Sections

AEW returned to London for their third major show in as many years this August bank holiday weekend, this time bringing along with them some of the stars of NJPW. What has quickly become a yearly tradition, myself and my wife flew in from Ireland to catch the show along with a third member of our group who travelled separately. (Oddly, he did not crash out about having to figure out how to get a train to his hotel from the airport). Perhaps a little different to most reviews of shows on this newsletter, there’s going to be some focus and comparison on the difference in vibe and venue to the “usual” AEW London experience as well as touching on the after party.

To kick us off, let’s start with a big downgrade in experience compared to the previous years. The O2 in London was simply a downgrade in terms of organisation compared to the well oiled machine of Wembley stadium. We experienced major issues getting into the venue with security having several hundred of us being directed to join a queue to get in, only for them to open a second queue that we then fed into, essentially dooming a large group to lining up twice to get into the venue. Despite being in line before doors opened, we were over an hour and a half trying to get to a point where our tickets could be scanned for entry. The general feeling would be that the O2 was understaffed to a degree as well. Lines for drinks (alcoholic or soft drinks) moved at a snail’s pace with each stall seemingly having too few people manning it to keep up with people ordering. Lastly, and most alarmingly, there was one person in the stands in our section who was overserved before the show had started, was audibly disruptive, and – after an incident with another person in our section – security did not intervene. In spite of several people complaining, nobody from the O2 stepped in to help out. In this case, all parties were lucky that it was just a case of a woman being overly loud, messy and smoking, but there not being so much as a check-in was a red flag as somebody attending the venue for the first time.

On a far more positive note, the vibe from people before/after the show was stellar. I’ve attended wrestling shows in person for the bones of 2 decades now and this was one of the most yappy bunch of people I’ve ever been around in the best possible way. We must have experienced 7-8 different groups of people just joining in on our conversation or vice-versa over the course of the 2 hours before the show started and you could really feel how hyped up people were for the night ahead. For all the issues we experienced with the O2 itself as a venue, the “smaller” arena really made this feel more intimate (or as intimate as nearly 20,000 people together can feel). From talking to people live at the venue ahead of the show (and a few online beforehand), the crowd were most anticipating the AEW Women’s World Title match, the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match, the AEW Men’s World Title match and the lights out main event. Equally as common an answer as these matches, however, was a simple “I am far too excited to pick just one match”, which I think speaks volumes for how the fan base over this side of the world are eager to catch an AEW show in general. “Forbidden Door” has never been something built too well, but for many, the simple spectacle of AEW being in town does feel like draw enough itself. While there are cons to that, it’s a nice reminder that despite constant doom and gloom online, there are a lot of people with a high perception of AEW today. Most importantly, they’re paying to go see it, too.

As for the show itself, we were able to get in during the first match that aired on Youtube. We did miss the entrances but if I’m being completely honest, from the zero hour, if we had to miss any one match this would have been the one to miss for me. Hechicero, Yuya, Desperado and Paragon are all wrestlers I enjoy in their own right, but compared to what else was offered to us on the card this was the lowest for interest to experience live. It’s also worth mentioning that for us who were in the UK that day, we had a very small amount of time to learn about these matches on the zero hour and get excited for them, too. The doors to the venue opened at 4pm, with the matches only made official in the small hours of the night before. Overall, this was still a fun showing. El Desperado and Hechicero had fantastic chemistry off the bat and seeing CRU live really did make me realise how little tv does these guys justice. The speed at which Lio Rush and Action Andretti move about the ring is something you need to see in person to really understand just how good these two are as a team. Roddy and Kyle look as good together in the ring as they did 10 years ago. That’s both a compliment and a jab at them not switching things up, but they controlled a good portion of this match excellently. The person I was most looking forward to seeing, Yuya Uemura, didn’t get as much time here as I would have hoped, but he solidified my belief that he has all the tools and should soon be one of the top stars of NJPW. I’d say more but if I start down the path of what NJPW should do, you’ll still be reading this by the time the next issue comes out. Yuya got the win for the team in a fun opener; however, as the Don Callis family beat down the babyfaces post match, Tomohiro Ishii came out to make the save. Ishii was unfortunately more over than anyone who had competed in the match itself but perhaps that is to be expected with both his presentation on AEW TV as well as the fact that he is no stranger to working over here the past few years.

Next up, the pros and cons of working more locally based talent on an overseas show. Ricochet and GOA came out to take on the team of Jetspeed and Michael Oku. I can say that Oku is legitimately a tremendous talent, but the crowd were not interested in anyone else in this match outside of their guy. Large portions of our and surrounding sections just sang for Oku regardless of whether or not he was indeed in the match itself. This was occasionally broken up by “bald” chants and while it might have been fine in an isolated case, it became a bit of a pattern later on. Regardless, Oku looked great in his debut PPV match for AEW and really sold the peril of being up against the numbers throughout. His fosbury flop to the outside being interrupted by GOA was one of the nastiest looking bumps of the night but despite the fears he may have broken his neck, our side of the arena was back singing songs for him within 30 seconds of the bump. While Oku was clearly the crowd’s focus, I feel it’s a disservice to not highlight how much of an absolute joy it was to see JetSpeed on the card here. Their climb this past year has been a joy to watch and hopefully it leads to a tag/trio reign before this year is over. I’d also like to make the case for retiring the line of “Okada has the best dropkick in the industry”, as clearly, that honour belongs to Kevin Knight. It’s hard to pinpoint Knight’s ceiling in AEW but if he continues to grow as he has in the past 18 months, the sky is the limit for him.

The match came to an end when GOA and Ricochet managed to gain control of the ring, cut JetSpeed out and pinned Michael Oku. While this was probably the right decision, this killed the crowd. Maybe it’s because the previous two “All In” PPVs in London have set the tone of “babyfaces win” but it felt like people expected an Oku win. The quick cut to a Don Callis interview did generate some boos, but by Don standards they were low. This negative feeling the crowd really bled into the next match too, unfortunately.

While people online after the show complained about the volume of songs the crowd sang, what really should have been shamed was the treatment towards the women on this PPV. While Willow got a big reaction from the audience as she came out, the majority of people were not focusing on this one. You can rationalise it by saying the crowd were flat from Oku’s defeat, but my experience in that arena was they didn’t care about these women on the card. It was so disappointing that this was one of 3 matches where I looked around and saw large numbers of people leaving to get drinks/go to the bathroom.There were people in attendance who would have belonged in a “Monday Night Raw” crowd in 2006 (derogatory). From silence, checking their phones, leaving or trying to shoot their shot with Skye Blue…a lot of people let themselves down here. It got to the point where not only could we audibly hear some of the girls laughing at a joke they made in their corner (I think Harley attempted to get a “Statdaddy” chant going?), but at least 3 separate chants/claps were started by the women themselves. This was disheartening to say the least but I thought they put on a fun match that progressed the story being told nicely. It was an absolute joy to see Willow and Statlander do their thing, Aminata and Thekla looked like they were murdering each other and it can’t be stressed enough how Megan Bayne looks like a megastar in that ring. The match ended with Bayne hitting the running powerbomb on Harley after Thekla and Aminata had begun brawling to the back. The crowd were almost into it by the end of things but for whatever reason, this just didn’t seem to click (a feeling I’ve had about them running this on TV lately, too). Hopefully AEW can do something about the perception of these wrestlers because each and every one of them put in a great showing here. Obviously, making a connection with the fans is still a tricky thing when you’re given very limited TV time each week unless you hold a title, but the bell-to-bell of this was excellent.

After a brief backstage segment with the Young Bucks, we were treated to the wonderfully bizarre segment of Tony Khan, Dr. Martha Hart and her son. I have no idea what the purpose of this was other than to tell the live crowd how many people were in attendance but it was a welcome pallet cleanse for the crowd. Not having Martha on television during the Owen Cup this year was something I had found to be disappointing, so while this felt completely out of place, I’m just happy for her getting an outing and this partnership continuing.

The final match of the buy-in saw NJPW’s Bullet Club War Dogs face The Opps for the AEW Trios Titles. Samoa Joe was once again one of the most well received people on this card in the UK, par for the course at this point with AEW shows over here. This match was fairly short and I wish I had a lot to say about it but it barely went over 5 minutes. As the Opps walked to the ring, the crowd chanted for Joe the whole time which made perfect sense to me; what genuinely grinded my gears, however, was that when the bell rang and the match started, the crowd made the decision to say “It’s only Clark Connors and Katsuyori Shibata in the ring, lets see how many Robbie X chants we can start”. My own bias aside, seeing Shibata in person is an absolute treat and he still looks fantastic despite having his brain removed from his skull at one point…Not too much to talk about with this one, the match ended rather abruptly, with The Opps gaining the upperhand and Joe hitting the muscle buster on Conners for the win. Short and to the point, this really had all the makings of “fine, here’s a spot on the card for you guys.” I look forward to seeing more of the War Dogs make their way onto the AEW roster over the next 2 years.

Cope & Cage vs Killswitch and Kip Sabian

Cope & Cage were my favourite team when I was a child so seeing their first tag match together in 2 decades was a really nice feeling. However, Cope posting a long “this could be my final time in the UK, let me hear you” on social media, followed by a crowd focusing almost entirely on Christian through the match, was unintentionally hilarious to me. Cope’s run has been mixed in my eyes and he needs this team far more than Christian needs it, but they did gel together very well. Kip Sabian getting boos was a plus as I had concerns he would be cheered by virtue of being from the UK, but thankfully that didn’t come to pass. After his lengthy absence, Killswitch looked great in his return to the ring, too, and really demonstrated how good an asset he can be in a tag team or trio capacity. The inclusion of the Jurassic-era wrestler did also do wonders to mask the fact that the underdog tag team had a combined age of 102, making them the plucky young team in this one. All in all, a fun match that, for me, really demonstrated why Christian Cage is such a great worker. His psychology throughout the match was well thought out, with him bringing a completely different style of offence for Kip and Killswitch alike. The finish of the double spear for the young upstarts in Cope & Cage to get the win was the right tone for the show and really got everyone into an upbeat mindset after a middling pre-show.

TNT Title- Kyle Fletcher vs Hiromu Takahashi

Our friend who came to the show with us said this was the match he was most looking forward to and I think it’s fair to say, it delivered on his hype. Kyle Fletcher’s presentation is fantastic and Hiromu brought all the intensity I could have asked for. I’m not an advocate for people risking killing themselves in a ring but when Hiromu is prepared to bring that dangerous energy he showed back with his matches with Dragon Lee, there is a sick delight that wells up within me. While we didn’t hit the intense danger of those matches, this certainly had moments where it felt like we were on the precipice. The crowd were firmly behind Hiromu despite knowing how this match was going to play out. Hiromu brought his infectious energy to the match, with Kyle knowing how and when to cut him off to bring the crowd back down to build them back up. Takahashi showcased why he is (somehow) one of NJPW’s most undervalued members of the roster throughout the match up on the night, making the case for him to still be tied to a Junior status in NJPW to be absolutely confusing to me. With that being said, after a few quick kicks to the skull in the corner, Fletcher was able to get Hiromu up for the Brainbuster and the 3 count to retain his title in an excellent match. Kyle truly feels like a wrestler who has been looking more and more like a star each week for the better part of 2 years now and these past few weeks really make you feel as though there could be something special in the air with regards to this TNT Title reign.

TBS Title- Mercedes Mone vs Alex Windsor vs Bozilla vs Persephone

The last time I saw Alex Windsor wrestle in the UK it was with NJPW at Crystal Palace in 2022. I’ve been fond of her work for a number of years but truthfully haven’t been able to experience her live. The “Windsaaaa” chant, when repeated every couple of seconds by pockets of the crowd is the most offensive thing that the British people have ever bestowed on society and I say that as a person from Ireland. Chant aside, this was stellar. Windsor really had the reaction deserving of her ability that she brings to TV week-to-week as of late; Mercedes once again helped put a spotlight on others in the industry while showcasing her skills, and for many it seems to have been a night that put both Persephone and Bozilla on the map. Unfortunately, this was the second of 3 matches where large portions of the crowd exited as soon as the entrances were over. I like to take note of the types of people who do this when I can and the person who stood out most was a woman in a CMLL shirt who left before Persephone came out, didn’t know who Persephone was when she came back to her seat, and complained for the remainder of the match loudly that Mercedes books the entire women’s division. The match itself could have been an opportunity to drop the TBS Title to somebody like Alex, but I do think there’s a little life in this reign still so I was quite happy with the retention from Mercedes. Persephone is a talent I certainly hope CMLL & AEW have worked some sort of deal out on after this match and while I do think it’s potentially a little early for the likes of Bozilla to be jumping to the US, her potential is fantastic. Overall, the women in this match went from being a two woman match (for the crowd) to all of them earning the reactions they deserved by the time it ended. A great match and another example of how Mercedes Moné is elevating women’s wrestling each and every time she laces up a pair of boots.

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship- Zack Sabre Jr. vs Nigel McGuiness

I can’t say that I’m particularly enthusiastic about Zack Sabre Jr holding the IWGP Championship once again, nor can I say I was happy to see Hirooki Goto’s reign end so suddenly, but for this match on the night it was all almost worth it. The build to this match hasn’t been particularly strong and I can’t imagine NJPW faithful being excited for a commentator to be challenging for the top prize, yet this was the rare case of a dream match delivering. The video package with Nigel McGuiness and Johnny Saint was everything I am weak for in professional wrestling. Having a moment to have the two play a game of chess – and Saint a way to be introduced to those who don’t know him – was a lovely touch and something that clearly meant a lot to Nigel (and ZSJ, too). In terms of crowd reactions, this is at least tied for the match the crowd were most into. This match was everything you could have hoped for between these two men.

If you’re not a fan of British technical wrestling, I appreciate this could have been a bore, but for myself and many, this was a masterclass. Whether it be a series of rolling pinfalls, smacking each other around or trying to get an opponent into a submission, this was the style of wrestling that first mesmerised me as a kid and made me want to see more. A hard hitting affair with a pinfall reversed into a pinfall finish for Zack Sabre Jr to retain his IWGP gold. The lingering story surrounding this match was the question of when would Daniel Garcia turn on Nigel with the answer being – never. A confusing decision for a young babyface who made a point to say he had never wrestled in the UK…..

Post match, Thekla and Aminata spilled out to the entrance ramp (presumably brawling for the best part of 2 hours now) with Skye Blue and Julia Hart joining in to out number Aminata. However, here we got the return of Jamie Hayter for the save, with the Triangle of Madness running off. A huge response for Hayter here which will hopefully lead to AEW not going half in on her and belting her up far sooner than later.

AEW Tag Team Championships- The Hurt Syndicate vs FTR vs Brodido

FTR have been doing rather well with what they’ve got as of late and were certainly a safe option for number 1 contenders to the tag titles for this PPV. Brodido, however, have been one of the best “lightning in a bottle” examples I can think of in AEW for some time. Also, the Hurt Syndicate were present. I can say with a large degree of confidence from being in attendance that, while the crowd were rooting against FTR and certainly behind Brodido, the tag team champions were not remotely as over as their entrance theme was. The match began with all teams sprawling outside the ring and Bobby Lashley single handedly taking out FTR so that you remember that Lashley has been a world champion elsewhere and did some fights in Bellator. I’ve mentioned that in both women’s matches on the show so far, there was a mass exodus from the crowd which I found disappointing – this was the third large exodus of people during a match. The options for beer at the concession stands weren’t particularly fantastic but I ended up settling on two pints of Budweiser. All in all, I would say these pints were fine but £10 each felt very steep. Service was fairly slow but it gave me plenty of time to line up for the bathroom, too. All jokes aside, this match was significantly better than I anticipated (whether or not stepping out for 4 minutes was the cleanser I needed or not, I’m unsure). FTR were in great form and Cash did seem prepared for the crowd to start shooting on him this time around. Shelton Benjamin was also admittedly impressive in this match, reminding me that his run in 2024’s Continental Classic was a case of him having good matches with the wrong results. Thankfully, however, that was simply not the case on the night here.

Ricochet and GOA attacked Hurt Syndicate and removed them from the match (there was mass confusion in the arena as nobody was really sure if this was an elimination match up or a straight 3 way).* The crowd were firmly behind Bandido and Brody King throughout the match. The back half/final third of this match was a real spectacle to be watched with Brody and Bandido hitting giant moves, surviving chair shots and ultimately getting the win. There was an unfortunate moment in the final seconds of the match where Dax slipped out of Bandido’s pinfall only to be immediately re-pinned with Cash failing to make the save twice, despite being no more than half a meter away from his partner. This moment of confusion did take everybody out of things for a moment but by the time we realised new champions had in fact been crowned, everyone was on board with this decision. The result really felt like the right decision as realistically, nobody needs to see Cope & Cage face FTR for the titles at “All Out” and hopefully now the belts can be showcased in the manner they deserve.

*(Editor’s Note: Tweets of the match from AEW accounts referred to the match as an eliminator until the day of the PPV. It would have been difficult for anyone in the building to be aware of the change.)

AEW Unified Championship- Kazuchika Okada vs Swerve Strickland

Kazuchka Okada’s title defence against Swerve Strickland may go on record as one of the poorest builds to a major championship match on PPV this year for AEW, but that doesn’t mean this underdelivered. Swerve came down to the ring after the story came out a few days prior that he would be needing surgery on his leg, which, for many of us, confirmed a result we all expected. Instead of indifference, though, the O2 was loudly behind the former AEW World Champion and eagerly excited for the match up. As for Okada, controversially I have to say that I think his new entrance theme is a breath of fresh air. While his NJPW theme is an absolute classic that he’ll always be associated with, it finally adds something to his presentation that makes this feel like AEW’s Okada and not just the same character running out of things to do in NJPW. I would also like to take this opportunity to just highlight how incredible Takuro Shibata is at his job of announcing people to the ring. The intensity with which he hypes up those walking down the rampway is phenomenal and you can almost feel the electricity feeding into the crowd each time he does it. An absolute unsung hero who, admittedly, does seem to be finally getting some recognition as of late.

As for the match itself, this came across very well live. Sure, there were some distractions (a failed chant of “You were working as a waitress at Swerve Strickland’s house, Swerve Strickland’s house” ended up tapping out to the much less convoluted “Swerve’s House, in the middle of our street” chant), but songs aside, there was a large level of investment in this match. The story of the match revolving around Swerve’s leg struggling to hold together made for a simple thread to follow through the match but at no point did it feel forced or half cooked. The finish came with Okada managing to duck a House Call and quickly landing a Rainmaker for the win. Post match, Okada targeted Swerve’s leg with a chair and the steel steps to seemingly write him off TV, only for a returning Wardlow to finish the job and align with the Don Callis family.

For a lot of people in attendance, they were excited to see Wardlow return and if you are one of those people too, I’m happy for you. Personally I am not there yet. As Wardlow walked up the ramp to the family, Konosuke Takeshita came out to thunderous applause. He went nose to nose with Wardlow as an excuse to get him in front of the crowd and then we quickly had the lights dimmed so we could launch into our next match up. I’m sure commentary probably helped explain more here but without anyone to hype up how well the family is doing, our group couldn’t help but laugh wondering if we were trying to put Takeshita on the same standing as Mr. Mayhem, a comparison I don’t think could be made even in Wardlow’s world.

AEW Women’s World Title- Toni Storm vs Athena

The build from Athena and Toni Storm to this match had been done quite well in my books and it was a match up I genuinely think should have been presented stronger on TV. While I understand the Lights Out match would go on last, I was in the camp that this match should have been presented to the AEW fanbase as the main event due to the nature of it being Champion vs Forever Champion. My fantasy booking aside, I really do believe that the Athena we are witnessing in 2025 is somehow even more tapped into what she is doing than in 2024 and is somehow only in the top 5 women performing in wrestling at the moment. Her presentation is sensational and Toni Storm was every bit the perfect opponent for her. The energy from the moment the bell rang in this match really was a different story from how the crowd had reacted to the previous women’s matches. While at times on the night they had shown indifference to many of the women, this was an audience who craved everything Toni Storm was prepared to give in this match, and give she did.

Storm was incredibly unselfish in this match, just having Athena beat her senseless for the majority of the time while rallying back for big spot after big spot. These two women were incredibly hard hitting, while also demonstrating why they are two of the best wrestlers in the world today. Athena kicked out of a Storm Zero nearing the end of the match and this led to Billie Starkz attempting murder on PPV only for Mina Shirakawa to make the save, leaving just Athena and Toni left. Shortly thereafter, Athena positioned herself up on the top rope for the O-Face, only for Toni to counter this into a TCM Chickenwing for the submission victory. The place erupted for Toni’s defence of the title with a large portion of the crowd on their feet giving an ovation for the match up. This felt every bit like the big world title match up it was and even though Athena tapped out, you can’t help but feel like she must be on the cusp of holding AEW gold in the near future from the work she’s put into this program.

AEW Men’s World Title- Adam Page vs MJF

The build to our men’s world title match was the absolute opposite of the women’s, as everything they did well to get us to the match was undone on the Wednesday night prior. I can only speak for the quarter of the stadium we were seated in, but Hangman Adam Page was absolutely the most over male wrestler in the building on the night. It truly felt like people didn’t want to see a wrestling match, they simply wanted to see Hangman just beat MJF senseless. With this match having the stipulation of the title being able to change hands on a countout or disqualification (as well as MJF still being able to cash in his shot at the title in the future), there was a lot of room for this to feel like a dud, but for everybody in the building on the night, this never felt close to the 30 minutes it went.

As usual, once we got past the “MJF does something cheeky and poses to the crowd to boo him” spot in the first 5-10 minutes, this was a hoot. This is just my own opinion but the MJF act feels incredibly stale at this point and he is in dire need of some new material both on the microphone and inside the ring, though Hangman dismissed those usual complaints for me and truly made it work. The way the two played off of each other leaned into the almost pantomime vibe of UK wrestling crowds, with people almost wanting Hanger to grab a weapon so we could talk him out of swinging it and costing himself the title.

From the moment Hangman hit theDeadeye through the table, it really felt as though we were turning from a wrestling match into a straight up fight and I can’t help but feel like there really might be something else here for these two men one final time in a definitive stipulation match where they can lean into this fully. There was a point where MJF cheated and got a pin with Hangman’s foot on the rope. To the audience in attendance, this was incredibly confusing as the referee uncharacteristically kept bouncing around the ring as he counted the pin to 3, then Mark Briscoe ran in for 30 seconds, only then for MJF to be told he had not won the match. Similar to the feeling of “where have the Hurt Syndicate gone?” (a question asked weekly for the month of August), this just left a moment of hushed confusion in our section of the crowd.

Before we knew it, though, Hangman was back to his feet, hit the buckshot and got the win. As he walked up the rampway, I don’t think there was one person sitting in attendance as he received a chorus of cheers and applause from everyone in the building. This match was tailor made for a live crowd and honestly felt like the best example of giving people in the room what they wanted in their wrestling match.

Lights Out Steel Cage (Unsanctioned)

The Death Riders stepped out into a Lights Out steel cage match against a babyface super team. Due to his absolute cowardice, Tony Khan did not book the farce of House of Torture vs the Death Riders, nor did he have the stones to book Big Boom AJ or even have The Rizzler come out and make the save in this match. Instead, we were given the team of Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Darby Allin and Will Ospreay. Maybe he was on to something with this line up…

For those who were at RevPro on the weekend of “Forbidden Door”, it is my humble request that you proclaim you saw Hiroshi Tanahashi’s final match in the UK take place in a RevPro ring as, due to the nature of this stipulation, this steel cage match was unsanctioned and should not technically be in the record books. The Death Riders (Moxley, Claudio, Gabe Kidd and featuring The Young Bucks) looked as good as they always do – but it brought me such joy to see Kota Ibushi looking healthy and Tanahashi look like he was in only mild discomfort instead of agony as he came to the ring. As the Bucks walked to the ring they were played down to Hanson’s “Mmmbop” which sparked joy like few other things the night had provided us so far, but when the bell rang they were able to quickly switch from their goofy side to wrestling in this all out war.

The two teams of five split off across the ring early leaving Will Ospreay squaring up against Gabe Kidd who is in fact a mad man, don’t you know? After a few exchanges between the two, followed by Darby and the Death Riders clearing the ring, we were left with a sight I genuinely assumed we were heading for off the back of “All In: Texas”: The Golden Lovers of Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi standing opposite The Young Bucks in the center of the ring. The feeling in the O2 in that moment was special with people losing their minds before so much as a look was thrown between the teams. There was something quite sweet about Kota and Kenny moving, not at their best pace of their careers, but going at their new pace together in a ring again that genuinely meant something to me as a fan of them both.

This, however, was not a simple 2 on 2 match up. We had the heel team gain the upperhand and bring some vicious weaponry into the ring in the form of…gummy bears…a ladder, steel chairs, kendo sticks – the works. This really felt like AEW were just doing a Blood and Guts match with a single ring. A major selling point of the match was a bloody Will Ospreay selling his damaged neck that he revealed he will need surgery on after this match, and the way things were structured around “one big move to his neck could end it” was a nice touch.

One of the big talking points of the match came when Darby, seemingly resenting being the healthiest man in the ring, was tied to a chair and took a fork to the earlobe, causing him to gush blood from it, followed by a scoop slam while still tied to the chair. Outside, Marina and Yuta set up a 4 stack of tables while barbed wire was brought into the ring. While it looked like Darby would be the one to go through the barbed wire, it was ultimately Moxley who had his face grated against it by Tanahashi and, shortly afterwards, was driven through it by Ospreay. As the babyfaces rallied again it was mostly the Golden Lovers cleaning house with Omega being far more over with the crowd than even Ospreay for portions of the match. As we started getting nearer the end, we were treated to a spot where Tanahashi was climbing a ladder, only for the rest of his team to beg him not to jump. Tanahashi relented, realising that if Kota Ibushi and Darby Allin are saying “this is a bad idea”, then he absolutely had to rethink his choices.

Instead, Ospreay with his neck in tatters, hit a moonsault from the top of the steelcage. The crowd erupted for this and I can only say, this looked spectacular. Following some great back and forths between the teams, we ultimately got to a point where Moxley was trying to escape the match leaving Darby to chase him. This in turn became Darby on the roof of the cage with Gabe Kidd. While once again reminding us all that he is in fact a mad man, Kidd attempted to lock in a sleeper at the top of the cage, only for Darby to turn and drive both men off the roof and through the four tables below. Of everything that took place on the night, this bump in particular was the most shocking and horrific looking thing I’ve seen in a wrestling ring (and I once sat in the crowd to watch Cody face Sanada for 20 minutes so this says something). For those unaware, Gabe Kidd had to pull out of the G1 Climax in NJPW due to an injury and this was his first match back in a ring since then. For the life of me, I can’t understand why Yuta simply wasn’t in this spot instead of him but hopefully Kidd doesn’t miss the next tour in Japan as well as a result of this.

Carnage of this spot aside, all that was left was for the babyfaces to get the upperhand from the shock of the spot and Tanahashi was able to hit the High Fly Flow to get the win in his final match in the UK. Post match, the babyfaces had their hands raised for Tanahashi and left Ospreay to say his goodbyes on his own. However, the Death Riders stormed the cage and locked it, repeatedly targeting Ospreay’s neck with Paradigm Shifts and shots to the head. The peril of the situation was slightly undercut by Kota Ibushi going full Ibushi and running as fast as he could into the door of the cage and almost breaking it open, but launching himself back up the ramp in the process. After the assault, the babyfaces made it back to the ring to surround Ospreay as the crowd sang his name.

Eventually, after the cameras stopped, the medical team brought Ospreay up the ramp and the full lights for the building came back on. Ironically, this might have landed a little more impactfully had we either not known about the neck injury, or had Ospreay not had this match in England as the crowd pretty much just sang through the drama of the medical team coming out. To be fair, though, I can’t imagine any other way a PPV crowd in the UK will choose to end the night.

All in all, “Forbidden Door 2025” was an absolute blast to attend. It may not be the best PPV of the year but it continued the trend of AEW delivering a high quality show overseas and giving people from this side of the pond a show they can really enjoy.

Briefly, I just need to touch on the post show afterparty and call it out for what it was. After the great coverage of the “All In: Texas” afterparty, our group thought we might as well go to the UK’s answer to this. What we got was a very strange experience altogether. Hosted by Adam Wilbourn of Whatculture (and no disrespect to Adam but “hosted” is a very fancy way of saying “popped up every 20 minutes to briefly remind you of what was coming up and disappear again”), the “Sweet Chin Disco” promised a DJ set, a DJ set by Mark Henry, a Nigel McGuiness magic show and special guests. In reality, we got a DJ who literally did not even edit out the name of the Youtube channel from the video he was lifting the music videos from. If you were very drunk, purely there to drink heavily or wanted to hear WWE music from the early 00s, this was the place to be. For an AEW/NJPW afterparty, we heard 5 AEW tracks, 0 NJPW themes, but several HHH entrance themes, themes to “Monday Night Raw” from the past and the equivalent of handing the aux cord to that one guy who thinks wrestling peaked in 2001. As for special guests, Nigel McGuiness’ magic show was admittedly entertaining if you enjoy his quirky humour. It consisted of 15-20 minutes of him performing some mentalism with some jabs at Bryan Danielson before he called it a night.

Swerve Strickland came on stage shortly thereafter with a slew of talent including The Infantry, Nyla Rose, Danny Garcia and Mother Wayne. The highlight of this after party, Swerve performed some tracks he plans to release in late 2025-2026 as well as his entrance music, and he did a dance off with Garcia. I can confirm that Mark Henry was also in attendance and followed suit by receiving a payday to load up a playlist of wrestling related music videos ripped from Youtube.

In spite of the dud that was the post show, spirits were high and we were able to make the most of what it was for what it was (thanks to a large bar). Personally, I can’t say I would recommend it to anybody looking to attend the Sweet Chin Disco if they are running after AEW shows in the UK again as they are far more focused on WWE than anything. I think you’d be best off heading for a few drinks elsewhere and if life is kind to you, grabbing a Greggs en route.

While we might have had issues with the venue beforehand and felt a little misled by the after party, what AEW brought to the table for London at “Forbidden Door 2025” was a fantastic experience for all. Before the show, we couldn’t stop total strangers asking us to join in on conversation/anticipation for the show to come and once it was all over, it was the exact same vibe with strangers wanting to know how everyone else enjoyed themselves. The energy was fantastic from everyone around in attendance and you can’t help but feel like AEW is really carving out something with these August bank holiday shows. This was my group’s third consecutive flying into the UK for a PPV and it seemed many others had made the trip to London for their third time, too. While we may be more used to attending shows that have more of a conclusion feeling to them over the past few years here, “Forbidden Door” absolutely delivered for every one of us in the building. As we left the arena, there was a feeling from those around us that simply was a group counting down to Wembley in 2026.

Full Results

Zero Hour

El Desperado, Paragon (Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong) & Yuya Uemura defeat CRU (Action Andretti & Lio Rush) & The Don Callis Family (Hechicero & Josh Alexander) (w/Lance Archer & Rocky Romero) (12:13)

GOA (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona) & Ricochet defeat JetSpeed (Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey) & Michael Oku (w/Amira Blair) (9:54)

Megan Bayne & Triangle Of Madness (Julia Hart, Skye Blue & Thekla) (w/Penelope Ford) defeat Harley Cameron, Kris Statlander, Queen Aminata & Willow Nightingale (11:17)

AEW World Trios Title Match
The Opps (Katsuyori Shibata, Powerhouse Hobbs & Samoa Joe) (c) defeat BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors, Drilla Moloney & Robbie X) (w/Gedo) (10:00)

Main Show

Adam Copeland & Christian Cage defeat The Matriarchy (Killswitch Luchasaurus & Kip Sabian) (w/Mother Wayne) (13:46)

AEW TNT Title Match
Kyle Fletcher (w/Lance Archer) (c) defeats Hiromu Takahashi (15:27)

AEW TBS Title Four Way Match
Mercedes Mone (c) defeats Alex Windsor and Bozilla and Persephone (15:31)

IWGP World Heavyweight Title Match
Zack Sabre Jr. (c) defeats Nigel McGuinness (w/Daniel Garcia) (17:01)

AEW World Tag Team Title Three Way Match
Brodido (Bandido & Brody King) defeat The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin) (c) and FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) (w/Stokely) (16:05)

AEW Unified Title / AEW Continental Title / AEW International Title Match
Kazuchika Okada (c) defeats Swerve Strickland (16:41)

AEW Women’s World Title Match
Toni Storm (c) defeats Athena (w/Billie Starkz) (15:16)

AEW Men’s World Title Match
Adam Page (c) defeats MJF (31:38)

Lights Out Steel Cage Match
Darby Allin, Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi), Hiroshi Tanahashi & Will Ospreay defeat Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli & Jon Moxley), Gabe Kidd & The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) (w/Marina Shafir & Wheeler Yuta) (32:25)

AEW TV News

Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay were both written off from AEW television for the foreseeable future at AEW’s “Forbidden Door” PPV in order to get surgery for their respective injuries. Strickland was the first to go under the knife, having a successful operation for a torn meniscus which he has been working with since 2019. The former World Champion has already begun the recovery process and is expected back around the end of the year, with changes likely to be made to his presentation. The laying it on by AEW (and Adam Page in particular) on how AEW will miss Will Ospreay without mention of Strickland feels like the company are already setting up grounds for his return.

Both Fightful Select and the Wrestling Observer are reporting that Will Ospreay is due to have surgery at some point over the next few weeks. There is no timeline for return at current, but enough story set up in AEW to suggest the company has an idea on the potential timings.

Wardlow, who returned at “Forbidden Door” as part of the angle which saw the Don Callis Family take out Swerve Strickland, is now also on the injured list, having suffered a torn pectoral muscle during the angle itself. AEW sources told Fightful that it is highly likely that he will also require surgery.

Nick Wayne was unable to make it to “Forbidden Door”, after suffering a broken foot two weeks out from the match. Wayne was replaced by the returning Luchasaurus (AKA Killswitch), who had been out of action since “All In 2024” after suffering from pneumonia in both lungs. Luchasaurus received a very strong ovation upon returning in Glasgow,and is already heading towards a face turn that it is highly possible will end up including Jack Perry.

To add to AEW’s list of shelved talent, Buddy Matthews has also undergone surgery on an ankle injury he suffered back in February. Matthews has not worked in the ring since “Grand Slam: Australia”, where he rolled his ankle whilst making his entrance for the Continental Title match with Kazuchika Okada. We wish all five competitors all the best in their recoveries.

AEW will get some much needed babyface reinforcements in the coming weeks, with both Orange Cassidy and Eddie Kingston set to return. Cassidy has been out since March after suffering a torn pectoral muscle of his own, whilst Kingston has been missing for fifteen months after suffering a torn meniscus, torn ACL and fractured tibia during a match with Gabe Kidd for New Japan back in May, 2024. Both will be welcome additions with the promotion’s growing injury list ahead of what is the toughest time of the year, in all metrics, across US wrestling.

Ace Austin could be another name to fill the void. The former TNA X Division champion debuted at the “Collision” tapings in Cincinnati on August 14th, and appears to be entering into the company by being involved with the Bang Bang Gang. The group’s leader, Jay White, is not expected back until some point in the new year. He is another long term injury absence for the company.

AEW have changed their “cash in” model on World Title contracts after significant feedback around the “execution” of the contract and then reneging on it that took place before the Adam Page and MJF match at “Forbidden Door”. The instant match stipulation has been removed, with cash-ins now having to be signed for a week before they are due to take place. It is an effort to distinguish the concept from that which is used in WWE that still keeps the threat over the Champion when held by a heel but also addresses the hatred for the gimmick that a large part of the AEW audience has for it. A bit of a compromise, if you will.

The Young Bucks used Hanson’s “Mmmbop” for the PPV after some convincing that the 90’s one hit wonder would work in the UK. The moment was part of their current self humiliation tour which is also highlighting moments from their past and will end in a face turn for the pair, with the tenth anniversary of The Elite inching ever closer. The story will be supported by additional content on the previously dormant “Being The Elite” Youtube channel.

Next week’s “Dynamite” from London, Ontario will be branded “September to Remember”. With Arthur Ashe Stadium under redevelopment this year and the movement of All Out to mid September, AEW have been missing their branded show for this month that attempts to counter the impact of a glut of season premieres either in the same week or (in this year’s case) the week after. This show will not have the same level of impact as a long promoted stadium show such as “Grand Slam” but it will run under a different format, with a one hour “Collision” following on from a two hour “Dynamite” ahead of a thirty minute PPV countdown show.

AEW will also run their 6th Anniversary show on October 1st from Hollywood, Florida and have branded their head to head Tuesday night show with NXT as “Homecoming”. The show takes place on a Tuesday night due to the MLB Playoffs interrupting TBS’ regular scheduling.

AEW News

Kota Ibushi announced on his Instagram that he has signed a two year contract extension with AEW. Ibushi wrote:

“A turning point in my life. I never thought I would get to ride on a private jet! And I have signed a two-year contract extension…I can’t imagine myself still wrestling at 45. What more could I want? I don’t know. I’ve lived my life knowing nothing but pro wrestling, mental control, and the mechanics of the body. Pro wrestling can be a dream come true, just as I thought it would be when I was a child. But it’s not all good things; you can’t get there without going through 99% hell. How tough that 99% hell is was far beyond what I could have imagined, from training to just how you live day-to-day. But you can’t look down. Always look up. This isn’t enough for me, not by a long shot! This is just the beginning.”

Ibushi debuted in the promotion back in July 2023 as part of the “Blood and Guts” match in Boston but has had a number of injuries, some concurrent, that have left too long absences from the promotion. Also signed up for another year is commentator Jim Ross. Ross confirmed on his “Grillin’ JR” podcast that his new deal will run through August 2026.

A new addition to AEW will be long time UK independent wrestler Nathan Cruz, who will be joining the promotion as a coach and agent. Cruz debuted in the UK 19 years ago and has mainly plied his trade for All Star Wrestling and northern independents. He is perhaps best known for being Progress Wrestling’s first World Champion and for adopting the “Showstealer” moniker that was previously held in the UK by Alex Shane. He has previously tried out for NXT but was disqualified from joining WWE on medical grounds. Cruz has wrestled far less in recent years, insteading picking up training duties for Lincolnshire promotion BWR. He is available for UK bookings until September 14th before he will make the move to the US in order to begin his new role.

Kyle Fletcher has also re-signed with the promotion in what Fightful Select reported to be a “multi-year” deal with a major increase in value. The current TNT Champion arrived in AEW as part of the Aussie Open tag team but has stepped up as a singles competitor after an unfortunate injury to tag partner Mark Davis led to him into singles competition. Fletcher is considered a key piece in AEW’s plans and is now secured for the foreseeable future.

Fletcher, alongside AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm, are front and centre for promotional materials for AEW’s return to Australia in February. AEW will run in Sydney on February 14th for the second edition of “Grand Slam Australia” before heading back to Brisbane for a house show on February 15th. The Sydney date will be held in the 18,000 capacity Qudos Bank Arena, whilst the Brisbane date will see the promotion return to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre that they ran last February. The brief tour is again being promoted by TEG. Darby Allin, Swerve Strickland, MJF and Adam Page are included in the first promotional materials alongside Fletcher, Mone and Storm. The first four were not part of the previous tour last year.

AEW will also be part of GalaxyCon, with two shows set to be hosted during the convention weekend in Columbus. Ring of Honor’s “Final Battle” on December 5th and AEW “Collision” on December 6th will air live from GalaxyCon.

TBS Champion Mercedes Moné appeared on Athena’s “Who Runs The World?” independent show in Bedford, Texas on August 9th. The all women’s show produced by Athena alongside Metroplex Wrestling, will have a follow up event on October 25th in nearby Irving, with Kris Statlander already announced for the show. WWE wrestler Bayley has also suggested that she intends to attend the event as well.
alongside Athena at an independent wrestling show in Texas on Saturday night.

RoH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty will present an exhibit entitled “Balance” at the Night Gallery in Los Angeles, California that will focus on showing luchadors “in moments of reprieve and solitude”. It will run from September 27th to October 18th.

seth-rollins-world-heavyweight-champion-paul-heyman-bron-breakker-bronson-reed-cm-punk

WWE

WWE “Summerslam” Saturday

02/08/2025
Location: MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, USA
Attendance: 50,493
Watch On: Peacock (USA), Netflix (International)
Review by David Hayter

“SummerSlam 2025” represents WWE’s first attempt to follow the “WrestleMania” formula by expanding the remaining “Big Four” PLEs (“Royal Rumble”, “Survivor Series”, and “SummerSlam”) first into stadium-sized events and then into two-night affairs. Commercially speaking, the experiment has been an unqualified success. The tribalists who spend their free time posting images of the hard-cam side of AEW and WWE events will likely mock the closed-off sections that Lee Fitting did everything in his power to avoid filming, but shifting over 50,000 tickets to two nights of wrestling at sky-high prices is an incredible achievement and shows the continued resilience of wrestling as a live-events business across North America.

The bigger question that continues to haunt these two-night events is not commercial but critical and artistic: does WWE have enough marquee matches, epic moments, and engaging storylines to fill two full nights of stadium-sized wrestling? This is a hard question to answer, in large part because WWE seems absolutely intent on punting their Saturday shows, as a clear booking pattern has emerged between “WrestleMania” and “SummerSlam”. Triple H is consciously loading the Sunday card with not only the biggest marquee matches but also the most exciting and dynamic undercard matches. The Saturday and Sunday “SummerSlam” line-ups were so transparently and brazenly unbalanced (to the point where Sunday had literally all of the gimmick matches) that there can be no question: the imbalance is entirely by design.

My working theory is that WWE Creative are of the view that Sunday is what the fans will ultimately remember; Saturday is merely an appetiser to pique their interest, but not to burn them out before the blow-away finale. The show will start with a big match (Jey Uso winning the title at “WrestleMania”, the Bloodline reuniting at “SummerSlam”) and end with a long main event and signature moment (Paul Heyman turning, Seth Rollins’ cash-in), but everything in between will be underpowered almost by design. There is certainly a logic behind this approach, but there seems little reason to deliberately disappoint fans. WWE has enough massively over stars and storylines to craft two compelling six-match PLEs. The hoarding of all the stunt-show, no-disqualification matches for the second night felt like an unnecessary self-inflicted wound.

With all this in mind, was “SummerSlam” Saturday a creative failure? Well, yes and no. It largely depends on your personal feelings towards the 30-minute marathon main event between CM Punk and Gunther and the celebrity hijinks of Jelly Roll and Logan Paul. The main event currently stands as one of WWE’s highest-rated matches of the year on Cagematch, on a card where voters were not afraid to give harsh verdicts (Sami Zayn vs. Karrion Kross currently ranks as one of the year’s worst in any promotion). However, if the sight of a blown-up CM Punk struggling to breathe, let alone execute his signature offence, made the match feel like an unwatchable slog, then “SummerSlam” Saturday will have been an unmitigated disaster. In that limited sense, this was truly a one-match or one-moment show.

CM Punk Falls Victim To The “Ruse Of The Century”, But Did Seth Actually Fool Anyone?

The advertised main event of “SummerSlam” Saturday was, of course, Gunther vs. CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship, but anyone who is even halfway plugged into the “dirtsheets” would have been aware of John Pollock (and later Dave Meltzer’s) reporting that Seth Rollins’ major knee injury at “Saturday Night’s Main Event” was a work, setting the stage for a dramatic cash-in to close “SummerSlam”. Both preceding and following the event, there has been a lot of consternation among wrestling fans and talking heads alike about exactly who, if anyone, was fooled by Seth’s supposed year-ending knee injury.

The initial angle was certainly well shot, and WWE Creative took the bold decision to work their own locker room (including Bill Goldberg in advance of his retirement match) to try and create a truly shocking moment. “SNME” was “rebooked on the fly,” reportedly causing chaos backstage, and Seth Rollins spent the past month hobbling around on crutches (even when taking his daughter to school). However, word did get out and, truth be told, even casual fans should have been on high alert for an upcoming swerve having seen Paul Heyman’s heavy foreshadowing on “RAW”, not to mention WWE’s highly dubious “inconclusive medical reports.”

Nevertheless, whether the wool was truly pulled over even a single fan’s eyes is largely inconsequential. WWE stuck with the logical and well-crafted story that they’ve been telling all year long: CM Punk is on the cusp of living out his dreams, and Seth Rollins violently pulls the rug out from underneath him (every single time).
The moment™ was pretty much perfect from start to finish. CM Punk, who had just put on one of his worst physical and athletic performances in a WWE ring since returning in November 2023, rose to the occasion perfectly. He was exhausted, battered, and beaten, struggling to hold the World Heavyweight Championship above his head when Seth Rollins’ music hit, and his already weary face managed to drop even further into a classic old-man, “fuck my life” expression. Despite the ruse and Seth hopping out on crutches, Punk the character was under no illusion—he knew he was about to suffer.

From there, Seth revelled in suspense. Paul Heyman briefly teased that they were simply there to remind Punk that a cash-in would come eventually, but then Seth, feigning to walk away, threw down his crutches and sprinted to the ring. Suffice it to say, a stadium crowd that had struggled to consistently maintain an atmosphere came completely unglued as Seth escaped a Go To Sleep, battered Punk with the MITB briefcase, and then quickly hit a Curb Stomp to win the title in just 12 seconds. In the process, and in what is a brilliant storytelling flourish, Punk is now condemned to hold the record for the shortest World Heavyweight Title reign in history at five minutes and ten seconds, surpassing the previous record set by his nemesis Drew McIntyre (and caused by Punk) at “WrestleMania XL”.

Gunther Drags A Sweat-Soaked And Blown-Up Punk To A Controversial Classic

The 30-minute, largely one-sided war between Gunther and CM Punk in the “SummerSlam” main event* is one of those matches that makes you question what exactly great wrestling entails. Personally, I thought the match was very good, perhaps bordering on great at times in terms of its long-form storytelling, with an older, slower Punk being brutally and gleefully beaten to a pulp by a younger, stronger, faster, more vicious, and more physically imposing champion athlete in Gunther. In many ways, CM Punk was the classic soup can in boxing. He was simply hanging on in there and refusing (and/or waiting) to die—and at multiple points, it did in fact look like he was dying of dehydration in the middle of the ring as the sweat poured out of his every pore. Punk’s only hope was that his opponent would tire and succumb to hubris so he could land that lucky knockout shot.

This is no doubt a compelling and classic story—it’s essentially the plot of the original Rocky movie—except Rocky Balboa was famed for his conditioning and endurance, and Punk’s gas tank appeared to be empty following his ring entrance. Indeed, Punk’s performance is so puzzling because, aside from his facial reactions and acting, it was legitimately atrocious. He was late for his entrance and, for whatever reason (whether he was simply under the weather, out of shape, or washed), he was gasping for air and caked in sweat from the opening bell and appeared truly incapable of executing his offence crisply. All his spots looked noticeably off, as if they were a legitimate struggle, but certain moves were flat-out appalling—notably his horrific running knees (which were lucky if they grazed Gunther’s nipple, let alone his jaw) and his top-rope flying elbow, which was so preposterously inelegant and mistimed it seemed to defy the laws of physics.

Gunther himself had somewhat of a strange night—not in terms of his own personal performance; he played the perfect bully, painstakingly humiliating the hero—but he too had to negotiate his floundering opponent. When they kept things simple, it was perfect: Gunther was a human cat-o’-nine-tails ripping chunks of flesh off CM Punk’s chest with his chops. But whenever things got even slightly more complex, the Austrian champion was faced with some tough choices. When it came time to powerbomb his exhausted and aged opponent, Gunther certainly erred on the side of caution—wrenching Punk up into the air dramatically and placing him down with noticeable carefulness. His selling, which was absolutely superb (more on that later), walked a tightrope; he had to give Punk credibility, but he had to delicately negotiate some decidedly weak offence. Choosing when to sell big and when to simply laugh it off could not have been easy when his opponent was struggling to generate any real momentum.

As stated at the outset, I find myself strangely positioned in this debate, as I thought this was a really enjoyable story-driven main event that fell well short of either Punk or Gunther’s best work. But I also do not feel Punk’s pitiful physical performance in itself made this a bad or even an average match. Nevertheless, there are areas of critique that fall outside of Punk’s personal performance that held this match back from true greatness. One was simply a matter of structure. CM Punk could have learnt from Sheamus, who is (no, I’m not kidding) the absolute master of the babyface hope spot—particularly in matches that are designed to be gruelling. Sheamus always senses when a crowd is dipping, and he’ll nail one big, dramatic, perfectly timed piece of offence and then let the heel cut him off again. It’s part of the reason his matches with Gunther and McIntyre are so compelling. But Punk decided that he was going to tell a pure underdog story with little or no hope. He allowed Gunther to beat him and beat him and beat him for approximately 95% of the 30-minute main event. For the vast majority of the time, any flicker of hope or excitement would be extinguished, and that made the match (entirely consciously) a grind.

Now here’s the kicker: the ultimate destination was worth the extreme, elongated misery of the heat. Gunther has perfected his bully act. He is a confident and dominant front-runner, but when something goes really, truly wrong, he absolutely panics because, at heart, he is a coward. He panicked when Sami Zayn kicked out at “WrestleMania XL”, he panicked when Jey Uso locked him in his own choke at “WrestleMania 41”, and he did an absolutely fantastic job of panicking and losing all composure when CM Punk swept his leg, sent him crashing into the announcer’s table, and he came up covered in his own blood at “SummerSlam”.

From there, the match was faultless. Punk smelt blood (literally), taking the fight to Gunther, and the Austrian simply couldn’t find his feet or recover his poise. Punk hit one GTS, and Gunther pulled off the most sensational sell—staying on his feet, but clearly knocked loopy—and (not one to miss his moment) Punk immediately hoisted Gunther for a second GTS and claimed the World Heavyweight Championship. It could legitimately be argued that the match would have been more dramatic if the pair had entered an exchange of near-falls and kick-outs at this point, but for my money, for the story they were telling, this was the perfect moment for Punk to win the title and expose Gunther’s greatest weakness: his propensity to panic.

The Bloodline Conquer The Vision In A Feel-Good, All-Action Opener

“SummerSlam” Saturday started hot with an all-star tag match that had by far and away the most heat of any programme going into the event, following a series of Roman Reigns’ surprise appearances blowing the roof off various arenas in the run-up to SummerSlam. The match itself had a heavy focus on fun and big, meaty action. Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed would get the heat in creative fashion as, after Roman Reigns and Jey Uso had run wild to start the match, the babyface duo threatened to run back Jey Uso’s entrance for an additional dose of yeeting – mercifully, the heels pulled The Bloodline out of the ring just as the music started. This drew heavy boos from the live crowd, but hearty sighs of relief from the audience watching at home.

Once the match began in earnest, the focus was clearly on getting the heat and teasing big feel-good hot tags, but unlike the lazier efforts we’ve seen from the likes of John Cena in recent months, these two teams wanted to put the work in to a dangerous extent. Perhaps to demonstrate that this wasn’t just a generic tag match, Roman Reigns would soar through the sky to hit a gorgeous Undertaker-style tope onto both heels. Somewhat implausibly, Reigns managed to over-jump his targets, but Reed and Breakker were careful to flip Reigns at the last minute so he landed safely. Reed wasn’t so lucky. When it was his turn to dive, he flew through the ropes for a venomous suicide dive, but his bowling ball-like body split Reigns and Uso, and Reed was forced to take a hard, face-first landing to end a wild sequence.

Much of the match focused around Bron Breakker visibly beating Roman Reigns to the punch. Bron would hit his signature flying lariat over the announce table to clear out Reigns, and The Vision would follow up by hitting a Doomsday Device-style bulldog on Jey for a good nearfall. Roman would be given tremendous hope spots of his own, countering Bron’s signature spear on the floor with a Superman Punch, only to then spear Bron through the barricade and into the crowd. This would kick-start a sequence of strong finishing moves starting with a 1D on Reed for a great nearfall and culminating with Roman sacrificing himself to save Jey from Bron’s spear, allowing Jey to run wild with superkicks before hitting the Uso Splash on Reed to claim victory. The finish was particularly notable as it marked the first time in his babyface run that Roman has done something truly selfless. Up until this point, it had been an important character beat that Roman remained unrepentant and self-centred.

Logan Paul Carries A Visibly Exhausted Jelly Roll Through An Entertaining Celebrity Tag

Let’s make one thing clear: Jelly Roll is not a star anywhere near the calibre of Travis Scott, let alone Bad Bunny and, if it were up to me, we would not waste time on celebrity matches like this one. That being said, there is no denying that Jelly Roll is a legitimate wrestling fan who has cut fantastic promos in the run-up to “SummerSlam” and who clearly possesses all the right instincts in terms of reading a crowd and reacting to the moment. In many ways, it’s safe to say that Jelly Roll is in fact good at this – he definitely “gets it” – unfortunately, he is not in any way, shape or form an athlete, despite his praiseworthy weight loss.

This was a match between Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul on one hand and Randy Orton and a man struggling to breathe on the other. I’m happy to report that it really was, on the whole, a very entertaining contest, but it pushed the limits of credibility to the absolute extreme. Logan Paul and Drew McIntyre worked over Jelly Roll for the entire match and, with the notable exception of a few straight punches, they barely sold for the country singer. Instead, they beat Jelly’s arse remorselessly, and it is truly a credit to Logan Paul that Jelly Roll made it through this match in one piece. Paul did everything for Jelly, including taking wild bumps and at times pulling Roll into the perfect position so he could land complicated offence in a safe manner.

Paul would ultimately steal the show with a spectacular dive. Jelly Roll was laid on the announce table and Paul ascended to the top of the ring post, toasted with two Prime bottles, and then hit a gigantic frog splash through the table and…unbelievably, Jelly Roll did not move out of the way. He took the full frog splash. The crowd were going wild at this point and were audibly singing for Jelly Roll as he was carried to the back while Randy Orton was being worked over by both heels. Orton would survive a blockbuster and hit a superplex on Drew to set up a hot tag, and I am not joking when I say the crowd lost their minds when Jelly Roll dramatically returned to the ring to take the hot tag and hit a chokeslam and Black Hole Slam on his opponents.

Physically, it looked like Jelly Roll was on the verge of curling up into a ball and dying at this point, but he had enough energy to eat a Claymore Kick from Drew. Randy Orton would fly in to RKO McIntyre, but this gave Logan the opportunity to clear the ring and pick up the victory with the frog splash on Jelly Roll.

Many fans would be absolutely justified in hating this match, especially Jelly Roll’s ability to recover from moves that would typically knock out normal wrestlers, but in terms of spectacle, hooking the crowd and providing light-hearted fun with some good action thrown in, this was a success on an otherwise dull midcard.

Tiffany-Stratton-Jade-Cargill-WWE-SummerSlam

Jade and Tiffy Keep It Simple, But Still Fail To Impress

This clash between WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton and Queen of the Ring Jade Cargill felt like both a make-or-break moment for both women, and a reality check showing just how far their respective stars have fallen. Tiffy is well liked by WWE fans, but her title reign has been a disaster, producing a litany of terrible angles, dire promos, and hardly a single good match not involving some kind of stipulation. Her presentation remains stilted and one-note, as she struggles to find an identity as a babyface beyond repeating her catchphrase. Nearly a full year into her babyface run, she is still behaving like a heel who has routinely been cooked on the mic by everyone from Nia Jax to Naomi. Jade, on the other hand, hasn’t been rejected and has largely avoided outright disasters, but just isn’t particularly over. Her delivery on promos is fine, her matches have been carefully structured to protect her aura while giving her big wins, but unfortunately it’s clear that the fans aren’t rallying to her cause. Of the “Big 3”, Bianca is beloved and is an undoubted star, Naomi is a white-hot heel character, and Jade is very much just “the other one”.

Thankfully, given that both women are green and poor at leading matches, the agenting of this match was excellent. They made the right call in forgoing psychology or complexity, instead focusing on a simple, “you hit a big spot, I hit a big spot, and repeat” formula. As a result, the match was easy enough to enjoy but hard to love, as Jade would land a big power move and Tiffy would respond with a slam, stomp, or flip. Unfortunately, even the best-laid plans can come undone and, as the match wore on, the level of sloppiness increased, culminating in two particularly ugly botches.

First, Tiffy went for her trademark rolling Alabama Slam, but due to Jade’s height and her unwillingness to take a blind bump, when Tiffy went to throw her, Jade landed on her feet (unintentionally) and then had to awkwardly take a phantom, ultra-soft back bump. Luckily, this terrible sequence was followed up by one of the best moves of the match, with Jade fully extending both her legs to boot Tiffy in the face as she attempted the PME. Sadly, it wasn’t long before the second horrific botch occurred. Jade hit Jaded and the plan was for her to lean too far back on the pin so Tiffy’s foot would just happen to touch the rope – a clever nearfall that Je’Von Evans and Wes Lee executed to perfection on “NXT” recently. Unfortunately, their ring positioning was all wrong, and Jade not only had to cartoonishly lean way too far back (beyond any natural position), but she also had to – directly on camera – lift Tiffany’s leg and place it on the ropes for her.

From there it was impossible to truly redeem the match, but they tried. Jade hit a nice chokeslam and went for a top-rope Jaded. Unfortunately, this move was so contrived – with Tiffy having to walk up the ropes to get in position and at one point feed her arm back to Jade, who’d lost her grip – that it looked somewhat preposterous. Thankfully, the plan was for the move to be countered, though the reversal looked bad as Tiffy couldn’t wrap her legs around Jade, who had to take a front-flip bump to the canvas of her own accord. Tiffy sent the crowd home happy with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever, but where either woman goes from here remains to be seen. Cardi B was screaming at Jade to get up at ringside and, truth be told, both women need some kind of spark at this point to rejuvenate their careers.

Karrion Kross Is Incapable Of Having A Good Match With Sami Zayn

It’s frankly baffling at this point: how does Karrion Kross keep having such boring matches with Sami Zayn? Their first clash at “Night of Champions” wasn’t remotely bad. Sami was very dynamic with a series of moonsaults and dives, whipping up the crowd before Kross killed them stone dead by getting the heat for far too long while screaming at Sami to admit that, “Kross tells the truth”. Unfortunately, it’s been all downhill from there. Their rematch was poor and this feud-deciding rubber match was frankly awful.

Sami tried to create movement and underdog babyface sympathy, but Kross has this black-hole-like quality: whenever he’s getting the heat, he just sucks the energy and engagement out of the crowd and replaces it with pure apathy. Remarkably, it got worse. If the wrestling was uninspiring, the over-the-top drama was both corny and predictable. Scarlett handed Kross a steel pipe, Sami cut him off, and then – in a not-so-dramatic twist – Scarlett handed Sami the pipe. It was time for Sami to prove Kross right and reveal his true colours as an opportunistic villain. With the crowd absolutely comatose, Sami appeared conflicted before throwing down the pipe and beating Kross clean with the Helluva Kick.

Kross can be entertaining in backstage skits as the devil on the babyface’s shoulder, but he’s a busted flush as a wrestler and likely should be cut.

Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss Survive Miscommunication To Win Tag Team Gold

The “We Are Not Friends” team of Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair has been an unqualified success. Sure, their angle and skits are corny and typified by stilted acting, but by putting these two former enemies with nothing better to do together, WWE has achieved something incredible: they have got Charlotte over as a babyface, seemingly everywhere. Perhaps it is that Charlotte is playing the knowing role of the self-centred Queen for laughs now, a recognition that she and WWE understand her shortcomings. Or maybe it’s just that the fans really like Alexa Bliss and see this team as a vehicle for her to receive a sustained push. Who knows? But the result is a popular new team in a thin division.
The match against the Judgement Day team of Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez was, by and large, entertaining. It didn’t have the kind of wild action or drama you’d normally get from a PLE match, but that’s to be expected when you consider that the teams are on differing brands and hadn’t had the chance to build up any real tension. Instead, Roxy was a little wizard in the ring, diving and bumping around to make her opponents look strong.

The match moved through the gears nicely, like a solid “RAW” main event, and peaked when Alexa Bliss accidentally laid out Charlotte Flair with her big forearm, drawing legitimate gasps from the crowd. The teams engaged in some good back-and-forth action, building to a finale where Alexa had Roxy ready for the Sister Abigail DDT with Charlotte staring them down in the corner. It looked as though Charlotte would blast Alexa with the big boot, but instead she kicked over her head to take out Raquel, allowing Alexa to land the DDT for the win.

Final Thoughts: Simple Tweaks Could Have Elevated A Lightweight And Skippable Saturday

With the exception of the terribly dull Karrion Kross and Sami Zayn clash, there was nothing overtly wrong with the “SummerSlam” Saturday card – it was simply too light on big, important matches in the midcard. Given that Sunday was overloaded with exciting No DQ gimmick matches, it would have been very easy to slide Lyra Valkyria vs Becky Lynch or Iyo Sky vs Naomi vs Rhea Ripley onto this show to give it some much-needed star power and dynamism during the middle two hours. Swapping Tiffany and Jade over to Sunday’s show would have caused little damage to that card, but the sight of Becky Lynch, Iyo Sky or Rhea Ripley would have helped to energise a crowd that lost interest following the hot opening Bloodline tag.

There is no doubt WWE could try harder with these Saturday PLE cards and, when the well-received Giulia vs Zelina Vega US Title match was given away on “SmackDown” while Penta and Finn Bálor were saved for Raw, they could easily have enhanced the commercial-ridden wasteland that was the Saturday midcard with a seventh match (even a short one). Sadly, Triple H seems insistent on doing the minimum while ensuring they end with a bang to just about get away with these Saturday stadium shows.

Full Results

Jey Uso & Roman Reigns defeat Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed (w/Paul Heyman) (21:04)

WWE Women’s Tag Team Title Match
Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair defeat The Judgment Day (Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez) (c) (13:36)

Sami Zayn defeats Karrion Kross (w/Scarlett) (8:10)

WWE Women’s Title Match
Tiffany Stratton (c) defeats Jade Cargill (7:04)

Drew McIntyre & Logan Paul defeat Jelly Roll & Randy Orton (17:05)

WWE World Heavyweight Title Match
CM Punk defeats Gunther (c) (30:19)

WWE World Heavyweight Title Match
Seth Rollins (w/Paul Heyman) defeats CM Punk (c) (0:12)

cody-rhodes-john-cena-undisputed-wwe-champion-august-2-a

WWE “Summerslam” Sunday

03/08/2025
Location: MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, USA
Attendance: 58,186
Watch On: Peacock (USA), Netflix (International)
Review by David Hayter

It is almost impossible to discuss “SummerSlam” Sunday without confronting the elephant who snuck into the room at the very last minute head-on. Brock Lesnar made his return to close “SummerSlam”, interrupting an otherwise gloriously happy ending that saw John Cena soaking in a 56,000-strong “thank you” chant. Triple H could have faded to black with a freshly turned babyface legend enjoying the adoration of a WWE Universe that has been desperate to full-throatedly cheer Cena since he embarked on an ill-fated heel turn back in February. Instead, WWE made the choice to bring back Brock Lesnar before the dust (let alone lawsuit) has settled between TKO, Vince McMahon and Janel Grant.

There are some points that have to be made at the outset: Brock Lesnar is not a defendant in the case, he is not the subject of any outstanding litigation and he is not the principal perpetrator of alleged crimes in the lawsuit, but he is named in the suit. Make no mistake, named doesn’t mean that the words Brock Lesnar fleetingly appear. He is a principal character in one of the nastiest accusations in the suit. He is central to the claims of trafficking levelled against McMahon. Brock Lesnar is the UFC fighter and wrestler who was offered the sexual services of Janel Grant as an enticement to sign a new contract and, per the suit, it was only Brock Lesnar’s drunkenness that stopped him from going through with the act. It is important to note that (if the allegations are accurate) a trafficked individual by definition has lost their autonomy and has no capacity to consent and therefore sleeping with a trafficked individual constitutes rape. Even in a charitable reading where Brock knew nothing of McMahon’s coercion, Brock would still have had the intention of sleeping with Grant as part of a negotiation and, despite lacking the typical mens rea for rape, would have been guilty in a similar manner to an individual who sleeps unwittingly with an underage individual.

Suffice it to say, those seeking to justify Brock’s return will note that he did not have sex with Grant and will argue (perhaps reasonably) that he may have had the intent, but he neither did the deed nor had knowledge of the true situation (although this is certainly debatable). Despite this defence, there is no denying that Brock Lesnar’s return before the suit has even been settled casts a dark shadow over WWE, rightly outraging fans and provoking a series of questions regarding the seriousness with which the company looks after the safety of female performers and staff. In my personal opinion, I see no benefit in bringing Lesnar back and, given the commercial success of the company is already assured, there seems little moral or ethical justification for his return. Even if his return was cleared by WWE legal, the entire situation is deplorable.

In terms of the show as a pure entertainment product, Lesnar’s return to confront and F-5 Cena is either a black mark that sours not only your memories of “SummerSlam 2025” but your ability to actively enjoy WWE going forward, or it’s another classic, shocking moment giving Cena one final beast to slay on his retirement road. Aesthetically, Brock looked incredible debuting one of his most badass and imposing looks to date and the entire stadium was on the edge of their seats as Lesnar stalked the ring before destroying Cena. Stripped of all context, it was an incredible happening, but we’re not in the business of ignoring inconvenient truths, and Lesnar’s return was unsettling at best and outright disgusting at worst.

At this point, it is worth drawing a line under the Brock Lesnar incident. His arrival felt entirely ‘other’ and disconnected from what preceded it. I will now review “SummerSlam Sunday 2025” as if it were a normal show, but I wholeheartedly understand if WWE’s choice to bring Lesnar back means that you will be reading no further.

Homelander vs Peacemaker: Cody & Cena Deliver A Modern Day Hogan-Warrior

For many readers the long-awaited straight babyface vs babyface battle between the face of WWE in 2025, Cody Rhodes, and the standard bearer for the company for the past two decades, John Cena, will represent a farcically overblown parody of pro wrestling…but I absolutely loved it. There is no reality in which John Cena and Cody Rhodes should attempt to engage in a tactical grappling battle, no one on earth wants to see that, just as no one wanted to watch a heel Cena laboriously work over Rhodes at “WrestleMania”. Instead, these two top babyfaces cast off the pretence of having a pro wrestling match and instead gave the people exactly what they wanted: the showdown between the two ultimate invincible heroes of WWE – The Unstoppable Force vs The Immovable Object, Peacemaker vs Homelander, Super Cena vs Super Cody.

Hogan and Warrior’s classic torch-passing battle at “WrestleMania VI” is the natural comparison, but whereas in the late 80s and early 90s the peak of heroic masculine power was the sight of two steroid-fuelled, baby-oiled behemoths straining, grunting and gurning to win a test of strength, the 2025 vision of white meat perfection is two clean-cut, square-jawed company men kicking out of every finisher in the book, flying face-first through tables and hitting Code Reds on the floor. It was utterly preposterous but equally brilliant; they took every cliché about modern wrestling and dialed it up to 11 (if only John Cena had enough points of articulation to deliver a superkick). This was pure finisher, kick-out and table-spamming porn.

What’s more remarkable is that Cena and Rhodes maintained a frenetic-paced superhero spotfest for 38 minutes. This was by far the longest match on either night of “SummerSlam” and it was wrestled at a frightening pace. CM Punk had forced Cena to work relentlessly in Saudi Arabia, but in that match Cena knew he just had to make it to the 15-minute mark and the cavalry would come running in the form of a parody of smoke-and-mirrors ref bumps and interference. Tonight no one was coming to the rescue: Cena and Rhodes were going to go mano a mano for the best part of 40 minutes. Tremendous credit has to be given to Cody Rhodes – he not only put on a masterclass in bumping as he happily adopted the nominal heel role at times, but he was truly at the peak of his all-round powers. He was so energetic, so accurate, so fiery and so damn determined to make this match a success. He based perfectly for all Cena’s ridiculous spots, he threw himself hard to the canvas, and he took stunt show bumps (including an insane FU where Cena hurled him carelessly down the ramp).

Cena felt completely reinvigorated by reverting to the babyface role, largely because he neither had to get the heat nor sell. He merely had to kick out at the last second, deliver his offence and watch as Cody bumped as if he’d been struck by a cruise missile. Now, that’s not to say Cena’s work in this match was “good” – he certainly pulled out some of his signature spots from his much-loved US Championship open challenge era (including the aforementioned Code Red as well as the Nothing But Net top-rope leg drop), but he wasn’t so giving to his opponent. When it was Rhodes’ turn to hit a Cody Cutter or the CrossRhodes, Cena was the same awkward Lego brick action figure he’s always been, but now blighted by the tired slowness of a middle-aged man’s joints. Whenever Rhodes hit his finisher, Cena proved simply incapable of twisting. So instead he sort of flopped over awkwardly before gently landing with his chin resting on Rhodes’ chest, breaking even the nominal illusion that his face was being driven into the mat.

Nevertheless, it’s hard to articulate just how wildly enjoyable and heated this clash between these completely inhumane, nuance-free cartoon characters was, but there were some points where – for some unknown reason – they decided to play into the heel-turn narrative. Cody, who was lightly booed but mostly cheered, decided to finish his side of the heel Cena storyline by finally showing his ruthlessness. When the time came in the closing portions of the match, Cody detached the bottom rope from the ring and did not hesitate (despite selling emotional discomfort) to “pull the trigger” and waffle Cena repeatedly with the metal turnbuckle. Similarly, when the time came to score the winning pinfall, Cody saluted Cena before promptly hitting a final CrossRhodes. This does of course make perfect sense for Cody’s character; the only issue is that with Cena now a complete and total babyface, these spots drew the heaviest boos of the entire match. Where Cody was booed for hesitating at “WrestleMania”, he likely would have been rapturously cheered here, were Cena still a heel.

It goes without saying there is plenty to legitimately critique in this match. From Cena’s blocky bumping and the confused narrative beats that carried over from the heel turn, through to the ridiculous action hero entrance ramp FU spot (which has to be seen to be believed) and the implausible number of kick-outs (Cody kicked out of three FUs including an avalanche FU from the top rope), the match was deeply silly. It was very much designed specifically for 13-year-old boys and was a delight precisely because it was an intellect-free carnival of campy superhero nonsense. It was the never-ending CGI action sequence that ends seemingly every Marvel film – it’s not my cinematic or wrestling ideal (not even close), but I got one hell of a kick out of watching it. And there is no denying that by the time Cody had hit a magnificently ugly top-rope Cody Cutter through a table, saluted his fallen hero and hit one final CrossRhodes to send Superman out to pasture, the 56,000-strong crowd had been wholeheartedly entertained. This was a stadium-sized main event singles match with no run-ins or shenanigans that worked entirely on its own terms in a year that, from the Tokyo Dome through Las Vegas, has seen straight 1-on-1 matches flop on the grandest stage.

Chaos Reigns In A Scarily Spectacular TLC, But The Wrong Team Wins

With the Hardy and Dudley Boys in attendance (but of course not Edge & Christian), WWE decided to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the original Tables, Ladders and Chairs match by putting on a terrifyingly wild car crash masquerading as a match. This disasterpiece was never going to be coherent – it already featured six full tag teams (the Wyatts, the Street Profits, Fraxiom, MCMG, DIY, and Andrade & Fenix) – but the match would also feature run-ins and additional crazy spots from Nikki Cross, B-Fab, Candice LeRae, Erik Rowan and, ultimately, Uncle Howdy. In many ways this carnage in lieu of clarity was a perfect representation of the “SmackDown” tag team division in 2025: there was great action, but no coherent storyline thread to follow and no capacity for any one team to truly distinguish themselves and get over on their own terms. They were, for lack of a better term, interchangeable stuntmen.

Stuntmen or not, one thing is for certain – they put on one hell of a show, and there is far too much insanity to recap in full. Suffice it to say, from the opening moments teams were taking flip bumps on ladders and blasting each other with convoluted offence at every turn. Nevertheless, three moments stood out above all others.
Firstly, in an incredible sequence that the production team shot masterfully, there was a parade of insanity that started with Montez doing a front flip dive over the ring post to send most everyone to the floor, allowing Dexter Lumis to leg drop a Machine Gun through a table from the apron, which triggered four consecutive flying table bumps, each more crazy than the last – and the last one was undeniably the craziest. To finish this choreographed carnage, Axiom hit a top-rope Spanish fly to the outside through two tables on Angelo Dawkins, the beefiest man in the match. To make this spot even more death-defying, it also involved Tommaso Ciampa rolling off the tables to safety at the very last moment before impact.

Ciampa’s big moment was yet to come, however. In a brilliant tribute to the classic TLC matches, Tommaso found himself dangling off the suspended title belts, clinging on for dear life when Nathan Frazer lined up an Edge-style spear from a neighbouring ladder. In a nice twist on convention, Ciampa executed a curl, pulling himself upside down on the belt holder to dodge Frazer’s spear, sending the Englishman crashing and burning in the process. Not to be outdone, the most ill-advised and memorable spot of the entire match came when Candice LeRae climbed to the top of the ultra-tall ladder. The plan was for her to grab the belts while Johnny and Tommaso kept the other teams from entering the ring. Of course, it didn’t go according to plan. The Street Profits brawled with DIY and Johnny Gargano ended up stumbling and bumbling his way backwards into the ladder, which sent his wife flying knee-first over the top rope, straight through a ladder bridge that split on impact and barely broke her fall. This entire sequence was both spectacular and completely hare-brained. It is a genuine relief to find out Candice survived with just heavy bruising and no broken bones.

The finish is almost immaterial – any team could have won. Ideally Andrade & Fenix, the Street Profits or Fraxiom, but anyone other than the Wyatts would have been perfectly acceptable. So of course, after Uncle Howdy briefly ran wild, Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy hit a series of double-team moves, cleared the ring and claimed the titles to deafening silence. Yes, in terms of narrative, the one storyline direction the division has is that “these feuding teams are too distracted to handle the existential threat that is the Wyatt Sicks”, but this was not the time or place for a Wyatt win. The crowd and the viewing audience loved this festival of ultra-athletic violence; any babyface winner would have been greeted as absolute heroes. Instead, the worst team won – a heel victory in a 100% babyface match.

Naomi Steals The Pin In An Excellent Opener That Was Cruelly Short Changed On Time

It’s strange to call a match that lasted 16 minutes and had the crowd going wild from start to finish too short, but that was certainly the case with this battle between Iyo Sky, Rhea Ripley and Naomi. The match was just kicking into overdrive when the finish came. Iyo Sky had just nailed a glorious sunset flip through-the-ropes powerbomb on Rhea Ripley, where she carried her opponent several paces in an impressive feat of strength before powerbombing her hard onto both Naomi and the floor. Rhea then made her superhero comeback, blocking a top-rope Frankensteiner attempt and hitting the avalanche Riptide on Iyo Sky, when Naomi snuck in, rolled up Rhea, hooked the tights and secured the crafty heel win. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the match the trio put together – in fact it was really rather excellent in places – it just needed another five minutes of thrilling back-and-forth action to push it over the edge.

It has to be noted that there was a noticeable gap in quality between the workers. Naomi has become a fantastic heel character, breathing life into first “SmackDown” (and now “RAW”), but she remains limited in the ring. She has upped her game by focusing on absolutely nailing her offence – almost every strike she threw or dive she landed looked and sounded immaculate. The problem, however, is that this increased accuracy comes at the cost of pace. Naomi moves painfully slowly when getting the heat, and Rhea and especially Iyo had to do all kinds of wobbly sells and delaying tactics to buy time for Naomi to hit her spots. The second Naomi was jettisoned to the outside, the match speed increased tenfold with Iyo and Rhea executing a very complicated sequence of shoulder-lift counters culminating in Iyo murdering Rhea with a poisonrana. Despite the inconsistencies in pace, the match was wildly enjoyable and featured both great feats of athleticism and clever call-backs to past matches. Iyo and Rhea had endless reversals for one another’s offence and, in a great spot, Iyo had been posted on the top rope (just like “Mania”) and Naomi had Rhea pinned, but when Iyo tried to surprise Naomi with the Over the Moonsault, Naomi moved, so Iyo hit Rhea, before Naomi quickly hit a split-legged moonsault of her own for a great nearfall.

This was a strong opener, but given some of the overlong and misguided matches that followed it, Naomi, Rhea and Iyo really should have been given that extra five minutes so they could truly steal the show.

Becky & Lyra Offer Fleeting Brilliance In Over-Booked, Over-Thought and Overly-Long Clash

If ever a match did not require a stipulation, it was this one. The simple storyline of Lyra Valkyria never being able to challenge for the IC title as long as Becky Lynch held the belt was more than enough drama. Becky and Lyra have had a brilliant feud (with Bayley included) based purely on gimmick-free in-ring storytelling and technical back-and-forth wrestling. Unfortunately, on a card overstuffed with repetitive street-fight style stipulations, they decided to finish their feud with a No DQ and No Count-Out match (aka another street fight). Whenever the pair wrestled, it was excellent, and even some of the heavily gimmicked spots (like Lyra, with her hands zip-tied, trapping Becky in a belly-to-belly before hitting a moonsault, or Lyra flying and leg-dropping Becky through a table out of nowhere) were absolutely tremendous — but there was simply too much creativity for their own good. Between the chair spots, crowbar spots, extended canings, fire extinguishers and, of course, the zip ties, it was just too much gaga and far too much contrivance.

Much of the match was spent either setting up elaborate spots or trying to correct sequences that had gone wrong (notably Lyra having to recapture her own zip-tied hands when they’d come loose). By the time Bayley ever-so-slightly missed her cue to save Lyra from a crowbar shot directly to the face, the match had already lost most of the crowd. The finish would involve Bayley accidentally hitting Lyra with a chain, allowing Becky to pick up the victory, but it didn’t have the heat it deserved because it was simply one long over-the-top cavalcade of contrivance masquerading as a wrestling match. Ultimately, however, this was well wrestled and enjoyable, but they’d have been better served focusing in on just two or three of their zany ideas and making them memorable, rather than throwing 25 minutes of nonsense against the wall in the hope that something would stick.

Solo’s Reign Of Terror Continues Following Tedious Cage Match

If more time could and should have been given to the opener, then WWE Creative certainly could have found it by trimming either the overblown Lynch–Lyra match or taking time away from this tedious cage match between Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu. Not that this was a battle between Solo and Jacob: aside from Solo tediously getting the heat for a few minutes, this match was little more than a parade of run-ins with Talla Tonga, Tonga Loa, JC Mateo and Jimmy Uso constantly disrupting the action. The pacing was so tediously flat that even the sight of Jacob Fatu fighting off waves of ne’er-do-wells never felt remotely enjoyable.

If it wasn’t bad enough already, the finish saw the babyface hero — who got over precisely because he was unstoppable and unbeatable — losing to the hapless Solo Sikoa yet again. Jacob had been handcuffed to the top of the cage (just go with it), only to break free and dramatically dive to catch Solo as he was on the verge of exiting through the door. Of course, he didn’t go on to hit his beloved Triple Jump Moonsault and win; instead, Talla Tonga slammed the cage door on Jacob’s head and Solo took a pratfall out of the cage to secure a coward’s victory. Post-match Jacob would hit a moonsault from the top of the cage onto JC Mateo and Tonga Loa (which made for an excellent visual), but it could not erase the memory of sheer boredom that preceded it.

Charming Eddie Guerrero Tribute Offers Welcome Reprieve From Gimmick Matches

Fittingly, on a night full to the brim with gimmick matches, this ultra-heated singles match between AJ Styles and Dominik Mysterio served not only to reinvigorate the crowd, but to remind the world that sometimes the best stories are told purely in-ring. Dom and AJ wrestled a good, technical back-and-forth match with AJ providing clever counters to all of Dom’s offence, with a central focus on AJ trapping Dom in the Calf Crusher.

In and around the action, both men played loving tribute to Eddie Guerrero. AJ Styles came to the ring in a low-rider driven by his son, whose hair was dyed bleached blonde like a young Dominik Guerrero (Mysterio); while Dom decided to embrace Eddie’s heel tactics. With the referee’s back turned, Dom would smash the chair against the mat, throw it to AJ and play dead, just like Eddie Guerrero. AJ, being a wily veteran, would wrap the chair around his own head and begin convulsing on the mat next to Dom to create a great comic visual.

However, they saved the best and most subtle touch for last. AJ was finally getting the advantage on Dom and had him trapped in the Calf Crusher when Dom’s boot slipped off, allowing him to escape. With AJ confused and the referee distracted, Dom would waffle AJ with his boot and hit the Frog Splash to retain his title. Replays later showed that after the first Calf Crusher attempt, Dom had craftily undone his own boot (à la Eddie Guerrero) and wrestled the final portion of the match with a loose shoe precisely to counter the Calf Crusher. The fans ate this match up and, while it was nothing more than a fun mid-card contest, it felt like a welcome palate cleanser after so many “extreme rules” matches.

All in all, despite some noticeable wobbles in the middle, “SummerSlam Sunday” felt like a roaring success, with three really strong and satisfying matches buttressing a mid-card that at times dragged due to its over-reliance on contrivance, smoke-and-mirrors, and back-to-back heel victories.

Full Results

WWE Women’s World Title Triple Threat Match
Naomi (c) defeats IYO SKY and Rhea Ripley (16:21)

WWE Tag Team Title Six Pack Tables, Ladders And Chairs Match
The Wyatt Sicks (Dexter Lumis & Joe Gacy) (c) defeat #DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) and Andrade & Rey Fenix and Fraxiom (Axiom & Nathan Frazer) and The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) and The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) (16:03)

WWE Women’s Intercontinental Title No Count Out No Disqualification Match
Becky Lynch (c) defeats Lyra Valkyria (25:05)

WWE United States Title Steel Cage Match
Solo Sikoa (c) defeats Jacob Fatu (12:37)

WWE Intercontinental Title Match
Dominik Mysterio (c) defeats AJ Styles (10:41)

Undisputed WWE Title Street Fight
Cody Rhodes defeats John Cena (c) (37:42)

WWE Unreal

Peter Edge walks us through Netflix’s latest wrestling series based on WWE creative.

Imagine the scenario. You’re in the SoSu Newsletter group chat and while the last issue is being put together, you realise a new show is being shown on Netflix which is called “Unreal”. It has the WWE branding and it’s a behind-the-scenes look at the WWE process of putting a show together. I’m just coming off the Hulk Hogan obit I’ve written, and I’m very confident in my writing abilities all of a sudden, so I suggest that I write a review of the show.

Cue a week later and I’ve finished watching Episode 1 and now I’ve realised that the shy, neurotic, anxiety riddled variant of me wouldn’t have posted on the chat what I did and I suddenly miss him.

“Unreal” is the latest Netflix offering of “fly on the wall” documentaries about sports leagues and the stars that make those sports leagues billions of dollars. The thing with the “fly on the wall” genre of documenting events is that it’s about as realistic as Triple H being normal about his father in law.

The success of “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” has bred a number of offspring of other sports and series showcasing their product. The success of “Drive to Survive”, which follows the circus of Formula One around the world, is at its best when sports is at its best. Someone once told me that sports is the best reality show on earth because of the unpredictable nature of it. The best episodes of “Drive to Survive” rely on its most dramatic moments, such as the 2019 German Grand Prix and Mercedes Scheudenfreuden weekend, the climax of the 2021 season and the scandal of Christian Horner’s texts at the start of 2024.

Other sports have seen their series flop (tennis’ “Break Point” was so dull) while golf saw dramatic moments in majors translate well on screen, but with WWE’s product being so micro-managed and stage managed with the finest degree to the point that it’s obnoxious, “Unreal” was always going to come across as dull, and in a genre where the line of quality is so fine to the point that even a fly on the wall documentary about Tottenham Hotspur managed by Jose Mourinho somehow was just meh, WWE was always going to find it hard to be entertaining. But considering what Netflix actually might have been actually wanting to achieve with this show, as an advertisement for WWE, it ended up being counter-productive.

Episode One – “A New Era”

If you had bet on Paul Levesque being the first talking head on “Unreal”, congratulations on your winnings, even if the 1/20 odds means the winnings are as much as Mariah May’s weekly wage with WWE (allegedly).

The first episode, named “A New Era”, is something that might be a freezing cold take when Vince McMahon is back in the fold (it’s happening, folks).

Paul tells us that he is also called Hunter, Triple H, H (that bloke from Steps can’t catch a break considering his real name is also shared from that bloke from The Last Prophets) and Trips. Paul is also known by a lot of African-American wrestlers as “that bloke who fired me”.

The first actual wrestler featured is Cody Rhodes, who must be a sucker for punishment considering how “Rhodes To The Top” went and it’s at this point that they say Cody’s government name of Cody Runnels, probably causing Dave Meltzer to do the “VINDICATION!” bit from “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” after all those years in the 20th century of writing wrestlers’ government names in his match report. He compares wrestling to dancing to the point that his daughter has been told that her dad is a wrestler, which I guess is better than one half of the Worst Feud of 2021 (Cody/QT). Then Paul is back, telling us how hard it is to be a babyface (he should know).

Oh look, TNA footage.

We see the creative team of WWE at WWE HQ and when Triple H enters the room it looks like everyone else in the room has to shake the hand of Trips. It could be worse, they could have had to raise their right arms.

Ed Koskey, a WWE employee for 25 years (seriously, is he unable to get other work, did he murder someone?, is that why he has been stuck there for a quarter of a century?), tells us that with the Netflix debut coming up, Cody as the quarterback of the team, he wants to be part of the show (I should fucking hope so).

We then learn that Rhea Ripley REALLY likes taxidermy. She also says the storyline of her, Liv Morgan and Dom Mysterio has been going on for a long time and that it feels like it, which is the most truthful thing ever said on WWE TV. We then see footage of Rhea getting injured legit on the post-Mania “RAW” in a backstage segment with Liv with footage also showing Paul and Rhea going through the segment beforehand, making the viewer wonder whose fault between Liv and Paul it was that Rhea got hurt, like a good Netflix mystery thriller.

Before we see CM Punk in a gym, his presence so unbearable that he’s alone, the first actual glance of Punk playing to type, lurking around Rhea as she is getting work done on the shoulder she hurt in that angle with Liv. Punk proceeds to do the “wrestling name/government name” bit, telling us that he is Cookie Monster, Pepsi Phil, Black Phil (does that make him one of the only black members of the WWE roster that were on stage for the Hogan 10 bell salutes) before actually telling us his real name. I’ll always know CM Punk as a Country Member (and we all do remember).

Phil goes into his wrestling history (with IWA: Mid-South footage included) and his first stint in sports-entertainment, going into details of him and Triple H clashing and his exit from the company in 2014, as well as him taking 10 years for him to heal (where’s Charlie Cale when you need her) and that he and the company had had conversations for him to come back, but according to Paul, he said after one of those conversations that he was a part of, he said after “still the same dude, won’t work” (someone should have told Tony Khan that story in June 2021). But then after a phone call (presumably after the “All In” PPV Punk almost sabotaged), Paul thought “oh, he’s different, I’m different”. For a company that he and Nick Khan are trying to mess with, Paul really doesn’t pay attention to anything that happens there.

Then in one of the rare highlights of the show, while Jacob Fatu and Punk are doing banter, Kevin Owens, who has never been a fan of Punk, is just looking on his phone with as much eye contact with what is going on with Fatu and Punk as a prostitute gives a client during their time together. The subject moves to the Gorilla Position and this is where we see Bruce Prichard for the first time on this show (because the last time he was on Netflix, it went so well) and look at the producer/agent job in the company.

Oh look, it’s Abyss.

After delving into the time management aspect of the producer which looks so micro-managed it can’t be fun, you see Rhea talk about the day of January 6th….2025. She talks about not being in the headspace, how her brain cells weren’t working and this is the most relatable that a WWE wrestler has come across in years, to me.

After seeing a Paul/Cena conversation that was one of quite a few that were obviously staged, we’re reminded that it was Paul Levesque that was the first person the viewers saw on the “RAW” debut on Netflix. After seeing Rock’s promo that opened the show and Cody just stuck at ringside (does that make him Shedeur Sanders then?) we see Rock thank Rhea for “carrying the company” (fuck you Cody, I guess).

During the Rhea/Liv match, in Gorilla, Petey Williams, the inventor of The Canadian Destroyer, tells someone on headset to “grab a hold”. Punk talks about anxiety (shame he gave everyone anxiety while he was in AEW) and then they delve into his match with Seth Rollins that main evented this episode of “RAW” that the inaugural episode of “Unreal” is focusing on.

It really comes across on this show that WWE is no fun to work at. No-one is making even a dry joke, no-one smiles and everything looks stress-inducing and the Punk-Rollins main event is the best example of this. Chris Park (TAFKA Abyss) who is producing this match, looks like he’s 3 seconds away from going into the foetal position at all times. Not helped by Punk and Rollins “going over” their allotted time (even though it’s the main event of a show that apparently doesn’t have a limit on runtime, even though Natural Born Liar Bruce Prichard says different), morphing into his Joseph Park character in TNA, Chris turns neurotic and not once but twice issues grovelling apologies to Bruce, even telling a nearby William Regal that he “just doesn’t want to let (Bruce) down”.

While the obvious answer is that this scene was staged, the feeling coming out of this show is that everything is so micro-managed that going over two and a half minutes is probably a worst crime than being named 44 times in a sexual assault lawsuit in Titan World.

If “Unreal” was your first ever glimpse into WWE, the word “soulless” would come to mind. For a place that claims to put “smiles on people’s faces”, I didn’t see many of those in Episode One.

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Episode 2 – “Push”

With the focus of this episode being on the Royal Rumble, Push focuses on the participants (male ones only) that will compete at the event in Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Field. We start off by seeing Jey Uso Driving While Talking. You can tell it’s Jey out of the Uso brothers because the police haven’t pulled him over for a DUI. It’s at the end of the drive, where we come across the worst and most incompetent parking security official in the history of mankind. It takes a lot to feel sorry for a WWE wrestler but seeing Jey having to deal with this fella’s incompetency might have been his biggest plus point to getting “the push”.

On discussing Dusty Rhodes during a section focusing on Cody, Punk talks about his influence on his childhood, which was pretty obvious during those 11 weeks of “Collision”. This is the transition to a look at the Cody/Kevin Owens feud in which Ed Koskey explains Owens’ motivations for turning heel (because it’s Cody?) and then talking heads talk about the mystique of the piledriver, a move that has been banned for a couple of decades (unless you’re an Undertaker brother) with footage of CM Punk piledrivering John Cena, which to be fair was a really cool moment, that caused Punk to be fined. Seriously that moment and that match it cameo’d in ruled to the point that I rate the match on the 25/2/13 episode of “RAW” higher than the “Money in the Bank” match.

We catch talk of doing the Piledriver angle after the episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC goes off air with no-one saying “maybe we should do the angle while on NBC when there are lots of eyeballs on the product”. To be fair, that person pointing out the obvious wouldn’t have known that the episode had such a bad rating, but the point still stands. But my main takeaway from this scene was “Holy Yes-men culture, Batman!”

Oh look, Winged Eagle!

Seeing Winged Eagle, which the talking heads put over like it’s the holy grail, it makes you wonder if the newer fans now see the current Big Logo belt as the massive turd that it is. Watching this match, which was more over-produced than the Punk/Rollins match that Bruce Prichard complained about last episode, and the resulting piledriver angle makes you realise even more that doing said angle and the Paul Levesque/KO shoving match after “SNME” went off the air was incredibly stupid.

We see people yeet.

In discussions about potential Rumble winners, four people raise their right hands for Punk, not understanding that the assignment of this Punk run is trying to make Pepsi Phil look as stupid as humanly possible. But one writer makes a compelling case for John Cena, with it being his retirement year and Cena pulling one last big win, but then says Jey Uso and talks about his momentum, momentum akin to a runaway freight train. This suggestion from Michael Hayes (Michael, you saw the Von Erichs in their prime in person, you should know what actually being over looks like) prompts Paul to have one of those staged discussions at ringside (does he not have an office in the arena?) in which Paul checks out Jey’s willingness to become a star, saying that he wants to put a rocket on Jey’s ass. In hindsight, the rocket was more SpaceX than Apollo 11 (and yes, my first draft had a Challenger joke in there).

We then see Cody and John Cena at meet and greets. When someone tells Cody that she has been a fan for a decade, he says “went through the hard times, hey.” I’m presuming he’s talking about the QT feud? We also see Cena in this scenario, and while I’m still convinced that John is a robot from the future with the job of killing Zack Snyder before we had to see Henry Cavill’s Superman, a job he failed at miserably of course because he somehow became a wrestler, he is really great in this situation – especially the interaction with the man in the wheelchair. It’s a side we see rarely from Cena for understandable reasons as John wants to keep his charitable work private, unless Netflix cameras are about.

It’s “Rumble” night so we see many characters that are featuring in the Rumble, including Jey who acts like he doesn’t know his number, let alone how he’s booked, which deserves the Charlie Cale bullshit treatment considering what we saw in Episode 1 and WWE’s obsession with micro-managing.

They show highlights of the Cody/KO match, which looks every bit the four stars I gave it in my notebook, before we see iShowSpeed, who has taken time from trying to hump the leg of Cristiano Ronaldo to come to Indianapolis to be at the Rumble. What happens next is the obviously planted moment in reality TV history.

At the spur of the moment, Paul tells his wife Stephanie that he is going to put iShowSpeed in the Rumble, potentially messing up weeks of micro-managing (I also hope he got Tyson Kidd’s permission). After Akira Tozawa gets sucker punched by Carmelo Hayes, Trips tells iShowSpeed that he’s in the match while the pair are in Gorilla.

So let’s get this straight. They are telling us that they took an untrained person and had him take bumps in a match that he had no idea he was going to take until seconds before his entrance after not being part of the planning process and rehearsals that this match WWE feels it needs.

Logan Paul tells iShowSpeed to get a Prime for the nasty gash he received from the spots he endured (mate, a bottle of Prime couldn’t help my sore throat last year, it ain’t helping a messed up leg).

The Rumble comes across as unremarkable as it did at the time (***½), but the real theme of the last 5 minutes is how happy the roster are for Jey that he got the opportunity. Whether or not the most political locker room since the Attitude Era were just acting for the cameras, I’ll leave you to decide.

Episode 3 – “Worth The Wait”

In an episode dedicated to the women’s division and in particular the introduction of the US Women’s Title, Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber, we start the episode with Bianca Belair (whose name is actually Bianca Belair) telling us her love of Eastern Standard Time (EST) and her whipping that hair, before we see the inventor of women Stephanie McMahon taking the place of her husband as the unofficial narrator of the show for this episode. Paul Levesque does show his face during this episode and talks about the difficulty in incorporating women into the programming and giving them equal treatment – something Paul probably tells himself every morning when he looks in the mirror every morning about the black male wrestlers on his roster.

Chelsea Green uses the D-word when talking about ambitions in wrestling and talks about selling and that “someone has to lose” in wrestling. You hear that, Hurt Syndicate? We then follow Chelsea to her hometown where “Survivor Series” is taking place and learn that she hasn’t been booked on the show, so we see her watch the show from the VIP box. We also learn of her journey to this moment in which she breaks her arm twice (because she didn’t bump properly on either occasion) and getting released and then talks about texting Paul Levesque asking for her job back, without any mention of the V-word and how he was the one that fired her and Paul is now the head of creative because Vince is a scumbag sexual assaulter. We also see Chelsea’s finish, the Un-Pretty Her and see numerous talents take the move by bumping on their knees.

They then show the Chelsea vs Michin US Title match on “SNME”. (**½)

Stephanie tells someone in Gorilla in the aftermath of the match that she is thrilled for Chelsea. Her husband is so thrilled, he’s texting someone on his phone (probably Dave Meltzer, telling him what to say on the next Wrestling Observer Radio).

Attention turns to Charlotte Flair talking about her ligaments with a doctor, and then we learn that her parents call her Winky (isn’t that what Ric calls his —)*. Then in a montage about Charlotte, we hear Michael Cole call Charlotte the greatest women’s wrestler of all time (nope). Mention of Charlotte’s dad sees footage of Ric in his heyday.

*(Editor’s Note: Your name is Peter, and you’re making these kinds of jokes? CENSORED!)

Oh look, it’s Tony Schiavone (in 1987 footage).

The attempted gaslighting continues about Charlotte’s abilities with Stephanie saying that “she’s one of the best, period” and then we see the spot where Charlotte messed her knee up, where the conclusion is that Fed Heads conveniently forget stuff like this when talking about AEW “botches”.

In the creative room, the group around the table talk about options for winning the Women’s Rumble. We see why Ed Koskey has been in the same workplace for 25 years by his suggestion that Chelsea win the Rumble by being No. 30 and everyone else has been eliminated.

Come “Rumble” night we follow the three featured wrestlers on this episode. We see Charlotte and Tiffany Stratton being civil to each other (foreshadowing is a literary device to enhance a story). Bianca self-stitches her ring gear, proceeding to stab herself with the needle right in the chest. She was fine.

Even the time-lapse edit of the Women’s Rumble, a device used for the Men’s Rumble shown in the previous, which did look quite cool, doesn’t make up for how ridiculously dull the match is. (**¾)

One thing that becomes apparent as the show goes on is that Cody really likes hugging the women on the roster.

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Attention diverts to the Elimination Chamber and in particular the saga of “Who attacked Jade Cargill?”
Michael Hayes says the WWE fanbase “love a mystery”, validating Meltzer, whose phrase “their fans love mystery stories” every time a whodunnit storyline starts up on WWE television is as regular as “This is what happens during a wrestling war”, “It’s hard being number 2” and “WWE is hot.”

The Women’s Elimination Chamber match shows the moment when Jade attacked Naomi, which for reasons known only to those in WWE, the commentators couldn’t put 2 and 2 together and come up with 4. We then see Bianca, who is an emotional wreck after her two friends explode, still win (match was ***¾). In Gorilla, Paul is in conversation with Shane Helms saying that the women have less ego than the men and in the process validates my comment in the Episode 2 write-up.

This episode is the best of the 5 released, mainly because the women come across, in this hour and also in Rhea’s case in Episode 1, as normal and likable people. For the first time in the show, it comes across that the talent are actually enjoying their job with the vibes between wrestlers. Chelsea comes across like she is aware of her place in the company, Bianca is someone who is a good person to spend time with at work and even Charlotte has her moments when she talks about her late brother Reid, even if she has a Charlotte being Charlotte moment when talking about being “bred to do this” after her ACL injury.

Episode 4 – “Heel Turn”

“If you smellllll what The Rock is cooking” starts off Episode Four of the series, with Rocky talking about “The Final Boss” being the greatest heel in wrestling history. He pronounced “Wild” Bill Longson incorrectly there.

Nick “The Wrong” Khan talks about “Elimination Chamber” and how they need to “overdeliver” for an event in Canada, which is having a struggling economy (which is corporate speak for “holy shit, ticket sales are bad for this event, we need The Rock to save us”).

Levesque delivers the news that Rock will be at Chamber and “he will lead to a promo that will end at ‘Elimination Chamber’”, which is a long promo even by Rock’s standards. Brian James’ body language is something in this scene, by the way.

We get the “I want your soul” promo.

The focus changes to John Cena, and Paul explains the concept of a retirement tour and says, without saying, that Cena is washed. We see John at the “Money In The Bank” presser after his retirement announcement and saying that doesn’t think he’ll ever turn heel. I was genuinely surprised that they never talk about the divided reactions to Cena in the period of 2005-2016 and also the yearning of some fans for John to turn, especially considering they show the “Die, Rocky, Die” promo from Rock.

The context of showing that moment is that they use that footage to help explain the concept of a heel, and we then see The New Day’s heel turn, with Michael Hayes talking about the element of surprise that made the turn “so good” and considering what happened at “Summerslam” with the return of Brock Lesnar and the Seth Rollins, WWE’s obsession with moments and not long-term stories in the mid-card, especially, really shows out with talking heads going on about the “element of surprise”. These talking heads then talk about Cena’s eventual heel turn as something that was part of the plan, talking about face Cena vs face Cody not being feasible, a narrative that Brian Gerwitz completely thrashes seconds later.

We get a rundown of the alternative timelines, with sketches showing the hypothetical scenes happening, as they were being discussed. They include Kevin Owens as Rock’s guy and Cody turning on Cena, but then the idea of Cena turning comes up. We learn of the “inner circle” of who needs to know about this moment – that circle being Nick, Rock, Travis Scott (who was slated to appear at “Chamber”), Cody, Cena and of course Paul.

On event night, we see Michael Hayes lead the discussions on match structure and then Robert Roode tells the six in the Chamber match that it’s time to rehearse which even for a show that does bring the curtain up on what the WWE industry is like and even as someone who doesn’t mind the breaking kayfabe on projects like this (seriously, if you’re over 24 and you’re offended by the concept behind the scenes wrestling documentaries like this, you’re either a mark or a moron) that moment feels very jarring and I don’t know know why.

We then see a discussion with Paul and Dwayne Johnson, in which Triple H is so deferential to The Rock, it’s hilarious.

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The Chamber match is shown in highlight form (****), and then they show the heel turn of John Cena with a splitscreen of Triple H calling the shots and holy moly, I can’t stop looking at Cena’s bald spot. We also slo-mo footage, zoomed with a picture quality so 1960’s that you’d be forgiven if you’d thought that it was shot by Abraham Zapruder of Travis potatoing Cody with a shot to the ear, which is the second time that a Netflix show has made Travis Scott look like an utter scumbag.

Just a quick point, if I was partly responsible for the death of 10 people at a concert festival that I was helping organise, I wouldn’t gallivant around a wrestling show being a heel, but that’s just me I guess.

While Episode 3 of this series is the best of the 5 released in this first batch of shows, the argument that “Heel Turn” is the most interesting is a very good one. We see the real mayhem that goes on in the process of delivering wrestling television, this also is the first real glimpse of the dynamic between Paul Levesque and The Rock, which has been hotly debated for the last year and a half and we see the mindset of the head honchos of WWE creative regarding “moments” – and I will say this, the particular moment this episode is based on is a very good bit of business even, with the flaws in logic, like what would have happened to The Rock’s plan if Cena had not won the Chamber match.

For what it’s worth, if you cared to ask me where I was when Cena turned heel, I was smoking weed with a friend who I used to be “casual with” and when looking on Twitter to see who had won the Chamber match, my timeline was going nuts about Cena turning. I said to the aforementioned friend that Cena had turned and that it was actually a big deal; she said she didn’t care, mainly because she thinks pro wrestling is stupid and why do I mention this? Because if I showed her “Unreal”, the show is so dull and meh away from the “moments” that WWE obsesses over that it would not change her mind on this industry, which I don’t think Netflix were aiming for with commissioning this reality show.

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Episode 5 – “WrestleMania”

To start the final episode, we see Cena’s coming out party as a heel and my god, the boos sounded very canned. Cody outshines John on the mic. This heel turn is going well, then?

This finale will see the featured star of the show and their “WrestleMania” experience, with the only person that was focused on that doesn’t feature being Chelsea Green because the Women’s United States Title is worthless. First off, we look at Jey Uso and apparently he botched on a dive (it wasn’t that bad, he landed shorter than expected but it wasn’t enough to be a discussion point on a zoom call of writers but this is reality tv and WWE).

Paul talks about things getting real very quickly, which can only mean one thing. We see the Charlotte/Tiffany segment in Chicago.

Paul: “Was all that on script?”
Writers: “No.”
Paul: “What part wasn’t?”

Paul tells Koskey to tell Tiffany “this is not how to do this” (here comes the fun police) and orders Tiffy to apologise to Charlotte (maybe Charlotte needed to say sorry for walking all over Tiffany in previous promos).

We get a profile on Paul Heyman, in which they look at him selling ECW to an investor group in 1998 and not telling the talent, conning Chris Candido out of money and his perpetual lies to the newsletter and his ability to gaslight them into thinking he’s a genius….

Of course they didn’t do this. Instead, they look at his legacy – which in Netflix lore isn’t complicated at all. Levesque (rightly) says that Heyman has made Reigns into the star he is and then Michael Hayes tells of the options available to them in the triple threat match between Reigns, Punk and Rollins and then smugly talks about the potential plot twist of Heyman choosing Rollins over Reigns and Punk in the main theme of the main event match.

“And sometimes the logical road becomes predictable. If it becomes predictable, you need to pivot.

- Paul Levesque

I feel I need to write a 5,000 word essay on this statement Paul made on the show.

We see the first disagreement in the writing room of this series. Paul thinks Roman is dead in the water if Heyman turns on him. Ed Koskey thinks Roman should be chasing Heyman and whoever he chooses.

Punk pretends to himself that he’s an actual “WrestleMania” main eventer.

Then, for the first time, we see the male side of the roster doing proper banter, which is about whether any of the people in the conversation have ever shit themselves in the ring. People say that guys think and talk about sex and sex only but actually we also talk about whether or not we’ve ever shat ourselves (for the record: middle of July in bed, after taking a Pro Plus that afternoon).

As the gates open, we see someone who dresses like someone who has an IQ of 75 shout “YEET” over and over again. Also today I learned that Jey Uso is a year older than me. Yes, the new “hot” singles babyface is 40.

Montages of Uso vs Gunther (**½) and Charlotte/Tiffany (**¼) make the matches half a star better than they actually are and the guys in Gorilla act like Charlotte and Tiffany have had an all-timer match.

We get to the main event of the free portion of the Buy One Get One Free show and we see Punk and Triple H have a moment, in which Punk shrivels to a submissive to “Papa H” and isn’t hilarious at all. Michael Cole says on commentary that this match is not about championships but about pride. It’s actually about who will get the chance to take Paul Heyman’s hand in marriage. (Editor’s Note: YESSSS haha YESSSS!)

The match comes across like the 4.25 match it was and then they get to the finish. It’s a heel turn that makes Seth so hated as a heel that the fans sing the song as he and his new husband walk up the aisle.

Hayes pats himself on the back and then talks about how God has shaped his life and that he must love wrestling with all the ideas He’s given him (I’ve heard God’s favourite All Japan pillar is Akira Taue).

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Attention is now on Night 2, and we learn that Iyo Sky has beaten Rhea Ripley on the Road to “WrestleMania” to become the women’s champion. The cameras following Rhea see her buying a figurine of a fox as a china doll, continuing Rhea’s charge to become the most likable person in the show…though that’s like Alex Palou’s chances of winning a race in Indycar right now.

Cody and his daughter do the “too sweet” thing that helped him become relevant in 2017. Robert Roode tells Cody that the crowd wants to see Cena win “17” (so why did you turn him heel then?), and Cody wants the match structure to be one that sees Cody as the away team (the temptation to do a Tottenham Hotspur joke is very real right now).

Bianca Belair then talks about being undefeated at “Mania” like it’s a shoot and therefore confirming Rhea as the Most Likeable person in the show, something Rhea reaffirms as the right choice when she says, after Bianca joking that Rhea should get a tattoo of the scar that’ll be left by the hair whip spot, that she’ll get a tattoo of the date if the shot is good enough. It does have to be said, though, that even if she is the most likeable person on the show, she and Paul Levesque looked awfully close in Gorilla before the triple threat match.

The match itself doesn’t really come across as the 4.5 star match it was and we learn that Bianca broke her finger, which must be so bad it means that she was still on the DL as of writing and not because Paul doesn’t want too many black wrestlers on his show.

The main event is then shown, and that fact that Levesque says without saying that the match was what it needed to be, is code for “it was *½.” More talking heads try to justify how bad the match was, using the “sports entertainment sometimes needs to have ga-ga” excuse that stopped being justifiable in 1993. By the way, no mention of The Rock’s absence.

After the event, we learn that plans for “RAW” start as soon as “WrestleMania” ends.

Now, guess who the final voice and face of this series is?

Of the documentaries that Netflix have put out in their cluster of “fly on the wall” genre, you can put this in the category of “dull”. It has its moments like Episode 3 and a brief look at the Triple H/Rock dynamic in “Heel Turn”, but the big takeaway is that the men on the roster are big, massive dullards, and it seems like no one has fun in this company. It takes until Episode 5 to see something that is borderline good vibes from the guys. Everything is just sterile, micro-managed to be perfect but coming out as unauthentic in the process. “Unreal” is uninteresting for 98% of its runtime, and every episode at almost an hour is way too long compared to other docs — like “Drive To Survive” which averages out at 40 mins.

All in all, WWE “Unreal” is a faithful look at Titan World – it’s dull, plastic and off-putting with no desire to be authentic.

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WWE TV News

Roman Reigns was written off at WWE’s “Clash in Paris” show after defeating Bronson Reed in the show opener. Reigns will now be joining Cody Rhodes for filming on the “Street Fighter” movie. Rhodes is advertised for the upcoming PLE in Indianapolis by ESPN but has been touch and go on whether he could make the show due to the filming schedule. Randy Orton has been put in place as a backup for a match with Drew McIntyre if Cody is unavailable to compete.

Brock Lesnar and AJ Lee returned to television on the September 5th edition of “Smackdown” in Chicago. WWE loaded up the broadcast against an NFL game airing free globally head to head on Youtube, as well as aiming to bounce back from a record low number the week before, in what has been a tumultuous few weeks for wrestling ratings in general. The return of Lee was well executed in terms of their TV and media strategy, meaning that WWE received very little noise in concern of Lesnar returning to TV programming. John Cena, making his last appearance on the “Smackdown” brand, took up most of the first hour of the show.

WWE is also taking additional measures to protect “Raw” against “Monday Night Football” this season, moving the September 15th, 22nd and 29th episodes to a 7pm EST start time after the earlier start had been trialled during a taping in Pittsburgh over the summer.

We are now nearing the point in the year where we will be able to get like-for-like performances for “Smackdown” on USA and “NXT” on CW and can therefore see how they are holding up compared to the rest of cable.

Naomi has relinquished her WWE Women’s Championship, after announcing that she is pregnant. Naomi was pulled from a championship match with IYO SKY on August 11th, and made the announcement to explain her absence on the next edition of “Raw”. Congratulations go to her and all her family.

IYO SKY will face Stephanie Vacquer on September 20th for the vacant belt, with Rhea Ripley hovering over the match ahead of her home PLE the following month.

NXT’s Adriana Rizzo suffered a torn ACL and meniscus that will put her fully on the shelf after wrestling on a partially torn ACL for much of the previous year. Rizzo announced the injury on social media, having not been a part of NXT television in recent months.

Apollo Crews is nearing a return after having surgery on a torn pectoral muscle he suffered back on January 24th in Austin, Texas. The thirty-seven year old has now resumed ring training, and should be available to WWE again in the coming months.

LA Knight and Sami Zayn have swapped brands, with Knight moving to Raw and Zayn to Smackdown. Zayn made an immediate impression on his new brand by winning the US Title from Solo Sikoa. The title win isn’t all good news for the Canadian though, as it may well be his reward instead of the world titles he has repeatedly claimed to covet.

Fightful are reporting that AJ Styles’ extension to his previous contract will expire in February 2026.

The next edition of “Saturday Night’s Main Event” will be on November 1st from Salt Lake City in Utah. This will be the first of the SNME’s to be broadcast solely on Peacock, with airings on NBC being dropped from the original deal. John Cena’s retirement will take place on December 13th on Peacock as well, and will emanate from the Capitol One Arena in Washington D.C after Boston could not agree to a site fee with WWE which met their valuation. No one would be surprised if this led to Donald Trump making an appearance at the WWE event.

Cena’s last appearance in Boston will be on November 11th for “Raw”. He will also appear in Madison Square Garden on November 18th and Springfield, Massachusetts on September 15th to wrap up his final TV tapings. Cena has made a visible difference to the taping attendance numbers throughout his retirement tour, so it will be interesting to see what happens once his retirement is completed.

NXT have announced their next set of PLE’s, with the brand moving away from running head to head with AEW PPV’s for the first time since April. “No Mercy” will be held in Fort Lauderdale on September 27th, with “Halloween Havoc” in Prescott Valley, Arizona on October 25th. NXT will also run “Homecoming” on September 15th as a branded episode of TV, as both major US companies target next week to push ratings ahead of the fall season premieres debuting across television the week after.

The WWE Speed Championships will reside on “NXT” now that the deal with X to broadcast the show has ended and not been renewed.

Stephanie McMahon caused some annoyance for WWE’s media partners thanks to an ad read for VPN SurfShark on her ESPN+ hosted podcast “Stephanie’s Places”. The read suggested that watching WWE with adverts was “the old fashioned way” of consuming content and that WWE fans should purchase a VPN in order to view all WWE content on Netflix. It is not something which will have an effect on any of WWE’s relationships with their US partners, but it is understandable that they were less than impressed when they became aware of the gaff.

WWE News

TKO Group announced $1.308 billion in revenue for the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 10% on the same quarter last year, with CEO Ari Emanuel citing significant growth in WWE revenue alongside continued strong performance from UFC. WWE brought in $556 million in revenue in quarter two, up from $456 million during the same time period last year, a rise of 22%. Around half of the figure is from media rights alone, but that area also saw the smallest increase, with only $18 million additional in that sector, with more significant growth coming from live events, where the $40 million increase was driven by substantially higher ticket pricing and site fees. Partnerships and marketing had the biggest growth though, with revenue over 200% higher, after jumping from $24 million to $58 million (those Slim Jim tables sure do come at a price).

The second quarter results were announced on the same day as WWE’s PPV deal with ESPN, which will increase media rights revenue further by being much higher than the deal with previous rights owner Peacock.The $1.6 billion over five years is for less content than Peacock received as well, with NXT PLE’s and the WWE archive both now looking for new homes.

Peacock will keep NXT PLE’s until March 2026 and the WWE library until the end of 2025. Smackdown will also remain on the streamer, being posted after a thirty day delay from their first screenings on USA Network.

The deal was followed by an even bigger deal for UFC, which will see UFC Fight Nights and PPV’s move to Paramount Plus in a $7.7 million deal over a seven year period. The deal was completed just days after Paramount had completed its merger with Skydance and more than doubled the $500 million a year that the MMA company was receiving from ESPN. The deal is above the market expectation for this round of UFC media rights, which was not set to be the case until Paramount stepped in. There is no doubt amongst media industry analysts that Paramount has significantly overpaid for the content compared to revenue it will bring into their platform, but UFC have benefited on this occasion from the lack of available major rights on the market and Paramount’s need to acquire big properties as part of their platform relaunch.

The major change with this deal for the UFC is that they will no longer be selling PPVs, with UFC cards simply being numbered events going forward. This leads to questions about the level of content which will be presented to the consumer on a regular basis, something that long term UFC viewers have already voiced criticism about in recent years, as well as what it will mean in terms of pay for its contracted fighters. The move creates an immediate elimination of fighter’s PPV points and now means that there is very little opportunity for fighters to demonstrate their value outside of live ticketing. A further devaluation of fighter pay is a very real concern coming out of this deal, with UFC’s near monopoly being another reason the outlook is particularly bleak. TKO are also likely to want to emulate the pay structure with their new Saudi supported boxing league, as we enter into an age where the market is flooded with content, and often of a lesser quality than in times past.

Judge David Bothwell ordered Dr. Carlon Colker and Peak Wellness to release Janel Grant’s medical records at a hearing at the Connecticut Superior Court. Grant had filed for these records to be released over a year ago, as well as a request for Dr. Colker and his staff to be deposed. The judge rejected the deposition request, under the provision that testimony under oath could occur if Janel Grant was to file a lawsuit against Dr/ Colker and Peak Wellness. In her lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE, Grant alleges that she was given treatments and supplements without knowing what they were.

Dr. Colker’s team argue that Grant’s medical and billing records have already been turned over to her team, however, Grant’s team claim that what has been provided is both incomplete and inconsistent. Frank Silvestri, representing Peak Wellness, will also challenge the release of communications between the clinic and WWE/ Vince McMahon which would also be released to Grant’s team under the granting of this motion.

A filing by Colker’s team in response to the judgement had to be sealed by the judge after it appeared on the public docket with excerpts from Grant’s medical records without the necessary redactions. Colker is suing Grant’s lawyer Ann Callis for defamation and the excerpts were included in response to Callis’ motion to dismiss the suit.

A number of WWE talent and alumni attended Vince McMahon’s 80th birthday party, despite he and WWE currently being sued for sex trafficking and sexual assault. John Cena. JBL, Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, Teddy Long, The Miz, Maryse, Jerry Lawler, Undertaker, Bruce Pritchard and PaUl Levesque were all present for the gathering.

NXT Talent Ashante “Thee” Adonis has finished up with WWE. The 32 year old had signed with WWE in 2020 and was part of the Hit Row faction alongside B-Fab, Top Dolla and Swerve Strickland. The group were released in late 2021, with everyone bar Strickland re-signing with WWE in 2022. Adonis has spent much of the last eighteen months back with the NXT brand, with his last appearance before his contract expired being back in June.

Karrion Kross and Scarlett Bordeaux are both said to have had their WWE contracts expired, although there remains some doubt around the validity of whether they have finished up with WWE considering the level WWE was promoting Kross in particular in the weeks up to the “end” of their previous deals. Kross and Bordeaux are booked for an independent show in Rahway, New Jersey on September 21st and have limited time merchandise on Pro Wrestling Tees. If this is an attempt to replicate the demand for an R-Truth return though, it hasn’t got the buy-in from the WWE live fans, with chants for him at WWE shows pretty much non-existent at this point.

There have been three releases from the WWE ID development program, with Jordan Oasis, Ice Williams and Aarin Roberts all departing the program. Oasis was due to wrestle under the WWE ID banner in Malaysia the weekend after his release was announced.

Sami Callihan retirement TNA Emergence 2025 crisp

TNA

Sami Callihan has retired from in-ring action (for now) after losing to Mike Santana at TNA+ special “Emergence” on August 15th. Callihan had wagered his career in the match, and left his boots in the ring following the loss. He has been in a high amount of pain in recent years due to an accumulation of injuries that have affected his day to day life.

Callihan has worked across the globe since breaking out in the midwest in the mid-2000s, wrestling for the likes of CZW, EVOLVE, Dragon Gate USA, Ring of Honor and IWA Mid-South before he signed with WWE NXT in 2013, adopting the ring name Solomon Crowe. His time in NXT did not lead anywhere significant, and Callihan left WWE in 2015, returning to the independents. Callihan has held titles in Germany with wXW and in Japan with DDT, and has been best known in recent years for running Ohio based independent company Pro Wrestling Revolver.

Ash by Elegance, who wrestled in WWE under the name Dana Brooke, became the new TNA Knockouts Women’s Champion on the NXT “Heatwave” show in Lowell, Massachusetts on August 24th. The win came in a three way with former champion Jacey Jayne and Masha Slamovich, who lost the title to Jayne at “Slammiversary”. Ash by Elegance would pin Slamovich in order to win the title, meaning that the WWE wrestler only lost the belt in a way where she was not pinned, in what is one of the worst habits of larger promotions when acquiring titles from other companies. The Jayne reign now feels like a completely unnecessary move that was completed solely to indicate WWE’s dominance over the promotion.

TNA announced the expected Mike Santana- Trick Williams main event for “Bound for Glory” on last night’s live “Impact!” taping from Minneapolis. Indi Hartwell challenging either Ash by Elegance or Masha Slamovich has also been announced. Elegance will face Slamovich on the next TNA+ special “Victory Road” on September 26th.

Rich Swann returned to TNA as part of AJ Francis’ First Class Penthouse group, replacing KC Navarro. Swann and Francis attacked Navarro on “Impact!” in what was a write off that requires Navarro to ultimately get revenge on Francis due to the level of both verbal and physical beatdown that was put upon him. Navarro was injured during the Slammiversary ladder match, meaning he began the segment on crutches. He had surgery on his torn ACL on August 12th and is expected to miss up to a year.

Joe Hendry appeared for WWE at their house show in Manchester, England on August 26th. The Scottish wrestler is out of contract with TNA at the end of the year and his increased NXT presence as of late, as well as this tour appearance, appears to make it pretty clear his next career direction of travel.

Discussion around TNA’s ownership and intention to gain a stronger media rights deal have continued over recent weeks. Fightful Select broke the story (that had been travelling around wrestling media like chinese whispers prior) that former UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta could be in line to buy the promotion, giving them a TKO aligned owner without having to deal with any accusations around anti trust.

Dave Meltzer, in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter the next day, confirmed that a deal with any potential buyer would not be completed until WWE had made a decision on whether to purchase the promotion or not. The WWE option to buy TNA was agreed when the two promotions began working together, and works in a similar way to the deals WWE had previously with European promotions when it had looked to disrupt a UK scene with momentum in order to stop it producing anything that could be viewed as competition to WWE whilst also hoping it would be valuable WWE network content. None of the promotions were bought by WWE and their content was seen to hold little value by the US company, but it did successfully weaken the scene from the moment those agreements were put into place.

WWE involvement in a potential media deal has always felt rather likely, with Jon Alba of Sports Illustrated the first to report that discussions with media outlets has included a possible move to Wednesday night in order to oppose AEW. It would be an interesting proposition that would not make sense from the perspective of a channel looking to maximise the value of a product, but it would allow WWE to continue to attempt to portray AEW as secondary by slotting them in a head to head with TNA rather than WWE products (which is one reason why the current PLE strategy is a big deviation from the previous set of tactics). The two networks named in the report, The CW and A&E, both already have rights deals with WWE but also have multiple other products on the table, just under the WWE umbrella, with NXT PLE rights and AAA US rights both being shipped around. These potential moves are not news to AEW, who have been running over the past few months with the expectation of a deal akin to this will be announced at some point in the foreseeable future.

There would be massive dangers for TNA if they were put in this position, even if they had a strong opening few weeks thanks to being loaded up with WWE talent. Their roster is not prepared to sustain a long form competition with a promotion such as AEW, and has a number of big names (such as Joe Hendry and Mike Santana) who will be out of contract by the end of the year. Being a pawn in WWE’s proxy war also means that they are expendable, and with WWE TV shows across the board no longer showing the substantial ratings growth of the previous couple of years, you have to wonder how much assistance TNA will receive compared to the revenue driving WWE programs. For WWE, the perception they would look to create for AEW and any dent in live TBS viewership might be seen to be enough to justify such a move, but for TNA, being a WWE satellite is wrought with risk.

MLW

Blood and Thunder 2025

August 9th, 2025 (Taped June 26th)
Melrose Ballroom, New York, USA
Watch On: Youtube

MLW’s “Blood and Thunder” is the second half of their “Summer of the Beasts” taping from back in June and was due to be headlined by a MLW World Title match between Matt Riddle and Donovan Dijak. The match never took place but was the centre of a show-long storyline instead between challenger Dijak and briefcase holder Mads Krule Krügger. Krügger won the show opening scramble (be it with a move that was severely botched) and showed back up just as the World Title Match was due to begin, laying out champion Riddle in the back before carrying him out to the ring on his shoulders.

Krügger made it clear he wanted to cash in his briefcase for a World Title shot, despite Riddle already being set to defend against Dijak. This incensed the original challenger, who took out the referee that the briefcase had been given to before heading down the ramp to confront Krügger and smack him over the head with the case. The two fought on the ramp, leading to Dijak putting the Contra man through a table that had conveniently appeared at the ramp top. Dijak celebrated with manager Saint Laurent, only to find that his title rival stood right behind him. The brawl continued to the back from then and through the building for the rest of the show, with shots of it being cut into every match that followed.

Saint Laurent agreed with authority figure Cesar Duran that Dijak would get a proper shot at Matt Riddle’s title at the September “Fightland” show; nevertheless, the brawling continued, closing out the show as the two appeared on the roof of the Melrose Ballroom. Dijak got the upper hand here and Krügger was tossed three stories to the ground below as Dijak cackled. There was one problem: when he looked down to see what had become of the Contra leader, he was gone.

Much of the rest of the show consisted of Opera Cup First Round matchups. Last year’s tournament winner Místico took on Ikuro Kwon, who has been targeting the luchador ever since he vacated the MLW Middleweight Title at “Azteca Lucha” in Chicago. Kwon has current possession of the title he stole that night and also came out with the mask he had taken from Místico, as well as those he had collected from other luchadors. The broadcast made sure to align him with MJF (who had used Contra to attack Mistico on the last show) as well.

This was a match where Kwon took control of the match on the outside early on before dominating proceedings for the most part. He could not make it count, though, and an irregular trip to the top rope saw him get caught out as Místico took him out with a Escalera Spanish Fly and got the three count to advance. It definitely felt more like an escape than an impressive win. Kwon was incensed in the aftermath, charging back up to get the title belt he believed he owned, and then spitting a green mist in a referee’s face who tried to remove it from him. Kwon has the opportunity to properly earn the belt at “Fightland” next month against Templario.

In the other Opera Cup matchups, Bishop Dyer came past Anthony Greene in relatively straightforward fashion. Dyer’s power gave him control of most of the matchup before he ended things with the lifting reverse STO. Satoshi Kojima is also through, having seen off Bobby Fish with his trusty lariat. Fish had tried to take Kojima’s legs and then arms out with a series of kicks but failed in his ultimate goal. The fans tossed slices of bread in the ring to celebrate the win with him as Okumara also came out to congratulate him. The former tag team have not seen eye to eye as of late but things appeared to be friendly here after Okumura had made a bread peace offering himself in a backstage segment earlier in the show.

Neón and Paul London had a second Lightning match after the first between them in Arena Mexico ended in a draw. This one went much the same way after Neón hit a somersault senton in the last minute of the match, only to see Paul London roll out of the ring. By the time he was able to get him back in for a pin attempt, the match was over and ending in another draw. It was London who ended up more frustrated with the result, though, beating on Neón after the bell before pushing his friend Paul Walter Hauser, who had left commentary in order to second him for the later part of the match. This one is probably not a match to catch up on later.

Rounding out the card was Shotzi Blackheart opening her MLW account against Ava Everett. Blackheart is still wearing the arm cast on the lower part of her left arm, meaning her matches are very much structured fully around the injury. She wrestled most of the match just using kicks and her good arm, whilst Everett targeted her broken one. The deficit was not enough for Everett to remain in control by the end, though, as Shotzi put together a number of strikes and a cannonball. Ava hit a backcracker to break up some of her opponent’s momentum but was caught soon after in a crossface, with the cast (legally) digging into her face. Everett tapped to give Shotzi Blackheart her first MLW victory.

Full Results:

Mads Krule Krügger defeats Ariel Dominguez and CW Anderson and Matthew Justice and Mr. Thomas and Okumura (5:42)

Lightning Match: Neón vs. Paul London – Time Limit Draw (10:00)

Opera Cup 2025 First Round: Bishop Dyer defeats Anthony Greene (7:45)

Opera Cup 2025 First Round: Satoshi Kojima defeats Bobby Fish (8:52)

Shotzi defeats Ava Everett (8:16)

Opera Cup 2025 First Round: Místico defeats Ikuro Kwon (7:54)

MLW News

MLW will run Charleston Music Hall in Charleston, South Carolina on November 20th for “MLW x Don Gato: Lucha de los Muertos”. The show is a combined effort with Danny McBride’s Don Gato Tequila brand and will be broadcast live on beIN Sports and Youtube on the Thursday night. Matt Riddle, Paul Walter Hauser, Shotzi, Mistico, Blue Panther, Donovan Dijak and Bishop Dyer have all been announced as talent for the event.

The show replaces a date scheduled for Cicero Stadium on the outskirts of Chicago that is now being moved to February 7th, 2026, due to a venue scheduling complication. Any tickets already purchased for the Chicago show will be valid for the February date, with refunds also available if required.

Volador Jr. will debut for MLW at “Fightland” in North Richland Hills, Texas, on September 13th. Matt Riddle vs Donovan Dijak for the MLW World Title and Templario vs Ikuro Kwon for the vacant MLW World Middleweight Championship have now both been officially announced for the show.

David Sahadi has left MLW, according to PWInsider. The 63 year old, who had been in charge of production for the company, had recently picked up a role with Eric Bischoff’s new Real American Freestyle group, with some sources indicating to the media outlet that this could be seen as a conflict of interest. Sahadi has previously held producer roles for TNA and WWE.

Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Paul Walter Hauser is now an Executive Producer for the promotion.

US Independants

Brain Slam Wrestling
August 8th 2025
Porter Street Studios, Downtown Los Angeles, CA
Attendance: approx 1,200
Review by Chris Whitehead

Brain Slam Wrestling returned for their third event, and first since November 2022, with a free show built around a Brody King custom Adidas shoe release.

Brain Slam is, as best I can tell, a collaboration between Braindead (a fashion/lifestyle brand based in Los Angeles) and the folks behind former Los Angeles indie Suburban Fight. It is possible there is additional involvement from the folks who published the Mind Games ‘zine (an excellent photo and interview ‘zine that ran for a few issues pre-Covid) and/or from Braindead Studios (who at one point were showing AEW PPVs at their LA movie theatre). The initial show in 2022 was extremely enjoyable, and while I didn’t attend the follow up show that took place at the 2022 ComplexCon in Long Beach, CA, it also received good reviews.

Both the 2022 debut show and the show on August 8th featured a mix of “fashionable youngs” (laudatory), fans of hardcore music and wrestling fans, with those circles all overlapping to some extent, and this show represented a better cross section of LA wrestling fans than AEW PPVs have (younger, less white, hipper). Both also felt like a potential introduction of a new player in the sadly empty space that is the Los Angeles indie wrestling scene. In the post-Pro Wrestling Guerilla age, the LA indie scene is down to shows from local schools (primarily Santino Bros), under-the-radar micro indies in the greater LA area, word of mouth/“see the flyer on a pole while driving” lucha shows primarily pitched at the local Latin community, or drop-ins from larger indie companies from other regions like West Coast Pro, Prestige or DPW (or sometimes all of them combined).

There is a market gap for, if not a “super-indie,” at least a bigger scale “by LA, for LA” wrestling company. To steal a quote from my new friend Dan after the show, this did feel like a potential “back door pilot,” not least with the introduction of a Brain Slam championship on this show. On the other hand, based on the decoration of the building (a multi-purpose event space in the sprawling patch of warehouses found south of DTLA’s “Arts District”) and promotional materials, there is a good chance this was funded by Adidas as a promo event for the shoes (at least in part?). Whatever the status of Brain Slam as an ongoing concern, they put their best foot forward on this night – with a fun event, in a venue they made look good, reasonable organization (an indie show that only starts 10 minutes late is basically starting early) and, most impressively, low bar prices ($7 for a can of craft beer is a great deal in this town).

The event started with a roughly 40 minute set from Detroit hardcore band Never Ending Game, which I watched from afar (from outside, because it was hot and loud inside, so it was easier to catch up with friends new and old) and while I’m no hardcore expert, the sound was good, they are clearly a very good band and the crowd received them well. And when else does a guy get to see a band play inside a wrestling ring – drums, amps and all?

After the band wrapped and the ring was cleared, we moved onto the wrestling show, a tight three match card that went around an hour or so (again, this show was $0 to attend) that was focused more on fun and vibes than workrate or heat, and which was some people’s first ever wrestling show (information gained thanks to ring announcer Denise Salcedo asking for a show of hands of people who were attending their first show). The star of the show was, of course, LA native and custom shoe-haver Brody King, but the supporting cast was a collection of global stars, so whoever is booking this show knows what ‘sicko’ wrestling fans want to see (as was also the case on the previous Brain Slam shows).

In the opening match, we were treated to a lucha trios match with five of the stars from CMLL taking the night off from Arena Mexico and the soon-to-be-retired Tiger Mask IV from NJPW. The match was primarily focused around the rudo team heeling it up and targeting Tiger Mask, who was extremely over with this crowd. The bumps were kept to a minimum, the aura farming was maximized (particularly by Volador who personally let me know, and surely would want me to tell you, that he absolutely did not kick Tiger Mask in the dick, merely the upper thigh) and the old fashioned rudo/técnico dynamic was the real focus of the match, eventually leading to Tiger Mask making a comeback and getting the win for his team.

In the middle match, Emi Sakura and Mei Suruga wrestled a “main event style of their match” with Emi bullying Mei before Mei made her comeback, with Mei garnering excellent fan sympathy much to Emi’s chagrin (not to center myself again but Emi glared at me for starting chants for Mei more than once) until the introduction of a door to the match moved us into the finishing sequence, with Mei hitting a double footstomp on Emi through the door and picking up the victory. Mei Suruga is a wonderful babyface and, while she seems content doing her thing, would be extremely well suited to a bigger stage, either in Japan or the USA.

In our main event, Big Bad Brody King, local hero, was led to the ring and seconded by the members of his band God’s Hate for his match with Rey Horus (a rematch from the debut Brain Slam show), with Horus sporting a custom Adidas mask in addition to Brody, of course, rocking the boot length version of his Adidas shoe. The winner would become the inaugural Brain Slam Champion. They had the exact match you think they did; it was extremely fun and included them brawling through the crowd to the photo booth in the back of the venue and getting snapped while wrestling. The match ended with Brody giving Horus a Death Valley Driver through a table in the corner of the ring before hitting the Gonzo Bomb, winning him the match and new title and leading to a celebration in the ring with the members of God’s Hate.

This was a fun Friday night hang, an extremely easy and pleasant way to spend time with my old friend Kevin and my new friend Dan from Discord, with all of us very much hoping that Denise closing the show by saying “see you next time” wasn’t just a throwaway line.

Full Results:

Tiger Mask & Titán & Neón defeated Volador Jr & Barbaro Cavernario & Magnus

Mei Suruga defeated Emi Sakura

Brody King defeated Rey Horus to become Brain Slam Champion

US Independents

Stu Smith, a 39 year old ex-military veteran who wrestles under the name “Syko Stu”, was attacked on an independent show in Sun Valley, California on August 23rd. Smith was due to wrestle on that evening for the Knokx Pro Wrestling promotion, a WWE ID affiliated company which is run by WWE alumni Solofa Fatu, better known as Rikishi. The incident involved Raja Jackson, the son of former UFC fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who had been brought to the show by the promotion’s own TJ Mana. The younger Jackson broadcast the entirety of his time at the venue on streaming service KICK.

Smith is shown on the footage to have hit Jackson in the head with a beer can before the show, with the belief that Jackson was a worker because of his presence in the backstage area and because of the camera. Jackson did not take kindly to it, and would not accept Smith’s immediate apology when he became aware that Jackson was not a worker, but eventually calmed down enough to have a calm conversation between the two, ending with a hand shake.

TJ Mana, who is said to have a longstanding issue with Smith, told Jackson that they would turn it into an angle and he would be allowed to get a “receipt” in the ring during the show. Jackson was shown on the stream getting more and more worked up ahead of the supposed “angle” but no one intervened at any point to stop what would happen next.

Jackson hit the ring whilst Smith was wrestling in a three way tag match, picking him up off of the mat and delivering a full slam that looked as though it knocked him straight out. Jackson should have been cleared off at that point but instead was able to throw twenty-two punches onto the already injured man. The referee made a brief attempt to stop it but was brushed off and did not try again. Eventually, Doug Malo, who was not part of the match in the ring involving five other participants, came out to get Jackson off of Smith, receiving a punch to his eye for his troubles after a blocked takedown attempt. Other wrestlers then aided with getting Jackson into a corner away from Smith.

The next occurrence was proper pro wrestling stupidity, as another wrestler chose to cover Smith for the match ending pin. The referee duly counted, before common sense actually kicked in and the show was shut down and treatment given to Smith, who had been lying motionless for a number of minutes by this point. Smith was rushed to a local hospital in a critical condition. Jackson left the venue shortly after the incident took place, continuing to stream on KICK. Police were called to the incident but arrived after Jackson had left the premises. The live streaming element meant that the full video of the entire evening was available globally and picked up by news sites very quickly after the series of events had occurred.

Stu Smith spent the following week in hospital, before being released on September 1st. He made the following statement, with the assistance of Contessa Patterson, on Instagram:

“Stuart has been released from the hospital and is now home resting. He sustained a serious head injury and was unconscious upon arrival at the ER. His injuries include trauma to both the upper and lower jaws, a laceration to his upper lip, and a fracture to the maxilla bone, which unfortunately resulted in the loss of several teeth. He has a long road of recovery ahead, but he remains in good spirits despite everything he has been through.

“We are deeply grateful for all the love and support we’ve received during this time. Thank you to everyone who has contributed in any way—whether through monetary donations, food, flowers, or gifts. Your kindness means more than words can express. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

At the current time, Raja Jackson has still not been arrested for the assault, despite the complete version of events being available on film, in full. Douglas Malo, who was the man who did intervene, was interviewed in the week following the show and highlighted that several members of management had contacted others who were working on the show and advised them not to talk to the police. The “protecting the business” mindset once again in action despite one of their own being the victim of a serious assault.

The promotion owner, Solofa Fatu, was not present at the show whilst everything occurred. Fatu’s promotion has lost their WWE ID affiliation due to the occurrence of the incident. WWE did not make a statement on the incident, but should review how they make their affiliations, outside of simply aligning with people who currently work, or have previously worked, for the company,

Friends of Smith have sent up a GoFundMe in order to raise funds to help with his recovery and treatments. We wish Stu Smith all the best with his recovery.

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

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

CMLL

“Viernes Espectacular”

08/08/2025
Location: Arena Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Attendance: ca. 16,000
Watch On: YouTube (Subscription Required)
Review by David Hayter

CMLL’s Friday night sell-out streak ended last week with the underwhelming, heat-heavy show culminating in a mediocre-at-best clash between MJF and Averno. Despite failing to sell out, they still drew a healthy crowd in the absence of Místico and the top técnicos, so it should come as no surprise that Místico’s grand return drew yet another full 16,000-capacity crowd. The story of this show, however, centred around the riotously enjoyable (and legitimately well-wrestled) semi-main event between the now 65-year-old Blue Panther and the always excellent Último Guerrero which, despite the finish, is the kind of feel-good Arena México classic that CMLL specialise in.

Blue Panther Turns Back The Clock In Forlorn Challenge For the MLW National Openweight Title

Blue Panther has always been improbably impressive for a 65-year-old man. Sure, his selling and bumping leave a lot to be desired, but he can garner no end of sympathy while being viciously beaten down in the corner by a charismatic rudo the calibre of Último Guerrero and – when it’s time to make the grand comeback – Panther can summon an age-defying burst of energy and enthusiasm. Needless to say, it only took two minutes for Panther to rally against Último, sending him crashing to the outside with a lariat before following up with a thrilling running cannonball dive that had the sold-out crowd screaming.

Último is no spring chicken, but he remains the best base in wrestling; a simultaneous heat magnet and a font of charisma, who may keep things simple but will do everything in his power to make his opponent shine. Tonight he had a tough task, not so much when selling and working the crowd to draw deafening “Culero” chants, but whenever he had to lift his opponent. Panther was dead weight when Último suplexed him on the outside, but Último managed to muscle him up. The rest was easy: he simply had to entertain the crowd while Panther caught his breath and then take a series of brilliant pratfalls for Panther’s array of hurricanranas and topes. It’s genuinely hard to overstate just how wild the crowd went when Panther hit a diving rana from the apron to the floor or an armdrag from the top rope for a great near fall.

The crowd were so full-throated in willing Blue Panther to victory that it made almost every near fall believable because it was simply more fun to lose yourself along with the crowd in their joyous suspension of disbelief. Guerrero and the referee combined to get the heat as the ref repeatedly broke up Panther’s 10-count punches, causing just enough of a delay for Guerrero to reverse a top-rope rana into a meaty avalanche powerbomb. Not everything was perfect, of course. After a dramatic near fall on a missed dive, Último had to gingerly help Panther to the top rope for the 10-punch spot – but honestly, who could possibly care when the end result was Panther hitting an incredible dragonrana (of course by “hitting” I mean Último helped Panther onto his shoulders, spun him, caught him, and then took a front-flip bump).

The moment of the match was undoubtedly the surreal sight of Blue Panther Jr helping his father to climb the top rope so he could deliver a plancha over the turnbuckle to the floor. The resulting collision was so solid, both men crumpled to a dead-weight heap. It was almost comic, but it was also ungodly satisfying. The match would end with Último securing a tight leverage pin for the sneaky rudo victory.

Mistico Returns To Deliver A Classic Captain’s Fall Trios Main Event

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. There is no more reliable draw in wrestling than a trios main event headlined by Místico facing off against three stellar rudos at Arena México, and tonight was no exception. The técnico team was well balanced, with Máscara Dorada providing the dazzling speed, Atlantis Jr offering a blend of old-fashioned lucha alongside power spots, and Místico providing the slickest comeback in all of wrestling.

The rudo team were excellent in their own right. Ángel de Oro has always been blighted by a somewhat boring look and presentation, but he is in reality a fantastic all-rounder: a great base, a cocky heel, a sneakily athletic flier, and a good technician. Hechicero needs no introduction at this point: he is a technical wizard and a hard striker who is a heat magnet in the confines of Arena México. Finally, Difunto should not be underrated. He might look an absolute state in his zombie skeleton garb, but he is a slick bumper, elegant rope walker, and solid base – even if his offence at times looks soft.

As you might expect, teams with such broad and complementary skill sets blended perfectly, with Hechicero taking great joy in working over both Místico and Máscara Dorada. In a change from the usual approach, the first fall was not a double pinfall, but instead saw the rudos isolate Místico 3-on-1 and, after Difunto hit a running dropkick to Místico who was suspended in a split-legged position, Hechicero finished him off with the spinning hammerlock backbreaker to score the Captain’s Fall. The crowd were audibly shocked at the sight of Místico taking a clean pinfall loss so quickly, and the heels continued to get the heat with Hechicero toying with Atlantis Jr on the mat while Difunto landed his gorgeous ramp-running, middle-rope springboard dropkick to clear the ring.

The técnicos would of course make their comeback to win the second fall with a glorious set of tijeras from Atlantis Jr and Dorada. Unfortunately, Místico’s ramp-running assisted tijeras was a sloppy mess, but the set-up was so impressive the crowd still went wild. Dorada and Atlantis would then nail a suicide dive and tope suicida to leave Místico alone with Hechicero. From there the writing was on the wall. Místico hit La Mística to return the favour for a quick submission win, securing the Captain’s Fall and tying the contest 1-1.

The final fall saw Hechicero ducking Místico, which allowed Atlantis Jr the opportunity to run wild with his signature monkey flips and backbreakers to wow the crowd, drawing his usual mix of cheers and heavy boos. Not to be outdone, Místico saved his most beautiful and elaborate tijeras and armdrag counter sequences for last; however, Hechicero ran behind the barricade to avoid any potential dives. Naturally, Máscara Dorada was by far and away the most impressive with a sequence of flips and springboards too ridiculous to describe en route to a beautiful tornado tope. Hechicero would return to the ring to save Ángel de Oro from submitting to La Mística, only for Místico to run riot on him with flipping armdrags and a giant plancha. This left Atlantis Jr free to submit Ángel with the Argentine Backbreaker while Dorada hit the 450 splash on Difunto to secure the técnico victory.

Barboza Steps Out On His Own With Mixed But Promising Results

The pirate mania has taken over CMLL in 2025, with El Galeón Fantasma establishing themselves as one of the company’s hottest (but also most beloved) heel factions. Much of the group’s success is down to the rise of Zandokán Jr as a top act in the promotion, alongside the always rock-solid main event foil Difunto. Barboza, in this context, is very much “the other guy”: the worker who was in the right place at the right time to be handed the perfect gimmick to ride on Zandokán’s coat-tails. Tonight, he was given a rare singles outing against the always excellent Templario to prove himself as something more…and the results were decidedly mixed. His striking was pitifully soft, his selling at times had a comic rag-doll quality that was reminiscent of a WWE Diva, and, for the key top-rope gutwrench powerbomb spot, Templario had to awkwardly talk Barboza through the manoeuvre; but despite these shortcomings, he was also a willing participant in an excellent undercard contest that was wrestled at a tremendous pace and had the crowd rocking.

Barboza had some incredibly flashy moments; most notably when he leapt to the top rope to hit a front-flip tope so sky-high that he flew through Templario and straight into the front row. For the majority of the match, however, he was there to be light as a feather and bump for Templario’s brilliant array of offence before falling victim to the powerbomb backstabber for the winning fall. As an all-action sprint of a match, this was a triumph; but in terms of Barboza’s long-term potential, he certainly has the bumping ability, and he is willing to engage in complicated modern striking exchanges, but his charisma seems to be lacking. Still, this was a strong step out of his teammate’s shadows.

The Aniversario Apuesta Build Continues As Tag Match Gives Way To Another Unmasking Angle

Despite the lack of excitement online surrounding the seemingly inevitable mask vs mask showdown between Esfinge and Valiente at the “Aniversario” show in September, Arena México has been eating up these preview tags. The setup is convoluted, to say the least, with feuding pairs who are seeking to face off in an apuesta (Esfinge & Valiente, Felino & Bucanero, Dragón Rojo Jr & Cavernario) having to team together in a three-way tag match at the “Aniversario”, with the winner advancing to the ultimate mask or hair match in the main event. Naturally, in the build-up to this muddled spectacle, CMLL are running every possible combination of the six men to build a sense of heat and tension. Tonight, Esfinge & Rey Bucanero teamed up to defeat Felino & Valiente in two straight falls. This was a straight técnicos vs rudos affair, but of course, at the “Aniversario”, these feuding pairs will have to team together.

I was more impressed and invested than most in the previous preview matches, as they had delivered both solid action and great heat on the Friday Night undercards, and – up until tonight – the matches had not ended in frustrating DQs. Tonight’s match was the moment the wheels came off. Truth be told, the work wasn’t the greatest before the predictable DQ finish.

The rudos got the heat in a pedestrian fashion before Rey made a stumbling comeback with a lariat and a spinebuster that left the heels perfectly positioned for Esfinge’s springboard splash for the first fall. The second fall was a near mirror image, with the heels slowly working the crowd, but this time mixing in some better action. Esfinge was undoubtedly the star of the show; he was providing all the energy, hitting a brilliant superplex shortly before Valiente snuck in to yank off his mask for the DQ, giving the rudos a 2-0 victory. Naturally, there was no celebration, as Valiente cut a promo holding Esfinge’s mask aloft while the técnicos were beaten down.

This finish was particularly disappointing, as not only have we seen it multiple times earlier this year in the previous teased build to Esfinge vs Valiente (which instead resulted in a Zandokán vs Star Jr apuesta), but CMLL made the baffling decision to repeat the exact same mask-removal finish the next night at the Coliseo.

The Grand Prix Field Is Revealed

CMLL announced the field for their upcoming Grand Prix to be:

Speedball Mike Bailey (Canada)
Lio Rush (US)
Rocky Romero (US)
Taiji Ishimori (Japan)
Action Andretti (USA)
Donovan Dijak (USA)
Michael Oku (UK)
Robbie X (UK)
TJP (Philippines)
The Beast Mortos (Mexico)
Difunto (Mexico)
Zandokán Jr (Mexico)
Ángel de Oro (Mexico)
Titán (Mexico)
Templario (Mexico)
Atlantis Jr (Mexico)
Neon (Mexico)
Volador Jr (Mexico)
Máscara Dorada (Mexico)
Místico (Mexico)

Suffice it to say, this is a fantastic crop of talent from AEW, RevPro, NJPW, and, of course, CMLL. The result will be a wildly entertaining hour-long elimination tag team match that almost anybody could win, following Claudio Castagnoli’s victory in 2024.

Fast and Frantic Multiman Tags Kick Off The Show In Style

The show opened with a fast and frantic one-fall trios match that saw La Ola Negra (Dark Magic, Espanto Jr & Raider) pick up the victory over Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa & Fuego when Raider caught Fuego on the top rope and hit a gorgeous flipping powerslam for the win. The match was pure action with little structure, but did falter when Dark Magic was involved, as he appeared green and hesitant throughout without making any noticeable errors.

The eight-man tag match that followed was far better structurally, as it pitted La Fuerza Poblana & Rayo Metálico against Calavera Jr I & II alongside Infarto and Kraneo. The match told a simple story, with the heels quadruple-teaming the babyfaces to take the first fall before the babyface team rampaged back to win 2-1 following a series of crowd-pleasing rana and dives. Some of the sequences were perhaps too complicated for the workers involved, but the crowd were happy to see the loud-mouthed Infarto and Kraneo decisively beaten.

Full Results:

La Ola Negra (Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. & Raider) defeat Atrapasuenos (Espiritu Negro & Rey Cometa) & Fuego (7:30)

La Fuerza Poblana (Arkalis, Stigma & Xelhua) & Rayo Metalico defeat Calavera Jr. I, Calavera Jr. II, Infarto & Kraneo [2:1] (12:04)

Esfinge & Rey Bucanero defeat Felino & Valiente [2:0] (11:50)

Templario defeats Barboza [2:1] (12:11)

MLW National Openweight Title Match
Ultimo Guerrero (c) defeats Blue Panther (13:59)

Atlantis Jr. & El Sky Team (Mascara Dorada & Mistico) defeat Angel de Oro, Difunto & Hechicero [2:1] (18:03)

CMLL “Viernes Espectacular”

15/08/2025
Location: Arena Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Attendance: ca. 16,000
Watch On: YouTube (Subscription Required)
Review by David Hayter

CMLL served up an excellent card full of state-of-the-art action and crammed full of star power on Friday night, designed to compete with (and ideally upstage) WWE/AAA’s “Triplemania” on Saturday. Unfortunately, in seeking to have an internationally newsworthy main event, MJF was not only allowed to deliver another pitiful and cheap, heat-laden in-ring performance that fell far below Arena México main event standards, but to absolutely embarrass Zandokán Jr (one of CMLL’s hottest acts) in the process.

The good news is, of course, that the big showdown between MJF and Místico (Mask vs Title) is now set, as Místico confronted MJF in a truly fantastic and ultra-heated angle (after the American had finished unmasking and humiliating the defeated Zandokán Jr) to issue the long-awaited challenge. MJF would shake hands and accept the match with his superb manager-turned-translator Jon Cruz at his side, but it was, of course, a ploy that set the stage for yet another beatdown and heavy-heat angle, with MJF unmasking Místico (yet again) and burying him beneath the United States flag. Hopefully, this means that MJF will no longer have to crush any of CMLL’s native stars between now and the Aniversario in September.

It is worth noting that, yet again, after the big Místico tag (which was positioned in the semi-main event), portions of the crowd decided to leave. This was nowhere near as bad as the situation that occurred last month when Místico and Bandido went on early in the show, but there were visible rows of empty seats appearing during the MJF and Zandokán Jr match. This is not a knock on either man; both are clearly huge stars at this point. It is simply a testament to how highly Místico is viewed as both the star and the main event among CMLL fans and tourists alike. Reports from the building confirmed that those who had been leaving during MJF’s post-match promo came rushing back to their seats the second he mentioned Místico.

MJF Stinks Up The Joint With Dated Shtick, Killing Zandokán Jr’s Momentum In The Process

Zandokán Jr found himself in a huge spot on Friday night. He’s used to headlining in front of wild capacity crowds, and he’s more than capable of delivering a five-star match with a game opponent, but tonight’s main event with MJF represented a unique proposition. The rudo Zandokán Jr not only had to wrestle as a técnico against a foreign invader, but he had to wrestle an American worker who doesn’t wrestle in the Mexican style, which is something he’s rarely (if ever) done before. Thankfully, from a star-power point of view, Zandokán is the right man for the job – not only because he’s brilliant at working the crowd, but because he’s always been the cool rudo who fans secretly adore.

Unfortunately, while Zandokán tried to play his part, there’s no hiding the fact that while MJF is great at drawing heat, he is absolutely stinking up the joint in terms of workrate. His match with Averno was pitiful (and honestly, who has a mediocre, let alone a bad, match with Averno?) and tonight, against Zandokán, it was more of the same: endless cheap heat with no effort to have a compelling main-event-worthy match. Make no mistake, it works with the crowd, but this is not 1982; Arena México has seen a raft of foreign heels who will actually work a main-event-worthy match while drawing heat (see Claudio Castagnoli in 2024). It’s more frustrating because everyone knows Max is more than capable of getting heat and working a fantastic modern main-event match.

Instead, it felt like MJF’s pre-match promo (translated brilliantly by Jon Cruz dressed as Abraham Lincoln) seamlessly transitioned into the match itself, as Max hit clotheslines in between mugging for the crowd and pulling off as many humiliation or cowardly spots as he could before grabbing an unimaginative hold. The sad part is that any AEW fan tuning into CMLL for the first time really didn’t get to see any of the great things that Zandokán Jr can do. He had a few moments, like an excellent tope suicida that sent Max flying into the front row, but for most of the match he was reduced to clobbering and floundering.

Despite the match’s shortcomings, the crowd (who had remained) never lost faith and went wild when Zandokán hit the Tiger Driver for a brilliant near-fall. Sadly, that was the end of the fun; Max would clumsily counter the next attempt, force Zandokán to awkwardly wait while he pulled up his trunks, before shoving him into the referee, hitting a low blow, and locking in the Salt Of The Earth for the victory. For those watching at home, this simply wasn’t good enough; in the arena with a beer in hand screaming at MJF it was no doubt a good night out, but we know MJF is a great wrestler – he can do better than the bare minimum.

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Místico & Hologram Beautifully Go Through The Gears In 12-Minute Tag Thriller

If tonight’s undercard matches had been wrestled at a ferocious lick, then there was to be no rushing Místico as he joined forces with AEW’s Hologram to take on The Beast Mortos and Difunto. It was genuinely refreshing, after so much high-octane action, to see Hologram and Difunto slow things down and brilliantly battle over their various arm-drag combinations before eventually reaching a stalemate. Not to be outdone, Místico entered the ring with a beautiful satellite tijeras on Mortos, before taking Difunto down with a rope-walk arm drag and soaking in the applause. Mortos would eventually get the heat with a gigantic shoulder tackle and a corkscrew suicida, respectively, which would allow Difunto to begin working over Místico’s leg.

Hologram and Místico’s first comeback proved spectacular, as Hologram moonsaulted off Mortos’ shoulders to deliver a flying arm drag to Difunto (sending him to the outside), before Místico hit a gorgeously smooth springboard tejeras to deposit Mortos. With the heels reeling, Hologram back-body-dropped Místico into a meaty tope con hilo and then followed with a rope-walk flip dive of his own. Not to be outdone, while the rudos were careful not to outshine the técnicos, they did pull off a wild sequence that saw Mortos hit a top-rope military press on Hologram while Difunto did a rapid rope-walk coast-to-coast dropkick on Místico for an impressive near-fall.

From here on in, both teams decided to start blowing minds. Hologram hit a poisonrana, Difunto elegantly sprang up the ropes for a flying clothesline, Místico landed a code red, Mortos scored with a pop-up Samoan drop – and it only got crazier from there as the teams exchanged killer strikes, leading to the big quadruple down. Místico, despite his obvious physical wear and tear, decided to hit a flying headscissor with both he and Mortos standing on the top rope, yet this was mere child’s play compared to Hologram countering Difunto’s ramp-running, out-to-in springboard dropkick into a sit-out powerbomb. With the crowd sufficiently awestruck, it was time to end proceedings: Mortos as the base brilliantly helped Místico hit a wicked La Mística for a submission, while Hologram hit the UFO spin into a Blue Thunder Bomb for the simultaneous pinfall.

This match was utterly brilliant, starting by building heat and then unleashing a wave of dazzling high spots before sending the crowd home happy. My only complaint is that I could easily have watched another ten minutes at least (or ideally two more falls) – twelve minutes felt like daylight robbery!

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CMLL Wisely Mixes Up the Anniversario Build With A Wild Cibernetico

Anyone who has been reading the CMLL section of the Social Suplex will be aware that the long build to “Aniversario” in September is not only well underway, but has become somewhat tiresome, with Valiente re-running the same unmasking DQ angle with Esfinge every other week (and sometimes twice a week) since the start of the year. So it was genuinely refreshing to see all the top feuds in the promotion crammed into one all-action match as Último Guerrero, Averno, Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragón Rojo Jr., Esfinge, Valiente, Rey Bucanero and El Felino faced off in a Cibernetico.

It was a joy to be offered a little glimmer of variety: rudos Averno and Último Guerrero trading wild strikes before Averno hit a tope con hilo on one hand, while técnicos Esfinge and Dragón Rojo Jr. attempted to upstage one another on the other. Valiente even appeared particularly fired up by the fresh match-up and ran the ropes with renewed vigour before wiping out Esfinge with a wicked tope suicida. As is so often the case, the brilliant bases Último, Averno and Bárbaro were the stars of the show, gelling beautifully with whomever they shared the ring with – and seemingly lighting a fire under Felino and Valiente in the process. Dragón Rojo Jr. continues to be a strange case: he is clearly immensely talented, but seems to have settled on both the naffest presentation and moveset. He rarely puts a foot wrong, but everything about the man feels contrived, even in a match where he’s battling an Ancient Egyptian god and a caveman.

Interestingly, not all the eliminations played into their respective feuds. Rey Bucanero was eliminated by a sneaky inside cradle from Bárbaro before his rival Felino was forced to submit to a gnarly Tequila Sunrise applied by Valiente. Once they started, the eliminations would come thick and fast. In a bizarre-but-entertaining sequence, Valiente would kick out at the last second from Último’s famed avalanche front suplex, only for Último to celebrate like he’d scored an elimination. Subverting expectation, Valiente’s sneaky roll-up would fail, and Último would regain his composure to submit Valiente with the Sky Tiger Leg Killer.

Part of the joy of a great Cibernetico is seeing strange bedfellows working together, and it was quite the sight to see the rudo Bárbaro sweep Dragón Rojo Jr.’s legs when he was attempting a springboard dive, allowing the técnico hero Esfinge to hit his springboard splash for a quick 1-2-3. Rojo’s elimination left a final four of Esfinge, Bárbaro, Último and Averno – i.e., the perfect final four. Averno would quickly eliminate Bárbaro after some great quick-fire action via a sneaky submission following a missed slingshot splash. The volume in the arena noticeably spiked when Esfinge and Último faced off, and after a short exchange, Último scored the elimination with the top-rope reverse suplex. This was a genuine surprise, as rather than have Esfinge run through two rudos, we were instead left with a showdown between the loveable villains Averno and Último.

The final battle did not disappoint, with the 16,000-strong crowd losing their minds as Último countered a top-rope rana into a beautiful powerbomb for a believable near-fall. Refusing to let age slow either man down, Averno took a wild hip toss bump over the top rope, and Último followed with a big top-rope dive to the floor. The teased double countdown had the crowd roaring along with the referee. After kicking out at the very last second following an avalanche front suplex, Averno would choose the coward’s way out by kicking Último low and shoving over the referee to cause his own elimination by disqualification.

Fittingly, as is CMLL’s wont, the match did, of course, end with disqualification and a heavy-heat beatdown by Averno, but I cannot understate just how refreshing this Cibernetico was in the build-up to the “Aniversario”. Sure, it’s the same old faces (Valiente–Esfinge, Bucanero–Felino, Bárbaro–Rojo), but in exciting new combinations, actually wrestling at full pace and reminding the world what makes them top stars in the first place, rather than simply working the crowd before going to a cheap DQ.

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Titán & Templario Survive Potential “Death Spot” in Fast-Paced Clash With the Tag Champs

It could not be easy following a brilliant barrage of finishers that was the Cibernetico, but Titán & Templario were more than up to the challenge when they faced off with current CMLL World Tag Team Champions Los Hermanos Chavez (Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja). Titan was simply too slick and precise to be denied, while the underrated rudos are not only rock-solid workers, but fantastic in their role as smug pricks. The only down note was Templario, who had a hit-and-miss night.

Oro & Roja would disrupt a pair of dives and isolate, first Templario with a running sit-out powerbomb, and then Titan with the Michinoku Driver to take the first fall. The second fall was a blink-and-you-miss-it affair, with Titán & Templario hitting springboard splashes before scoring a double pinfall on the rudos.

Having blitzkrieged through the first two falls, the teams combined for an excellent deciding fall highlighted by Ángel de Oro and Niebla Roja’s wildly creative spots. Oro hit a beautiful bridging suplex on Titán while trapping Templario in a European clutch for a superb near-fall and, not to be outdone, Roja locked Titán in a Gory Special while applying an admittedly sloppy Boston crab to Templario. Naturally, Templario would return fire by powerbombing the rudos atop one another before assisting Titán as he rope-walked into a giant springboard splash for a razor-tight near-fall. From there on in, they were off to the races with a parade of dives, last-second counters, double downs, simultaneous submissions and convincing near-falls whipping Arena México into a frenzy. With the crowd peaking, the champions got the upper hand and submitted the técnicos with simultaneous swinging inverted surfboards.

The Stars Of The Torneo De Escuelas Return To Kick Off A Supercard, But It All Ends In Tragedy

The stars of the fantastic Torneo De Escuelas tournament that pitted teams of top young prospects and indie standouts from the various regions against one another returned to Arena México to kick off this stacked card in some style. Tonight, four members of the winning Mexico City team (unlucky Alexius) squared off in a tag match with Fury Boy & Péndulo battling Poseidón & Troyano. Poseidón was perhaps overly cautious in the early going, but the young stars were here to kick off the show, not steal it, so perhaps it was sensible that they didn’t go too crazy.

Troyano picked up where he left off in the Escuelas by continuing his excellent work as a base. Fury Boy was a little hesitant, but he was by far the most spectacular flyer in the match. Péndulo stood out more in a traditional tag than he did in the torneo as he appeared slick and confident in these confines. The match ended in a victory for the rudos when Poseidón pinned Péndulo following a dazzling UFO slam before Troyano finished Fury Boy with a reverse powerbomb and a crushing moonsault that saw his knees slam into Fury Boy’s face. Fury Boy was in a bad way after the match and had to be legitimately stretchered out by the paramedics. Neither team is the finished article, but I sincerely hope CMLL don’t overreact to the tragic ending to this tag and keep bringing these teams back, allowing them to mix it up and learn from the veteran talent.

Sloppy Women’s Trios Match Provides Crowd-Pleasing Fun Despite Its Faults

The women’s matches at Arena México range from abject disasters to entertaining but botch-laden sprints. Tonight’s all-star trios match, featuring La Catalina, La Jarochita and Lluvia taking on the rudo team of Hera, Persephone and Reyna Isis, was more on the fun, frantic, and forgetful end of the spectrum. That’s not a typo, by the way; this was a match full of memory lapses, as Lluvia and Reyna Isis both visibly forgot where they were and what they were supposed to be doing at various points. Nevertheless, Persephone was fired up and determined to hold the match together with her power offence, and she deservedly picked up the captain’s fall with a springboard frog splash to put the rudos up 1-0.

The match teetered on the edge of being out of control, with some sloppy spots visibly going awry (a flying codebreaker in particular), while others skirted disaster but ended up looking satisfyingly violent (a monkey flip into a 450 splash). The técnicos would pull back the second fall by hitting a trio of charging corner manoeuvres (a hip attack, meteora and flip senton, respectively), which allowed Lluvia and La Jarochita to sit and pose on Hera and Reyna to tie the scores at 1-1. The deciding fall was a contrived mess that threatened to completely fall apart before Persephone and Reyna hit a beautiful simultaneous tope suicida, before following up with a pair of messy cradles to secure the 2-1 victory.

Full Results:

Poseidon & Troyano defeat Fury Boy & Pendulo (6:29)

Hera, Persephone & Reyna Isis defeat La Catalina & Las Chicas Indomables (La Jarochita & Lluvia) [2:1] (10:38)

Eight Man Torneo Cibernetico Match
Ultimo Guerrero defeats Averno and Barbaro Cavernario and Dragon Rojo Jr. and Esfinge and Felino and Rey Bucanero and Valiente by DQ (14:23)

Los Hermanos Chavez (Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja) defeat Templario & Titan [2:1] (14:57)

Hologram & Mistico defeat Difunto & The Beast Mortos (12:48)

CMLL World Light Heavyweight Title Match
MJF (c) defeats Zandokán Jr. (13:10)

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CMLL News

Mistico vs MJF has now been confirmed for the 92nd Aniversario show on September 19th. MJF will not put up his hair in exchange for the mask of Mistico, and will instead be offering up the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship in exchange for the contest. It is not as prestigious as offering up his hair, but the match will still be seen as a big deal because the mask of Mistico is on the line and due to the angles leading up to the bout across AEW and CMLL in Arena Mexico carrying tremendous heat.

The Cubs Fan states the CMLL Informa program suggests that this match will be the semi main event, with the three way tag apuesta match going on at the end, which would be a good choice considering what happened with the Chris Jericho-Mistico match last year. The show occurs the night before AEW’s Toronto PPV “All Out”, which has always been a strong indicator that MJF would not be in the main event of the PPV the following night.

A subscription made this week to the top tier of CMLL’s Youtube service will include all events up to the Aniversario show which will also host the final of an eight team tag tournament. The preliminary rounds will take place across the two Friday night shows beforehand, with the eight teams separated into two blocks. Block A has Elemental and Terrible, Barboza and Difunto, Los Gemelos Diablos and Dragon de Fuego & Dragon Legendario. These teams will compete for a spot in the final on September 5th. The second block will run on September 12th and will consist of Atlantis and Blue Panther, Titan and Templario, Mephisto and Euforia and Futuro and Max Star.

Bishop Dyer is advertised for a CMLL show on September 7th so it is likely that he will be part of the September 5th Arena Mexico lineup as well. AEW Tag Team Champions Bandido and Brody King have been announced to appear on September 12th.

Robbie X and Michael Oku worked shows over the weekend after competing in the Men’s Grand Prix. Taiji Ishimori has also spent the last fortnight working for the promotion.

The Aniversario week will begin with three Tuesday shows across Arena Mexico, Arena Puebla and Arena Coliseo Guadalajara as part of Mexican Independence Day celebrations. The Mexico City show is a regular evening for CMLL. whilst Puebla is a move from its standard Monday night show to Tuesday.

The Friday after Aniversario in Arena Mexico will be “Noche de Campeones”, where seven champions will defend on the show against opponents picked in a series of fan votes. Micros Champion Tengu, Minis Champion Ultimo Dragoncito, Mexican National Women’s Champion India Sioux, Mexican Trios Champions Los Heredos, Historic Welterweight Champion Mascara Dorada and CMLL Middleweight Champion Templario are all scheduled for matchups which will be decided by the fans.

This will not be the biggest show in Arena Mexico that week though, as a collaboration show with Pokemon has been announced for September 25th and is already showing no ticket availability on Ticketmaster. The lucha Pokemon Hawlucha is across the promotional material.

Templario and TJP made their second defense of the NJPW Strong Tag Team Championships in Arena Mexico on August 22nd, against Hijo del Villano III and Villano III Jr. With Strong lying dormant for the foreseeable future, these titles may only see action in Mexico for the time being.

Pendulo, Fury Boy, Poseidon, Troyano, Vigia, Blue Shark, Trogolodita, Alexius and Los Calaveras have all graduated from rookie status to now become full time members of the CMLL roster.

AAA

AAA “Triplemania XXXIII”

16/08/2025
Location: Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Attendance: 19,691
Watch on: YouTube
Review by David Hayter

Following the success of “World’s Collide” (WWE and AAA’s first attempt at merging their seemingly diametrically opposed styles) comes the biggest test of this fledgling rebranding to date: “Triplemanía XXXVIII”. The biggest show on the AAA calendar, and this time Triple H would not be putting on a show in front of an arena full of American fans seeking an appetiser before “Money in the Bank”, but a true Mexican crowd here to see the biggest and craziest show of the year. Commercially speaking, the event was a runaway success before the opening bell even rang, with an incredible 19,691 in attendance (at increased prices), demonstrating that the WWE association and the injection of stateside star power has singlehandedly revitalised a dying brand. Whether the “Triplemanía” would be a creative success was another matter entirely.

“World’s Collide” earned praise precisely because it took the car-crash AAA product and removed all the aspects that make it borderline unwatchable to US fans: the heel referees, the garbage brawling, the legends who can barely walk, the litres of blood, the morally dubious characters, and the rug-pulling booking designed to confuse at best and infuriate at worst. WWE offered a slicker, more streamlined, more sensible show with good wrestling from top to bottom. In other words, they cleaned up many of the bad traits that had seen the company drift towards the abyss, but they also sanitised many of the wild outlaw aspects that gave AAA its distinct identity.

“Triplemanía XXXVIII” represents a pendulum swinging back towards the old vision of AAA. Don’t worry, there was no lurch towards Vince Russo-esque extremes of bad taste and illogical booking, but some of the key aspects of AAA Lucha Libre that were missing at “World’s Collide” returned tonight, most notably: minis, exoticos, heel referees, comedy, and some good old-fashioned Lucha family drama. Not all of these returns were for the best (more on that later), but this show felt more authentically AAA than “World’s Collide” by some distance. However, unlike last year’s “Triplemanías”, which were uniformly wretched, this was a wildly entertaining show with good action throughout and straightforward, sensible booking decisions.

Nevertheless, there were three key aspects of AAA that WWE defiantly refused to bring back, which have caused a mighty stir among the Mexican fanbase online: gore, licensed music, and Alberto El Patrón. The first two of these can be easily addressed. WWE wants AAA to fit within its brand umbrellas and get a TV deal that means there is zero chance of light tubes, real barbed wire, and freak-show blade jobs. It’s not happening, and AAA fans of old will simply have to accept this fact or move on. The same very much goes for licensed music: WWE is not going to pay for or play without agreement “Thriller”, “Bad Medicine”, or “The Show Must Go On”, but they will have to find some solution on this front or at least produce better original themes for key acts (particularly La Parka).

So then, how do you solve a problem like Alberto? This is much tougher, as most would argue that WWE should not use him and should not bring him back, period, given his past indiscretions. However, the fact remains that among hardcores and casual fans in Mexico, he is AAA’s top star. His heel act was so popular, especially when put up against the hated El Hijo del Vikingo (more on that later), that he de facto turned himself babyface (in a transparent attempt to undermine Vikingo) and even managed to get Latin Lover booed in the process. The fans were chanting for him throughout the event (WWE went as far as to mute the crowd at times), and the decision to both freeze him out of the company and write him out of ongoing storylines seems to have sparked legitimate and sustained outrage. The Mexican fans very much assumed that “Triplemanía” would be where they got their “Brock Lesnar moment,” and they have been blasting Triple H ever since on social media.

Personally, I have no interest in watching Alberto in 2025. It is clear that a man his age does not fit with WWE’s vision for a younger, fresher, more in-ring-focused AAA, but given who WWE has chosen to bring back in the past month, no one should be the least bit shocked if they choose to take the path of least resistance and welcome Alberto back with open arms.

Vikingo Is Brutally Booed Out of the Building During Brilliant AAA Mega Championship Defence

The more things change, the more things stay the same. Vikingo might stand across the ring from Dragon Lee, Dominik Mysterio, and El Grande Americano rather than Alberto El Patrón, but you better believe the AAA faithful booed him vociferously. There is no running from the fact that at this point, it’s been at least two years’ worth of vocal backlash, and it is only getting worse. In tonight’s main event, the crowd did not even give Vikingo the courtesy of going “wow” for his spectacular spots and fantastic wrestling before booing him. The fans drowned his every movement in boos, whether he was setting up or executing a move; hell, they booed if they even sensed he was going to get back into the ring.

Why is he so hated? If you need a crash course, it comes down to a few key bullet points. Despite being beloved and routinely showered with money as an astounding midcarder putting on classic matches with Black Taurus (The Beast Mortos), the fans resented his sudden push to the top of the card. He was seen as the wrestler that Americans loved and that management were forcing down their throats. He became Mega Champion to headline against AEW talent like Kenny Omega, which pushed beloved legends and the matches fans actually cared about (like Psycho Clown’s bloody wars) down the card. The sense was that his main-event rise happened too fast and was for the benefit of English-speaking fans who cared about his flashy moves and didn’t care that he didn’t have a compelling personality. Fans also resented the storyline involvement of his father (Vikingo Senior), but despite the grumbles, they put up with it because they knew at long last his time in the sun was coming to an end and the charismatic rudo superstar Alberto El Patrón had finally won the title, won their feud, and was about to move on to face Latin Lover at “Triplemanía”.

Then it happened. WWE bought AAA, and not only did they not want Alberto El Patrón on any English-facing television, but they wanted the spectacular El Hijo del Vikingo (who’d made such a name for himself stateside) to be their champion. After all, despite his injuries, he was still the best wrestler in the promotion and the obvious fresh young face to introduce to the world at “WrestleMania”. Much to the dismay of Mexican fans, WWE simply re-ran the Vikingo (Senior and Junior) vs Alberto feud and had Vikingo win the Mega Championship back in a truly awful cage match, so badly booked that it almost defies belief (needless to say, every babyface even remotely associated with the match was vitriolically booed, by Alberto’s own design).

So what did this mean for the main event? Well first, as is AAA tradition, the cool heel in Dominik Mysterio was cheered like a colossal star. This is not surprising given he has all the hallmarks of a top AAA act: he’s funny, he’s a little self-consciously sleazy, he gets the girls (in kayfabe), and he has that outlaw spirit (he defies his dad rather than embracing him). More shockingly, they cheered El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser), who at this point is so entertaining (not to mention good in the ring) that he’s becoming impossible to position as a rudo. When Ludwig sang his way to the ring in Spanish, of course the crowd sang along.

On paper, this might be a problem, but to be honest, it’s par for the course in AAA.
The match itself offered nonstop action, as Vikingo and Dragon Lee used their athleticism to constantly stay one step ahead of the bickering rudos, before the match settled down into a parade of ever-crazier spots in front of a raucous crowd. There were stereo suicide dives, rope-walk blockbusters, wrecking-ball dropkicks, meatoras, Liger Bombs, Canadian Destroyers, powerbombs through tables, 450s, shooting stars, and all manner of wicked strikes and throws. In keeping with the brilliant, spiralling out-of-control atmosphere of the match, when Dragon Lee hit a tope that sent him crashing over the announce booth, he knocked out the English-language commentary feed for three full minutes. The drama would only heighten from there with run-ins and counter run-ins from Judgement Day, the LWO, and El Grande’s clones, respectively.

When the dust eventually settled, the finish came in a crafty sequence where Dominik Mysterio slipped out of the ring, put on a loaded mask (a trick he’d learnt from his erstwhile ally El Grande), and began clearing the ring with loaded headbutts. Just when it appeared Mysterio was about to win with the frog splash and claim the Mega Championship, a masked man came rushing out of the crowd to pull out the referee. The masked man then attacked Dom and revealed himself to be AJ Styles, to a gigantic pop. AJ would hit the Styles Clash and leave the ring. The second the crowd saw where Dom was positioned, a huge chorus of boos rang out because they knew exactly what was about to happen. Vikingo crawled his way onto the apron, climbed the top rope, and hit the 630 to retain his championship. It’s worth noting that even a move as spectacular as the 630 did not elicit a single cheer.

Despite the rebellious crowd reactions, this match was an absolute riot of insane action and suitably over-the-top (and typically AAA) twists and turns.

Psycho Clown and Pagano Win Tag Gold in Charmingly Chaotic but Decidedly PG Street Fight

The match that drew the most ire from AAA’s online fanbase (although not those in the building) was the street fight between Psycho Clown and Pagano and Los Garzas. Anyone who has watched a “Triplemania” in the last decade will be aware that this match was incredibly tame by AAA standards. There was no gory blading, no fire, no light tubes exploding into dust, no chair shots to the head, no walking and brawling through the crowd, and no one diving headfirst off a ladder to the floor. Rather than a classic Psycho and Pagano clusterfuck, fans were treated to something actually resembling a structured wrestling match. Even when they tried to establish Pagano and Psycho as a wilder and more hardcore pair, it had the air of PG pageantry as they used obviously plastic “barbless” wire on two occasions.

Fans who wanted true chaos were no doubt disappointed, but by any measure this was a better wrestled and more dramatic wrestling match than the majority of AAA’s gross-out hardcore stunt shows. Instead of blading, Psycho Clown would suplex the Garzas through two chairs while Pagano flying leg-dropped a trash can onto Angel’s face. In a fittingly ridiculous moment, the crowd decided to chant “this is wrestling” as Pagano missed a chair-assisted moonsault and Psycho went crashing into the ring steps. WWE’s secret weapon to satiate the crowd was, of course, the table, or more precisely a never-ending parade of table spots. Pagano would be double military-pressed off the second rope through a table, then in a sensational spot Psycho would spear the Garzas through a table as they had Pagano hanging upside down in suplex position, and finally, Angel would simultaneously powerbomb and powerslam the técnicos through a table at ringside following a flying enzeguiri from Berto. By this point, the live crowd was having so much fun the match couldn’t possibly fail, and the building came unglued as Psycho hit a “barbed wire” wrapped Spanish Fly for the victory and celebrated with the Psycho Circus.

WWE Tramples All Over AAA Heritage by Making the Copa Bardahl Watchable

Over the years, AAA has delivered some truly abysmal Copa Bardahls (formerly Copa Triplemania) – which is effectively a timed Cibernetico where eliminations can take place by pinfall, submission, or being knocked over the top rope. In my personal opinion, the worst Copa took place in 2017, when a confused team concept was introduced on top of the already convoluted rule set and (what appeared to be) a visibly drunk Jeff Jarrett staggering down to the ring mid-way through the match, throwing tortillas at the crowd.

The 2025 edition was a radical improvement as it clearly benefited from being properly plotted out and agented. The great flyers Laredo Kid, La Parka, Aero Star, and Octagón Jr were given clear space to uncork their flashy offence; powerhouses Abismo Negro Jr, Taurus, and Omos were presented with plenty of fresh bodies to take wild bumps for their offence; and the one legend, Cibernetico, was given a moment to shine, hobbling (rather than running) wild before he was gently and carefully eliminated. There were also plenty of big crowd-pleasing surprises (the returns of both Otis and Omos, who were in their element in Mexico) and clear signs that WWE would embrace the carnival extremes of lucha libre, as Microman (a mini) and Pimpinela Escarlata (an exotico) not only appeared, but were two of the featured stars of the match.

The Copa ultimately blended flashes of great wrestling with the kind of crowd-pleasing nonsense that only professional wrestling can provide, be it Otis dancing with Pimpinela or Microman having the most absurd stare-down imaginable with Omos. Konnan also proved to be a riot on commentary by being a legitimate voice of the fans. When Omos was clearing house en route to a convincing victory, Konnan chastised the wrestlers for attacking him one at a time rather than in “increments of four.” This would ultimately play into the finish as, after Microman had pinned his friend Otis with the Microsplash (yes, that happened) and Omos had military-pressed Microman out of the ring (yes, really), leaving a final four of MechaWolf, La Parka, Octagón Jr, and Omos, the técnicos simply couldn’t get on the same page, allowing Omos to pick them off one by one.

Provided you are happy with comedy in your wrestling, then this match was an absolute riot that suggests the giant Omos and, particularly, the fun-loving Otis could be huge stars south of the border. The biggest controversy in the match came in the form of La Parka, who did his full dancing entrance to… a generic WWE theme… without “Thriller” or “Bad to the Bone” or even a decent original tune. His presentation felt flat. This is a huge problem, as while Brazo de Oro Jr is undoubtedly the most gifted flyer to wrestle under the La Parka mask, he is also extremely lacking in charisma compared to AAA’s La Parka, let alone the outlaw extraordinaire LA Park. WWE will have to think long and hard about La Parka’s presentation going forward, as his is an act that thrives on outrageous pageantry rather than pure flying.

El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jr Remains Stuck in His Daddy’s Shadow Even in Victory

It is remarkable that the brilliant El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jr would win his first AAA title at the age of 33 by defeating El Mesías on tonight’s “Triplemania” show. When he was sent on excursion to NOAH, the Japanese promotion clearly saw his potential and had him swiftly win not only the Tag Team Titles with René Duprée, before giving him a brilliant star-making run as the GHC National Champion. He did so well, in fact, he’d eventually go on to upset Kenoh to become Heavyweight Champion. In NOAH, Wagner was an unstoppable force, a lucha powerhouse who’d no-sell and crank his own neck like a sardonic machine, before unleashing a torrent of offence on his opponents. He was presented on his own terms as a true international star, but in Mexico, and in AAA in particular, he is stuck firmly in his dad’s shadow.

Even in a decisive victory over the imposing El Mesías, this match was all about his father Dr Wagner Jr, who was sitting in the crowd, looking like a million bucks and demonstrating a level of charisma that simply dwarfs his son. The reasonably well-wrestled powerhouse stalemate was entirely secondary to the will-he-won’t-he make-the-save daddy drama. Make no mistake, when Dr Wagner Jr finally grew tired of Dorian Roldán’s interference on behalf of Mesías and rose from his seat at ringside to pull Roldán off the apron and punch him out, the crowd went absolutely crazy. The fans love Wagner Jr, and they were fully invested in the soap opera aspect of Roldán getting what was coming to him. Sadly, however, when El Hijo del Wagner Jr hit the Wagner Driver to win his first title and celebrated with his daddy, he was cast firmly in shadow; he was the third, or arguably fourth, most interesting character in his own telenovela, merely a prop to allow his wonderfully charismatic father to bask in the limelight a moment longer.

Puppets Go to War While Heel Referee Ruins Reina de Reinas Match

Finn Bálor appears to be having the time of his life in 2025. He gets to grin like a psychopath backstage each week on “RAW” as he manipulates Dom and Liv Morgan with his positivity trolling, he is a WWE World Tag Team Champion with his protégé and friend JD McDonagh, and now he gets some of the loudest reactions of his entire career by playing with puppets in Mexico. The clash between Judgment Day (Finn, JD, and Raquel) and Mr Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa, and Lola Vice was a wonderfully enjoyable but inconsequential affair, wrestled in a house-show style, with Roxanne Pérez cheating to allow the heels to get the heat. Finn and JD would then take a series of wild bumps as Mr Iguana and Niño made their comeback – and then it happened. Mr Iguana and Yesca (his Iguana puppet) had cleared the ring with rope-walk spots, when Finn popped up on the apron with a black sheet covering his hand. Finn then whipped away the covering to reveal Demonico (Finn’s own Demon Bálor puppet, now on sale for the low, low price of $99.99). Mr Iguana and Yesca would sell a bone-rattling fear before Demonico ate poor Yesca! From there on out the silliness would only amplify; Niño would eat burgers with Finn (because why not?) and La Heidra would run to the ring to counteract Roxy only to lay out her rival Lola Vice in the process, allowing Raquel to hit the Tijana Bomb for the win.

One of the major changes WWE is clearly seeking to implement in the AAA product is to make women’s wrestling a more serious and equal part of the show, but that is going to be an uphill struggle. On the night, Natalya, Lady Flammer, and Faby Apache were put in the semi-main to wrestle a serious Reina de Reinas Championship match. However, this is a big change for the women: across last year’s three “Triplemania” shows, the women were confined to throwaway tags that twice opened the show and only managed to get as high as second on the card for the Team TNA vs Las Tóxicas clash on the 15 June 2024 edition. Suffice it to say, while much of the crowd was engaged in tonight’s high-profile women’s title match, a sizable chunk decided to goof off and entertain themselves by singing, starting Mexican waves, and ignoring the action.

Unfortunately, had the crowd paid attention, they would have witnessed a match that was well wrestled in places, with Nattie giving a WWE debut to her Low Key Legend shoot-fighter character (previously seen only on “Bloodsport”) to take on the still excellent, at 44, Faby Apache in intense striking and suplex battles. The issue that completely undermined the entire match, however, was one of the authentic AAA touches: El Hijo de Tirantes made his first refereeing appearance on a major WWE co-promoted show and, like his father before him, set about ruining an otherwise entertaining match. He would count slow for Faby and inconsistently fast for Lady Flammer – and while this did generate some heat, it largely served to break up any sense of rhythm or flow the women were building up with their work. Unsurprisingly, the finish came when Tirantes fast-counted Faby following a crucifix from Flammer.

Full Results:

Copa Bardahl Cibernetico Match
Omos defeats Abismo Negro Jr. and Aero Star and Cibernetico and Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde and La Parka and Laredo Kid and Mecha Wolf and Microman and Octagon Jr. and Otis and Pimpinela Escarlata and Taurus (26:36)

AAA Latin American Title Match
El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. defeats El Mesias (w/Dorian Roldan) (c) (10:20)

The Judgment Day (Finn Balor, JD McDonagh & Raquel Rodriguez) (w/Roxanne Perez) defeat Lola Vice, Mr. Iguana & Nino Hamburguesa (11:54)

AAA World Tag Team Title Street Fight
Pagano & Psycho Clown defeat Los Garza (Angel & Berto) (c) (12:54)

AAA Reina de Reinas Title Triple Threat Match
Flammer (c) defeats Faby Apache and Natalya (10:44)

AAA Mega Title Fatal Four Way Match
El Hijo del Vikingo (c) defeats Dominik Mysterio and Dragon Lee and El Grande Americano (15:04)

AAA News

WWE will run a second “Worlds Collide” show in Las Vegas on September 12th at The Pavillion at the Thomas Mack Center. The event will be held the night before the Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford fight at Allegiant Stadium in the same city and is targeting the large number of Mexican travellers who are expected to travel to Vegas for the fight. The expectation of a large travelling audience with high levels of disposable income and a venue of around 3,300 means WWE are pricing the show at $103 and up. The transaction of AAA to WWE and Fillip earlier in the month was confirmed in the press release for the show.

The branding has been changed to a AAA and WWE show, rather than NXT, and will be headlined by Dominick Mysterio challenging El Hijo del Vikingo for the Mega championship, with everyone expecting a title change. Mysterio winning the belt on a US show in front of a limited crowd, rather than at “Triplemania”, suggests where WWE’s focus has been since taking over the promotion.

The movement of the belt onto Dominick Mysterio closes the door on a return to the top (and perhaps to the promotion overall) for Alberto El Patron. Alberto did not return at “Triplemania” but is still being booked on local shows running under the AAA banner. The heavy booking of him through the summer, on top of his noticeable move away from the top of the AAA card, have led to him becoming somewhat of a wrestler martyr, with fans chanting for him at each show. WWE sources have been adamant when talking to Fightful that El Patron will not be used by the promotion going forward.

Merchandise has been added to the WWE shop for Taurus, Cibernetico, Mecha Wolf, Abismo Negro Jr., Microman, Pimplenla Escarlata and La Hiedra. Most of the new additions were made prior to “Triplemania”, with a number indicating that they would be part of Copa Bardahl.

Pimpinela Escarlata suffered both a foot and shoulder injury in the match, meaning that his scheduled hair vs hair match with Piedras Negras has been postponed for the time being.

Mexico Independents

Diego Sanchez Coronado, who has wrestled under the name Babe Rap, was charged with aggravated homicide with an advantage earlier on Thursday after attacking his neighbour (and brother in law) Nestor Alejandro Zamora Ledesma in what is said to have been a dispute which occurred at the wrestler’s home. Ledesma was found outside the house and rushed to hospital, but passed away from the injuries sustained this past Sunday.

The family of the deceased have claimed to the media that the Monclova luchador may have used his wrestling knowledge in the altercation. Local media outlets have also suggested that the dispute was drug related, citing Coronado’s previous charges in relation to drugs in their reports, as well noting that the wrestler had no noticeable injuries from the confrontation. There are said to be no witnesses of events, although many nearby were alerted by the noise.

Babe Rep has remained on the northern Mexico circuit for pretty much all of his career, with his only major exposure being extra work with AAA in 2005 and 2008. He is now in custody at the Saltillo Men’s Penitentiary whilst police are tasked with investigating the death in full.

El Hijo del Santo’s retirement tour ran for another show, with a large crowd attending in his hometown of Tulancingo in Hidalgo on August 9th. Santo’s last dates currently advertised are in Europe, where a Berlin date on November 2nd has been added to his two nights in London on October 31st and November 1st.

Another man stating he will retire this year is Fuerza Guerrera. His final date is currently scheduled as September 28th in Mexico City, in what is a highly adventurous venue. LA Park, Hijo de LA Park, LA Park Jr. vs Dralistico, RUSH and La Bestia del Ring in an effort to speed up ticket sales.

Mascarita Dorada is set to open up a training school for minis, according to an interview with Estadio Deportes. Dorada stated that the school would be run in Tennessee in cooperation with Real Midget Wrestling.

Mystery Wrestling’s Longest Ever Match

Ariel Diaz takes us through Mystery Wrestling’s record breaking match in aid of the Canadian Cancer Society.

On Monday, August 11th, Mystery Wrestling set out to (unofficially) break the Guinness World Record for the longest wrestling match, which was previously set at 21 hours and 44 minutes, as part of the “Fighting Back: Wrestling With Cancer” fundraiser benefitting the Canadian Cancer Society. Since 2011 “Fighting Back” has raised over $600,000 in honor of Phrank Morin, a beloved member of the local wrestling scene who lost his fight with cancer. The stream itself was 24 hours, with Evil Uno beginning the stream about an hour before the match started and then hanging out after until it hit that 24 hour mark.

Logistically, how do you do a 21+ hour match? Mystery Wrestling’s answer was a cibernetico consisting of two teams of twelve facing each other with elimination possible through pinfall, submission, or countout. This being Mystery Wrestling, even these rules were more like guidelines, with new wrestlers (and non-wrestlers) tagging in throughout the match. Breaking kayfabe, the “new” entrants were actually the same wrestlers who had changed into different gear or costumes in the back, like the true workhorses they are. The wrestlers even took turns as referee, taking over for the three official referees that Uno was able to convince to work for free for 24 hours. The cibernetico format gave the wrestlers opportunities to take breaks between their turns in the ring, and with some wrestlers performing as more than one character, there were plenty of people to rotate in and out even with the eliminations.

The next question is: what is the story of a 21+ hour match? The most basic throughline was Stu Grayson, Mystery Wrestling’s current champion and notorious hater of wrestling nonsense, trying to end the match as quickly as possible so the longest match record wasn’t broken. In the end, he was unsuccessful, and at times he also fell into a little nonsense; Stu even had a wrestling class scheduled during the match, with about an hour of match time spent running drills with students from The Keep, Uno and Stu’s wrestling school. There was also a point, very late into the stream, where Stu kills a referee and we get to see him spiral into a bit of a mental breakdown. His low moments included stealing his opponent’s mask and putting it on himself, jumping onto a plastic bucket so it shattered, trying to hide under the ring, and doing snow angels on the floor. Eventually he was able to collect himself and get back to trying to end the match. Ultimately, the final competitors were Stu and Junior Benito, with Stu defeating Benito after 21 hours, 49 minutes, and 12 seconds.

I do have to confess, although I had the stream playing for most of the 24 hours I was still going about my day and did a lot more listening to Uno and his guests chatting than watching the match. When I did get chances to stop and focus on the stream I saw a fair mix between traditional wrestling and wrestlers hanging out in the ring while the clock ran down (and who could blame them). We got some sections that were pure Mystery Wrestling as well – at one point Cecil Nyx tagged in for both teams and fought himself, including throwing himself through a door. The live guitarist that accompanies TDT showed up and provided a soundtrack to the match for a while. Top Dog Frank Mayer’s hot dog son was kidnapped and held at ransom for donations. Stone Cold Sasquatch-tin arrived towards the end, accompanied by a live saxophone. Uno even got in the ring himself, although that was when I finally had to call it a night and get some sleep, so I may never find out what he got up to.

Uno’s time in the ring was the longest he spent away from the commentary desk; he took short breaks throughout, but he was in it for the long haul. Luckily, he had lined up plenty of guests to join him on the stream that entertained the viewers whenever he had to step away. Uno had at least one person lined up to join via Zoom for at least half of the stream, which made it worthwhile to keep the stream on all day. Some of my favorite moments from the guests were Dalton Castle and Excalibur arguing over whether people should or should not eat paint, Colt Cabana encouraging more donations by promising to show off his dog Ripley (alternate phrasing: “promising to show off his weiner… dog Ripley” go ahead and decide if the running joke passes muster), and Matt Menard having to miss his initial slot at the beginning of the stream only to join the stream the next morning with full energy, making a great contrast to an Evil Uno that had been on stream for over 20 hours at that point.

In the end, the stream was a huge success, not just because they were able to break the longest wrestling match record, but because they raised over CA$33,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society. Any 24 hour livestream is a huge undertaking, but when it’s for a good cause, especially in the memory of a friend, it must be worth it. I hope everyone at Mystery Wrestling is proud of the amount they were able to raise, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with for next year. Uno has promised to keep the stream VOD uploaded to twitch and YouTube in case you want to watch it for yourself, and if you’re interested in donating the tiltify campaign may still be active at: https://donate.tiltify.com/f68edd2a-9ee4-4546-abce-de91ab75ad6d/details?origin=donate

Canada News

C4 Wrestling held their annual “Fighting Back” event on August 16th in Ottawa. Between the two shows, alongside other fundraising efforts, the amount raised for the Canadian Cancer Society had crossed $132,000 CD by the end of the night. Just an incredible effort by all involved.

C4’s next show “A Fistful of Dynamite” on September 19th in Ottawa is being labelled as the promotion’s Season 18 premiere. The main event will see C4 Champion Junior Benito defend against Vaughn Vertigo and Gabriel Fuerza. Both challengers had looked to earn a shot at the title in the Fighting Back Invitational, but without a clear winner, it was decided that both would now compete for the title. Violence Is Forever will also be in town to face Sinner and Saint, whilst Myung Jae Lee puts up the Underground Championship against Erick Stevens, who is debuting for the promotion on this show.

Simon Miller will be appearing for SMASH Wrestling on September 18th, C4 on the 19th and Mystery Wrestling on the 21st as part of a one weekend Canadian tour.

Post Wrestling and Poisonrana will hold a tailgate party in the afternoon before AEW’s “All Out” PPV on September 20th at Gabby’s on King Street in Toronto. The event promises themed food and drinks as well as wrestling karaoke and is free to attend.

Rest of the Americas

Legión Nueva Era return to their regular venue in El Limonero in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on September 7th for “Furia En El Limonero”. Gint Giovanna will defend the Campeonato Maximo against former champion Maikol at the top of the show.

Legión also took part in in Children’s Day celebrations in Buenos Aires on August 24th, with a free show at Plaza Eva Peron (also known as Plaza Evita).

Check out these other articles from this week!

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STARDOM 5 Star Grand Prix

Momo Watanabe is the winner of the 2025 5-Star Grand Prix, the 14th installment of Stardom’s biggest tournament of the year.

FRONT PAGE

F5 or FU?

Trish Speirs looks at WWE’s decision to bring back Brock Lesnar for their ESPN launch and counter programming efforts against AEW.

FEATURES

Progress Chapter 183: 100 Volts

“Chapter 183: 100 Volts” on Monday, August 25th was headlined by a TLC match for the Progress Men’s World Championship between Luke Jacobs and Man Like DeReiss.

EUROPE & AFRICA

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 35 Final

Konosuke Takeshita defeated EVIL in the final of G1 CLIMAX 35. You might read that line and wonder how we got here.

ASIA & OCEANIA

Recommendations From A History Man

Peter Edge is very much inspired by the “Forbidden Door” concept this week in his throwback choices.

RETRO

F5 or FU?

Trish Speirs looks at WWE’s decision to bring back Brock Lesnar for their ESPN launch and counter programming efforts against AEW.

FEATURES

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 35 Final

Konosuke Takeshita defeated EVIL in the final of G1 CLIMAX 35. You might read that line and wonder how we got here.

ASIA & OCEANIA

Recommendations From A History Man

Peter Edge is very much inspired by the “Forbidden Door” concept this week in his throwback choices.

RETRO

Progress Chapter 183: 100 Volts

“Chapter 183: 100 Volts” on Monday, August 25th was headlined by a TLC match for the Progress Men’s World Championship between Luke Jacobs and Man Like DeReiss.

EUROPE & AFRICA

Categories

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Social Suplex Newsletter No. 10

Social Suplex Newsletter No. 10

Americas

All Elite Wrestling

“Forbidden Door 2025”

August 24th 2025The O2 Arena, London, UKCompany Announced Live Attendance: 18,992 (Wrestletix: 17,615)Watch On: Amazon Prime/Triller/ITVX

Seán O’Brien walks us through the “Forbidden Door” at London’s O2 Arena.

Cope & Cage vs Killswitch and Kip Sabian

TNT Title- Kyle Fletcher vs Hiromu Takahashi

TBS Title- Mercedes Mone vs Alex Windsor vs Bozilla vs Persephone

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship- Zack Sabre Jr. vs Nigel McGuiness

AEW Tag Team Championships- The Hurt Syndicate vs FTR vs Brodido

AEW Unified Championship- Kazuchika Okada vs Swerve Strickland

AEW Women’s World Title- Toni Storm vs Athena

AEW Men’s World Title- Adam Page vs MJF

Lights Out Steel Cage (Unsanctioned)

Full Results

AEW TV News

AEW News

WWE

WWE “Summerslam” Saturday

02/08/2025Location: MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, USAAttendance: 50,493Watch On: Peacock (USA), Netflix (International)Review by David Hayter

CM Punk Falls Victim To The “Ruse Of The Century”, But Did Seth Actually Fool Anyone?

Gunther Drags A Sweat-Soaked And Blown-Up Punk To A Controversial Classic

The Bloodline Conquer The Vision In A Feel-Good, All-Action Opener

Logan Paul Carries A Visibly Exhausted Jelly Roll Through An Entertaining Celebrity Tag

Jade and Tiffy Keep It Simple, But Still Fail To Impress

Karrion Kross Is Incapable Of Having A Good Match With Sami Zayn

Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss Survive Miscommunication To Win Tag Team Gold

Final Thoughts: Simple Tweaks Could Have Elevated A Lightweight And Skippable Saturday

Full Results

WWE “Summerslam” Sunday

03/08/2025Location: MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, USAAttendance: 58,186Watch On: Peacock (USA), Netflix (International)Review by David Hayter

Homelander vs Peacemaker: Cody & Cena Deliver A Modern Day Hogan-Warrior

Chaos Reigns In A Scarily Spectacular TLC, But The Wrong Team Wins

Naomi Steals The Pin In An Excellent Opener That Was Cruelly Short Changed On Time

Becky & Lyra Offer Fleeting Brilliance In Over-Booked, Over-Thought and Overly-Long Clash

Solo’s Reign Of Terror Continues Following Tedious Cage Match

Charming Eddie Guerrero Tribute Offers Welcome Reprieve From Gimmick Matches

Full Results

WWE Unreal

Peter Edge walks us through Netflix’s latest wrestling series based on WWE creative.

Episode One – “A New Era”

Episode 2 – “Push”

Episode 3 – “Worth The Wait”

Episode 4 – “Heel Turn”

Episode 5 – “WrestleMania”

WWE TV News

WWE News

TNA

MLW

Blood and Thunder 2025

August 9th, 2025 (Taped June 26th)Melrose Ballroom, New York, USAWatch On: Youtube

Full Results:

MLW News

US Independants

Brain Slam WrestlingAugust 8th 2025Porter Street Studios, Downtown Los Angeles, CAAttendance: approx 1,200 Review by Chris Whitehead

Full Results:

US Independents

CMLL

“Viernes Espectacular”

08/08/2025Location: Arena Mexico, Mexico City, MexicoAttendance: ca. 16,000Watch On: YouTube (Subscription Required)Review by David Hayter

Blue Panther Turns Back The Clock In Forlorn Challenge For the MLW National Openweight Title

Mistico Returns To Deliver A Classic Captain’s Fall Trios Main Event

Barboza Steps Out On His Own With Mixed But Promising Results

The Aniversario Apuesta Build Continues As Tag Match Gives Way To Another Unmasking Angle

The Grand Prix Field Is Revealed

Fast and Frantic Multiman Tags Kick Off The Show In Style

Full Results:

CMLL “Viernes Espectacular”

15/08/2025Location: Arena Mexico, Mexico City, MexicoAttendance: ca. 16,000Watch On: YouTube (Subscription Required)Review by David Hayter

MJF Stinks Up The Joint With Dated Shtick, Killing Zandokán Jr’s Momentum In The Process

Místico & Hologram Beautifully Go Through The Gears In 12-Minute Tag Thriller

CMLL Wisely Mixes Up the Anniversario Build With A Wild Cibernetico

Titán & Templario Survive Potential “Death Spot” in Fast-Paced Clash With the Tag Champs

The Stars Of The Torneo De Escuelas Return To Kick Off A Supercard, But It All Ends In Tragedy

August 24th 2025
The O2 Arena, London, UK
Company Announced Live Attendance: 18,992 (Wrestletix: 17,615)
Watch On: Amazon Prime/Triller/ITVX

02/08/2025
Location: MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, USA
Attendance: 50,493
Watch On: Peacock (USA), Netflix (International)
Review by David Hayter

03/08/2025
Location: MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, USA
Attendance: 58,186
Watch On: Peacock (USA), Netflix (International)
Review by David Hayter

August 9th, 2025 (Taped June 26th)
Melrose Ballroom, New York, USA
Watch On: Youtube

Brain Slam Wrestling
August 8th 2025
Porter Street Studios, Downtown Los Angeles, CA
Attendance: approx 1,200
Review by Chris Whitehead

08/08/2025
Location: Arena Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Attendance: ca. 16,000
Watch On: YouTube (Subscription Required)
Review by David Hayter

15/08/2025
Location: Arena Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Attendance: ca. 16,000
Watch On: YouTube (Subscription Required)
Review by David Hayter

16/08/2025
Location: Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Attendance: 19,691
Watch on: YouTube
Review by David Hayter