The inclusion of Laredo Kid and Pagano in said advertising would suggest that they are omissions from this list who are signed.

Super Luchas has claimed that AAA is not looking to make a whole host of signings, with the amount of contracted wrestlers likely to remain in the teens rather than an expansion of their roster base. One name on that list which would involve additional complications for any joint shows is La Hiedra, who it is believed still has legal action against her in the form of a restraining order from NXT Women’s Champion Stephanie Vacquer after comments made after Vacquer’s former partner Cuatrero was charged with sexual assault following evidence given by the NXT wrestler.

“When Worlds Collide” is selling well without a match up announced and is looking like it has already surpassed the NXT PLE number from Wrestlemania weekend. It is hard to determine whether this should be seen as a surprise or not, being that it is being offered in part as a combo package with WWE PLE “Money In The Bank” at the nearby Intuit Dome, but it is another example of promotions potentially recognising that there is a Latino audience not currently being served by the main programming of the top 2 US promotions that is willing to come out and attend shows. It is following on from MLW’s conversion to a lucha based approach leading to them claiming a number of sell outs and AEW looking to increase their own live numbers using advertised luchador matches taped for Ring of Honor as an extra attraction.

Outside of the upcoming live events, it is unlikely that there will be any other substancial changes prior to the completion of the deal, with Triplemania XXXIII in Mexico City on August 16th the most likely starting point for any items which can be immediately implemented. The ownership shares are being reported as 51% WWE and 49% Fillip, which is similar to the percentages involved in the Endeavour takeover of WWE.

© TNA/AAA

The hastily announced “Triplemania Regia” show on June 15th will have guest participation from both TNA and WWE. Latin Lover announced last Thursday that Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo would be part of the show, and it was confirmed to several reporters that Joe Hendry and the Hardys would also be working the show. When an official announcement was made the Hardys had been replaced by the Nemeth Bros in what will be a bit of a hit in regards to talent drawing power but may be unavoidable if Jeff Hardy is still having issues with border crossings due to prior legal misdemeanours. Moose and JBL have also been confirmed for the show.

Wrestlevotes Radio reported that WWE was originally planning for Rey Mysterio to be part of the show before he was injured in the run up to Wrestlemania and is now debating sending El Grande Americano out for the show.

© CMLL

CMLL

CMLL vs. MLW
02/05/25
Arena Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Watch On: Youtube

A crowd which has been estimated at the 11,000 mark saw the first joint show at Arena Mexico between CMLL and MLW. The attendance was likely helped by the show being Mistico’s first Friday night back after an injury absence rather than the presence of the MLW talent, most of which did not receive a strong reaction from the crowd.

Mistico wrestled in the main event in a singles match with Kushida, who has been working in Mexico for much of the two weeks prior with the aim of promoting this show and has also completed a run of press in the build up. The story of the match was Kushida nobly avoiding Mistico’s previously injured arm before acting on instinct to inflict damage on the joint and then following it up with more targeted offense. Mistico worked without the arm brace he wore the previous week but still played up the impact of the injury, being unable to keep hold of La Mistica and having to resort to a modified octopus hold to beat Kushida.

There were 2 title changes on the show, which got some of the best crowd reactions, as Uktimi Guerrero captured the MLW Openweight belt from Matthew Justice and Los Depredadores took hold of the MLW Tag Team Championships by defeating Satoshi Kojima and Okumura. MLW competitor Alejandra Quintanilla became the first Salvadoran to wrestle for CMLL on the show.

© CMLL

Full Results

Reyna Isis defeats Alejandra Quintanilla (11:34)

Donovan Dijak & Ikuro Kwon defeat Galeon Fantasma (Barboza & Zandokan Jr.) (11:16)

MLW World Tag Team Titles:
Los Depredadores (Magnus & Rugido) defeat CozyMAX (Okumura & Satoshi Kojima) (c) to win the Titles (11:48) 

Neon vs. Paul London – Time Limit Draw (10:00)

MLW National Openweight Title:
Ultimo Guerrero defeats Matthew Justice © to win the Title (19:03) 

Mistico defeats KUSHIDA (19:08)

CMLL News

Lluvia successfully defended the CMLL Japan Women’s Championship against Mei Seira in Stardom last week to follow up another defense against Chanyota at the Lucha Fiesta show in Ryogoku. The organisers behind Lucha Fiesta are hoping it helps to drive interest in travel to Mexico and are offering tours to Japanese residents to attend CMLL shows in Mexico City. AirBnB are now offering training experiences in a CMLL ring as part of their Mexico City offering.

La Magnifica was part of the cibernetico on May 10th in Arena Mexico after nearly two years of absence due to injury that has required numerous surgeries but remains undisclosed. The match, for the right to be Number 1 Contender for the CMLL Women’s Mexico National Title, was won by Hera.

Mistico, Mascara Dorada, Zandokan Jr., Star Jr., Atlantis Jr., Angel de Oro, Volador Jr. and Niebla Roja will form the field of 8 for the Copa Junior VIP tournament, with the early rounds taking place on May 23rd and 28th, with all wrestlers in contention either 2nd or 3rd generation.

CMLL has made additional announcements for their cross brand shows for mid June. The show with AEW and Ring of Honor on June 17th will see CRU (Action Andretti and Lio Rush) challenging for the CMLL World Tag Team Championships against holders Angel de Oro and Niebla Roja as well as Mascara Dorada vs Bandido, now that the latter has been cleared to work across the week.

“Fantasticamania” on June 20th has added La Jarochita vs Thunder Rosa to the United Empire vs former LIJ 6 man between Akira, Templario and TJP and Shingo Takagi, Hiromu and Titan. TJP now has his Mexican visa in order to participate in the show as well as any others in the country.

Just added to the card is another 6 man between Averno, Ultimo Guerrero and Hechicero vs Kyle Fletcher, Rocky Romero and Konosuke Takeshita of the Don Callis Family in AEW.

Mexico News

Mechawolf has stated that he will no longer be working with the Crash but is ending the relationship whilst on good terms. He remains advertised for their May 16th show despite noting he will not be working the date. Others who are advertised for the show at the Tijuana Auditorium are Kenny King, La Pandemia, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr, Galeno del Mal, Microman and Cedric Alexander.

Riot Lucha Libre have announced Aramis for their May 17th Monterey show with the cheeky tagline “it is not a Hologram, it is the real thing.” Aramis has been a regular visitor to the promotion since its inception. Also announced for the show is Hyan vs Princesa Azul.

© EWE

Other news from the Americas

Ecuador

Rey Pirata will represent EWE of Ecuador as part of a lucha libre show at the SPEAR Music Fest on May 31st in Bogota, Columbia. The inaugural EWE Awka Atipak Champion will join Columbian luchadors Bruno, Emeritus, Maddy and Buck Danger, as well as Lion Fire from Guatemala, for an event which combines rock music and lucha libre as its selling point.

Caribbean

All Caribbean Wrestling, fresh off announcing a deal with Triller for their weekly Saturday night show, are now part of the WWE ID program. They will be holding their first WWE ID match on June 28th, with WWE ID recruit Gal Barkay facing off with former WWE talent JTG.

Puerto Rico

World Wrestling Council Puerto Rico will hold “Summer Madness” at the Pepin Cestero Arena, Bayamon, on May 31st. The main attraction will be the return of WWE’s Carlito, with the Judgement Day member making his first appearance for the promotion since 2023. WWC is owned by the Colon Family.

Butterflies & Pink Flowers

In the 3rd of our Tunnel Talk inspired “special little guy” series and ahead of the Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Final on May 25th, Emiliana Rico-Toro writes about the impact Hangman Adam Page has had on her fandom as well as the wider impact on her life.

NJPW Resurgence

New Japan Strong shows can often be strange things to watch; the crowds attending are a mix of AEW fans, fans of the product’s golden era and those who are keeping up with the current product.

Recommendations From A History Man

Peter Edge takes inspiration from Phil Schneider’s “Way Of The Blade” for his picks this week. One guarantee; there will be blood!