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.

Former AEW World Champion working through knee injury

Posted on by Josh Nason

The current storyline between AEW Unified Champion Kazuchika Okada and former AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland going into Sunday’s Forbidden Door match is somewhat based in reality.

The knee injury that has been brought up on AEW TV in the run-up is indeed legitimate as Dave Meltzer mentioned on Wednesday’s Wrestling Observer Radio.

Fightful Select provided more insight Thursday, noting Strickland is working through a torn meniscus that he first suffered in 2019 prior to his AEW tenure while at the WWE Performance Center. The outlet noted he was then back on TV after taking a month off.

Whether he gets surgery to repair the injury and the course of action going forward after Sunday is unknown. Fightful reported that another Khan family asset — the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars — are playing a role in helping Strickland through the injury via their medical staff.

The 34-year-old hasn’t wrestled in nearly a month, last seen defeating Hechicero on the July 23rd Dynamite.

Anticipated location reported for next WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event

Posted on by Josh Nason

The first WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event of the Peacock-exclusive era reportedly has a location.

WrestleVotes Radio reported Thursday that Salt Lake City, Utah’s Delta Center is the planned spot for the Saturday, November 1st SNME. Additionally, the outlet reported that a Halloween-themed edition of SmackDown will emanate from the same venue the night before.

This is the latest development in a 24-hour block that has seen the relationship between WWE and Peacock change rapidly:

  • Announced on Wednesday, WWE PLEs will no longer air on Peacock following this month’s Clash in Paris as they will move to ESPN beginning in September — a change-up from the previously announced April 2026 launch.
  • All SNME quarterly specials will air exclusively on Peacock and will no longer be simulcast on NBC. This year will see five overall specials with the addition of November 1st and the previously planned Saturday, December 13th event.
  • The WWE archive will remain on Peacock through the end of 2025 with NXT PLEs remaining on the service through March 2026.
  • SmackDown replays will remain on Peacock for 30 days after its initial airdate on USA Network.

WWE, AEW continue to get sizable tax credits from Ohio

Posted on by Josh Nason

The state of Ohio continues to be a financially lucrative one for both WWE and AEW when it comes to tax credits.

Recently revealed by the Ohio Department of Development as they have done in the past, AEW was awarded $2,134,560 in tax credits for productions in both 2025 and 2026. That is up from the $1.275 million they received last year for productions in 2024 and 2025.

WWE took in $1,096,941 for productions this year and next, slightly down from the $1.7 million they took in last year when SummerSlam took place in August 2024.

AEW has run Ohio multiple times in 2025, visiting both Cleveland and Cincinnati ahead of a December trip to Columbus for an episode of Collision and ROH Final Battle from GalaxyCon. The state has yet to get an AEW pay-per-view.

WWE has appeared in Ohio three times thus far in 2025 with editions of Raw from both Cleveland and Columbus, and SmackDown from Cleveland. SmackDown will head to Cincinnati this October.

In total, the state gave out $46 million in tax credits for film and TV production, headlined by Spain Thief (possible working title for another project) which received $10.5 million, Ten Cent ($3.6 million) and The Guest List ($3 million).

ROH spoilers from Glasgow: Scotty 2 Hotty & son in tag team action

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: Limitless Wrestling

Former WWE star and current AEW producer Scotty 2 Hotty made his return to Ring of Honor for the first time in 15 years on Wednesday, teaming with his son for the first time in the promotion.

S2H and the debuting Keagan Garland were part of the ROH tapings prior to the Dynamite taping at the OVO Hydro in Glasglow, Scotland. The two defeated Jon Cruz & Bret Levi which is expected to air on a future ROH TV broadcast.

Garland, trained by Ace Steel, has teamed with his father several times in his very young career including two appearances for Maine’s Limitless Wrestling. S2H is a native of the state.

S2H’s only ROH match before Wednesday was a two-minute defeat to Larry Zbyszko at SoCal Showdown in January 2010.

Here’s the full results from the ROH taping:

  • Trish Adora defeated Alexxis Falcon
  • Scotty 2 Hotty & Keagan Garland defeated Jon Cruz & Bret Levi
  • Lance Archer (w/ Rocky Romero) defeated two local wrestlers. Grado appeared afterward and brawled with Archer, getting a low bridge on him before exchanging blows with Rocky Romero.

AEW injury updates: Will Ospreay, Nick Wayne & Konosuke Takeshita

Posted on by Josh Nason

There are a few updates after Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite and the subsequent Wrestling Observer Radio when it comes to the injury and health status of several stars.

Will Ospreay

During his show-opening promo hyping up Sunday’s unsanctioned cage match, Will Ospreay talked about how he wasn’t cleared to wrestle, hence why the match was unsanctioned. He then mentioned how if there’s a chance he can’t be the same Will Ospreay after Sunday, he’s leaving it all out there and also said “before doctors take a scalpel to me and my neck…”

On WOR, Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez couldn’t confirm any details about any potential surgery and didn’t have any specifics, but Meltzer compared the injury to one that Kurt Angle had during his WWE run. Both men were unclear on how Ospreay got cleared for Sunday.

In July, Ospreay revealed he has two herniated discs and was unsure if he would appear at Forbidden Door. Meltzer also noted that during a brawl on Dynamite, Ospreay didn’t appear to get too heavily involved.

Nick Wayne

Alvarez confirmed that ROH TV Champion Nick Wayne does indeed have a legitimate broken foot as he claimed on Wednesday’s Dynamite. It’s unknown how he suffered it, the severity, or the timetable for his return. Meltzer speculated that without surgery, Wayne could be ok within ten weeks.

Wayne will be replaced by Luchasaurus/Killswitch, joining Kip Sabian against Adam Copeland and Christian Cage Sunday.

Konosuke Takeshita

Alvarez followed up from Monday’s WOR with some news on Konosuke Takeshita (seen above) who appeared to get temporarily knocked out during his G1 semifinal match with Zack Sabre Jr. He said he heard from some people that Takeshita got “knocked batty” and “didn’t remember the match, didn’t remember the promo” afterward. He was able to finish the match, but didn’t remember anything.

“They said he was ok” and he then wrestled the next night in the finals and then flew to Glasgow, Scotland, for a match with Tomohiro Ishii taped for Saturday’s Collision. As of this writing, he has not been announced for a match at Forbidden Door.

Stardom representative revealed for TBS title match at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door

Posted on by Josh Nason

The fourth entrant is official for the four-way TBS title match at Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door and it’s a rather large threat to reigning champion Mercedes Mone.

Announced on Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite, Stardom’s representative is the 5’11”, 200+ pound Bozilla who will be making her AEW debut on the show.

Mone and Bozilla will be joined by Alex Windsor and CMLL’s Persephone in the four-way in London, England.

The 21-year-old German native has been recently competing in the 5STAR Grand Prix 2025 and was unsuccessful in besting NJPW Strong Women’s Champion AZM in July.

Current AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door card | Sunday, August 24 | London, England

  • AEW World Champion Hangman Page defends against MJF
  • AEW Unified Champion Kazuchika Okada defends against Swerve Strickland
  • AEW World Tag Team Champions The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin) defend against FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) and Brodido (Brody King & Bandido) in a three-way
  • Adam Copeland & Christian Cage vs. Killswitch & Kip Sabian
  • AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defends against Athena
  • TBS Women’s Champion Mercedes Mone defends against Alex Windsor, Persephone and Bozilla in a four-way
  • IWGP World Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defends against Nigel McGuinness
  • TNT Champion Kyle Fletcher defends against Hiromu Takahashi
  • Lights out steel cage match: Darby Allin, Will Ospreay, Kenny Omega, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi vs. The Death Riders (Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli), Gabe Kidd & The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)

Tag Team title match participants set for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door

Posted on by Josh Nason

This Sunday’s AEW World Tag Team title match at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door is now officially a three-way following the events of Wednesday’s Dynamite.

In the finals of the eight-team Tag Team title eliminator tournament, FTR and Brodido (Brody King & Bandido) went to a 30-minute time limit draw. It was announced nearly immediately afterward that both team will face reigning champions The Hurt Syndicate on Sunday.

Shelton Benjamin, Bobby Lashley and MVP came out afterward to stare down both teams.

FTR will be looking for their third run with the titles and their first since October 2023 while Brodido is in search of their first. With a win, Benjamin and Lashley will earn a seventh successful title defense and extend a 200+ day run.

Current AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door card | Sunday, August 24 | London, England

  • AEW World Champion Hangman Page defends against MJF
  • AEW Unified Champion Kazuchika Okada defends against Swerve Strickland
  • AEW World Tag Team Champions The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin) defend against FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) and Brodido (Brody King & Bandido) in a three-way
  • Adam Copeland & Christian Cage vs. Killswitch & Kip Sabian
  • AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defends against Athena
  • TBS Women’s Champion Mercedes Mone defends against Alex Windsor, Persephone and Stardom TBD in a four-way
  • IWGP World Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defends against Nigel McGuinness
  • TNT Champion Kyle Fletcher defends against Hiromu Takahashi
  • Lights out steel cage match: Darby Allin, Will Ospreay, Kenny Omega, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi vs. The Death Riders (Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli), Gabe Kidd & The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)

Former AEW champion returning as part of Forbidden Door card change

Posted on by Josh Nason

The return of Adam Copeland and Christian Cage as a team at this Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door got another interesting twist during Wednesday’s Dynamite: the former Luchasaurus.

Cage and Copeland were doing an in-ring interview with Tony Schiavone when Kip Sabian and Mother Wayne came out to interrupt. Nick Wayne was then shown on the videoboard on crutches, saying he broke his foot avoiding Cage swinging Copeland’s spiked 4×4 at him. He said Cage took Forbidden Door away from him, but he was always a step ahead.

A video of Killswitch/Luchasaurus played and he then emerged, heading to the ring with Sabian and Wayne following. Cage took out Sabian while Copeland was chokeslammed by Killswitch. The former Patriarchy member and Cage had a staredown and then Cage got chokeslammed by his former stablemate. It was then revealed Killswitch will team with Sabian in Wayne’s place.

The former AEW Tag Team Champion, TNT Champion and Trios Champion was hospitalized in September 2024 with complications from pneumonia in both of his lungs and there was speculation his in-ring career was on the line. The 40-year-old hasn’t wrestled since August 2024’s All In.

Current AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door card | Sunday, August 24 | London, England

  • AEW World Champion Hangman Page defends against MJF
  • AEW Unified Champion Kazuchika Okada defends against Swerve Strickland
  • AEW Tag Team Champions The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin) defend against winner of Tag Team title eliminator tournament
  • Adam Copeland & Christian Cage vs. Killswitch & Kip Sabian
  • AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defends against Athena
  • TBS Women’s Champion Mercedes Mone defends against Alex Windsor, Persephone and Stardom TBD
  • IWGP World Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defends against Nigel McGuinness
  • TNT Champion Kyle Fletcher defends against Hiromu Takahashi
  • Lights out steel cage match: Darby Allin, Will Ospreay, Kenny Omega, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi vs. The Death Riders (Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli), Gabe Kidd & The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)

New WWE NXT PLE reportedly scheduled for September

Posted on by Josh Nason

The WWE premium live event schedule continues to grow this fall.

Post Wrestling reported Wednesday that WWE NXT will be holding No Mercy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Saturday, September 27th. WWE has yet to announce it themselves.

Unlike July’s Great American Bash or this Sunday’s Heatwave (where it is likely the show will be announced), it will not be either opposite or on the same day as an AEW pay-per-view. As of now, it will go up against AEW Collision.

It’s expected to air on Peacock domestically and Netflix worldwide per usual. WWE’s new deal announced Wednesday that brings the company’s PLEs from Peacock to ESPN’s new streaming service beginning in September vs. April 2026 does not include NXT special events. It’s still unclear where the NXT PLEs will end up after the Peacock deal officially ends.

WWE No Mercy History

The event first began on the main roster in 1999 and lasted 13 events, ending in 2017. NXT then revived the event name in September 2023 and then again in September 2024. Last year’s show was headlined by then-NXT Champion Ethan Page defending against TNA’s Joe Hendry.

AEW Collision spoilers from Glasgow, Scotland: Former WWE champion debuts

Posted on by Josh Nason

The following are spoilers from Wednesday’s AEW Collision taping from Glasgow, Scotland’s OVO Hydro — the final show before this Sunday’s Forbidden Door.

Here’s the spoilers from Dynamite taped prior to Collision with all spoilers coming courtesy of PWInsider.

The big news coming out of the taping is the promotional debut of former WWE Women’s & NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion Isla Dawn who has been rumored to be on her way to AEW for some time. She had wrestled just once since being released by WWE and competed against Megan Bayne.

Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuinness, and Ian Riccaboni were on commentary.

  • Scorpio Sky, Dante Martin, Darius Martin & Hiromu Takahashi defeated The Don Callis Family (Hechicero, Rocky Romero, Josh Alexander & Lance Archer)
  • Megan Bayne defeated the debuting Isla Dawn, formerly of WWE
  • Willow Nightingale & Queen Aminata defeated Skye Blue & Julia Hart
  • In a backstage promo, Daniel Garcia urged Nigel McGuinness to win the IWGP World title at Forbidden Door and show he is the better wrestler. 
  • IWGP World Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Max Caster and had a face-off with McGuinness afterward.
  • NJPW G1 35 winner Konosuke Takeshita defeated Tomohiro Ishii
  • Big Bill defeated the debuting Mark Andrews, formerly of WWE NXT UK
  • Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona) defeated Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake)
  • Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) defeated Paragon (Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong) thanks to interference by Don Callis and Kazuchika Okada. Swerve Strickland came out to even the odds, but got laid out by Okada and the Bucks.

WWE show to air on Peacock exclusively as part of new multi-year deal

Posted on by Josh Nason

This story has been updated.

Starting in November, WWE’s quarterly Saturday Night’s Main Event specials will air on Peacock exclusively as part of a new multi-year deal between WWE and NBCU/Peacock.

Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina first reported part of the news Wednesday, also noting WWE’s archive content will remain on the streaming service through the end of 2025 and “I would be shocked if it didn’t end up on ESPN after that.”

SportsBusinessJournal also reported on the story, noting that the exclusives begin with the next SNME on November 1st and “then one featuring John Cena’s retirement match on Dec. 13.” It had been previously speculated that Cena’s final match would air on an SNME opposite AEW Worlds End on Saturday, December 27th.

Revived in December 2024, the quarterly specials had also simulcast on NBC as part of a five-year deal that saw SmackDown return to USA Network on Friday nights. According to SBJ, the new arrangement will see SmackDown remain on Peacock on a 30-day delay.

The deal comes in the wake of a flurry of activity on Wednesday as it was announced that WWE PLEs will move to ESPN starting with September’s new Wrestlepalooza PLE instead of this April as originally planned. The final PLE on Peacock will be this month’s Clash in Paris.

WWE and Peacock’s contract was set to expire in March 2026 in a deal that included the PLEs, the archive content, and additional first-run content.

Key details emerge on WWE/Peacock/ESPN arrangement, new main roster show

Posted on by Josh Nason

While it was a bit of a surprise to see WWE’s premium live event deal with Peacock end seven months before it was contractually supposed to, new details out Wednesday illuminate some of the thinking behind the new arrangement: more WWE content.

Announced Thursday, ESPN will take over as the domestic home for PLEs starting with September’s freshly-announced Wrestlepalooza instead of with this April’s WrestleMania 42 as had been the contractual plan.

The thinking, as our Bryan Alvarez had previously reported, was that WWE believed they had honored their commitment of PLEs to the NBCU-owned streaming service with the additional night of WrestleMania, the additional night of SummerSlam, and then this year’s Evolution.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, ESPN did not buy out the seven months. Rather, a deal was brokered first between WWE and Peacock and then brought to ESPN. ESPN is launching their new streaming service on Thursday with this news being a big part of their launch day and WWE a key part of the early success of the service.

The outlet reported that WWE personnel is currently in Indianapolis, Indiana, where Wrestlepalooza will take place to mark the occasion Thursday.

So what does Peacock get out of this? The outlet reported that the deal between they and WWE will “include new main-roster WWE programming to stream on the NBCUniversal digital platform; details of that programming are expected to be announced soon.”

WWE’s final PLE on Peacock will be next weekend’s Clash in Paris. October’s Crown Jewel and November’s Survivor Series will air on ESPN.

At this point, NXT PLEs will continue to air on Peacock through March 2026. With WWE moving their PLEs to ESPN, the NXT special events do not have an announced home after that date. The future of the WWE archives currently on Peacock is also unknown after March 2026.

AEW Dynamite spoilers from Glasgow, Scotland: Former champion returns

Posted on by Josh Nason

The following are spoilers for Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite from Glasgow, Scotland’s OVO Hydro — the final show before Saturday’s Collision and this Sunday’s Forbidden Door.

The show will air in its usual spot at 8 PM Eastern on TBS and Triller+ with Excalibur, Tony Schiavone and Bryan Danielson on the call.

The following come courtesy of PWInsider:

  • A Will Ospreay promo opened the show where he said he isn’t cleared for Sunday, but it doesn’t matter because it’s an unsanctioned match. The Death Riders then attacked Ospreay before JetSpeed and Hiroshi Tanahashi evened the odds.
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & JetSpeed (Mike Bailey & Kevin Knight) defeated The Death Riders (Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta & Claudio Castagnoli)
  • A post-match attack happened courtesy of Gabe Kidd and fellow NJPW wrestlers Drilla Maloney, Clark Conners and Robbie X followed, later joined by the Young Bucks. Paragon’s Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly then joined the fray as did Darby Allin and The Opps, leading to a bigger brawl into the stands.
  • Christian Cage and Adam Copeland did an in-ring segment where they confronted Nick Wayne and Kip Sabian ahead of Sunday. Wayne revealed that he is hurt and Luchasaurus, who was in the ring as well, would take his place Sunday.
  • FTR vs. Brodido went to a time limit draw in the Tag Team title eliminator tournament, meaning Sunday’s AEW Tag Team title match will now be a three-way with The Hurt Syndicate.
  • Hangman Page was doing an in-ring promo when MJF appeared on video from the back alongside Ricochet and the Gates of Agony who were holding Mark Briscoe hostage. MJF got Page to agree to terms: the title can now change hands on a DQ or countout and MJF’s anytime, anywhere contract doesn’t count for the match. Page agreed.
  • Mercedes Mone & Athena defeated Toni Storm & Alex Windsor

Collision will taped shortly after Dynamite. We will have those spoilers in a separate thread.

JNPO: AEW quarterly business review with Brandon Thurston

Posted on by Josh Nason

The quarterly tradition of looking back at the last quarter of AEW business continues on Josh Nason’s Punch-Out with a visit from Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics.

Josh and Brandon tackle April, May and June in the world of Tony Khan, focused on some of these topics with some perspective given the dates:

  • AEW continuing to push internationally with Grand Slam Mexico, the Forbidden Door announcement, Glasgow debut, and All Out to Toronto
  • WBD intending to split into two
  • The run-up to All In
  • A birds-eye view look at attendance, ratings, PPV buys and such from the quarter
  • Lots more

We also then had an impromptu talk about the AEW vs. WWE conflicts, antitrust and how MLW may have paved the way for a future lawsuit.

This was another fun conversation, so please check it out for free below, Spotify or Apple Podcasts (just search Wrestling Observer).

Click here to listen

New WWE WrestleMania 41 attendance data revealed

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: WWE

New attendance data for this past April’s WWE WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas has been revealed, leaving potential detractors without much to talk about.

Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported on Wednesday that the Las Vegas Stadium Authority provided documentation showing Saturday’s attendance at 58,538 and Sunday’s at 60,103 for a combined 118,641.

Thurston noted that it’s “unclear if these figures reflect tickets distributed or ticket sales, or whether suite attendees are included in the totals.”

The numbers announced by WWE were 60,151 for Saturday (April 19th) and 61,389 for Sunday (April 20th) for a combined 121,540. The respective discrepancies between the LVSA data and WWE’s were 2.3% for Saturday, 2.1% for Sunday, and 2.4% overall.

The Wrestlenomics report also noted that according to LVSA data, 81% of attendees for Saturday came from out of town while Sunday’s mark was 84%. Additionally, the two nights were the most attended in Allegiant Stadium for Q2, beating out concerts by Post Malone, Kendrick Lamar, Coldplay, AC/DC, and Shakira.

WrestleMania will return to Las Vegas this April once again.