Author: F4W Staff

Subscribe to Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Online written & video content, available 24/7 on this website, YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

WOR Video: The debut of AEW Collision

Posted on by F4W Staff

Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer shared their thoughts on the debut episode of AEW Collision on Wrestling Observer Radio.

Alvarez on Sunday morning said the show was very good, pointing to the returns of Miro and Andrade El Idolo. But the one thing he said the show didn’t do was promote anything for next week, and in fact promoted a match that may be further down the road.

“The only thing they teased was CM Punk vs. MJF. It’s interesting because they are in the middle of doing a MJF vs. Adam Cole feud and to me, you don’t want to get people to not wanting to see the actual feud you’re doing because they wanted to see a different match,” Alvarez said.

“By August, they should be pushing two different challengers for the title,” Meltzer later added. “But we’re not in August yet.”

Meltzer pointed out that the show didn’t give any ideas as to who CM Punk may face at Forbidden Door, or if he will even be at the pay-per-view next weekend in Toronto.

“Shouldn’t Punk be on this pay-per-view coming up?,” Meltzer asked. “And they did nothing to tease anyone. They could put him against [Samoa] Joe, or they could put him against Jay [White].”

In the main event, CM Punk teamed with FTR to defeat Samoa Joe, Jay White, and Juice Robinson.

New tickets on sale for Dave Meltzer & Bryan Alvarez live in London

Posted on by F4W Staff

If you will be in London, England, for AEW All In this August, join Dave Meltzer & Bryan Alvarez for a live edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, presented by Hooked on Wrestling, Wrestle Tours and PROGRESS Wrestling.

After the original venue sold out, we moved to a new place and have added 40 more tickets.

The event is set for Sunday, August 27th at Sports Bar & Grill Marylebone, SW11 1RU from 11 AM – noon local time. A meet & greet for those with VIP Seven Star tickets begins at 10 AM.

Starting Monday, June 19th at 1 PM Eastern, 40 new tickets will be released which you can buy here. Do so quickly as they are expected to sell out again. Note that if you select PayPal Later at checkout when purchasing, you can pay for your ticket in three monthly installments.

GA tickets are available in addition to Seven Star packages that include priority seating and the aforementioned autograph/photo opportunity with Dave and Bryan.

The venue is a short tube ride from Wembley Stadium so you can stick around after the show to grab lunch there before heading to All In later in the day.

Join Dave & Bryan live in London this August~!

WOR Video: A wild ending to AEW Dynamite

Posted on by F4W Staff

Both Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez were amazed by the wild ending to this past week’s AEW Dynamite on Wrestling Observer Radio.

The main event of Wednesday’s show saw The Elite (Hangman Page and The Young Bucks) defeat The Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta).

“Nonstop, just one great thing another another and great crowd heat,” Meltzer said, praising everyone in the match, particularly Hangman Page and Wheeler Yuta. He also noted that this was the first BCC loss that featured Jon Moxley.

After the match, a chaotic scene emerged where Eddie Kingston made his return to make the save for The Elite. Konosuke Takeshita came out, which led to Kenny Omega making his return to lay out Takeshita. However, the show ended with Will Ospreay emerging and attacking Omega, laying him out with a hidden blade and the stormbreaker.

“The match itself was spectacular,” Alvarez said. “But then the aftermath with everyone running in, all these surprises, the place is just going crazy for these guys. This felt like a super hot show.”

Meltzer noted that when they finally get to Omega and Takeshita, it will be a hot feud due to Don Callis’ turn on Omega being so effective.

WOR Video: A disappointing AEW Dynamite rating

Posted on by F4W Staff

AEW Dynamite ended on a hot note Wednesday. However, the rating didn’t reflect that.

Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales discussed the number on Friday afternoon’s Wrestling Observer Radio. Despite a loaded card, a positive reception, and less competition, the show scored 832,000 viewers, down from last week in overall viewers but remained number 3 for the night in the 18-49 demographic. These days, it seems hard to predict just which episodes of Dynamite will do well.

“It’s so hard to predict because of so many factors,” Meltzer said, pointing out that house show and pay-per-view numbers were a better indicator of business than ratings. “It’s just the nature of the rating.”

Quarter hours painted a story of a show that declined once its second hour started, with the final quarter hour, a match between The Elite and The Blackpool Combat Club being the worst performing quarter of the night.

“The baseball game was a close game,” Meltzer said, pointing to the baseball game that won the night. “If the match was something people desperately wanted to see, it would hold up better. And it wasn’t.”

Another idea may be that people viewed the debut episode of Collision as a bigger deal, and would rather focus on that show.

“Maybe they think the big show is on Saturday night,” he said. “We don’t know.”

Ring of Honor TV spoilers from Chicago

Posted on by F4W Staff

The following are spoilers for upcoming episodes of Ring of Honor on HonorClub, taped Saturday before and after AEW Collision in Chicago.

With Collision now a live weekly show, AEW will continue to film new ROH TV content weekly before and after the live broadcast. Spoilers courtesy of PWInsider:

  • Gringo Loco defeated Willie Mack
  • Trish Adora defeated Allysin Kay
  • Kyle Fletcher defeated Silas Young
  • Daniel Garcia defeated Rocky Romero in a pure wrestling rules match. Garcia attacked Romero after the match, but Orange Cassidy came out and stopped him. The two faced off, but Garcia backed off.
  • ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Embassay won a six-man tag team match.
  • Dalton Castle defeated Josh Woods
  • The Infantry defeated The Kingdom. Trish Adora stopped Maria Kanellis from interfering.
  • Big Bill & Lee Moriarty defeated Blake Christian & Matt Sydal
  • Alex Reynolds and John Silver defeated August Matthew and Dave Vega. The Righteous appeared on the video screen and challenged them to a match for next week.
  • Leila Grey defeated Diamante after Grey put her feet on the ropes for leverage.
  • Darius Martin, AR Fox, and Action Andretti defeated Shane Taylor & The Workhorsemen
  • AEW Women’s Champion Athena defeated Kiera Hogan in a Chicago Street Fight

Notes:

  • As of now, the only match announced for Thursday’s show is ROH Women’s Champion Athena defending against Kiera Hogan in a street fight.
  • The company continues to build toward their next pay-per-view: July 21st’s Death Before Dishonor.

WOR Video: AEW needs Collision to succeed

Posted on by F4W Staff

A big test for AEW will come Saturday night with the debut of Collision.

Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez discussed the upcoming new show on Wrestling Observer Radio Tuesday morning. Meltzer said that the show needs to be big in order for AEW to have the best footing ahead of their TV rights negotiations.

“A lot of money involved, obviously a lot of money involved in the next negotiations. this show’s success or failure or in between will mean a ton of difference most likely in what they are getting.” he said.

Meltzer also seemed wary of the idea of a brand split, which has been proposed but hasn’t been officially announced.

“I don’t know if that is the right answer here. I think that you need your stars on Wednesday and Saturday and not just split the stars in half,” Meltzer said. “There’s a lot of pressure on the Saturday show this week. It has to be a big one.”

Alvarez said that the travel for some of these stars, which may end up working both shows, is going to be tough, disrupting AEW’s easier travel schedule compared to WWE.

“That travel is going to be a b**** for people that are going to be required for both the Wednesday and Saturday shows on any given week,” Alvarez said, pointing out that being on both shows would require being away for four days straight.

AEW Collision will premiere this Saturday on TNT.

WOR Video: How the Iron Sheik became WWE Champion

Posted on by F4W Staff

Dave and Garrett discussed The Iron Sheik’s WWE Championship win on Wrestling Observer Radio.

Friday afternoon’s show had Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales discuss The Iron Sheik, who passed away on Wednesday. Meltzer noted that once Sheik had entered the WWF in the early 1980s, he was already passed his peak as a wrestler.

“The Iron Sheik everybody saw was nowhere near the competitor of the Portland Iron Sheik or Mid Atlantic Iron Sheik,” Meltzer said.

Gonzales noted that when The Iron Sheik won the WWE Championship in late 1983 from Bob Backlund, he had only been in the territory a short time. Meltzer said that was common during the territory era for heels to debut at the top.

“In those days, a heel would show up on TV and they’d be on TV for two months or so and when they debut, it’d be at the Spectrum or in the Garden in the main event,” he said.

“The Sheik’s run…it was kind of the right place at the right time,” Meltzer said regarding Sheik’s title run. “I think a lot of people think that The Sheik was picked as this great plan because of Hulk Hogan being an American hero…it could have been anyone in that spot.”

AEW Rampage & ROH spoilers from Washington, DC: United Empire vs. CHAOS

Posted on by F4W Staff

The following are spoilers for this Friday’s AEW Rampage in Washington, DC, in addition to one dark match taped before the show.

AEW Rampage:

  • Mark Briscoe, Papa Briscoe, and Aubrey Edwards defeated Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett, and Karen Jarrett. The finish had Edwards submit Karen Jarrett with a figure four leglock.
  • Taya Valkyrie defeated Trish Adora
  • The United Empire (Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb, and Kyle Fletcher) defeated Best Friends and Rocky Romero
  • Konosuke Takeshita defeated Bandido

Dark match:

  • Riho, Maki Itoh & Abadon defeated Nyla Rose, Marina Shafir & Emi Sakura. This was both the first match for Riho and Itoh in AEW since April while it was just the second AEW match for Abadon since last November.

Additionally, a match for ROH television aired, with Komander, El Hijo del Vikingo, and The Lucha BRos. vs. Serpentico, Kip Sabian, The Butcher, and The Blade.

AEW will next head to Chicago for the debut episode of AEW Collision this Saturday, featuring the return of CM Punk to the promotion. They will follow that up with more shows in Chicago next Wednesday at the Wintrust Arena for AEW Dynamite and Rampage.

WOR Video: WWE SmackDown’s massive rating

Posted on by F4W Staff

SmackDown’s big number last Friday was discussed on Tuesday morning’s Wrestling Observer Radio.

The show garnered 2,563,000 viewers, making it the strongest show of the year. The 18-45 0.73 number, according to Meltzer, was the best number SmackDown has gotten in years in that demo.

“They started strong but [the audience] grew waiting for that final segment,” Meltzer said.

The final segment, in which Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa turned on Jimmy Uso, received 2,901,000 viewers and a 0.87, one of the bigger numbers for wrestling in a long time.

Next week’s show will center around Jey Uso being forced to choose Reigns and his twin brother Jimmy. Meltzer said that he hopes Jey chooses his brother in order to keep the feud balanced.

“I think when you watch Paul [Heyman] basically say that Jey is going to choose their side, that tells you Jey’s not going to choose their side,” Meltzer said.

One of the victims of SmackDown’s success? AEW’s Rampage. Despite promoting a card full of title matches, the show only garnered 357,000 viewers, down 18 percent from last week’s number. 

WOR Video: This year’s NJPW G1 Climax tournament has some surprises

Posted on by F4W Staff

Some surprises were announced Sunday morning for this year’s G1 Climax tournament.

Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer discussed this year’s tournament on Wrestling Observer Radio Monday morning. AEW’s Eddie Kingston will make his first appearance in the tournament this year, right after coming off of hernia surgery.

“That’s going to be tough as he’s just coming off of hernia surgery,” Meltzer said. “That’s pushing it.”

Another surprising name was the last one revealed, Kaito Kiyomiya of Pro Wrestling NOAH. Meltzer wondered if he would be in Kazuchika Okada’s block, as the two had a memorable feud earlier in 2023.

“I think he may get a big win here potentially,” Alvarez said. Meltzer pointed out that politically, Kiyomiya may need to get a couple of wins.

This year’s G1 Climax tournament will take place starting on July 15 and will run through August 13, with the finals taking place at Sumo Hall. A full list of this year’s participants can be found here.

AEW Rampage & Ring of Honor spoilers from Colorado Springs

Posted on by F4W Staff

The following are spoilers for Friday’s AEW Rampage and future episodes of Ring of Honor, taped Wednesday in Colorado Springs, Colorado. AEW Rampage spoilers are courtesy of PWInsider.

AEW Rampage:

  • Jeff Jarrett and his group came out, calling out Aubrey Edwards. Mark Briscoe came out and announced he got a six-person tag team match signed, with Jarrett, Karen Jarrett, and Jay Lethal vs. Edwards, Briscoe, and Papa Briscoe.
  • Bandido and The Lucha Brothers defeated Big Bill, Lee Moriarty, and Ethan Page. The finish had The Hardys come out and inadvertently distract Page, allowing Bandido to score the win. After the match, The Hardys celebrated with The Lucha Brothers and made Page dance with the Hardys and Isiah Kassidy.
  • Skye Blue won a four-way match, pinning Nyla Rose in a match that also had Britt Baker and Mercedes Martinez. As a result, she will face Toni Storm next Wednesday on Dynamite for the AEW Women’s Championship.
  • Powerhouse Hobbs defeated Caleb Crush with a spinebuster
  • The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn defeated Serpentico, Angelico, and Luther

Ring of Honor:

  • NJPW Strong Women’s Champion Willow Nightingale & Maki Itoh defeated Emi Sakura & Megan Bayne
  • Daniel Garcia defeated The DKC in a Pure rules match. Dean Malenko, Jerry Lynn and Christopher Daniels were the judges.

Notes:

  • This was Bayne’s first AEW appearance since February 2022. She tore her ACL and returned back to action on the indies in April.

WOR Video: CM Punk is officially confirmed for AEW Collision

Posted on by F4W Staff

CM Punk’s return finally has an official date.

AEW announced on Wednesday that Punk will be returning to the company, appearing on the first episode of Collision set for June 17 at the United Center in Chicago. Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez discussed the news on Wrestling Observer Radio Thursday morning.

“Well that’s the worst kept secret in the universe,” Meltzer said. Alvarez brought up that Punk’s name got a mixed reaction from the crowd.

“A lot of cheers and a lot of boos,” Meltzer said. “Even bigger maybe than Vegas. There’s people really excited he’s coming back, and people really mad he’s coming back. It’s a really smart idea to debut him in Chicago because he’s going to get a really great reaction in Chicago.”

Meltzer noted that there may be “one more surprise” for Collision’s debut episode.

“I know there was supposed to be one more surprise, which you can speculate on for the first episode of [Collision] to go along with with the big announcement of Punk…I’m sure the first episode will be very newsworthy because it has to be.”

AEW Rampage spoilers from San Diego

Posted on by F4W Staff

Here are spoilers for this coming Friday’s AEW Rampage, which returned to its normal time slot last week. The theme is Rampage Championship Friday, where titles are on the line in each match. Spoilers courtesy of PWInsider:

  • El Hijo del Vikingo defeated Dralistico and Komander in a three-way match to retain the AAA Mega Heavyweight title. Vikingo pinned Dralistico to retain.
  • Katsuyori Shibata defeated Lee Moriarty to retain the ROH Pure Championship. After the match, Daniel Garcia came to the ring and confronted Shibata.
  • Willow Nightingale defeated Emi Sakura to retain the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship
  • Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Action Andretti to retain the New Japan World Television title

After a pair of house shows this weekend, AEW will return with a Dynamite/Rampage taping in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Matches announced for next week’s Dynamite include Orange Cassidy defending the AEW International title against Swerve Strickland and Ricky Starks vs. Jay White in a match where Juice Robinson and FTR are banned from ringside.

WOR Video: Anarchy in the Arena lived up to its name

Posted on by F4W Staff

Anarchy in the Arena lived up to its name.

The main event of AEW Double or Nothing saw Blackpool Combat Club defeat The Elite in a wild brawl filled with weapons. The first part of the match had a band perform “Wild Thing” three times, ending when the Young Bucks laid out the singer with a superkick.

“At first I thought just play the song through the entire match. But it did get to the point where I thought, okay, you know what we’ve heard the song enough…they timed it perfectly,” Alvarez said.

Some of the key spots towards the end had Matt Jackson hitting a superkick with a firecracker coming off his foot, then getting atomic dropped into thumbtacks, covering his exposed foot after members of the BCC removed his shoe. The big swerve went down when Konosuke Takeshita attacked Kenny Omega as he cornered Don Callis, who attempted to interfere in the match, allowing Wheeler Yuta to pin Omega.

After the show went off the air, Omega told the crowd that he knew a couple of guys outside of AEW who could help even the odds.

“Everybody assumed Okada and Kota Ibushi,” Alvarez said.

Both Meltzer and Alvarez agreed that the final two matches helped make the event a better show.

WOR Video: Anarchy in the Arena lived up to it’s name

Posted on by F4W Staff

Anarchy in the Arena lived up to its name.

The main event of AEW Double or Nothing saw Blackpool Combat Club defeat The Elite in a wild brawl filled with weapons. The first part of the match had a band perform “Wild Thing” three times, ending when the Young Bucks laid out the singer with a superkick.

“At first I thought just play the song through the entire match. But it did get to the point where I thought, okay, you know what we’ve heard the song enough…they timed it perfectly,” Alvarez said.

Some of the key spots towards the end had Matt Jackson hitting a superkick with a firecracker coming off his foot, then getting atomic dropped into thumbtacks, covering his exposed foot after members of the BCC removed his shoe. The big swerve went down when Konosuke Takeshita attacked Kenny Omega as he cornered Don Callis, who attempted to interfere in the match, allowing Wheeler Yuta to pin Omega.

After the show went off the air, Omega told the crowd that he knew a couple of guys outside of AEW who could help even the odds.

“Everybody assumed Okada and Kota Ibushi,” Alvarez said.

Both Meltzer and Alvarez agreed that the final two matches helped make the event a better show.