Toward the closing moments of the June 27 episode of AAA on Fox, the promotion announced the lineup for its next week’s episode.

Following Lady Shani’s return tonight during the main-event segment, she is next set to make her in-ring comeback on the July 4, 2026, episode of AAA on Fox against Lady Flammer. The duo is set to collide in a non-title match next week. Lady Shani’s television return happened after Lola Vice defeated La Hiedra in the main event of the June 27 episode.

A singles match between El Fiscal and Abismo Negro was also announced to take place on next week’s AAA episode. Further, new general manager Rey Mysterio announced the arrival of a former WWE World Champion on next week’s episode.

AAA on Fox lineup | July 4, 2026

• Lady Shani vs. Lady Flammer
• El Fiscal vs. Abismo Negro
• Former WWE World Champion to appear on AAA on Fox

Source

AAA’s new general manager, Rey Mysterio, announced on the June 27 episode of AAA on Fox that El Hijo del Vikingo will defend his AAA Latin American Championship on WWE NXT in the near future. Although a date for the title match has not officially been set yet.

Previously, on the June 23 episode of WWE NXT on The CW, it was shared by general manager Robert Stone that AAA luchadores are expected at the NXT Great American Bash PLE on June 28, 2026. Although no names were revealed.

Earlier this year at AAA Noches de Los Grandes, Vikingo won the Latin American Championship from El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.

The 29-year-old Vikingo is also a former AAA Mega Champion and is in his first reign as the AAA Latin American Champion. Just 29-days into his title reign, Vikingo is yet to make his first televised title defense.

Source

Last seen wrestling on AAA on Fox earlier this year in January, the 33-year-old Lady Shani has finally made her television return.

While actively wrestling for AAA, Lady Shani remained absent from AAA television following her loss to Lady Flammer in January 2026. Now, after almost six months of absence, Lady Shani returned on the June 27, 2026 episode of AAA on Fox.

After Lola Vice defeated La Hiedra on the June 27 episode of AAA on Fox, fans saw Las Toxicas group up and ambush Vice. While La Catalina tried to make the save, the numbers game still piled up on them until Lady Shani made her return.

The former AAA Reina de Reinas Champion returned and grouped up with Vice and Catalina to take down Las Toxicas. It was also announced that she would next face Lady Flammer in a non-title match on next week’s AAA episode on Fox.

Source

On the June 27 episode of AAA on Fox, the promotion announced the return of Copa Bardahl for this year’s TripleMania 34. The cup’s return was announced in a vignette that featured highlights from the 2025 Copa Bardahl. Last year’s edition was won by Omos.

As of now, no official participant list has been officially announced for the Copa Bardahl 2026. Last year’s Copa Bardahl was a 14-man Battle Royal match, where names from both WWE and AAA participated. Omos won the match by eliminating La Parka.

Apart from this, Dominik Mysterio is also set to defend his AAA Mega Championship at the event. No other match has been announced yet.

The 2026 edition of TripleMania is set to be a two-night event. The first night of the show is set to air from the Luxor Theater in Las Vegas, Nevada, on September 11th. Night two is scheduled for September 13th at Arena CDMX in Mexico City.

Source

Ahead of his Owen Hart Foundation final against Swerve Strickland, Ospreay appeared for an interview with Kron 4, where he was asked to name his most memorable moments in the promotion. Ospreay began by naming his match against Bryan Danielson at AEW Dynasty and his Assassin’s Creed collaboration.

“I’ve got two. When I wrestled Bryan Danielson at Dynasty, I couldn’t even imagine that match was going to happen because he got medically disqualified. I generally thought I’d never wrestle him. So when he showed up to AEW, I was like, ‘Aha, there’s a chance,’” Ospreay said.

“And the other one, we had a collaboration deal with Assassin’s Creed and I got to do an entrance that featured Ezio, who was the main character for the Assassin’s Creed franchise for so long, and he got to do a voiceover for me, and I essentially got inducted into the Brotherhood, so like, that wouldn’t happen without AEW, do you know what I mean? Assassin’s Creed was like a way to portray the character that I wanted to do in wrestling, so then to finally have them pay me money to do an entrance, like, this is a dream come true, it was wild.” (H/T Fightful)

Ospreay and Strickland will compete against each other on June 28, 2026, at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, with the winner challenging for the World Championship at AEW All In.

Source

A short vignette aired during AEW Collision showing Nightingale working out and doing drills in the ring. She said at one point, she let her dream of being the best die. But she knows what she’s made of and perhaps she just got comfortable.

“From being the “Comeback Killer” to making a comeback, @WillowWrestles begins her journey back to the squared circle,” AEW wrote on social media.

Nightingale suffered the injury last month

Nightingale last wrestled in May, retaining the TBS Championship against Red Velvet. She was scheduled to face Alex Windsor in the opening round of the women’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament, but announced shortly before the match that she would not only have to pull herself from the tournament but also vacate the TBS Championship due to a shoulder injury. Mercedes Mone took her place in the tournament and will face Maya World in the finals on Sunday at Forbidden Door.

The vacant TBS title will be decided in a six-woman Survival of the Fittest match this coming Wednesday on AEW Dynamite.

Source

Earlier this month, just days before the Night of Champions PLE in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Williams and Lash Legend tied the knot in Jamaica on June 20, 2026. Fans also found him missing from the June 19 edition of SmackDown as a result.

Now, almost a week later, at the Night of Champions post-show, Williams opened up about his wedding and shared how he was able to give Legend the “wedding of her dreams.”

“Hey, look, man, it was crazy. No lie. We was in a castle on the Portland called The Trident Castle. I had 120 guests – family, friends. Boat was there. It was beautiful. Most importantly, my queen, the Legend herself, had the wedding of her dreams. I’m just glad that I can bring that into fruition. It was a special day for us, man. I’m still on cloud nine,” Williams said.

Williams and Legend allegedly started dating each other in 2023 before getting engaged last year in late 2025. After a few months of their engagement, the couple officially tied the knot this month.

At the recently concluded Night of Champions PLE, Williams defeated Ricky Saints to retain his United States Championship.

Source

A day before she defends against Kendal Grey at the Great American Bash, Lola Vice will defend the gold against La Hiedra.

AAA general manager Rey Mysterio is also expected to reveal further details about his attempts to bring a former WWE World Champion to AAA that has never competed there before.

In a singles match, Mecha Wolf goes one-on-one with Galeno.

Psycho Circus (Dave The Clown, Psycho Clown, Panic Clown and Murder Clown) will call out Pagano in the only other announced segment for the show.

Our live coverage begins at 10 pm Eastern.

**********

Wow, what a weekend for wrestling fans!

• WWE Smackdown ✔️
• WWE Night of Champions ✔️
• AEW Collison ✔️
• AAA Lucha Libre
• TNA Slammiversary
• NXT Great American Bash
• AEW Forbidden Door

With so much more left on the plate, lets not mess around and get right into tonights Lucha Libre shenanigans!

The show opened with a promo video from the newly reformed Perros Del Mal. They came to us from hell, and plan to drag AAA back to it with them!

To kick things off: a Clown-frontation of epic proportions!

Psycho Clown has promised to get the Psycho Circus back together to confront Pagano about the assaults on Murder Clown, Panic Clown and Dave… the Clown. Pagano has been super sus as the kids say (they probably don’t anymore, but I digress) and after he and Psycho lost the AAA Tag Titles to the War Raiders, there’s things that need answering for!

Psycho came down to the ring and said he was tired of pretending that everything was ok in Clown town. He claimed that the War Raiders almost killed him after their match and Pagano turned his back on him and left him lying.

Psycho then called Murder, Panic and Dave to the ring. We haven’t seen them in months. He asked them to reveal who attacked them from behind. Surprisingly, none of them could identify their attacker. With that Psycho called Pagano to the ring.

They waited a few miniutes, but no Pagano. So, Psycho said they would go to find him and they all left to go look in the back. Cameras followed and the Clowns roamed the hallways looking for Pagano. They stormed into Pagano’s dressing room to find… Pagano lying in a pool of blood, having suffered an attack!

Psycho rushed to his fallen hermano and apologized to Pagano for suspecting him. Pagano whispered “I forgive you” before passing out. The Psycho Circus then turned and written on the mirror in blood was “Psycho is next!” The segment ended and I cannot stress how amazing this storyline is.

-Next some footage was shown from last year’s Triplemania. It was the Copa battle royal featuring Omos, La Parka and Otis amongst others. It was amazing as you can imagine.

Galeno vs. Mecha Wolf

To bring you up to speed, Galeno is a very large man from the legendary Wagner wrestling family and is the brother of El Hijo de Dr Wagner Jr. Mecha Wolf is a mechanized wolf-man who looks like he plays bass for Cradle of Filth.

Galeno was able to fend off Mecha Wolf in the beginning, battering him the corner with clotheslines and elbows. Mecha came back with some chops, but Galeno put an end to the comeback with a leapfrog and a lariat. Mecha sent him to the outside and went for a dive, but Galeno caught him and laid him out with an elbow.

Then, Omos and Dorian Roldan appeared at the top of the entrance ramp. That distracted Galeno enough that Mecha was able to get a dropkick in and send Galeno to the corner. Galeno countered, but Mecha picked up momentum and hit a double knee to the back that got him a two count.

Galeno started fighting back, but Mecha stopped him with a Superkick. Galeno came back with a Senton and then a sit-out powerbomb, but Mecha wouldn’t go down. Galeno started clutching his left arm and ate a springboard DDT from Mecha.

Mecha went in for the kill, but Galeno exploded out of the corner with a clothesline, followed by a cannonball in the opposite corner. Galeno hit the Galeno Special and pinned Mecha Wolf 1-2-3 as Omos looked on.

Match Result: Galeno defeated Mecha Wolf

-Back from a break, GM Rey Mysterio held one of his “press conferences” talking about Perros Del Mal. He said that he needs more information and was asked about the former WWE Champion who’s coming next week. Rey didn’t name names, but he did say that they are working on El Hijo de Vikingo defending the AAA Latin American Championship in NXT. He then mentioned a couple of matches for next week and then it was Main Event time!

NXT Women’s Championship Match: Lola Vice (c) vs La Hiedra

This will be the first defence of the NXT Women’s Title in AAA and it comes just hours before Vice is set to defend it against Kendall Grey at The Great American Bash. Vice and La Hiedra are lifelong enemies, so there is no love lost between the two.

Hiedra jumped Vice off the bell hitting a Michinoku driver for a two count. Vice came up swinging and the fight was on. They punched and brawled to the outside where Hiedra threw Vice into the steel steps. Hiedra charged her and Vice moved though, sending Hiedra into the steps.

Vice tossed her back into the ring and used her talented feet to keep control of the match. Hiedra tried to steal one with a rollup, but Vice came back with some martiual arts kicks. Hiedra responded with a spinebuster and then dragged Vice around by the hair.

Hiedra wrapped Vice up in a side choke, twisting her arm and neck simultaneously. Vice fought out of it and the two hit three double clothesline attempts. Vice hit a back suplex and Hiedra rolled out of the ring. Vice followed and dove on her from the apron (The viciest part of the ring!).

Vice dragged Hiedra back into the ring and launched her hip attacks in the corner. Hiedra came back though and decked Vice with a right hand that led to a two count. Vice threw a knee into Hiedra’s face, but Hiedra managed to hit a flapjack on Vice for a two count.

Vice came up with a back fist that had the Ref checking on Hiedra. That brought out Las Toxicas who beat up Vice and sent her back in for a two count. That produced La Catalina who came down and took out Las Toxicas to give Vice a chance to put on a sleeper.

Hiedra rolled out of it and right into another back fist from Vice. That was all it took and Vice pinned her to retain the title.

Match Result: Lola Vice defeated La Hiedra

After the match, Las Toxicas beat up on Catalina and Vice but Lady Shani came running down to even the odds with a backstabber on Flammer. Las Toxicas left the ring and Vice, Catalina and Shani stood tall in the ring as the show came to an end.

Source

After years of trying, Sami Zayn finally won the WWE Championship on Saturday at Clash of Champions, defeating Cody Rhodes and Gunther in triple threat match. Shortly after, Kevin Owens wrote on social media how he wished he could have been there, noting he was unable to due to his neck injury.

“I’ve missed a lot of things I wish I hadn’t in the last 15 months because of this injury but today is, by far, the one I wish I had been there for the most,” he wrote. “He has brought out the best in me as both an ally and a foe. That’s because he is THE best. When you’re consistently that good for that long, you become undeniable.”

“Sami becoming WWE Champion was inevitable,” he continued. “He has deserved that moment for a very long time and I am so happy to see him finally get it.”

Owens went on to share photos of himself and Zayn over the years, noting: “The last one is him putting on my sock in a hotel room in the middle of nowhere in Texas because I thought I had broken my back the night before and could not move. He had to help me put on my boxers too.”

The two have been friends dating back to their time on the independent wrestling scene. During their time on NXT and the main roster, they have been frequently seen either feuding with one another or teaming together, with their highest profile win together coming at WrestleMania 39 where they defeated The Usos for the WWE Tag Team titles.

Source

The main event is a preview of the women’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament finals as Mercedes Mone teams with Athena to take on Maya World and Hyan. Mone will square off with World on Sunday after she upset Athena to advance.

TNT Champion Kevin Knight will defend the title against Dezmond Xavier of The Rascalz while Persephone puts her CMLL Women’s gold up against Billie Starkz.

Chris Jericho will prepare for his July Beach Break match against Tommaso Ciampa with a tune-up bout against JD Drake.

Ahead of Sunday’s 12-man cage match, Jake Doyle goes one-on-one with Adam Priest.

The show is rounded out by Mistico & “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs. The Premier Athletes and a trios contest featuring The Conglomeration against The Opps.

Our live coverage begins at 8 pm Eastern.

**********

The Conglomeration (Orange Cassidy, Kyle O’Reilly, & Roderick Strong) vs. The Opps (Hook, Anthony Bowens, & Katsuyori Shibata) for the AEW World Trios Championship

Shibata and Strong started the match, and the lock up alone was a thing of beauty that old school wrestlers would love. After making no progress, Hook and O’Reilly tagged in. Hook and O’Reilly kept exchanging submission attempts before O’Reilly hit a kick that dropped Hook. This allowed Strong and O’Reilly to double team Hook before tagging in Orange Cassidy, who did a low flying elbow for 1-count. He covered again, and it was another 1-count. Cassidy informed the referee that this added to two. Hook suplexed Cassidy in response and tagged in Bowens.

Bowens ripped Orange Cassidy’s hands from out of his pockets, which caused the crowd to boo. Cassidy allowed Bowens to clap Cassidy’s hands before putting his hands back in his pockets and dropkicking Bowens. Shibata came in and asked Cassidy to chop him. Cassidy did his lazy chops. Shibata did not. Shibata suplex Cassidy on the apron and then rolled to the floor with him and hit a second suplex on the floor before they went to an ad break.

As they returned from break Shibata was choking out Orange Cassidy, but it was broken up by Strong. Shibata hit a snapmare on Cassidy to setup his PK but instead hit a running boot that sent Strong crashing to the floor. Cassidy then hit the stundog millionaire on Shibata and tagged out to O’Reilly. O’Reilly locked an ankle lock on Bowens, which was broken up by Hook, and then O’Reilly hit the rebounding lariat on both Hook and Bowens before tagging out to Strong.

Strong blocked a pump kick and started exchanging chops with Shibata. This was fun. Cassidy tripped Shibata and Strong lived up to his nickname hitting back breakers on Shibata and Hook. Shibata countered Strong using Cassidy as a battering ram with an Orange Punch. Shibata hit an STO on Strong and then got into a forearm exchanging with O’Reilly that was awesome. O’Reilly hit a knee strike to the stomach of Shibata that dropped him. Cassidy hit a tornado DDT on Hook, but Bowens hit an ushigoroshi on Cassidy. Bowens hit a running kick on Cassidy, then a twisting DDT from the corner on Cassidy for a 2-count. Bowens accidentally hit a superkick on Shibata, which led to Hook screaming at him, and the Conglomeration were all able to hit a series of moves on Bowens before Strong threw Cassidy on Bowens for the pinfall.

Result: The Conglomeration defeated The Opps

Excellent match to open the show.

–Hook and Shibata were not pleased with Bowens as they left.

–The Demand said that they were tired of waiting in their quest for gold. The Lethal Twist were walking through the promo shot, and Lethal and Ricochet complimented each other on their haircut before deciding that they should talk.

–The Death Riders were backstage noting that Swerve Strickland has hit the first blow in taking out Garcia, but Moxley noted that Ospreay was going to take the kill shot when he got a chance (Lucha Underground pun intended). Opsreay said that AEW wasn’t his house anymore, and he was just as squatter, and that he was going to make sure Strickland was just a step on his way to Wembley. Garcia then asked for a handshake from Ospreay.

Dezmond Xavier vs. Kevin Knight for the TNT Championship

Knight and Xavier opened with some very fast grappling exchanges, with Xavier getting the best of Knight twice, leading to Knight rolling up Xavier and getting his feet on the ropes to try and score the pin, but Xavier kicked out at 2. Xavier hit a hurricanrana on Knight and then was going to go for a dive, but Knight saw it coming and walked away. Xavier and Knight exchanged strikes ending with a cutter from Xavier once they came back from break. Xavier hit a tornado DDT on Knight for a 2-count.

Knight managed to hit a tilt-a-whirl back breaker on Xavier as a counter and got a 2-count out of it. Knight necked Xavier on the top rope, and after an exchanging, hit a dropkick. Xavier hit a hurricanrana that spiked Knight on his head, and both men were down. Xavier hit a forearm that dropped Knight and then a meteora for a 2-count. Knight fled to the floor, but Xavier hit a low-pe. Xavier rolled Knight into the ring and went for a sky twister press, but Knight got the knees up and hit a dropkick to the back of Xavier’s head before hitting the Crash Landing for the pinfall.

Result: Kevin Knight defeated Dezmond Xavier

Fantastic match for the TNT Championship here, with Knight and Xavier showing excellent chemistry.

–A hype video aired for the 12-man Steel Cage match, showing how the cage was built.

–The Death Triangle came out, and Thekla said that she was someone who does whatever she wants to, even going to Japan and spitting on Stardom. Skye Blue was announced to face Maika at the AEW Forbidden Door Buy In. Thekla said that AEW, NJPW, Stardom, and CMLL built the Forbidden Door, but she was going to burn it all down.

–A hype video aired for Ciampa and Jericho, highlighting the feud between the two.

Chris Jericho vs. JD Drake

Jericho and Drake exchanged strikes early on, before Jericho hit a hurricanrana off the top rope on Drake. Jericho then hit an enziguri on Drake that sent Drake to the floor. Drake caught Jericho perfectly on a dive Jericho did from the top rope to the floor. Jericho hit the ropes and Drake hit a Bossman slam on Jericho for a 2-count. Drake then hit a hard chop and sent Jericho back to the corner with several others.

Drake then hit a cannonball on the corner on Jericho before going for a moonsault, but Jericho rolled out of the way. Jericho responded with chops of his own, but Drake fired right back. Drake tried to hit a back body drop, but Jericho rolled into a school boy for a 2-count. Jericho then hit a Code Breaker and a Ciampa style knee on Drake before locking on the Walls of Jericho for a submission victory.

Result: Chris Jericho defeated JD Drake

Fun little match here that was exactly what it should have been.

–Jericho called Tony Schiavone to the ring and said that unless Schiavone said that Jericho was better than Ciampa, he would hurt JD Drake. Schiavone gladly complied. Jericho said he was looking for Ciampa everywhere and was thankful because when Ciampa left him bloody and beat down, it woke him up, but Ciampa wouldn’t be happy about it.

–Thunder Rosa and Divine Dominion were backstage with Lexy Nair, and Rosa fired up and cut a promo about how they walked around like they goddesses, but she was going to humble them with Olympia at Forbidden Door. Rosa was great here.

Billie Starkz vs. Persephone for the CMLL World Women’s Championship

Starkz took Persephone down and did jumping jacks to taunt Persephone. Persephone hit a shotgun dropkick and then did jumping jacks of her own to taunt Starkz. Starks tried to hit a crossbody, but Persephone caught her and hit a fallaway slam that sent Starkz to the apron. Starkz then necked Persephone on the ropes and hit a DDT on the apron before taking apart the announce desk. Starkz then stood on the desk and did a senton bomb of the desk onto the back of Persephone before going to ad break.

As they came back Persephone responded to a kick from Starkz with a double arm suplex and a superkick on Starkz for a 2-count. After an exchange of moves and pinfall attempts, Starkz hit a neckbreaker across her knee, but Persephone blocked a PK and hit a suplex with a bridge for a 2-count. Persephone went to the top rope, but Starkz pulled her off and went for a senton bomb, but Persephone moved and then hit a spear and a crucifix bomb for the pinfall victory.

Result: Persephone defeated Billie Starkz

–Hikaru Shida ran down and attacked Persephone from behind, locking a submission on Persephone, but Kris Statlander, Harley Cameron, and Queen Aminata ran down to make the save, but faced off with each other afterwards as they are fighting for the TBS Championship soon.

Mistico & Mike Bailey vs. The Premier Athletes (Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari)

The Athletes took it to both Mistico and Bailey to start the match, but soon ate stereo hurricanranas from Mistico and Bailey. The Athletes dodged the diving attack and then isolated Bailey in the ring and started beating on him. Mistico ran around the ring to try and pull Nese from the apron, but Nese took out Mistico. Mistco ran into the ring and hit a springboard into double back elbow on both men before taking the hand of Daivari and hitting a headscissors takeover on Nese while arm dragging Daivari. Both Bailey and Mistico then hit tope suicidas. Bailey took out both men with kicks and then hit a triangle moonsault to the floor on Daivari while Mistico hit a diving crossbody and then La Mistica on Nese for the submission win.

Result: Mike Bailey & Mistico defeated The Premier Athletes

–A hype video for Gabe Kidd and he talked about is visa issues just as Forbidden Door was coming, and cut a promo against Shota Umino and how he was going to take Umino out once Umino came back from his Forbidden Door match with PAC.

Jake Doyle (w/ Don Callis) vs. Adam Priest

Priest, again, did a great job getting the crowd into himself despite being the one that barely ever gets wins in AEW. Doyle threw Priest around the ring, but Priest just kept getting up and fighting back. Priest hit an enziguri, but Doyle responded with a Vader style body block as they went to a break. As they came back Priest blocked a forearm by putting both his arms up, allowing him to wring Doyle’s arm and use the ropes to damage it.

Doyle, however, stepped on the foot of Priest and then hit a forearm, but Priest managed to rotate out of a fireman’s carry into an arm bar, but Doyle used his size and power to powerbomb out of the armbar. Priest managed to hit a German suplex and a DDT for a 2-count. Priest did a dive off the top rope but ate a forearm from Doyle, who smiled as he picked Priest, up, but Priest rolled him up for a 2-count, hit the ropes, and ran into a black hole slam for the pinfall.

Result: Jake Doyle defeated Adam Priest

–An excellent hype video aired for Maya World vs. Mercedes Mone.

–A Willow Nightingale hype video aired for her recovery from her injury. This was excellent.

Maya World & Hyan vs. Athena & Mercedes Moné

Moné and Athena were immediately overwhelmed by Hyan and Maya World, including World hitting a cannonball out of a headscissors by Hyan, and Athena and Moné went to the floor to escape. Hyan and World hit tope suicidas on both before sending them back into the ring. World hit a hurricanrana on Athena and a tiger feint kick in the corner. Moné yanked the hair of World allowing Athena to dropkick World and send her to the floor.

Moné and Athena attacked World on the floor and Athena taunted Hyan. Moné and Athena brought it back into the ring and started getting the heat on World at this point, hitting a double suplex for a 2-count. Moné slowed it down with a chinlock. Athena and Moné went for a double suplex again, but World landed on her feet and rolled to her corner to tag in Hyan. Hyan hit a running boot on Moné followed by a back suplex for a 2-count.

Athena ducked under a kick on the apron and powerbombed Hyan on the apron to save Moné from an attack. Moné then hit a meteora on World on the floor as they went to the final ad break. Moné hit a backstabber on Hyan and then tagged out to Athena. Athena hit a back senton and tagged back out to Moné. Moné then hit the three amigos, but was countered on the third one, and missed knees in the corner. Hyan tagged out to World, who came in and hit a running kick on Athena and then an enziguri that sent her flying. World hit a running European uppercut and a double stomp on Athena for a 2-count.

World was going to hit a moonsault, but Moné made the save and Athena tagged out, hitting a backstabber on World, but Hyan drove Mercedes backwards into Athena to breakup the pinfall attempt by Athena. World and Moné then exchanged forearms until World’s pump kick was countered. World responded with a cutter on Moné, but Athena hit a German suplex on World. Hyan flew in with a busaiku knee that dropped Athena. Hyan and Athena then exchanged a lot of different move attempts until Athena ran to the corner and hit the O Face out of nowhere on Hyan for the win while Moné used the Statement Maker on the floor on World.

Result: Athena & Mercedes Moné defeated Maya World & Hyan

–After the match the assault continued as Athena and Moné bead down Hyan, locking her in a Statement Maker and half crab combo submission. World made the save with two superkicks and then an Asai Moonsault on both Athena and Moné.

Final Thoughts

This was a good edition of AEW Collision. AEW is clearly putting a lot of trust in how they have elevated Maya World so quickly, and she has really stepped up to it. World has taken advantage of the opportunities given and is living up to the story she has been given. It is amazing the strength she is showing after losing her brother, and she is 100% making the most of every moment here.

Source

During the Night of Champions post-show, Gunther confronted GM Nick Aldis backstage, angry about losing another WWE title match, this time to Sami Zayn. Gunther told Aldis that he jealous because he was a failed wrestler. Gunther poked Aldis, who responded by shoving Gunther as they were separated by officials, with Aldis telling Gunther he’d see him on Friday.

In the main event of Saturday morning’s show in Saudi Arabia, Gunther was knocked out of the ring during the final moments of the WWE title match. Zayn ended up scoring the win after countering a crossroads from Cody Rhodes into a rollup, winning his first World title in WWE.

Third time is not the charm for Gunther

Gunther had been looking for his WWE Championship win dating back to Clash in Italy, when he lost the WWE Championship match despite having his foot on the ropes. He demanded Aldis give him a rematch for the title, and picked Sami Zayn as the special referee for his rematch as part of the negotiatons. But that too ended up in chaos as after Gunther attacked Zayn with a powerbomb, Zayn retaliated by fast counting Gunther.

Rhodes eventually demanded that Gunther return and continue the match. Gunther attacked Zayn backstage and went back to the ring to continue the match, but Zayn arrived soon after and attacked Gunther for the DQ. That led to Rhodes asking Aldis for the three-way at Night of Champions.

Source

Right Click Save As

Source

• Bryan Alvarez’s WWE Night of Champions 2026 report

Source

Zayn won the three-way WWE Championship match against Gunther and former WWE Champion Cody Rhodes on Saturday in the main event of WWE Night of Champions 2026 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The finish saw Zayn reverse a Cross Rhodes attempt into a pinning combination to get the three count. He then celebrated out in the crowd with the fans.

“They said I would never do it, they said I’d never win it, well here it is!” Zayn said into the camera as the show came to a close.

With the win, Zayn adds the WWE Championship to his title resume, which also includes one reign with the NXT Championship, four runs with the Intercontinental title, two United States Championship reigns, and two WWE Tag Team title reigns, both with Kevin Owens.

He is also a two-time PWG World Champion, a former ROH World Television Champion, and a former ROH World Tag Team Champion with Owens.

Source

Is AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2026 on PPV?

Here are the different options you have available when it comes to watching Forbidden Door 2026 in the US, UK and Australia:

How to watch in the US

How to watch in the UK

How to watch in Australia

Source

Stratton successfully retained her title against Jade Cargill on Saturday at WWE Night of Champions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The finish of the match saw numerous run-ins. Michin and B-Fab interfered on behalf of Cargill, but Chelsea Green emerged from under the ring to take them both out.

While the referee was dealing with Green, Cargill went to grab the U.S. title belt, but Charlotte Flair appeared and prevented her from doing so. Flair then hit Cargill with the title and Stratton hit the Prettiest Moonsault ever for the win.

This was Stratton’s third successful defense of the title since defeating Giulia for it on the April 24, 2026 edition of WWE SmackDown from Fort Worth, Texas. She has since retained against Kiana James on the May 8 SmackDown from Jacksonville, Florida, and against Lash Legend on the May 22 edition of SmackDown from Lexington, Kentucky.

Our ongoing live coverage from WWE Night of Champions is available here.

Source

Williams successfully retained the title against Ricky Saints on Saturday at WWE Night of Champions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The finish saw Williams hit his Trick Shot finisher after ducking a clothesline.

Earlier in the match, Lil Yachty had been ejected from ringside after Saints made it appear to the referee as though Yachty had hit him with a kendo stick. Saints had actually hit the steel steps with the stick before tossing it into Yachty’s hands.

After the match, Yachty returned to ringside and helped Williams fend off a post-match attack from Saints. They then closed the segment with Yachty hitting his version of The People’s Elbow.

This was Williams’s second successful defense of the title on WWE programming since defeating Sami Zayn for the belt at WrestleMania 42 on Sunday, April 19, 2026. Williams then successfully retained the title against Zayn in a rematch at Backlash on May 9 in Tampa.

Source

The Ultimate X match also returns, with Cedric Alexander vs. Leon Slater vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Amazing Red vs. K.C. Navarro vs. Mr. Elegance vs. Fabian Aichner competing for the X Division Championship. Lei Ying Lee will also be putting her TNA Knockouts World Championship on the line against Xia Brookside and a TNA World Tag Team Championship Ladder Match sees Brian Myers & Bear Bronson vs. The Hardys vs. The Righteous vs. The Great Hands.

TNA Slammiversary Matches

Here are all of the confirmed matches for this weekend’s TNA Slammiversary 2026 card:

• TNA World Championship Match: Mike Santana vs. Nic Nemeth
• TNA Knockouts World Championship Match: Lei Ying Lee vs. Xia Brookside
• TNA X-Division Championship Ultimate X Match: Cedric Alexander vs. Leon Slater vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Amazing Red vs. K.C. Navarro vs. Mr. Elegance vs. Fabian Aichner
• TNA World Tag Team Championship Ladder Match: Brian Myers & Bear Bronson vs. The Hardys vs. The Righteous vs. The Great Hands
• TNA International Championship Match: Mustafa Ali vs. TBA
• Eric Young vs. Ricky Sosa
• No Surrender Match: Eddie Edwards (w/Alisha) vs. Moose (w/JDC)

Source

Rollins defeated Breakker inside a steel cage in a match that Michael Cole said on commentary would end the rivalry between the two.

The finish saw Rollins appear to set up for a stomp when Breakker held up his hand and told him to stop. The two stared at each other briefly before Breakker struggled to his feet and Rollins hit a Stomp off the second rope.

This was Rollins and Breakker’s third singles match against each other on WWE programming in 2026. Breakker defeated Rollins at Backlash in Tampa on May 9. Rollins also defeated Breakker in a singles match on the June 1 Raw from Turin, Italy.

Rollins also defeated Breakker in five street fights held on WWE’s European summer tour earlier this month.

Our ongoing live coverage of WWE Night of Champions 2026 is available here.

Source

The default Worldwide option is the TNA+ subscription service, but you can also get the show on PPV.com, Triller, Cable/Satellite PPV and Eurosport India.

How to watch TNA Slammiversary 2026

Here are the options when it comes to TNA Slammiversary 2026 and watching the show live via streaming:

TNA Slammiversary 2026 Card

As of writing, the following matches have been confirmed for TNA Slammiversary this weekend:

• TNA World Championship Match: Mike Santana vs. Nic Nemeth.
• TNA Knockouts World Championship Match: Lei Ying Lee vs. Xia Brookside
• TNA X-Division Championship Ultimate X Match: Cedric Alexander vs. Leon Slater vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Amazing Red vs. K.C. Navarro vs. Mr. Elegance vs. Fabian Aichner.
• TNA World Tag Team Championship Ladder Match: Brian Myers & Bear Bronson vs. The Hardys vs. The Righteous.
• TNA International Championship Match: Mustafa Ali vs. TBA
• Eric Young vs. Ricky Sosa
• Eddie Edwards vs. Moose

Source

“Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibitions and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer rendered live and through broadcast media including television and radio, and via the internet or commercial online service; providing wrestling news and information via a global computer network; providing information in the fields of sports and entertainment via an online community portal; providing a website in the field of sports entertainment information; fan club services, namely, organizing sporting events in the field of wrestling for wrestling fan club members; organizing social entertainment events for entertainment purposes for wrestling fan club members; providing online newsletters in the fields of sports entertainment; online journals, namely blogs, in the field of sports entertainment.”

Who is Bakusai?

We do not currently have an official update on who, or what, Bakusai is. The “performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer” obviously appears to indicate that it will be an in-ring performer, and there are currently rumors that it could be the former New Japan Pro Wrestling star Hiromu Takahashi.

Takahashi left NJPW earlier this year, just like his former colleague EVIL. EVIL debuted in NXT on the April 28 episode by confronting NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo. WWE then revealed in a vignette that EVIL would be going by the name Naraku going forward.

There were rumors that Takahashi would be joining WWE under the name Nox Raijin, but these were debunked by F4W’s own Bryan Alvarez in an earlier report.

Again, we do not confirmation of this being Takahashi’s name in the company as of writing.

Source

Following Oba Femi’s victory in the King of the Ring final against Jey Uso at Night of Champions, Michael Cole teased that we could learn more about whether Femi will challenge for the WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship on Monday’s show.

Cole said:

“So now the question is, who will Femi choose to face for a world title opportunity at SummerSlam? Will it be Roman Reigns and the World Heavyweight title, or will it be the winner of tonight’s triple threat match for the WWE Championship? Maybe we’ll find out Monday night on Raw in Atlantic City.”

The episode of WWE Raw scheduled for Monday, June 29 is set for Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. According to a report from WrestleTix on Friday, 10,126 tickets have been distributed to the show.

WWE is also scheduled to hold a double taping that night, with next week’s edition of SmackDown being taped at the same event. No matches or segments have been announced thus far for the show.

Source

SKY defeated Morgan at the event to become QOTR, confirming straight after in an in-ring segment “I’ll see you at SummerSlam” to Morgan, who was sitting on the outside near the entrance ramp.

Liv Morgan vs IYO SKY at WWE SummerSlam 2026

SummerSlam will be taking place this year from the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This will be the first ever 2 night edition of the event, taking place on Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 2.

It has not been confirmed if Liv Morgan vs IYO SKY for the WWE Women’s World Championship will eb the “main event” of Night 1 or Night 2, but based on the previous 2-night WrestleMania events it’s fairly safe to say that it will feature on Night 1, perhaps not even as the last match on the card (but still billed as a main event for branding purposes).

Source

Femi defeated Jey Uso in the opening match of WWE Night of Champions from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, June 27.

With the win, Femi earns the right to challenge for a world championship at WWE SummerSlam, which is scheduled for Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 2 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Femi had kicked out of multiple top rope splashes and powered out of Uso’s sleeper hold moments before the finish. He picked up the win with his Fall From Grace sit-out powerbomb.

This was the 25th King of the Ring tournament in history, and the third consecutive year in which the winner is awarded a world title shot at SummerSlam.

Gunther won the 2024 tournament and defeated Damian Priest for the World Heavyweight title at SummerSlam that year. Last year’s winner, Cody Rhodes, defeated John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam 2025.

Source

AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2026 start times

Here are the global start times for the AEW Forbidden Door 2026 PPV event this weekend:

Source

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) introduced a resolution on Wednesday, June 25 to impeach the US Secretary of Education and former WWE executive “for high crimes and misdemeanors.”

The resolution accuses McMahon of breaking federal law by moving Department of Education offices and programs to other federal agencies without approval from Congress. The second article in the resolution alleges McMahon made several false statements to Congress, and the third accuses her of breaching the public trust.

Congress.gov lists the resolution as H.Res.1391, “Impeaching Linda M. McMahon, Secretary of Education, for high crimes and misdemeanors.”

A link to the full resolution is available here.

“Secretary McMahon has betrayed students, families, and educators by dismantling and demolishing the Department of Education, something she does not have authority to do,” said Congresswoman Bonamici. 

“Congress created the Department and it would take an Act of Congress to shut it down. About 90 percent of students in this country attend public schools. Students have the right to equal access without discrimination and students with disabilities have the right to a free and appropriate education.

I will not stand by and let Sec. McMahon destroy the federal programs, funding, and research that are critical to public schools and the millions of students they serve.”

The resolution was referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

A press release announcing plans to file the resolution earlier this month reads:

“Since taking office McMahon has unlawfully ordered the transfer of at least five offices and their programs to other agencies – all without the consent of Congress.

These transfers essentially gut the Department of Education and obstruct the Department’s ability to conduct statutory oversight and disburse federal funds appropriated by Congress through its authority under Article I of the United States Constitution.”

Bonamici revealed on June 17 that she planned to file the articles of impeachment.

McMahon responded to Bonamici’s announcement in a post on X:

Source

• King of the Ring Finals: Oba Femi vs. Jey Uso (on ESPN)
• Queen of the Ring Finals: Liv Morgan vs. IYO SKY (on ESPN)
• Steel Cage Match: Seth Rollins vs. Bron Breakker
• WWE United States Championship Match: Trick Williams (c) vs. Ricky Saints
• WWE Women’s United States Championship Match: Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Jade Cargill
• WWE Undisputed Championship Triple Threat Match: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Gunther vs. Sami Zayn

WWE Night of Champions Matches

We’re working to try and get more on this, however for the the time being, we will be treating it as a rumor until we can get something more concrete.

The TRNBCKL Gold Patreon and affiliated entities (such as BodySlam) have previously broken legitimate news in the past, but recent changes over there have meant that the Patreon is now listed under “TRNBCKL Gold” after a stint as “Rope Break.”

While we believe that it is still the same main group of people reporting this information, we will not be posting anything they break as news, only rumors, until we’re able to verify it ourselves going forward.

Source

The main event of the show will see Mike Santana defending his TNA World Championship against Nic Nemeth, plus the following:

• TNA Knockouts World Championship Match: Lei Ying Lee vs. Xia Brookside
• TNA X-Division Championship Ultimate X Match: Cedric Alexander vs. Leon Slater vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Amazing Red vs. K.C. Navarro vs. Mr. Elegance vs. Fabian Aichner.
• TNA World Tag Team Championship Ladder Match: Brian Myers & Bear Bronson vs. The Hardys vs. The Righteous.
• TNA International Championship Match: Mustafa Ali vs. TBA
• Eric Young vs. Ricky Sosa
• Eddie Edwards vs. Moose

What time is TNA Slammiversary 2026?

Here are the start times for the event tonight:

Source

The headliner will see undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes defend against Gunther and Sami Zayn in a three-way. This will be the third time Rhodes and Gunther have squared off for the title with Zayn affecting the last match after he was special guest referee.

The show will feature the finals of both the King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring tournaments. On the men’s side, Oba Femi takes on former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso while on the women’s side, reigning WWE Women’s Champion Liv Morgan goes one-on-one with former champion IYO SKY.

In a steel cage match, Seth Rollins faces Bron Breakker in their trilogy match. Breakker defeated Rollins at Backlash while Rollins evened the score on Raw earlier this month.

WWE Women’s United States Champion Tiffany Stratton will defend against past rival Jade Cargill who ended Stratton’s lengthy Women’s title reign nearly a year ago.

The men’s United States title will also be on the line as Trick Williams defends against Ricky Saints.

Our live coverage kicks off at 11 am Eastern.

**********

PreShow.

The pre show was hosted by Big E, Peter Rosenberg and Joe Tessitore. They were not live in Saudi Arabia, but they did kick to various segments from folks who were at the arena.

Byron Saxton did a live interview backstage with Tiffany Stratton, where she said she would play to Jade Cargill’s strengths and her weaknesses. Also, Rosenberg said that Jey Uso beating Oba Femi would be as big for Jey’s career as Brock Lesnar beating The Undertaker at WrestleMania 30. 

Jackie Redmond did pre-taped interviews with Jey Uso and Liv Morgan. 

When covering the main event with Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn & Gunther, the commentators continue to play up that Gunther has never beaten Cody Rhodes. 

After an interview with Bron Breakker in the gym, the pre-show panel ran down the top ten steel cages matches of all time. Brock Lesnar versus Roman Reigns from the Greatest Royal Rumble (the first Saudi show) topped the list. 

Danhausen interrupted Michael Cole to say he would win King of the Ring by beating, among others “S-G-T Slaughter” and “The Bushwackers.” 

Byron Saxton interviewed Paul Levesque. Kingdom Arena is sold out to the tune of 18,000+, and Levesque promised a loud crowd “as always.” Levesque put over the hospitality of their hosts in Saudi Arabia. 

Rosenberg predicted that two titles would change hands, but he didn’t know which ones.

Night of Champions

Live from Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

Michael Cole & Corey Graves were on commentary.

Jey Uso v. Oba Femi in the King of the Ring Finals

Well, Levesque promised a live crowd, and boy were they loud for the entrances of Uso and Femi. Also, it looked like they really packed them into the arena, and every seat was well lit. 

This is for the 25th King of the Ring, according to Michael Cole. 

Uso tried to avoid Femi’s power early on. He ducked to the floor to avoid a charge. Femi followed him out and hit him with an axe handle. Uso sent Femi into the ringpost, then hit a pair of topes. Uso went for a third, but Femi cut that off with a forearm. 

Back in the ring, Femi crushed Uso with a shoulder breaker. Femi whipped Uso into the corner. Uso escaped a chokeslam and hit a superkick to Femi’s midsection (which according to Cole was injured on the topes from Uso). Uso escaped the sit-out powerbomb, then hit another superkick. Uso came off the top and hit a splash, but Femi just grabbed him by the throat and chokeslammed him for a near fall. 

Femi charged, but Uso hit a superkick, then followed up with a pair of superkicks and a pair of spears to Femi’s injured ribs. Uso then came off the top with a splash, then followed up with another splash, but Femi kicked out. 

Uso then locked in a sleeper hold and body scissors. Femi powered up and out of the hold. Uso caught Femi with a superkick, but Oba came back with a pair of back elbows and a toss. Femi then hit the Fall from Grace (his sit-out powerbomb), and long live the king! 

Match Result: Oba Femi pinned Jey Uso to win the King of the Ring tournament (7:59).

After the match, Byron Saxton interviewed the new king. Jey Uso underestimated him, and now Femi has been upgraded from “the ruler” to “the king.” 

— Danhausen came out to the address the live crowd. He was going to talk about what he was going to do with a large sum of “human monies” he’d just received,  but was interrupted by Liv Morgan. Morgan demanded the money that Danhausen took from the Judgment Day on Raw a few weeks ago. But Danhausen had no idea what she was talking bout. Morgan slapped Danhausen, so Danhausen cursed her. 

Liv Morgan v. Iyo Sky in the Queen of the Ring Finals

The crowd was solidly behind Sky. Sky missed a charge in the corner, but she backdropped Morgan to the apron. Sky tried for a sunset flip powerbomb to the floor, but Morgan blocked it. On the floor, Sky came off the barricade with a crossbody and celebrated with some young fans in the front row. Morgan responded by sending Sky headfirst into the ringpost.

Back in the ring, Morgan stomped away at Sky. Morgan hit a running knee in the corner on Sky, then wore her down with a hanging choke. Morgan gave Sky the Three Amigos, then followed up with a enzuigiri for a near fall. 

Sky escaped a chinlock with a snap mare. Morgan and Sky exchanged kicks and forearms, with Sky gaining the advantage. Morgan charged into a boot from Sky, but avoided a dropkick. Morgan went for a Boston Crab, but leaned too far back, and Sky rolled through and gave Morgan a double stomp. 

Sky dumped Morgan to the mat with a flapjack. Sky came off the top with a missile dropkick. Sky hit Morgan with a meteora in the corner for a near fall. Morgan escaped a double underhook and hit a backstabber, and Sky rolled out to the floor. 

Morgan went for a dive, but Sky cut her off with a forearm. Sky hit a beautiful Asai Moonsault. Back in the ring, Sky dropped Morgan with a double underhook into a backbreaker for a near fall. Sky went to the top for the moonsault, but with her back to Morgan, Morgan was able to shove Sky off. Sky landed on the ring stairs, jamming her knee. 

Morgan was a shark who smelled blood in the water, and went right after the injured knee. She locked in a half crab. Sky tried to get to the ropes, but Morgan dragged her back into the middle of the ring. Sky escaped and exchanged “Boo!/Yay!” punches, but Morgan kicked her in the knee. Morgan hit a codebreaker out of what looked like an attempted Oblivion for a near fall. 

Morgan went for Oblivion, but Sky ducked it and Morgan got caught up in the ropes. Sky went for a dive off the middle ropes, but missed and jammed her knee again. Morgan and Sky battled up to the top, and Sky hit a Spanish Fly off the top rope, then came off the top with the moonsault. Long live the queen! 

Match Result: Iyo Sky defeated Liv Morgan to become the Queen of the Ring (14:58). 

Great match.

After the match, Nick Aldis presented Sky with her crown. Byron Saxton interviewed Sky in the ring, who made it clear that she would be challenging Liv Morgan again at Summerslam.

This ended the portion of the show available on ESPN.

Seth Rollins v. Bron Breakker in a Steel Cage Match

The winner can be decided by pinfall, submission, or escaping the cage. As Breakker made his way to the ring, the announcers pointed out how Breakker was all along, with the rest of the Vision members either injured or unable to travel. So Breakker is all alone and has something to prove.

Seth Rollins entered first, and  tossed a bunch of weapons into the cage before the match started: kendo sticks, steel chairs and a couple of tables. Breakker decided to grab some weapons of his own: more chairs, more kendo sticks, and an aluminum trash can. 

In the ring, each man sat in a chair and stared the other down before the bell. The bell rang, and the bound out of their seats and exchanged punches. Breakker tried to slingshot Rollins into the cage, but he caught himself and came off the cage with a springboard crossbody. Breakker dumped Rollins with a trifecta  of German suplexes. 

On commentary, Cole claimed this was the first steel cage match in Saudi Arabia, then corrected himself. I only bring this up because the first one (Brock/Roman in 2018) was apparently the best one ever, according to the preshow panel. 

Breakker gave Rollins a side suplex into a steel chair. Rollins tried some chops, but Breakker lawn-darted him into the steel cage. Rollins tried for a rolling forearm, but Breakker came back with a jumping knee. Breakker tried for a rana, but Rollins countered that with a powerslam and both guys were down. 

Breakker and Rollins exchanged punches, with Rollins getting the better of it. Rollins hit a series of clotheslines to finally take Breakker off his feet. Rollins then wore out Breakker with a kendo stick. Rollins tossed Breakker into the cage a few times. 

Breakker was caught between the ropes and the cage, and Rollins took advantage by sending him headfirst into the cage several times. Rollins set up a table in the corner. Breakker went for  spear, but Rollins caught him with a kick and a clothesline. Rollins tossed chairs and Breakker to knock him down. Rollins tried to bury Breakker in a pile of chairs and went to the top. But Breakker cut Rollins off. Rollins shoved Breakker down, but Breakker ran right back up to the top and gave Rollins a top rope Frankensteiner into the pile of chairs for a near fall. 

Rollins was worn down. Breakker came off the top rope with a clothesline for a near fall. Breakker called Rollins a “crazy old man.” Breakker told Rollins he was gonna die and wedged his head between a chair. Breakker took a swing with a chair, but Rollins got out of the way. Rollins hit a pair of superkicks, then superkicked a chair into Breakker’s head. Rollins charged, but Breakker killed him with a spear for a near fall. 

Breakker set up a table. Rollins was struggling to get up. Breakker set Rollins up on the table. Breakker climbed to the top rope, looked down, and decided to climb to the top of the cage. Rollins quickly followed. Breakker and Rollins exchanged “Boo!/Yay!” punches on the top of the cage. Rollins raked Breakker’s eyes, then superplexed Breakker from the top of the cage. Somewhere in there, Breakker was busted open. 

Rollins went for the stomp again, but charged into a clothesline. Breakker ran through Rollins with a spear. He went for the cover, but Rollins kicked out at two. 

Breakker made his way to the door, but Rollins grabbed his foot to keep him in the ring. Rollins dragged Breakker back and locked in a choke. They were hanging out the open door, so Breakker slammed the door into Rollins head. Breakker missed a spear in the corner (going through a table), and Rollins hit the stomp and Pedigree for a near fall. 

Rollins set up for the stomp again, but Breakker put his hand up and Rollins stopped in his tracks. Breakker tried to get back to his feet, but Rollins came off the middle rope for a stomp, and got the pinfall. 

Match Result: Seth Rollins pinned Bron Breakker (19:03). 

So Rollins spent most of the match looking beatable, Bron looked unstoppable, and then Bron lost anyway? Cole tried to make it sound like Bron won despite losing. No, he just lost.

Ricky Saints v. Trick Williams (w/ Lil Yachty) for the WWE United States Championship

Saints tried to jump Williams before the bell, but Williams came back quickly and stomped on Saints in the corner. Saints avoided the Trick Shot and ducked down to the floor to regroup. 

On the floor, Saints grabbed Yachty’s kendo stick from him. With the ref’s back turned, Saints smacked the ring stairs with the kendo stick and dropped down. So when the ref turned around, he saw Saints down and selling that he was hit with the kendo stick, and the ref ejected Lil Yachty. 

He flew all the way to Saudi Arabia for like two minutes of work. 

Saints took control with a flying clothesline on the floor. Back in the ring, Williams battled back with chops, but Saints cut him off with a clothesline. Saints did an old school ropewalk, then dumped Williams to the mat with a back suplex. 

Saints got a near fall with a sunset flip. Saints hit a forearm for another near fall. Saints was on offense but it wasn’t very exciting, and the crowd wasn’t into it. Williams reversed a suplex attempt. Williams hit a pair of leg lariats and a flapjack. With Williams on offense, the crowd started to get a little more into the match. Williams backhanded Saints, then yanked Saints off the mat and into a uranage for a near fall. 

Saints came off the second rope with a clothesline, then followed up with a Cross Rhodes for a near fall. This is the quietest the crowd has been all night. A handful started chanting for Saints, but it died out quickly. 

Williams hit a pump kick, but Saints came back with a forearm. Williams caught Saints with a hangman’s neckbreaker for a near fall. 

Saints avoided a Trick Shot and caught Williams with a tornado DDT. Saints came off the top awkwardly with an elbow for a near fall. Saints countered another uranage and hit a knee. Williams ducked a clothesline and hit the Trick Shot out of nowhere and got the pinfall. 

Match Result: Trick Williams pinned Ricky Saints to retain the US Title (10:41). 

This was mid. 

After they match, Saints tried to attack Williams, but Yachty came back with the kendo stick. Williams leveled Saints with a backhand, and then Yachty gave Saints the Temu version of the People’s Elbow.

This felt like a burial for Saints.

— Roman Reigns will be at Raw, live from Atlantic City, with a special start time of 6pm this Monday. Michael Cole openly wondered who Oba Femi would choose to face at SummerSlam. I thought Femi made that clear in his promo last week. 

Jade Cargill v. Tiffany Stratton for the WWE Women’s United States Championship 

Stratton had a neat little spot early where she caught Cargill out of the corner with a sunset flip for a near fall. Stratton tried for a dive on the floor, but Cargill caught her, then bounced her off the ropes and into a high knee. 

Back in the ring, Cargill missed a charge in the corner. Cargill caught Stratton with a sit-out powerbomb for a near fall. Cargill floored Stratton with a forearm. Literally. It sent her to the floor. 

Cargill did pushups in the ring to crickets from the crowd. Cargill caught Stratton with a spinning Boss Man Slam for a near fall. Cargill ran into a back elbow from Stratton. Stratton hit a dropkick. Cargill went for Jaded, but Stratton rolled through and hit a dropkick for a near fall. 

Stratton caught Cargill with a rolling senton. She went for the Prettiest Moonsault Ever, but Cargill got her knees up. And then my Hulu randomly shut off! When I got back to the match, Michin was shoving Stratton off the top rope  and into a chokeslam from Cargill fora  near fall. 

Chelsea Green emerged from under the ring and took out B-Fab and Michin. Cargill dragged Green into the ring (Green was holding the U.S. Title belt). While the ref was dealing with Green, Cargill went for the belt… but Charlotte Flair somehow snuck into the ringside area (and I don’t know how she managed that since she was wearing the most obnoxious outfit ever), and got the belt first. Flair waffled Cargill with the belt, and Stratton hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever. 

Match Result: Tiffany Stratton defeated Jade Cargill by pinfall to retain the Women’s U.S. Championship. 

The crowd wasn’t much into this match either.

Sami Zayn v. Gunther v. Cody Rhodes for the WWE Undisputed Championship 

Zayn got a tremendous babyface reaction from the crowd. This is Zayn’s 10th shot at a World Title, and this is also Gunther’s third shot at Cody’s title, who Gunther has never beaten.

The crowd is now alive for this match, waving their cell phones and cheering on Sami. 

Gunther dumped Zayn before the bell. Zayn came back and dumped Gunther. Rhodes and Zayn did a great wrestling exchange with Gunther on the floor. Rhodes hit that drop-down uppercut to stun Zayn. 

Gunther caught Zayn running the ropes, pulled him to the floor and sending him into the ring steps. Back in the ring, Gunther worked over Rhodes. Zayn jumped Gunther from behind, but Gunther dumped him to the floor again. 

Gunter drew boos from the crowd, then dropped Rhodes with a chop for a near fall. Zayn got back into the ring and jumped into a chop from Gunther. Gunther dumped Zayn with a back suplex. Rhodes caught Gunther with a Cody Cutter. Rhodes caught Gunther with a powerslam, then hit Zayn with a Side Effect for a near fall. 

Rhodes caught Gunther and Zayn with a double Cody Cutter. Rhodes ducked a clothesline from Gunther and hit Zayn with a dive on the floor. Rhodes escaped a powerbomb and went for a Cross Rhodes, but Gunther escaped that and hit the powerbomb. Zayn broke up the pin attempt, and Gunther dumped Zayn to the floor again. 

On the floor, Zayn sent Gunther into the steel steps. Back in the ring Rhodes hit Zayn with a series of jabs, but Zayn hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for a near fall. The desperation on Zayn face as he held Cody down really helped add to the drama. 

Zayn set up for the Helluva Kick, but Gunther grabbed Zayn and crotched him against the ringpost. Gunther went after Rhodes with chops. Gunther set up Rhodes for a short-arm clothesline, but Rhodes countered into the Cross Rhodes. He went for the pinfall, but Zayn pulled the ref out of the ring to prevent the three count! 

Rhodes and Zayn then squared off, exchanging forearms and punches. Rhodes missed a Disaster Kick, and Zayn hit a brainbuster. He went for the cover, but Gunther came off the top with a splash. Gunther powerbombed Zayn, then powerbombed Rhodes onto Zayn. Gunther went for another powerbomb on Zayn, but Zayn flipped him into a Code Red for a near fall. 

Zayn climbed to the top and dove at Gunther. Gunther went for a kick in the corner, but Zayn ducked and Gunther got caught up in the ropes. Zayn saw this as his chance and hit the Helluva Kick, but this time it was Rhodes who pulled the ref out of the ring to stop the count! 

Okay this is awesome stuff. 

Zayn and Rhodes brawled on the floor. Rhodes cleared the American announce table, and Zayn cleared the Arabic announce table. Zayn tried for a package piledriver on the table, but Rhodes escaped and backdropped Zayn through the other announce desk. 

Gunther recovered and grabbed Rhodes. Gunther powerbombed Rhodes onto the Arabic announce table, which didn’t not break. So Gunther immediately grabbed Rhodes and powerbombed him a second time to break the table! 

Back in the ring, Gunther locked Rhodes in the sleeper and added a body scissors. Rhodes fought out of and it and dropped back to break the hold, but Gunther went right back to the hold. Cole was knocked off of the audio and you could only hear Graves. Rhodes was out, and the ref went to check Rhodes’ arm… but Zayn got in the ring to keep the arm from falling. 

Gunther pulled up Zayn and hit him with chops. Zayn came back and hit Gunther with an exploder in the corner and the Helluva Kick, but Gunther kicked out at two! 

This is amazing drama. 

Rhodes was out on the floor, and Zayn was frustrated while Gunther was out. Also, Graves apparently gave his headset to Cole, so now Cole is alone on commentary. Gunther leveled Zany with a clothesline. Rhodes went for the Cross Rhodes on Sami, but Sami reversed it and hit Rhodes with his own move. Zany went for the Helluva Kick, but Gunther caught Zayn with the Sleeper. Zayn reversed, but then Rhodes grabbed Zayn and gave both Zayn and Gunther the Cross Rhodes. Rhodes went for the Cross Rhodes on Zayn, but Zayn countered with a cradle and Oh. My. God. 

Match Result: Sami Zayn won the WWE Undisputed Championship, pinning Cody Rhodes (18:42)

To say the crowd lost it would be an understatement. 

The ref presented the tearful Sami Zayn with his first World Championship. Sami celebrated and held up the championship, and then the crowd really lost it. Zayn jumped into the crowd with his championship belt to celebrate. 

“Ten years I’ve been in WWE! They’d said I would never do it. I would never win it [a World Championship] …well here it is!” Sami’s last words to close the show.  

Zayn got a tremendous babyface reaction from the crowd. This is Zayn’s 10th shot at a World Title, and this is also Gunther’s third shot at Cody’s title, who Gunther has never beaten. 

The crowd is now alive for this match, waving their cell phones and cheering on Sami. 

Gunther dumped Zayn before the bell. Zayn came back and dumped Gunther. Rhodes and Zayn did a great wrestling exchange with Gunther on the floor. Rhodes hit that drop-down uppercut to stun Zayn. 

Gunther caught Zayn running the ropes, pulled him to the floor, and sent  him into the ring steps. Back in the ring, Gunther worked over Rhodes. Zayn jumped Gunther from behind, but Gunther dumped him to the floor again. 

Gunther drew boos from the crowd, then dropped Rhodes with a chop for a near fall. Zayn got back into the ring and jumped into a chop from Gunther. Gunther dumped Zayn with a back suplex. Rhodes caught Gunther with a Cody Cutter. Rhodes caught Gunther with a powerslam, then hit Zayn with a Side Effect for a near fall. 

Rhodes caught Gunther and Zayn with a double Cody Cutter. Rhodes ducked a clothesline from Gunther and hit Zayn with a dive on the floor. Rhodes escaped a powerbomb and went for a Cross Rhodes, but Gunther escaped that and hit the powerbomb. Zayn broke up the pin attempt, and Gunther dumped Zayn to the floor again. 

On the floor, Zayn sent Gunther into the steel steps. Back in the ring, Rhodes hit Zayn with a series of jabs, but Zayn hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for a near fall. The desperation on Zayn’s face as he held Cody down really helped add to the drama. 

Zayn set up for the Helluva Kick, but Gunther grabbed Zayn and crotched him against the ring post. Gunther went after Rhodes with chops. Gunther set up Rhodes for a short-arm clothesline, but Rhodes countered into the Cross Rhodes. He went for the pinfall, but Zayn pulled the ref out of the ring to prevent the three count! 

Rhodes and Zayn then squared off, exchanging forearms and punches. Rhodes missed a Disaster Kick, and Zayn hit a brainbuster. He went for the cover, but Gunther came off the top with a splash. Gunther powerbombed Zayn, then powerbombed Rhodes onto Zayn. Gunther went for another powerbomb on Zayn, but Zayn flipped him into a Code Red for a near fall. 

Zayn climbed to the top and dove at Gunther. Gunther went for a kick in the corner, but Zayn ducked and Gunther got caught up in the ropes. Zayn saw this as his chance and hit the Helluva Kick, but this time it was Rhodes who pulled the ref out of the ring to stop the count! 

Okay, this is awesome stuff. 

Zayn and Rhodes brawled on the floor. Rhodes cleared the American announce table, and Zayn cleared the Arabic announce table. Zayn tried for a package piledriver on the table, but Rhodes escaped and backdropped Zayn through the other announce desk. 

Gunther recovered and grabbed Rhodes. Gunther powerbombed Rhodes onto the Arabic announce table, which did not break. So Gunther immediately grabbed Rhodes and powerbombed him a second time to break the table! 

Back in the ring, Gunther locked Rhodes in the sleeper and added a body scissors. Rhodes fought out of and it and dropped back to break the hold, but Gunther went right back to the sleeper. Cole was knocked off of the audio and you could only hear Graves. Rhodes was out, and the ref went to check Rhodes’ arm… but Zayn got in the ring to keep the arm from falling. 

Gunther pulled up Zayn and hit him with chops. Zayn came back and hit Gunther with an exploder in the corner and the Helluva Kick, but Gunther kicked out at two! 

This is amazing drama. 

Rhodes was out on the floor, and Zayn was frustrated while Gunther was out. Also, Graves apparently gave his headset to Cole, so now Cole is alone on commentary. Gunther leveled Zayn with a clothesline. Rhodes went for the Cross Rhodes on Sami, but Sami reversed it and hit Rhodes with his own move. Zayn went for the Helluva Kick, but Gunther caught Zayn with the Sleeper. Zayn reversed, but then Rhodes grabbed Zayn and gave both Zayn and Gunther the Cross Rhodes. Rhodes went for the Cross Rhodes on Zayn, but Zayn countered with a cradle and Oh. My. God. 

Match Result: Sami Zayn won the WWE Undisputed Championship, pinning Cody Rhodes (18:42).

To say the crowd lost it would be an understatement. 

The ref presented the tearful Sami Zayn with his first World Championship. Sami celebrated and held up the championship, and then the crowd really lost it. Zayn jumped into the crowd with his championship belt to celebrate. 

“Ten years I’ve been in WWE! They’d said I would never do it. I would never win it…well here it is!” Sami’s last words to close the show.  

Sami Zayn’s facials were everything in this match. Gunther playing the killer at just the right time in all the key spots was amazing. If someone had said at WrestleMania the story that started with the gingerbread man was going to end three months later with Sami Zayn as World Champion, no one would have believed them. 

This was an absolutely fantastic way to end the show. 

Source

Avery wrestled at the Royston Dome in Royston, Georgia, on Friday, June 26 at SCA Wrestling’s Freedom Fling event. He posted footage of the match to his Instagram Stories, and in one clip, he can be seen sliding under the guardrail at ringside before giving his opponent a Phenomenal Forearm.

Online reports listed Avery as defeating Ashton Martin on the show. AJ Styles was advertised to be in his son’s corner for the match.

AJ Styles addresses potentially wrestling with his son

AJ Styles addressed the idea of potentially wrestling with his son following his loss to Gunther at the 2026 Royal Rumble.

Styles was hesitant to say that he would never wrestle again, mentioning that he would potentially like the opportunity to team with his son someday.

“I mean, what if my son wrestles? The opportunity to tag with him once. You never know,” Styles said.

In May, Avery Styles shared a training video of himself performing AJ Styles’ Spiral Tap onto a crash pad.

Source

The main event is a five-round bout in the lightweight division as Azerbaijan native Rafael Fiziev takes on Manuel Torres in what looks to be a potentially exciting striking battle. Fiziev is looking to rebound from a loss to Mauricio Ruffy in his last fight in February, while Torres enters his first UFC main event looking to extend his two-fight win streak.

In the co-main event, middleweight action takes place as Shara Magomedov looks for his second straight win when he takes on the always entertaining Michel Pereira.

Also on the main card is a lightweight fight between Nazim Sadykhov and Matheus Camilo; a battle of ranked flyweights as Asu Almabayev takes on Charles Johnson; a middleweight fight between Ikram Aliskerov and Brunno Ferreira; and a middleweight opener sees Abus Magomedov clash with Michal Oleksiejczuk.

PRELIMS | 9 AM ET | 6 AM PT

> Welterweights- Tahir Abdullayev (21-3, 0-0 UFC) vs. Jefferson Nascimento (13-0, 0-0 UFC)

Nothing has happened in the first minute, then Nascimento lands a leg kick. Abdullayev lands a leg kick. Both miss when they throw a right hand. Neither is really doing much as Abdullayev is pressing forward. Abdullayev lands a body kick. Nascimento lands a jab. Nascimento is just circling and running away. Nascimento lands to the body. Abdullayev lands a right hand and then to the body as they briefly clinch. Abdullayev lands a left hook and a right hand. Abdullayev lands a knee and Nascimento looks for a takedown. Nascimento lands a groin strike during a clinch. They get back going but the round ends. 10-9 Abdullayev.

Nascimento lands a leg kick. Nascimento lands a right hand. Abdullayev with a body kick. Abdullayev lands a right hand. They trade punches. Nascimento lands a left hook then a right hand to the body. Nascimento lands a counter combination. Nascimento lands a leg kick. Nascimento landing more, but neither are landing with high volume. Abdullayev shoots for a takedown, but Nascimento defends. Abdullayev lands a late flurry with a big right hand. 10-9 Nascimento, 19-19.

Abdullayev rushes forward and lands a right hand. Abdullayev gets Nascimento to the mat and lands some right hands. Abdullayev with more punches as Nascimento forces it to the feet. Abdullayev with a knee to the body and Nascimento lands a leg kick. They clinch and both land to the body before they separate. Abdullayev with a few knees to the body and he then scores a takedown. Abdullayev with some shots from the top. Nascimento tries to pop up, but Abdullayev keeps him down on the mat. Abdullayev is attacking an arm for a kimura, but lets go and returns to landing from the top. Abdullayev with an elbow from the top. Abdullayev is talking from the top and lands a right hand. Abdullayev stands and lands some big punches from the top and it is stopped. Wow, that seemed like a bad stoppage.

Fight Result- Tahir Abdullayev def. Jefferson Nascimento by TKO (punches) at 4:28 of Round 3

> Bantamweights- Bekzat Almakhan (17-3, 1-2 UFC) vs. Jean Matsumoto (17-2, 3-2 UFC)

Almakhan lands a right hand. Matsumoto with a leg kick as Almakhan connects. Almakhan lands a quick combination. Almakhan lands a nice right hand. Matsumoto lands a leg kick but gets dropped by a combination from Almakhan. Matsumoto gets up and Almakhan connects. Almakhan lands an uppercut. Almakhan lands a left hook. Matsumoto shoots for a takedown, but Almakhan defends. Almakhan lands a combination. Matsumoto with a quick combo and looks for a takedown. Almakhan defends against the fence. Matsumoto with some left hands and a knee before scoring a big late takedown and landing some elbows. 10-9 Almakhan.

Matsumoto lands a quick combo. Almakhan lands a right hand. Matsumoto gets a brief takedown, but Almakhan quickly scrambles up. They trade inside the pocket. Matsumoto lands a leg kick. Matsumoto with another leg kick. Both are landing in close range. Matsumoto with a leg kick. Almakhan with a combination. Almakhan lands an uppercut. He lands a right hand. They trade inside the pocket. Almakhan lands a tomahawk elbow. Matsumoto looks for a takedown against the fence. They separate. Matsumoto lands a nice knee followed by a body kick. They trade and tie up. Almakhan with a knee to the body as they break. Matsumoto lands a body kick. They trade right hands. Almakhan lands a big left hand and Matsumoto lands a body kick. Close round. 10-9 Almakhan, 20-18 Almakhan.

Matsumoto lands a leg kick and they trade in close range. Matsumoto with a pair of kicks. Almakhan lands a combination. Almakhan lands an uppercut. Timeout is called for a groin strike by Matsumoto. They return to action and exchange jabs. They trade in close range. Matsumoto lands a right hand. Almakhan lands a right hand. Almakhan lands a combination. Matsumoto with a leg kick and they trade inside the pocket. Matsumoto looks for a takedown and gets it. They quickly get up and separate. Matsumoto lands a head kick. Almakhan lands a combo and Matsumoto looks for a takedown. Matsumoto lands as they separate. Almakhan with a head kick. Almakhan lands a left hook. 10-9 Matsumoto, 29-28 Almakhan.

Fight Result- Jean Matsumoto def. Bekzat Almakhan by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

> Welterweights- Daniil Donchenko (13-2, 2-0 UFC) vs. Theodor Berggren (8-3, 0-0 UFC)

Donchenko lands a leg kick and they trade kicks. Berggren lands a body kick. They trade in close range. Donchenko lands a kick to the cup, but they keep going. They trade leg kicks. Both continue to land kicks. Donchenko pushes it against the fence and lands a knee and elbow as they break. Donchenko with a right hand to the body. Donchenko lands a right hand and then another. Donchenko lands a body kick. Donchenko with a combo to the head and body before they clinch. Berggren lands a left hand but eats a counter combo from Donchenko. Donchenko with a pair of leg kicks. Donchenko lands to the body. Donchenko lands a right hand then a leg kick. 10-9 Donchenko.

They trade kicks. Donchenko lands a leg kick. Donchenko with a body kick. Berggren lands a left hand. Donchenko lands a head kick and Berggren goes down. Donchenko is pouncing as Berggren gets up and Donchenko lands some big shots and it is stopped! What a finish by Donchenko!

Fight Result- Daniil Donchenko def. Theodor Berggren by TKO (head kick & punches) at 1:35 of Round 2

> Featherweights- Kaan Ofli (13-4-1, 2-2 UFC) vs. Javier Reyes (23-5, 1-0 UFC)

Ofli with a pair of leg kicks. Ofli lands a left hook as Reyes was rushing in. Ofli lands a right hand. Reyes lands a right hand. Ofli lands in close range. They trade inside the pocket as Ofli lands more. Ofli drops Reyes with a right hand and starts landing lots of punches from the top. Ofli is keeping Reyes down and has the mount and looks for an arm-triangle choke. He has it locked in and Reyes taps! Ofli picks up the submission win.

Fight Result- Kaan Ofli def. Javier Reyes by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 4:16 of Round 1

> Middleweights- Nursulton Ruziboev (36-9-2, 4-1 UFC) vs. Andrey Pulyaev (10-4, 1-2 UFC)

Neither has landed a strike in the first minute. They both land body kicks before Ruziboev gets a takedown. He takes the back of Pulyaev as they stand, and Ruziboev lands some knees to the legs. Ruziboev jumps on the back and has the hooks on as he drags it down. Ruziboev landing from the back. Ruziboev locks in a rear-naked choke and it is in deep and Pulyaev goes out cold!

Fight Result- Nursulton Ruziboev def. Andrey Pulyaev by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:58 of Round 1

> Light Heavyweights- Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev (9-0, 2-0 UFC) vs. Julius Walker (7-2, 1-2 UFC)

Yakhyaev drops Walker right away and starts teeing off from the top and it is all over! Super quick finish by Yakhyaev!

Fight Result- Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev def. Julius Walker by knockout (punches) at :08 of Round 1

> Welterweights- Farman Hasanov (5-0, 0-0 UFC) vs. Eric Nolan (8-4, 0-1 UFC)

Hasanov ducks under a Nolan punch and scores a takedown. They get up, but Hasanov slams Nolan down. They get back up, but Hasanov keeps back control and drags it back down. Hasanov with an uppercut from the back as he keeps dragging Nolan down when they get up. Hasanov with some left hands from the back. They get to their feet. Hasanov gets Nolan back down and is still controlling. They go to the fence as they stand, and Hasanov keeps taking it down. Nolan is just having to defend takedowns. Hasanov with big shots from the top. Hasanov lands a pair of elbows. 10-9 Hasanov.

Hasanov scores a takedown. Nolan gives up his back and they get to their feet. Hasanov trips Nolan to the mat into full mount. Nolan is able to force a scramble up and Hasanov grabs the body against the fence. They scramble up and separate. Hasanov lands a combo. Hasanov scores another takedown. They get up and Hasanov is non-stop looking for the takedown. They break apart and trade jabs. Hasanov looks tired, but so does Nolan. Nolan is landing punches as Hasanov is clearly gassed out, but Hasanov scores a takedown. They get up, but Hasanov gets another takedown and lands from the top. 10-9 Hasanov, 20-18 Hasanov.

They trade to start. Hasanov lands a pair of right hands. They trade jabs. Hasanov looks for a takedown and pushes it against the fence and Nolan lands a knee. Hasanov gets a takedown and has the mount and lands from the back. They scramble up and Hasanov scores a takedown and is on top and controlling. Hasanov has the back and keeps dragging it down as they go the distance. 10-9 Hasanov, 30-27 Hasanov.

Fight Result- Farman Hasanov def. Eric Nolan by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

MAIN CARD | 12 PM ET | 9 AM PT

> Middleweights- Abus Magomedov (28-7-1, 4-3 UFC) vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk (22-9 1 NC, 10-7 1 NC UFC)

Magomedov lands a combination. Oleksiejczuk with a leg kick. Magomedov lands a kick to the body and then a head kick. Magomedov lands a combo. He lands a body kick. Oleksiejczuk with a left hand. Magomedov lands a right hand and they clinch up. Magomedov lands a knee right to the head of Oleksiejczuk. Oleksiejczuk escapes. Oleksiejczuk lands a left hand. Magomedov drops Oleksiejczuk to a knee with a punch and then rocks him before locking in a guillotine choke and Oleksiejczuk starts tapping before going out cold! What a finish by Magomedov!

Fight Result- Abus Magomedov def. Michal Oleksiejczuk by submission (guillotine choke) at 3:25 of Round 1

> Middleweights- #14 Ikram Aliskerov (17-2, 4-1 UFC) vs. Brunno Ferreira (15-3, 6-3 UFC)

Aliskerov lands a right hand and a leg kick. Aliskerov with another leg kick and lands a right hand. Aliskerov ducks under a Ferreira punch and looks for a takedown against the fence. Aliskerov is able to complete the takedown. Aliskerov grabs the back as they get to their feet. They break apart. Aliskerov lands a groin strike and timeout is called. They return to action and Aliskerov lands a right hand before they trade leg kicks. Aliskerov with a high kick. Aliskerov lands a combination. Aliskerov with a combo then a flying knee before scoring a takedown. Aliskerov landing from inside the guard of Ferreira. Aliskerov lands from the top before standing and then a right hand on the way up. 10-9 Aliskerov.

Aliskerov lands a leg kick. Ferreira with a right hand and he then lands a quick combo. They trade punches. Aliskerov with a combo then a big knee. Aliskerov with another combination and then scores a takedown. Aliskerov lands from the top and moves to north-south position. Aliskerov gets on the back of Ferreira. They get to their feet and separate. Aliskerov lands a pair of combos. They trade jabs. Ferreira lands a right hand. Aliskerov gets a takedown and is inside the guard of Ferreira. They scramble up. Ferreira slips on a kick and Aliskerov lands some punches from the top. 10-9 Aliskerov, 20-18 Aliskerov.

They trade early on and Aliskerov lands a nice combo that briefly hurt Ferreira. Aliskerov lands a right hand. Aliskerov grabs the single leg and scores a takedown. He gets into the guard and lands. Ferreira lands a few elbows from the bottom. Aliskerov gets the back and has the body triangle locked on and is landing some punches. Aliskerov looks for a rear-naked choke. He lets go and lands some more punches. Aliskerov continues to land punches from the top. Aliskerov landing from the back. 10-9 Aliskerov, 30-27 Aliskerov.

Fight Result- Ikram Aliskerov def. Brunno Ferreira by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

> Flyweights- #7 Asu Almabayev (23-3, 6-1 UFC) vs. #15 Charles Johnson (19-8, 8-6 UFC)

Almabayev lands a pair of leg kicks. Johnson with a body kick. They trade leg kicks. Almabayev with a right hand. Almabayev lands a left hook. Almabayev scores a takedown. Almabayev landing from the top and Johnson is trying to force a scramble up. Almabayev stands but gets back inside the guard of Johnson and lands. Almabayev looks for the neck against the fence but Johnson is fighting the hands. They get to their feet, but Almabayev gets it back down and lands from the top. He lands some more. 10-9 Almabayev.

Almabayev lands a spin kick to the body followed by a right hand. Almabayev with a leg kick. Johnson lands a knee and a right hand. Almabayev lands a few leg kicks and right hands. Almabayev tries a spinning back kick, but it lands right to the groin of Johnson and timeout is called. They get back to action and both start landing. Almabayev gets a brief takedown, but Johnson starts landing to the body when they get up. Almabayev scores a takedown and gets the back of Johnson. Almabayev moves to top control. He lands some right hands from the top. They scramble up, but Almabayev is able to get it back down and lands. Almabayev gets the back. Almabayev gets the hooks on but time runs out. 10-9 Almabayev, 20-18 Almabayev.

Almabayev scores a takedown and is in side control. Johnson is looking for a triangle choke from the bottom, and now Almabayev starts looking for one from the top. Almabayev escapes and both land on the mat. Almabayev controlling and Johnson gives up his back. Almabayev landing right hands from the back. Almabayev is looking for a leg submission from the back and he has a Suloev Stretch locked in and Johnson taps! What a finish by Almabayev!

Fight Result- Asu Almabayev def. Charles Johnson by submission (Suloev Stretch) at 3:33 of Round 3

> Lightweights- Nazim Sadykhov (11-2-1, 4-1-1 UFC) vs. Matheus Camilo (10-3, 1-1 UFC)

They trade leg kicks. Camilo lands a right hand and Sadykhov goes down and some follow-up shots end it all. Sadykhov is not happy with the stoppage but it looked like a good stoppage as Sadykhov went down hard.

Fight Result- Matheus Camilo def. Nazim Sadykhov by TKO (punches) at 1:31 of Round 1

> Middleweights- Shara Magomedov (16-1, 5-1 UFC) vs. Michel Pereira (32-14 2 NC, 10-5 UFC)

Pereira lands a jab. Magomedov with a leg kick. Pereira drops Magomedov with a right hand and Pereira starts landing from the top. Magomedov is throwing upkicks from the ground but not connecting. Pereira lands a pair of heavy right hands from a standing position. Magomedov is trying to look for a triangle choke but keeps grabbing Pereira’s hair and gets a warning. Pereira gets inside the guard and lands some right hands. Both are landing on the mat and Pereira lands a pair of big elbows. Pereira stands and gets the back of Magomedov. Magomedov is able to spin and is now inside the guard of Pereira. Magomedov lands an elbow. Magomedov stands and lands some leg kicks. 10-9 Pereira.

Magomedov lands a leg kick. Pereira just misses a punch jumping off the cage. Magomedov lands a leg kick. Magomedov lands a high kick. Pereira with a pair of short kicks. Magomedov lands a trio of kicks as Pereira rushed in trying to land. Magomedov with another leg kick. They trade kicks. Magomedov lands a knee and a right hand. They have a wild exchange as Pereira lands a right hand and Magomedov lands some kicks. 10-9 Magomedov, 19-19.

Magomedov landing kicks to start the third. Pereira with a jab to the body. Magomedov with another leg kick. Magomedov lands a side kick. Magomedov lands a series of kicks. Pereira with a right hand. Timeout is called as Magomedov poked Pereira in the eye. They get back to action and Magomedov lands a leg kick. Pereira lands a jab and then a leg kick. They trade punches as Magomedov lands a combination. Pereira with a couple of leg kicks. Magomedov lands a right hand and then a head kick. Pereira looked for a takedown and they crashed to the mat, and Pereira has clinch advantage against the fence. Both land to the body. They separate and Magomedov lands a pair of body kicks. 10-9 Magomedov, 29-28 Magomedov.

Fight Result- Shara Magomedov def. Michel Pereira by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

> Lightweights- Rafael Fiziev (13-5, 7-5 UFC) vs. #13 Manuel Torres (17-3, 5-1 UFC)

Fiziev with a body kick and they trade right hands. Fiziev lands a leg kick. Torres with a body kick. Torres comes forward throwing punches, but Fiziev backs away from them connecting. Fiziev scores a takedown. They get to their feet and Torres lands a knee to the groin and timeout is called. They get back to action. Fiziev lands a calf kick. He lands another. Fiziev throwing more kicks. Torres lands a jab. Torres with a left hook. Fiziev lands another leg kick. Torres lands a leg kick. Torres with a right hand. Fiziev with a pair of leg kicks. Torres lands a body kick, but Fiziev catches it and gets a takedown. They get right up. Fiziev lands a left hand and Torres lands a combo. Torres with a left hand and a big jab. 10-9 Torres.

Fiziev lands a spin kick and Torres goes down. Torres scrambles up but Fiziev is landing a big flurry and lands a right hand and Torres goes back down and Fiziev lands some more punches from the top to get the finish. What a finish by Fiziev!

Fight Result- Rafael Fiziev def. Manuel Torres by knockout (spin kick and punches) at :15 of Round 2

Source

Sammy Guevara and The Beast Mortos lost the titles in the main event of CMLL’s Friday night event in Mexico City to Mistico & Mascara Dorada. The finish had Dorada wiping out Guevara with a middle rope shooting star press to the floor as Mistico submitted Mortos in the middle of the ring with La Mistica, earning the victory and the titles for Sky Team.

The title win for Mistico and Dorada is notable as they will travel to San Jose for AEW’s Forbidden Door this Sunday. They will wrestle in a three-way match with The Young Bucks and Shingo Takagi & Titan. 

ROH Tag Team titles in a state of flux

Mortos & Guevara held the titles for 204 days, defeating Tommy Billington and Adam Priest in a match for the vacant titles back in December at Final Battle.

However, It was noted during ROH Supercard of Honor back in May that Mortos, as well as Kommander, have not been able to wrestle in AEW due to ongoing via issues, preventing Mortos from defending the titles on ROH television. Instead, Guevara has been traveling to Mexico to team with Mortos in CMLL. Last Friday, they retained against El Hijo del Villano III and Villano III Jr. in a match that later aired during ROH Global Wars.

Source

Punk spent his evening doing commentary for Cage Fury Fighting Championships at the Hard Rock Casino in Rockford, Illinois, a short drive from his hometown of Chicago. As his fellow announcers were plugging a future event, they asked Punk if he would be there, noting it was not in Chicago.

“Is that a Friday? I don’t know,” Punk said. Upon confirmation that the event was on Friday, Punk replied, “It’s a Friday? I don’t know if I can make it.”

WWE SmackDown, of course, airs on Friday nights. 

Punk’s colleagues at CFFC then asked the wrestler if he had any “big news they could go viral with.”

“I gained 20 pounds recently,” Punk replied. “It’s not good weight. This suit’s a little tight, ladies and gentlemen.”

Punk’s last appearance in WWE was at WrestleMania Sunday, where he lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Roman Reigns, and then the next night on Raw, when he teased a future challenge to Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. 

Rhodes typically wrestles on SmackDown. Should he survive his triple threat match against Sami Zayn and Gunther at Night of Champions tomorrow, he will need a new challenger for SummerSlam.

Punk was apparently in a joking mood all night. Earlier in the evening, CFFC’s John Morgan noted that they couldn’t get Punk to go on the road anymore, so they brought the organization to him. 

“I don’t travel anymore,” Punk said. “My horse is sick.” This was a reference to an old wrestling story about Terry Funk backing out of being one of Jerry Lawler’s masked knights at Survivor Series, leaving a note for Vince McMahon that simply read his horse was sick. 

Source

Max Abrams won the title Friday during a Nightmare Factory Showcase event in Atlanta. He defeated Chazz ‘Starboy’ Hall to win the title for the first time.

“NEW WWE ID CHAMPION!!!,” WWE ID declared on social media. “Max Abrams of The Mog Squad defeated Chazz “Starboy” Hall just now to become the new WWE ID Men’s Champion at The Nightmare Factory presents The ID Showcase in Atlanta! The match will be released on this X account in the near future!”

Abrams celebrated with CJ Valor, Jacari Ball, and Santi Rivera after the match. All four are members of the Mog Squad and have wrestled on WWE Evolve before. Abrams’ most recent appearance was a loss to Aaron Rourke in a match that was for the men’s Evolve Championship.

The former Starboy Charlie was the second person ever to hold the championship, defeating Cappuccino Jones back in March during a Beyond Wrestling event. He would go on to hold the title for 96 days before Friday’s loss.

The Nightmare Factory is a training school run and operated by Cody Rhodes.

Source

Giulia defeated Kiana James on Friday’s SmackDown in the UK, winning with the Northern Lights Bomb to seemingly end the rivalry with her former associate. As she was celebrating, Monroe suddenly appeared and blindsided Giulia, posing for the crowd as the segment ended.

Coming soon for quite a while

This marked the first time Monroe has been physical on the main WWE roster. Vignettes started to air for the former NXT North American Champion shortly after WrestleMania 42 in April. On the May 22 edition of SmackDown, Monroe made a brief appearance with Chelsea Green, dismissing her completely before walking away.

Since then, vignettes continued to air for her impending debut, with Monore addressing specific stars on the SmackDown roster such as Rhea Ripley.

The former AEW Women’s Champion signed with WWE last June, quickly turning heel and defeating Zaria to win the Women’s North American title at Halloween Havoc. Her sendoff match was losing to Tatum Paxley in a casket match that was for the title back on April 14. In the time since, she has wrestled several dark matches taped before SmackDown.

Source

On Friday, Tama Tonga told Solo Sikoa that he and Talla were tired of Sikoa’s obsession with Roman Reigns. Talla said that he and Tama got word from the Elders, and they were officially out, ending their association with Sikoa.

The former United States Champion got involved in LA Knight’s feud with The Bloodline on this past Monday’s Raw. Later on Friday, Knight and Sikoa ended up exchanging words in the ring, with Sikoa looking to get Knight on his side on a potential war with the Bloodline. Knight ultimately rejected any idea of forming an alliance with Sikoa, saying that he did things his way and would continue to do so.

Later in the show, Sikoa met with Royce Keys and asked him to join him in his battle. Yet again, Keys rejected the offer, but wished Sikoa luck.

The group was officially formed last year, consisting of JC Mateo, Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and Talla Tonga. Sikoa and Tama won the WWE Tag Team titles earlier this year while Sikoa also held the United States title. Loa and Mateo were released from WWE in May.

Source

The common response in WWE to criticism of the product often boils down to how people should stop criticizing and just enjoy the show. Vic Sosa has heard that one time too many and he and Les Thatcher discuss why that’s harder to do these days.

Additionally, they run down the cards and make predictions for Saturday’s WWE Night of Champions and AEW’s Forbidden Door.

Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!

Click here to listen (sub needed)

Source

Grace has been pursuing her pilot’s license, and last month, she shared that she had passed the written exam. But now a medical condition has put a stop to that journey, at least for the time being. 

Grace broke the news in a Facebook post. “On May 21, I went to get my FAA medical clearance to fly because I had my first solo flight coming up,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, I was not aware an ADHD diagnosis was a disqualifying condition for pilots. I’m currently in the process of resubmitting my application, but it is a long, invasive, expensive process.” 

Grace then gave some details on what she would need to do next.

“You’re required to discontinue your medication for 90 days (and then forever) to get a neuropsych evaluation done,” she wrote. “This is a $5,000 test and includes eight to 10 hours of testing to essentially prove you can function without ADHD symptoms efficiently while not medicated.”

Grace said was doing her best to keep her hopes up.

“I feel very disappointed and defeated right now, but I’m cautiously optimistic that this will all seem like a slight speed bump at some point down the road,” she wrote.

Grace’s last high-profile match was a loss to Tiffany Stratton in April on SmackDown. Since then, she has wrestled sporadically, with one dark match (a loss to her old NXT rival Blake Monroe) and appearing several times on Main Event. Most of those Main Event matches have also been losses, including her most recent match against Kiana James earlier this month. 

Source

Dynamite averaged a 0.10 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s down 16.7% from last week and ties the second lowest rating the show has done in that category since April 29th.

The show went head to head with a World Cup soccer game on FOX that averaged 6.457 million viewers and a 1.92 rating in the 18-49 demo and another game on FS1 that topped the cable charts with 2.243 million viewers and a 0.89 18-49 rating. Dynamite tied for 12th in 18-49 on the primetime cable charts and finished 17th in terms of total viewers on cable for the night.

As compared to the same week in 2025 the overall viewership was up 0.5% while the 18-49 rating was down 33.3%.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership and 18-49 demo ratings for AEW Dynamite on TBS as well as the 10 week average in both categories. This week’s show was down 1.6% in overall viewers and 9.1% in 18-49 as compared to recent averages.

Source

Latest News

• GCW’s Brett Lauderdale confirms discussions with AEW
• Potential new Bloodline member reportedly at WWE Performance Center
• WWE SmackDown live results: Night of Champions go-home show
• Does being a champion mean anything anymore? | Opinion
• Triple H says health issues are ‘behind me now,’ WWE role helps him stay young
• TNA, AEW, Josh Alexander pay tribute to Joe Doering
• WWE offering ticket discount in celebration of USA’s 250th birthday
• Scorpio Sky AEW contract update | Exclusive
• WWE recruiting talent at Hawaii fitness event
• Former WWE star’s next move confirmed with PRODUCE Wrestling
• Joe Doering passes away after third battle with brain cancer
• Chad Gable reveals the moment he knew El Grande Americano connected with WWE fans
• Exclusive new update on CM Punk ahead of WWE return
• Ludwig Kaiser’s defense granted access to key evidence in legal case
• Kenny Omega feels confident AEW World Championship picture is stronger than ever
• Paddy Pimblett is ‘willing’ to fight Conor McGregor
• Conor McGregor – ‘At 27 years of age, I had the game conquered’

Latest Audio

• WOR: Huge AEW & WWE weekend preview, Ali/Inoki Q&A
• WOL: Joe Doering, CM Punk update, FASHION FRIDAY with Nixi XS
• Fight Game: Night of Champions & Forbidden Door Previews
• B&V: AEW Dynamite and THAT NXT SHOW

Latest YouTube Video

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• June 29, 2026 Observer Newsletter: Huge weekend preview with four shows, NJPW G1 lineups & schedule

Among the topics covered:

• Previewing the four major weekend shows as well as interest levels of the shows
• What should be the business goals of the show
• Preview of the G-1 Climax tournament
• CMLL business notes and coverage of Fantastica Mania
• Trying to make sense over claims about the UFC numbers
• The most detailed look at the ratings of all the wrestling and MMA TV shows, comparisons, competition and more
• CMLL bring back the concept of club championships
• Latin Lover talks Konnan’s situation
• The story behind the return of Los Perros Del Mal and their history in AAA
• Stardom PPV coverage
• Unique comedy angle to set up a world title match
• Attempt to set up kickboxing legend vs. Minoru Suzuki match
• My thoughts on June 26, 1975, watching Ali vs. Inoki and the entire closed circuit show
• Final X notes
• Ronda Rousey as Executive Producer of a new movie
• Bully Ray-Josh Barnett silliness
• Book on Rikidozan
• More crazy independent stories
• The Tommy Dreamer departure from TNA
• The update on the WBD sale being approved
• The move made by WBD for a new show that flies in the face of all the anti-AEW doomsayers
• Tony Khan press conference notes
• Martha Hart honored as Cagarian of the year
• Update on FTR
• Darby Allin tries another crazy idea
• ROH tapings
• More in the Kajan Johnson lawsuit
• Dana White talks Zuckerberg vs. Musk fight
• UFC sponsor in hot water
• Complaints regarding McGregor on Jimmy Fallon
• UFC changes how it does rankings
• Dustin Poirier’s arrest update
• Cris Cyborg retirement and thoughts
• CM Punk return imminent
• Notes on interviews by Paul Heymand and Paul Levesque
• Logan Paul talks being ripped off by Floyd Mayweather
• Notes from WWE & AEW arena events

This Week’s Back Issue

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

FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH

Friday Update

— I just finished today’s show with Garrett Gonzales talking Joe Doering, previewing the weekend, talking UFC numbers and media lack of understanding of such numbers, Forbidden Door and build to All In, Clash of Champions and build to SummerSlam, predictable seasonal booking, Nick Khan’s strategy, what move WBD just made that should shut up AEW doomsayers but they’ll never understand it to being with, How Kendal Grey is related to Claudio Castagnoli, and the 50th anniversary of Ali vs. Inoki and answering questions on that subject.

— The UFC claimed 34 million people watched the White House show. Unless they were mostly in India and China there is no way anything approaching that is accurate, even counting people who only watched for one minute. An attempt to get a breakdown of those numbers was unsuccessful. Anyway, I talked about this on today’s show. It is possible more people worldwide watched it than Rousey vs. Carano, but there’s no proof. It’s even possible more did in the U.S., because they were measured in a different way. It’s also just as likely that it’s the other way around. But it is notable that you get a U.S. Nielsen number of 7 million, and UFC’s major markets of popularity of the U.S. and Brazil, and both of those countries as well as the rest of Latin America gets you up to 8.2 million, and people take that 34 million number without a grain of thought. They are counting everyone who watched for a minute and even they are using assumptions in many countries where they have no numbers if you actually read the release. They claimed 126 billion social media views. Okay, that means every single person on the planet averaged 15.2 social media views of the show. Imagine lapping this up without question.

–WWE Night of Champions starts at 1 p.m. tomorrow afternoon from Riyadh:

• Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther vs Sami Zayn for the WWE title
• Bron Breakker vs. Seth Rollins cage match
• Trick Williams vs. Ricky Saints for the U.S. tile
• Tiffany Stratton vs Jade Cargill for the U.S. title
• Oba Femi vs. Jey Uso for King of the Ring and a title shot
• Liv Morgan vs. Iyo Sky for Queen of the Ring and a title shot

ESPN will air from 1-2 p.m. with the Femi and Morganmatches

— AEW on Wednesday did 616,000 viewers, an 0.10 in 18-49 and 0.18 in 25-54 against the World Cup game. The game, featuring Mexico, did 12.3 million on Telemundo and another 6.5 million on FOX and 2.2 million on FS 1. They fell to 12th place for the night and were behind the WNBA game on USA besides Fox News, ESPN with the NBA draft, and there’s shows they usually beat as well like the WNBA that were ahead. The lead-in of Big Bang Theory was down huge from normal as well.

— Starting Monday, WWE has a 25 percent off all tickets for all shows in July and including SummerSlam, and Saturday Night’s Main event in Madison Square Garden.

–The Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight originally set for 9/19 appears to be off.

— As noted in the current issue, the panel numbers (the way TV was measured until last September) was far higher last week, as Collision was up 146,000 viewers, Smackdown was upm 253,000 viewers and Dynamite was up 154,000 viewers. So that would indicate the panel number will come in around 770,000.

— Holy s***. CM Punk did an interview regarding his match with Chris Jericho in Brazil where Jericho tried to get heat by desecrating the flag. So this is what Punk basically said:

• During the match Jericho rolled out of the ring, grabbed a Brazilian flag from a fan, and wiped his ass with it.
• The atmosphere instantly shifted. A second referee entered the ring alongside WWE’s head of talent relations. Moments later, armed men in fatigues surrounded the ring, with one aiming a machine gun directly at Punk.
• Officials ordered the match to end immediately, but Jericho initially refused. Punk had to execute an abrupt, legitimate pinning sequence to secure the victory and defuse the situation.
• Following the win, Punk jumped on the turnbuckle, grabbed the flag, and kissed it to show respect to the crowd.

Based on a video of the show which is out there, Jericho in fact kicked the flag, and was forced to apologize during the match. They went another ten or so minutes and Punk won with the GTS, just as planned. Nobody was going to shoot anybody or anything like that. There is no evidence at all that anyone wouldn’t do the finish as you can’t do a shoot GTS and Jericho went up like you always would for it. Punk did run around the ring with the Brazilian flag for a big pop after the match.

— Nobody went to Arena Mexico on Wednesday when they moved the show start time to 4:30 p.m. so the show would be over in time for the game.

— Last night’s show in Cuernavaca sold out with Mistico & Mascara Dorada vs. Soberno Jr. & Averno

— Arena Mexico sold out a few hours ago. It was the seventh straight sellout on Fridays. This is right around the all-time record in an arena that opened in 1956. The top two matches are Sammy Guevara & Beast Mortos vs. Mistico & Dorada for the ROH tag team titles and Titan & Flip Gordon vs. Hechicero & Volador Jr. Tony Khan didn’t outright say that if Mistico & Dorada wno that they wouldn’t be defending the title at Forbidden Door, but certainly indicated that wouldn’t be the case, but he did so in a manner that he may have thought he was trying to not give away tonight’s finish.

— Titan and Aubrey Edwards are working Saturday night at Arena Coliseo and then flying into San Jose. Actually a lot of people are coming in on Sunday rather than the night before.

— Zack Carpinello, who wrestled in many places as Zack Clayton, including AEW, married Jenni Farley, JWoww of Jersey Shore fame this past week. They had invited 50 friends for a screening of her new movie and when they got there, were surprised it was the wedding. The two have been engaged forever. Farley worked for TNA in the past.

— The first of the regular Puebla shows on Thursday’s will be on 7/2.

— Chris Bey did reps with 90 pound dumbbells in a seated military press today. That is quite amazing to me.

–UFC is from Baku, Azerbaiijan starting at 9 a.m. Eastern and 6 a.m. Pacific tomorrow morning

• Tahir Abdullayev (170.5) vs. Jefferson Nasicmento (171)
• Bekzat Almakhan (136) vs. Jean Matsumoto (135.5)
• Danill Donchenko (170.5) vs. Theodor Berggren (171)
• Kaan Ofli (146) vs. Javier Reyes (145.5)
• Nursulton Ru8ziboev (186) vs. Andrey Pulyaev (186)
• Abdul Rakman Yakhyaev (206) vs. Julius Walker (206)
• Farman Hasanov (170.5) vs. Eric Nolan (170.5)
• Abus Magomedov (185.5) vs. Michael Oleksiejczuk (186)
• Ikram Aliskerov (186) vs. Brunno Ferriera (185)
• Asu Almabayev (126) vs. Charles Johnson (125.5)
• Nazim Sadykhov (156) vs. Matheus Camilo (156)
• Shara Magomedov (186) vs. Michel Pereira (185.5)
• Rafael Fiziev (156) vs. Manuel Torres (156)

— Bare Knuckle Fighting, which announced a show at Fenway Park, is bringing former UFC star Joe Lauzon out of retirement for that card.

— MLW Fusion at 6:05 p.m. tomorrow on YouTube and Mondays on New Japan World has Matt Riddle vs Trevor Lee as the main event.

— Dark Side of the Ring will have a screening of the new season on 7/6 in New York at Metrograph. They will be airing the first two episodes of the season on GNA with Jeff Jarrett there for a Q&A.

— JJ Dillon/James Morrision turned 84 today. Davey O’Hannon turned 75. Lady Apache turned 56. Matt Striker turned 52. Mark Jindrak/Marco Corleone turned 49. Cal Eaton, the stepfather of Mike & Gene LeBell, was born on this day in 1908. Jackie Fargo was born on this day in 1930. Larry Sharpe was born on this day in 1951. Buddy Rogers passed away 34 years ago tday at the age of 71. Louie Tillet passed away two years ago today at the age of 89. (thanks to Tony Richards)

Source

Tatanka, who signed his WWE Legends contract in 2015, has confirmed that his son Joseph will be getting a tryout with the company at SummerSlam.

Tatanka shared two photos of his sons, Joseph and Jeremiah, on Facebook. The first shows the two boys as children, posing backstage with Jimmy and Jey Uso backstage at a WWE event. The next shows the two at Nattie’s Dungeon 2.0 training facility in Florida.

“So proud of our boys!” Tatanka wrote. “There’s nothing you both can not accomplish! From visiting at a PPV with The Usos and Superstars of the WWE years ago to now training at the Dungeon 2.0 where Joseph has received an official try-out at SummerSlam and Jeremiah will be right behind him since he’s only 17 years old currently.” 

Tatanka then listed his sons’ athletic credentials.

“Joseph, an elite football player and state runner-up in powerlifting and Jeremiah as a sophomore has accomplished winning a state championship and [three-time] national championship in wrestling!”

Tatanka then dubbed his family “THE FIRST BLOODLINE” and acknowledged his sons as official members of the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina. 

Tatanka is best known for his first run with the World Wrestling Federation in the early to mid-1990s. He began his career with an undefeated streak that lasted nearly three full years before he lost to Ludvig Borga. He would return to the promotion (now known as World Wrestling Entertainment) several times, most recently competing in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32 in 2016. 

Source

A report at Fightful Select says GCW has had discussions about leaving Triller for the new MyAEW streaming platform.

“Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful spoke to GCW owner Brett Lauderdale, who acknowledged Triller’s issues, but said that so far they have been exempt from that and the relationship remains strong,” the Fightful report states. “However, Lauderdale did confirm that he has had discussions with All Elite Wrestling about possibly appearing on the MyAEW service in the future. There were no other details provided.”

Lauderdale also confirmed he had spoken to AEW owner Tony Khan directly—but not recently, and not about MyAEW.

“Lauderdale also told Fightful he’s only had one conversation with Tony Khan himself—a brief one at a UFC show years ago,” the report states. 

After seven years of working with Triller, AEW left the platform in March and has since sued the service for nearly $5 million in overdue payments. AEW went on to create MyAEW to stream their own shows and others online. 

Last week, House of Glory announced they were also leaving Triller, with most expecting them to join MyAEW as well. 

Source

Per a report at Fightful Select, Zilla Fatu was recently seen at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. 

“The 26-year-old Zilla is the son of the late Umaga,” the Fightful Select report states. “There has long been speculation regarding WWE interest in Fatu, but we’re told that it came about fairly recently.” 

Fatu has many relatives who are already working in WWE. He is first cousins with Jimmy and Jey Uso and Solo Sikoa (who are all sons of Rikishi), as well as Jacob Fatu (son of Tama from the Islanders). Roman Reigns is also in the family tree—his father, Sika, was an uncle to Umaga, Rikishi, and Tama.

At age 15, a few years after his father’s death, Zilla Fatu was charged with aggravated robbery and spent six years at the Texas State Penitentiary. After his release, he started training for pro wrestling with Booker T, who also trained the Usos. Most of his matches have come in Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling, Game Changer Wrestling, or Amazing Red’s House of Glory in New York City. 

Source

• The passing of Joe Doering
• UFC’s press release
• Forbidden Door and Night of Champions
• Triple H’s comments about not taking wrestling so seriously
• Ali/Inoki anniversary Q&A

Click here to listen (subscription required) or watch on YouTube

Source

The AAA Cruiserweight Championship will be up for grabs tonight with Rey Fenix, coming off a successful defense against Axiom a couple weeks back, facing off against Nathan Frazer.

A pair of matches in the women’s division are also set with Paige vs. Jacy Jayne and Giulia vs. Kiana James.

Plus, we’ll get the final build to Trick Williams and Ricky Saints’ United States title match at Night of Champions.

Our coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern.

**********

– The show opened tonight with a recap of the saga involving Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, Gunther, and Sami Zayn. After the recap, we got arrivals for the three men involved in the Night of Champions Triple Threat match tomorrow afternoon.

Trick Williams kicks off SmackDown

The men’s United States Champion got the show going proper, accompanied by his sidekick/best friend L’il Yachty. Williams, of course, got a good reaction from the London crowd, “Whoop that Trick” chants and all.

Once Williams got into the ring, he and Yachty got into their routine, stating that that the people of London missed them, especially since they missed last week. Williams said that last week, he went to Jamaica, revealing that he and Lash Legend got married officially.

Yachty described the crazy party last week because love was in the air there. Williams said that it was the best day of his life with his family and friends there, and especially since Lash said “I do”. As they got back to business, Williams was informed that Ricky Saints would face him at Night of Champions tomorrow, stating that he’d absoutely whoop his ass. Before Williams could continue, Ricky Saints himself interrupted the proceedings.

Saints said that Williams wasn’t that good at making life decisions, and that more importantly, he wouldn’t give it that time to last longer. Williams threatened to smack Saints down to London Bridge if he kept going. Saints responded by talking about how Williams must be on the sauce from the wedding, so to speak. Saints told Williams should not be overlooking him because at Night of Champions, we’d be looking at the next U.S. Champion. Saints declared that the Trick Williams hype train would end tomorrow. Saints gave a cheap shot to Li’l Yachty as he ran out of the ring. Saints returned to give Williams a shot with the microphone as he scurried out to the ramp.

First off, mazel tov to Trick Williams and Lash Legend on their wedding last week. Secondly, this Saints/Williams match tomorrow should be at least interesting, even if Saints’ work on the mic as of late has been somewhat just kind of there. it was clear that Williams was just getting the best of him here.

***********

Tiffany Stratton & Alexa Bliss vs. B-Fab & Michin

Stratton and Michin started off here. Side headlock takeover with a little rope assist by Stratton. The somersault was followed by a running hip attack to Michin and a basement dropkick. Firewoman’s carry position, but Michin escaped as Bliss tagged in and went right after her foe with slaps and a dropkick. She went for the Sister Abigail DDT, bu Michin got out of it. Bliss, however got a dropkick on Michin while B-Fab tagged in. Outside the ring, B-Fab struck Bliss with a side kick as we took a break in the action.

We returned from commercial as Michin missed an elbow drop on Bliss. A kick from Bliss gave her time to tag in Stratton, who went after B-Fab with an elbow and the floatover Alabama Slam. One, two… NO! B-Fab with a jawbreaker, but that didn’t save her from the somersault Stunner from Stratton. The Women’s U.S. Champion headed up to the top rope and connected with the swanton bomb. One, two…. Michin broke it up at the last second. Bliss pulled Michin out of the ring and began to fight with her. That ended with Bliss getting sent into the timekeeper’s area. Michin slid into the ring and created a perfect distraction as Jade Cargill tripped up Stratton while she was looking for her Prettiest Moonsault Ever. B-Fab made no mistake with the spinning X-Factor variation for the pin and win for the Baddies 2.0.

After the match, Chelsea Green ran in with a kendo stick to ward off Cargill and her crew.

B-Fab & Michin def. Tiffany Stratton & Alexa Bliss via pinfall

It’s clear WWE sees a lot in Jade Cargill and are determined to keep her in a prominent role, which has obviously extended to Michin & B-Fab, who are getting booked rather strongly as a result. It is what it is for better or worse.

***********

– Backstage, Solo Sikoa was met with Talla and Tama Tonga. As Sikoa admired his handiwork on Monday’s Raw, Tama said that he and Talla were tired of being dragged into Sikoa’s obsession with Roman Reigns. Talla told Sikoa that he and Tama got word from the Elders, and that they were officially out, apparently spelling the end for the M.F.T.s.

– Eleswhere, Jade Cargill demanded that Nick Aldis make a match between her and Chelsea Green, with her request granted.

AAA Cruiserweight Championship: Rey Fenix (c) vs. Nathan Frazer

Very high-flying start as Frazer and Fenix showed their moves with acrobatic dives and dodges as neither man got the upper hand. Frazer sent Fenix face first into the middle turnbuckle, but that only got him a hit with the crossbody from the Cruiserweight Champion. Fenix leapt from the top rope for another crossbody to the outside while Frazer was taking a breather.

As Fenix got on the apron, Frazer kicked him down before he took off over the top ropes for a massive tope con hilo as we took a commercial break.

Our match returned from the break with both men back in the ring as Fenix blasted Frazer with machine gun chops before he connected with the handspring Stunner. Fenix then hit the modified Death Valley Driver-into-Neckbreaker for a near-fall. As Fenix headed up to the top, a step-up enzuigiri from Frazer left him open for the superplex. After the roll-through, Frazer’s attempt at a Final Cut was countered into a cradle pin for a near-fall. As both men got to their feet, Frazer and Fenix knocked each other down with a simultaneous kick.

Now back to their feet, both men exchanged strikes until Fenix hit the feint into the spinning kick. Frazer responded with a Spanish Fly from the second rope and the Final Cut. That, however, wasn’t enough to put an end to this one. Frazer’s Phoenix Splash couldn’t find its mark as Fenix attempted a Mexican Muscle Buster. Frazer kicked Fenix out to the ringside area. Frazer went for a suicide dive, but Fenix dodged at the last second as he crashed right into the commentary table.

Back inside the ring, Fenix headed to the top rope and soared with a Frog Splash. One, two…. 2.999999999!!!!!!!!!! Frazer tried to get himself to the top rope, but Fenix caught him in position for the Mexican Muscle Buster for the three in this fantastic match.

Rey Fenix def. Nathan Frazer via pinfall to retain the AAA Cruiserweight Championship

One hell of a match here between Fenix and Frazer. I’m glad that these two got a chance to put on a fantastic contest here. I really, really enjoyed it.

**********

– R-Truth and Damian Priest were confronted by the War Raiders and challnged to a winner take all match for both the WWE Tag Titles and the AAA Tag Titles. As Truth was being silly, Priest said that they were up for the challenge, and that he’d let Erik and Ivar know when and where that match would be.

– LA Knight arrived and said he was going to go to the ring and look for some answers on certain events.

LA Knight addresses the Bloodline situation

“Let me talk to you,” started Knight. He talked about how he and Jimmy Uso had a hard-fought battle, but unfortunately for him, he had to be left looking up for to the lights. Knight wanted Solo Sikoa to walk down to the ring right now to addresss why he helped him on Raw.

Sikoa made his way down to the ring, a man without his family and looking to confront Knight in the wake of it all. Knight pointed out that 10 of 10 times that Sikoa came out of the ring was to attack and distract him. Which is why it confused him why Sikoa helped him out.

Sikoa answered by stating that he wasn’t here for a fight and that Knight was wasting his time for that. Sikoa said that his family left him earlier tonight, which didn’t get him any sympathy from Knight. LA pointed out that all of this just left Sikoa wide open to return to the Bloodline. Sikoa said that he helped Knight on Monday because he hated the Bloodline, hated that he was part of the group. Sikoa shouted that he hated Jacob Fatu, the Usos, and most importantly, Roman Reigns.

Sikoa said that he and Knight had one thing in common, and that they both didn’t like the Bloodline. Knight replied that Sikoa should hate Roman Reigns for what he did to him. But, Jimmy, Jey, and Jacob also said that they hated Reigns, but they ended up being a part of the Bloodline fold. Sikoa said that this was different because he was alone now and that the enemy of his enemy can be friends. Sikoa offered to be Knight’s ally.

Knight remained skeptical, as he said that he hates the Bloodline and he was outnumbered. Did he probably need help? Yeah. Did he need Solo Sikoa watching his back? Nah, nah. Knight said that he did things his way and he’ll continue to do that in this war with the Bloodline.

This entire Bloodline stuff is all kinds of terrible, but LA Knight being portrayed as the one guy who doesn’t buy the change of heart is a nice touch. That being said, it doesn’t save the angle from being a complete hot mess and it’s kind of endemic of why WWE as a whole feels really boring and stale at the moment. It’s not WCW 2000 bad, but it’s up there.

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

– Sami Zayn said that nobody got what he was going on with him, other than Johnny Gargano. Zayn said that good things happen to good people, and that involves him winning the Undisputed WWE Championship. Zayn admitted that he hadn’t been quite himself as of late, and it all started when he lost his last world title match at the Royal Rumble. Now, Zayn said that the universe gave him a chance to redeem himself and that could mean becoming the Undisputed WWE Champion.

Paige vs. Jacy Jayne

Paige, of course, had the hometown advantage here for this one.

Jayne took advantage of a distraction by Lainey Reid with a superkick on Paige for a an early near-fall. Paige fought back and threw her across the ring. She then sent Jayne into the top rope and hit her with a headbutt. Paige bopped Jayne’s head onto the turnbuckles repeatedly as she then stomped a mudhole in the corner. Paige then applied a modified STF on Jayne, but couldn’t keep the hold on for long.

Jayne retreated to the ringside as Paige flew right into Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley with a cannonball. Jayne took advantage with a hard kick from the apron as we took a break.

We returned from commercial with Jayne in control of the match. Paige and Jayne traded punches and kicks before Paige connected with two suplexes. The Paige-Turner only got a near-fall. A frustrated Jayne recovered and looked to put Paige away with the Rolling Encore, but couldn’t connect. Backslide pin, as Jayne attempted to use the ropes for leverage. Brie Bella broke up the count and got beaten up by Fatal Influence. In the ring, Paige took advantage of the chaos and made the pin for the win.

Paige def. Jacy Jayne via pinfall

I do get why they had Paige go over here for the hometown pop, but I do find it a bit concerning that after coming out hot off the gate, Fatal Influence has basically just had their push diminished slightly. it’s not damaging yet, but it’s of concern.

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

– Backstage, Danhausen was hanging out with The Miz and Kit Wilson, who he was experimenting on. Matt Cardona wanted to talk with Danhausen, but Wilson and Miz ran off.

– Elsewhere, Finn Balor ran into Tama and Talla Tonga. Tama pointed out how he and Balor used to be together in the past, but so was Shinsuke Nakamura, and he said that everyone knew how that turned out.

Danhausen TV

The very nice and very evil Danhausen introduced us to the first edition of “Danhausen TV” as he was joined by his Legion of Danhausen, Kit Wilson and The Miz. Before this show could get far, Los Garza interrupted the proceedings.

They didn’t waste time and attacked Miz and Kit Wilson, depositing the two out of the ring. With Danhausen left alone against Angel and Berto, Matt Cardona ran in and looked to even the odds. This was enough for SmackDown’s GM, Nick Aldis to book the tag match between Cardona and Danhausen vs. Los Garza, which starts after the break.

Matt Cardona & Danhausen vs. Los Garza (Angel & Berto)

This match continued from commercial as Cardona went to work on Berto in the with a Broski Boot. Outside the ring, Miz and Wilson were ambling about as Cardona soon found himself isolated in the Los Garza corner. Angel and Berto stomped away on Cardona in the corner, as they were successful in keeping him alone. Outside the ring, Wilson was clotheslined by Angel and Berto. However, that gave Cardona an opening to hit Angel with a flapjack and the tag to Danhausen.

Danhausen showed off some good offensive range as he held his own against Los Garza, even busting out a German suplex. Angel went to grab a steel chair from the ring, but Miz and Kit Wilson stopped him from doing any damage. Rough Ryder by Cardona to the outside. Back in the ring, Berto was cursed by Danhausen with the exploding turnbuckle. DDT by Danhausen and this one’s in the books.

Danhausen & Matt Cardona def. Los Garza via pinfall

This was fine. The Danhausen stuff won’t be for everyone, but I think it’s harmless fun and I find it entertaining.

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

Chelsea Green vs. Jade Cargill

Green struck Cargill in the back and paid for it with a hard clothesline from the former WWE Women’s Champion. Green attempted a dive from the outside, but got caught in the fallaway slam as we took a hydration break of sorts.

Back to this match as Cargill dropped Green with a chokeslam for the near-fall. Cargill kept pummelling at the head of Green before she went for a running shoulder attack. Swing and a miss as Cargill flew right into the corner, but it was a momentary break. Snapmare by Green as she launched herself out to the apron and headed to the top with a missile dropkick. One, two… not quite. Big boot by Cargill, then came Jaded for the rather easy win.

After the match, Cargill continued her attack on Green, but Tiffany Stratton and Alexa Bliss made the save. B-Fab and Michin ran in and it was another Baddie beatdown as they got the upper hand on Stratton.

Jade Cargill def. Chelsea Green via pinfall

As i noted above, your mileage may vary on how strong the Baddies 2.0 are being booked, but if were speaking from a personal perspective, I’m not really feeling it at all.

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

Giulia vs. Kiana James

James struck Giulia with a kick to start off as she was aggressive right from the get-go with the shoulder thrusts. Giulia answered with a dropkick that sent James to the outside of the ring. The two brawled for a bit at ringside before the action spilled back into the ring. Giulia hit James with a kick to the spine.

Headbutt by Giulia drove James out of the ring as she leapt from the apron. Missed as James got her with the slam onto the steel steps as we took a break in the action.

Back from commercial as Giulia and James exchanged strikes before the former too over with unanswered elbows to the jaw of James. Giulia’s momentum got stalled with a superkick from James, but she avoided the spinning moonsault afterwards. Shouldter tackles from Giulia led to a nice headscissors takedown on James. Running big boot to a prone James along the bottom rope. The cover, but James was able to kick out at two. Giulia headed to the top rope, but James met her there and lifted her up for a powerful slam. Falcon Arrow by James, but Giulia kicked out at two. Arrivederci Knee countered by James into a powerbomb for another near-fall.

James whipped Giulia into the corner and propped her on her shoulders and ascended to the top rope. Giulia escaped her predicament and turned it into a sunset flip bomb. Soon after, the Arrivederci Knee from Giulia paved the way for the Northern Lights Bomb and the victory.

After the match, Blake Monroe finally made her debut as she assaulted Giulia from behind. She then hit her Gotch-style Piledriver on Giulia.

Giulia def. Kiana James via pinfall

This was a decent blowoff match between Giulia and Kiana james, but the bigger story is Blake Monroe’s debut finally arriving. It’ll be interesting to see how she fits into the SmackDown women’s division moving forward.

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

Cody Rhodes, Gunther, and Sami Zayn’s final face-off before Night of Champions

“London, what do you wanna talk about?” asked Rhodes. Sami Zayn cut him off before Rhodes could address this crowd further.

Zayn started off by thanking his Ride or Die fans for supporting him since day one. However, that wasn’t why he was out here. He was here to tell Cody something man-to-man, face-to-face, as a friend. He said he regretted how things went down as a special referee last week, but he was still a good guy ni his own eyes. The “last real good guy”, in fact. Zayn claimed that he regreted all those actions that he viewed as a mistake, but Rhodes didn’t buy it. Zayn claimed that he never wanted how he wanted to be in the World Championship.

Rhodes said enough of that as he told Zayn was playing the victim card towards him, that “thing” lying around backstage (Johnny Gargano). Rhodes told Zayn that he was exhausting, acting like a mosquito hanging around him. He said that he couldn’t wrap around how Zayn was best friends with Kevin Owens. For one thing, KO would’ve stabbed Rhodes in the front, and not the back. And at least, KO was a World Champion between him and Zayn.

Zayn responded by stating that the only reason why Rhodes was WWE Champion in the first place was because of him. And at Night of Champions, he’ll be the only reason why Rhodes won’t be the Undisputed WWE Champion. At that point, Gunther walked down to the ring with a mic in hand.

Gunther said that he didn’t care about the drama between Rhodes and Zayn, and that the only thing he cared about was winning the Undisputed WWE Championship. Gunther pointed out that Zayn was right about how he would’ve been the champ right now if not for Zayn. Gunther said that Zayn did a lot of damage as a referee, but as a wrestler, Gunther viewed him as a nonfactor. Gunther told Rhodes that he was going to take away everything from him and that he’d be facing the King of the Ring at SummerSlam.

Jey Uso joined in on the “fun” as he marched down to the ring, all business with the crowd yeeting as per the usual. Gunther interrupted and said that this wasn’t going to go down on his time. Jey answered that he was going to keep this short and sweet by stating that he’d win King of the Ring tomorrow. he called out Rhodes, Gunther and Zayn specifically. He called Gunther a “little bitch” as a brawl broke out. In the chaos, Rhodes and Jey superkicked Gunther out of the ring before they stared one another down. It was time for one more guest as Jey’s King of the Ring finals foe, Oba Femi made his way down to the ring.

Jey superkicked Rhodes, but got hit from behind by Gunther. Zayn then hit Gunther from behind with the Undisputed WWE Title. This led to Rhodes getting Zayn with Cross Rhodes. Our night ended with Rhodes and Oba staring down one another.

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

A very interesting go-home segment for Night of Champions, but the way I see it, this kind of feels like dangling a carrot and WWE’s track record as of late with paying off satisfying audience moments has been lacking as of late, and it’s hard for anyone to care as a result.

As far as this episode was concerned, the in-ring action was great for the most part, with Frazer vs. Fenix being the match of the night, but you could be forgiven if everything else wasn’t grabbing your attention. That’s just how WWE feels at the moment, there are flashes of greatness, but the overall mediocrity of the product right now in the TKO Era doesn’t make it really a must watch every week like it used to be.

Source

I’m getting fed up with seeing so many champions losing on television on a weekly basis. Maybe this is a “old man yells at cloud” moment but shouldn’t being a champion mean something beyond just holding a title? It wasn’t that long ago if you were a champion, you would hardly lose, and if you did, it was for a good reason. But these days it appears that most of the midcard champions are always set up to be the fall guy for a more established star, which pretty much destroys the whole concept of championships.

I look at someone like Bandido and wonder about the position he’s in. He’s the Ring of Honor World Champion, the top championship in ROH. He always delivers and is one of the best wrestlers on the planet. I can’t think of a time where I saw a Bandido match that wasn’t awesome. But in terms of a top-level champion, can you argue he’s at the level of some of AEW’s top stars? Well, no, because nine times out of ten he loses to them. He lost to Swerve Strickland in the Owen Hart Foundation tournament and is set to challenge Jon Moxley for the International title at Forbidden Door this coming Sunday in a match where, let’s be realistic, Mox is favored to win. At least his ROH title isn’t on the line!

This isn’t the only example, of course. Oba Femi beat Dominik Mysterio in a matter of minutes on a recent episode of Raw despite Mysterio holding the AAA Mega Championship. When Komander won the ROH Television Championship last year, he lost to Kazuchika Okada in a match that was for the Continental title.

The argument for champions losing used to be that they can lose in order to build to a future title match. But Mox isn’t going to challenge for the ROH Championship anytime soon and neither will Swerve. We are not going to get Femi wrestling for the AAA Mega Championship. These losses weren’t to set up future title matches, but instead were designed to give someone that’s getting the push a big win ahead of whatever comes next.

It doesn’t help that there are way too many titles in pro wrestling anyway. AEW has become downright comical with its frequent title additions. When Tony Khan introduced the National title late last year, it was described as a title that would be defended overseas, like for NJPW or CMLL. That’s great, but that was also how the AEW International title was described when it was introduced a few years back. And we can’t confuse that with the AEW Continental title, which at one point was part of the AEW Unified Championship.

Yes, you should be confused.

This sounds cliche and a talking point that’s been screamed across social media but I’ll just say it here: titles used to mean something. There were only a few of them back in the 90s, and when someone won the Intercontinental title, for example, they felt important and were protected as such. That seems to be disappearing everywhere as more titles continue to be added. So the question now is, if everyone can be a champion, what’s the point of being one?

Source

Levesque suffered a cardiac event in 2021 and had to undergo a heart procedure. While the issue officially brought an end to his in-ring career, Levesque was already mostly focused on the executive side of the business. He now leads WWE creative as the company’s Chief Content Officer.

Levesque appeared on The Stephen A. Smith Show this week, and Smith pointed out that Levesque looks healthy now and ready to lead WWE into the future.

“I think that’s very observant, and I think you’re spot on,” Levesque responded. “You know, there’s moments in time where everybody has setbacks in life and things hit you hard. Life comes at you, right? Life’s what happens when you’re busy planning other things. You don’t expect it and you don’t see it coming. But I did have the issues — they’re behind me now. I want to make sure they stay behind me, so I’m cautious of everything I do and I’m protective of it.

“But at the same point in time, you have to have something that you’re passionate about in your life and your ‘why.’ And outside of my family, my kids, my wife, my family life, this is my ‘why.’ I love this business. It’s been incredibly good to me, my family, to everything I have, including my wife and my kids. And it all stems in some manner — if I wasn’t in this business, I would have never met her.”

Being around WWE talent helps Triple H stay young —

Levesque told Smith that the best part of his job is getting to collaborate with the young talent in WWE. Being on the road is a grind, but the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for Levesque.

“It’s hard to put down because I love it. I love being around those kids,” he said. “I love collaborating with them and helping them and sort of riffing ideas with them. It keeps you young, and it’s the greatest part of my job. It’s like being in the fountain of youth at all times. They keep you young and thinking young, and I get as much out of being around them as they get being around us old-timers. So, it’s a blast. I’m having a blast doing it and I want to keep doing it.”

Levesque praised young stars Oba Femi, Sol Ruca, Trick Williams, and Je’Von Evans as four names who will main event WrestleMania in the future. He also spoke very highly of WWE President Nick Khan and their working relationship.

“I’ve never been around a better businessman,” Levesque said about Khan. “He has as deep of knowledge as anybody I’ve met out there. And he’s just straightforward. What you see is what you get. And, man, I love working with him every day. So to me, he and I together, it’s like this perfect partnership of being able to do the business side but this energy that we both feel and have and love for this business like nothing else. We’re in it together, and I love it.”

Source

Right Click Save As

Source

Doering battled brain cancer three times during his life and had to step away from the ring in 2022. The last run of his career came with TNA/Impact Wrestling, where he was a two-time Tag Team Champion as part of the faction Violent By Design.

“We are heartbroken to learn of the passing of Joe Doering,” TNA posted on social media today. “A commanding in-ring performer and a wonderful person, he will never be forgotten. We offer our deepest condolences to his fans, his friends and his family.”

TNA also remembered Doering by putting together a two-plus hour video of his most memorable matches.

**********

One of the final matches of Doering’s career was against Josh Alexander in the main event of Against All Odds 2022. Alexander, who was Impact World Champion at the time and is now with AEW, posted a tweet today reflecting on that bout:

• A month prior I’d noticed something was off with Joe. But it never crossed my mind that his cancer might have returned. In my mind he’d already faced that battle and won.
• I’ve thought about it all countless times since and never asked. I think he knew the cancer had returned or at least had a gut feeling. Regardless he kept it all to himself. When it came time for the match he was down for everything. Angle slam off the apron to the floor? Let’s do it. Superplex? He was down.
• I remember going to him before the match and telling him ‘Joe hopefully I don’t regret this. But I really want you to lay your stuff in on me out there. If you clothesline me I want my boots to come loose.’ He kind of smirked like only Joe could and agreed. (And he sure did what I asked [laughs])
• We had a 20+ main event title match on ppv. I can’t imagine the pain or discomfort he was feeling at the time. But in true Joe fashion he was an absolute warrior.
• Joe always was a professional. A class act and one hell of a wrestler. I left that match sore as sh*t but proud. It’s a strange feeling being both honoured and sad to have been the one that he closed out his career with. I’m just fortunate to have known him both in and out of the ring.
• He fought cancer for so long. I can only hope that now he can finally rest.

**********

Sami Callihan remembered Doering as someone who was like a big brother to everyone he formed a connection with:

• Heartbroken.
• Joe was a throwback to a different era…He was funny, exuded respect, and was everyone’s big brother that he connected with.
• I will forever cherish the time I got to spend around him.
• Prayers and positive energy to his family and loved ones. God Bless.

**********

The biggest success of Doering’s career came in Japan, where his Stan Hansen-like persona helped him become a two-time Triple Crown Champion for AJPW. Doering was first diagnosed with brain cancer in 2016 before the disease returned in 2022 and 2025.

Takami Ohbari, the former president of NJPW, thanked Doering for the “epic” matches he had in the country:

• I was deeply saddened by the news of Joe Doering’s passing. Thank you for bringing so many epic battles to Japanese pro-wrestling fans. May you rest in peace.

**********

AEW also joined the wrestling world in remembering Doering:

• AEW and the wrestling world mourn the passing of Joe Doering. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family, friends and fans during this difficult time.

Others posting tributes include Frankie Kazarian, Gail Kim, Lance Archer, Brian Hebner, Brooks Jensen, and Adam Pearce.

Source

The company announced today that, starting at 10 a.m. Eastern on June 29, there will be a 25 percent discount on select tickets for all domestic live events. The offer runs through 11:59 p.m. on July 6, and WWE lists the following dates among the shows it applies to:

• June 29: Raw/SmackDown at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey
• July 6: Raw at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois
• July 10: SmackDown at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• July 11: House show at Pan American Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico
• July 12: House show at The Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico
• July 13: Raw at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas
• July 16: House show at PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania
• July 17: SmackDown at MVP Arena in Albany, New York
• July 18: Saturday Night’s Main Event at Madison Square Garden in New York City
• July 20: Raw at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan
• July 24: SmackDown at Oakland Arena in Oakland, California
• July 25: House show at Adventist Health Arena in Stockton, California
• July 26: House show at Dignity Health Arena in Bakersfield, California
• July 27: Raw at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California
• July 30: House show at Bank of Springfield Center in Springfield, Illinois
• July 31: SmackDown at Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin
• August 1: SummerSlam night one at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota
• August 2: SummerSlam night two at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota

“America” is the promo code to apply the discount.

The U.S. is celebrating its 250th birthday on Saturday, July 4. Because of the holiday weekend, SmackDown will air a taped episode on July 3. The show is being filmed in Atlantic City alongside Raw that week, with the Raw episode airing live on Netflix starting at 6 p.m. Eastern to accommodate the SmackDown taping.

In celebration of America's 250th Anniversary, select tickets for all US Live Events will be 25% off! Offer starts Monday! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/VbwOngrOjI

— WWE (@WWE) June 26, 2026

Source