Author: Josh Nason

Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.

Stephanie Vaquer addresses injury status & next WWE appearance

Posted on by Josh Nason

Ahead of her match with IYO SKY for the vacant WWE Women’s World title at next Saturday’s Wrestlepalooza, Stephanie Vaquer addressed rumors of whether she is injured.

Talking to Adrian Hernandez in Las Vegas ahead of Friday’s WWE special announcement (seen below), Vaquer left no doubt as to whether she will appear on Raw Monday, NXT Tuesday, or Wrestlepalooza itself.

“No, I saw social media. Sometimes, many things are not real. There’s no injuries. I’m ready for Raw next Monday, so no. No injury,” she said.

A contract signing between SKY and Vaquer was set to take place this past Monday, but GM Adam Pearce told SKY “something was up” with her opponent and that she was unable to come to Raw. Before SKY could get an answer about the title match, Nikki Bella interrupted and asked about updates to Vaquer. Pearce canceled the signing, but said that he saw “no reason” the title match wouldn’t happen.

Dave Meltzer said on the subsquent Wrestling Observer Radio that he heard Vaquer was dealing with a minor injury while Bryan Alvarez believed she wasn’t hurt. Vaquer is set to be in action this Tuesday on WWE NXT TV so they were unclear as to what happened Monday with her appearance.

Vaquer will be part of WWE’s special announcement on Friday in Las Vegas.

WWE ‘special announcement’ set for Friday

Posted on by Josh Nason

WWE is making a “special announcement” on Friday that many believe will be the official reveal of WrestleMania 43 heading to Saudi Arabia.

Revealed via the company’s YouTube channel and by Triple H on X Thursday night, the description reads:

“Tune in LIVE for a special announcement at 3:00pm ET | 12:00pm PT featuring Triple H, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Seth Rollins, Logan Paul, Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Stephanie Vaquer and Charlotte Flair!”

“I told you we’d change the game. And we’re just getting started,” Triple H wrote in his post on X.

While SmackDown is being held in Norfolk, Virginia, Friday, WWE is holding Worlds Collide in Las Vegas directly after the show. The announcement is expected to take place in Las Vegas according to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp.

It will be a big weekend in Sin City for TKO with Saturday’s Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford boxing match that is being put on by TKO and is sponsored by Riyadh Season.

On Wednesday, it was revealed that the 2027 edition of WrestleMania would be held in Saudi Arabia with our Bryan Alvarez reporting that the deal is believe to be in the $100 million range for the entire weekend of shows (Raw and SmackDown as well). Dave Meltzer shared what he had heard as well.

TKO media partner reportedly preparing bid for AEW media partner

Posted on by Josh Nason

In the constantly changing world of content creation, Paramount Skydance — one of the newest media partners for TKO — is reportedly preparing to make a bid for primary AEW media partner Warner Bros. Discovery.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal first reported that the David Ellison-backed Paramount Skydance is preparing to offer a majority cash bid for the entire company which would include the TV side and movies /streaming side which were set to split in 2026.

No official bid has been made and any such move would result in U.S. regulatory approval which, given the relationships between the Ellison family and the Trump regime, is not seen as an impedance. It’s unknown how much the offer would be for given WBD’s current debt load of roughly $35 billion.

Ellison’s Skydance recently closed on the sale for Paramount and all of its assets for $8.4 billion and then shortly thereafter, acquired the domestic TV rights for UFC events for seven years and more than $7 billion to air on the streaming service.

While Paramount doesn’t have any pro wrestling content on its platform, WBD certainly does with AEW whose deal runs through 2027 with an option year held by WBD.

WWE 2025 schedule update: Post-Christmas MSG event, AEW head-to-head

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: WWE

There are two new updates for the WWE schedule the rest of 2025 according to Thursday’s WrestleVotes Radio.

WWE not running MSG after Christmas

The annual tradition of WWE running Madison Square Garden for a live event right after Christmas appears to be done, for this year anyway, as the outlet report it’s not happening in 2025.

The reason is likely because WWE is running the famed arena on Monday, November 17 instead for a live edition of Raw that will also serve as John Cena’s final appearance in the building as an active wrestler.

WWE PLEs vs. AEW PPVs taking a pause for now

WrestleVotes also reported that as of now, there are no more planned head-to-head battles between WWE/NXT PLEs and AEW pay-per-views for the duration of 2025. That, of course, would begin after next Saturday’s Wrestlepalooza which will see AEW run All Out at 3 PM Eastern with Wrestlepalooza starting several hours later.

AEW has three PPVs remaining after next weekend (WrestleDream, Full Gear, and Worlds End) and there are no WWE or NXT PLEs announced for those same dates as of now.

Unified title three-way added to AEW All Out, tournament revealed

Posted on by Josh Nason

The AEW Unified title will be on the line at this month’s All Out in Toronto with champion Kazuchika Okada needing to first defend his title in order to advance to the pay-per-view.

Announced during Wednesday’s Dynamite, there will be a six-man tournament over three matches that begins on Saturday’s Collision:

  • Kazuchika Okada defends against Michael Oku
  • Konosuke Takeshita vs. Anthony Bowens

The tournament then continues at next Wednesday’s September to Remember in London, Ontario, Canada, with the remaining match:

  • Mascara Dorada vs. The Beast Mortos

The winners of those three matches will compete for the Unified title in Toronto next Sunday.

Okada won the new title (a combo of the International and Continental championships) at July’s All In with his win over Kenny Omega. Takeshita is a former International Champion and a fellow Don Callis Family member while the other competitors have yet to win AEW singles gold.

Dorada is of CMLL fame while Oku will be making his AEW TV debut. The London, England, native wrestled in an August 2024 Dynamite dark match and was also part of the Forbidden Door pre-show last month.

Updated AEW All Out card | Toronto, Canada | Saturday, September 20

  • AEW World Champion Hangman Page defends against Kyle Fletcher
  • Adam Copeland & Christian Cage vs. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler)
  • TBS Champion Mercedes Mone defends against Riho
  • AEW Unified Championship three-way: competitors TBA
  • The Hurt Syndicate (Shelton Benjamin, MVP & Bobby Lashley) vs. Ricochet and the Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona)
  • Jon Moxley vs. Darby Allin in a coffin match
  • AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defends against Thekla, Jamie Hayter and Kris Statlander in a four-way
  • MJF vs. Mark Briscoe (stipulation to be determined)

TKO’s Mark Shapiro on athlete pay: We’ll share ‘as much as makes sense with the stars’ of WWE & UFC

Posted on by Josh Nason

Of all the things that came up during a 35-minute appearance at a technology conference Wednesday, getting asked about fighter and wrestler pay likely wasn’t at the top of TKO COO Mark Shapiro’s list.

That did happen, however, as during the annual Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference, Shapiro (seen above) was asked about his take on fighter and wrestler pay as relates to the level of reinvestment into the company and how investors should take that into account.

Shapiro said they already run “a pretty lean cost structure” that fighter and wrestler pay is part of, but they will “continue to do right by our fighters and our (WWE) superstars.”

“The cream of the crop will get paid the premium dollars,” he said, adding that when they sign big rights deals like UFC’s with Paramount and WWE’s with ESPN, they reinvest in the product. He used UFC doing “of the night” bonuses when they signed with ESPN as an example of that, perhaps not realizing UFC bonuses began long before the ESPN deal.

“We’re going to share as much as makes sense with the stars of both leagues. We will be very competitive…we are very competitive. We pay more than any other competitor in the combat sports space. We know why we’re here and it’s a team effort,” he said.

Citing the amount of events TKO runs in a year, Shapiro said, “We have to pay for performance in terms of our people and the same goes for our fighters and (WWE) superstars.”

He said there are cases where Conor McGregor and Jon Jones get paid more, but they “deliver more in return. It’s a scale and a formula, and we’re very transparent about it with our fighters and (WWE) superstars.”

Shapiro also talked about how ticket prices remain an area of opportunity for WWE as Vince McMahon priced tickets for families, and that Wrestlepalooza is seen by TKO as a potential “Big Four” PLE of the year for WWE.

Click here to listen

Former WWE & NXT Tag Team Champion makes Ring of Honor debut

Posted on by Josh Nason

Another WWE and NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion has made their recent debut in a Tony Khan-owned company.

Lacey Lane — the former Kayden Carter in WWE and NXT — was part of the pre-AEW Dynamite Ring of Honor taping at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia Wednesday. Her opponent and the result was not identified on social media as of this writing. It’s likely the match will air on ROH TV this week.

After having been in the WWE system since 2018, Lane and longtime partner Katana Chance (Kacy Catanzaro) were both released in May as part of a round of cuts. Lane recently did an interview where she said she felt held back in WWE and was ready to show off her “lucha strong style.”

Wednesday’s match was her first anywhere since April in WWE.

Lane and Catanzaro held the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles for 39 days from December 2023 through January 2024 and the NXT Women’s Tag Team titles for 186 days from August 2022 through February 2023.

Lane joins fellow former WWE & NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion Isla Dawn who made her debut last month on AEW Collision from Glasgow, Scotland. She hasn’t been on AEW or ROH TV since.

New World title match with stipulation added to AEW All Out

Posted on by Josh Nason

The AEW World title will be defended at this month’s AEW All Out in Toronto, Canada, as Hangman Page will put the title on the line against reigning TNT Champion Kyle Fletcher.

Days after knocking Kenny Omega out of action, Fletcher issued the challenge on last Saturday’s Collision. Page answered it after a win over Josh Alexander that opened Wednesday’s Dynamite.

As the two went face-to-face, Page agreed but with one stipulation: Fletcher has to be alone with no help from the Don Callis Family. Fletcher agreed and gave his word.

It will be a rematch from their only singles meeting: this past April in the Owen Hart Foundation tournament semifinals that Page won. It will be Fletcher’s first AEW World title shot and Page’s third title defense since winning the title at July’s All In.

Updated AEW All Out card | Toronto, Canada | Saturday, September 20

  • AEW World Champion Hangman Page defends against Kyle Fletcher
  • Adam Copeland & Christian Cage vs. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler)
  • TBS Champion Mercedes Mone defends against Riho
  • The Hurt Syndicate (Shelton Benjamin, MVP & Bobby Lashley) vs. Ricochet and the Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona)
  • Jon Moxley vs. Darby Allin in a coffin match
  • AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defends against Thekla, Jamie Hayter and Kris Statlander in a four-way
  • MJF vs. Mark Briscoe (stipulation to be determined)

TKO exec on WWE ticket prices: Vince McMahon ‘wasn’t totally focused on maxing the opportunity’

Posted on by Josh Nason

A week after a clip went viral with a fan questioning WWE head Nick Khan about the increasing price of WWE tickets, the message apparently didn’t get through to TKO leadership in terms of what’s to come.

TKO chief operating officer Mark Shapiro spoke at the annual Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference Wednesday (audio below) and in talking about ticket prices for both UFC and WWE, he said “WWE is not where the UFC yet is on ticket yield. We have our work to do there.”

“We know we have a lot of room there because Vince McMahon was primarily pricing tickets for families and wasn’t totally focused on maxing the opportunity there. Now that we’ve seen what we can do with UFC, we’re replicating that in terms of ticket yield and holding back and advance sales when it comes to OnLocation on the WWE side and it’s working out really well,” he said.

A term used commonly by concert venues, airlines and hotels, ticket yield is considered a measure of the average revenue generated per ticket sold, maximizing revenue with the goal of selling all inventory at the right mix of prices.

WWE live event & hospitality revenue finished at $185.7 million for the second quarter, up $41.4 million year over year, partially attributed to higher ticket revenue. Both WrestleMania 41 and Night of Champions from Saudi Arabia were in the second quarter.

Shapiro hasn’t been shy about saying publicly this year that TKO sees “tremendous upside” in increasing ticket prices. An example he used Wednesday was UFC shattering previous records to become the highest-grossing event in the history of Chicago’s United Center.

Site fees continue to be a key focus of TKO with Shapiro saying they need to sell out their inventory of UFC numbered events in addition to WWE PLEs before moving on to UFC Fight Nights, WWE Raw and SmackDown events.

He said they are talking to Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, London, Paris and that “there are no shortage of countries…that want to see us bring our show to town.” He said they will continue to maximize those opportunities with both in-kind deals (goods & services) but that the “most important to me is cash. Cash kills.”

He also had a warning of sorts for towns that are successful when WWE or UFC comes to their town, especially for the smaller events, using UFC Fight Nights as an example.

“If we have a St. Louis going up against a Des Moines, Iowa, and you want us back there and you’ve broken records and sold out both your arenas, you have to pay for us to come back or else we’ll take it to another town. And that goes for NXT, Raw and SmackDown on the WWE side.”

Shapiro also talked about how TKO hopes Wrestlepalooza will be in the same conversation as WrestleMania and SummerSlam.

Click here to listen

TKO exec: WWE Wrestlepalooza could be another WrestleMania or SummerSlam for us

Posted on by Josh Nason

TKO chief operating officer Mark Shapiro is putting a lot of stock into this month’s WWE WrestlePalooza.

Shapiro spoke at the annual Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference Wednesday where he talked about the September 20 premium live event that will kick off their multi-year deal with ESPN. Audio from the talk can be found below.

He said they hope Wrestlepalooza is “an annual recurring franchise” for the company and one that is both is on par with two of their most notable annual PLEs and becomes part of their big four events of the WWE year.

“Hopefully, Wrestlepalooza is a winner and we can bring that back annually. That could be a marketing bonanza for us if we do that right,” he said, adding that Paul “Triple H” Levesque is spending day and night creatively making “what we think it can be: another WrestleMania or another SummerSlam.”

He said the Royal Rumble is just below that level and they feel Wrestlepalooza could be in that quadrant.

The Saturday show from Indianapolis, Indiana, will be the first PLE on the new ESPN streaming service and will run partially head-to-head with the AEW All Out pay-per-view.

Click here to listen

WWE Raw on Netflix September 1 episode hits record-low global views

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: WWE

The Monday, September 1 episode of WWE Raw on Netflix brought in 2.4 million global views to go with 5.2 million global hours viewed through its first seven days, according to the Netflix weekly Tudum report.

Down from the previous week’s 2.6 million, the number marks Raw’s lowest global views since it began on Netflix this past January and its lowest total since June 30 (2.5 million global views). The global hours viewed were up slightly from the previous week’s 5.0 million.

It was the follow-up from the previous day’s Clash in Paris and also aired at an earlier time slot of 2 PM Eastern.

Raw Viewership Details:

  • It was eighth globally overall for the week and fifth overall in the United States.
  • The show had a longer runtime (2:06) than the previous week (1:56), helping out the global hours viewed number.
  • It was in the top ten for six countries including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Bolivia and Bahrain.

For the last ten weeks, Raw has averaged a reported 2.68 million global views and 5.33 million global hours viewed.

Raw Show Notes:

Along with being the fallout edition from a premium live event, Raw featured an Intercontinental title rematch between Dominik Mysterio and AJ Styles, CM Punk calling out Seth Rollins, Jey Uso & LA Knight vs. Bronson Reed & Bron Breakker, and more.

Last 10 weeks of WWE Raw on Netflix ratings/viewership:

Episode dateGlobal ViewsGlobal Hours
September 1, 20252.4 million5.2 million
August 25, 20252.6 million5.0 million
August 18, 20252.8 million5.4 million
August 11, 20252.8 million5.3 million
August 4, 20253.0 million6.1 million
July 28, 20252.7 million5.5 million
July 21, 20252.7 million5.7 million
July 14, 20252.7 million5.4 million
July 7, 20252.6 million5.1 million
June 30, 20252.5 million4.6 million
Average for last 10 weeks:2.68 million5.33 million

The Rock explains ‘fowl’ reason for dramatic weight loss

Posted on by Josh Nason

Former WWE star and TKO Board member Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shocked fans last week while at the Venice Film Festival with an extremely slimmed down look, causing chatter as to why that might be.

While at the Toronto Film Festival Monday, Johnson revealed the reason: a unique film role in which he will play Chicken Man — “a whimsical, eccentric 70-something year-old” that befriends a chicken — in Lizard Music.

The film will be directed by Benny Safdie who also directed Johnson in the upcoming The Smashing Machine that is currently doing the festival rounds and getting rave reviews. Johnson said Safdie pitched him for 45 minutes on the role and then said to the director that “I am your Chicken Man.”

According to Variety, the movie is “an adaptation of a Daniel Pinkwater novel and tells the story of a septuagenarian whose best friend is a 70-year-old chicken.”

Johnson said he has lost “much of the 30 pounds of muscle” he gained while preparing to play Mark Kerr, the MMA fighter which Machine is based on. While it wasn’t specified when Lizard Music will begin filming, he and Kevin Hart will team up for Jumanji 3 to begin shooting in November.

The Smashing Machine bows in theaters on Friday, October 3.

Philadelphia street fight added to AEW Dynamite

Posted on by Josh Nason

The final AEW Dynamite in their residency at the 2300 Arena will feature a Philadelphia street fight.

Announced after Saturday’s AEW Collision from the same venue, AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm will take on Skye Blue in a non-title match.

Storm issued the challenge on social media following Saturday’s eight-woman tag team match that featured both competitors. A four-way title match for All Out was also made featuring Storm, Thekla, Kris Statlander and Jamie Hayter.

Storm and Blue have wrestled six times against each other dating back to March 2023 with Storm having a perfect 6-0 mark. Blue is looking for her first singles win since July 2024.

Current AEW Dynamite Card | Wednesday, September 10 | Philadelphia, PA

  • AEW World Champion Hangman Page vs. Josh Alexander in a non-title match
  • AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm vs. Skye Blue in a Philly street fight
  • Shelton Benjamin vs. Ricochet
  • Mercedes Mone & Emi Sakura vs. Riho & Alex Windsor

Grudge match headlining final AEW Dynamite of 2300 Arena residency

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: AEW

AEW World Champion Hangman Page takes on Josh Alexander in a non-title grudge match on this Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite as their residency at Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena comes to an end.

The news was announced on Saturday’s Collision, punctuated by an in-ring promo by Alexander who was accompanied by Don Callis and Kyle Fletcher. Fletcher then called Page out for a World title match at this month’s All Out.

The two squared off in Alexander’s surprise AEW debut this summer in the opening round of the Owen Hart Foundation tournament. It’s their only singles match in the four times they have shared the ring all-time.

In another new addition to the card, TBS Champion Mercedes Mone will team with Emi Sakura to battle past title challenger Alex Windsor and Riho. The latter will challenge Mone for the title at this month’s All Out. Sakura was Riho’s teacher, hence her inclusion. It will be her first AEW match since December 2024 and Riho’s first AEW match since July 2024.

Also announced Saturday was Shelton Benjamin vs. Ricochet as the build to their trios match at All Out continues. It will be their first singles match since 2019 on a WWE house show.

Current AEW Dynamite Card | Wednesday, September 10 | Philadelphia, PA

  • AEW World Champion Hangman Page vs. Josh Alexander in a non-title match
  • Shelton Benjamin vs. Ricochet
  • Mercedes Mone & Emi Sakura vs. Riho & Alex Windsor

AEW wrestler quietly returned this summer after long absence

Posted on by Josh Nason

While it wasn’t in an AEW ring, current roster member Matt Sydal quietly returned to action over the summer for the first time since May 2024 — something that seems impossible in today’s social media age.

Sydal competed against the 58-year-old Ultimo Dragon in July at the France-based ABC 15eme Festival International De Catch. Dragon picked up the win.

While it caught attention on social media Saturday, it was actually firsat reported in the August 4, 2025, Observer Newsletter via our European correspondent Markus Gronemann.

It was Sydal’s first in-ring action since May 2024 when he fell to Konosuke Takeshita in two minutes on Dynamite. He has yet to wrestle since.

The reason for his absence was surgery on his right foot after what he called “a decade of suffering.” The 42-year-old had surgery to both break and re-fuse three bones in addition to having hardware to set his toes into his joints.

While still listed on the AEW roster, it’s unclear if there is interest from Tony Khan in bringing him back. He has been part of the company since September 2020’s All Out and has wrestled more than 100 matches for the brand in addition to 19 matches in Ring of Honor.

While active on X in retweeting AEW posts, Sydal never tweeted about his return.