12/28/2025

© CMLL

CMLL

Bitesize Round-up

By David Hayter

Leyenda de Azul Is Bárbaro’s Reward for a Year’s Worth of Hard Work, But Did the Wrong Man Win?

Bárbaro Cavernario secured his spot in the finals of the Leyenda de Azul, picking up a victory in a well‑worked Cibernético at Arena Coliseo on 22 November. Truth be told, there were only ever two plausible winners of this semi‑final (Stuka Jr and Bárbaro himself), but this limitation actually gave the match a solid sense of direction. Rugido is a feel‑good undercard flyer, but a totally implausible winner who would have no business sharing the ring with Soberano Jr and Místico – and he was dispatched without too much bother by Stuka Jr in the early going.

The inclusion of the bumbling rudo team of Gemelo Diablo I & II was more ridiculous still – but I kind of loved it, just imagining a world where CMLL’s two hottest stars would stand toe‑to‑toe with Gemelo Diablo II made me smile. Of course, the rudo team were only included to allow Stuka and Cavernario to team up and show off their best dives in tandem, delaying their eventual showdown until the very end of the Cibernético when the two great bases would be forced to square off. Bárbaro and Stuka made the most of the nine minutes they were given, showcasing tremendous timing and chemistry. The commentary team played up Stuka’s record of big victories at Arena Coliseo and it seemed Stuka had the match won when he hit his signature splash, only for Bárbaro to steal the victory with a flash pin.

Now the finals were upon us, surely, it was time for Bárbaro to lose. He’s only here to eat the pin, right? Well It’s 28 November 2025, Arena México is sold out, the crowd who we thought were hot for Claudio and Guerrero have now reached a stampeding fever pitch for the tournament final. In one corner stands Místico, the MVP, the GOAT, the sell‑out machine and the hardest‑working man in show business. In the other, smirking proudly and blowing kisses to the wives in attendance before checking out his own abs, is Soberano Jr: the hottest – in every sense of the word – rudo in Mexico right now. Oh, and who’s that over there? Yes, that’s right, it’s the Caveman, and isn’t it nice his comedy cavewoman wife has come along to support.

All jokes aside, Bárbaro Cavernario is a fabulous worker: a great base, a silky‑smooth chain wrestler, a gross‑out comedy specialist and a man who is not afraid to take the nastiest landings in all of wrestling. He has had a phenomenal 2025; whether it’s Máscara Dorada, Titán, Atlantis Jr, Neon or, of course, Místico, if the babyfaces are having a blow‑away Friday night main event you can guarantee that more often than not Bárbaro is on the other side making them look great. Tonight’s hotly anticipated triple threat was no different. Místico was close to his best. He had real spring in his step and was silky‑smooth as he hit a variety of tijeras and he even pulled out a mix of rope‑walking spots. Soberano is still a little rusty, but he is just oozing charisma, smooth‑talking Bárbaro into helping him beatdown Místico.

For the bulk of the match, it was clear who the stars were, but then something strange happened: Bárbaro started pulling out his biggest and best offence – his real babyface stuff. His signature slingshot splash was cut off to get sympathy on him, guaranteeing a big pop when he hit it later and, shockingly, when Místico dove to the floor Bárbaro followed up with his top‑rope splash to the outside (a move he has pulled back on due to wear and tear). Still, even with Bárbaro turning it on, it felt like he was simply trying to ensure the trio delivered a classic main event. The smart money was still on the cheap‑heat finish for Soberano or the feel‑good comeback for Místico… but that never materialised.

Instead, Bárbaro and Soberano were facing off and, after being betrayed and trolled by the younger, cooler rudo, Bárbaro wickedly countered a lungblower attempt into a devastating Sega Mega‑Driver for a brutal‑looking knockout blow. Bárbaro rolled Soberano over and, with Místico was down and out, the referee counted three. The caveman had only gone and done it!

The morning after the night before, the serious questions have begun to be asked: was this really the right choice? In a year when CMLL has ruthlessly pushed every attention grabbing young act to the very top of the card, always choosing to ride the hot hand, why did they go with Bárbaro and not Soberano? Frankly, who cares. CMLL has done so much right this year and established so many drawing cards of the future that little harm is done giving Bárbaro a feather in his cap for all his hard work. It establishes him as a more credible threat going forward, just as Titán winning the Campeón Universal del CMLL earlier in the year enhanced his status.

Every once in a while, it’s worth establishing that these great workers aren’t just background players, they are kayfabe winners and legitimate threats in their own right.

Delayed but Not Denied, CMLL Puts Soberano Jr over Místico Strong

Bárbaro Cavernario might have walked away the winner of the Leyenda de Azul, but Soberano Jr was not to be denied. Just a week later, in front of a sold‑out Arena México, eyebrows were raised when Místico & Máscara Dorada vs Difunto & Soberano Jr was advertised as the main event. Why was Neon excluded from the usual El Sky Team trios main event? Did CMLL have something special hidden up their sleeves?

The answer was of course yes, as CMLL put on a masterclass in using in‑ring storytelling to make a star. Everything was going ahead as usual, the four men were absolutely tearing it up, they’d split the first two falls one apiece and we were about to decide a winner. Everything seemed routine: Místico and Dorada had the crowd on their feet with tandem dives, Komander hit his tope suicida on Kemalito and it looked like the técnicos were about to send the crowd home happy, but then something a little strange happened: Soberano avoided the 450 splash and pinned Dorada with a pop‑up powerbomb.

Hmmm… okay, that’s odd, we must be getting a rudo victory tonight. In that case Difunto will pick up a quick fall on Místico to wrap things up. Sure enough, Difunto is setting up for his rope‑walk basement dropkick finisher, but suddenly Místico cuts him off and hits a Spanish Fly to tie the final fall. Soberano cannot believe that his teammate has dropped the ball and Místico is daring Soberano to face him mano a mano to decide the match.

With Difunto and Dorada down, Místico hits his signature springboard crossbody, runs the ropes in one fluid motion and gets the most dazzling cyclone spin set‑up for La Mística and… Soberano catches him and absolutely murders Místico with a sit‑out piledriver counter for the shock victory.

Then, in a brilliant moment, Soberano confidently took the mic to cut a promo challenging Místico for the Light Heavyweight title. Místico responded with great fire of his own in accepting the challenge. This wasn’t just a cheap‑heat shock heel win, this was CMLL definitely stating that Soberano Jr was at the elite level worthy of facing Mistico in a fair fight.

Soberano would keep up the moment with a victory in a tag main event over Mistico in a sold out Arena Mexico on 8 December, while Mistico, not to be outdone, would continue his MVP year by putting on a banger teaming with Titan against Los Hermanos Chavez on the 9th.

© CMLL

Mistico Wins The War (For Now)

Soberano Jr may have been riding an irrepressible wave of momentum but, in the eyes of CMLL management, the time was not right for him to take the Light Heavyweight title from Mistico. On 12 December, in front of an absolutely feral Arena Mexico crowd, Mistico just about survived Soberano Jr. The rudo was brilliant at projecting his persona. He dressed in white and gold illuminati inspired gear. The choice of colour was a clear and conscious jab at Mistico, Soberano’s way of saying, “I am here to replace you”. In Soberano’s eyes at least, there was a new white knight and top guy in town.

With Arena Mexico split, but largely behind Mistico (due to Euforia’s continued inference), the pair would exchange smooth dives and springboards, as Soberano worked the crowd – even inviting women in the front row to kiss him mid-match (not that they needed much encouragement). Ultimately though, Soberano had a plan, he was here to upstage and replace Mistico, and what better way to do it than by forcing the hero of all heroes to submit to his own move, slap bang in the middle of the ring. In the dying embers of the match Soberano would hit La Mistica, but Mistico wouldn’t tap, he rolled out, went for his own version of La Mistica in return, but – just like the week before – Soberano countered with a devastating inverted piledriver. This time however, Mistico just about kicked out at three.

Soberano’s confidence was broken. He looked shell shocked and, when Mistico successfully landed La Mistica, he tapped instantly. In terms of work itself, Soberano proved that he’s undeniably ready in terms of projecting his personality, but his wrestling leaves something to be desired. He whiffed on several kicks and, while striking is possibly the least important element of lucha libre, it’s never good to allow so much light to show in such a high profile main event.

Dorada and Kommander Dazzle In NWA Welterweight Clash

Following a shockingly great battle between The Beast Mortos and Gran Guerrero was no mean feat, but Dorada and Komander were more than up to the task on 22 November. They made it clear from the very opening moments that they were going to hold absolutely nothing in reserve. Komander started out with one of his intricate springboard rope walks into a front‑flip rana and it was only a matter of moments before Dorada and Komander were charging across the top rope to catch each other in a running, rope‑walk Spanish Fly.

It’s tempting to simply list all the insane spots, but some of them are just too preposterous to even describe – but I’ll try at least one more: Komander countered an attempted Ocean Cyclone suplex into a poison‑rana, but Dorada blocked and jerked Komander back onto his shoulders (I hope I haven’t lost you already). Komander then span and tried again, but both men went tumbling over the top rope, only for Dorada to land on his feet on the floor with Komander on his shoulders (yes, the spot is still going). At that point Komander hit a poison‑rana on the floor, but then charged straight into a UFO‑style backstabber for a double down. In the time it took to write that sentence Dorada will have gone on to hit a shooting star press to the floor and Komander has responded with a springboard Canadian Destroyer and a Phoenix Splash.

So I think you’ll understand if at this point I simply give up and trust that you’ll believe me when I say that this match was completely ridiculous. From dives on staircases to a brutal back‑body drop onto the ramp, this match had it all. Remarkably, for all its ultra‑modernism, it had a satisfyingly old‑school finish. There was not a single near‑fall in this match. Instead, both men did everything in their power to wipe out their opponent in a back‑and‑forth battle, but when Dorada finally got the advantage by getting his knees up on a Phoenix Splash on the ramp, there was no way back for Komander. Dorada hit a springboard crucifix bomb and the shooting star press and Komander stayed down. He was definitely the better man – end of.

© CMLL

The Beast Mortos Does The Impossible, Before Claudio Ends An Era

Gran Guerrero’s never‑ending reign as CMLL Heavyweight Champion has been remarkably consistent: he never really has a bad title defence, but he never quite manages to have a good one either. He works hard enough and is generally rock‑solid, but trying to remember a single interesting moment from his reign is nigh on impossible – until now.

The Beast Mortos came to Mexico to work and he brought out the absolute best in Guerrero. For once Mortos had met his match physically, so rather than taking the base role, he was charged with injecting some dynamism and high‑flying into this mean‑guys match. Guerrero was completely free to work the crowd as Mortos impressively threw him around the ring in this beefy contest. Arena México came completely unglued as the pair traded superb near‑falls. Guerrero would press Mortos face‑first off the top rope only for Mortos to return fire with a brutal discus lariat. The crowd were in total disbelief when Guerrero kicked out of the Spiral Tap at 2.9 before catching Mortos on the top with a back suplex for another unbelievable last‑second kick‑out. At this point Mortos’ resistance was broken as Guerrero hit an avalanche Nightwing to retain the gold.

Long‑term CMLL viewers sensed something was up when, hot on the heels of clinging onto his title against Mortos, Gran Guerrero – who normally defends the Heavyweight Championship twice a year (if you’re lucky) – was booked to defend it twice in less than a week. On Viernes Espectacular, in front of a sold‑out Arena México, he squared off against Claudio Castagnoli and it felt like the end of the road. The loveable old rudo was heartily cheered not only by a feverish crowd, but also a happy‑go‑lucky Último Guerrero who served as a great second – but he truly had no hope. Claudio has always been booked strong in CMLL, winning the International GP for the Rest of the World in 2024, and on Friday night he laid a beating on Guerrero. Gran gave as good as he got, slamming Claudio down hard from the top rope, but Claudio was the bigger, badder and balder man. The Giant Swing set the stage for the Neutraliser and Gran Guerrero’s long, often derided title reign ended with two brilliant matches in less than seven days.

Claudio winning is in some ways a stroke of genius, because the playing field is wide open. CMLL is not averse to letting the title drift. The belts honestly mean next-to-nothing, they are more of a “break glass in case of emergency” measure if they need something to headline a show when a true top star or match isn’t available. But while that might sound bad, it actually means that Claudio could conceivably hold the belt for a very long time. He need only defend it two or three times a year to match Gran Guerrero’s pace. Equally, like many foreign champions, he could win the belt briefly and drop it back to practically anyone. The question is of course to whom. CMLL is not flush with heavyweight talent and most of its top acts are decidedly long in the tooth. Whatever the case and whoever they choose (probably Hechicero or Ultimo Gurerrero), it’s undeniably intriguing to have a sense of uncertainty at the top of the heavyweight food chain after years of stasis.

Claudio would celebrate his title win by having a cracking trios night the very next night at Arena Coliseo that’s well worth checking out.

An Evil Speedball Steals The Show On The Best Viernes Espectacular Of The Year

Following a transparent cash‑in masquerading as a Friday night at Arena México, which saw CMLL attempt to capitalise on a Linkin Park concert with an absolute minimum of effort (team “Linkin” vs team “Park”), CMLL bounced back with a wildly entertaining and consequential supercard on 21 November 2025.

On a show that was absolutely stacked with three All‑Star main events and an undercard loaded with impressive fresh faces, it was Speedball Mike Bailey who shone the brightest. It’s official: the most white‑meat of American babyfaces is the most despised heel in Mexico City. Bailey doesn’t particularly switch up his act in Mexico; in fact, when he was made the star of the Rest of the World team during the International GP I’m almost certain he expected to be cheered. So what is it about Bailey that makes him such a perfect foil for Místico, Dorada and Neon?

The answer lies in his style. Kicking hard and crushing people with double knees is largely considered cool in both America. Strong style is the righteous path in Japan and, be it Sheamus in WWE or Jamie Hayter in AEW, hitting hard is a babyface trait. And yet, in Mexico, while there are hard hitters, the style is more flowing, it’s softer, silkier, more joyous and at times poetic – in this context Bailey’s hard strikes are like abrupt record scratches, an insertion of ultra‑violence that stops the fun and, in its own way, breaks the rules of lucha libre. Speedball kicks Neon in the head and Arena México erupts in whistles and boos.

Take this level of heat and combine it with the mind‑blowing agility and accuracy of Jetspeed and El Sky Team (Neon & Máscara Dorada) and you have the recipe for a match‑of‑the‑year‑contending whirlwind jam‑packed with heart‑stopping and jaw‑dropping sequences that need to be seen to be believed. There were a couple of duff moments – notably, Neon slipping when Bailey crowded him on a countered springboard and Bailey trying to unnecessarily quiet the crowd for a striking exchange far too deep into the match – but they couldn’t possibly spoil the fun.
Neon & Máscara Dorada would come out on top in the end, but a match this good simply must be rematched. What’s more, if Bailey remains a heat magnet on this level, he should be matched up with Místico sooner rather than later.

Speaking of heat magnets, there wasn’t a dry seat in the house when Soberano Jr was smouldering, peacocking and flirting his way to victory in the semi finals of the Leyenda De Azul. The Cibernetico wasn’t perfect, there was some noticeable sloppiness (Soberano is still getting back in the swing of things post injury), but the match told a dramatic story and was full of creative action as Hechicero made a one man comeback on Euphoria and Soberano The deciding fall would ultimately come down to Soberano and Hechicero, who would battle for the final eight minutes before Hechicero eventually succumbed.
Speaking of heat magnets, there wasn’t a dry seat in the house when Soberano Jr was smouldering, peacocking and flirting his way to victory in the semi-finals of the Leyenda de Azul. The Cibernético wasn’t perfect, there was some sloppiness (Soberano is still getting back in the swing of things post-injury), but the match told a dramatic story and was full of creative action as Hechicero made a one-man comeback on Euforia and Soberano. It would ultimately come down to Soberano and Hechicero, who would battle for the final eight minutes before Hechicero eventually succumbed.

The main event was a masterpiece in its own right. Mortos and Bárbaro Cavernario had their moments, but realistically they were simply there to base and be obliterated by a white-hot Komander and Místico combination. Even by his own standards, Komander’s rope walks were both cartoonishly contrived and preposterously brilliant, while Místico was pure silk making a fantastic comeback to slay The Beast Mortos.

The undercard was good fun and well worth watching – this entire show is heartily recommended.

© CMLL

Yutani Establishes Himself As A Heat Magnet Despite Two High Profile Defeats

In last month’s issue we discussed the completely unexpected rise of Yutani, as CMLL decided to make the relatively unknown Japanese wrestler a star overnight. If Yutani’s ascent was unpredictable, the result of his televised one‑on‑one showdown with Místico was entirely textbook. Místico got his win back and gained revenge for his unmasking by forcing Yutani to submit to La Mística in the middle of the ring.

Thankfully, that is not the end of Yutani’s story; instead he is now a cocksure heel whose heat in Puebla has transferred magnificently over to Arena México. On 5 December, he squared off with Capitán Suicida in an undercard show‑stealer (which is pretty much a Suicida speciality at this point) where the young Japanese star more than held up his end of the bargain. He was brash, cocky and slimy, but he was also a brilliant base capable of wowing the crowd with an elegant tope con hilo and second‑rope Styles Clash of his own.

It is to Yutani’s credit that after having the chance to show off his best stuff, he inhabited the role of the pratfalling heel; taking wild bumps, showing fear and perfectly catching Suicida on a number of jaw‑dropping dives. The finish would come when Yutani missed a dive and ate a disgusting‑looking fisherman’s suplex‑style DDT, before Capitán Suicida soared through the air with a sumptuous moonsault senton for the win. Suicida and Yutani should be can’t‑miss stars of the future and this undercard clash had Arena México absolutely losing its mind.

Péndulo’s Shaky First Steps into the Spotlight

One of the absolute joys of watching CMLL in 2025 is the knowledge that if a talent shows even the slightest hint of having something (be it a great look, a connection with the crowd, a flashy new move or the ability to base), the promotion will throw them haphazardly towards the spotlight. Péndulo is the latest talent to graduate from the Coliseo to the Friday night lights of Arena México and, well, he’s not having the smoothest of transitions. He has a great body, there’s no doubt about that, and an explosive athleticism to boot, but he seems to lack agility, timing and grace – perhaps the three essential qualities that a técnico needs.

He has a distinctive look with his shiny orange mask with complementary briefs, but it’s perhaps not the most tasteful or pleasant colour combination to the eye. In‑ring, there’s no questioning his leaping ability nor his enthusiasm, but in his lightning match with Carnífice on 5 December, neither man really managed to stand out. There was too much hesitation, too much co‑operation (even by lucha standards) and too little in the way of intensity. The powers that be have obviously recognised some burgeoning potential in Péndulo, but between his tag outings with Alexius and his lightning match with Carnífice they’ve yet to find a vehicle that will make Péndulo shine. Poseidón, Troyano, Fury Boy and Péndulo have star‑level potential, but it appears some further seasoning in trios matches is required.

Nightmarish Injuries to Neon & Dragón Rojo Jr a Reminder of the Dangers of Elaborate Dives

No one likes to see a wrestler get injured, let alone two of the best luchadores in the world going down with scary freak injuries in back‑to‑back matches. CMLL’s astoundingly brilliant roster at times makes high‑flying look so graceful and effortless that it’s easy to forget just how dangerous springing up into the air and crashing down on thin safety mats can be. On 5 December, in front of a raucous Arena México crowd, we were given a reminder of just how easily the feel‑good fantasy of lucha libre can turn into a nightmare.

Dragón Rojo Jr was the first to suffer. He was midway through a really rather great mid‑card trios match when he ran the ropes, went under a leapfrog from his teammate Legendario and was then monkey‑flipped over the top rope by his teammate Fuego. Rojo awkwardly flipped through the air, but no one was there to catch him and he landed hard on his left leg. He would spend the rest of the match being treated for injury as springboard shooting star presses and 450 splashes were being hit around him. He would be cared for by medical staff for several minutes post‑match before being carefully stretchered out.

If that was bad, it was about to get much, much worse. The dream team of Templario, Titán and Neon were busy battling the safe‑as‑houses rudos Averno, Cavernario and Volador Jr in what should have been a show‑stealing semi‑main event. It was certainly going well, the rudos soaking in the boos, cutting off the técnico team and drawing great heat early, before Neon neatly used a flash pin to secure the first fall for the good guys. The match could not have been going more smoothly, Titán in particular was electrifying the crowd and Neon was running wild with his one‑of‑a‑kind springboard offence – and then it happened.

Neon had countered a move and neatly landed on his feet on the rampway, just as Barbaro had missed a shoulder charge and been sent crashing to the floor. Everything was organically set up for Neon’s double springboard moonsault. They’d even had a camera man position himself underneath the ring post to capture the spectacular spot from a brand new angle. But then tragedy struck. Neon leapt to the top rope, seemed to slip on his first spring. He was clearly headed off course, hopping too diagonally towards the ringpost, where he seemingly got no spring on his second jump. Rather than bailing out and dropping down to land on the apron ready to try again, in the split second Neon decided to try and force the moonsault and began to flip – but he went sideways and down fast, crashing headfirst onto the mat.

Titán smartly went straight to the finish, hitting a Coup de Grâce as Templario landed the Sasuke Special for the simultaneous pinfall, but the crowd were clearly in shock. An eerie silence and muttering came across the arena; they then cut to a wide shot to see fans shaking their heads as a medical team rushed to rescue Neon. The rudos tried and succeeded in rescuing the crowd from the pits of despair. They jumped Titán and Templario three‑on‑two and Averno attempted to attack Neon as he was being stretchered out, drawing nuclear heat. The medical and security staff of course stopped him (in fact he stopped himself), but they’d done just enough to distract the crowd.

Believe it or not, the bad news didn’t end there. Máscara Dorada would be stretchered out following a brutal pop‑up powerbomb in the night’s main event. Thankfully, he would recover in time to work the Collision taping the next night.

We all at the Social Suplex wish Dragón Rojo Jr and Neon a speedy recovery.

According to Connor Murphy on Twitter, CMLL have announced 48 sellouts in 2025, with Mistico in the main event or semi-main event of 35 of them. I mainly cover Japan, but I would be a fool to not consider CMLL one of the promotions of the year for 2025. Of course, it largely depends on your criteria, if it’s strictly based on relative business year-on-year, CMLL is unparalleled, considering Cubs Fan mentioned that a good year for CMLL was normally 3 or 4 sellouts. 2025 has been a hugely successful year for CMLL.

© WWE

AAA News

AAA “Guerra de Titanes” show on 20th December was main evented by Dominik Mysterio and El Grande Americano losing to Rey Fenix and Rey Mysterio. The match was originally supposed to be the return of the Lucha Brothers (Penta & Rey Fenix) to AAA for the first time in four years, but Penta was injured on WWE TV. Omos made his AAA debut on the show, helping Vikingo to defeat Dragon Lee.

While the event has already passed, for some background on the event, The Cubs Fan wrote an excellent preview for Voices of Wrestling examining the booking of Dominik Mysterio in AAA and how it has benefitted his career at the expense of other stars in AAA. It is worth checking out. In fact, just check out their blog while you are at it, they do Mexican news reporting better than anyone else on the planet.

AAA will host their first show on FOX on 17th January. As mentioned in our last issue, The FOX channel that AAA will be broadcast on is the previously-named Caliente TV channel that Fox Corporation took over in June 2025. It is not the same as Fox Sports which is managed by Grupo Lauman and purchased the broadcast rights of AEW in 2024.

© The Crash

Mexico Independents

News

Mexican independent promotion The Crash held another show at their regular home in Tijuana on 5th December in a show available on YouTube. In the second match on the card, Lucha Solos (Arkangel Divino & Ultimo Maldito) beat the 420 Brothers (Kamik-C & Skalibur) and Los Hermanos De La Jungla (Aero Panther & Fight Panther Jr.). This match was great, combining high flying with brutal looking spots like jumping curbstomps. While he had his wobbles in this match, Arkangel Divino pulled off some insane springboard spots, including a super Frankensteiner onto Ultimo Maldito who went flying into the rest of the wrestlers. Divino won with the super Canadian destroyer. In the main event, Dr. Wagner Jr. and his brother Galeno Del Mal, both signed to AAA, defeated The Colons (Epico Colon & Primo Colon). Originally Carlito was announced, but due to scheduling conflicts Epico substituted in.

The Crash will kick off their new year on 16th January. TNA’s Rascalz duo Zachary Wentz and Dezmond Xavier take on Rey Horus and Noisy Boy, NOAH’s former GHC Heavyweight Champion KENTA faces DMT Azul while The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) face Alberto El Patron and his brother El Hijo de Dos Caras.

On 18th December, International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) held their 63rd anniversary show “Revolucion 63” at Arena Naucalpan. This is another Mexican independent promotion that regularly posts shows on YouTube, and their anniversary show is free. Blue Demon Jr., who had been out of action since October, returned on this show in a losing effort against Axel and Villano V Jr., who retained his Junior de Juniors Title. In the main event, Shocker lost his hair in a Mask vs. Hair steel cage four-way match when DMT Azul wrapped Shocker into a pretzel and climbed the cage.

Cubs Fan wrote another great article, once again, breaking down El Hijo de Santo’s run leading up to his eventual retirement which took place on 13th December. It went into detail explaining how a combination of Santo’s bridge burning with Mexican promotions and diminishing returns from his previous “last-evers” mean this is not the retirement Santo may have expected it to be. This is the last Cubs Fan plug for the section, I promise.

La Mxlx Fxmx (Latigo & Toxin) became the inaugural Riot Lucha Libre Tag Team Champions on 12th December.

© WWE

WWE

“Survivor Series: War Games” 2025

Announced Attendance: 45,644
Location: Petco Park, San Diego, California, USA
Watch On: ESPN / Netflix
Recommended Matches: Watch The Following Night’s “Raw” Instead

On paper it seemed so simple. WWE had successfully assembled two veritable all-star super teams for their now annual War Games spectacular (which has effectively eaten the old “Survivor Series” alive in all but name). The men’s main event was absolutely stacked, particularly on the babyface side with Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes and the Usos joining forces. The vibes, after a slow summer of holding pattern TV, had seemingly shifted in the right direction with two big bolshy editions of “Monday Night Raw” earning rave reviews from fans as John Cena’s retirement road entered the final straight, Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky returned from injury, and Roman Reigns injected himself back into the heart of the main event scene. This should have been a slam dunk.

Unfortunately, the reality of “Survivor Series: War Games” could not hope to meet the expectations. WWE’s brand of wrestling is an anathema to many, so it’s no surprise when a big four PLE draws more critical backlash than a run-of-the-mill event, but what’s truly shocking is just how vehemently this show has been rejected by the WWE faithful themselves. As we discussed last month when considering the “rejection” of Jey Uso, the online sentiment and real-world reality don’t always mirror one another, but it is instructive to read the Cagematch reviews of this show to get a sense of the WWE average fan’s ire, because it is distinct from that of an AEW or hardcore wrestling fan.

War Games is getting review-bombed, in particular by WWE’s own audience, for being boring and unimaginative. The two words that the billion-dollar company’s own fans routinely use to lambast Triple H’s creative. The fans wanted surprises, they wanted crazy dives, they wanted shocking plot twists to kick-start the road to “WrestleMania”, and god dammit they wanted tables (like seriously, I don’t care about tables, at all, but it’s not hard to figure out that American fans really bloody love them).

The show which (dons hard hat and prepares to dodge incoming bricks) I reasonably enjoyed and found to be thoughtfully plotted out in places, was nevertheless unremittingly bland. WWE fans certainly do not expect blood and guts – in fact I’d wager most regular viewers tuning in saw more blood than they were anticipating pre-show – but they do expect happenings, moments and spectacle. There is undeniably a creeping sense that the latter is missing or, perhaps more precisely, misunderstood in the current WWE.

Ever since the first episode of “Raw” on Netflix aired, modern WWE spectacle hasn’t been Shawn Michaels holding a picture-perfect form on a splash as he dived off a ladder or Stone Cold spraying a vile sex-trafficking scumbag with beer, but instead sweeping crowd shots and elongated entrances. Make no mistake, tonight’s huge stadium crowd looked incredible and was beautifully shot throughout – they really did capture the pageantry of the light show as well as the gorgeous sight of the sun setting over San Diego. In many ways, it truly was a sight to behold, but no one’s childhood-defining memories are of arena panning shots or strobe lighting; they are made up of the brilliant, brutal, death-defying, heroic and despicable action of the wrestlers themselves. Sadly, in 2025, the wrestling and particularly the storylines feel sadly secondary to WWE’s obsession with basking in its own self-congratulatory grandeur.

Of course, many readers will no doubt be screaming that War Games sucked because WWE is inherently awful in-ring and out (and that’s certainly fair enough), but I thought it was worth dwelling on why thousands of fans who don’t remotely dislike the WWE product seemed to detest this show before diving into the main review.

© WWE

Well Ain’t That A Kick in The Dick: Liv Morgan Returns To Ruin Cena’s Celebration

The unquestionable highlight of “Survivor Series” 2025 was John Cena’s final PLE as an active wrestler against one Dirty Dominik Mysterio. Despite not remotely caring about John Cena myself, this match was right up my alley, because quite simply put it was a house show match on steroids. The wrestling portion of the match was kept relatively straightforward, allowing Dom and John to focus on working an already white-hot crowd into an absolute lather. The result was a beautiful blend of giving the fans exactly what they wanted and expected (Cena playing all his biggest singalong hits) and plenty that they didn’t (Dominik showing a continued flair for loveable heel chicanery).

The biggest unexpected twist of the match came not with Liv Morgan’s long-awaited return, but from Dominik’s most inventive Eddie Guerrero-style “lie, cheat and steal” spot to date. Relatively early in the match, Dominik would fight with Cena on the outside and go for a tijeras from the barricade to the floor. Unfortunately for Dom, the famously uncoordinated John Cena would fail to rotate and collapse on top of him in what was designed to look like an ugly shoot-powerbomb. In a spot that played off the real-life dislocated shoulder that Penta had suffered on the previous edition of “Raw” attempting the exact same move, Dominik lay screaming and the match awkwardly came to a halt as medical personnel (who looked suspiciously like indie wrestlers) rushed to ringside.

Naturally, anyone who’s watched wrestling long enough knew it was a work, as the camera stayed on Dom and the commentators were openly (albeit realistically) discussing the injury. Nevertheless, Cena looked flustered. Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez, who were Dominik’s seconds for the match, appeared genuinely confused. After playing up the chaos for just long enough, Raquel hit John Cena with a Tejana Bomb (which Cena got up admirably high for) and Roxy followed up with a Pop Rox while the referee was still caring for Dominik. I urge everyone to seek out a clip of the Pop Rox in particular, because John Cena has always been famed for his bizarre in-ring movement, but the surreal dolphin-leap bump he took for this move was truly ridiculous, like a PS2-era floaty physics engine come to life.

Then we were off to the races. Roxy set Cena on the ropes, and like Lazarus, Dom rose from the dead to speed-run a 6-1-9 and a Frog Splash and…the referee refused to count three. In fact, he refused to count at all. He was indignant that Dominik had tricked him into believing he was legitimately hurt and rather than letting Dom win, he instead ejected Roxy and Raquel from ringside. From there, the crowd were losing their minds as they ran through near-fall after near-fall, loose-boot Eddie antics and, finally, a giant ref bump as Cena accidentally murdered Mike Chioda with a flying shoulder tackle.

The finish was a brilliant bit of trolling. Liv Morgan’s music hit, drawing one of the biggest pops of the night, and she skipped to the ring to deliver a slap to Dominik that seemed to miss by miles. I’ll admit to being slightly suckered here; I still assumed Dom was winning, but my first thought was, “this is your big return and you don’t even make contact”. Thankfully, it was a ruse. Liv leapt into John’s arms joyously then, mirroring Cena’s now infamous turn at Elimination Chamber, her face dropped. The crowd reacted, but Cena saw nothing. Liv hopped down all smiles and punted Cena square in the nards. The rest was academic. Cena lost, enjoyed a slow walk off into the sunset knowing the crowd had been thoroughly entertained and, in a nice creative flourish, WWE aired the women’s “WrestleMania trailer”, now with Liv Morgan added as a sneaky last-minute Easter egg. I wouldn’t describe it as good wrestling per se, but it was a lot of fun.

© WWE

Iyo Sky Aerial Antics Light Up Otherwise Unremarkable Women’s War Games

If one image will stand the test of time from this year’s War Games it will be that of Iyo Sky suspended upside down high above the cage doing full splits while encased in a trash can. Sure, it’s contrived, every year Iyo always manages to get her personalised trash can and fly, but few could have expected a Swanton that seemed to defy the laws of physics as, for a moment, it appeared she was intent on coming down headfirst onto the entire heel team. Mercifully, she completed the flip, knocking over the heels like bowling pins and leaving only Becky Lynch standing.

In a really rather wonderful finish, Becky, who has been playing a full-on parody of Donald Trump since “WrestleMania” (aka a thin-skinned, loudmouth, self-obsessed, paranoid coward), tried to run away and forfeit the match rather than accept her fate. Thankfully, the babyfaces caught her and dragged her back into the ring, allowing Rhea Ripley to hit the Riptide before AJ Lee forced her to submit (Becky is of course now claiming the match was rigged and is continuing an ongoing feud with referee Jessica Carr).

This is one of those strange cases where I am quite substantially out of step with the consensus thinking on this match, because I found it to be really well booked, even if some of the wrestling was incredibly sloppy (Nia, AJ and Alexa’s striking and Charlotte’s post-injury slow-motion movement are particularly galling). The agents for this match had clearly thought hard about how to showcase Lash Legend, ensuring everyone was lined up to bump for her, particularly Iyo and Rhea, who flew around to try in an effort to really establish Lash. Craftily, they ensured Lash never actually showed weakness; the babyfaces never got the upper hand on her. Instead, Asuka accidentally hit Lash with the poisoned mist, when Charlotte overcame her long-time disdain and distrust and saved Rhea.

The biggest fault with the match, however, was its sheer ordinariness. There was plenty of creativity in the way they played into Becky and Charlotte’s history, and intertwined different long-term storylines throughout the match, but most of the action was the type of standard fare that would probably have been better suited to a traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series elimination match. Iyo was the only one wrestling with a crazed intensity; she took wild bumps (see how much distance she travelled on Asuka’s missile dropkick) and all the memorable spots in the match (the bullet train with trash can lid, the running dropkick on Kairi trapped in a trash can, the moonsault to save the match, and, of course, the trash can Senton) were hers. No one else really did anything memorable. Sure, Kairi used a chain and trolled AJ Lee in a ridiculous manner, but she’s been doing much crazier spots (Tree of Woe double stomps, Alabama Slams on the apron, Insane Elbows to the floor) in her regular matches than in this War Games.

Truth be told, I feel this exact match, plotted out identically from a storytelling POV, but with the addition of some high spots, would likely have gone down a treat with the WWE fans. Instead, it felt like Triple H and co. said one signature moment is enough, there’s no need for an Insane Elbow off the cage or for Charlotte to hit one of her sky-high moonsaults; the minimum will do and, in terms of violence, the minimum is what we got.

© WWE

Masked Man Masquerades As Seth Rollins In Uninspired War Games Ending

Okay, so my headline is somewhat of a lie. Make no mistake, the sight of an Austin Theory-shaped man clad entirely in black hopping into the cage to randomly cost CM Punk the match was a damp squib of an ending, but it was actually the first of two endings to the show that fell flat on their face. The second is one that seems to have cut fans more deeply.

All throughout the build to War Games the tension had been bubbling up. The Avengers were assembling, but it was clear that deep down CM Punk, Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes couldn’t stand each other; only a deep-seated loathing of Paul Heyman (and to a lesser extent Logan Paul) was keeping them on the same page. Perhaps surprisingly, or perhaps simply because the nature of the staggered entrances into the match kept them apart, when the bell rang WWE’s big three babyfaces worked together like a well-oiled machine. Punk took a licking and kept on ticking (and/or sweating profusely) from the opening bell, Cody made a heroic entrance mid-match to even the odds diving from atop the cage, and, when all hope was lost, Roman Reigns was the muscle on hand to clean out Brock Lesnar and Logan Paul alike.

In the heat of the action, with the bodies being thrown hither and yon, no one seemed to mind the babyface team were playing happy families. The problem came after the bell. CM Punk had dropped the ball, Cody was offering Roman a handshake, the director had cleverly foregrounded Cody leaving Punk lingering in the background – the stage was set for the first big angle on the road to “WrestleMania”…and nothing happened. Well, not exactly nothing: Roman helped Punk up and almost inaudibly said to Cody, “that’s the last time we’ll team”. Right, so that’s it, erm… great, I guess…another signature Triple H painfully slow-burn storyline appears to be in the works at a time when fans are crying out for some dynamism.

WWE creative would no doubt argue that they gave a bolt from the blue in the form of a mystery man angle and, in fairness, in a different context it may have worked. There’s nothing wrong with intentionally playing off Seth Rollins’ “Ruse of the Century” gimmick to try and convince fans that he’s yet again outsmarted CM Punk. The only problem is that this finish came at the end of a War Games match. Instead of seeing the company’s biggest male stars beating each other black and blue until one side stood definitively victorious in a gruelling war (the clue is in the name after all), WWE chose to have a total randomer run in and abruptly end the match before anything could be remotely settled. Talk about letting the air out of the balloon.

It’s a shame because the “match beyond” only ended up going a grand total of five minutes thanks to this interference finish. The match itself was better and more tightly worked than the women’s and was building nicely to a crescendo. Bron Breakker had both run wild and nearly broken his neck, Punk and Cody had bled, Bronson had Tsunami-ed everyone in sight and Brock Lesnar had brutally murdered every living thing that still had a pulse. So far so good. We were even showing signs of creativity: Logan Paul had a neat sequence throwing KO punches while wearing brass knucks and, in a great moment, Roman speared Brock through a table just as Brock had started to spin Jimmy Uso in an F-5. Then it ended.

Bron Breakker did produce a star-making performance and he nominally got the win, but all the heat and focus is directed towards the masked invader. There likely was a way to incorporate this mystery angle into the match without leading to such an anti-climax, but it’s hard to shake the feeling the better ending would simply have been, with all the big stars cancelling each other out, Bron is the one who makes the difference by outlasting a tiring Punk: beating him to the punch with a killer spear and simply proving he’s the better man. Sadly, that wasn’t to be.

© WWE

A Special Note On The Crime Against Humanity That Is The “Mid-Match Yeet Sesh”

There was a spot so monumentally moronic that took place in the main event that I appear to have entirely erased it from my memory and nearly left it out of my review entirely. I can only sincerely apologise for this lapse and will now briefly discuss the walking catastrophe that is Main Event Jey Uso.
Picture the scene: the babyfaces’ team finally has fleeting control over the biggest and baddest assembly of heels in WWE. They have roughly two minutes left before Brock Lesnar of all people is about to hit the ring. Ask yourself, what would you do?
Would you:

a. Grab a weapon and arm yourself?
b. Continue to beat down and possibly knock out the heel team?
c. Line up a present and united front against the oncoming storm?

OR

d. Allow all your opponents to recover and begin to Yeet uncontrollably (or in CM Punk’s case, play air guitar)?

If you selected option d) congratulations, you are a WWE main eventer. Yes, our supposed heroes succumbed to stupidity and chose to Yeet. Believe it or not, nitpicker-in-chief Bryan Alvarez of all people decided to defend this choice. More amazingly still, when Brock’s music hit and he began wrecking shop, the unmitigated idiocy that is the mid-match Yeet sesh turned a man (who was alleged in the Janel Grant lawsuit to have been a whisker away from committing statutory rape) into a babyface.

Stephanie Vaquer Wastes Her Time (And Ours) With Nikki Bella

It is perhaps unfair to contrast the gulf in reaction between John Cena and Nikki Bella. Cena, after all, is the biggest star of the post-Attitude era, but Nikki was, for much of the exact same period, the hardest-pushed female star in the entire industry. She won titles, had multiple reality television shows built around her and, as anyone who went to a WWE show in this era can attest, did bring in a unique fan base of her own to wrestling (a surprisingly large number of whom have stuck around). And yet, no one cares.

Nikki Bella has somehow become sub-Natalya; she’s not even part of the furniture, she’s simply in the way. What makes this all the stranger is that AJ Lee is being treated like a superstar by the WWE Universe. Absence, of course, makes the heart grow fonder, but it’s not like either Bella or Lee are great shakes in the ring. Still, there’s something about the alien nature of AJ’s millennial-cringe time capsule act that fans today enjoy, and something about the eerie insincerity of Nikki Bella’s entire return run that fans refuse to buy into.

The most memorable moments of Nikki’s return so far have been a) getting absolutely smoked on the microphone by Becky Lynch and b) mispronouncing Stephanie Vaquer’s name. WWE Creative turned the latter into a cute bit; unfortunately, that cute bit grew into a grotesque storyline where they asked fans to strain credulity and believe Nikki and Stephanie were actually friends. I honestly do not care if they are actually friends in real life; they have zero on-camera chemistry. Whatever Rhea and Iyo have, Nikki and Stephanie have the exact opposite.

Unsurprisingly then, a not-so-shocking turn did little to improve matters. Fans do not want to see Nikki Bella and Stephanie Vaquer as friends or enemies – and no one wanted to see this match. Remarkably, the actual match itself surpassed my expectations, but that’s because they were low to begin with and I was genuinely worried they’d have Nikki Bella dominate. Instead, Nikki bumped badly, sold atrociously, got the heat in a tedious manner and then got lost on a couple of spots, but aside from that it was okay. Stephanie hit all her signature offence, landed two Devil’s Kisses and the Corkscrew Splash, and won decisively. Hopefully, this is the end of Nikki Bella on “Raw” and the beginning of something new for Stephanie Vaquer, who could and should be having matches with Iyo, Roxy, Asuka, Lyra, Bayley, Kairi, Becky or Rhea instead.

TLDR: Watch the “Raw” after “Survivor Series” instead, it was much much better.

© WWE

“Saturday Night’s Main Event #42 – John Cena’s Final Match”

December 13th 2025
Capital Arena, Washington, D.C.
Live Attendance (via Cagematch): 19,274
Watch On: Peacock

There were two themes of this show going in, and two major themes at the end. At the beginning it was primarily about John Cena’s last match, of course, but there was also a secondary through-line of NXT wrestlers getting some main roster spotlight. By the end of the night, it was Cena himself that would be the secondary plot line behind the dominant narrative – that WWE fans had finally turned on Paul Levesque after a year of terrible booking.

After many videos and Stephanie McMahon stealing her husband’s “Are You Ready?” spot, the show opened properly with the champion Cody Rhodes taking on Oba Femi of NXT.

Cody Rhodes vs Oba Femi

This was the first of a number of showcases for NXT wrestlers. They tried to present Oba Femi as a big deal from the outset with the low camera shot on his entrance to emphasize his size, although he isn’t actually much taller than Rhodes when they go face to face. Of course, the match starts with the WWE fans doing a singsong. The story early is that Femi’s power is too much for Cody, as the champion gets chucked around the ring as his offence is brushed off. Femi got a nice spot where he held Rhodes in his arms as he mimed smoking a cigar, before dropping him with a backbreaker. WWE absolutely loves a shoulder into the post as a transition spot. We got one here before Cody ran through a few of his spots, then cleaned him out with a tope. The biggest spot came on the outside when Femi hit a running uppercut on Rhodes, who was propped on the announce table, sending both men flying. Cody bled from the ear as they traded nearfalls before Drew McIntyre ran in for the shit DQ finish. Cody and Oba ran him off and then…ignored the fans calling for them to get back to fighting.

This was a decent showcase for Oba Femi, who went back and forth with Cody. This was basically a throwback to the TNT Championship open challenges Cody did in AEW. However, AEW gave us finishes and I think Oba losing clean in a full match would have done as much for him as a rubbish DQ, especially because the result of that was to make your WWE Title holder look like a geek. ***1/4

Some videos about John Cena.

They kept cutting to Stephanie McMahon at the pundits table to make the most generic comments imaginable. She’s gone full Mar-a-Lago face.

© WWE

Bayley vs Sol Ruca

Ruca is very hyped by online NXT fans. She seems to be like a bit of a Charlotte Flair clone in that she’s talk, blonde, does some big spots and looks clunky in between. They started with some basic mat stuff before Crunchy Almond Mom Charlotte did some cartwheels to put over her athleticism. Ruca got the first real move in with an x-factor to send Bayley outside. Some clunky cat and mouse stuff ended with Bayley dodging a moonsault and taking her down with a forearm. Sol wanted to do flippy stuff and Bayley wanted to keep it grounded. Sol did a big old handspring backflip over the top rope to clean out Bayley but quickly missed a frog splash. Bayley grabbed a quick hold to call some spots. They tried for a highspot where Ruca did a cartwheel on the top rope into a DDT but it didn’t look great because you could see Bayley inching herself into position and looking back to wait for the move. Too convoluted. Bayley scored a close nearfall with her move before getting knees on a terrible flying elbow attempt. Ruca hit her impressive flipping cutter finish, though bizarrely Bayley immediately got her into a roll-up that was reversed for the pin instead of just pinning her right after the move.

This was a fine showcase for Ruca as all of these matches have exhibition vibes. Ruca is all about spots, but for every one that looks impressive there are others that look a bit awkward because the opponents have to move themselves unnaturally into position. I compared her to Charlotte aesthetically but she’s also a little bit like a Rob Van Dam in that respect. Like Femi, she’s a work in progress. ***

Some mid-tier legends like RVD and Michael Hayes paid tribute to Cena.

© WWE

AJ Styles and Dragon Lee vs J’Von Evans and Leon Slater

As someone who was around in the Wrestling Channel days, it’s still deeply bizarre to me to see Michael Cole talk about the TNA X-Division Championship. It’s a far cry from them pretending AJ Styles was a rookie in 2016. And this match was a throwback to those early days of Impact where they made their name on these X-Division spotfests. These WWE tag belts are really quite ugly. They look like manhole covers.

The match opened with double superkicks to the champions and then some crazy dives in and out of the ring, including a gigantic frog splash by Evans. They rushed through this as they immediately went to a hot tag spot with AJ like three minutes in. He ran through his spots on Evans and still looked good at like 50 years old. There’s a cool spot where Dragon Lee leaps over the ropes to Rana Slater into AJ’s arms for the Styles Clash, only for Evans to cut him off with a superkick. He then threw AJ into the run for a massive springboard cutter as every single match on this card so far has had a Will Ospreay rip-off spot. If only that guy could learn to tell stories. (Technically Ruca did a Great Sasuke spot that Ospreay himself has copied but do you think she knows that?) Dragon Lee cleared out Evans and did a huge tope to leave Styles and Slater in the ring. There was a weird spot between them where Styles slipped when going for the flying forearm. I’m not sure if it was intentional but if it wasn’t, Slater and the commentators did a good job covering for it. Slater then went for the patented flying nothing to allow AJ to catch him for the Styles Clash and the win.

This was a pretty breathless spotfest that would have been at home as a “Dynamite” party match. It was, as before, a good showcase for the young wrestlers to show off their high spots, although the veterans won this time. Dragon Lee was the least focused on of the four. It would be nice to see him get to do more crazy stuff. ***1/2

I know these matches were deliberately being worked as exhibition style showcases but it is notable how much WWE matches revolve around just trading highspots back and forth. Also remarkable is that so much time and energy and passion was poured out online over R-Truth when he was released earlier this year. The fan revolt caused WWE to u-turn. Lesser but still fervent passion was on display in discourse around Joe Hendry following his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it squash defeat to Randy Orton at “WrestleMania” when he was still TNA Champion. And here we are six months later with them both doing shit comedy segments with The Miz that nobody cares about. Their natural habitat.

© WWE

John Cena vs Gunther

Cena came out to a gigantic pop and shook hands with a load of WWE alumni at ringside, including Trish Stratus, Booker T, Kurt Angle and for some reason, Elias. He milked this entrance for ages and the crowd worshipped him. It’s funny that they market Cena as the Greatest Of All Time and had done so for a while but he lost almost all of his matches for years. This match was structured exactly as you’d expect, with the monster heel beating down Cena early and laying in those chops. The crowds actually being with Cena as an underdog babyface still felt like a weird novelty.

One thing that would never change is Cena absolutely howling spots, which he did before running through his classic comeback sequence. Gunther wriggled out of an AA attempt and also escaped the STF before taking control again with a powerbomb. They also teased the first of many sleeper spots that would be a defining theme of the match. The crowd was all over Gunther with “Fuck You Gunther” chants. Gunther killed Cena with repeated running lariats. The crowd was literally chanting “Super Cena”. Then Cena…ran through his comeback sequence for a second time. This time he hit the AA for the first nearfall of the match. We know it takes about ten of these to beat anyone at this stage. Gunther escaped a second and grabbed Cena into a sleeper again, this time getting it cinched in, but Cena reversed into one of his own and Gunther bailed from the ring.

Gunther beat down Cena on the outside and set up the steps by the announce table for the most obvious reversal spot ever as Cena slammed him through the table with an AA. Cena pulled out that top rope leg drop thing that I feel like I hadn’t seen him do in forever – why not pull out all the stops now I guess. Cena absolutely milked the life out of one more “You Can’t See Me” but Gunther popped up and landed another powerbomb. Gunther went up top for the second most obvious reversal spot ever, a super AA from the second rope. The crowd bought that as the finish but it was only 2.9.

You could literally see Cena shouting at Gunther to hit him with another powerbomb. He obliged and followed up with a top rope splash. Now it was time to finish this as Gunther locked in the sleeper and Cena attempted to fight out of it for about five straight minutes. He finally got out and landed an AA only for Gunther to grab the hold for the final time and choke the life out of Cena. The crowd chanted “Don’t Give Up”, but Cena eventually did just that with a weird smirk on his face. I think he was meant to be at peace with the end of his career but the expression was so corny that it made the moment look comical. Even more comical was Michael Cole’s “professional wrestling destroyed sports entertainment”. Sure, Jan. They really have to hammer everything home so hard.

This was the classic formula you could have seen with Hogan in 1985 or Cena in the last 20 years. They really milked basic spots like lariats and sleepers for all they’re worth and it still works when the crowd are invested in the babyface vs heel dynamic like they were here. Cena’s clear best performance of this retirement year and a glimpse of what the WWE fans have been wanting to see this whole time, instead of heel turns and squash matches and other such bullshit. Well, until the finish that is. ****

There was a “bullshit” chant at the end and then gigantic heat on HHH as the roster walked to the ring. “Fuck HHH” and “You Fucked Up” chants as the two most disingenuous men alive Cody Rhodes and CM Punk handed Cena their title belts. Cena kind of looked bemused by all this. God, the heat when Levesque stepped up onto the apron to hog some camera time was incredible. Finally the audience was starting to see through this guy. He pretended to laugh off the boos but you knew he was gotten to. Just as darkly funny is that the thing that finally got some emotion out of Cena was archive footage of Vince appearing on the video screen. John, he’s not dead he’s just (REDACTED). In fact I’m willing to bet that he was backstage at this show. Cena left his gear in the ring and took a final walk up the entrance as we faded to black.

© WWE

Overall, I found this to be an entertaining enough show and a relatively easy watch. All of the NXT acts that were featured on the earlier matches gave decent accounts of themselves, although this show being relegated to Peacock makes me wonder how effective it actually was at showcasing them to a new audience. WWE shows at two hours are much more palatable than the PLEs because they generally have the same amount of matches but with less of the trademark Paul Levesque padding. The main event I found to be a borderline great match with a noteworthy finish, even if it wasn’t the desired reaction from the company’s point of view. And that is what people are going to remember coming out of this show, the implications of which deserve further analysis.

The Cena result, by wrestling tradition, was exactly what they should have done. The beloved babyface uses his last night in the promotion to elevate a heel who can get heat off this moment going forward. Pro Wrestling 101. And yet, the WWE fans roundly rejected it. This tells us a number of things: firstly, that the modern WWE fan is not a traditional wrestling fan who knows what to expect. They want entrances and run-ins and finishes and also some dances or catchphrases if you’ve got them. Actual heat does not come into it. It’s a show and they’re there to play along with the show, but not with any real emotional investment. It also tells us something worrying about kayfabe, that it seems to be inordinately difficult to get heat onto a heel for doing something heelish instead of the fans putting heat on a promotion for booking something bad to happen. Paul Levesque, by coming out in front of the crowd, cultivates this by trying to emphasize at all turns that this is a fake show and that he’s the benevolent king who’s giving it to us. He wants to get all the credit and now he has to take the heat. Make no mistake, I have no sympathy for him and it’s deliciously enjoyable to see him be hoisted by his own petard. The final thing to note is that it seems as if the worm is turning on his booking regime and this era of WWE in general. With Cena no longer around, the ticket advances are starting to look ropey in some places. This is the second or third major show in recent times where the fans were sent home disappointed with the ending. The tease for Cody vs Roman III at last month’s “Survivor Series” garnered zero excitement from their fans. This era of five match PLEs and unsatisfying finishes are the epitome of the “go on girl, give us nothing” meme and the WWE fans are finally starting to notice. Ultimately, Levesque is paying the price for past sins here. If the booking of the Cena retirement hadn’t been such a disaster before the end, fans might have accepted this finish. But as noted on the Trish & Sarah Wrestling Podcast, fans want to celebrate these legends before they’re gone. WWE have given their fans scant opportunity to do that on this run, with the senseless heel turn and needless defeats to Brock Lesnar and Dominik Mysterio, so robbing them of it again on the last night felt more like a kick in the teeth from the company than kayfabe heat on a heel.

For an assessment of John Cena’s career and legacy as a whole, please check out my piece from Issue 4 of this newsletter.

© WWE

“Bitesize” Round-up

By David Hayter

The Last Time Is Now Tournament Delivers (Some) Strong Action, But Little Magic

When you imagine the field for the tournament to decide the man who would have the honour of sharing the ring with John Cena for his final ever match, it’s understandable that fans’ imagination would run a little wild. Edge and Chris Jericho were the centre of the speculation and both names were ludicrously far-fetched given their contractual situations, but it speaks to the gaping cavity between what Cena fans expected and what WWE delivered. Even a cursory glimpse at the bracket is dispiriting. Sure, Jey Uso and LA Knight are legitimate stars, but aside from Gunther and Je’Von Evans, is there any name in the entire tournament that fans actually wanted to see win? Where is the excitement and what on earth is the story? It was all so arbitrary and stilted. Matt Cardona might be a brilliant self-promoter who’s worked hard to rebuild his career on the independents, but his muted reception on “SmackDown” was a reality check: a long-serving undercard act was not going to cut the mustard.

Thankfully, if the bracket was bland, the tournament did at least deliver some cracking action. Gunther reminded the world of his greatness as he masterfully sold and showed arse to make Carmelo Hayes and Je’Von Evans look like a million bucks. Not that the ungodly talented and silky-smooth stars-in-waiting needed help to steal the show, but seeing the Austrian main eventer use every trick in his book to shine them up made for great TV. Elsewhere, while Matt Cardona struggled to make an impression against LA Knight, Nic Nemeth made the most of every second of TV time he was granted. He worked at a million miles an hour and was bumping out of his skin to make Solo Sikoa look like a killer. Penta was looking to have a good tournament, but his momentum was cut short by a freak shoulder dislocation on a routine hurricanrana.

The biggest surprise came in the form of LA Knight finally getting his big win over Jey Uso in the first semi final. The pair started with a tedious opening few minutes as they exchanged endless “Yeah”/“Yeet” strikes, but once they threw to commercial and started wrestling, they surpassed expectations. The crowd was fully invested and hanging on every near-fall, and LA Knight was clearly fired up to prove himself. In one swift movement he would heave Uso onto his shoulders, then flip him into position for a Burning Hammer for a great near-fall. The finish was also smartly executed. Jey would hit a (terrible) spear and (solid) Uso splash, only for Knight to kick out and transition into a flash pin for the shock victory. Jey’s frustration would boil over post-match, sparking a temper tantrum further hinting at a potential heel turn.

Solo Sikoa continues to show signs of life in the ring to match his development as a character. He and Gunther started slow in the other semi final, but built momentum and heat incrementally with one hard strike and meaty throw after another. The heel vs heel match-up began with an ice-cold crowd unsure who they wanted to support (if anyone), but Gunther slowly drew them into the narrative of the match by timing his comebacks superbly, working hard during commercial breaks and deftly foreshadowing every big spot that would climax the match in the early going. The result was a low-key triumph that ignited an uncertain crowd and was easily the best match of Sikoa’s career to date.

Gunther unsurprisingly cemented his MVP status by beating LA Knight in the tournament finals in another cleverly crafted match-up. This time, Gunther cut a pre-match promo asking Cena to watch the manner in which he defeated Knight. This led Gunther into a tactical error: he went for an immediate squash victory, only for his powerbomb to be countered, and the early portions of the match instead saw Gunther knocked loopy and selling big for his opponent. LA Knight would get a plethora of convincing near-falls, including a neat AA and Burning Hammer combo, before Gunther eventually ground him down. The finish came with Gunther making a statement: he would lock Knight in a brutal cravat – the polar opposite of Cena’s laughable STF submission – and force him to tap. Then he sent a message directly to Cena, “I will make you give up”. The road to Cena’s final match has been a rocky one, but at long last they had alighted on a compelling storyline.

Bron Breaks Out With First Signature Promo And Title Push

Some people, usually delusional people, are capable of reforging reality by sheer force of will. That’s certainly what Bron Breakker attempted to do with his brilliant breakout promo on the “Raw” after “Survivor Series”. Anyone who took the time to watch War Games will be acutely aware that, while Bron was the star of the match from a performance point of view, he did not beat CM Punk in anything resembling dominant fashion. In fact, far from breaking Punk, the Chicago native seemed to be doing just fine when a masked man broke into the cage and gave Punk a curb stomp that allowed Bron to take advantage and win.

What is written above is what actually happened, but let’s pretend it didn’t because Bron Breakker’s imagined world is so much more satisfying. In Bron’s world he went toe-to-toe with the supposed “best in the world” only to discover that he was in fact a “soft ass bitch” who Breakker had no problem running through. The crowd were clearly willing to embrace Bron’s alternative reality because they roared along with his brusque staccato promo. This was the frenzied, violent, cocksure Steiner the fans had been waiting to see let loose. Within a week, Bron would be telling Punk to step his game up and crassly threatening to take his wife. The obvious question is why has Bron been a mostly mute lackey for the vast majority of 2025 when he is clearly ready to seize the moment? Well, thankfully in this case, Seth Rollins’ injury has forced the WWE to course-correct and embrace the future. Whether they have the gumption to put Breakker over Punk strong in their upcoming title match remains to be seen, but this was a good (albeit much delayed) first step in the right direction.

The Workrate Women’s Titles Are Dragged Back Into the Divas Era

First things first, Chelsea Green is a fantastic performer with excellent comic timing who offers a welcome change of pace in the midcard, and Maxxine Dupri is, by all accounts, working hard to improve and is well liked by the WWE Universe. Unfortunately, as everyone knows, when you open with a compliment you can pretty much guarantee some shade will be thrown in short order – and their recent US and Intercontinental Championship wins mark a depressing return to the dark days of the Divas era for two titles that attempted to showcase workrate.

The Intercontinental title in particular has been a breath of fresh air. It was used to put Lyra Valkyria over strong on the main roster as she was given the time and space to let her excellent technical wrestling do the talking. Her reign culminated in a brilliant three-way feud with Becky Lynch and Bayley that was highlighted by diverse and highly creative matches that deviated from the WWE norm and featured clever competition-based psychology.

Becky Lynch eventually losing the title to Maxxine Dupri is not a bad thing per se; the storyline has been well built, with the paranoid Trump-satirising Becky Lynch character crashing out and reaching her absolute nadir with back-to-back defeats at the hands of the hapless Dupri. The trouble with Maxxine’s win (aside from the fact she’ll now have to defend the belt in matches that don’t involve Becky Lynch) is that it coincided with the decision to strip Giulia of the US title.

It is the simultaneous Diva-riffic diminution of the two titles that is the issue. Either Maxxine or Chelsea could be champion (although Chelsea hardly needs a belt, let alone two, to entertain), but both at the same time makes the women’s division look and feel like a joke. Giulia, who had worked hard to bring the best out of limited challengers in Zelina Vega and Michin, was punished for her hard work with a frankly humiliatingly unceremonious defeat to Green in a match that barely lasted a minute. Green’s victory was brushed over in minutes on “SmackDown” and the subsequent weeks have seen the new champion hiding from Giulia and Jade in a series of comedy skits where she complains about wanting fireworks for her eventual title celebration.

Hopefully, these victories will be temporary. Maxxine (who is at least experimenting with a new serious MMA inspired character) should be a transitional champion to eventually get the belt onto Roxanne Perez, while Chelsea appears to be in a feud with Giulia (albeit one played for laughs). The bigger issue is the lack of depth. NXT is overloaded with a logjam of talent, and calling up Fatal Influence, Jordynne Grace and ZaRuca would instantly revitalise the floundering midcards, particularly on “SmackDown”.

© WWE

Kendall Gray and Je’Von Evans Are The 2025 Iron Survivors

HBK finally seems to have gotten the memo by crowning Kendall Gray, a wrestling prodigy with an incredible motor, and Je’Von Evans, who needs no introduction at this point, as the Iron Survivor champions. The two names that fans have long identified as the obvious future of WWE. Je’Von rightfully should be the company’s present. He’s an extraordinary athlete (as he proved again in this match), an incredibly natural underdog babyface, a great promo and that rare character in wrestling who feels both organically cool and like an actual human you can imagine hanging out with in real life. At this stage, if they aren’t calling him up to the main roster, he simply must be the one to defeat Oba Femi and be definitively established as the next big thing in WWE.

Kendall, on the other hand, will require a little more seasoning as a character. Her wrestling skill far outstrips her experience level, but as a character, while she is confident on the mic, she is a touch bland, carried in large part by her likeable and charismatic teammate Wren Sinclair. Kendall should of course be pushed strongly in NXT, but she will likely benefit from being at the centre of some meatier storylines before there’s any consideration of calling her up to the main roster.

Both Iron Survivor Matches were brilliant spectacles. Sure, there were moments of sloppiness, but that’s part of the joy of the match as all five competitors are sprinting and scrambling to try and amass as many falls as they can in 25 minutes. This was the polar opposite of the horrifically dull Speed tournaments that have blighted NXT in the past two months; every moment of these matches was centred around winning and telling the stories through their wrestling, full of intricate sequences that showcased how dynamic and diverse the talent pool is in NXT.

The only real issue was one of repetition. Unlike in past years, both matches essentially told the same story. The matches were all tied up with the clock ticking down and major stars stuck in the penalty box. In the women’s match, Sol Ruca looked to have the match won as she came out of the box to hit a Sol Snatcher, but her pin was broken up with seconds to go, allowing Kendall to hit a gorgeous diving flatliner to win with two seconds on the clock.

The men’s match was essentially identical: everyone tied, Myles Borne and Leon Slater narrowly missing out on victory, only for Je’Von to score a flash pin with two seconds remaining. Don’t get me wrong, both finishes were fantastic and had the crowd on the edge of their seats, but we have seen more creativity in years past. Most memorably, when Trick Williams scored a whole series of pinfalls in the final minute to overturn a big deficit. But there are other options: we’ve seen heels simply run away and play spoiler to hold their lead (for example). There are a wide range of stories that can be told, so there is no excuse for doubling up.

The bigger issue, however, was Tony D’Angelo. Eagle-eyed viewers had spotted that in the background of the Deadline video was Tony’s “murder bridge” – the place the mobster had gone to kill off his former associates (don’t ask). So, in the bummer of all bummers, just as Oba Femi and Je’Von Evans were having their staredown with the Dallas crowd going crazy… a man in a hoodie appeared on a bridge, then the lights went out in the arena and Tony D appeared to lay out Je’Von to little or no reaction.

Suffice to say, it wasn’t a good look. Leaving the new top babyface star on the brand laying in his grand moment of triumph. Je’Von felt like an afterthought (yet again) and Tony D got the wrong kind of heat – the type of heat that goes straight to the booker.

Tatum Paxley Has The Rug Pulled Out From Under Her

In our last issue we discussed Shawn Michaels’ really rather brilliant decision to have Tatum Paxley end Jacy Jayne’s strong and long NXT Championship run. The elevation to the top of the division was well deserved, as Tatum has developed at rapid pace and (despite some cringeworthy “creepy girl” storylines) she is genuinely beloved by the NXT audience both in the Performance Center and beyond.

Case in point, the hearty support of the MSG Theatre crowd in New York as she and Jacy were in the midst of a compelling back-and-forth battle. So far, so good: Tatum was working from underneath and the match was coming perfectly to the boil as Tatum overcame interference from Fatal Influence time and time again. Then it happened, the ultimate star-making moment. Following a distraction, Jacy Jayne absolutely levelled Tatum with a brutal rendition of her ultra-protected Roaring Encore finisher and Tatum kicked out at 2.9999999. The crowd erupted, the camera panned to the shocked faces of Fallon Henley, Jacy Jayne and finally Tatum’s friend Izzi Dame, who could not believe she’d kicked out.

The scene was set for Tatum to hit her 450 Splash, retain the title and establish herself as NXT’s top female star – and then, The Culling turned on Tatum Paxley. Shawn Spears and Niko Vance blocked her path and Izzi Dame KO’d her “friend”. Tatum was rolled back into the ring for Jacy to win back her title to a chorus of groans and resignation. The crowd had been killed with an entire second taping of NXT yet to come. It would take three really rather excellent TV matches before the crowd recovered from this one baffling booking decision.

Izzi Dame turning on Tatum Paxley was clearly the right direction; the fans were anticipating it and were looking forward to that feud. But crucially, fans wanted to see that feud a) in the future and b) for the title. Tatum had only just won the title, the fans were still jubilant, but within a matter of weeks she’d been stripped of the belt and Shawn Michaels had reinforced the sense that he simply will not strap the rocket to the next generation of female babyfaces.

What makes this booking decision worse is that the entire “Gold Rush” night 1 event was a never-ending bummer as cracking matches were undermined by horrid finishes. Sol Ruca (another beloved babyface who is in an unwanted feuding-friends storyline) lost to Blake Monroe when Zaria threw in the towel. It was quite the sight to witness a crowd deflate like a balloon losing air: as the towel floated through the air a sad “noooooooo” echoed throughout the arena. To round off the heel domination, the excellent team of Je’Von Evans and Leon Slater fell to the generic Darkstate faction, and the feel-good team of Joe Hendry & Thea Hail failed in their attempt to win the AAA World Mixed Tag Titles from the wildly entertaining Chelsea Green and Ethan Page tandem.

Things would go from bad to worse for Paxley at NXT’s “Deadline” PLE. Tatum was hugely over yet again (so her popularity cannot be chalked up to the PC regulars), but unfortunately, despite wrestling well throughout her grudge match with Izzi Dame, she was repeatedly cut off by DRAMATIC ACTING. Izzi would repeatedly appeal to her former friend, Shawn Spears would play “mind games” by handing Tatum dolls. Suffice it to say, it was horrifically campy, but that in itself isn’t a bad thing per se. After all, Tatum’s “crazy” character is part of the reason she’s so popular. But the huge glaring issue is that she fell for every heel trick. Even when it seemed she’d finally overcome the mind games by hitting Cemetery Drive on the announce table, instead of rolling Izzi back in the ring for the crowd-pleasing win, she was distracted by Shawn Spears tearing the head off a doll. Yes, she lost focus, appeared on the verge of tears, rolled back into the ring and got hit with the Dame Over and pinned with little fanfare. Fans will tolerate Tatum being spooky and kooky, but no one wants to cheer for an idiot loser babyface – and that is what the booking is turning her into.

Kendall Gray and TNA Women’s Title Triple Threat Salvage Gold Rush

If night 1 of “Gold Rush” was a merciless bummer, then night 2 (while blighted by bizarre booking choices) managed to slowly win back the MSG crowd thanks to NXT’s deep female talent pool. Kendall Gray continues to be an absolute revelation as Evolve Women’s Champion and the latest member of the NCQQ (or more accurately WrenCQQ). Her work is explosive, technically sound and she has a composure that belies her in-ring years. Lainey Reid has struggled in-ring since being called up to NXT, but whenever she showed even a hint of hesitation or missed a spot, Kendall used her speed of thought and movement to get the match right back on track.

Kendall would build on the momentum of her strong showing at “Gold Rush” by being a key part of a fast-paced and hard-hitting trios match that effortlessly stole the show the following week on NXT.

Not to be outdone by a relative rookie, match of the night honours went to the shockingly excellent TNA Women’s Title match. With the company’s owner Carlos Silva sat in his signature cuck chair (front-row seat), fans might rightly have expected another ritualised humiliation for the TNA talent on display, but instead, after a hard-hitting and fast-paced battle, Lei Ying Lee defeated Kelani Jordan and Jordynne Grace clean as a whistle to bring the gold back home. The match perfectly blended Kelani’s athleticism with Jordynne Grace’s power and poise. Lee is clearly the weakest worker and felt awkward between the spots, but she showed good intensity and featured in some fantastic sequences, including a brilliant head-kick counter sequence involving all three women that culminated with Grace hitting two brutal powerbombs.

© WWE

AJ Styles Turns Back the Clock With Dragon Lee At His Side

In last month’s issue we didn’t really have time to truly discuss the new World Tag Team Champions AJ Lee, aka AJ Styles and Dragon Lee. After all, John Cena isn’t the only one approaching the end of his prestigious career; AJ Styles will retire at some point in 2026, but where one man is relying on smoke and mirrors, the other is having a legitimate in-ring resurgence. With Dragon Lee at his side, AJ has loosed his creative juices – he might be leaving the flying and sprinting to his younger, more dynamic partner, but AJ is finding ingenious new twists on his signature offence. The new tag team champions have practically become specialists in taking a sleepy mid-show crowd and, through the quality and crispness of their work, bringing the crowd to their feet.

The pair’s best matches may have been with Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh (who has been having a superb in-ring run of late), but their defining moment came against the New Day. The finish of their match on 1 December 2025 was a stroke of genius: AJ front-suplexed Kofi Kingston onto the top rope, Dragon Lee hit a flying double foot stomp, flipping Kofi straight into a Styles Clash, while Lee sprinted across the ring to hit a tope con hilo (The Young Bucks and Leon Cage would have loved that one).

Classic Survivor Series Elimination Match Outshines War Games

In an era of transparent contrivance, where all of WWE’s top stars are forced into War Games whether their ongoing feuds merit it or not, it was genuinely refreshing to watch a simple old-fashioned Survivor Series elimination tag on “SmackDown”. Sure, Sami Zayn’s midcard rivalry with Solo Sikoa’s MFTs wasn’t setting the world on fire, but it was a simple and logical feud that had progressed over a number of months, with Sami rallying a ragtag collection of babyfaces to stand up to the unified heel faction.

The resulting match headlined the SmackDown before Survivor Series and was given 30 commercial-free minutes to tell their story. The Machine Guns employed their slick double-team offence, Nakamura ran wild with strikes, Rey Fénix dazzled by standing tall against his imposing opponents, and Sami played the ultimate underdog babyface to perfection. Mirroring Místico’s many famous comebacks in Mexico, Sami found himself outnumbered 3-to-1 in the final stretch, but showed tremendous fire as he eliminated Tama and Talla Tonga to force a showdown with Sikoa. The final battle was a great little bit of television: Sikoa was shaken, but still cocksure as he just about survived Sami’s final throw of the dice to win with a sudden and violent Samoan Spike.

Chaotic Women’s Tag Division A Surprise Delight

The Kabuki Warriors may have drawn groans when they interrupted the really rather excellent “Raw” main event between RhIyo (Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky) and We Are Not Friends (Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss), but they were merely setting the table for an intriguing inter-brand feud. Hot on the heels of the Kabuki Warriors came Bayley & Lyra Valkyria and, eventually, to stand tall, The Judgment Day led by Liv Morgan. Meanwhile, on “SmackDown”, Nia Jax and Lash Legend have been beating down babyfaces and heels alike, even going as far as to let Asuka make a fantastic babyface comeback before cutting her off. Some might say that it’s suspicious that all the top talent in WWE’s women’s division has been thrust into one sprawling feud – perhaps a gimmick match is on the horizon – but whatever the case, Iyo Sky is back to wrestling week-in-week-out, and that’s a recipe for good TV.

© AEW 

All Elite Wrestling

AEW runs its final PPV of the year on December 27th from the Now Arena on the outskirts of Chicago. The third edition of “World’s End” will be headlined by a four way for the AEW Men’s World Championship between current champion Samoa Joe, former champion Adam Page, the recently returned Swerve Strickland, and MJF, via usage of the contract he won at “All In” back in July. Ticket sales for the show were well ahead of last year’s “All Out” event in the weeks leading up to the show, with tickets priced more reasonably from the outset compared to original pricing for the September 2024 PPV. Late sales have been at a slower pace than they were for that event, but the overall total should surpass that number at a minimum, given the start and that the two men who salvaged that attendance are also a part of the main event for this year’s show.

The four way match up has been a bone of contention since the match was decided upon over six weeks ago, with even the victor demonstrating to not be in favour of the idea when it was locked into their creative plans. The reasoning behind the match appears to be to ensure that MJF retains big match options for his world title run (with a run of top babyfaces to take him up until “All In”) whilst removing any heat away from him around the booking and length of Adam Page’s title reign. And whilst that may sound logical on paper, in some ways, the pervading question has remained since the start: “Does this match really benefit anyone who is part of it?” When asked a month ago, no one in AEW that we spoke to was able to come up with an answer, and in recent weeks, this has gotten worse rather than better.

This came to a head with MJF’s return to TV in Manchester, England, on December 17th, where he cut promos on all three other competitors in the match that went without reply as that was the layout given to them before the segment took place. Furthermore, MJF was not involved in the planning of the promo by his own choice, meaning that Page, nor Strickland, nor Joe were aware of the material he would be using, including comparing Strickland to a black sexual abuser for a babyface pop. It was this line that caused the most aggravation, considering that the “Diddy” documentary on Netflix was highly viewed, and here it now was being used as a cheap line by the edgy (supposed to be) heel without consideration of any impact or even discussing it with the other wrestler first.

For the babyfaces, in particular, to get no reply in that moment was met with disbelief from wrestlers both inside and outside of the company, with Dave Meltzer writing in the Observer that it had drawn “some heat across the board”. It was seen as a sign of disrespect but also something that could potentially have long term damage to the other characters. The timing and location of the show this took place in meant that any reply would ultimately end up meaning little as MJF would be winning the match at “World’s End” regardless, and is now likely to be cheered in doing so with his babyface reasoning for entering the match and his crowd pop chasing promo.

It also isn’t the first issue either, with MJF returning to TV tapings three weeks prior to the Manchester taping not to build the title match, but instead to pitch things that left top people in the company rather bemused (at best), whilst also vetoing other agreed plans that would ensure him top line opponents for his reign. The line in Strickland’s promo about no one benefitting from being his opponent is a sentiment felt by many in the locker room, a number of which have grown tired of his brand of politicking and lack of respect shown to others when considering his on-screen content. It is this, rather than the direction of the Men’s World Championship to him (which has been known since August), that is leading to him being “very unpopular” in his own locker room right now.

For his forthcoming reign, MJF has been set up to succeed, with PPVs in Los Angeles and Vancouver guaranteed to do strong attendances, the PPV numbers having been rebuilt from the lows of last winter by those that have proceeded him, and Page having absorbed the impact of the change to Big Panel Plus Data system during the most difficult time of the year for television ratings and left attendances in a much healthier position than where he inherited them. Babyface talent is also being freed up from other planned creative or sacrificed in order for MJF to be as strong as possible in a way it never was for the previous reign, and that is something which has been clearly noticed internally as well.

Collaboration between top talent, particularly in the late spring to early summer, was key to there being multiple hot programs, culminating in the success of “All In” back in July. Considering the efforts of others this year have laid the table for MJF, it would do him well to treat them with respect, otherwise he may find himself with a lack of viable opponents to work with for an entirely different reason to what Adam Page did.

The highlight of recent AEW has been the Continental Classic, which continues to illustrate the value of matches between top talent and stakes on AEW television alongside the lack of interference finishes that we see across programming before and after the tournament. This year has raised the stock of Kevin Knight in particular, whilst reminding the audience the strengths of Jack Perry as a babyface (be it inadvertently), whilst also furthering multiple storylines and including small presentational elements to improve the feel of the tournament.

The block completion has led to a set of semi finals which are hard to predict. Both matchups are heel dominant on paper, although both Konosuke Takeshita and Jon Moxley are on the verge of babyface turns. Takeshita is undefeated so far in the tournament, as he looks to usurp Kazuchika Okada in being the world’s best tournament wrestler by adding the C2 to his G1 crown achieved back in August. The two will meet in the semi finals, in what may feel like a surprise, but foreshadows a bigger meeting for the two down the road once Tokyo Dome engagements are completed.

The second semi final will see Kyle Fletcher take on Jon Moxley. This match also has strong narrative attachment, with Fletcher looking to rebound from his TNT Title loss and fulfill the promise set out in his men’s world title program back in September, whilst Jon Moxley looks to achieve a major victory in order to keep his grip on the leadership of the Death Rider group. The matches are expected to be the in ring highlights of the card, including the final, and are the only ones with solid and continuous build during the period since “Full Gear”.

AEW Women’s World Champion Kris Statlander will also defend on this show, this time against Jamie Hayter. Statlander has gained high profile wins against Toni Storm and Mercedes Moné at the previous two PPVs but has continued to struggle with her positioning on the television, meaning we are yet to see or feel the value of these wins. Her in-ring work will carry her reign but more needs to be done after this match to promote her as a top star rather than someone who just has the belt.

The card, outside of the already excellent C2, promises to outperform its build, whilst setting up the promotion’s chosen directions for 2026.

© TNA Wrestling 

TNA

TNA Wrestling announced the signing of a television deal with AMC on December 2nd that would see their flagship “iMPACT!” show moved to the network from January 15th.The show will now be known as “Thursday Night iMPACT!” and will run in the 9pm to 11pm slot on the network, whilst also being made available on AMC+. The shows will also continue to be available on TNA+. The move will potentially double the amount of homes that TNA will be available to on a weekly basis, and is the company’s strongest move in the media market since the Spike TV deal ended in 2014.

Details about the value of the agreement have not been officially released, outside of it being multi year; however, the floated details are that this is a three year deal at $10 million a year, in the exact range that Carlos Silva had spoken about when discussing a potential deal this past summer. The amount, if accurate, is a success in regards to their achieved aims, but is unlikely to change anything around the wider company structure, especially given the cost of live TV production. TNA will begin their run on their new channel with a live broadcast from the Curtis Culwell Center on January 15th from Garland, Texas, but will move towards a one in three live model as the year progresses in order to make the finances work.

The interest from AMC, as first reported by Jon Alba of Sports Illustrated, was a shock in the moment, being that there was a strong expectation across the industry this past summer that TNA would be going to the CW Network, thanks in part to WWE, and be put on Wednesday nights head to head with AEW’s flagship “Dynamite” program. It is unknown what caused that potential deal to break down, however, it is clear that CW are the network feeling the effects the most of wrestling’s downgrading in television ratings with the onset of the “Big Data Plus Panel” ratings system. A report by Blake Avignon suggested that the deal would mean an end to the WWE and TNA relationship, which was swiftly denied by parties in both companies, with one claiming that WWE had aided TNA in achieving the deal with AMC before this was rowed back somewhat by TNA President Carlos Silva to mean just the sharing of NXT talent played its part. AMC is owned by the Dolan Family, who also own Madison Square Garden, which recently signed a new deal with WWE. Avignon also claimed in his report that AMC had a potential exit after sixty days in the deal, an item which has never been addressed.

There are three key questions when it comes to this deal: Will this expand TNA as a company? Will this improve things for talent? And will they be able to drive regular results on a cable network to justify their presence in the slot? AMC averaged around 160,000 viewers in primetime and around 0.04 in that two hour block (with recent Thursday night numbers trending higher due to a run of original Christmas films). You would expect the debut to outperform those numbers, but whether they can achieve these numbers on a regular basis is still in question. The early show promotion is mainly centered around legacy/ex WWE talent such as the Hardys and Nic Nemeth, and it is likely that TNA will also turn to members of the WWE NXT roster and former TNA talent currently employed by their larger partner to build their launch around, but this is a short term solution that will quickly be found out as the week’s progress if it is all the show is built around.

The wider contract situation is also unusual when it comes to this deal. With AEW and WBD and WWE working with networks such as FOX in the past, signed up talent was seen as a key part of the offering from the wrestling company in the partnership and part of a guarantee of the product they are receiving for the foreseeable future. In this case, they are a number of high profile talent, including promotional centerpieces The Hardys, who are currently out of contract. The list is said to extend to Mike Santana, Mustafa Ali, Jake Something, AJ Francis, Zachary Wentz, Trey Miguel, Killer Kelly and Steve Maclin. Many are expected to sign short term deals that will secure the first few months after the launch, but it is hard to see how this would be sustainable in the long term. It could be a possibility that the promotion is waiting until they have full funding from their new network before being able to offer longer, more competitive deals that may also assist with long talked about goals such as assistance with injury treatment, but this is not something that has seen an immediate change with the announcement of said deal and leaves them vulnerable in regards to if WWE (or any other company for that matter) wishes to acquire their talent in the meantime.

On 5th December, TNA held “Final Resolution 2025” at El Paso County Coliseum in Texas, announcing an attendance of 2,567. Former AEW tag team The Righteous debuted on the show to a tepid crowd reaction, which means they will fit in just fine in TNA. The only title change on the show was NXT’s Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo defeating Steve Maclin for the TNA International Title. The main event was TNA World Heavyweight Champion Frankie Kazarian beating JDC (f.k.a. Fandango) who is due to retire at TNA Genesis on 17th January. In the following TV tapings, Dani Luna beat Indi Hartwell in a dog collar match and Team TNA, represented by The Hardys, Mika Santana, Santino Marella and Steve Macline, defeated Team NXT, who were represented by NXT’s B-team in Brooks Jenson, Channing Lorenzo, Lexis King, Tyriek Igwe and Tyson Dupont.

© MLW

MLW

Bitesize Round-up

MLW will now be based out of Charleston, South Carolina, with the aim of becoming more of a ‘territory’ in that area alongside continuing shows in its regular venues in major cities across the US on a less regular basis. Their first Charleston show did a good independent crowd, attracting an audience of 607 fans for the 1,100 capacity building. Promoter Court Bauer still proclaimed it to be a sellout.

The company has cancelled its January 10th date in North Richmond Hills, Texas as it would be competing with AEW Collision tapings in Arlington on the same night and also with further AEW and TNA tapings in the weeks thereafter. Their next show will now be the “Battle Riot” event from Kissimmee, Florida on January 29th. The lineup for the 40 man match so far contains Alex Hammerstone, Killer Kross, the Good Brothers, KUSHIDA, Matthew Justice, Paul London and Adam Brooks. This is currently the first show in over a year to not be announcing CMLL talent a month out from the taping. A date in Atlanta on March 14th has also been added to their calendar.

MLW x Don Gato Tequila

20th November 2025
Charleston Music Hall, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Watch On: Youtube

MLW debuted in their new home of Charleston, South Carolina with a show in conjunction with Don Gato Tequila. The partnership has been a large part of the past few shows but this one reached the level of infomercial, with the Don Gato character making multiple appearances on the show, including a key role in the MLW Middleweight Title match. On top of that were numerous other tequila skits, commentary mentions and adverts, to the point that Slim Jim and Prime would have been jealous to the level this product was pushed. It might feel like a strange place to start in a review for a wrestling show, but the presentation of this show was a key part of their Charleston debut that felt like it overran the show, and there was not enough quality action to outweigh it, despite MLW proclaiming this show “The Event Of The Year!” on their Youtube description. The production issues went beyond the product placement issues, the commentary began with audio quality that made the team sound like they were under the sea (thankfully sorted half way through) and the theater venue meant a large change in how the show was shot, with no hard cam meaning lots of up close action and camera switches. It almost felt like they inherited the spirit of pre-WWE AAA (I will leave you to decide whether that is a positive or not).

With all that out of the way, let’s get onto the show, which opened with a Don Gato angle to set up a MLW Middleweight Title three way involving Ikura Kwon and Gato somehow having a sword, before the opening match of Scarlett Bordeaux vs Isla Dawn. The match marked Bordeaux’s return to the promotion after three years away as well as Isla Dawn’s debut, as she continues to explore the scene outside of WWE post-release. Their alignments for this match were established from the outset, with Dawn attacking Scarlett from behind at the outset in order to move the crowd against her. This was a very basic affair, with Dawn’s control segment not lasting longer than a couple of minutes, culminating in the use of Killer Kross’ Doomsday Saito for a near fall. Bordeaux hit her with a piledriver in return and that was enough for a pinfall in under five minutes.

© MLW

Next up was the MLW Tag Team Title match between The Skyscrapers (Dominik Dijak and Bishop Dyer) and the Good Brothers. This one had non finish written all over it from before the bell had even rung, and so it was to be, with the referee throwing out the match after Dijak had shoved him during his attempts to break up the brawl the match had quickly descended into. The crowd loudly booed the finish and continued to boo, even after a Karl Anderson cross body onto everyone on the floor had been executed to distract them. They use the post match brawls after weak finishers with The Skyscrapers so often at this point that each feels like it melts into the ones previous.

You would hope that a lightning match involving Diego Hill and CMLL’s Stigma would help to pick things up, but Okumura made the ten minute time limit bout a three way and was all over the place in the early going before being involved in a head scratching finish. Stigma hit a Canadian destroyer on Hill and was attempting the pin when Okumura pulled the referee from the ring, leaving him temporarily unable to see what was going on in the ring. He then proceeded to give Stigma a low blow before rolling back out of the ring and standing at ringside for the rest of the match without choosing to have further involvement in it. Diego Hill then hit a cutter on Stigma and his corkscrew moonsault from the top to get the win, having essentially been saved and then benefitted from heel like interference. The crowd cheered the young man from neighbouring North Carolina for the win, going with the idea that Hill didn’t see the interference, but the whole thing looked rather wonky. Hill continues to be one of the bright spots of these shows though.

Hill’s mentor, Blue Panther, was up next as part of the “Don Gato Gauntlet” which saw Los Panthers, Los Felinos, El Galeon Fantasma and Atlantis and Atlantis Jr wrestle a standard four way tag match under lucha rules (commentary explained that ‘gauntlet’ in this particular usage would simply mean no tags). This match appeared to exist to highlight Blue Panther for the most part before something went wrong here in the finish. Difunto hit a double stomp on Blue Panther and went for the pin, the referee counted two but the shoulder didn’t come up and he didn’t continue the count. He restarted shortly after and counted the three. The crowd weren’t best pleased by this finish either, even if this one may have been more circumstantial.

The next match saw another return to the promotion, as Priscilla Kelly took on Shotzi Blackheart. This one had been set up on previous shows as something of a grudge match but ended up feeling like a much more standard affair that was over much quicker than you would expect. Kelly used her power in the control segment as well as the nearfall exchanges before the end, but it wasn’t enough, with Blackheart winning a nondescript match with a diving senton. Shotzi has now put together a string of wins since entering the company in July, meaning she can’t be too far off a match with MLW Featherweight Champion Shoko Nakajima at this point.

© MLW

A title was being defended in the next match on the card, with Templario making his third defense of his MLW Middleweight Championship in a three way against Guerrero Maya Jr. and Ikuro Kwon. The champion was the star of this match as well, putting up the best in-ring performance of anyone on this show (be it a low bar) thanks to strong exchanges with Guerrero Maya Jr. in particular. The match couldn’t be without a daft finish of its own though, with a referee bump leading to Ikuro Kwon looking to use his very golden brass knuckles on Templario without the threat of disqualification. Special enforcer tequila mascot would step in though to give Kwon a low blow before removing the knucks and passing him to the Champion to hit a backbreaker on for the pinfall after waking up the referee. Babyfaces in the men’s division have needed help for their victories on this show.

The MLW World Title continued its streak of being placed outside of the main event, with Mads “Krule” Krügger defending against Brock Anderson in a Bunkhouse match third from the top of the card. Anderson has been heel in the promotion for most of the year but was playing face for this one, having vowed to avenge partner CW who had been “electrocuted” in the Chamber of Horrors match last month in Chicago. Brock’s father, Arn, rallied the crowd prior to the bell, before CW Anderson made a swift return from his write off, bringing some kendo sticks with them. The babyface threesome proceeded to beat on Krügger with the kendo sticks to open the match, to allow Brock to take some sort of control over the heel World Champion. The dynamics in Krügger matches continue to be all over the place. Mads Krügger would fire up after being choked with a shovel, only for the babyfaces to team up in this singles match again, using a pail, chair and a fire extinguisher before Krügger planted Brock Anderson with a faceplant slam for the pin. If you watch this one without engaging your brain at all then you can find ways to enjoy it.

The semi final spot went to the finals of the Opera Cup, with Mistico facing off against Volador Jr. for the prize of the cup but also to become the tournament’s first back to back winner. Mistico was, by far, the most over wrestler on the show, and that carried this match. Volador Jr. toyed with the crowd whenever he could, threatening to remove the mask of his opponent and restricting Mistico’s comebacks before falling victim to La Mistica and tapping out. This was a passable match where you would have probably expected much better given the quality of the performers involved. Our favorite tequila mascot and Cesar Duran were on hand to present the cup to the victor.

The show’s main event saw former MLW Heavyweight Champion Matt Riddle face the returning Killer Kross. Newly heel Riddle, sporting all purple hair for this one, had taunted his former training partner in a pre match vignette about never making him submit at any point in their history, and it was clear from the off that it would be the story of this match. Things started out respectfully before Riddle fell into more of his heel role, with the fans getting behind Kross, who managed to survive multiple submission attempts from the former champion, before popping hard for his DDP tribute spot. Riddle replied with a Death Rider tribute of his own, reigning down elbows to the side of Kross’ head. Kross managed to escape though, hitting his former friend with his Doomsday Saito suplex finisher before locking in a sleeper on Riddle. Riddle fought to get to the ropes but there was no escape, leaving him with tapping as his only option. Commentary sold the story well and the fans popped loudly, having become fully invested in seeing heel Riddle get his comeuppance during the course of this match.

The closer was by no means a spectacle, or something you need to go out of your way to watch, but the decent execution of a well told story and lack of a bullshit finish felt like a breath of fresh air for an MLW main event after much of this past summer.

© The Initiative

US Independents

Following weeks of announcements from West Coast Pro Wrestling that they were becoming affiliated with other US indie companies, in which each company would recognize the others championships and work together for the greater good of the scene, the next phase of this project was announced on December 17th.

To date the affiliated companies are: West Coast Pro (San Francisco Bay Area), New Texas Pro Wrestling (Houston/Austin), ACTION Wrestling (Georgia), St. Louis Anarchy, PrideStyle (Las Vegas) and wXw (Germany).

First, this group now has a name: The New Initiative.

Second, most of these companies will be collaborating during Wrestlemania Week 2026 for a two-day event called “Shooting Star Fest” to be held at a venue formerly known as Swan Dive in Las Vegas, NV on Thursday April 16th and Friday April 17th. Tickets are on sale as of 29th December. They announced that general admission tickets costing $125 would grant access to all five shows.

This follows up from Mania Week last year where West Coast, DPW and Prestige collaborated, along with some other companies, for a series of events. You can read our coverage of that week in Issue Three. Those shows were a breath of fresh air for the US indie scene’s representation at WrestleMania week and helped to nudge the center of gravity away from GCW’s “Collective.” After the news that DPW and Prestige were going on an indefinite hiatus, it appeared that this counter-offering of independent wrestling for the week would also fall by the wayside, but this news re-ignites that flame, perhaps even more so than 2025 given the more formalized arrangement here. When contacted for comment, this newsletter’s Wrestlemania Week correspondent, Chris Whitehead, replied “Clap, Get Into It! See you in Vegas!”

© DPW

DEADLOCK Pro Wrestling

DPW 4th Anniversary

12th December 2025
SportHQ, Cary, North Carolina, USA
Watch On: DPW on Demand
Recommended Match: Lena Kross vs. Mei Suruga, and probably just the whole show

DEADLOCK Pro Wrestling (DPW) held their final show in the United States on 4th December, celebrating their 4th and final anniversary show. The show was a mystery vortex with representation across the industry featuring talent from Japan as well as the local talent that helped make DPW what it became. Bryan Keith returned for his second DPW show in a row against Manny Lo who drew a lot of heat. DPW stalwarts Calvin Tankman and Kevin Ku clashed in a singles match.

DPW’s ultra heels, Adam Priest and Trevor Lee met their match in a street fight against crowd favourites Andrew Everett and BK Westbrook. Priest and Lee have been great at getting heat and letting the babyfaces shine in 2025. Everett took a wild bump off a ladder through a table placed against a turnbuckle as he did not get enough air and his head and neck went through the bottom of the table. Everett then jumped off the balcony of the arena onto his opponents. This match was wild. Priest and Lee cut an amazing promo backstage later saying they can’t be fired because they quit and “f- DEAD-LOCK-PRO!” They are amazing chickenshit heels.

Miracle Generation (Dustin Waller & Kylon King) won back their titles from Bo-Dash (Bojack & Morgan Dash).

Queen Aminata cut a promo in the ring regarding her sprained neck injury and not being able to defend the DPW Women’s World Title she won from Nicole Matthews. She spoke about continuing to take independent bookings because of companies like DPW. She said that what she does best is “kick bitches heads in,” but that she is unable to do that. She vacated her title. Lena Kross came out and snatched the title from Aminata’s hands. Mei Suruga then made an appearance, and the match was started for the vacant DPW Women’s World Champion. This was a classic Mei match. You cannot guess the spots in any given Mei match because each match is different and she does new stuff every time. She is probably the most innovative wrestler in the world. Lena was super impressive with heavy strikes and slams which made Mei’s kickouts seem superhero-like. I feel justified in my call for a company to sign Lena Kross in the last issue. She’s a star. Lena took a wild bump from a powerbomb counter, leading to Mei winning with the jackknife pin and ending her DPW career as the DPW Women’s World Champion. Amazing match.

Next up, we had an impromptu Dog Collar match between the King of the Dog Collar, Mad Connelly, and Erick Stevens. It was quite funny for Connelly to just walk out and start beating up Stevens, turning it immediately into a bloody match. After Connelly stabbed Stevens with a screwdriver, Stevens started leaking blood from his forehead. Later, Stevens stabbed Connelly in the thigh which started bleeding. That looked brutal. Stevens won with the Northern Lights bomb through a table.

The main event was a winner-takes-all match between DPW National Champion LaBron Kozone and DPW World Champion Jake Something. There was a great sequence which got an Aja Kong-Senka Akatsuki-like standing ovation. After trading heavy blows, Kozone was downed but did a kip-up and retaliated with an enzuigiri. Then, Jake Something did his own kip-up into an enzuigiri. When Kozone got to his feet, Jake barrelled him over with a Lou Thesz Press. Kozone won with a Ball Game lariat off the top rope. This was a fitting end to DPW as he has been the MVP for quite some time now, and he’s a local legend. Despite a skit earlier where Trevor Lee stormed out of the building, he managed to sneak his way back in and said the show wouldn’t leave until he ended the show as champion. Jake Something took care of Adam Priest, but Trevor low blow’d him. The bell then rang, and Trevor turned around to eat a Ball Game lariat and immediately lose. The locker room cleared out and celebrated. Perfect.

Just to end on a little note. I cover the Asia & Oceania section, so I’m a bit of a Japanese wrestling fan (come on, the section is not that big). Aside from that, I dabble in AEW when MJF isn’t on top cutting 20 minutes comparing people to Sean Combs, but US wrestling isn’t something I have a lot of time to watch. However, I always made time for DPW shows and tried to review them every issue. This was the one promotion that truly spoke to all of the things I like in wrestling, and I was especially impressed with their production value, promos, general presentation and most importantly, the hard-hitting wrestling with a hot crowd. So I will sorely miss DPW, and move on to support The New Initiative and other independents where I can in the hope other promotions can attain their level of quality and attention to detail. Even if no company does, it is still worth supporting your local indie. They are where your favourite stars begin. Please contact us if you wish to contribute to the newsletter and cover your favourite indie, no matter how small it is.

West Coast Pro Wrestling News

West Coast Pro held “Winter Wonderslam 2025” on 19th December at their training academy in Pacifica. The show is available on YouTube. All champions retained their titles, and there were appearances from notable indie talent such as Maya World. 

West Coast Pro have announced that their training academy will open enrollment for new students from 5th to 8th January. After the window, no additional students will be accepted.

Pro Wrestling Revolution (PWR) will be teaming up with West Coast Pro for a joint show on 22nd March at the Chase Center in San Francisco. West Coast Pro is billing it as the first-ever Lucha Libre night in the city.

West Coast Pro’s next show, “Operation Stackola”, is on 4th January at Fluid510 in Oakland, as Adam Priest faces Lou Molinari, Johnnie Robbie defends her West Coast Pro Women’s Title against Jordan Blade and Vinnie Massaro defends his West Coast Pro World Title against Danny Orion.

Stephen Wolf makes his West Coast Pro debut at “Evil Empire” on 27th February.

Prestige Wrestling News

Prestige Wrestling announced that Kevin Blackwood would defend his Prestige Title against Judas Icarus at the last ever Prestige event, “Roseland XIII” on 20th February in Portland, Oregon. Minoru Suzuki will also return for the final show. The Midnight Heat (Eddie Pearl & Ricky Gibson) defend their Prestige Tag Team Title against The Hammer Brothers (Jack Hammer & Sledge Hammer), who were last seen in Prestige in March 2025. The stipulation is a “Construction Site” match, which sounds awesome. Additionally, there’s a Roseland Rumble which is an open invitation battle royale.

House of Glory News

House of Glory’s (HOG) show on 19th December at NYC Arena ended with a surprise appearance from Andrade. Given that this was in New York, this was the “penny dropping” moment where people started to realise he might actually be cleared to wrestle in the US. The news broke days later that he was available for AEW. Andrade attacked HOG Heavyweight Champion Charles Mason after Mason defeated Mustafa Ali in the main event. HOG’s next show is “City of Angels” on 30th January at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles. We’ll see if the Andrade angle goes anywhere.

Elsewhere on the show, The Hardys defended their HOG Tag Team Title against the Samoan duo of Lance Anoa’i and Zilla Fatu in what was definitely a match, maybe even five stars. Not for the in-ring wrestling, since that doesn’t really matter. Daron Richardson defended his HOG Cruiserweight Title against Amazing Red and Shotzi Blackheart retained her HOG Women’s Title against Allie Katch. HOG shows are streamed on TrillerTV+.

Game Changer Wrestling News

Since winning the GCW World Title on 22nd November, Atticus Cogar has gone on to defend against Matt Tremont on 5th December and Effy on 6th December. He will defend next against Priscilla Kelly on 18th January in Wichita, Kansas.

On 1st February, GCW is hosting a charity event in New York called “SuperPower Slam” at the Melrose Ballroom. Several matches have been announced including Janelasus (Joey Janela & Megan Bayne) face Jetspeed (Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey), Willow Nightingale vs. Mara Sade, Matt Cardona vs. Billie Starkz for the JCW Title, Paul Walter Hauser vs. Mad Dog Connelly for the PROGRESS Proteus Title, Jonathan Gresham vs. Lee Moriarty and Atticus Cogar vs. Bear Bronson. The show is for the benefit of the neurodivergent community. Shows can be found on TrillerTV+.

Samuray Del Sol will be appearing in GCW on 17th and 18th January.

Jersey Championship Wrestling News

Jersey Championship Wrestling (JCW) finished off their year on 14th December with “Roundball Rock”, main-evented by Billie Starkz and Charles Manson closing off their heated rivalry, for now, in an “I Quit” match where the winner would qualify for the Jersey J Cup being held at White Eagle Hall, Jersey City. Starkz managed to defeat Charles Manson and retain her JCW Title.

Other participants qualified for the Jersey J Cup, including Ryan Clancy, Darian Bengston, Griffin McCoy, Manny Lo and Terry Yaki.

GCW/JCW have also booked Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid, a feud stretching back 40 years, although with different iterations of both Tiger Mask (Tiger Mask IV) and Dynamite Kid (AEW’s Tommy Billington). It will be a special singles match on the weekend of the Jersey J Cup.

DEFY Wrestling News

DEFY are running two shows back-to-back to end the year, “AEON” at the familiar Washington Hall in Seattle on 27th December, and “ENDER” at the Lodge Room in Los Angeles on the 28th December. Steven Borden Jr., Sting’s son, who made his debut at “AEON” on 21st November, runs it back with Kiran Grey in a singles match on “ENDER”. DEFY streams on PROGRESS’ TrillerTV+ channel.

New Texas Pro Wrestling News

As New Texas Pro enter a new era following their entry into “The Initiative”, they are also on the road to “Lonestar 6” which takes place at Baytown Community Center on 27th December. The show will be streamed live on IWTV. The main event will be Carter BlaQ challenging 1 Called Manders for his New Texas Pro World Title in the third installment of their feud in 2025. Texas Pro are also highlighting the future as they hold a Texas Contenders Series Title match between champion Jak Calloway and “Lethal” Chris Marcell. The New Texas Pro Tag Team Title are defended by Toxic Tour (Pac Ortega & Prince Ly) against The Dream Team (Danny King & KC Kr’eme). Additionally there’s a special singles match as UK independent standout Emersyn Jayne takes on US independent standout Maya World.

Beyond Wrestling News

On 22nd December, after a 64 day reign, Ryan Clancy lost his IWTV Independent Wrestling World Title to Bear Bronson in a three-way, also involving Marcus Mathers, on “Wrestling Open RI #36: Unfinished Business”. The special named episode of Open RI also included a Wrestling Open Tag Team Title match where The Stetson Ranch (Brian Morris & Steven Stetson) defended against Brando Lee & Ichiban.

Beyond’s next show is 31st December at the White Eagle in Worcester, MA, where Ryan Clancy will defend against Gabby Forza and Bear Bronson takes on Krule. Wrestling Open and Wrestling Open RI hold weekly shows at White Eagle and Rhodes On the Pawtuxet in Cranston, Rhode Island. All shows are streamed on IWTV.

© Limitless Wrestling

Limitless Wrestling News

The first ever Limitless Wrestling World Champion, MJF, is returning to the promotion for one night only on 16th January in Lewiston, Maine. MJF was Limitless World Champion during the first Double or Nothing in 2019 before he went back to drop the title ahead of AEW’s TV deal. Given that he is very likely to be AEW World Champion at the time, that is certainly an interesting booking. Maybe MJF likes wrestling afterall? Nah. Anyway, this is cool. Eddie Kingston makes an appearance on the same show, eight years before his previous Limitless Wrestling appearance, alongside his boy Tito Ortiz. “Da Big BOOFA” Dezmond Cole will defend his Limitless World Title against Donovan Dijak. Cole cut a promo talking about how Dijak was his favourite wrestler (right…) and when they met he had nothing but respect for Dijak, but Dijak didn’t show him any respect in return. The “2026 Limitless Rumble” will also be on the show, with former Limitless World Champion BEEF already announced as a participant. All shows can be found on IWTV.

Wrestling REVOLVER News

Wrestling Revolver held their end of year season finale on 13th December in Clive, Iowa. The show was stacked from top to bottom with title matches, with the only switch being TNA’s Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) winning the REVOLVER World Tag Team Title from Latinos Most Wanted (Koda Hernandez & Sabin Gauge). Additionally, Steve Maclin became the new #1 contender for the REVOLVER World Title held by Myron Reed and Krule (MLW’s MAds Krule Krügger) main evented once again with a special deathmatch, this time a “Macabre” one against Alan Angels. The shows are streamed on TrillerTV+.

Brii Combination Wrestling (BCW) return to the Mecca at Ridgefield Park, New Jersey on 18th January in a show titled “Welcome To The New Year”.

Connecticut-based promotion Blitzkrieg! Pro, who stream on IWTV, held a show on 13th December which included the returns of Allie Katch and Spike Nishimura. Spike won a lot of fans from her run in Japan, signing with Sendai Girls and putting on several impressive performances. Anecdotally, I have a friend who is getting into joshi wrestling and she had fallen in love with Spike Nishimura during her run there. Also on the show was Sammy Diaz defending his B!P Bedlam Title in a three-way against Andy Brown and Bobby Orlando. Heath, formerly of WWE and TNA, also appeared on the show, as well as Miracle Generation (Dustin Waller & Kylon King) and B!P regular (and HOG Champion) Charles Manson.

On Ohio-based Absolute Intense Wrestling’s (AIW) show on 28th November, Krule, Mike Santana and (Tyler) Breeze all made appearances. Chuck Stone defended his AIW Absolute Title in a Casket match. AIW then held “Cultivate” on 12th December in Lakewood, Ohio. AIW’s last show of 2026 will be “Malice At The Palace” on 27th December in Akron, where Nic Nemeth will make his AIW debut against Wes Barkley and Chuck Stone will defend his AIW Title against Sam Holloway which was set up at “Cultivate”. There’s also a special singles match between Dominic Garrini and Mad Dog Connelly. Finally, Danhausen will make an appearance at the 23rd January show in Cleveland at the Globe Iron. The shows are streamed live on their YouTube.

Darian Bengston became the new ACTION Champion, defeating Tim Bosby in the main event of “Bangers Only 6” on 5th December. Bengston had lost to Bosby before in TWE (a promotion based in Chattanooga, TN). Bengston went on to immediately defend the title against Kody Manhorn in TWE. Krule, a workhorse of the independent scene, will face Ben Bishop on ACTION’s next show on 30th January at “Newnan Knightmare 3” in Newnan, GA. Bishop is making his ACTION debut. The shows can be streamed on IWTV.

AAW Pro based out of Berwyn, Illinois, held “SMOKESHOW” on 22nd November in which AAW Heavyweight Champion Trevor Lee retained against Rafael Quintero. Scarlett Bordeaux returned to the promotion after seven years, defeating Sierra. Their next show is on 26th December. Mad Dog Connelly has been announced for the show. AAW Pro streams their shows on YouTube.

Tennessee-based promotion, TWE, will host an all women’s showcase on 27th December named “FEMININOMENON”. The show can be found at IWTV. The show after is titled “Everything Has Changed”. I am hoping that it is a reference to Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran’s duet, which is beautiful. Well, either way, “The Heartbreak Carnie” Hunter Drake has to fight to keep his job in an Unsanctioned match against TWE booker CJ Lawler and Bengston shows off his shiny new ACTION Title with another defence, this time scheduled against Austin Luke.

Chicago-based promotion Warrior Wrestling held a comeback show on 6th December titled “Ressurrection” where Tootie Lynn was crowned the new Warrior Wrestling’s Women’s Champion over Nixi XS and Warrior Wrestling Lucha Champion Gringo Loco retained his title against Rey Horus. There was a marquee match-up as Johnnie Robbie faced Willow Nightingale. Warrior Wrestling’s next show on 16th January, titled “ICE COLD” will feature Bandido against Jake Something, Mad Dog Connelly against Warhorse in a dog collar match, and Ben Bishop versus Lance Archer.

Independent wrestler Jack Parnell, also known as Warhorse, suffered a broken leg. His friends have set up a Gofundme. Danhausen was the top donation with $1,000. We wish him the best of luck in his recovery.

© Winnipeg Pro Wrestling

Canada News

Winnipeg Pro Wrestling’s (WPW) show on 5th December was main-evented by Nu Money (Bryce Bentley & Scott Ripley The Third) retaining their WPW Tag Team Title against Bobby Schink & James Roth. Paul Walter Hauser made an appearance and brought some Hollywood actor friends, including Chris Riggi, Kyle Gallner, Johnny Pemberton, Blake Anderson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and two Olympic gold medallists in curling in order to turn the tide against Anderson Tyson Moore (ATM). WPW’s next show on 22nd January, “COLD OUT 4” is already sold out.

C4’s “Event Horizon” show on 28th November is available to stream on IWTV, where Junior Benito overcame the odds and survived a six-way elimination match to retain his title against Alexia Nicole, Gabriel Fuerza, Marcus Mathers, Ryan Clancy and TARIK.

C4’s next show is “The Big Chill” on 30th January, where Joe Lando follows up his Denmark debut on 10th January with a debut in Canada as he takes on Ryan Clancy for the IWTV Independent World Title. Bear Bronson and Josh Bishop try their best to wrest the C4 Title from Junior Benito in a three-way. Violence is Forever (Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku) and Amira are also advertised for the show.

C4 announced that they will return to Algonquin Commons Theatre in Ottawa on 19th February with their second ever all-women’s show. Allie Katch has been announced for the show.

Mike Indied posted a great montage on Twitter of his recordings from C4 over the course of 2025.

The Uno Awards take place on 28th December on Mystery Wrestling’s YouTube and Evil Uno’s Twitch channel. Patreon members can vote in each category. The 19th instalment has been uploaded on YouTube for free so you can catch up, with #20 available on Patreon for $6.50. #21 is held in Cardiff on 18th January, with a bonus show taped the day before as a Patreon-exclusive.

Following their biggest show of the year on 2nd November in Hamilton, Alpha-1 are in a quiet period leading up to their next show on 18th January, called “Laws of the Jungle” which will be available on their YouTube. Since our last issue, A1 have announced that Kody Lane will defend his Alpha Male Title against Warhorse and BMD. Tyler Breeze, who was already announced, will face Mark Wheeler and Isla Dawn, another wrestler who was already announced, takes on Laynie Luck. Additionally, Alec Price will defend his Zero Gravity Title against Bryce Hansen.

© Xplosion Lucha Libre

Rest of the Americas

Chile-based promotion Xplosion held their “Counter Attack” show on 30th November in San Miguel district within the capital, Santiago. After he was attacked by Andrés Rojas, Castigador could not make it to a single defence and lost the Sudamericano Title to Joel in a three-way, with Billy Rocka the third participant. Castigador had beat Joel for the title originally on 12th October. JaviStar continued her rise in the Chilean independent scene by holding onto her Xplosion National Women’s Title against Gidget. In the main event, after some help from Razo, Victor Riquelme overcame the beast Hellspawn to retain his Undisputed World Title in a Super Libre match.

Xplosion’s year-end show, “Desastre Total” is on 28th December. The Desastre Total Tournament takes place on the show to determine who will end 2025 as the Undisputed World Champion. This show kicks off the road to Xplosionmania 3, which will be their biggest show ever. Riquelme’s opponent in the first round is unknown due to an injury to Bajo Cero. The other side of the bracket is a three-way between Joel, Gaston Mateo and Dan Knox. After Gigdet beat the crap out of JaviStar because she’s a sore loser, JaviStar demanded a rematch with Gidget in a two out of three falls match. Finally, after Andrés Rojas cost him his Sudamericano Title, Castigador takes Rojas on in a no DQ match. 

Legion Nueva Era kicked off their relaunch on 6th December in Buenos Aires, as CLS (J-Master & Pandemia) clashed with La Lucha Avanza (Gabriel & Percy) from rival Buenos Aires promotion RCW Latam. A double title was made and CLS were the victors, taking home both the Legion Tag Team Title and RCM Latam Tag Team Title. In the main event, Gint Giovanna retained their Legion Maximum Title.

Check out these other articles from this week!

For Your Consideration: Taro Okada, Booker of the Year

by Chris Whitehead

Asia & Oceania

While OZAWA returned to NOAH, we have previews for every notable promotion’s Wrestle Kingdom Week shows

Is This How To Do War Games?

Peter Edge takes a look at how the War Games concept has evolved over time