Gable discussed the creation of the El Grande Americano gimmick with Good Karma Wrestling. He talked about the past month which led to his final portrayal of the character. 

“It has been just a wild month for me, as you can imagine, as you might have seen. I’m in good spirits. I feel like I’m in some of the best head space I’ve ever been in wrestling. Things have been up and down for a long, long time. And right now, I feel like we’re in just this awesome spot where I’m just creatively fulfilled. Just everything’s going well on the show. We’ve got some great stories going on and coming off the mask vs. mask match that I was just I’m so proud of for so many reasons and we’re in a good spot.”

Gable admitted that he never expected the gimmick to receive such an overwhelming response from the wrestling world. He recalled a moment when he was brawling with Ludwig Kaiser’s version of the character, that made him realize how much he resonated with the fans. Their loud reaction and cheers were impossible to ignore. 

“Not a chance, you know? No way. I mean, that’s the best thing, one of the best things I think about wrestling, right, is you just never know. You never know what it is that’s going to land, what it is that the audience is going to latch on to or why really. And when you really think about the path that we had to go on to get to that point, it would have never happened if it weren’t for so many different variables there. And someday everyone, I think, will become privy to like how many there actually were. There’s a lot more than people even know about, but something as obvious as my injury, right? And me having to go away that if I hadn’t gotten injured, none of this would have ever taken the route that it did.And it’s just magic. That’s what wrestling is.”

“I think for me it was the night if you recall that we had started our story down there a little bit. And it was the night that we got into our first big brawl around the ring and around the arena a little bit. And that started clicking not only for I think the audience, but for me because that was a moment that I was so in the moment  and it felt real to me. It was visceral. Like I wanted to hurt this man so bad for taking what was mine, what I had created. And that was life or death for me for those four or five minutes or whatever it was.”

“And when I walked away from that that night, I’m like ‘we got something here.’ This is special because I’ve never felt that way about something in the past yet. And it unlocked this whole new realm and aspect of pro wrestling for me. I’m like ‘man, I can treat this the same exact way as I treated Greco Roman wrestling, as I treated amateur wrestling.’ Like visceral, man. Like feel it, go into it a competition. I’m going to wreck this guy. And that was my mindset from that moment on out. And I think that’s really what both of our mindsets were.”

Following his loss on May 30 at AAA Noche de Los Grandes match, Gable was forced to unmask as El Grande Americano. Since then his appearances on Raw has centered around embracing lucha libre and embarking on an apology tour, particularly toward Alpha Academy for the way he mistreated the group. 

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Dave Meltzer reported earlier this month that, when Punk returns from his post-WrestleMania 42 absence, he’s expected to join SmackDown, potentially for a feud with Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. That move is intended to help balance the rosters given that Raw has more star power at the moment.

Following up on that, Meltzer gave another update in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, stating that Punk has been pushing “very hard” for his return to take place on the July 6 episode of Raw given that the show is being held in the Chicago area:

• Even though Punk is earmarked for Smackdown, he was pushing very hard for his return to be on the 7/6 Raw show because it’s in Chicago. His departure was basically to get him ready for moving to Smackdown and eventually a program with Rhodes, but to say there are no issues at all, that wouldn’t be correct. It’s not as bad as some have made it out to be, but it’s not like there aren’t any issues at all.

Punk has been away from WWE programming since the Raw after WrestleMania 42. There have been rumors about his absence and whether it was solely creative-related or if there are issues between Punk and WWE, which Meltzer addressed in the quoted section above.

At WrestleMania, Punk dropped the World Heavyweight Championship to Roman Reigns. A future Undisputed WWE title match between Rhodes and Punk was then teased on Raw the next night.

Rhodes is defending his title against Gunther and Sami Zayn in a triple threat match at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia this Saturday. Coming out of the PLE, WWE will officially begin the build to SummerSlam. The King of the Ring finals between Oba Femi and Jey Uso at Night of Champions will earn one of them a World title shot at SummerSlam, with the winner able to challenge either Reigns or Rhodes.

WWE’s schedule after Night of Champions —

The Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois is hosting the July 6 episode of Raw. Before that, WWE has a combined Raw/SmackDown taping in Atlantic City, New Jersey on June 29. The July 3 edition of SmackDown is being taped in advance due to the Fourth of July holiday.

SummerSlam will take place from Minneapolis across two nights on August 1-2.

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He does full previews of this weekend’s four shows that includes AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, WWE Night of Champions, TNA Slammiversary and NXT Great American Bash.

He looks at the field for the NJPW G1 tournament and the dates, and also recaps FantasticaMania Mexico which saw the farewell to Tiger Mask IV and CMLL’s 16th sellout.

All that, plus news, opinion and analysis of everything happening in the pro wrestling and MMA world awaits.

Click here to read (sub needed)

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The defense, looking to gain access to surveillance footage, filed a motion on June 16 asking the court to issue a subpoena duces tecum to the apartment complex where the alleged battery incident occurred. On June 25, judge Andrew Cameron of Orange County, Florida ruled on the matter and ordered for the subpoena to be issued. It concerns the following footage:

• Any and all recordings from videotape surveillance of the 12th Floor including the elevator and all areas surrounding the elevator on or about April 23, 2026, from 6:00 p.m. until 6:45 p.m.

That time period is when Kaiser (Marcel Barthel) is accused of assaulting an adult male who lived in the same apartment complex as him. In the alleged victim’s version of events, Kaiser and a female were aggressively kissing as the three of them were in the same elevator. When the victim exited the elevator, he told them to “please have some manners,” which resulted in the attack. Police observed a “large, fresh scratch” on the victim’s head and redness in that area. Kaiser was identified as a suspect after police viewed the surveillance footage, and the victim also picked him out of a photo lineup.

Kaiser is facing a misdemeanor battery charge relating to the incident. His defense had tried to access the surveillance video on their own through the apartment complex but were told it could not be released without a subpoena.

Upcoming pre-trial conference —

A pre-trial conference is scheduled for July 16, where the prosecution and defense will meet and discuss a possible plea agreement and whether the case is going to trial. The victim has obtained his own attorney who specializes in civil litigation and personal injury, indicating that he is considering a possible civil case against Kaiser.

Kaiser is free to travel and continue his WWE/AAA work during the case. One of the highlights of his career happened on May 30 with the El Grande Americano vs. Original El Grande Americano (Chad Gable) mask match at AAA Noche de Los Grandes. A charity auction for the mask Kaiser wore that night raised more than $40,000 for the Dr. Sonrisas Foundation in Mexico.

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Omega discussed the AEW talents he sees befitting to be World Champion with Adam Barnard of The Sportster. He acknowledged MJF’s current reign, while listing Darby Allin, Kyle Fletcher, Konosuke Takeshita, Kevin Knight, Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland being notable names whose association with the title elevates the promotion. 

“I feel like especially now because I’ve been here since the beginning. This is probably the most exciting for me that the title scene has been and the amount of competitors vying for the belt. Sometimes you’ll have a champion and you’ll know who’s gunning for it and you know that’s going to be the story for the long run. And now I mean geez we have MJF as a champion but it could easily be Darby. It could easily be a Kyle Fletcher. It could easily be a (Konosuke) Takeshita, Kevin Knight, (Kazuchika) Okada. Who knows? Maybe it could be me. It could be an (Will) Ospreay, Swerve (Strickland).”

“We have so many possibilities where if that belt went around their waist, it wouldn’t look odd. It wouldn’t look out of place And I would feel that the company’s in good hands. And I think it’s the first time where we’ve had close to almost 10 guys where you could put that belt on and it’s going to be okay.” 

The former AEW World Champion is gearing up to face Zack Sabre Jr. at Forbidden Door on June 28. They reignited their nearly decade old rivalry, dating back to their NJPW tenure. 

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Speaking to Demetrious Johnson, ‘The Baddy’ revealed his intentions for the rest of this year: “I want to win this lightweight belt, defend it, and then I’m going to eventually move up to welterweight. I’d love to get the rematch with Justin (Gaethje). Arman’s probably in front of me. I know he wants a rematch with Charles, so Charles is probably in front of me. I would like to fight again before the end of the year. If Conor McGregor needs a welterweight opponent before the end of the year, I’m game.“

Paddy Pimblett Weight

Pimblett is well-known for piling the pounds back on between fights, so getting down the 170lbs would probably be easier for him than the 155 he usually has to weigh in for:

“I normally get to 190-195, but as I say, I get back to the octagon at 185. (When) I cut to 155, I’ll do about 12 pounds overnight, something like that, and then within an hour or two hours of the weigh-in, I’m back up to 170 off just drinking. Then I’m back to 185 the next day.”

If Paddy does end up fighting the Irish star on a UFC card, it would probably end up being one of the biggest promoted fights of recent years, especially if the company leans hard on the England vs Ireland aspect of the fight and actually hold it somewhere in Europe.

McGregor is set to return to the octagon at UFC 329 to face Max Holloway at 170lbs.

Credit to MMAJunkie for the transcription

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“Fame has its pitfalls. You better move carefully in this world, for sure, probably even more so now. I’ve taken a lot of lessons in my life, and it’s just about self-discovery. Studying yourself. Learning yourself. Learning triggers. I find myself even now still in a fight with an old version of me or old ways that don’t serve me and new ways and a new version of me. I went through some treatment, I done a lot of self-reflective work on myself. Internal work and it was outside of this bubble that we find ourself now when I return to the fight game.”

Conor McGregor on the fight game

McGregor also discussed how he had “conquered” the fight game in his mid-to-late 20s and how it appeared to get to his head:

“At 27 years of age, I had the game conquered. Two-weight world champion, I had the Floyd bout, boxed off, I was only 27 years of age. I had the game wrapped up in a blink. What more was I to do? I got lost. I got lost in it. Made some mistakes off of that and that’s it. There may be pockets where I would have disrespected and disgraced the position that god put me in. That’s probably accurate. It is accurate in fact. But I for sure love this game.“

Credit to MMANews for the transcription

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WWE SmackDown start times

Here are the global start times for tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown:

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WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, Gunther and Sami Zayn will be meeting in the ring ahead of their triple threat title match at Night of Champions this weekend, as will Trick Williams and Ricky Saints ahead of their respective US Title match.

In terms of the actual matches on the show: Women’s U.S. Champion Tiffany Stratton and Alexa Bliss vs. B-Fab and Michin, AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix vs. Nathan Frazer, AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix vs. Nathan Frazer, Paige vs. Jacy Jayne, Giulia vs. Kiana James and Danhausen and Matt Cardona vs. Angel and Berto are all confirmed.

WWE SmackDown Matches tonight

Here are all of the matches and segments for tonight’s show:

• WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, Gunther, and Sami Zayn go face-to-face before their title match at Night of Champions
• Women’s U.S. Champion Tiffany Stratton and Alexa Bliss vs. B-Fab and Michin
• AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix vs. Nathan Frazer
• Jade Cargill vs. Chelsea Green
• Paige vs. Jacy Jayne
• Giulia vs. Kiana James
• U.S. Champion Trick Williams and Ricky Saints meet face-to-face before their match at Night of Champions
• Danhausen and Matt Cardona vs. Angel and Berto

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You can also watch full video of the show below.

We gave out our thumbs up and thumbs down before jumping into the major topics of the week which included:

• The most memorable job guys of our childhood
• John’s memories of working with Josh Barnett
• Thoughts on Cody Rhodes, Gunther, and Sami Zayn
• Previews of both Night of Champions and Forbidden Door

Click Here to Listen (sub needed)

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Shortly after, the internet was filled with rumors about the two having a real-life beef with each other. Now, years later, during his appearance on SHAK Wrestling before AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, Copeland has cleared the rumors.

“We got out there. He started, you know, cutting a promo on me, and I was like, well, I’m not in an angle with him, okay? And that was it. It’s just like a thousand promos in the Attitude Era, you know. By the next day, it’s like, okay, now what do we got? Like, I don’t care. I’m sure Ricky doesn’t. I don’t care.”

Copeland claimed that fans read too much into things, and the exchange the two had was simply a wrestling promo. He claimed that by the next day, he had moved on and was sure that Saints had too.

Copeland, 52, is currently active in AEW, while Saints actively performs on the WWE main roster following his recent jump from NXT.

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A WWE veteran, Hogan’s first WWE run was from 1979 to 1981, following which he made a jump to NJPW in Japan. Although he made his NJPW debut in 1980, while still under contract with WWE. After a few years there, Hogan returned to WWE and stayed there until 1993. Following this, he again returned to Japan and had a career-changing run in WCW until 2000. Fans saw Hogan return to WWE again in 2002, although it lasted for just a year until 2003.

In October 2003, Hogan returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling and wrestled Masahiro Chono at the Tokyo Dome at the promotion’s Ultimate Crush II event. One of the talents on that card was Tiger Mask IV. Recently, speaking to NJPW1972.com, Tiger Mask IV revealed that Hogan planned on starting his own wrestling promotion with people from NJPW. He further recollected having a conversation with Hogan and Jimmy Hart about it.

“The day after (NJPW Ultimate Crush II), there was an all-hands meeting with the boys at the office. At (the) time, (Hulk) Hogan was talking about starting his own company, and he was trying to book the New Japan guys. I was just minding my own business, and I got a tap on the shoulder, ‘Can you have a word with Hogan?’ I went in a room with Hogan and Jimmy Hart there, and they just went, ‘We want you’, and all of a sudden we’re taking promo photos together,” he said.

“And Hogan goes, ‘Oh, you should come over, you can stay at the house,’ and I have images of staying at the Hogan house running through my head (laughs). In the end, the new company talk fell through and nothing happened. But I grew up watching Hogan and Inoki and that whole rivalry, so it’s wild to have those stories.”

However, the plans were not fruitful, and Hogan ended up returning to WWE in 2005. After a few stints on the independent, TNA, and WWE, Hogan passed away at the age of 71 in 2025.

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According to a recent report by Deadline, UFC Hall of Famer Ronda Rousey is set to serve as the executive producer for an MMA drama titled Brawlers.

Brawlers has reportedly been awarded the California tax incentive and will shoot on location in Los Angeles, California.

Harold Perrineau, known for his role in From, will play the lead role in Brawlers. As of now, the details of the story have been kept under wraps. Although it is known that the story is based on Los Angeles’ amateur MMA scene. Jonathan Fernandez, who will be directing it as well, has written the project. Alongside Rousey, Erwin More and Jill Tanner are executive producing it, while Andrew Carlberg, Jackie Carr and Fernandez are producing.

Rousey is herself a legend in the combat sports industry, having experienced an extremely successful UFC and WWE career. An UFC Hall of Famer, Rousey also won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in judo. She was also the first UFC women’s bantamweight champion, following which she transitioned into WWE. Rousey has also won the Raw Women’s Championship and became the first woman, alongside Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, to headline a WWE WrestleMania.

She recently retired from MMA after defeating Gina Carano in under 20 seconds during their comeback fight on Netflix.

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Long before The Judgment Day were the arrogant and loudmouth villains of the WWE roster, they were a dark, Brood-esque faction led by Edge (Adam Copeland) with Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest under him. However, Cody Rhodes’ injury in 2022 possibly led to creative shifts, which saw Finn Balor join the faction and turn on Edge, with Ripley and Priest also joining in.

That soon led to a year-long feud between Edge and a few others against the other faction members, and later also the introduction of Dominik Mysterio as a heel. However, while the faction started with Ripley and Priest, Edge recently revealed to SHAK Wrestling that Vince McMahon was not sure about that.

“Vince [McMahon] said, ‘I want you to start a group, and I want it to be like the brood.’ And I went, ‘Okay, okay.’ So, I’m thinking three people, and he said, ‘Who would that be?’ I was like, ‘Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley.’ No hesitation. Those are the two people that could make this a pretty cool group,” Copelan said.

“I think he was kind of surprised by that. And that made me realize he didn’t understand what he had in those two. And I thought that was a shame. So, I truly thought, hey, this can be a vehicle. So hopefully they just start getting more reps and some more experience and I think that’s essentially what it did. And then I got to feud them for a year.

“So I got to be their baby face along with Rey [Mysterio], and when you got two baby faces like us, chances are your heel group is going to do okay. And still going, I think. So you know, it worked. But I’m proud of them. I’m super proud of them. I’m proud of Rhea [Ripley]. I’m proud of like, where she’s taken it and gone with it, and it’s exactly where I thought it could go,” Copeland finished.

Their long feud finished with Copeland defeating the Demon Finn Balor in a Hell in a Cell match at WWE WrestleMania 39.

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After spending almost three decades in the wrestling business, Tiger Mask IV will now be stepping away from it. On July 7, 2026, he is scheduled to participate in his retirement show, where he’ll wrestle two singles matches, one against Black Tiger (Rocky Romero) and the other against ‘Dynamite Kid’ Tommy Billington.

He recently appeared in an interview with NJPW1972.com, where he opened up about his diverticulitis diagnosis as a reason for stepping away.

“Obviously, the mileage comes with the career I’ve had, but a major factor was the operation I had when I had diverticulitis in 2020. After that, I really struggled with my abdominal strength, and I started to feel the end getting closer, and with all the young talent in NJPW, there were fewer and fewer matches for me, so it just felt like the time was right.” Tiger Mask said. “The day before, I was with the family doing home workouts while we watched TV. That was during the pandemic,” He continued.

“Huge (shock learning that I had to get surgery). I had this unbearable stomach pain, went to the hospital and they said, ‘This is life-threatening. We have to get you into surgery’ and then I had the operation the next day. The doctor told me I would need a stoma bag for a while and wouldn’t be able to wrestle, so jumping to conclusions, I thought, oh, that’s it, I’m finished.”

Tiger Marks IV did not reveal the diagnosis to anyone outside his immediate family. He underwent the operation, spent three weeks recovering, and then returned to the New Japan Dojo. Although he had a stoma bag when he returned, he simply told people that he had business to handle, and that’s why he was away.

“No (I didn’t tell any of the wrestlers about my diagnosis), just my immediate family. Then, I had the operation, spent three weeks in recovery and then was in the Dojo a week after that,” he added. “Yeah. I was in the Dojo every morning. People asked why I was away, whether I had COVID, but I told them I just had some business to deal with.”

Tiger Mask IV also requires back surgery after retirement

In the same interview, he also opened up and revealed the need to undergo back surgery following his retirement bout on July 7, 2026.

“My body is a mess. You learn to work around and cover for one injury, and that just damages something somewhere else. I need back surgery after I retire, and my doctor’s always amazed I can still wrestle at all. My neck isn’t great either, but for some reason, when the bell rings, I can still go somewhat. Who knows? Maybe something Satoru Sayama instilled in me. But I have pride in myself to be Tiger Mask to the very end.”

The day before his retirement match, Tiger Mask IV is also scheduled to be in a six-man tag bout at the NJPW Road to G1 Climax show.

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Before the June 25, 2026 episode of TNA Impact went live, the promotion pushed out a digital exclusive video where Alisha Edwards confronted former member of The System, J.D.C. Earlier this year, after J.D.C. lost his retirement match to Eddie Edwards, Moose and he were ambushed and kicked out of The System.

Moose and Eddie Edwards are now set to face each other at TNA Slammiversary. It was also revealed during the digital exclusive video that Alisha Edwards will be in her husband’s corner, while J.D.C will be in Moose’s corner.

Later, TNA authority figure Daria Rae announced that the singles bout between Edwards and Moose will now be a No Surrender match. The match’s outcome depends on who (J.D.C or Alisha Edwards) throws in the towel. Once the towel is thrown, the person they are representing automatically loses.

Later, during the June 25, 2026 episode, Daria Rae also announced that Great Hands (John Skyler & Jason Hotch) have also been added to the TNA World Tag Team Title Ladder match at Slammiversary.

Earlier, a singles match between Elijah and A.J Francis was also added to the card.

TNA Slammiversary updated match card | June 28, 2026

• Cedric Alexander (c) vs. Leon Slater vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Mr. Elegance vs. K.C Navarro vs. Fabian Aichner vs. Amazing Red – Ultimate X match for the X-Division Championship
• Mike Santana (c) vs. Nic Nemeth for the TNA World Championship
• Lei Ying Lee (c) vs. Xia Brookside for the TNA Knockouts World Championship
• The System (Brian Myers & Bear Bronson) (c) vs. Broken Hardys (‘Broken’ Matt Hardy & Brother Nero) vs. The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch) vs. The Great Hands (John Skyler & Jason Hotch) in a ladder match for the TNA World Tag Team Championship
• The Elegance Brand (M by Elegance & Heather by Elegance) (c) vs. Allie & Rosemary for the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship
• Ricky Sosa vs. Eric Young
• Elijah vs. A.J Francis
• Mustafa Ali vs. TBA for the TNA International Championship in an open challenge match
• Moose vs. Eddie Edwards in a No Surrender match

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Announced by Tony Khan on Thursday, the final Survival of the Fittest qualifying match will take place on the Buy In pre-show. The winner moves on to this Wednesday’s Dynamite as part of the match that will crown a new TBS Champion.

The bout will feature Skye Blue taking on Stardom’s Maika as part of the ongoing feud between Thekla’s group and her former employer in Stardom. Blue is looking to snap a two-match losing stream while it’s Maika’s AEW debut. She has appeared twice for ROH since 2024.

The winner will join Hikaru Shida, Kris Statlander, Persephone, Queen Aminata, and Harley Cameron in this Wednesday’s match.

Current AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door card | This Sunday

• Steel Cage Match: MJF, Kevin Knight & Kyle Fletcher, Jake Doyle & Andrade El Idolo vs. Mark Briscoe, Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong, Orange Cassidy, Darby Allin & Konosuke Takeshita
• Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Finals: Mercedes Mone vs. Maya World
• Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Finals: Swerve Strickland vs. Will Ospreay
• AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla defends against Starlight Kid
• AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley defends against Bandido
• AEW World Tag Team Champions Adam Copeland & Christian Cage defend against The Dogs (David Finlay & Clark Connors)
• Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr
• IWGP Global Champion Shota Umino defends against PAC
• The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. El Sky Team (Mistico & Mascara Dorada) vs. Unbound Co. (Shingo Takagi & Titan)
• Buy In pre-show: AEW Women’s Tag Team Champions Divine Dominion (Megan Bayne & Lena Kross) defend against Thunder Rosa & Olympia
• Buy In pre-show: Skye Blue vs. Maika in a Survival of the Fittest qualifier

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Tuesday’s episode averaged 668,000 viewers on The CW, up nearly 10% from the previous week’s 610,000 and the largest audience for the show since February 17.

The episode averaged a 0.11 rating in the 18-49 demo, up 22.2% from last week and tying its best rating in that category since February 10.

The strong numbers were despite going head-to-head with the NBA Draft, which combined for over four million viewers between ABC and ESPN and a 1.00 18-49 rating. It also went up against the World Cup on Fox which averaged 6.778 million viewers and a 2.06 18-49 rating, but only went up against the first half of NXT.

The show finished last among all network TV programming in both total viewers and 18-49 rating as it usually does.

Recent WWE NXT ratings

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership and 18-49 demo ratings for WWE NXT on The CW as well as the 10 week average in both categories. This week’s show was up 18.7% in overall viewers and up 37.5% in 18-49 as compared to recent averages.

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Scheduled for Thursday’s show, TNA World Champion Mike Santana and Nic Nemeth will take part in a world title summit ahead of their championship match at Slammiversary.

In trios competition, Frankie Kazarian, Cedric Alexander, and Mr. Elegance of The Elegance Brand will face Leon Slater, Fabian Aichner, and KC Navarro. Mara Sadé will go one-on-one with Ash By Elegance, Matt and Jeff Hardy will kick off this week’s episode, AJ Francis will be in action, and Moose is advertised for Thursday’s show as well.

Plus, Xia Brookside will also go one-on-one with Harley Hudson.

Matches scheduled for tonight’s show:

• TNA World Champion Mike Santana and Nic Nemeth take part in a world title summit
• Frankie Kazarian, Cedric Alexander & Mr. Elegance vs. Leon Slater, Fabian Aichner & KC Navarro
• Mara Sadé vs. Ash By Elegance
• Xia Brookside vs. Harley Hudson
• Matt & Jeff Hardy kick off the show
• AJ Francis in action
• Moose appears

Our live coverage kicks off at 8. p.m. Eastern.

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It’s the Slammiversary go-home edition of Impact! and with 3.5 matches announced, a Championship “Summit” (whatever that means) and a whole bunch of talking in between, lets see just how non-stop tonight’s total action is! It’s TNA where, according to Nic Nemeth ‘DTA’ means “Don’t Trust No One.”

As promised the Hardys kicked off the show, arriving to the ring in their broken fashion. Sadly, no Broken Moose, but that might be too much to ask for. Brother Nero seemed to have forgotten his robe at home, but Broken Matt was all decked out.

Broken Matt declared that after the Wicked Garden match against the Righteous, they are reborn. Matt said that they needed the Righteous to change them with that violent match, to push them to ascend. He then declared Broken Matt and Brother Nero V1 as obsolete.

Nero added that they had been rebroken by fate. That brought the Righteous out. Vincent said that the Righteous is greatful that the Hardys are finally telling the truth. Dutch added that the reason they stand here enlightened is because of the Righteous.

That of course, produced the tag team champions, Brian Meyers and Bear Bronson of the System right on cue. Meyers called the Hardys and the Righteous a bunch of “mumbo jumbo” and none of their crap matters. Bronson added that the only thing that matters is the titles, and The System will eat them alive and leave the ladder match at Slamiversary still champions.

Broken Matt disagreed and said they were gonna win. Matt then struck Vincent and Nero took out Meyers and Bronson. They pulled a ladder out from under the ring but before they could set it up, Meyers and Vincent took out Matt.

The other five brawled on the outside while Nero climbed the ladder, previewing a swanton, but everyone ran away before he could execute it. The Broken Theme Song played and that was it.

-Back from a break, Daria Rae was approached by Mustafa Ali and Order 4. Before they even said anything, she added Order 4’s The Great Hands to the tag team title ladder match at Slammiversary because they are “good employees.”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ash By Elegance vs Mara Sadé

Ash arrived with the Elegance Brand and Indi Hartwell was on commentary because why not? Sade arrived bumping andf grinding as she does.

The crowd jeered at Ash, calling her a Mark. She flipped out and started screaming at them to stop. She said that they weren’t good for her mental health. She said she needed a mental health break and then threw a full-on Christian temper tantrum in the ring before leaving. On her way out, she demanded M take her place. So:

M By Elegance vs Mara Sadé

Before that match got going, Elayna Black came out to distract… Hartwell? I guess?

Anyway, the match started and Sade was in complete control off the top. She sent M to the outside, chopping her and bouncing her head off the ring apron (The most elegant part of the ring!)

M tried to run away, but Sade hit her with a dropkick that seemed to knock her clean out. Heather tried to help and caused a distraction that let M get a Tower of Elegance in on Sade.

M took over, slamming and suplexing Sade. She went for another suplex and Sade tried a rollup, but only got two. Then Heather got up on the apron, then Hartwell pulled her down, then Black came to the ring and continued watching.

Sade went up top and Black hopped up to knock her off the turnbuckle, causing a DQ.

Match Result: Mara Sade defeated M By Elegance via DQ

So then Black and Sade brawled, while M and Heather beat up Hartwell. That brought out Allie and Rosemary, the Elegance Brand’s opponents for Slammiversary. They yelled at M and Heather and chased them off and then the segment ended.

-Eric Young appeared in a pretaped promo and talked about how he hasn’t seen anything from Ricky Sosa that he can’t handle. Young said Sosa is disrespectful because he takes wrestling for granted. So he’s going to teach him a lesson.

AJ Francis vs Manny Lemons

Francis faces the man who’s name, image and likeness he bought, Elijah at Slammiversary. But that presumes he survives this deadly confrontation with <checks notes> Manny Lemons.

Lemons tried to jump Francis off the bell, but Francis barely felt it and threw him into the corner. He threw him from his shoulders into the opposite corner, then delivered a running knee to Lemons. He also said “money” a lot.

Francis toyed with Lemons, running through the Undertaker’s moveset, going “old school” from the top rope and the like. Francis missed a Senton which allowed Lemons a bit of a comeback, but a spear put it down in a hurry.

Francis planted Lemons with the chokeslam and that was it.

Match Result: AJ Francis defeated Manny Lemons

After the match, Elijah appeared on the big screen from what appeared to be a shipping container to call Francis a no-talent Uncle Phil. He called him a fraud and said he will never be Elijah. Elijah said he talked to the TNA Lawyers and then set Francis’ Cease & Desist order on fire. So I think that means their match at Slammiversary is now for Elijah’s N/I/L? It was kind of unclear.

Xia Brookside vs Harley Hudson

Brookside jumped Hudson off the bell, but Hudson came back with a scoop slam. Hudson smashed Brookside face first into the mat and did push ups on her to drive the point home.

Brookside sent Hudson rolling with a kick and stomped her into the corner. Brookside laid in some midsection shoulders and then drop-toed Hudson into the ropes. She went for a cover, but Hudson kicked out.

Brookside wrenched back on Hudson’s arms, pulling her towards a Surfboard position, but Hudson got out of it. Hudson got back up and they traded shots until Hudson laid Brookside out with a pump kick and hip attack in the corner.

Hudson hit a fallaway slam and went for a cover, but Brookside kicked out at two. Hudson nailed Brookside with a discus punch, but missed on the top rope leg drop. That let Brookside hit at Darkside DDT and get the pin for the victory.

Match Result: Xia Brookside defeated Harley Hudson

After the match, Brookside attacked Hudson which brought Knockouts Champion Lei Ying Lee to the ring to chase her off.

-Back from break, we learned that the TNA World Championship Summit happened earlier in the day in a hotel business center. Carlos Sliva was there in what appeared to be a homemade TNA hat. He told them that they needed to be professional because he didn’t want to have to fine anyone.

Nemeth started and said that it was great that Santana had a great year, but he’s had 23 straight great years. Santana chuckled and said that if all Nemeth sees is a “good year” he’s got another thing coming. Santana went on to tell Nemeth about all the truly horrible things he’s gone through in his life.

Santana sat back and said that Nemeth was right; he’s done it all. But he’s never faced anyone like Santana. Santana said that he’s always been there for TNA, through the good times and the dark times. TNA has always been his priority.

Nemeth said that being an International Superstar is a lot different than having a good year. He then brought up Santana’s daughter and said he was glad Santana’s father was no longer living to see him fail.

Santana stood up and asked Silva “cash or check?” then decked Nemeth. Ryan Nemeth then appeared out of nowhere and they beat up Santana. Nic smashed his face on the TNA title belt and then the Nemeth boys left, ending the “Summit.”

I guess maybe WWE owns the trademark on “Contract Signing?” Because that’s all this was.

-Back from break, a wild Moose appeared (with JDC) and moose’d his way down to the ring. It was announced that Moose’s match against Eddie Edwards would be a “No Surrender” match. That means that the match can only end when one man’s corner person throws in the towel. Alicia Edwards will be in Eddie’s corner and JDC in Moose’s.

Moose grabbed a mic and said that at Slammiversary, payback’s a bitch “just like your wife.” That brought the Edwards’ to the ring. Eddie got on the mic and said that after all the time he and Moose spent together, he realized that Moose and JDC were like a cancer that was preventing Edwards from achieving greatness.

So, The System threw them out and they are better off for it. Edwards said that at Slammiversary, this will end for once and for all. JDC piped up and said that he understands that Eddie had to do what he had to do, but he’s sick in the head for it.

Alicia then grabbed the mic and said that JDC should bring his wife to the ring so she could slap her. Alicia said that the System is better off without them. And Moose? Well, he’s a fool. Alicia then said that if Moose wanted revenge, he could have one shot at her.

Mercifully, Moose backed off the challenge. Alicia called him a coward and Moose ran back to the ring. JDC cut him off and prevented him from spearing Alicia. Moose got another mic and promised that Slammiversary would be their funeral.

Cedric Alexander, Mr. Elegance & Frankie Kazarian vs Fabian Aichner, Leon Slater, and KC Navarro

At some point this week, it was decided that the returning Amazing Red would join the field of the Ultimate X match at Slammiversary. In the meantime, the other six participants will face off in this six man tag match that I’m sure will bring up all kinds of questions of co-existence.

Slater kicked things off against Kazarian, but went right for Alexander and kicked him in the face. Aichner tagged in and Kazarian raked his eyes and tagged in Mr Elegance. Aichner beat his muppety face from post to post, chopping his chest (I wonder if being so oiled up makes it hurt more?).

Navarro tagged in for a crossbody, but Elegance got a tag to Alexander who chopped Navarro to the ropes. Navarro came back with a dropkick, which brought Kazarian back in. Navarro hit him with a kick and avoided an attack from Alexander.

A brawl broke out, and suicide dives were a plenty with Aichner, Navarro and Slater left standing. Back in the ring, Navarro and Alexander were legal and Alexander bent Navarro in half with a gutwrench suplex. Elegance tagged in and stomped on Navarro’s hands.

Navarro fought back, but the concerige tried to grab Navarro’s ankle. So Navarro stomped on his hand. That enraged Elegance and he beat Navarro into his team’s corner for a triple team. Kazarian dragged Navarro to the middle of the ring for a springboard leg drop. Kazarian went for a tag, but Elegance was posing, so Alexander tagged in.

Navarro scrambled over and tagged in Slater who went after Alexander with gusto. He threw kicks and punches at him, knocking Alexander down with a spinning heel kick into a commercial break.

Back from said break, Kazarian took out Slater at the knees slamming him onto the ring apron. He sent him back into the ring to face Alexander who laid him out with some more suplexes.

It was announced that following the match, Nic Nemeth would be providing an update on the condition of Mike Santana who’d been taken to hospital after the “Summit” earlier in the show.

Back in the match, Elegance, Kazarian and Alexander had Slater isolated and were triple teaming him. Slater ducked an attack and hit a crossbody on Kazarian and crawled over to tag in Aichner. Aichner ran through Kazarian and Alexander, countering a Blockbuster attempt from Kazarian.

Aichner tried to set up Kazarian fior a Doomsday device with Navarro, but Elegance interrupted and he and Kazarian took on Navarro. A backstabber from Kazarian got a two count and Navarro started a brawl in which everyone started spamming finishers on everyone else.

The action truly was total an non stop until Slater hit a swanton 450 on Elegance. As he bounced off, Kazarian rolled Slater up and got the pin to win the match for his team.

Match Result: Cedric Alexander, Mr. Elegance & Frankie Kazarian defeated Fabian Aichner, Leon Slater, and KC Navarro

-Back from a break, Nic Nemeth made his way down to the ring to give us an update on Mike Santana’s medical condition. He said that he had breaking news: He doesn’t think Mike Santana will make it to Slammiversary after the attack at the “Summit.”

Nemeth said that he should probably be crowned TNA champion and beckoned Carlos Silva. Instead, Ryan Nemeth was thrown through the entryway and out stomped a bloody-faced Mike Santana. Santana threw Ryan aside and went for Nic, but Carlos Silva and Daria Rae arrived with security to pull them apart.

In the end, Nemeth left and Santana stood tall in the ring as the show closed.

Source

Matches scheduled for tonight’s show include Deonna Purrazzo defending the ROH Women’s Pure Championship against Olympia. Queen Aminata will be in singles action against Stardom’s HANAKO, while TMDK’s Mikey Nicholls will face Aaron Solo.

The Opps will face the Premier Athletes in trios action. Billie Starkz will face Syuri, Lacey Lane and Viva Van will team against Mina Shirakawa and Harley Cameron, and Mark Davis will defend the AEW National Championship against Ace Austin.

Matches scheduled for tonight’s show:

• ROH Women’s Pure Champion Deonna Purrazzo defends against Olympia
• Queen Aminata vs. HANAKO
• Mikey Nicholls vs. Aaron Solo
• The Opps (Hook, Anthony Bowens & Katsuyori Shibata) vs. Premier Athletes
• Billie Starkz vs. Syuri
• Lacey Lane & Viva Van vs. Mina Shirakawa & Harley Cameron
• AEW National Champion Mark Davis defends against Ace Austin

Our live coverage kicks off at 8 p.m. Eastern.

********************

AEW National Championship: “Dunkzilla” Mark Davis (c) vs. Ace Austin

We kicked off Night II of Global Wars: Cincinnati with this AEW National Title defense for “Dunkzilla”.

As the bell rang, Austin and Davis engaged in a duel of arm wrenches, wristlocks, and side headlocks. Davis’s arm was being worked on by Austin’s wristlocks, but he threw Austin aside afterwards. Running shoulder block by Davis, but Austin tripped him up afterwards with the drop toehold. Austin then blasted Davis with a dropkick. Austin avoided a slam by Davis as he then sent him over the top rope to the outside. Handstand dodge by Austin on the apron was followed by the soccer kick to the chest. Back in the ring, Davis responded with a senton to a downed Austin. Cocky cover by Davis was kicked out at one by Austin.

Austin attempted to lift the massive Davis on his shoulder, but he couldn’t do so. For his efforts, Austin was thrown out to ringside by Davis. On impact with the barricade, Austin appeared to jam his thumb as he rolled back into the ring and delivered chops to Davis. However, “Dunkzilla” took him down with one chop. Scoop slam by Davis, but a swing and a miss on the senton, as well as the run into the ropes. This gave Austin an opening to connect with the side Russian legsweep. Austin then hit Davis with the legdrop. Enzuigiri by Austin finally allowed him to hit the squatting Spicolli Driver on Davis.

Austin headed up top and hit the spinning guillotine leg drop on Davis for a close near-fall. Ace’s attempt at The Fold was blocked by Davis, but he made no mistake with the spinning kick to the head. Austin then ran into Davis to send himself and his foe out of the ring. As Bryce Remsberg began his count, Davis missed with another running attack and went flying into the corner. Davis got sent into the ring as Austin slammed his face down for a near-fall. Austin’s momentum continued with the spinning kick from the corner. He went for The Fold, but he went right into the Lariat from Davis. Austin countered with a stacking pin for a near-fall. Davis again blasted Austin with a Lariat that he couldn’t put the match away with just yet. However, the Doctor Driver by Davis was ultimately enough for the three and the National Title retention.

Mark Davis def. Ace Austin via pinfall to retain the AEW National Championship

A fantastic, hard-hittng match to start off Global Wars Night II. I enjoyed this one a great bit, and I think Davis is doing a great job as the National Champion so far.

********************

Lacey Lane & Viva Van vs. Mina Shirakawa & Harley Cameron

Our match got underway as Lacey and Shirakawa started things off for their teams. Van tagged in and performed her unorthoox dodge, which allowed her to briefly get ahead against Shirakawa. That moment was all too biref as Van was blasted by a dropkick from Shirakawa. Harley tagged in and went up top to hit the high crossbody on Van. Shining Wizard by Harley only got a two-count as Van found herself on the wrong side of the ring. Tornillo by Shirakawa on Van as she and Harley continued to isolate Van from her partner.

Lacey entered the match with a tag as Harley got her with a kick to the midsection. Lacey knocked Harley off balance from the corner and then hit her with a running dropkick. Lacey then followed that up with a leg drop. Now it was Harley’s turn to be at the disadvantage as Lacey and Van kept their opponent in their corner. Wristlock by Lacey on Harley, but the hold wasn’t stable enough to be held. Harley escaped and connected with the pumphandle back suplex, which gave her the opening to get the hot tag for Shirakawa.

Clothesline to Van by Shirakawa, followed by a Slingblade. Shirakawa went up to the top and got the two-for-one special on Van and Lacey. Cover, but Van kicked out at two. Scorpion Death Drop by Shirakawa as Cameron got dropped with a knee to the face. Casadora by Lacey on Shirakawa, followed by a dropkick as all four women were left down and out in the ring. As Shirakawa and Van recovered to their feet, they traded strikes until Shirakawa took Van down with a forearm.

Van avoided Shirakawa in the corner and then hit her with a kick as she tagged in Lacey. Double strike by Van and Lacey on Shirakawa could not put this match away. Cameron tagged in and got Lacey with Her Finishing Move for the three.

Harley Cameron & Mina Shirakawa def. Lacey Lane & Viva Van via pinfall

I had fun watching this tag match. Two teams with a lot to prove and they did great here. Lots to like about this one.

********************

Billie Starkz vs. Syuri

Syuri didn’t waste time as she got Starkz on the backfoot with the suplex. Followed with the kick to the face. Outside the ring, Starkz avoided calamity from Syuri, but she couldn’t avoid the punch to the face. Starkz got back into things with a poke to the eye as she then got Syuri with the Side Effect off a Dragon Sleeper. In the corner, Starkz chopped at Syuri’s chest repeatedly as she then kicked her at the back following a snapmare. Syuri responded in kind with a snapmare and a kick of her own. Suplex by Starkz only got a two-count. Back to the corner again, Starkz targeted the leg of Syuri with a kick. Hard slap to the face by Starkz, but only seemed to anger Syuri, who battled back with clubbing elbows to the head of Starkz. Big boot by the IWGP Women’s Champion on Starkz as she hit the headscissors not long after. More precise kicks from Syuri to Starkz was soon followed by the arm submission, which she transitioned into a cross armbar. Starkz got her foot on the bottom rope to break the hold.

After a bit of a breather, Starkz hit Syuri with a hard elbow, which led to the tornado DDT to the elevated ramp. Starkz headed to the top rope for a high risk maneuver, but she missed big time as her back made contact with the ramp following Syuri’s dodge. Starkz rolled back into the ring, but she got caught in a firewoman’s carry position by Syuri. Starkz escaped that and had Syuri in the electric chair. Counter led to an exchange of pins. Running knee by Syuri as she then targeded Starkz’s arm with another seated armbar. Starkz was forced to get a foot on the ropes to break it up. Electric chair position for Starkz, but a rake to the eye of Syuri allowed her to escape. Kick to the face by Starkz led to the Last Shot, but Syuri kicked out.

High risk maneuver by Starkz was blocked by the knees of Syuri, who soon trapped Starkz in the Syuri-Lock to get the victory via submission.

Syuri def. Billie Starkz via submission

Syuri continues to impress me as this is my second look at a match of her’s following the ROH Women’s World Ttile match last week. This was tremendous stuff, and for her part, Billie Starkz kept up well with someone of the caliber that Syuri possesses as the IWGP Women’s Champion.

********************

– Action Andretti promised that he’d come for Lio Rush and his newly-won ROH Men’s World Television Championship.

The Premier Athletes (Ariya Daivari & Tony Nese) & Beef vs. The Opps (Hook, Anthony Bowens, & Katsuyori Shibata)

Bowens and Nese opened this trios match with a collar-and-elbow tie-up showdown. Nese missed with a chop in the corner, as Bowens answered with chops of his own. Fast start here as Bowens lifted Nese up for a Hungarian backbreaker before he transitioned it into as uplex. The tag to Hook, who launched himself and hit Nese with a flying forearm. Mongolian thrust to the throat of Hook by Nese as Beef made the tag.

It was Hook vs. Beef and the Beefy One got the upper hand with a Bam Bam Bigelow-style clothesline. Beef’s advantage was short-lived as Hook tripped him up and threw him for the Northern Lights suplex. Tag made to Shibata as he and Hook beat some Beef with a double shoulder block. Shibata tripped up an interfering Daivari before he hit an apron suplex on Beef. He kept it held on to hit another suplex at ringside to Beef. Back in the ring as Shibata applied the figure-four on Beef. The rope break forced a break of the hold. Beef tried to face off against Shibata, but Nese tagged himself in, much to the big man’s annoyance.

Bowens tagged in but he found himself in trouble as Mark Sterling and Daivari stomped on him outside while Nese had the ref distracted. The Premier Athletes maintained their attack on Bowens with a double punch barrage in the corner. Daivari applied the chinlock on Bowens, but not for long. Bowens recovered and hit the leapfrog Famouser to create a much-needed opening. Hot tag to Shibata, who hit Nese and Daivari with alternating strikes. Daivari intercepted Shibata, but he got thrown for a suplex by Hook. Big splash by Beef on Hook, but Bowens dispatched him soon enough. Sleeper by Shibata, but Beef blind tagged and hit the premium splash from the top rope. One, two… NO! Beef stepped up to Shibata and began hammering him with chops. Unfortunately for Beef, Shibata absorbed the chops and then rocked him with the corner dropkick. Floatover suplex as The Opps and the Premier Athletes faced off in the ring. Mark Sterling told Nese and Daivari to leave Beef in the ring as the watched from the ram p. This opened him up to a Katahajime from Hook, the sleeper from Shibata, before an Ayesa Ueda-style kick to Beef ended this match in victory for The Opps.

The Opps def. The Premier Athletes via pinfall

This was a good trios match, and I think the story of Beef being left out in the lurch by the Premier Athletes was a good way to get to the finish.

********************

– We learned that tomorrow night on CMLL, Sammy Guevara & Beast Mortos will defend their ROH World Tag Titles against El Sky Team.

Aaron Solo vs. Mikey Nicholls

Nicholls took a cheap shot at Solo to start as he found himself on the wrong end of a hurricanrana and armdrag not long after. Outside the ring, Nicholls regained momentum with a back slam onto the apron to Solo. Rake to the eyes of Solo by Nicholls, who kept himself on his foe with the knees to the face. Nicholls taunted Solo as he got him with the spinebuster. Downstairs lariat by Nicholls, but he couldn’t get the three. Vertical suplex attempt by Nicholls, but it was blocked and countered by Solo into a suplex of his own.

Solo recovered and got Nicholls with a kick in the ear. Solo headed to the top and missed with the double stomp, but he didn’t miss with the spinning kick afterwards. Second attempt at the double stomp by Solo found its TMDK-shaped target for another near-fall. In the end, though, Nicholls got the win with the spinning sidewalk slam.

Mikey Nicholls def. Aaron Solo via pinfall

This was an okay match. Not that it was bad or anything, it just felt kind of there.

********************

Hanako vs. Queen Aminata

Technical start between Hanako and Aminata for this match. Aminata attempted repeated shoulder blocks, nut Hanako maintained her balance. Aminata then tripped up Hanako and used her feet to drive her foes face into her glutes afterwards. Handshake, but Hanako struck her with a hard punch to the face. Aminata answered with punches of her own. Hanako showed her explosive power with a huge scoop slam, followed by the shoulder block. Aminata rolled out of the ring to look for a break, but Hanako would not have any of it.

As the action spilled back into the ring, Hanako applied the Boston Crab on Aminata right in the middle of the ring. Aminata showed some serious fortitude to reache ropes to break the hold up. Big boot by Aminata as she went for an attempted headscissors from the corner that looked a bit off. Aminata recovered and hit the sidekick to Hanako’s head. That wasn’t enough as Hanako recovered and got Aminata with the Samoan Drop. Hanako ran right into Aminata as she then hit the lariat for a two-count. Aminata went for a running kick, but Hanako dodged it and hit the twisting suplex for another near-fall.

Hanako lifted Aminata in the Torture Rack position, but she couldn’t capitalize. Aminata escaped and hit her with the running Kick of ther Queen against the bottom rope for the pin and win.

Queen Aminata def. Hanako via pinfall

I enjoyed this one. Aminata is always great to see in action, and Hanako was the perfect opponent for her in this one. Like with the other STARDOM stars featured in Global Wars, Hanako came off here really well and got to show out excellently.

********************

– The Opps called their shot for the Conglomeration’s AEW Trios Titles on Collision this coming Saturday.

ROH Women’s Pure Championship: Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. Olympia

Olympia went after Purrazzo’s ankle to counter the champion’s body scissors early on. A good, technical start for this Puire Championship bout with neither woman getting the upper hand here. Side headlock takeover by Olympia on Purrazzo as things quicked with an exchange of hurricanranas from champion and challenger. Olympia found herself in the Fujiwara Armbar locked in by Purrazzo, which forced her to exhaust the first of her three rope breaks just to get out of it. However, this gave Olympia the opportunity to hit the champ with a shotgun dropkick, followed by a pendulum Bronco Buster of sorts in the corner.

Olympia maintained her advantage with a cartwheel from the corner, followed by the dropkick for a near-fall as five minutes passed by in this sixty-minute bout. Olympia lifted Purrazzo on her shoulders, squatted three times before she slammed her down in the middle of the ring. Purrazzo roared right back with a clothesline from the corner, the knee, and a side Russian legsweep. Fujiwara armbar by Purrazzo, but Olympia reversed it into a pin attempt. Olympia escaped a double-underhook piledriver attempt by Purrazzo, but found herself stuck up top. Olympia attempted a sunset bomb, but it was successfully blocked by Purrazo. Olympia showed some strength worthy of her namesake with a Gorilla Press slam from the top rope.

Purrazzo found herself trapped in a modified STF from Olympia, which forced her to use a rope break. Olympia got back to her feet, but she was locked into yet another Fujiwara armbar. Twice she tried to escape, but ultimately, she tapped with 51:08 left to end this main event.

Deonna Purrazzo def. Olympia via pinfall to retain the ROH Women’s Pure Championship

********************

This was a strong note to end the Global Wars: Cincinnati batch of episodes for ROH. I enjoyed the OIympia/Purrazzo Pure Title match, but I do think it kind of ended a bit early before things could really pick up.

As a whole, I thought last week was a bit stronger than this week’s set of matches, but Night II of Global Wars was by no means terrible. The matches we got this week were still fun and nothing really stood out as being awful. I highly recommend seeing both weeks of Global Wars: Cincinnati if you can. Lots of great wrestling to enjoy.

Source

Stone revealed that the opening match of this year’s NXT Great American Bash will be Tony D’Angelo defending the NXT Championship against Naraku, the wrestler formerly known as EVIL.

Stone also revealed that Lola Vice defending the NXT Women’s Championship against Kendal Grey will be the night’s main event.

In a video published on Thursday, Stone said:

“This Sunday on The CW, we’re making history with our first-ever premium live event, The Great American Bash. And I just want to make this announcement right now: We are going to kick things off Sunday night with an NXT title match. Tony D’Angelo is going to defend against Naraku.

And the main event of The Great American Bash for the NXT Women’s Championship, Lola Vice defends against Kendal Grey.”

The Great American Bash will take place Sunday, June 28 from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando on the same night that AEW presents the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view at SAP Center in San Jose.

WWE NXT Great American Bash (June 28)

• NXT Championship: Tony D’Angelo defends against Naraku
• NXT Women’s Championship: Lola Vice defends against Kendal Grey
• NXT Women’s North American Championship: Zaria defends against Tatum Paxley
• NXT North American Championship: Myles Borne defends against Tavion Heights
• WWE Women’s Speed Championship: Wren Sinclair defends against Arianna Grace
• Tristan Angels vs. Shiloh Hill
• Saquon Shugars vs. Dion Lennox

Source

Latest News

• Piper Niven provides update six weeks after neck surgery
• Tony Khan says recent NJPW ownership change ‘something to keep an eye on’
• Update on visa issues causing ‘massive challenge’ for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door
• Tony Khan media call notes & audio: World Cup, Sareee, MyAEW growth, free agent surprises
• Update on Jack Perry’s AEW contract status | Exclusive
• Jim Ross shares positive update amid hospitalization
• Tony Khan says buying TNA Wrestling ‘could be interesting’ but wouldn’t pay $40 million
• WWE NXT’s Adriana Rizzo provides injury update
• Update on why first hour of June 19 WWE SmackDown aired commercial-free
• Triple H thinks people take WWE ‘too seriously’ sometimes

Latest Audio

• WOL: Huge weekend lines-ups and predictions, Dynamite, Jack Perry
• WOR: Dynamite, NXT, huge weekend preview, new TNA belt
• AD: Art Bell memories plus remote viewing with Michelle Freed!

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• June 22, 2026 Observer Newsletter: UFC Freedom 250 news recap, big TNA creative changes, new champions emerge at NJPW Dominion

Among the topics covered:

• Crazy hyperbole for the UFC White House show
• The arrests of people looking at ruining the show and worse
• Explaining all the misleading viewership numbers
• The best real comparisons to Rousey vs. Carano and Gaethje vs. Pimblett
• The lessons that the viewership number taught us
• Who paid for what and what the taxpayers had to cover from the show
• The Josh Hokit situation
• Gavin Newsom responds to the show
• Sean Strickland silliness
• Celebrities who came and didn’t come
• The Daniel Cormier/Eric Trump twitter show
• What the public thought of the show
• A look at next weekend’s big shows, business notes, and big show business for AEW & WWE PPV shows the next few months
• Updates on Forbidden Door and what is and isn’t there
• Full coverage of UFC at the White House
• Full coverage of NewJapan Dominion and the G-1 Climax tournament
• The life and career of Pete Doherty, the Duke of Dorchester
• The most detailed look at the ratings of all the major shows this past wek
• CMLL gets new international PPV home
• A look back at another big week for Komander, a week of sellouts and big crowds, and Komander mad at Guadalajara fans
• All Japan big show coverage
• NOAH tag tournament finals
• Tiger Mask’s farewell notes
• Maple Leaf Wrestling TV tapings
• Out of control brawl at RAF show
• The story behind the birth of King of the Ring
• Layfield out of retirement
• Death of Van Hammer update
• Big names coming to European indies
• MLW TV taig notes
• Departures of Tommy Dreamer and Tessa Blanchard from TNA looked at
• More on the Paramount/Skydance purchase of WBD and how it affects AEW
• Sareee explains missing AEW show
• Mistico teaes ROH title match
• Advanced ticket sales to upcoming WWE & AEW shows
• Fallout of the Conor McGregor New York Times story
• More on UFC officials deleting evidence agauisnt lawyers advice in regard to Kajan Johnson case
• Allegations against Alex Pererira
• Former Pride star charged in sexual assault case
• Former UFC star charges dropped in beating daughter
• Janel Grant speaks about her case, and depositions in the shareholders lawsuit
• Kaiser case updated
• George Barrios defends voting for Vince’s return

This Week’s Back Issue

• May 14, 2007 Observer Newsletter: The curse of the WWE SmackDown World title, TNA vs. ROH conflict

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Thursday Update

WWE

• While hyping the card for Night of Champions, Paul “Triple H” Levesque told The Stephen A. Smith Show that he thinks it could be an “epic” night for Bron Breakker, who is facing Seth Rollins in a steel cage match:
  • Between Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker, I’m looking for Bron Breakker to show me what he really can do when it’s just on him and he’s just in there with Seth Rollins. I really feel like this is going to be an epic night for him.
• WWE posted a video with Breakker training in the gym with Big E in advance of Saturday.
• The company also uploaded an interview with Liv Morgan that will air on the Night of Champions Countdown show.
• WrestleVotes reports that there’s “locker room speculation” Raw’s go-home show for WrestleMania 43 in 2027 could take place at The O2 in London. That venue also hosted Raw and a SmackDown taping this week prior to WWE heading to Saudi Arabia for Night of Champions.
• On The Pat McAfee Show, IShowSpeed was asked about potentially doing more with WWE in the future after competing at WrestleMania 42:
  • It makes sense. I genuinely think at some point in my career, I will take WWE a bit more serious and actually like deliver my full self into it and immerse myself into it. But right now, I’m still figuring out what I really want to do, you know?
• False Finish reports that NOAH’s Ulka Sasaki, who is on excursion to the United States, will be appearing on an episode of WWE Evolve in the coming weeks.
• William Regal reflected on this week being the 42nd anniversary of him moving to Blackpool to begin his wrestling career:
  • It’s 42 years this week that I left home and moved to Blackpool to became an apprentice Wrestler for World Wide Wrestling Promotions Of Blackpool. For the next two years I spoke when spoken to, put up rings for 400 + shows, wrestled, trained how I was told, carried the older wrestlers bags and fetched the teas and sandwiches. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Thank you to everyone that was a part of that time. And thank you to @visitBlackpool as everything that’s been good in my life started with living there for the next 10 years.
• John Cena appeared on NPR’s Wild Card with Rachel Martin.
• Stephanie McMahon had sportscaster Rich Eisen as a guest on her “What’s Your Story?” podcast.
• WWE Vault uploaded a full Mid-South Wrestling episode from November 9, 1984, which includes a young Shawn Michaels teaming with Mike Jackson against Chavo & Hector Guerrero.
• WCW’s YouTube channel put together a compilation video of Sting tag team matches.

Other Wrestling

• Q93 Radio asked Tony Khan about his vision for MyAEW:
  • We are trying to create our own platform for international distribution. Of course here in America, all of our pay-per-views and shows, you can go watch them on HBO Max, so we’ve got a great streaming home for the library and the live events. Internationally, it’s great to have an app and a place to put these events in other countries, in territories where HBO is still growing and developing.
  • And also on the FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) channel, that’s a huge thing now, having 24-hour streaming and having a channel always running where people can tune in anytime and watch the classic events and utilize the library that we’ve built. So I think that the FAST channel is a really great development for AEW where you can go back and watch on the different streaming services and get caught up ahead of the live events [like Dynamite and Forbidden Door].
• AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla was interviewed by Adrian Hernandez ahead of Forbidden Door.
• Deonna Purrazzo posted a new picture with her right foot still in a boot and still using a crutch after being injured at ROH’s taping in Jacksonville on Monday night.
• Amid rumors that his TNA contract is coming up next month and he could be headed to WWE, Mike Santana told Undisputed that his focus right now is solely on Slammiversary:
  • I’ve heard the rumors. I’m defending the world title this Sunday in Boston at Slammiversary. That is my focus. Literally all I’ve been thinking about and preparing for is this match against Nic Nemeth.
  • Nic Nemeth and me are going to go after it. Especially with all the transition and changes in TNA, this is the time for us to show what’s most important–it’s all about what happens in the ring. I want people leaving talking about the show and how great it was. Slammiversary, that’s all I’m thinking about.
  • Whatever happens after that happens after that. My focus is Slammiversary.
• TV Insider asked Matt Hardy what it’s been like to have TNA on a bigger platform on AMC:
  • It has been great. The fact we’re on AMC where not only do we have the advantage of being on a major network that is in so many homes and almost every hotel and everything else. There is also a huge streaming reach as well, so it’s a very sprawling company when it comes to that. Between that and the TNA+ app, which has been doing well itself, we’re really out there now. We’re in new households with a lot of new eyeballs, so that is great. I think since we’ve begun we’ve been building. We had the “Wicked Garden” match, and last week we got the numbers, and they are up. The rating system has sort of changed where at one point it was more in favor of the show and skewed back to more viewers and then less. Who knows? It’s a little inconsistent, but the main thing we are excited about is that our attendees are growing. There is still a lot of enthusiasm about TNA. And as a brand, TNA is getting bigger and bigger and better.
• NJPW shared the lineup of merchandise that will be available at night one of the G1 Climax in Chicago on July 11.
• On July 6, Dark Side of the Ring is hosting a screening of its season seven premiere at the Metrograph in New York City. The episode is focused on TNA & Jeff Jarrett, and Jarrett will be doing a Q&A following the NYC screening with Dark Side of the Ring co-creator Evan Husney.

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The 35-year-old has been sidelined since August 2025 with a neck injury. She underwent surgery last month. On Thursday, Niven posted to social media that she had her six-week post-surgery checkup.

She wrote:

“6 week post surgery check up today. Everything fusing nicely.”

Niven followed up that post by writing:

“Neck straighter than my sexual preferences.”

Asked if she is currently able to turn her head from side to side, Niven responded:

“Very happy to say it does let me go both ways yes 🤣”

Earlier this month, she responded to a fan on social media regarding her potentially wrestling again, writing: “Don’t count me out just yet chick. Just letting people know that it will be a long time and maybe possibly not at all so we don’t have to answer the same question 50 times a stream.”

Niven is said to have aggravated a pre-existing neck injury on the August 22, 2025 SmackDown in Dublin, Ireland, and hasn’t wrestled since.

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In a surprise move in late-May, Bushiroad announced that it transferred all of its shares in the promotion to TV Asahi and CyberAgent.

Khan spoke on the matter during Thursday’s pre-Forbidden Door media call, calling it “an interesting transaction and something to keep an eye on.”

He noted there have been no changes in terms of how AEW works with NJPW since the change as it’s the same administration he worked with earlier this year and last year in Hiroshi Tanahashi (pictured above with Khan) and Gedo. Khan said he is looking forward to working with the new owners and keeping the continuity.

At this point, NJPW participation in this year’s Forbidden Door has been limited to Zack Sabre Jr., Shingo Takagi and Shota Umino.

On the same day the sale news was released, it was also announced that AEW programming would be leaving NJPW World in August when the two sides’ contract comes up given the launch of MyAEW. Khan was asked Thursday about the potential of NJPW being a strategic content partner on the service and he pointed out they have their own.

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On Thursday’s Forbidden Door media call, Tony Khan stated that visa issues have been a “massive challenge for this event.” He revealed that, in addition to Beast Mortos and Komander, AEW is dealing with visa issues for Mark Davis, Gabe Kidd and Hechicero as well.

Hechicero hasn’t wrestled for AEW since the April 22, 2026 Collision taping in Portland. Davis hasn’t wrestled for AEW since the June 3 edition of AEW Dynamite.

The last time Gabe Kidd wrestled for AEW was at Dynasty on April 12, but that event was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The last time Kidd wrestled in the United States for AEW was on March 18, when he lost a coffin match to Darby Allin.

Regarding Kidd, he attacked Shota Umino after Umino won the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship at NJPW Dominion on June 14, appearing to set up a match between the two for Forbidden Door. PAC later issued a challenge to Umino, which was accepted on NJPW’s Blue Justice show on June 20.

Regarding Hechicero, he participated in an AEW angle at Arena Mexico on Friday when he attacked Konosuke Takeshita, his former stablemate in the Don Callis Family, after the two had won a tag match together.

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While we have a few stories on our website already, here’s some of the other interesting answers with full audio below:

• Asked about if the World Cup is affecting AEW, he said he’s watching it very closely both for the sport itself and the dates in terms of putting his matches in the best possible position. He said last night’s Dynamite was a great night to put Mistico and Bandido in prominent positions before the Mexico WC game started. He mentioned there are opportunities to work with FIFA and venues, mentioning Claudio Castagnoli going to do FD media when Switzerland played in the Bay Area recently (pictured above).
• He confirmed Redemption will be the tenth PPV on the calendar this year, meaning the July addition won’t eliminate a future month.
• He said the ROH Tag Team titles weren’t factored into the booking of the Young Bucks vs. Sky Team vs. Unbound Co. three-way for Forbidden Door and that it was “presumptive” to assume any result for Friday’s CMLL show that would result in that happening.
• There were several questions about the MyAEW streaming service, one being whether NJPW, Stardom and CMLL could be more strategic content partners. Khan says those conversations have taken place with CMLL, but pointed out that NJPW has New Japan World.
• In another, he was asked if there was interest in library acquisition like Lucha Underground and PWG. Khan said he is interested in promoting companies and their wrestlers, but buying a library depends on the situation and that the only one he’s ever done is ROH.
• Khan said “absolutely yes” to a question of whether he has interest in MyAEW being a broadcaster for a week of indie wrestling action ahead of a big event like next year’s Revolution might be shaping up to be. He said there’s a lot of interest from promoters to do something around an AEW event, specifically pointing to August’s All In as a possibility of that happening.
• He was asked about the status of Toni Storm, Keith Lee, Britt Baker and Jay White. He said all of them are in different positions and some are closer to coming back than others. He didn’t give any further info.
• Khan said Sareee came to AEW ready to wrestle against Skye Blue and was armed with clearance from her doctor, but AEW medical personnel didn’t clear her as they didn’t feel it was safe for her to wrestle that night in the Owen Hart tournament. He hopes to have her debut at some point in the future.
• Asked about the potential for major surprises and debuts at Forbidden Door given the free agents linked to AEW, Khan pointed out that many of the names that have been linked are still under contract with another promotion.
• Asked if he’s interested in more dual contracts, Khan said it’s worked out quite well with CMLL and while there are opportunities to do that as well with NJPW and/or Stardom, “it takes two to tango” and hasn’t been a focus as of now.

Click here to listen (free)

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Our own Bryan Alvarez reports that Perry still had not re-signed with AEW as of Thursday morning.

“As of this morning, Jack Perry still has not re-signed,” Alvarez wrote to his subscribers on X.

The report is an update on comments Alvarez made on the post-AEW Dynamite edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, where he said Perry had not signed as of last week.

On June 14, Alvarez reported that Perry’s AEW “deal is up and he’s currently negotiating.”

Tony Khan was also asked about Perry’s status on Thursday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door media call. Khan stated that the plan is for Perry to remain in AEW for “a long time,” although he did not give further details on when a new deal could be reached.

Perry last wrestled for AEW on Wednesday’s edition of Dynamite, where he was defeated by Zack Sabre Jr. as ZSJ prepares to face Perry’s Elite stablemate Kenny Omega at Forbidden Door.

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Last weekend, the 74-year-old announcing legend shared that he was on his 22nd day of being hospitalized in his hometown of Norman, Oklahoma. Ross did not share what led to the situation, but falls have been an issue for him. He suffered a fall prior to AEW Double or Nothing this May that caused him to miss his flight to the pay-per-view. Though Ross was able to get a new flight and still provide commentary, it was a rough weekend for him.

Ross posted a new update today saying that the plan is for him to be discharged from the hospital on June 30. Amid the hospitalization, he had a “great” phone call with his friend “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

“Going home this Tuesday! Had a great phone visit with @steveaustinBSR today,” Ross wrote. “Biz is picking up!”

It’s been a difficult few years health-wise for Ross, who beat colon cancer in 2025 after undergoing surgery.

Jim Ross’ AEW contract —

Ross’ Grilling JR podcast has not aired new episodes over the past few weeks during his hospitalization. On the most recent edition of the show at the end of May, Ross stated that his AEW contract is coming up this August. He signed a one-year extension in 2025 to continue in his role helping out on commentary for PPVs.

“I’m just going to let it play out,” Ross said about the contract situation. “If Tony Khan wants to keep me, he will. If he doesn’t, then he won’t.

Ross’ podcast co-host Conrad Thompson sent out a tweet yesterday saying Ross sounded “terrific” when they spoke this week, and Ross is doing physical therapy and fighting like hell so that he can get back to his routine.

Going home this Tuesday!

Had a great phone visit with @steveaustinBSR today.

Biz is picking up! 🤠

— Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) June 25, 2026

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During Thursday’s pre-Forbidden Door media call, Khan was asked by Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston about his interest if the promotion was up for sale as was rumored this week.

Khan asked at what price and Thurston threw out $40 million. Khan said, “No” and laughed.

He followed up by noting that TNA has value, but any acquisition would have to be at the right price. He said it’s not a top priority as an acquisition right now and also nothing he’s had serious conversations about. He closed by saying it could be interesting if the purchase price was right, but noted that was also the way with a lot of things in life.

Since founding AEW in 2019, Khan has famously made one acquisition of another promotion, that being Ring of Honor which he continues to operate today with weekly TV on the WatchROH streaming service and quarterly-ish specials.

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It has been over 14 months since Rizzo last wrestled. Her most recent match took place on April 18, 2025, against Karmen Petrovic at WWE World at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas.

It was revealed last August that Rizzo was out of action with a torn ACL and meniscus.

On Thursday, Rizzo posted to social media thanking her surgeon, doctors, trainers, and coaches for helping her through her latest rehab journey. While Rizzo did not specifically say she’s been cleared to return, she wrote that she’s finally feeling like her old self.

Rizzo wrote:

“Guess who’s back… back AGAIN! Three years ago, I tore my left Achilles. A few months after I partially tore my left ACL. Then, in 2025, I tore that same ACL completely, tore my meniscus, and sprained my MCL—all in my left leg. Setback after setback left me feeling like I would never be the same. Today, I can finally say I feel like my old self.

Thank you to my surgeon, doctors, athletic trainers, weightroom coaches and everyone else who helped me through this journey. You gave me the opportunity to be an athlete again.

To my family—thank you for supporting me along the way. And to Jonah… thank you for carrying me through the hardest season of my life. Thank you for every appointment, every encouraging conversation, every moment you reminded me who I was when I had a hard time seeing it myself. I couldn’t have done this without you @CutlerWWE ♡ To everyone who supported me, checked in on me, prayed for me, or believed in me from afar—thank you. It meant more than you’ll ever know. This isn’t the end of my comeback. It’s the beginning of what’s next.”

The last time Rizzo appeared on NXT programming was at the NXT Great American Bash last year where she organized a sit-down with D’Angelo Family members Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo, Luca Crusifino, and Tony D’Angelo to announce the D’Angelo Family Final Battle for the July 15, 2025 episode.

Her full post is available below.

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Had the series between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs gone to a full seven games, Game 7 would have aired head-to-head against the June 19 SmackDown.

According to WrestleVotes Radio on Fightful Select, the decision to run the first hour commercial-free was made well in advance.

The first hour of the June 19 SmackDown saw Cody Rhodes defend the WWE Championship against Gunther, with Sami Zayn serving as special guest referee. After a series of interactions with both wrestlers, Zayn fast-counted Gunther and awarded the match to Rhodes. This eventually led to a three-way match with Rhodes defending against both Zayn and Gunther at Night of Champions.

The 2026 NBA Finals concluded on June 13 after the New York Knicks won the series in five games.

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At the end of his interview on The Stephen A. Smith Show, Levesque was asked to send a message to fans regarding the WWE product and what it intends to be. He responded by hyping that WWE has something for everyone, and he invited viewers to jump back in if they haven’t been keeping up with things lately.

“I think that we bring an event to you that is always going to be exciting, that is always going to surprise and delight you. And we bring a little bit of something for everybody,” Levesque said. “So there’s the entertainment component of a Danhausen. There is the serious component of a Brock Lesnar and a Roman Reigns and a Cody Rhodes, a Rhea Ripley and a Becky Lynch and Jade Cargill, where there’s that serious nature of it. But the storylines keep you hooked. And if you haven’t watched in a bit, always tune in, because the one thing about WWE is the story never ends.

“So when you come to the end of the Knicks winning the big game in our world, the next night it starts over again. And there’s always fresh, there’s always new, there’s always something big happening. So even if you’ve missed out for a bit, you can jump right back in, be a part of those stories and be a part of those epic moments. So there’s something for everybody, and that’s our goal. That’s what we try to do, is be a little bit of something for everybody.”

Fans taking things “too seriously” —

Levesque continued by saying that he thinks people sometimes take things too seriously and lose perspective on what WWE is supposed to be. With so much going on in the world, Levesque wants WWE to be a place where fans can immerse themselves in the storylines for a couple of hours and have a good time.

“The other aspect of that is, I think that people lose perspective of sometimes, is we’re just fun. We’re fun,” he said. “And sometimes people take it too seriously, sometimes people get too caught up in it. But it’s there to entertain, man. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world. If you just want to turn off for a couple of hours and tune into something cool that you can just lose yourself in and have a good time, WWE is the place to do it. And if you’ve never seen it live, I’m telling you, come to a live event, come to one of our PLEs, come to a TV, there’s nothing like it in entertainment.”

Levesque’s appearance on The Stephen A. Smith show was to promote WWE Night of Champions 2026, which is taking place in Saudi Arabia this Saturday. The PLE airs on the ESPN Unlimited app in the United States and on Netflix internationally, with the first hour also being simulcast on ESPN’s main TV channel. Oba Femi vs. Jey Uso in the King of the Ring finals and IYO SKY vs. Liv Morgan in the Queen of the Ring finals are both set for hour one.

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The 38-year-old was part of the WWE roster cuts revealed on April 24. He had been with the company since 2014.

According to WrestleVotes Radio on Fightful Select, there has been “chatter” in TNA about bringing in the former Intercontinental and United States champion. However, the report notes that it is unclear if the recent departures of Tommy Dreamer and Sami Callihan from TNA have impacted the situation.

The report also noted that it is unclear what Crews’ non-compete situation with WWE is.

If he is under a 90-day non-compete that began on April 24, it would not expire until around July 23. However, if Crews’ WWE contract expired rather than him being released, he may be free to sign elsewhere before then.

“Crews’ exact non-compete status is unknown, but as of this writing, it has not surpassed the 90-day mark if that is his situation,” Fightful’s report reads.

TNA International Champion Mustafa Ali is scheduled to defend his title at Slammiversary on June 28 against a mystery opponent.

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While appearing on The Stephen A. Smith Show, Levesque discussed how WWE is building for the future following the retirements of John Cena and AJ Styles. He named Femi, Sol Ruca, Je’Von Evans, and Trick Williams as young stars who will main event WrestleMania in the future — specifically singling out Femi as someone who is going to be as big as anyone has ever been in professional wrestling.

“When you see this new crop of talent, Oba Femi is going to be as big as anybody has ever been in this business,” Levesque said. “Sol Ruca has an opportunity to be a standout star. Je’Von Evans is one of the young guys, he reminds me of a young Jeff Hardy that just has this incredible move set, but just has an energy and a youth about him that you can’t look away from him. You know, Trick is just the personality plus. Again, he’s another guy you can’t look away from. These are the young talent that are going to take WWE into the future. You’re seeing them rise now, but two, three years from now, four years from now, these are going to be the main events of WrestleMania. I promise you.”

Smith said he’s always liked trash-talkers and asked Levesque which young WWE talent could fill that role. Levesque pointed to Williams as the obvious answer but also praised Femi’s mic skills.

“I think Oba Femi is incredible on the mic in a different format than what a Trick brings to the table, but I do think you’re going to see some of that coming now as these guys — and girls — get more experience and have that period of time,” Levesque said. “An Oba Femi’s only been doing this about maybe max four years from the first [time] he ever stepped into the ring. The rate at which we’re getting these talent ready now is incredible. They just need a little time to settle into their comfort zone, and you’re going to get there.”

Oba Femi set for King of the Ring finals at WWE Night of Champions —

At Night of Champions this Saturday, Femi is facing off against Jey Uso in the finals of WWE’s King of the Ring tournament. The winner earns a World title shot at SummerSlam, which means we could get Femi challenging either Roman Reigns or Cody Rhodes at the PLE. A loss to Uso would likely mean WWE going back to Femi vs. Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. Those two have a 1-1 record against each other from WrestleMania 42 and Clash in Italy.

Williams currently holds the WWE United States title and will be defending against Ricky Saints at Night of Champions.

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They announced on X that the Legacy Championship title belt is now available for purchase through WWE Shop and is priced at $549.99. The commemorative belt features the official FIFA World Cup logo and colors.

This unique collaboration comes as the 2026 FIFA World Cup captivates fans worldwide. It is being held across the United States, Canada and Mexico featuring 48 national teams competing for football’s most prestigious prize.

WWE has often partnered with various sports leagues and teams in the past, honoring them with specially curated championship title belts. The most popular is their partnership for Legacy Title Belt collection for major European Football Clubs and NFL teams.

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From data reported by Programming Insider, total viewership was 350,000, down from the prior week’s 364,000 while the demo was up from the prior week’s 0.04. Both numbers were down from the ten week averages of 403,900 and 0.06.

The viewership was the lowest since May 9 (342,000).

The show was headlined by Athena vs. Maya World in an Owen Hart Foundation tournament semifinal. It was up against a variety of sports competition on both cable and networks including the World Cup, the U.S. Open, the WNBA, Major League Baseball, and NASCAR.

This Saturday’s show is also taped and will air in its usual timeslot ahead of Sunday’s Forbidden Door.

Recent AEW Collision ratings

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On Thursday, the National Wrestling Alliance announced that Nattie “will appear and be in action” on the July 25 pay-per-view set for Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena.

The NWA wrote:

“𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎! WWE Superstar @NatbyNature will appear and be in action at NWA 78, coming July 25 to Philly’s 2300 Arena! http://NWALiveEvents.com“

“The question now is : WHO WILL NATTIE FACE AT NWA 78?? Celebrate 78 years of the National Wrestling Alliance at NWA’s biggest live event of the year! Bring the whole family for a night of hard-hitting pro wrestling action and unforgettable memories.”

It will be Nattie’s second match for the promotion and her first since being defeated by Kenzie Paige in an NWA World Women’s title match at last year’s Crockett Cup show on May 17, 2025. That event was also held at Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena.

Nattie’s most recent match outside of WWE took place at GCW Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport XV on April 17, 2026, when she defeated Shayna Baszler via countout.

Kerry Morton vs. Colby Corino is the only match confirmed for NWA 78 thus far.

The NWA has also confirmed the below list of names as appearing.

Scheduled to appear at NWA 78:

• Nattie Neidhart
• Heath
• NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Thrillbilly Silas Mason
• NWA World Women’s Champion “La Princesa” Tiffany Nieves with Ms. Starr & Gretta
• NWA World Tag Team Champions The Country Gentlemen with Joe Cazana
• NWA World Women’s Tag Team Champions Pretty Empowered’s Kenzie Paige & Kylie Paige
• Aron Stevens and his Federation of Champions: Carson B. Drake, NWA National Heavyweight Champion Mike Mondo, NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion Slade, and NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Slimeballz
• “The Crush” Natalia Markova
• Thom Latimer & Bryan Idol
• Talos
• Effy
• The Holy Grail: Pretty Boy Smooth with Pastor C-Lo
• Big Strong Mims & The Pope
• Hammerstone

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The show averaged a 0.25 rating in the 18-49 demo, up 25% from the prior week and the highest rating SmackDown has done in that category in more than a month.

It finished first on the primetime cable charts in 18-49 and was also first on all television aside from the World Cup on Fox and the U.S. Open on NBC, respectively, for the night. SmackDown was fifth on cable in terms of total viewers for the night.

As compared to the same week in 2025, overall viewership was down 21.9% while the 18-49 rating was down 34.2%.

Recent WWE SmackDown TV ratings

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership and 18-49 demo ratings as well as the ten week average in both categories. This week’s show was down 3.6% in overall viewers and 10.7% in 18-49 as compared to recent averages.

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While promoting his steel cage match against Bron Breakker on ESPN Get Up, he gave insight on the participants of the triple threat bout for the WWE Title. He expressed Gunther as his favored pick to gain victory noting how Rhodes and Zayn are interlocked in a personal rivalry. In his view, that dynamic works in Gunther’s favor whose sole focus is on winning gold.

“I think the most to lose is the champion. That’s always the case. I think Cody Rhodes is someone who is a fighting champion, who’s not afraid to pick a fight. As a matter of fact, he asked for this match, he asked to be put in a triple threat match with both these guys who are extremely dangerous competitors.”

“Gunther, someone that I was in the ring with at WrestleMania, actually beat me at WrestleMania thanks to Bron Breakker.”

“And Sami Zayn, someone who I’ve known for over 20 years, is one of the best in the game.”

“So, I think Cody’s got the most to lose because he’s the champion, and the odds are a little bit against him, because he does not have to be pinned or submitted to lose his title.”

“I think the person with the best advantage, if I’m being honest, currently, is Gunther. He’s got the size advantage, and also, he’s not really locked into the personal issue that seems to be going on between Cody and Sami Zayn, right? Sami and Cody, they’ve been friends, and now they’re enemies, but not quite, there’s a lot of emotion that’s involved there.”

“Gunther, he’s able to isolate from that. He takes the emotion and puts it aside. He’s there to do a job, and that’s (to) win the title, and that makes him an extremely dangerous participant in this triple threat.” 

WWE Night of Champions will take place on June 27. It will feature the King and Queen of the Ring tournament finals with Jey Uso colliding with Oba Femi, and IYO SKY against Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan. Trick Williams will defend the United States Championship against Ricky Saints while Tiffany Stratton puts her title on the line against Jade Cargill. 

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Allin told The Takedown on SI that he is planning to run the 2026 New York City Marathon, which is scheduled for Sunday, November 1. In typical Darby Allin fashion, he has not started training yet and might not end up doing much preparation for the 26-mile race.

“I don’t even have running shoes yet,” Allin said. “I kind of want to just go into it fully blind. Everyone’s like, ‘you gotta know what you’re getting yourself into.’ I was like, I kinda wanna just wing it, and it sounds so fun.

“So I don’t know if I’ll actually train for it. Yeah. I kinda wanna just wing it and push myself.”

Allin will be running the marathon to support KultureCity, a sensory-inclusive nonprofit organization that AEW has worked with since the early days of the promotion. KultureCity’s goal is to “make the nevers possible” by promoting sensory inclusion and accessibility at places like large entertainment events where sounds, lights, and crowds might be overwhelming to individuals with PTSD, autism, dementia, or those who have suffered from strokes.

Though he might not do much training, Allin thinks his wrestling experience might provide a solid cardio foundation. He’s been in matches where he’s had to dig deep and find something extra to get through the end.

“Who knows, those last few miles, what my body’s gonna feel like, especially if I don’t train for it? So it’s gonna be fun to just see what I’ve learned from wrestling, what I can apply to running,” Allin said. “So I’m really excited.”

Darby Allin at AEW Forbidden Door 2026 —

This Sunday, Allin will be part of the main event at AEW’s Forbidden Door pay-per-view in San Jose, California. It’s a 12-man steel cage match where Mark Briscoe and MJF are leading the respective teams. The babyfaces have Briscoe, Allin, Konosuke Takeshita, Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly going up against the heel team of MJF, Kazuchika Okada, Kyle Fletcher, Andrade El Idolo, Kevin Knight & Jake Doyle.

Allin is coming off a 39-day reign as AEW World Champion where he won the title from MJF in April before dropping it back the following month.

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McKay announced that The IInspiration will host the live fan chat for the AEW PPV.

“The IInspiration are going to be your chat hosts on @ppv_com this Sunday for @AEW Forbidden Door!!,” posted McKay.

The IInspiration made their official AEW debut earlier this year at a house show in Brisbane, Australia on February 15. They announced that they were signed to the promotion. McKay and Lee competed on the March 4 edition of Dynamite against The Brawling Birds, marking their TV debut and first match on the promotion.

AEW Forbidden Door will take place on June 28 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. The Own Hart Cup Tournament Finals is set for the men and women’s division with Will Ospreay facing Swerve Strickland, and Mercedes Mone going up against Maya World. Kenny Omega and Zack Sabre Jr. settle their differences for the first time in an AEW ring. Meanwhile, Team Briscoe and The Don Callis Family collide in a Steel Cage. Although there is an added stipulation that if Briscoe’s group scores a victory, he earns the opportunity to face MJF for the AEW World Championship.

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This September will mark one year since WWE PLEs moved to ESPN in the United States. With the deal, WWE discussion has also become a bigger part of ESPN’s daily programming lineup. It was reported that WWE was the third-most-discussed sport on ESPN’s daytime shows during WrestleMania week, only trailing the NBA and NFL. WWE personalities have continued to make appearances on shows like Get Up and First Take during the week of PLEs since then.

Ahead of Night of Champions, Levesque discussed the WWE-ESPN partnership during an interview on The Stephen A. Smith Show. Having personalities like Smith, Mike Greenberg, and Pat McAfee talking about WWE on ESPN is “worth its weight in gold,” Levesque believes. The deal has also helped WWE connect with star athletes from other sports.

“I think ESPN is incredible for us,” Levesque said. “It’s where you go to hear the conversations with people that are either like-minded to you, you love their opinions, hate their opinions, or just do you want to hear those arguments about what you love. For us to be in there, for us to be in that conversation on a day-to-day basis — you see it. You’ll see it this weekend on ESPN linear television where the pre-show is on there for a couple of hours and then we go right into the [main card]…

“The ability for us to be in that conversation on a day-to-day basis, everywhere you go. One of the most frustrating things for me as a kid — and maybe it was for you growing up, I don’t know — but was when wrestling took place, no matter who it was, there was no place to hear talk about it, find out about it, what was going on. You couldn’t have that conversation except for with your friends. This conversation is everywhere now. And because of ESPN, we’re on the top of everybody’s mind. You see it in Danhausen across the NBA with the Knicks in the biggest way possible. You see us connecting with not only the fans but the superstars of those sports as well. So that opportunity for us that [ESPN executives] Jimmy Pitaro, Burke Magnus have created. They’ve just all pushed us to another level in the common, everyday conversation that we can’t get anywhere else. And that, to me, is worth its weight in gold, and it’s awesome.”

WWE Night of Champions promotional push —

To promote Night of Champions, Seth Rollins, Trick Williams, and commentators Michael Cole and Joe Tessitore have been on ESPN this week. The PLE is taking place in Saudi Arabia on June 27 with a 1 p.m. Eastern main card start time. The first hour will be simulcast on ESPN’s main TV channel with the King & Queen of the Ring finals both taking place during that portion of the broadcast.

Oba Femi vs. Jey Uso and IYO SKY vs. Liv Morgan are the respective tournament finals. The winners earn World title shots at SummerSlam.

The entire PLE will air on the ESPN Unlimited app in the United States and on Netflix elsewhere.

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The AEW National Championship will be on the line as Mark Davis defends against Ace Austin and the ROH Women’s Pure Championship also be defended by Deonna Purrazzo against Olympia.

On top of that, Syuri vs. Billie Starkz, Lacey Lane and Viva Van vs. Harley Cameron and Mina Shirakawa, Queen Aminata vs. Hanako, Mikey Nicholls vs. Aaron Solo and “The Opps” Anthony Bowens, Hook, and Katsuyori Shibata vs. Beef, Ariya Daivari, and Tony Nese are also confirmed.

ROH on HonorClub matches tonight

These are all of the matches taking place on tonight’s episode of ROH TV on HonorClub:

• AEW National Championship Match: Mark Davis vs. Ace Austin
• ROH Women’s Pure Championship Match: Deonna Purrazzo vs. Olympia
• Syuri vs. Billie Starkz
• Lacey Lane and Viva Van vs. Harley Cameron and Mina Shirakawa
• Queen Aminata vs. Hanako
• Mikey Nicholls vs. Aaron Solo
• “The Opps” Anthony Bowens, Hook, and Katsuyori Shibata vs. Beef, Ariya Daivari, and Tony Nese

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The two met at MGM Grand in Las Vegas during WrestleMania week, Big E disclosed on the Insight Podcast. He continued his message urging fans not to direct hate at Holland, noting that injuries are an unfortunate reality that goes hand-in-hand with pro wrestling, and is aware of it. The former WWE Champion also expressed sympathy for Holland, citing the challenges faced in the past year.  

“I actually ran into him briefly at the MGM Grand in Vegas for ‘Mania this year in 2026. He was on the move, and I was on the move, and there were fans around too, so it’s pretty quick. But it was good to see him. It seemed like he was in a better place, but yeah, I know it really altered his career, and I tried to put out a statement or two to tell people there’s no ill will whatsoever, please leave this man alone. But more than anything, he has a family to take care of. He has kids, and to see him, one, he dealt with a devastating injury of his own. He dealt with losing his job.”  

“I really felt for him, continue to feel for him, because I tell people I’m in a great place, I’m very thankful. I still am continuing with the company, doing broadcasting work. I am good, I am truly, truly good. But, yeah, I think he was just in a very difficult position, and I really hate that his tenure in WWE, for the most part, a lot of it’s going to be defined by the injury and his role in it. But I really feel for him and for his family, and I truly hope he’s in a better place. I hope that’s all come to an end, because a lot of people crossed the line and went too far.”

Big E has been active on WWE’s broadcasting team for Premium Live Event pre and post shows. Last week, it was announced that his memoir titled “How I Got Over: Healing from Depression and Psychosis to Find Joy In and Out of the Ring” will be released in early 2027. 

Meanwhile, in April Holland confirmed he was ready and cleared for an in-ring return after surgery for disc replacement stemming from two herniated discs in the neck. 

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Forbidden Door began as a collaboration between AEW and NJPW and has now expanded to include CMLL and Stardom as well. In an interview with Q93 Radio ahead of Sunday’s PPV, Khan was asked about the challenges he faces when booking an inter-promotional card like this. Obtaining visas for international wrestlers can often be tricky. Khan also needs to get on the same page with the other promoters regarding talent that is going to be featured.

“There are a lot of logistics. Of course, securing the visas, sometimes there can be a great international wrestler that doesn’t have their work visa and you want to try to get those people in,” Khan said. “And then you’re working with the other promoters to try to utilize the stars they want to use, and you might have different ideas from your counterparts in these other companies. So, for me, I love working with other wrestling companies and other promoters. And especially I love bringing in lots of the best wrestlers in the world. And that’s what’s so fun about this event, the Forbidden Door, and that’s what makes this week so fun.”

This is AEW’s fifth annual Forbidden Door PPV. The show is taking place from San Jose, California on June 28 and includes Zack Sabre Jr., Shota Umino, Mistico, Mascara Dorada, Starlight Kid, Shingo Takagi, Titan, and Olympia among the international names.

Praise for Maya World —

One big challenge this year’s Forbidden Door presented was injuries affecting the bracket for the Owen Hart Foundation women’s tournament. Maya World wasn’t among the initial list of entrants, but she is now headed to the finals after replacing the injured Sareee. Maya World defeated Skye Blue and Athena and is set to face off against Mercedes Mone on Sunday.

When Q93 asked who the most underrated talent in AEW is, Khan immediately mentioned Maya World.

“Well, Maya World certainly has taken everybody by surprise,” he said. “She’s reached the finals of the Owen Hart Foundation tournament. It was a tournament where she came in as an alternate and picked up two huge wins. And now she’s only one victory away from reaching the biggest stage in wrestling, getting a World Championship match at AEW All In at Wembley Stadium.

“Maya World has taken so many people by surprise — I’m not surprised. I think she’s a great star. She’s been doing great things. And certainly I think she’s had some great upset victories. And It would be the biggest win of her career if she can beat her idol Mercedes Mone to win the tournament final this week.”

Assuming Thekla retains against Starlight Kid at Forbidden Door, she’ll be set to defend the AEW Women’s World Championship against either Mone or Maya World at All In this August.

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• Bryan Alvarez’s AEW Dynamite June 24, 2026 report

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Cargill listed the women she would ideally like to team up with, from former eras and the current rosters on No Contest Wrestling. She named Jacqueline, Chyna, Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks (aka Mercedes Mone). 

“Okay. Any era. Jacqueline. Chyna, of course. I probably would pick Bianca.I know she’ll definitely back it up. And the fourth person has to be a woman. You know who talks a lot of smack, but when I would watch her back it up, Sasha Banks.”  

Cargill and Mercedes Mone never crossed paths in the ring. By the time Mone made her anticipated AEW debut in 2024, Cargill had already signed with WWE a year earlier. 

The sole connection between the two is the AEW TBS Championship. Cargill was the inaugural titleholder for 508 days before Mone broke the record with a 584 day title reign. 

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The longest-serving Tiger Mask in history, Yoshihiro Yamazaki will retire at Korakuen Hall on July 7. His final night as an active competitor will see Tiger Mask IV face Black Tiger (with Rocky Romero under the mask for one night only) and “Dynamite Kid” Tommy Billington in separate matches. There will be a five-minute time limit for each bout.

Ahead of the retirement show, NJPW’s English-language website posted an interview with Yamazaki and asked whether he believes a new Tiger Mask should be introduced. If there is another iteration of the character, Yamazaki thinks it should be someone who aspires to be as well-rounded as the original Tiger Mask Satoru Sayama.

“I don’t really have an opinion one way or the other,” Yamazaki responded. “I think it would be fine if somebody wanted to do it. Purely when it comes to the different techniques and athleticism, today’s young wrestlers are even better than Sayama-sensei, but with the overall level so high, it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. So it would have to be someone that has Sayama’s accuracy, the weight to what he did, the attitude and the scariness. That’s what I think a new Tiger would need.

“If it’s just a case of a decent hand, good high flyer, then I don’t think it should continue. If you look at all the other Tigers, even Sayama-san himself, you can see how hard it is to keep the Tiger Mask thing going.”

Tiger Mask lineage —

Yamazaki followed Sayama, Mitsuharu Misawa, and Koji Kanemoto in the Tiger Mask lineage. But, as a protege of Sayama’s, Yamazaki only considers Sayama and himself to be true versions of the character. The gimmick was introduced in 1981 as a spinoff from a comic book. Sayama’s feud with Dynamite Kid still stands as perhaps the most influential rivalry in junior heavyweight wrestling history.

For NJPW, Tiger Mask IV was a six-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, with most of that success coming in the 2000s. He did unsuccessfully challenge for the title on his retirement tour, losing to DOUKI in April when DOUKI was still champion before dropping the title to YOH.

Yamazaki assured fans that he will still be around and keeping a close eye on NJPW despite retiring.

“Thank you so much for all the support over the years, and I’m sorry I haven’t always been able to live up to expectations, but I’ve always been aware of just how important all of you are to me,” he said. “It’s thanks to every one of you that I’ve been able to wrestle for so long. And even though Tiger Mask IV the wrestler is retiring, I’ll still be around, I’ll still be working and I’ll be keeping a stern eye on NJPW, so I hope you’ll keep supporting New Japan. Thank you for these 31 years!”

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