Sections

The Saudi General Entertainment Authority’s annual sportswashing extravaganza, Riyadh Season, culminated with WWE’s legitimately sold-out “Night of Champions” card. It’s depressing how ruthlessly and effectively Saudi Arabia has rebranded itself as the modern coliseum: the place where our (supposedly) benevolent emperors (Crown Princes) bestow the finest sporting events upon the great unwashed — from dream matches (Punk vs Cena) to impossible fights (Canelo vs Crawford). All they ask for in return is our unquestioning, uncritical love and, perhaps, that we play a little defence for them on social media – and is that really so much to ask for, when we can get League Cups, multimillion-pound strikers, and (erm…) elite golf in return?

Truth be told, “Night of Champions” 2025 is the first WWE or sporting event to garner any real level of sustained controversy for its connection to the Saudi regime in many a year, and that mild grumbling had less to do with human rights offences and more to do with CM Punk’s hypocrisy. Fans either cringed or giggled gleefully as CM Punk was forced not only to wrestle in Saudi Arabia, but to apologise for his infamous “go suck a blood money-covered dick” tweet to The Miz in 2020. Little in the way of serious mainstream criticism materialised in relation to the regime; instead, CM Punk found himself on punitive display in the Slim Jim-branded stocks. In reality, Saudi Arabia’s sportswashing has effectively silenced dissent, normalised the nation as a sporting and media capital, and has, almost accidentally, turned the country into a hotbed for wrestling.

The latter point is rather surreal, because those familiar with boxing will have noted that the Saudi crowds don’t always seem to care that some of the biggest fights in the world are happening in Riyadh: sometimes the crowds are fired up; often they are flat but appreciative. WWE, on the other hand, has been a legitimate hit. There has been a night-and-day transformation when comparing the crowd at “Night of Champions” 2025 to “Greatest Royal Rumble” 2018 — gone are the disinterested dignitaries, and in their place stand rowdy, passionate wrestling fans fully invested in the contemporary stories and characters. Reports from the region suggest that these shows are now seen as big events that real wrestling fans in neighbouring countries will both travel to and sell out in a matter of minutes.

This quasi-organic success does not excuse (or in any way compensate for) the morally despicable acts of the regime or disguise their transparent attempts to use sport to launder their reputation — but amid all the innate horribleness, it is nice to see that wrestling can still make genuinely new fans the world over.

CM Punk Makes Cena Sweat Before Wheeling Out The Smoke And Mirrors

It might disappoint some readers to learn that I really rather enjoyed this main event between John Cena and CM Punk. In no universe was it the clash between the best wrestler in the world and the greatest of all time, but considering I’ve had to dutifully suffer through Cena’s laborious attempts to get the heat for three straight months, this match felt like a breath of only somewhat stale air. Randy Orton was wise enough to realise that Cena couldn’t work a competitive match in 2025 after witnessing the debacle that was the “WrestleMania” main event, so he wisely killed some time before going straight to the smoke and mirrors with ref bumps, table spots, run-ins and finishers galore. In doing so, Randy produced the only entertaining match of Cena’s championship run – until now.

CM Punk not only took on the challenge of wrestling the broken-down husk of John Cena for a marathon 26 minutes, but he decided he wanted to legitimately put in the work. Describing the match as fast-paced would be inaccurate, as neither man is capable of moving quickly at this point in their career, but the action was unrelenting as Punk led Cena through spot after spot. Expecting some measure of a heel reaction given his comments about the country, Punk clearly structured the match to allow the crowd scope to both boo and cheer him, as he repeatedly cut off the Five Knuckle Shuffle (to loud jeers) while also giving himself three heroic last-minute kick-outs of the Attitude Adjustment (to hearty roars).

Truth be told, the white-hot crowd greeted CM Punk with loud and largely positive chants, with only a background chorus of boos; whereas Cena’s reaction was similarly mixed with the usual blend of battle chants. There were moments where Punk’s pacing took its toll on both men — their famously uncoordinated and unathletic bodies struggled to whirl into position for Punk’s spinning neckbreaker counter sequences — but by and large, they successfully made it through 15 minutes of main event wrestling in the Paul Heyman style. The crowd were going legitimately wild as both men traded near falls prior to the inevitable referee bump.

From then on, the overblown drama, typical of the post-Bloodline/Club/House of Torture era of main event wrestling, set in. With CM Punk securing a visual pinfall, Seth Rollins’ music hit and he led Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed to the ring, kicking off a parade of wild twists and turns. CM Punk would try to fight off the Brons with a terrifying plancha that saw Punk heading head-first towards the floor, only to be saved by Breakker and Reed’s last-minute efforts to reach back and flip him safely onto his back. It only got more chaotic from there. Penta’s music hit, and rather than running to the ring to foil a potential cash-in or save Cena and Punk, he instead did his deliciously femme strut down the ramp to confront Breakker. Sami Zayn would quickly follow to brawl with the Brons so they’d be perfectly positioned for Penta to dive off the stage and take all four men out of the action (this spot is well worth watching to see the crazy way Penta bounced off of Bronson Reed before thudding to the floor).

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The best run-in, however, was yet to come. Charles Robinson made his heroic sprint down another preposterously long stadium-sized ramp (not bad for a 61-year-old), only to be pounced out of his skin by John Cena in (no, I’m not kidding) one of my favourite spots of the entire year. With the referees down, Cena was again confronted with the chance to cheat, and we were treated to foreshadowing in both possible character directions. Cena couldn’t bring himself to hit CM Punk with the Undisputed WWE Title, choosing instead to throw it to the ground. But when he and Punk embraced after successfully clearing the ring (as they had at Elimination Chamber), this time Cena’s face dropped and he went for the low blow. Punk caught the low blow and went for the GTS, but Seth Rollins broke it up, levelled Punk with the MITB briefcase, and followed up with a Curb Stomp, allowing Cena to sneak in and retain.

Watching two sweaty old-timers struggle through a complex back-and-forth match before an onslaught of interference might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but in terms of peaking the crowd and making John Cena not only watchable, but entertaining, I thought this knowing clusterfuck of a match was a minor triumph. I sincerely hope Cody Rhodes has learnt from both CM Punk and Randy Orton’s qualified successes and does not, for one second, allow Cena to lead him into the never-ending nightmare of slow-motion shoulder tackles and “heat”.

Rhea Ripley and Raquel Rodriguez Run Riot In Riyadh

Raquel Rodriguez has struggled mightily in singles matches since moving up to the main roster and has been better served as the bully tag partner for Liv Morgan, where she can wrestle sparingly and let Liv do all the bumping. However, none of the issues that have blighted Raquel’s singles career manifested themselves in this excellent Street Fight with Rhea Ripley. This was a brilliantly straightforward encounter between two bad arses, dressed in imposing quasi-bondage gear, beating the ever-living crap out of one another. It was 14 minutes of unrelentingly hard-hitting action with crowd-pleasing spots galore. Rhea was allowed to look like a dominant and wily babyface and Raquel was presented as a worthy, but not quite as talented, rival.

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Fittingly, Rhea appeared to be en route to victory when Roxanne Perez ran out to make the save. The scrappy Roxy was perfect in her role as the pesky annoyance who would ultimately take wild bumps for Ripley. The match culminated when Ripley managed to put Roxanne in the bin (literally) and destroy her with a sliding kick. In a fair fight Ripley soon triumphed, battling Raquel atop a table balanced across the top rope, which provided the platform for a wild diving Riptide. This match was perfect for its position on the card and gives Ripley plenty of momentum heading into her date with Iyo Sky at “Evolution 2”.

Rhodes and Orton Steal The Show While Leaving Plenty In Reserve

In terms of in-ring quality, “Night of Champions” peaked in the opener between Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes. Both men have been teasing a major title programme and heated feud since Rhodes returned to the WWE. So far, however, Triple H has been patient with the pair, keeping both men apart and ensuring they have remained as babyfaces. In this context, it is somewhat surprising that Orton and Cody found themselves in the finals of the King of the Ring tournament, but it’s clear that both men wrestled this excellently worked main event-style battle with the goal of leaving plenty of spots, counters, kick-outs and drama on the table for a proper feud in the future.

Instead of going hell for leather, Rhodes and Orton wrestled an incredibly slick and professional match that was all about milking a crowd that was absolutely losing their minds at the mere prospect of witnessing this match. The two veterans were peaking the crowd perfectly when Randy hit his signature RKO out of nowhere for a believable near-fall. At this point, Randy considered going for the punt kick on his fallen friend, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it quickly enough, which allowed Cody to recover in an overwrought and somewhat silly storytelling moment. Randy would regain control by countering a Cody Cutter into an RKO for another tremendous near-fall. At this point Randy went to get a chair, only for the referee to take it from him, but this distraction allowed Orton time to remove the top turnbuckle. Cody would not hesitate to shove Orton into the exposed buckle, before hitting the CrossRhodes for the decisive victory.

The match was building brilliantly but was somewhat derailed by the overbearing narrative elements towards the end. WWE is clearly telling the story that Rhodes has learnt from his mistake at “WrestleMania” and will now ruthlessly take any opportunity that presents itself, even as his fellow babyfaces and friends continue to hesitate and show him mercy. This match will no doubt be rematched in future with neither man holding back, but the question remains: when Orton and Rhodes finally get their main event title match, who will be the heel and who will be the babyface?

The Misfiring Midcard Slog

Despite offering a hot start and a dramatic finale, the stretch of matches in between Rhea Ripley and John Cena’s victories were somewhat of a slog to get through. Sami Zayn and Karrion Kross simply misjudged the moment. The crowd were wildly and passionately behind Sami Zayn, who is an absolute hero in Saudi Arabia and will no doubt be the favourite to win the Royal Rumble in Riyadh in 2026. The first five or six minutes of this match were really enjoyable as Sami ran wild hitting both an Arabian Press and a moonsault off the barricade, but then Karrion Kross got the heat and he kept on getting the heat for what felt like an eternity. Sami is a great wrestler and his hope spots, like the always excellent Blue Thunder Bomb, got a good reaction, but no one wanted to see him struggle with Kross for nearly 14 minutes. Kross would pummel Zayn, locking him in the Kross Jacket while repeatedly screaming for Sami to admit that, “Kross tells the truth”. The truth is that no one views Kross as a credible threat and when Sami surprised him with the Helluva Kick to secure victory, the overriding feeling was that it had come five minutes too late. The work was good, the crowd heat for Sami was great, but Kross’ character isn’t credible enough nor his work engaging enough for him to have Sami selling for this long.

It’s staggering how dull Jacob Fatu’s showdown with Solo Sikoa proved to be. Jacob is incredibly over and a truly dynamic worker, but Solo, for all his improvements as a television character, seems simply incapable of upping his game in the ring. This match was stuck in first gear, with Solo getting the heat so joylessly with a series of stomps and rest-holds that would make heel Cena yawn. Jacob would fire up and unleash his signature offence, but he could not turn around the match; he was desperate to pick up the intensity, but Solo only had one speed and would not rise to the occasion.
The match was drifting when JC Mateo stormed to ringside to distract the referee, making way for the shocking return of Tonga Loa. Loa would give Fatu a twisting neckbreaker off the top rope, but Jacob would quickly recover, hitting a dive to wipe out Loa. This merely set the scene for the surprise main roster (not counting “Main Event”) debut of Talla Tonga aka Hikuleo, who chokeslammed Fatu through the table and rolled him into the ring for Solo to hit the Samoan Spike for the victory. In all honesty, the House of Torture interference saved this match from total irrelevancy as, other than Jacob’s amazing flip bump for the Spike, Fatu struggled to get anything worthwhile out of the new Intercontinental Champion Solo Sikoa.

Night of Champions’ uninspired midcard was completed by Jade Cargill’s Queen of the Ring victory over Asuka. This match’s really rather low rating on Cagematch belies the absolutely tremendous work of Asuka. She was a woman possessed, throwing glorious strikes to chop down Jade, uncorking amazing counters into rolling heel hooks and armbars, and, when Jade was on offence, Asuka was bumping like a madwoman. This was the classic example of a wizard working with a broomstick. Jade wasn’t bad per se, but she’s hardly improved. She still awkwardly waits for spots: leaning forward unnaturally anticipating strikes and staggering to get in position for almost every move. Worse still, when she countered the Empress Impact into the Jaded for the victory, she overbalanced when striking her pose and lifted Asuka’s shoulders off the mat during the three count.
Given that Jade doesn’t appear to be hugely over, if the plan is for Jade to be the babyface against the wildly entertaining Naomi and the intrinsically likeable Bianca Belair, a disaster may be brewing. She’s by no means a busted flush and she does possess many great qualities, but as Naomi herself would say, at this point WWE need to “proceed with caution”.

Full Results

King Of The Ring 2025 Final:
Cody Rhodes defeats Randy Orton (19:48)

Riyadh Boulevard Street Fight:
Rhea Ripley defeats Raquel Rodriguez (14:04)

Sami Zayn defeats Karrion Kross (13:32)

WWE United States Title:
Solo Sikoa defeats Jacob Fatu (c) (12:08)

Queen Of The Ring 2025 Final:
Jade Cargill defeats Asuka (8:34)

Undisputed WWE Title:
John Cena (c) defeats CM Punk (26:17)

NXT Great American Bash

12/07/2025
Attendance: 750
Location: Center Stage Theater, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Watch On: Peacock/Netflix
Review by David Hayter

If “Evolution” on Sunday night was doomed to fail from a commercial perspective as the endnote of a long weekend of major wrestling events, then NXT’s “Great American Bash” was recklessly thrown to the wolves by going head-to-head with “All In”. WWE had to know that next to nobody in 2025 would choose to watch NXT over AEW’s “WrestleMania”, but the NXT talent were further shafted by having to put on their PLE at Center Stage in Atlanta: a 750-capacity venue that they struggled to fill due to sky-high ticket prices. Shawn Michaels seemed to know he’d been positioned between a rock and a hard place and simply decided to punt.
Rather than loading up the show with their biggest and best matches, NXT instead treated this PLE as an extension of their TV show, forwarding dramas that would normally conclude on a regular TV episode. Je’Von Evans wasn’t positioned to steal the show; instead, he continued the introduction of LFG winner Jaspar Troy. Similarly, the World Title match was less the destination and more the first step on the journey towards a heel turn for Josh Briggs, of all people. This sense of a PLE in name only was cemented by the main event—a standard tag team match that saw the hastily thrown-together pairing of Jordynne Grace and Blake Monroe teaming against Toxic Influence. It wasn’t a real main event; it was merely a teaser designed to introduce Blake while hinting at a heel turn that would take place on Sunday’s “Evolution” and play out in the weeks to come.
The result was a low-effort, low-energy, low-production-value, anti-spectacular that lacked the usual endearing zaniness of the weekly NXT TV show.

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Standard TV Main Event Tag Closes An Unremarkable PLE

NXT has done a fantastic job of not only marketing their women’s division as the best in all of wrestling, but also putting their money where their mouth is by having the women routinely headline PLEs and dominate the TV show. Unfortunately, while Blake Monroe’s in-ring debut is a big deal, it is not remotely significant enough to headline a PLE—even one as light on star power as this one. It’s truly hard to summon any kind of interesting insight about this match: Grace and May showcased some good chemistry as they debuted a series of double-team moves, but ultimately this was a standard, well-worked tag team match with the heels cheating to get the heat for an extended period before the babyfaces made their comeback.

The main issue was that the match felt incredibly low-stakes. Jordynne Grace’s innate in-ring dynamism did pique the crowd at certain points, but given that the result (Blake picking up the win) was a foregone conclusion, there was little for the audience at home to sink their teeth into. Jacy Jayne is busting her arse to try and give her reign credibility, but there is no doubt that the entire division is stuck in purgatory waiting for this mediocre transitional champion to lose so the real feuds and top-quality matches can take place further down the line. Perhaps, in that one limited sense, this perfectly acceptable tag team match was the perfect main event for a half-arsed PLE designed to gently nudge NXT storylines towards bigger and better things to come.

They did manage to create a measure of drama at the very climax of the match, as Jazmyn Nyx’s constant interference allowed the heels to keep the advantage. However, at the point her interference became incessant, TNA Knockouts Champion Masha Slamovich (who is scheduled to face Jacy at TNA “Slammiversary”) came out to even the odds. This allowed Blake to isolate Jacy Jayne and hit a double-arm DDT to beat the NXT Champion clean as a whistle.

Briggs Based Drama Overshadows NXT Championship Match

Both Oba Femi and Yoshiki Inamura have absolutely delivered, no matter how green or inexperienced their opponents, but oddly, in their hotly anticipated NXT Title match they failed to steal the show. This wasn’t entirely their fault; the two men delivered an encounter with great sumo throws from Inamura and some devastating, skin-ripping chops from Oba Femi, but the combination of a small crowd and the unnecessary insertion of Josh Briggs took the steam out of the match-up. Yoshiki is one of those wrestlers with an incredibly endearing quality—he doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary (although his strikes and throws are pleasingly hefty), but he does everything with the enthusiasm and charm of a natural babyface. He’s a good guy at heart, and the audience genuinely wants the best for him.

The match was coming to a boil nicely, with Oba Femi working over Inamura’s gut with front suplexes and gutbusters, before Inamura tried to make a valiant comeback only to run straight into a monstrous spinebuster. Then, just as the match looked to be kicking into overdrive, the nonsense began. Josh Briggs hit Oba Femi with the NXT Championship, but Inamura wouldn’t take advantage of the situation and implored Briggs to refrain from cheating. This led to a sequence of strong near-falls, with Inamura hitting the big splash and a stalling sit-out powerbomb to prompt a last-second kick-out. Unfortunately, Briggs would again ruin the match by getting on the apron to bicker with his partner like a total moron. This allowed Oba Femi to hit the Fall From Grace to retain his title. It would be great to see this one re-matched in front of a bigger crowd, without the unnecessary and largely uninteresting Briggs storyline attached.

Page Beats Saints Decisively In Micro-Machines Falls Count Anywhere Match

This was a bizarre match-up. Don’t get me wrong—it was really well wrestled and was probably the most compelling contest on the entire show—but boy, was it weird watching a Falls Count Anywhere match in the tiny confines of the Center Stage Theater. Page and Saints started this North American Title match by brawling about ten steps up into the crowd and then, in one short stride, they were not only at the bar and the merchandise table, but at the actual exit to the venue. Simply put, this building was comically small and limiting for this gimmick and, in hindsight, Page and Saints would have been better served brawling onto the streets of Atlanta to create a more memorable visual.

With all that being said, the actual work in the match itself was tremendously entertaining, with both men pulling out wild spots (wrapping a chair around Saints’ neck and throwing him into the ring post) and fun novelties (a fire extinguisher spot that was cleverly disguised by good camera work). It’s not Saints or Page’s fault that this match was wrestled on the same day as Hangman and Moxley’s ungodly violent Texas Death match, but while they couldn’t match that level of insanity, they did their best to thrill the Atlanta crowd with back body drops onto upward-facing chairs and suplexes onto guardrail bridges. They managed to keep the intensity up throughout before brawling to the back for a second time to set up a somewhat peculiar finish. Saints ran into Jaspar Troy who, in a fit of fury, chokeslammed Saints onto a random crate. From there, Page was able to maintain the advantage, hitting a great-looking Ego’s Edge from an elevated platform through a table on the ground below to secure the 1-2-3.

Je’Von Fails To Inspire Generic Jaspar

Jaspar Troy’s potential is obvious: he’s huge, he’s imposing and he wrestles pretty damn well for his experience level. Unfortunately, he remains green and is distinctly lacking in any sense of edge or unique charisma. From his confused aesthetic to his lumbering attempts to get the heat – which literally involved standing on Je’Von’s head before locking in an abdominal stretch – Jaspar simply isn’t ready to be a PLE level star. He doesn’t innately understand main event presentation the way Oba Femi did from day one and he doesn’t have anything resembling Trick Williams’ innate charisma. Nevertheless, despite his failings, Je’Von led him through a good underdog vs bully opener that culminated when Je’Von surprised Jaspar with a flash roll up for the win. Make no mistake, Je’Von’s babyface comeback was tremendous – mixing dynamic dives with great springboards and a fantastic stalling German suplex – but the body of the match was mediocre at best.

Confused Babyface/Heel Dynamics Mire Middling Women’s US Title Clash

Sol Ruca and Zaria (aka ZaRuca) have been a revelation on NXT TV: a fun opposites-attract team that seems to thrive on a blend of a genuinely believable connection and wildly diverse but equally crowd-pleasing wrestling styles (powerhouse and gymnastic, respectively). Unfortunately, the Tatum Paxley storyline has led to a muddying of the waters. Izzi Dame is supposed to be a cult leader tricking the naïve Tatum into joining The Culling, but because Zaria is so genuinely unpleasant towards Tatum and Sol’s niceness is limited to meaningless platitudes, ZaRuca feel like the heels. This wasn’t helped when the match started with Tatum slapping Zaria (getting her just revenge for mistreatment), which caused the referee to be distracted as the heel Izzi Dame hit a Sky High and got a visual near-fall on the babyface.

Suffice it to say, this opening killed the crowd dead as the undeserving babyface slowly made her comeback. Thankfully, Sol Ruca is infinitely likeable and has a great natural babyface wrestling style, so the crowd was with her when she belatedly hit the Sol Snatcher for the victory after Zaria speared Tatum on the outside (ironically distracting the heel Izzi). Unfortunately, the match was merely inoffensive and generic—not half as good as most ZaRuca TV matches and lacking the crazy athleticism of Sol’s usual PLE title defences. The most memorable moment of the match came when Sol slipped on a moonsault to the outside and, in coming up slightly short, absolutely walloped Izzi in the face with her knee. Ouch.

Charismatic Contract Signing Feels Out of Place on PLE

The show was rounded off by the contract signing between Trick Williams, Joe Hendry, and Mike Santana, which was highlighted by a great, fiery promo from Santana. All three men were excellent in cutting their promos, but this entire angle felt like the highlight of a weekly television show rather than something so unique it warranted being broadcast on a PLE. The segment ended with Trick being put through a table by his two TNA opponents, only for Dark State to wipe out Santana and Hendry post-match.

Full Results

Je’Von Evans defeats Jasper Troy (13:39)

WWE NXT Women’s North American Title:
Sol Ruca (c) defeats Izzi Dame (w/Tatum Paxley) (11:43)

WWE NXT North American Title Falls Count Anywhere:
Ethan Page (c) defeats Ricky Saints (14:47)

WWE NXT Title:
Oba Femi (c) defeats Yoshiki Inamura (w/Josh Briggs) (13:19)

Blake Monroe & Jordynne Grace defeat Fatal Influence (Fallon Henley & Jacy Jayne) (16:32)

Saturday Night’s Main Event

July 12th, 2025
State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Watch On: Peacock/Youtube
Review by Conor McFall

What is wrong with you people? People have been insisting that this company is hot and good for something like the last 2 1/2 or three years. We’re going to a point now where things are starting to cool off and the show was an example of that. But nevertheless, journalists such as Dave Meltzer will insist that this is the hot company. It is my contention that the hot period is now over, and therefore, I wish to ask myself what it was all about. This is something that has baffled me throughout the entire period as someone who is a deep skeptic of this promotion. Late stage Vince McMahon booking was completely unwatchable and the presentation itself was false and alienating. What changed? There have been changes under the booking regime of Paul Levesque; however, his long drawn out angles and four match major cards are not something that I would call ‘good’ exactly, even if it was ultimately more coherent than what came before. In a strange way I believe that many people who have a long and sentimental attachment to WWE simply wanted it to be good again. Vince’s replacement with Levesque in 2022 allowed fans to believe again. AEW being caught in a cycle of poor booking and CM Punk drama also helped the pendulum to swing back towards Stamford. However, one must acknowledge that the main storylines that turned around business were already underway during the last months of Vince’s regime. Now that we are past the peak of the bloodline and Cody Rhodes title chase, what is left?

What’s left is an absolute mountain of content in the form of PLEs, TV specials and NXT events that exist more to flood the market tan to advance storylines in an effective way. In a sense, this is but an extension of WWE’s monopolistic tactics going back decades. What has changed is this sheer lack of effort going in to any of these shows. They have very few matches and increasingly rather insubstantial builds. They retired Bill Goldberg on three weeks’ notice, for God’s sake. What WWE fans need to understand is that these shows do not exist primarily to entertain them, but to point their eyes and ears at the absolute deluge of advertising within them. In the increasingly corporatised, business to-business environment, WWE fans are not primarily the consumer – but instead, they themselves are the product.

They exist as receptacles of propaganda for the likes of Slim Jim’s, Maybelline and the government of Saudi Arabia. The sterile and soulless environment of late McMahon WWE has not only stayed in place, but become more insidious. It helps all the more that they have cultivated one of the most credulous audiences in all of entertainment. But even the most enthusiastic YEETers seem to be getting a little tired.

This show opened with a nice cityscape of Atlanta as an announcer hyped the crowd. Note that he was plugging a sponsor within the first 30 seconds.

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Randy Orton vs Drew McIntyre

This match was an extension of what I just spoke about, in that it existed purely to put two products in front of the audience’s face. These came in the human form of Logan Paul – the MAGA-coded emissary of douchebag bro culture – and Jelly Roll, an atrocious face-tattooed musician who trades in the increasingly popular Mormon core arena rock blandness that has swept the charts. This guy took an inspiring story of addiction recovery and has parlayed it into work shilling any shitty song, product and now wrestling show that will cut him a cheque. Truly the American Dream. They interfered at the end to set up a “Summer Slam” tag team match and, to be fair, did not look completely awful in the ring, but everything that came from the two actual pros before then was so perfunctory that you could feel them checking their watch and waiting for the run-ins. Par for the course with Randy Orton. The idiot Michael Cole insisted that this was an all time rivalry. This was not worked as such. This had house show energy as they just ran through all their normal spots until the outside stuff.
**½

Naomi and Jade Cargill did a pull apart ahead of their match at “Evolution”, resulting in Bianca Belair being announced as the special ref. Okay.

Over 40 minutes into this show and I’d spent most of my time being advertised to instead of watching wrestling. Unfortunately, we headed back to the ring with:

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Jimmy Uso vs Solo Sikoa

It amazes me that the Uso brothers both suck so much as singles. Yes, their tag team was a complete Young Bucks rip-off but they at least had some decent matches. As singles they have nothing. Solo appears with the entirely of the New Japan lower midcard circa 2021. Did you know that Uso and Sikoa are brothers? Commentary reminded me approximately 500 times. Jimmy took the early advantage, mainly with punches and chops, but Talla Tonga gave him a lariat on the outside to send us to yet another ad break as this is every WWE TV match ever. However, it returned not with Solo getting the heat but an exchange that ended with the champion taking a German suplex on the apron. Did you know that Jimmy Uso is nicknamed Big Jim? Luckily, commentary reminded me approximately 500 times. Solo was getting his ass beat this whole match, though he kicked out of the big splash. Big Jim also did a big dive to take out the geek squad on the outside. JC Matteo lol. Solo got a cheap roll up with Talla Tonga’s foot half way up his ass for leverage. Honestly, Jimmy Uso was fine here but the heels are a complete parade of geeks. They were run off by Jacob Fatu, who will have his work cut out trying to drag anything out of Talla Tonga, who remains the shits. Some combination of these people will be feuding until we’re all dead.
**½

Many adverts and recaps.

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Seth Rollins vs LA Knight

WWE always has a collection of these bland-core acts that look kind of photogenic, can deliver a promo well without ever saying anything memorable and have a hard three star ceiling for their matches. The Miz, Ethan Page, Ricky Saints, Austin Theory. LA Knight is the current king of this genre. Anyway, nothing of note happened here until Seth Rollins came up clutching his knee from a springboard. They hastily went to a finish with Knight hitting his move for the pin almost immediately. There is something grimly amusing about this being a speed run though the Seth Rollins trajectory – pushed to the top of the card, “Raw” bombs in the ratings, he blows out his knee and then comes back as an upper midcarder again. However, not long after this show, reporters Dave Meltzer and John Pollock both flagged this up as potential work and – in spite of Mike Johnson’s inane protestation that it was disrespectful to Rollins to speculate – many have now concluded that this was, indeed, a fake injury. It seems obvious that Seth will return at “Summerslam” to cash in on Punk after he beats Gunther for the fake World Title. A cash-in is supposed to be a surprise but the gimmick is so played out that they’ve added another layer to it with this worked injury. But now that the cat seems to be out of the bag in that, you have one unsurprising surprise piled on top of another unsurprising surprise being used to put Seth Rollins as the top guy on “Raw” with a world title, which has been a bomb on both occasions that they’ve done it before. Meanwhile, you’re also working your own locker room just one day after many of them expressed genuine sympathy and sadness over Adam Cole’s injury situation. This seems to be a lot of convolution to achieve not very much, but I’m not the Booker Of The Year, so what do I know? The match here was nothing.
**

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Gunther vs Goldberg

WWE hardcores are very anti-Goldberg. He’s an old part-timer that they don’t have much nostalgia for, who takes up a spot from their guys. However, he had two of the best and funniest WWE matches of recent years with his brutal botchfest vs The Undertaker and his total squash of The Fiend, both in Saudi Arabia. His formula of finisher spam matches was fresh for a while until WWE adopted it for all of their main event era across the board. Anyway, he came out here for his last match flanked by Josh Barnett and his own son Gage, who looks about ready to start training if he wanted to follow his dad’s footsteps. For some reason, while the entire build and post-match of this retirement was completely rushed, the match itself went 13 minutes, which is like Omega vs Okada IV by Bill’s usual standards.

In fairness, it was a slow start in which Goldberg no-sold a couple of chops and got a few knockdowns on Gunther. Goldberg did not seem to have any explosiveness left, so stalling and selling was the name of the game. Of course, we got the (lol) barricade spot that all these big WWE matches have, which is the transition to Gunther’s control period (following yet another eternal commercial break). Working the knee made sense, at least, to explain away the lack of mobility that Bill was coming in with. The best bump in the match was taken by referee Charles Robinson, who ate a spear from Goldberg. Gunther jaw jacked with Goldberg Jr outside for no good reason except to allow Papa Goldberg to hit a spear and a clunky jackhammer for a near fall. Gunther promptly choked him out for the win. There wasn’t really a lot to this because Goldberg, never really one for a slow burning classic anyway, has lost whatever juice he had left. This is probably about as credible as he’s capable of and it certainly wasn’t a disgrace. The crowd were hot and he went out to a strong opponent.
**¼

One thing Goldberg is better at now than at any point in his career is talking. Which makes it all the weirder that his farewell speech is cut off after about 30 seconds for a hard out. Oh, well. That’s what happens when your retirement is shoehorned in just to damage AEW instead of being done for its own merits.

This was not an aggressively awful show or anything like that. It just existed as relatively inoffensive background. In a way, I see the appeal for a casual wrestling fan because it asks so little of you. Everyone ran through their spots in the most telegraphed way possible, everything was recapped a million times over so you never had to actually think at any point – and then it ended. And all you had to do was sit there and witness the absolute cavalcade of advertising that was thrown at you. Indeed, the few minutes of wrestling that there was seemed to exist to distract you from the fact that you were being bombarded with adverts at all times.

I do want to say something about WWE’s work, however. It’s just so devoid of anything. It’s wrestling on autopilot. Every match begins with a slow feeling out period that the babyface gets the best of, followed by moving to the outside and then suddenly the heel is on top and both guys are selling like they’ve been through a war. Then the babyface makes their comeback before there’s a bullshit run-in for the finish. The wrestlers move through these spots competently enough but none of the selling is earned by good transitions. They just move from Point A to Point B to Point C of the match because that’s what you’re supposed to do. There is just a hollowness, an emptiness to everything they do, and it manifests in the work just as much as it does in the buzzword-laden promos and the hyper-aggressive advertising.

Anyway, this show bombed in the ratings as things continue not to look too hot for ‘Booker Of The Year’ Paul Levesque this summer.

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WWE Evolution

13/07/2025
State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia, US
Attendance: ca 8,300
Watch On: Peacock/Netflix
Review by David Hayter

It’s genuinely infuriating that “Evolution”, one of WWE’s best and most enjoyable PLEs of the entire year, was self-sabotaged from a commercial perspective by being carelessly thrown onto the end of an already overbooked weekend of major wrestling shows, with little or no build, in a frankly petty and ultimately pointless attempt to undermine AEW’s “All In”. This self-inflicted wound is made worse when we consider that “Evolution” isn’t just any old show — it’s WWE’s only all-women’s PLE, designed to showcase how much progress women’s wrestling has made since the dark days of the Attitude Era and Divas division.

Rather than giving their stacked women’s divisions the chance to tell long-term storylines building to their own mini-“WrestleMania”, WWE instead gave their top female stars a paltry two-week build to a show that had to struggle for oxygen against Goldberg’s retirement road on “Raw” and the celebrity hijinks of Jelly Roll and Logan Paul on “SmackDown”. It is a genuine shame because, as the final show of a long “All In” weekend, “Evolution” struggled to draw. The show ultimately reached the creditable figure of 8,300 fans in attendance; however, there is no doubt a show headlined by Iyo Sky vs. Rhea Ripley would have drawn significantly better given its own weekend and a wholehearted — rather than half-arsed — promotional drive. After all, the show’s absolutely phenomenal main event was a rematch of a match that drew a sell-out of over 16,000 in London (without discounting, post-announcement), easily outdrawing the exclusive appearances of CM Punk, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins that headlined the “SmackDown” show (with discounting) from the same building just four days earlier.

There has been some internal reporting suggesting that WWE’s women’s locker room was aware that they had been positioned to fail and were determined to bust their arses to ensure “Evolution” was a critical success. There can be no denying that they succeeded — “Evolution” will go down not only as one of WWE’s best PLEs of the year (alongside “Elimination Chamber”), but it also marked a stark improvement from a creative perspective. Bookended by two brilliant contests, Triple H broke from his usual pattern by booking seven full matches rather than simply four or five; as a result, there was little or no downtime to be found on the PLE, and even the commercials felt well-placed and unobtrusive. Maybelline sponsoring Tiffany Stratton, for example — it makes perfect sense for her character and feels natural, compared to, say, having the Viking Raiders plug a mobile game or watching fake fans celebrate in “the cone zone”.

Suffice it to say, WWE and their women took a terrible hand and turned it into a royal flush. It’s just a shame that “Evolution” didn’t take place before a full house and, when all is said and done, it will likely be one of the least streamed shows of the year due to the heavy competition.

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Naomi’s Shock Cash In Elevates (Rather Than Undermines) An Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley Classic

Wow. Genuinely, wow. It is rare that something which, in retrospect, seems as perfectly logical (and even creatively necessary) as Naomi cashing in her Money in the Bank contract can take not only an arena, but the entire viewing audience, completely by surprise. Looking back in hindsight, it’s almost too perfect. Firstly, “Raw” had just lost Liv Morgan, and all the plans for this PLE and the women’s division at large had to be torn up and rebooked on the fly. Secondly, with Becky Lynch as the Intercontinental Champion, that left “Raw” with no top female heel and an abundance of babyface stars (Rhea, Iyo, Asuka, Stephanie, Nikki). Thirdly and finally, Rhea Ripley has never beaten Iyo Sky — it’s the biggest storyline between the two top women’s stars on the brand. Would it really make sense to blow it off on the hastily assembled “Evolution” show?

The funny thing is, ask anyone that question going into the show and they would have said yes: of course Rhea Ripley gets her big win and celebrates in the middle of the ring with the title to close “Evolution”, highlighting that in the five years since the previous edition, WWE has now made a female star big enough to rival any male main-eventer. Instead, Triple H decided to reset the chessboard, reward Naomi for her absolutely fantastic work as a heel character, and keep the flame of Iyo vs. Rhea alive a little longer.

This booking decision looks even better in light of the match itself, which was a fabulous clash that told a perfect story in-ring. For all Rhea’s dominance, brutality and intensity, Iyo Sky is simply a better wrestler who has her number. She always kicks out, she always has the right counter, she always manages to slip away, and she can always cut Rhea off. For the best part of 20 minutes, Iyo and Rhea exchanged beautifully destructive offence, with Rhea growing ever more frustrated as Iyo would invert her signature offence into brilliant counters. The action was intense; Rhea would uncork brilliant powerbomb sequences, while Iyo would land a sick poisonrana or killer suicide dive in response. Some of the scenes were absolutely wild — a particular highlight was when Iyo tried to hit Hiromu Takahashi’s signature sunset bomb to the outside, but Rhea hung on, so little Iyo shoot-lifted Rhea up, carried her around, and hit a thudding elevated sit-out powerbomb to the floor.

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The match had been wonderfully dynamic, building on great in-ring storytelling, when they decided to kick the drama up a notch. After battling on the top rope, Iyo found herself on the apron in position for her signature springboard dropkick. She soared through the air, only for Rhea to dodge, causing Iyo to absolutely wipe out referee Jessica Carr (who took a great bump). The rare sight of a female referee bump had the crowd in a frenzy, and Rhea Ripley took advantage to hit Riptide for the visual pinfall — with no referee to count the fall. Being denied her first victory over Iyo, Rhea snapped and went on a rampage, destroying Iyo with a Razor’s Edge before throwing her into the barricades at ringside and brawling into the crowd in true Attitude Era style. In another brilliant touch, Iyo turned the tables, showing that even when it came to violent rampages, Rhea couldn’t maintain the upper hand. This sequence would culminate in Iyo hitting a beautiful high cross off a series of stacked-up production boxes to the floor, creating a classic visual in the process.

Remarkably, they still found a further gear, both athletically and in terms of drama. With the crowd white-hot, Iyo took Rhea back to the ring and hit the Over the Moonsault for an incredibly believable near fall that had the State Farm Arena rocking. Then it happened. Rhea cut Iyo off on the top rope, posted her face-first and went for her uber-finisher — the top rope Riptide. Unfortunately for Rhea, the psychology of Iyo always being a step ahead continued, as Iyo reversed it into a top-rope Spanish Fly, leaving both women down and the crowd in rapture.

Enter Naomi — and the rest is academic. For some fans, a “cash-in” finish will always be a let-down, but for my money, this was perfect booking that furthers the Iyo and Rhea storyline (truly pushing Rhea to boiling point in terms of frustration) and cements Naomi as a top star with a shock moment that WWE fans will gleefully replay for years to come. Honestly, aside from Seth Rollins’ “WrestleMania” cash-in, it’s hard to think of a more iconic or legitimately shocking use of the Money in the Bank concept than this one. Naomi ran to the ring, turned the match into a triple threat, blasted Iyo with the briefcase, ran Rhea into the ring post (she took a crazy bump, by the way), and hit the split-legged moonsault to become the WWE Women’s World Champion.

No notes. A perfect main event: great booking, a signature moment, an absolutely fabulous wrestling match, and another feather in Iyo Sky’s cap as WWE’s best in-ring worker. The only criticism is not for the match itself, but for the absolute insanity of not having Iyo Sky wrestle a single match in the two preceding months as champion — that is creative malpractice of the highest order.

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Becky Lynch’s Brilliant 2025 Continues In Excellent All Action Opener

The paranoid, ultra-confident but perpetually insecure Becky Lynch character continues to be a revelation both in the ring and behind a microphone, and she’s found her perfect dance partners in Lyra Valkyria and Bayley. Lynch and Lyra have already combined for three excellent and completely contrasting singles matches dating back to NXT, while Bayley has proved that she’s no slouch either, delivering a strong title match with Lynch on “Raw” (which was ultimately ruined by a DQ finish). At “Evolution”, the women — who typically prefer more technical, slow-burn, psychology-intensive battles — instead decided to pull out all the stops with a go-go-go, all-action opener.

This Triple Threat told a simple story that played off the underlying frustrations that have fuelled their feud to date; namely, that the three women keep getting in each other’s way. Lyra and Bayley both believe they are the rightful woman to dethrone Lynch and provide her with some long-overdue comeuppance for turning on the pair, but every time either woman appeared on the verge of victory, the other would fly in to break up the pinfall or hit them with a surprise flying elbow drop or diving leg drop. The action was intense and mirrored a Stardom-style triple threat where all three participants are constantly involved, as opposed to having one woman nap on the outside while the others run spots. There was a blend of truly dramatic sequences drawing multiple “this is awesome” chants, culminating in a brilliant moment when Bayley hit her signature sunset flip on the outside, sending Lyra back-first into the steel steps.

The finish came after each woman had hit their finisher, only for the third woman to break up the pin. It appeared a stalemate had been reached, but instead Becky Lynch out-thought her bickering opponents. When Bayley managed to land the Rose Plant on Lyra, rather than breaking up the pin, Lynch hit an immaculately executed running, flipping backslide to score the flash pinfall over Bayley. It is again a tribute to Lynch that the attention to the small psychological details in her matches is so tight — this was not only a finish that looked ungodly slick and felt satisfying, but perfectly solved the questions the wrestlers had posed: how can you possibly win a match where the other women won’t give you a second to breathe, let alone time for the referee to count three?

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Trish and Tiffy Offset One Another’s Weaknesses, While Jade’s Strange Booking Continues

It’s always slightly concerning when your 49-year-old veteran — who hasn’t wrestled a singles match in three years — completely outshines your young champion and former super rookie who is now, supposedly, entering her prime. However, while it is tempting to run with this narrative, it is also worth reflecting on how both Tiffany Stratton and Trish Stratus helped each other achieve a surprisingly enjoyable, back-and-forth eight-minute intergenerational title match. There’s no hiding from the fact that in terms of ring positioning, crispness of work, and the music between the notes, Trish outshone Tiffany — but Tiffy deserves praise for using her physicality and strength to help make Trish look spectacular. When it came time for the headscissors and, most notably, the Stratusfaction, Tiffany was helping to muscle Trish up into the air, giving the illusion that Trish had retained a great jumping ability.

Nevertheless, Tiffany struggled mightily on the whole — she was often out of position, either crowding her opponent or standing at an awkward angle. Her own offence was uncharacteristically sloppy, too; she struggled with her signature rolling Alabama Slam and, when debuting her new End of Heartache falcon arrow backbreaker, she got her angles all wrong when trying to land Trish across her knees. Ultimately, she still struggles to wrestle as a babyface, and this match felt like an extension of the pair’s atrocious promo battle on “SmackDown”, which saw Tiffany delivering her lines with the same unlikeable, stuck-up, Daddy’s girl cadence she used in NXT. Tiffy’s failings couldn’t undermine this enjoyable undercard match that culminated in the Prettiest Moonsault Ever (which nearly crushed Trish’s face), but it does raise worrying questions for the upcoming SummerSlam title match with fellow struggler Jade Cargill.

Speaking of Jade, her “No Holds Barred” match with Naomi continued the pattern set out in the Queen of the Ring finals against Asuka, where Jade sold and sold and sold and sold, before hitting the Jaded (this time through a table) for the win. The match wasn’t particularly complex or interesting; Naomi smashed and walloped Jade with various items for the duration — including a TV screen that comically emitted smoke after Jade crashed into it. There was no comeback and really no shine either, just an elongated beating that was reversed in a single move — a middle rope Jaded through a table. The match served its purpose in ending the feud and giving Jade a clean win, but this booking approach is doing Jade few favours. When the pair clashed at “WrestleMania”, Jade was given a host of dazzling power spots that had the crowd on their feet and created viral TikTok clips. Now she sells badly and wins abruptly — something needs to change if they are serious about crowning a new champion at SummerSlam.

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Blake Monroe Overshadows NXT Title Match and No.1 Contenders Battle Royal Is A Messy Guilty Pleasure

The NXT title match between Jordynne Grace and Jacy Jayne was a well-wrestled match that wasn’t really designed to steal the show. Instead, as Grace worked from underneath and tried her best to make Jacy look like a credible threat (largely succeeding), the real story was happening outside the ring. Fallon Henley and Jazmyn Nyx’s interference was thwarted by Blake Monroe and, just as Grace was making her big comeback, Monroe found herself with the NXT Women’s Title in her hands. The rest is academic. Jacy reversed an Irish whip and Blake clobbered Grace in the back with the title, allowing Jacy to hit the Roaring Encore to retain her title (she also shoot-punched Grace in the face in the process). Michael Cole, for some bizarre reason, tried to convince everyone that this was an accident — despite it being a clear heel turn, with Monroe presenting Jacy with the title post-match and posing dramatically (and evilly) at ringside for the director’s final shot before cutting away.

The 20-woman Battle Royal for a guaranteed title shot at “Clash in Paris” was a wild blend of the best and worst of WWE’s women’s division. There were some incredible flashes of athleticism, highlighted by the big power spots of Lash Legend, but the match was also dominated by the awful strikes of B-Fab and the terrible comedy of the Dungeon Dolls. The key to the match was the story of Nikki Bella taking on Chelsea Green and the Secret Hervice: she would ultimately eliminate all three with help from NXT talent. Lash then promptly eliminated Nikki Bella, setting the stage for a compelling final three of Stephanie Vaquer, Lash Legend and Nia Jax. The match ended up being a great showcase for Vaquer. After Jax was double-teamed and eliminated, Stephanie and Lash had a brief power vs. speed battle. Stephanie would rana Lash over the top rope, only for Lash to cling on. With both women on the apron, Vaquer repositioned herself for the Devil’s Kiss to eliminate Lash, peaking the match perfectly with the crowd going absolutely wild at the moment of victory. The match wasn’t good, but it was ultimately effective.

The card was rounded off by a fast-paced and wildly enjoyable four-way match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles between the Kabuki Warriors, ZaRuca, Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair, and the defending champions The Judgment Day. The match was a spot-fest, with each team showing off their signature offence while Roxy, Asuka and Kairi took great bumps for their opponents. The shocking story of the match was how the crowd — particularly the female contingent — treated Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair as giant stars and absolute babyfaces. The finish of the match came when Alexa saved Charlotte from Zaria’s spear, which led to Zaria absolutely wiping out her teammate Sol Ruca for the second time in a week. With the babyfaces in disarray, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez took advantage, running rampant to pick up a clean and decisive victory.

Full Results

WWE Women’s Intercontinental Title:
Becky Lynch (c) defeats Bayley and Lyra Valkyria (16:25)

WWE NXT Women’s Title Match:
Jacy Jayne (c) defeats Jordynne Grace (w/Blake Monroe) (10:28)

WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles:
The Judgment Day (Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez) (c) defeat Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair and Sol Ruca & Zaria and The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane) (10:52)

WWE Women’s Title Match:
Tiffany Stratton (c) defeats Trish Stratus (8:37)

No Holds Barred Match (Special Referee: Bianca Belair):
Jade Cargill defeats Naomi (11:15)

20 Woman Battle Royal For A Title Shot At Clash In Paris:
Stephanie Vaquer defeats Alba Fyre and B-Fab and Candice LeRae and Chelsea Green and Giulia and Ivy Nile and Izzi Dame and Jaida Parker and Kelani Jordan and Lash Legend and Lola Vice and Maxxine Dupri and Michin and Natalya and Nia Jax and Nikki Bella and Piper Niven and Tatum Paxley and Zelina Vega (15:32)

WWE Women’s World Title Triple:
Naomi defeats IYO SKY (c) and Rhea Ripley (26:19)

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WWE TV News

WWE’s strategy in regards to AEW has been under inspection over recent weeks, as their various tactics aimed at restricting AEW’s “All In” show in regards of tickets sales, PPV buys and attention seemed to be largely ineffective in any of its attended aims. WWE ran three shows during the course of the weekend, having originally announced just “Saturday Night’s Main Event” for the same evening. WWE were caught off guard by AEW moving their PPV to the afternoon in the US, something that they could not match with SNME being on NBC rather than a PLE offering. That also seemed to put to bed the idea of the show running adjacent in North Texas, which had been suspected in both companies prior to AEW’s time move.

Instead, WWE announced three shows in Atlanta, Georgia, with NXT’s “The Great American Bash” (conveniently labeled an NXT PLE on this occasion in a break from recent advertisements) set to go head to head with the AEW show and “Evolution” set for the next day, having originally been set for the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut a week prior. This is all apart of the ‘flooding the market’ strategy, with this weekend of shows acting as a rival ‘destination’ from the AEW weekend, that was added to from a live perspective by the placement of two TV tapings in Texas in nearby weeks as well as two house shows, which were the first in the US since last year’s holiday tour. None of these ended up making a substantial blow to AEW, whose late sales accounted for nearly half of their overall attendance number. Perhaps even more damaging, the total AEW number eclipsed the combined total from all three WWE shows, with neither event at the State Farm Arena selling out the venue that sold out pretty much the first day for “Bad Blood” last October.

It didn’t hurt AEW in regards of PPV buys either, with Dave Meltzer’s first estimate placing “All In” at 175,000, significantly up on the final estimate for last year’s show and similar to the first estimate for the 2023 event, which ended up around the 200,000 mark. Instead, it hurt the products which WWE put on themselves. “Saturday Night’s Main Event”, featuring the retirement match of Bill Goldberg fell 39% in the 18-49 demo from the May offering of the same show where John Cena faced R-Truth. Some of that loss can be equated to a lack of Cena (whose final year is still key to their current results), and some also to the summer lull that TV ratings traditionally go through at this time of year, but that does not account for a 39% drop. The biggest drop was in Men 18-34, which is the same demo which has been most affected for “Collision” shows that have run on the same day as WWE PLE’s, including when they are not head to head.

There was frustration after from Bill Goldberg as well, whose post match speech was cut off by the ‘hard out’ for NBC, with the Peacock broadcast also following suit. Goldberg has already begun voicing the criticisms of his own retirement presentation, promising that he will add more in a few weeks’ time, with various WWE associated media outlets being used by the promotion to dispel the comments. Regardless of what you think of Goldberg’s career, his drawing ability in this spot or what you feel he is entitled to, it is pretty clear that his retirement was there to counter AEW, without having to risk the likes of Cena and Reigns being seen on the losing end of a battle, unlike in 2021.

The “Evolution” PLE on the Sunday was the lowest attended WWE PLE in some time, having had to deal with a much heavier promoted event the night before in the same arena as well as much greater local competition in the same area, with the MLB All Star Futures Game and a Beyoncé concert happening in the city on the same day. The build to the show felt secondary to both SNME and also to “Summerslam”, with even Trish Stratus, who wrestled Tiffany Stratton on the show, offering mild criticisms of the timing and build.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the show itself is that it indicated why the promotional failures by WWE in promoting and building the event should be of greater emphasis considering the level of performer that is present in WWE’s women’s division, as this was easily one of their best PLE offerings of the year, played out in front of one of the most engaged crowds in some time. It is hard not to look at the presentation of the Women’s Euros tournament currently ongoing in Switzerland and the Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano fight on Netflix just two days before this show and see this show as an opportunity missed rather than just a counter programming failure.

The future live event programming to counter AEW’s efforts seems to be more concentrated on NXT for the near future, with an NXT show announced for August 19th in Philadelphia before AEW’s residency in the city and an event entitled “Heatwave” being set for August 24th, opposite AEW’s “Forbidden Door”, with no current listed start time.

The third element of the counter programming strategy is now very much media orientated, with the idea of splitting attention on AEW’s big nights between them and WWE by doing something newsworthy to close out the day. The attempt at doing this Saturday now appears to be a worked/shoot injury to Seth Rollins, who was previously appearing to set up a match with Roman Reigns for the upcoming two night “Summerslam” event, before suffering what looked to be a knee injury on the Saturday night show. Rollins has injured his knee in a similar manner previously and may well be carrying some type of minor injury, but the game was quickly up in regards to this one when John Pollock of Post Wrestling reported that he was informed that WWE would run an injury angle on the show on the Thursday beforehand.

The expectation now appears to be that it would have led to a cash in on the Gunther-CM Punk match at “Summerslam” whilst splitting news stories between WWE and AEW on that night, but it is hard to see what the overall gains would now be considering “Summerslam” has lost what could have been its second biggest possible matchup with Reigns and Rollins, and the locker room/staffers are now suspicious of being worked, which tends to cause a level of distrust which no company really needs.

Reigns returned himself at the end of last Monday’s “Raw” broadcast, overshadowing the gauntlet victory of CM Punk that earned Punk a second straight title match on a PLE after much of the match was carried by Bron Breakker. Reigns looks like he will be involved with Breakker and/or Bronson Reed on the big event, which fits in storyline but is a step down from the headline match which may have been expected from one of WWE’s biggest stars.

Another non-singles match set for “Summerslam” is a tag match which sees Logan Paul team with Drew McIntyre to face Randy Orton and musician Jelly Roll. The four scrapped last Wednesday on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” as part of the build for the match. The singer has not had the impact on ratings that other guest stars have been able to have in recent years but is committed to training for the event, engaging with sessions with Kevin Owens, Jacob Fatu and the Undertaker ahead of the matchup at Metlife Stadium.

Kevin Owens opted finally to undergo neck surgery, after being removed from in-ring action prior to “WrestleMania” back in April. Owens explained in a recent appearance on Cody Rhodes’ podcast that the trauma occurred back in January. He also noted that they have been holding off on surgery in order to allow his spinal cord to heal in the meantime.

Pat McAfee has stepped away from WWE for the foreseeable future, citing exhaustion of the regular TV/PLE schedule on top of his other media commitments.
NXT wrestler Aria Bennett is the latest Performance Center talent to have required surgery on torn ligaments. The 30 year old confirmed on her Instagram that she had an operation to repair a torn ACL. Bennett last wrestled on April 26th.

Netflix will release “WWE: Unreal” on July 29th. The five part series focusing on the creative process in WWE has been produced for the streaming giant by Chris Weaver and Eric Powers of NFL Films, alongside Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, Skydance Sports and WWE. A production source has revealed to Post Wrestling the topics of each episode of the series, which will include the Raw Netflix premiere, the Cody Rhodes/Kevin Owens feud, the Jey Uso Royal Rumble win, Charlotte Flair’s return from injury and the main creative behind “WrestleMania”.

The episode likely to get the most coverage is the fourth one, as it focuses on the events around John Cena’s heel turn at the “Elimination Chamber” PLE. This episode features Nick Khan, Dwayne Johnson and Brian Gewirtz and will be interesting to compare to the WrestleMania documentary that was eventually released last summer that centered on making Johnson the babyface in terms of the changes made in advance of “WrestleMania 40”. This series appears to be much more about Paul Levesque, though, who will open the first episode and be used several times throughout the series as a narrator of proceedings.

WWE News

Both Vince McMahon and WWE have moved to oppose the request of Janel Grant to obtain new evidence in regards to the signing of her NDA, in an expected move following the filing by the plaintiff the previous week. The defendants are arguing that Grant’s team have failed to meet the standards for pre-arbitration discovery and are seeking documents outside of the realm of coercion into agreeing to the arbitration part of the NDA.

McMahon’s team described the request for additional documentation as an “improper fishing expedition” that should be denied in full whilst WWE also stated that Grant is “not entitled to motion-related discovery” and that she has not been able to provide “sufficient facts” in order to question the validity of the arbitration provision in the NDA document. They also claim that these attempts are a way to bypass the decision by the court to pause more broader discovery in regards to the case.

The question of whether the suit should be moved to arbitration is the central one over the lawsuit at the current time, with all the other back and forths in this case secondary to that decision, whenever it is made. Judge Sarah F. Russell will make the rulings on all parts of this case.

Cody Rhodes has looked to defend WWE’s continued presence in Saudi Arabia in an interview with the Boston Herald.

Rhodes labeled the shows, which bring in around $50 million in state sponsorship on each occasion they are run, as a “responsibility” to the fan base in the region from a “non-partisan brand”.

“That is a responsibility to our fan base,” he said of the events. He also labeled WWE a “non-partisan brand” and he labelled criticism over the running of the shows as part of Saudi Arabia’s sportswashing efforts as “gotcha culture” that targets people’s political affiliations. He made no move to address the actual criticisms of the promotion’s presence there or TKO’s close relationship with the current republican administration that would challenge the idea that the current company is non-partisan in its own affiliations.

Scott Stamford has departed from WWE after 15 years with the company. The 58 year old has mainly been used as an on air host for recap shows such as “This Week In WWE” and “Bottom Line”, as well as hosting pre-show events and fan conventions like “Axxess”. Stamford remains a news anchor on New York Radio, a position he has held during his WWE tenure.

Shayna Baszler, who was released from WWE earlier on this year, has returned on a test basis to the promotion, as she begins work as a producer in NXT. A decision over whether this will become a permanent role for the former WWE Women’s Champion is yet to be taken by the company, according to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp.

TKO has continued with its changes to WWE’s employee benefits, as they have introduced a new severance pay policy, reducing the amount received on severance from one month’s pay for every year with the company, to two weeks pay for each year of retention.

Cody Rhodes has been added to the cast for the “Street Fighter” film that is set to begin filming in August for a 2026 release. Roman Reigns and Hirooki Goto are the other wrestlers announced for the film, alongside the likes of Jason Momoa, Callina Liang, Orville Peck and Andrew Schulz.

NXT’s Jordynne Grace has also picked up a film role for indie project “Welcome To Paradise” that is being written and directed by Richard Summers-Calvert. It is expected to reach film festival screenings by late 2025.

WWE has signed a deal with Maybelline New York. It is the first time the company has had a cosmetics brand as a partner. Maybelline’s involvement began at last weekend’s “Evolution” PLE, where the brand was displayed on the ring mat and had promotional vignettes as part of the event broadcast.
The company’s partnership with Fanatics has also had an addition, with a new multi-year deal between the two allowing Fanatics to produce WWE themed online casino games for mobile and online, the first of which is expected to be launched prior to “Summerslam” weekend. Cody Rhodes presented a Fanatics WWE custom belt to Cal Raleigh, after the catcher won the MLB Home Run Derby last Monday night. Fanatics is a partner to both WWE and MLB.

Peacock’s prices in the US will rise on July 23rd, with the ad tier moving from $7.99 to $10.99 each month and the no ad tier going up to $16.99.

The New York Mets will hold “WWE Night” on July 21st at Citi Field as part of promotion for the upcoming “Summerslam” shows in New Jersey. There will be a Mr. Met bobblehead giveaway as part of the evening’s events, and it will be yeeting. (Editor’s Note: Oh my god.)

Seth Rollins appeared in A Day To Remember’s music video for their latest single “All My Friends” with a flameflower cameo towards the end. Rollins and Lynch have had a lot to contend with over recent weeks, after their Californian beach home was broken into whilst the couple were away for TV in Rhode Island. No one was home at the time of the burglary and thankfully, no one was hurt. Local police are investigating the crime where cash was stolen from the property.

Logan Paul’s “Impaulsive” podcast is moving to the WWE/Fanatics Podcast network but will continue to also be broadcast on Paul’s Youtube channel. Paul is the latest talent to add audio content to the network, with Cody Rhodes, Stephanie McMahon and the Undertaker now all having regular audio offerings ongoing.

AEW

All Elite Wrestling

TV News

AEW’s “Dynamite” show on the Wednesday after “All In” went less high on shock value and cold first time matchups, and instead focused on cementing Hangman Adam Page and Toni Storm as the current faces of the company.

For Page it was particularly striking, as he opened and closed “Dynamite” for only the second time in his career (the first being “Grand Slam Mexico” last month) and was given true centerpiece presentation in what felt like the complete opposite style to the beginning of his first reign with the AEW Men’s World Title back in November 2021. Page looks set to continue his program with Jon Moxley before both transition onto other opponents. The Cleveland show in early August is perhaps the strongest possible location for a major matchup, being the only large arena the promotion is running in the US over the next two months and how TV specials have been used in late July/early August since the promotion’s inception to boost ratings during the traditional down period over the summer. Page also has a homecoming show in Roanoke, Virginia, on the Saturday after, just fifteen minutes away from the location of his “hometown” house show in 2023.

Toni Storm received stunning presentation on the episode, as the visuals of residency venue the Aragon Ballroom played as a perfect backdrop to her character. Storm was given a full victory speech before beginning exchanges with Casino Gauntlet winner Athena, a feud which is building quickly with the immediate follow up the program had on the “Collision” taping the next night.

With various top name talent either on the shelf or taking breaks post-stadium show, there will be extra impetus on both Page and Storm to carry programming until others are able to return, with primary support coming from the likes of Swerve Strickland, MJF and Jon Moxley.

Kota Ibushi followed up his in-ring return on June 25th with an unexpectedly strong performance against Kazuchika Okada on the 300th edition of Dynamite. Perhaps even more surprising, though, were the very strong quarter hour performances of both segments, which showed similar interest to his first appearances in the company in 2023. His performances in the ratings have been particularly strong with women viewers, perhaps through his connection to the Elite and Kenny Omega in particular.

If he is able to stay healthy, an Omega and Ibushi Golden Lovers tag run could provide good secondary ratings support if required.

Dave Meltzer reported this past Friday that the injuries that Will Ospreay is suffering from are worse than first thought and that he will see a doctor in the US this coming week for a full assessment. He was originally expected to be out for at least a month, although there is now no set timetable for return. Ospreay was expected to play a large part in next month’s “Forbidden Door” show at the O2 in London, with promotion for the show currently centered around the Essex-based wrestler.

Fightful reported that Kenny Omega is also expected to miss time over the coming weeks, although it is unknown whether this will be consecutively or more sporadic in nature.

Thekla has officially been awarded her signing graphic over the weekend, with Tony Khan and Stardom President Taro Okada playing into the kayfabe idea that she was on a probation period upon entering AEW, following her conduct towards Okada at the end of her Stardom run.

Her current program with Queen Aminata was a switch after her initial start-off program with Jamie Hayter had to be temporarily squashed, with Hayter unable to be cleared following an injury sustained in her match with Mercedes Moné at “Double or Nothing”. The setup means that when the Brit is eventually ready to return, Thekla can be waiting for her.

Former TNA and WWE announcer Josh Matthews debuted for the company in an on-air role on the “All In” preshow, where he conducted an interview with Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay ahead of their tag match with the Young Bucks.

Wardlow was present at “All In” in Texas, having recently taken part in filming for the remake of “American Gladiators”. “Happy Gilmore 2”, which features MJF as one of Gilmore’s sons, will debut on Netflix on July 25th.

“Dynamite 300” featured heavy cross-promotion with WBD for the release of the Superman film on July 11th. Actors David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult appeared in promotional skits alongside Kenny Omega, MJF and Toni Storm on the show, with matches also branded “Heroes vs Villains”.

Darby Allin will be part of “Caught! Sharks Strike Back” on July 24th, as this year’s “Shark Week” kicks into gear. Allin filmed promotional material for the week last month, with the timing of the Discovery event providing a firm indication prior to his return on when it would need to be completed by.

The past two weeks have seen the debut of two new themes for members of the Don Callis Family, with Hot Mulligan producing a new theme for Kyle Fletcher and Japanese band One OK Rock being chosen to replace the legendary “Rainmaker” theme for Kazuchika Okada. The Okada theme change hopes to emulate the success AEW had with Hangman Adam Page’s change to “Black Hat”, that allowed for the massive theme pop that occurred when his babyface theme returned in Texas last weekend and hopefully means Okada gets less babyface-styled fan support going forward.

Whilst it allows the promotion to differ the current iteration of Okada from what we saw in New Japan, it also puts pressure on the new Unified Champion to perform to a similar level in his role so that his new presentation feels as striking as his previous one. At least there are no balloons this time around. (Editor’s Note: Balloonmaker ruled.)

Last weekend’s “All In” show aired in full over the weekend on ITV4 in the UK, with programmer John Williams praising the first day numbers. These numbers will be publicly available through Thinkbox next week.

AEW have officially announced “All In” 2026 for Wembley Stadium in London, England, on August 30th, 2026. The show will once again be held on the August Bank Holiday weekend in the UK, an expected development that may well have led to WWE’s scheduling of their “Money In The Bank” PLE for the same weekend in New Orleans.

A third year out of four in the UK’s most recognisable venue will be one of AEW’s biggest challenges to date from a ticketing perspective.

The next RoH PPV, “Death Before Dishonor”, has moved dates. The show will now take place on Friday, August 29th, having originally been scheduled for September 5th. It will also still be held at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, where AEW will be in residency between August 27th and September 11th.

AEW News

Kevin Foote (known more widely as Kevin Kelly), Brandon Tate and Brent Tate have launched an appeal against the decision to move their lawsuit to arbitration. The decision made by Judge Harvey Schlesinger on June 11th had been based on a clause in each one of the performer’s contracts that even the question of whether issues should be resolved in arbitration was to be determined through arbitration. The appeal, filed to the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida, argues against this clause, which the plaintiffs have previously argued to be “unconscionable.” Foote and the Tates are represented by Stephen P. New. AEW has not commented on the filing of the appeal.

Ian Riccaboni announced on Bluesky that he has re-signed with the promotion. On the eve of the AEW “Dynamite 300” show in Ontario, California, he wrote:

“Re-signed with AEW/ROH. Very grateful and excited for what is to come! Celebrated by eating some hot dogs at the IronPigs at various points since reaching an agreement which was a while ago at this point so a lot of hot dogs for me & my family.”

The broadcaster had begun working with AEW in 2022, after the promotion purchased Ring of Honor, who he had been working for since 2015. He has made over fifty appearances for AEW since beginning his relationship with the promotion three years ago.

AEW have also signed a deal with toy company Major, which was founded by wrestlers Matt Cardona and Brian Myers. Major will produce a run of new figures inspired by 90s bendable toys, to be known as “Big Rubber Guys”. The first name to be announced for the set is Toni Storm, with further names expected to be announced very shortly on Youtube before the presale for ordering begins for Series 1 on July 23rd.

Mercedes Moné has begun a new partnership with Texas-based anime company Crunchyroll that sees a merchandise line of anime themed clothing being made available online, at the Crunchyroll Anime FanFest and during San Diego Comic Con. The line consists of 11 items and is available currently for customers in the US and Canada, but is also expected to ship to Europe later in the year. A portion of the profits will be donated to Step Up. Fightful reported that this deal has been in the works for nearly two years.

Mercedes surprised attendees at last week’s Starrcast with a surprise appearance at the Crunchyroll booth at the convention to promote her new venture.

TNA

News

TNA’s next major show, “Slammiversary” on July 20th, has begun to announce the very top of the card over the past 2 weeks, with the headline match currently listed as a rematch between TNA World Champion Trick Williams and the previous Champion Joe Hendry, but the TV has made it clear that this will be adapted to a 3 way in the upcoming weeks, with the addition to the match being Mike Santana. Santana lost to Williams in a TNA World Title match back on the June 3rd edition of “NXT” due to the interference of AJ Francis, his feuding partner for most of the spring. He ended that chapter on this week’s edition of “IMPACT!”, defeating Francis comprehensively in a street fight in order to leave his path towards another shot at the World Title without further obstacles.

A match for the PPV, which has been announced in full this week, is a 4 way ladder match for the TNA Tag Team Championships. The Nemeths will defend against the Rascalz, First Class and The Hardys in the gimmick match, which is being set up as one of the top attractions on the card.

The Hardys are being deployed (wisely) across New York events in order to drum up interest in the show, which is being held in the UBS arena in Long Island, New York. The arena has a capacity of 17,250, with the latest Wrestletix estimate for sales for this event sitting at 3,122, which is around 500 tickets higher than before their promotional campaign began.

Matt and Jeff threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the New York Mets-Atlanta Braves game at Citi Field on June 25th in a more traditional style of appearance, but they have also popped in places such as “Subway Mania” (a group that regularly goes viral holding mock shows on the New York subway) in order to promote the show to those who may not be reached by the more standard types of advertisement.

The second big attraction on the show will be a ladder match for the TNA Tag Team Championships, where champions the Nemeths will once again look to see off the Hardys after months of escaping with the titles they took from the veteran team earlier on in the year. First Class and the Rascalz will also be competing for the belts, but it is hard to look past Matt and Jeff when considering potential victors for this match, as it has felt like they have been chasing the Nemeths for this moment since April and much of the local promotion has been centered around their name and their presence.

TNA Knockouts Champion Masha Slamovich overcame her own history on the recent TV, defeating Killer Kelly, who had returned to confront her at “Against All Odds”. This left a match open for the Women’s Champion on the big card, and that spot was filled by NXT Women’s Champion Jacy Jayne, who attacked Slamovich following her win over Kelly. There are some outside bookings upcoming for Slamovich which could potentially indicate that she will drop the Knockouts Title to her NXT counterpart in this winner takes all clash, and this move feels even more likely considering the current angle for the TNA World Championship, of TNA needing to reclaim itself after building up heat.

The TNA Knockouts Tag Championships will be defended by The Elegance Brand against The IInspiration, who returned to the promotion last month, whilst the women’s action will be rounded up by a grudge match between Tessa Blanchard and Indi Hartwell.

Leon Slater will look to continue an excellent year across the globe by picking up the X Division Title from Moose, as long as the System can be kept at bay. The time is right for the belt to be moved onto Slater, and especially with how TNA is discussing their wish to gain traction within social media. The young Yorkshireman has benefitted from association with the Hardys from a presence perspective but is also a tremendously innovative in-ring worker that is perfect for the X Division and to carry that belt in this moment.

Cedric Alexander’s beginning in TNA has been to step back into his past, as he tried to talk some sense into Mustafa Ali, who has not been kind to members of his own faction, Order Four. Alexander has attempted to appeal to the Ali that was part of WWE’s “205 Live” show with him, stepping up to the Chicago native on behalf of Ali’s own faction. They will meet in the undercard of this show to see if Alexander can make him see sense in the ring.

Full Card

TNA World Heavyweight Championship: Trick Williams © vs. Joe Hendry vs. Mike Santana
TNA Knockouts Title and NXT Women’s Championship Title vs. Title: Masha Slamovich vs. Jacy Jayne
TNA Tag Team Titles – Ladder Match: Nick & Ryan Nemeth © vs. The Hardys vs. The Rascalz vs. AJ Francis & KC Navarro
X Division Championship: Moose © vs. Leon Slater
DarkState (Saquon Shugars, Osiris Griffin, Dion Lennox and Cutler James) vs. Matt Cardona, Brian Myers, JDC and Eddie Edwards
Mustafa Ali vs. Cedric Alexander
Tessa Blanchard vs. Indi Hartwell
Knockouts Tag Team Titles: The Elegance Brand © vs. The IInspiration (pre-show)
Steve Maclin, Jake Something & Mance Warner vs. Real1, Zilla Fatu & Josh Bishop (pre-show)

Anthem President Carlos Silva went on a media tour over the past couple of weeks, gaining access to a number of outlets during the week leading up to AEW’s “All In” PPV that they may not have previously, including “The Ariel Helwani Show”. There were a number of notable comments made during these media excursions, most prominent were the ones to JohnWallStreet, an outlet in which WWE’s Nick Khan has invested in since 2024.

Silva made clear that TNA’s primary aim is to agree to a stronger television distribution deal that would allow them to run “Impact!” live on a weekly basis. The company’s television has been part of AXS TV since 2019, when Anthem purchased a majority stake in the network, but the network is restricted by being in around 30 million homes in the US, much less than many of its cable counterparts. Silva stated that live airings on AXS achieve around 100,000 viewers in live plus same day, but he believes that they could do anything from 250,000 to 500,000 on a weekly basis with a live offering that is available to more homes than AXS is currently.

The Anthem President also noted that there were ongoing negotiations in this area, and that the group is hoping to achieve a deal that will not only increase visibility but also bring in around $10 million a year in TV revenue to a company to which he currently described as not profitable. They are open to potentially having TNA spin off from the Anthem Sports Division if required.

Trey Miguel, of the Rascalz, was pulled from the TV tapings in Pittsburgh due to a hernia that will require surgery over the coming weeks. He will compete in the ladder match for the TNA Tag Titles on the PPV before heading for treatment. Miguel the following on X:

After Slammiversary I will undergo hernia surgery. I was given a choice and I chose to be there. I will give it my absolute best because that’s what TNA deserves and you the fans. A full recovery is expected as this is a minor surgery. Thank you all for the well wishes and messages. Apologies to anyone I missed and didn’t get to reply to.”

- Trey Miguel

Carlos Silva also confirmed in an interview with Fightful that backstage Jazz has re-signed with the company, and will continue in her backstage producer/agent role that she currently operates in for the foreseeable future. Jazz rejoined TNA this year after a spell with the NWA.

MLW

MLW have announced a partnership with collectable company Panini that the accompanying press release to the announcement describes as “a multi year exclusive partnership” that will see Panini become “the official trading card, memorabilia and collectable sticker partner of MLW.” The partnership is said to begin with Instant Online cards based on last month’s “Summer of the Beasts” event, with the aim of producing physical products for retail distribution by the winter.

CMLL’s Templario and Atlantis have been announced for the “Fightland” show in North Richland Hills, Texas, on September 13th.

US Independents

Former MLW World Champion and UFC fighter “Filthy” Tom Lawlor has revealed on radio show “Wrestling Observer Live” the extent of the injuries he is currently suffering from that has meant he has been unable to compete in the ring since appearing for AIW on May 16th.

The 42 year old may require a hip replacement as well as spinal surgery, due to a herniated disc in his L5/S1 vertebrae, which has aided to his spinal column being out of place and pinching a nerve, leading to additional numbness in his left leg. Lawlor is seeking advice from a neurosurgeon as well as other informed opinions before deciding the best course of action for his long term well being.

Ricochet will return to House of Glory for the first time in a decade on August 1st in New York. The AEW wrestler will face veteran Amazing Red on the “High Intensity” show, which will stream live on Triller+. House of Glory Women’s Champion Indi Hartwell will defend her title against Priscilla Kelly, whilst Charles Mason will look to retain the House of Glory title against Carlito on the same show. Mason escaped the winner takes all match in Texas with Zilla Fatu by disqualification.

Marcus Mathers and Shotzi Blackheart will be part of HoG’s first trip to Philadelphia on September 4th.

GCW have announced their top matches for their return to Japan on July 30th. There will be two first time ever match ups at Korakuen Hall, as Shotzi Blackheart will face Maki Itoh and 1 Called Manders will wrestle Jun Akiyama. GCW have also booked former BZW regular Drew Parker vs DDT’s Chris Brookes for the card.

July 30th to August 2nd sees the promotion running shows across two continents over a four day period, as they hold a number of shows in the New Jersey area over “Summerslam” weekend.

The Bloodsport event on August 2nd has added a headline match to its card, with the announcement this week that WWE’s Natalya will face the TNA Knockouts World Champion Masha Slamovich at the event. It will be Natalya’s second appearance for the promotion, after facing TJPW’s Miyu Yamashita in Las Vegas back in April.

The WWE partnership with the promotion will also be on full display outside of Bloodsport, with GCW holding a WWE ID showcase card on August 1st at the Williams Center in Rutherford, New Jersey, ahead of their “Hit Em Up” show later on the same evening.

Wrestlecon added over a dozen names to their lineup in New Jersey that weekend, including Haku, Kurt Angle, Penelope Ford and Bret Hart.

Our US independent summer of tournaments continues with Aaron Rourke, Alec Price and Bear Bronson have all been named for Limitless’ Vacationland Cup Tournament on Saturday, August 9th in Lewiston, Maine. Matt and Jeff Hardy are also set to appear on the show, facing WWE Evolve talent Swipe Right.

Bril Combination Wrestling have rounded out their “Queen of the North” lineup with Harleen Lopez, German wrestler Jacky Go and Maya World. The one night tournament will take place in Ridgefield, New Jersey on July 31st.

Another field that is filling out is for Wrestling Revolver’s “Jerry Lynn Invitational” tribute tournament to be held in Dayton, Ohio, on August 9th. Zachary Wentz, Priscilla Kelly, Jimmy Jacobs, inaugural Pro Wrestling Revolver Texas Champion Brick Savage and Ninja Mack are the first five participants to be announced.

West Coast Pro, Deadlock and Prestige will run another show together on July 26th, with “Cruel Summer” from the United Irish Culture Center in San Francisco, California. West Coast Champion Kevin Blackwood will defend against Cedric Alexander in a 2 out of 3 falls match, Danny Irion, Ryan Clancy and Alpha Zo will compete in the Golden Gate Gauntlet for a shot at Bret the Threat, Cowboy Way will defend against The Crush Boys and Mad Dog Connelly will battle Vinnie Massaro.

Adam Priest will defend the DPW World championship against Jake Something at “Beast Coast” on 10th August.

Lex Luger will appear for AML Wrestling in Albemarle, North Carolina, on July 27th; Matt Hardy will also wrestle on the show.

CMLL

News

One of the expected complications of the global expansion to the WWE/AEW conflict to Mexico came back up as a discussion point this past week, after a reddit user, Odd_Examination2743, claimed that Hechicero has signed a contract with AEW. The Cubs Fan, the leading English speaking analyst and reporter for the Mexican scene, wrote on his Luchablog the following day that he believes that the story is correct and that the deal was completed in the period between “Grand Slam Mexico” and this week. The deal will allow for Hechicero to continue to work for CMLL alongside competing for AEW, and with the way CMLL is structured in regards to live shows, he should still feel far more part of the promotion than he would on a dual contract in other places.

The reports come after Tony Khan was asked earlier in the week by Case Lowe of Q101 Radio about whether the company would look to make signings from the CMLL roster. Khan took more time with his answer than he traditionally does for most questions, before stating that he “would never go behind CMLL’s back and take a wrestler from them” and that anything which occurred moving forward would be similar to what we have seen between AEW, New Japan and DDT, as with Konosuke Takeshita.

There is no question that CMLL President Salvador Lutteroth III will have OK’d the development, Lutteroth was present for the entire weekend of AEW shows in North Texas and AEW wrestlers have featured prominently on CMLL shows in recent weeks and are scheduled to going forward. It is perhaps an accepted reality in consequence of WWE’s purchase of AAA for these types of deals to come to pass, but they do come with some difficulties. Whilst it will keep WWE away from some of CMLL’s top talent, it can lead to conflicts over scheduling and presentation and may restrict talent from being pushed at the top level by either company; AEW will also likely take priority in any dispute and that can breed resentment, as we have seen at times in regards to New Japan. That resentment comes more from the fans than the offices, but it is not foreign for it to be felt there, either.

Fan response to this or other potential signings being made public will be interesting as the first time such a move was mentioned in front of them, when Bandido brought up the possibility of Mascara Dorada signing with AEW after their match in Mexico City – the response was not positive.

Tickets have gone on sale for the “Anniversario” show on September 19th in Arena Mexico at their highest ever price point, which Luchablog has noted would normally indicate a major mask or hair loss, considering last year had Chris Jericho vs Mistico and a mask match on top.

MJF-Mistico feels set for the show, with their program continuing past “Grand Slam Mexico” in MLW and MJF now traveling back to Mexico City to take on Averno for the CMLL Light Heavyweight Championship. Max’s return was announced on this past week’s “Informa” program, with the former AEW World Champion announcing his intentions whilst wearing the mask he had taken from Mistico back in June, which suggests that Mistico’s mask will be part of their eventual matchup in CMLL. Mistico has never held the CMLL Light Heavyweight belt, so that appears to be the stakes from MJF’s side, although there may need to be more for the Mexican crowd to justify such price points. At the moment, there is no set date for the Averno/MJF match.

Two other AEW performers who could well be part of the 92nd Anniversary are Bandido and the Beast Mortos. Both have built considerably off their showings during “Fantasticamania” week, with a combination of a tag match between Mistico and Bandido vs Volador Jr and Mortos (as well Ultimo Guerrero vs Averno) leading to an Arena Coliseo sellout two days in advance ahead of this weekend’s show. It is the latest example of Bandido developing as a draw in particular, following a sell out for his match with Mistico a few weeks back.
The Beast Mortos traveled to Mexico City on short notice last Friday night in order to compete for CMLL while a number of the top performers from the promotion were competing on the Ring of Honor show, capturing a clean win over Esfinge.

Zeuxis has confirmed on social media that her surgery to repair a ruptured meniscus has now been completed. We wish her all the best in her recovery.

AAA

News

AAA have had some major developments on their shows in recent weeks, none of which have been aired before this weekend. The “Verano de Escandalo 2025” show from Aguascalientes that featured a AAA Tag Team Title match between WWE’s Angel Garza and Berto and Laredo Kid and Octagon Jr will now likely air this weekend, as the Mexico City taping scheduled for July 19th has been pushed back six days to Friday, July 25th. The taping at Juan de la Barrera will now run on the same night as CMLL’s big Arena Mexico show of each week, but neither are likely to be affected from a drawing perspective.

The move is significant in a different way, though, as it now means the show is the night before WWE’s Mexico City house show on July 26th, which could allow for more WWE wrestler appearances in AAA, as well as additional potential match setups for “Triplemania” than were previously possible. AAA have announced one additional WWE talent for the 25th, with El Grande Americano (currently being played by Ludwig Kaiser) set to make his Mexican debut at the taping. Dave Meltzer also reported this past week that there have been discussions within WWE over whether to send Omos to AAA in order to “gain experience” there.

The biggest development on a AAA show itself, however, may not be shown in full on TV at all. AAA held a house show on July 16th in San Luis Potosi, the hometown of Alberto El Patrón. Alberto and his father, Dos Caras, were honoured by the promotion early on in the show, with El Patrón declaring that he would leave AAA if he could not recapture the mega title he lost to Vikingo.

He teamed with El Mesías and Mecha Wolf in the main event opposite Psycho Clown, LA Park and Octagón Jr. The match had no real finish, with the heel team laying out the technicos with the help of former tag champions NGD. Any post celebrations were cut short after he was attacked by Mesias under the instruction of former ally Dorian Roldan. Roldan ordered a Mesías vs El Patrón match for this Friday’s tapings in Mexico City, with the added stipulation being that if Alberto loses he will leave AAA.

The turning face of the El Patrón character removes any likelihood of a match between the 48 year old and Latin Lover at next month’s ‘Triplemania” show and also appears to confirm the commitment of both AAA and WWE to the wrestler, following doubts over how WWE would use him after he dropped the mega belt to El Hijo del Vikingo.

NXT’s Lola Vice also appeared on the show, and has seemingly begun a program with La Hiedra over Mr. Iguana.

After noting in our last issue that Psycho Clown had told American promoters that his last indie dates in the country would be this summer, Galli Lucha Libre announced that Mr. Iguana made his final appearance for the Illinois-based promotion on July 6th.

Mexico Independents

Bandido quietly picked up a second championship on July 5th, when he ended Erik Ortiz’s 883 day reign as Riot Champion in Monterrey. Aramis also returned to Riot on this show, having had to pull out of his original date with the promotion in late May due to a minor injury. It was not a winning return, though, as his team with Iron Kid lost out in the semi finals of the Riot Tag Team Tournament against Latigo and Toxin. Noisy Boy and Spider Fly came through in the other semi final.

Hyan made her second appearance in Riot, defeating Jessy Jackson, while Beast Mortos bested Vengador – a luchador whose name is cropping up more and more across the independents as the year continues.

The Crash held a chaotic show in Tijuana on July 11th, where the anticipated hair v mask match between Atomick Star and Gallo Extreme ended up being one of the more standard occurrences on the show. Gallo Extreme got revenge for his loss of the Crash Junior Title to Star on the previous show, taking his hair and protecting his own mask in the process. The chicken will be pleased.

It was the matches directly before and after these that caused all the controversy, though, beginning with The Crash Heavyweight Title clash between DMT Azul and El Texano Jr. that preceded it. Texano attacked the champion before the bell, leading to a brawl on the outside. He powerbombed him back in the ring and went for a pin, only to find that the referee would not count because the match had never officially started. Azul retained once the match had actually begun, even though Texano Jr. kicked out before the three count was completed. Not sure there was anymore he could have done to avoid a clean job.

In the main event eight man tag, Trauma got himself a sixty day suspension from the local commission in Tijuana after brawling into the bleachers, which is banned in the city. The Traumas team are not prolific workers, so it should not cause too much disruption for any promotion during this period.

El Hijo del Santo will continue his retirement tour in Tulancingo, Hidalgo, on August 10th, when he teams with Santos Jr., Crazy Boy and Huracán Ramírez against El Hijo del Fishman, Misterioso Jr, Blaze and Texano Jr.

Texano Jr., Super Nova, Tigre Blanco, Ludark and Jelissa Mexa have all been announced as part of El Hijo del Santo’s second London finale at York Hall on October 31st.

Masked Republic will be launching “Cinelucha: The Board Game!” at San Diego Comic Con ahead of a full release later on in the year.

Canada News

C*4 Wrestling
Deliver Us From Evil

June 27th, 2025
Preston Event Centre, Ottawa, Canada
Watch On: IWTV
Review by Alice V. Bell

C*4 celebrated their 17th anniversary on June 27th in front of a sold out crowd with their season finale show “Deliver Us From Evil”. During a speech commemorating the occasion, the ring announcer lamented that he’s not getting any younger since he recognized so many faces in the crowd who have been there for nearly that many years, to which a crowd member shouts “but you’re getting more beautiful every day!” The ring announcer told the crowd that he loved them. Indie wrestling is alive and well in Ottawa.

The centerpiece of this show was the end of Evil Uno’s reign of terror as C*4 Champion at the hands of Junior Benito. C*4 made the most of their relatively new and rarely used steel cage, as it was used for both this main event and the penultimate tornado tag team grudge match between Dreya Mitchell & Vaughn Vertigo versus Alexia Nicole & Gabriel Fuerza.

The brief sprint of a bonus pre-show match featured Evan Greenaway (returning to C*4 after a number of years), somewhat new arrival Jimmy Townsend, and C*4 mainstay Macrae Martin.

At one point a commentator noted that Townsend had recently relocated from 🦘Australia🦘, in what was probably the worst Aussie accent ever attempted, and his fellow commentator ruthlessly razzed him for the next minute or so. Speaking of, the commentary for these shows is always solid. If you’re just tuning in they’ll fill you in on backgrounds for matches, feuds, wrestlers, etc. and be unobtrusive while doing it. They have a good sense of when not to talk and let the moment breathe, which really adds to the immersion when watching online.

Macrae Martin lost a #1 Contenders match in the main event of the last C*4 show “10 To Midnight” and commentary noted that he is now relegated to the pre-show. Adding to the humiliation, he was rolled up by Townsend right as Martin was pinning Greenaway. Martin went after the ref and angrily stormed to the back while shoving a few guys nearby.

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Mark Wheeler got some great heat and strong reactions from the crowd even as he failed to dethrone the Undisputed IWTV Independent Wrestling World Champion Marcus Mathers in the opening bout of the night.

Next up was Gabby Forza vs Krystal Moon. Forza had the clear size and strength advantage as she picked Moon up and tossed her around the ring several times before Moon could get the upper hand. Moon gradually fought back and it took a cutter followed by a cattle mutilation for her to get the win.

Brent Banks & James Stone (c), PROJECT 8100 (Dexter Doom & Haddy), Cecil Nyx & Kristara, Haley Dylan & Kevin Blackwood, London Lightning & Stu Grayson, Mathieu St-Jacques, Post Game (Mike Walker & Vinny Talotta), The Philly Marino Experience (Marino T & Philly C) and, finally, Triple Dragon (Pretty Ricky Willdy & Puf) were all in the C4 Tag Team Title Open Gauntlet Match.

Well, the match started with just four of those teams, presumably because someone realized that many people could not fit in or around the ring at one time. If you’re overwhelmed by all the names, don’t worry because it was surprisingly easy to follow the action. Only adding another team after one is eliminated meant that, despite the crowd, it was never overcrowded.

Puf wore crocs to the ring that later doubled as handheld weapons. Cecil Nyx and Pretty Ricky did a move to the ref, which had commentary in literal tears. This was so much fun. Post Game was the first team to be eliminated and then TDT member Mathieu St-Jacques entered the match on his own. He later eliminated Cecil Nyx & Kristara, so clearly being a team of one isn’t that much of a disadvantage if that team of one is Mathieu St-Jacques.

Halfway through the match the Tag Team Champions were eliminated, leaving one of the remaining teams to claim their titles. Haley Dylan & Kevin Blackwood entered after this, and the thread of Blackwood being disconcerted and bothered by Dylan’s increasingly erratic behaviour (their match at the last C*4 show ended with Dylan going rogue to get the pin) continued here, with similar issues plaguing them even as they eliminated The Philly Marino Experience. This cost them in the end, as Dylan’s insistence on her being the one to get the pin led to her inadvertently hitting Blackwood and their subsequent elimination.

This left PROJECT 8100 and London Lightning & Stu Grayson as the two remaining teams. Soon after, Doom rolled up Lightning as Haddy held Grayson back and just like that – PROJECT 8100 became the new C*4 Tag Team Champions.

1 Called Manders retained the wXw Unified World Wrestling Title against Bear Bronson and Dominic Garrini and Sheldon Jean. This marked the first time that the wXw Unified World Wrestling Title was defended in Ottawa. This was a fun time, with several large men throwing each other into ring posts and through doors.

Jody Threat and Kacey Diamond followed that match up with a fast and hard hitting bout with clear bad blood between them. Threat got the win.

Myung Jae Lee looked to get his first C*4 Title in a street fight against Benjamin Tull. There was a TDT member in a street fight, so naturally the ring was coated in chairs. At one point Tull desecrated a Canadian flag. Lee got the crowd going with a meteora from the turnbuckle. The crowd was incredibly into this match and fully behind Lee. After kicking out of a thumbtack enhanced nearfall, Lee sprayed mist into Tull’s eyes and won his first C*4 title, the C*4 Underground Championship. After the match, Tull showed his newfound respect to the new champ with a handshake.

The first of the two cage matches featured Dreya Mitchell & Vaughn Vertigo vs Alexia Nicole & Gabriel Fuerza. The tensions between these two teams had been simmering for a while, and boiled over at C*4’s last show “10 To Midnight”. Sometimes indie promotions will not have the best cages for their cage matches but this one was clearly solid enough to allow Vertigo to scramble up and nearly out of the cage as soon as the match started. He, Nicole, and Fuerza go way back, as Vertigo and Fuerza were tag team partners who split when Vertigo turned on Fuerza. Mitchell was a new addition, and commentary suggested that Vertigo might have been using his rookie tag team partner Mitchell for his quest against Nicole and Fuerza. That lack of trust and care for his teammate was clear when he left her to fight off a brutal submission attempt by Nicole as he once more tried to escape the cage (this was not an escape the cage match). Mitchell once again showed off her strength by lifting both Nicole and Fuerza over her shoulders, before she slammed them down for Vertigo to hit them with a turnbuckle senton. When this pin attempt failed, Vertigo screamed in anger at Mitchell.

Eventually Vertigo realized he didn’t need to climb out of the cage when he could just yell at a ref to open the door. He threw Nicole outside the ring and incapacitated her with a chair shot before he scrambled back into the ring, leaving Nicole trapped outside. Fuerza was at Vertigo and Mitchell’s mercy, until Vertigo’s third time climbing the cage allowed Fuerza to rally and strike back against Mitchell. The lack of communication once again cost them when Vertigo accidentally hit Mitchell, and Fuerza took advantage with a double hurricanrana and cutter on the disjointed team.

Alexia showed Vertigo how to actually achieve something when climbing the cage as she returned by hitting a top of the cage cross body on Vertigo and Mitchell. It went both ways, as she took a page from Vertigo’s book and had the ref throw open the door to toss Mitchell through. Now Vertigo was alone with only his former friends for company. How the tables had turned. In desperation, he turned to his last possible option: hugging Fuerza. Fuerza and Nicole were deeply unimpressed and put him away quickly after that.

The main event, and most anticipated match of the night, was Evil Uno vs Junior Benito. Evil Uno defeated Junior Benito for the C*4 Championship in the fall of last year, and Benito had already lost a previous title challenge. After he had to face his tag team partner and friend Macrae Martin in a #1 Contendership match at the last C*4 show, this was Benito’s chance to reclaim his title and end Evil Uno’s cruel and merciless reign.

Uno clutched the belt to his chest like he had been doing since he ripped it from Benito’s grasp and nearly refused to hand it off to the ref before the match. Both were wearing white shirts and black jeans so you know it was gonna get violent. After some in ring brawling Uno threw Benito out of the ring, only to be forced on the defensive as they circled the outside of the ring. Benito hurled a metal bucket directly at Uno’s head and then ripped off the top and side of his mask, leaving him bleeding relatively early on in the match. The bloodshed didn’t end there as Benito strangled Uno with the wooden handle of a pool rescue pole and when it broke against Uno’s neck, he stabbed the jagged edge into the wounds on Uno’s head. Uno staggered away from Benito and back into the ring, seemingly unable to withstand the sheer carnage he himself had inflicted on Benito to win the championship all those months ago. Uno pulled himself together and responded by strangling Benito with his tie, whipping him with his belt, and sending several harsh kicks right into Benito’s stomach. Turnabout was fair play as Benito repeated the tie strangling spot as the crowd chanted for him to tear off the rest of Uno’s mask. In classic C*4 fashion, when Uno slapped the ref after a two count the crowd cheered him. But then! An upset! Uno slapped him again after another two count but this time, the ref slapped him back! And the crowd cheered! C*4 refs get some of the loudest boos of the night when they enter the ring, so this was truly novel.

After Uno put Benito through a table on the outside and seemed set to finish the job, Macrae Martin appeared at ringside, last seen storming off after losing earlier in the night. He shoved Uno out of the way and grabbed Benito to roughly chuck him into the ring, having seemingly turned on his friend and tag team partner. Only once Uno was also in the cage did he strike, hitting Uno with the door of the cage and sliding a door over Benito, who had been given time to recover with Martin’s distraction. Martin then locked the cage door but stayed ringside to watch Benito finish what he could not.

It took a spear through a door, several slams onto legos (one of which had a breathtakingly close nearfall), another table, thumbtacks, and more before Benito forced Uno to submit by choking him out against the ropes, in a parallel to how Benito lost the title to Uno last year. As Benito caught his breath, Martin approached him and there was a tense standoff before Benito leapt into his arms for a hug. Uno’s brief attempt at revenge was foiled by the two of them superkicking him before Martin handed Benito the C*4 Championship belt and they celebrated in the ring surrounded by a raucous crowd.

The next C*4 show will be on August 15th for their annual Canadian Cancer Society fundraiser “Fighting Back” which has raised over $600,000 CAD since its inception in 2011.

Full Results

Jimmy Townsend defeats Evan Greenaway and Macrae Martin (5:02)

Undisputed IWTV Independent Wrestling World Title:
Marcus Mathers (c) defeats Mark Wheeler (9:34)

Krystal Moon defeats Gabby Forza (8:26)

C4 Tag Team Title Open Gauntlet:
PROJECT 8100 (Dexter Doom & Haddy) defeat Brent Banks & James Stone (c) and Cecil Nyx & Kristara and Haley Dylan & Kevin Blackwood and London Lightning & Stu Grayson and Mathieu St-Jacques and Post Game (Mike Walker & Vinny Talotta) and The Philly Marino Experience (Marino T & Philly C) and Triple Dragon (Pretty Ricky Willdy & Puf) (30:07)

wXw Unified World Wrestling Title:
1 Called Manders (c) defeats Bear Bronson and Dominic Garrini and Sheldon Jean (12:16)

Jody Threat defeats Kacey Diamond (9:00)

C4 Underground Title Street Fight:
Myung Jae Lee defeats Benjamin Tull (c) (12:28)

Steel Cage Tornado Tag:
Dreya Mitchell & Vaughn Vertigo defeat Alexia Nicole & Gabriel Fuerza (10:31)

C4 Title Steel Cage:
Junior Benito defeats Evil Uno (c) (20:41)

Maple Leaf Pro travelled to Montreal for “MLP: Resurrection” on July 5th, with local wrestler (and ticket mover) PCO in the main event in a House of Pain match with Dan Muff. The bout for PCO’s International Title was refereed by Billy Gunn, and saw PCO forget that he is now 57 years old in order to take part in many a dive on top of your expected plunder. The latter part of the match saw an attack of the hazmat suits, a fameasser from Gunn on Maff before PCO placed his opponent onto a table on the outside, climbed an unnecessarily tall ladder, and flipped into a dive onto Maff and the table below. Expectedly, that was enough to get PCO the pin and send the local fans home happy.

Shotzi Blackheart continues to wrestle as a one armed valiant underdog in her travels, and put up a strong effort in challenging Giselle Shaw for the MLP Women’s Championship before Matt Cardona made his presence known, hitting Blackheart with a Radio Silence for a large assist in Shaw’s successful defence. Cardona is credited in kayfabe as the reason Shotzi is wrestling in a cast. Josh Alexander retained the men’s title in more standard fashion, defeating Ace Austin with a C4 spiked piledriver.

Elsewhere on the card, there was a successful Dark Order reunion, as interference in a match between Sheldon Jean and Stu Grayson led to Grayson and Evil Uno teaming again to defeat Jean and Bryce Hansen. Rohan Raja retained the PWA Champion’s Grail against Alexander Hammerstone thanks to a distraction and a low blow, and Thom Latimer held onto his NWA World Heavyweight crown after a DDT onto the belt helped to put away Matt Cardona. Old Bullet Club saw off the current variation in tag team action, as the Good Brothers beat the War Dogs team of David Finlay and Drilla Maloney after hitting a Magic Killer on Maloney.

MLP follow up from their trip to Quebec with an “MLP LIVE” event in downtown Windsor on July 26th, before heading to Ohsweken in the Six Nations Territory for “Sacred Ground” on September 5th.

Interspecies Wrestling will present “Cannonbrawl”, a show in honour of wrestler Jeff Cannonball, from Knights of Columbus in Kahnawake, Quebec, on October 18th. The venue is the same location as Cannonball’s debut with the promotion in 2018, and the show will be used to raise funds for the wrestler and his family after a recent amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) diagnosis.

The promotion have also announced their 20th Anniversary show for August 30th in Valleyfield, Quebec.

Alpha-1 added a 3 way match to “The Purge” on July 20th in Hamilton, Ontario. Sam Holloway will battle TJ Crawford and Tyler Thomas in a 3 way for a place in September’s “King of Hearts” Tournament.

Alpha-1 will hold “The Purge” on July 20th in Hamilton, Ontario, a show which is built around a special appearance by Steve Corino, as well as also having a “no rules” gimmick for the duration of the event. The show will be headlined by a Last Man Standing match for the Alpha Male Championship between champion BMD and challenger, Shane Sabre. There are further high stakes matches, with Brandon Cutler battling Alec Price for the Zero Gravity Championship, whilst Sam Holloway, TJ Crawford and Styler Thomas compete against each other for a spot in this autumn’s “King of Hearts Tournament”.

In tag team action, Mark Wheeler and Jessie V will take on former TNA talent Rich Swann and Jake Crist in an attempt to get back to winning ways.

Mystery Wrestling 17 in Gatineau, Quebec on July 20th will be “Evil Uno’s Birthday Bash!”, featuring the Ring of Honor tag team and DPW World Tag Team Champions, the Grizzled Young Vets. James Drake and Zack Gibson will also hold a seminar for local trainees earlier in the day. Chris Danger has been added to the commentary booth for the evening show.

Edmonton’s Top Talent Wrestling are bringing in Shotzi Blackheart and Raj Dhesi for their weekend of shows on July 22nd and 23rd. TTW is partnering with KDAYS for the 2 days of events.

Brian Kendrick will be part of CWE’s summer tour in August, including a tag team elimination match in Morden, Manitoba, on August 30th. CWE will also host former TNA talent Hernandez for a training seminar in Winnipeg on July 15th.

Check out these other articles from this week!

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Just A Little Texas Death

Back in May, Emiliana Rico-Toro explained to us why the character of Hangman Adam Page is her “Special Little Guy”. Now, she takes us on the road with her to “All In Texas” to witness the match, and moment, she has been waiting for.

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What’s More Punk Rock Than Selling Out?

Chris Gannon gives his opinion on CM Punk’s history and his turbulent past few weeks.

FEATURES

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Pro-Wrestling EVE 136: Mean Grrrls

It’s ironic that on Independence Day an AEW wrestler who spent the first few months of her time in the company as an alien spent July 4th in a country away from home.

EUROPE & AFRICA

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Preview

We take a look at this year’s field for the most prestigious wrestling tournament in the world.

ASIA & OCEANIA

Recommendations From A History Man

In Peter Edge’s latest look back, he focuses on some of the game changing women’s matches over the past four decades.

RETRO

What’s More Punk Rock Than Selling Out?

Chris Gannon gives his opinion on CM Punk’s history and his turbulent past few weeks.

FEATURES

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Preview

We take a look at this year’s field for the most prestigious wrestling tournament in the world.

ASIA & OCEANIA

Recommendations From A History Man

In Peter Edge’s latest look back, he focuses on some of the game changing women’s matches over the past four decades.

RETRO

Pro-Wrestling EVE 136: Mean Grrrls

It’s ironic that on Independence Day an AEW wrestler who spent the first few months of her time in the company as an alien spent July 4th in a country away from home.

EUROPE & AFRICA

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Social Suplex Newsletter No. 8

Social Suplex Newsletter No. 8

Americas

WWE

Night of Champions 2025

28/06/2025Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaAttendance: aprox 27,000Watch On: Netflix/PeacockReview by David Hayter

CM Punk Makes Cena Sweat Before Wheeling Out The Smoke And Mirrors

Rhea Ripley and Raquel Rodriguez Run Riot In Riyadh

Rhodes and Orton Steal The Show While Leaving Plenty In Reserve

The Misfiring Midcard Slog

Full Results

NXT Great American Bash

12/07/2025Attendance: 750Location: Center Stage Theater, Atlanta, Georgia, USAWatch On: Peacock/NetflixReview by David Hayter

Standard TV Main Event Tag Closes An Unremarkable PLE

Briggs Based Drama Overshadows NXT Championship Match

Page Beats Saints Decisively In Micro-Machines Falls Count Anywhere Match

Je’Von Fails To Inspire Generic Jaspar

Confused Babyface/Heel Dynamics Mire Middling Women’s US Title Clash

Charismatic Contract Signing Feels Out of Place on PLE

Full Results

Saturday Night’s Main Event

July 12th, 2025State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia, USAWatch On: Peacock/YoutubeReview by Conor McFall

Randy Orton vs Drew McIntyre

Jimmy Uso vs Solo Sikoa

Seth Rollins vs LA Knight

Gunther vs Goldberg

WWE Evolution

13/07/2025State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia, USAttendance: ca 8,300Watch On: Peacock/NetflixReview by David Hayter

Naomi’s Shock Cash In Elevates (Rather Than Undermines) An Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley Classic

Becky Lynch’s Brilliant 2025 Continues In Excellent All Action Opener

Trish and Tiffy Offset One Another’s Weaknesses, While Jade’s Strange Booking Continues

Blake Monroe Overshadows NXT Title Match and No.1 Contenders Battle Royal Is A Messy Guilty Pleasure

Full Results

WWE TV News

WWE News

All Elite Wrestling

TV News

AEW News

TNA

News

Full Card

MLW

US Independents

CMLL

News

AAA

News

Mexico Independents

Canada News

C*4 WrestlingDeliver Us From Evil

June 27th, 2025Preston Event Centre, Ottawa, CanadaWatch On: IWTVReview by Alice V. Bell

Full Results

Check out these other articles from this week!

Categories

Sections

Just A Little Texas Death

What’s More Punk Rock Than Selling Out?

Pro-Wrestling EVE 136: Mean Grrrls

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Preview

Recommendations From A History Man

What’s More Punk Rock Than Selling Out?

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Preview

Recommendations From A History Man

Pro-Wrestling EVE 136: Mean Grrrls

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28/06/2025
Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Attendance: aprox 27,000
Watch On: Netflix/Peacock
Review by David Hayter

12/07/2025
Attendance: 750
Location: Center Stage Theater, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Watch On: Peacock/Netflix
Review by David Hayter

July 12th, 2025
State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Watch On: Peacock/Youtube
Review by Conor McFall

13/07/2025
State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia, US
Attendance: ca 8,300
Watch On: Peacock/Netflix
Review by David Hayter

C*4 Wrestling
Deliver Us From Evil

June 27th, 2025
Preston Event Centre, Ottawa, Canada
Watch On: IWTV
Review by Alice V. Bell