Tag: video

VIDEO: WWE WrestleMania 40 teaser trailer

Posted on by Bryan Rose

WWE has released their ‘teaser trailer’ for WrestleMania 40.

The video was uploaded to WWE’s YouTube channel just prior to the start of Sunday’s Super Bowl game. You can watch it below.

The 30-second trailer hyping the April 6 and 7 shows in Philedalphia features Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins having a staredown with Roman Reigns & The Rock. Footage was also shown of the press conference from last Thursday where Rock slapped Rhodes, leading to a pull-apart that ended with Rock and Reigns leaving together.

The company confirmed following the press confrence that Reigns will defend the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Rhodes. IYO SKY, meanwhile, will defend the WWE Women’s Championship against Bayley in a match between two former friends.

Matches at the Elimination Chamber premium live event on February 24 will determine challengers for World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley. Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair have qualified for the women’s chamber match, while Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton have qualified for the men’s.

WWE Raw video highlights: The Judgment Day stand tall

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The Judgment Day once again stood tall at the end of Monday’s Raw.

Despite constant interference from all members of the Judgment Day, Cody Rhodes managed to defeat Finn Balor on Raw Monday. After the match, Dominik Mysterio and Damian Priest jumped Rhodes as he was recovering. Sami Zayn came out for the save with a chair, but was stopped by JD McDonagh, who laid out Zayn. Judgment Day then continued their beatdown, with Balor giving both Zayn and Rhodes a coup de grace.

The show ended with Priest putting Zayn through a table with the Razor’s Edge, then Rhodes being taken out with another coup de grace.

Despite joining together in the end, dissension continued between Finn Balor and Damian Priest on Monday’s Raw, with Balor not taking part in the opening segment, instead sending out McDonagh to relay a message. Later backstage, Balor told Priest and the rest of Judgment Day that they needed to be on the same page for later that night..

More coverage from last night:

Raw video highlights:

The Judgment Day stand tall:

The Judgment Day lay out Cody Rhodes:

Cody Rhodes defeats Finn Balor:

Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus wrestle to a double count out:

Otis vs. Gunther:

Shinsuke Nakamura gets his World Heavyweight title match:

Indi Hartwell vs. Rhea Ripley:

The Miz hints at a LA Knight confrontation on SmackDown:

Drew McIntyre and Matt Riddle face The Viking Raiders:

Chad Gable vs. Giovanni Vinci:

Maxxine Dupri slaps Ludwig Kaiser:

Sami Zayn vs. JD McDonagh:

Piper Niven asserts herself into being Chelsea Green’s new tag team partner:

Sami Zayn attacks JD McDonagh:

JD McDonagh interrupts The Judgment Day:

WOR Video: The CM Punk saga continues

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The tensions in AEW aren’t settling down anytime soon.

After Saturday’s Collision went off the air, CM Punk cut a post-show promo thanking the audience before directing his remarks towards Hangman Page, calling him a “peg warmer” and how nobody buys Page’s merchandise while Punk claimed he was the one driving ticket sales.

On Monday morning’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer talked about the situation. Meltzer reiterated that this was not a storyline.

“Believe me, that is not the case,” Meltzer said. “Every time Punk does something like this it makes things worse…there’s been stuff since day one that’s been going on. A lot of people wanted to keep it quiet but it’s not quiet now because once he did that, things started to come out.”

Page was originally set to be at the Collision tapings on Saturday to do a pre-tape that would air on another AEW show. However, he was later told that the pre-tape had been moved to another building.

Ryan Nemeth was also scheduled to be at Saturday’s tapings, but was told not to go to the building. Back on the debut episode of Collision in June, Nemeth and Punk had words regarding something Nemeth wrote on Twitter that Punk perceived to be aimed at him.

“I was told it was all settled, it wasn’t a big deal. Obviously it was not all settled,” Meltzer said.

Meltzer said this was not the only time this has happened, specifically naming Matt Hardy and Christopher Daniels as two people who were originally booked for the Saturday show, but were later removed.

“How this is going to end, I don’t know. The idea that they are keeping people apart because some people don’t want other people in the dressing room, however this is all going…as far as the people themselves, they believe it’s Punk. Everyone believes it’s Punk. I’m sure Tony [Khan] will say it’s not Punk.”

WOR Video: Between MJF & Adam Cole, someone’s turning

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The saga between Adam Cole and MJF continued on AEW Dynamite.

Wednesday’s show saw the two issue a challenge to the ROH Tag Team Champions Aussie Open for a match on the All In Zero Hour, just hours prior to their main event title match. After Roderick Strong confronted Cole and left with The Kingdom, Cole confronted MJF over the way he treated Strong. There was a tense moment, but eventually they hugged it out.

“Someone’s turning here,” Alvarez said on Wrestling Observer Radio Thursday morning.

The question seems to be when, not if the turn is happening. The two were paired together in Blind Eliminator Tag Team title tournament they ended up winning, but failed to win the titles. Despite that, they have remained friends, and it was MJF that offered Cole the title match for All In.

“Don’t rush it,” Meltzer said.

“Every week there’s an issue where the fans chant for them to hug it out,” Alvarez pointed out the continued tension between the two.

“When the ratings start falling, that’s when I would split them,” Meltzer said. I would not split them early, it’s not easy to get something that’s hot.”

WOR Video: Carmelo Hayes vs. Finn Balor

Posted on by F4W Staff

Not the greatest momentum for Carmelo Hayes just one day prior to a big title match.

Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer discussed Hayes’ appearance on Raw while going over the latter half of the show on Wrestling Observer Radio. Hayes first appeared on the show in the crowd, helping Seth Rollins ward off Finn Balor who attempted to take out Rollins with a chair. This led to a match later that night where Hayes was defeated clean by Balor, despite being the NXT Champion and having a title defense the following night against Baron Corbin.

“I was stunned, but I wasn’t stunned,” Alvarez said. “Right out of the Vince playbook. It happens every time.”

Although Finn Balor is going for the World Heavyweight Championship on Saturday, Alvarez noted that literally anybody else on the roster could have been used for the spot Hayes was put in. Meltzer thought it established the NXT Championship as a lesser title.

“All it did was tell everybody that [the NXT Championship] is a secondary title,” Meltzer said. “Carmelo Hayes is so far down the list that he’s like Gargano/Ciampa level…he was a plucky midcard to lowcard babyface and the NXT Champion should be a champion close to competitive with that.”

WOR Video: Could Logan Paul win WWE Money in the Bank?

Posted on by F4W Staff

Logan Paul is back in WWE, and he’s going for the Money in the Bank briefcase.

Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer discussed that segment and more on Tuesday’s Wrestling Observer Radio. Alvarez was confused by Logan Paul’s promo, where he was trying to be both a face and a heel while announcing he was part of the Money in the Bank ladder match. This brought out the participants from both brands, the latest example of the brand split not meaning anything.

“So the brand thing is over,” Meltzer said. “Not even an explanation.”

With Paul’s entry into the match, he becomes the immediate favorite.

“I think Logan Paul should win the match. I don’t know that he’ll win, but I think he should,” Meltzer said. “He’ll get a lot of publicity if he won and the other thing about that is I think the briefcase is so annoying when it’s there week after week, but if it’s there every now and then, I think that’s pretty cool.”

Meltzer even suggested that Paul could win the title, saying he’s no David Arquette, who won the WCW Championship back in 2000 while looking completely incompetent in the ring.

“This guy’s great. He can talk, he looks good, he can work, he’s great. He’s a bigger celebrity than anyone they got in the entire company, so why not?” he said.

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.”

WOR Video: AEW’s All In London event is shattering records

Posted on by F4W Staff

AEW’s All In show at Wembley Stadium in August is trending to become a historical show.

As of May 4, ticket numbers stand at 43,000, breaking AEW’s gate and attendance records before the official on-sale date on Friday.

“They’re closing in on a six-million dollar gate right now,” Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio Thursday. “Their record is just over a million, so they’re about six times their record.”

Calling the show a success, Meltzer said that as of right now, the show was the third biggest wrestling event ever in the UK, and the second highest-grossing, with last year’s WWE Clash at the Castle in Wales currently being the biggest.

“They took a gamble, and the gamble paid out.” Meltzer said.

“There’s nothing like this historically. It’s a really amazing number historically,” Meltzer added, noting that AEW has not announced a card or even a list of wrestlers that will be appearing on the show.

Meltzer also said that Friday’s on-sale date could make All In one of the biggest shows in pro wrestling history.

“It will be among the biggest first days…it will be actually, aside from a couple of WrestleManias, it will be the biggest first day sale in the history of pro wrestling than the 1992 Wembley and like I said, a few WrestleManias,” Meltzer said, noting it has paced ahead of Clash at the Castle.

All In London is shattering pro wrestling records: Wrestling Observer Radio

Posted on by F4W Staff

AEW’s All In show at Wembley Stadium in August is trending to become a historical show.

As of May 4, ticket numbers stand at 43,000, breaking AEW’s gate and attendance records before the official on-sale date on Friday.

“They’re closing in on a six-million dollar gate right now,” Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio Thursday. “Their record is just over a million, so they’re about six times their record.”

Calling the show a success, Meltzer said that as of right now, the show was the third biggest wrestling event ever in the UK, and the second highest-grossing, with last year’s WWE Clash at the Castle in Wales currently being the biggest.

“They took a gamble, and the gamble paid out.” Meltzer said.

“There’s nothing like this historically. It’s a really amazing number historically,” Meltzer added, noting that AEW has not announced a card or even a list of wrestlers that will be appearing on the show.

Meltzer also said that Friday’s on-sale date could make All In one of the biggest shows in pro wrestling history.

“It will be among the biggest first days…it will be actually, aside from a couple of WrestleManias, it will be the biggest first day sale in the history of pro wrestling than the 1992 Wembley and like I said, a few WrestleManias,” Meltzer said, noting it has paced ahead of Clash at the Castle.

WOR Video: The chaos is back in WWE

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Things are chaotic in WWE, and a lot of it has to do with one person’s return.

Meltzer pointed out that in Bianca Belair’s promo on Friday’s SmackDown, she referred to herself as the SmackDown Women’s Champion. Later in the show, however, Rhea Ripley was constantly referred to as the SmackDown Women’s Champion.

“It’s very clear that again, people are being told different things that change all the time…there’s a lot of chaos right now,” Meltzer said.

Alvarez brought up that we could see a belt exchange between Ripley and Belair, something that’s been done before to controversy.

“I don’t understand why we just can’t rename these Women’s titles so that every year we don’t have to do a belt swap, which is so hokey,” Alvarez said.

Meltzer said at the end of the day, it’s wrestling and it’s inherently hokey. Alvarez argued that it didn’t have to be that way.

“With Vince McMahon, it has to be. There’s no other way…WWE is written for Vince McMahon, it’s going to be hokey. It’s just how it is,” Meltzer said.

VIDEO: Chris Jericho & CM Punk have their meeting as the Saturday show looms

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Chris Jericho and CM Punk did hold their meeting, but details regarding it remain unknown.

Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer discussed the meeting on Wrestling Observer Radio Thursday morning.

“I just know they had the meeting on Friday and really not much else other than the meeting went well, whatever that means,” Meltzer said. “The idea of the meeting was they were going to meet, then Jericho was going to talk to [The Elite], which may have happened tonight, and…trying to smooth everything over.”

Meltzer and Alvarez then talked about the upcoming Saturday show, which was not announced on Wednesday’s Dynamite. Tony Khan appeared instead to give details on the Owen Hart Cup tournament, which will end with a Saturday event in Calgary. Meltzer said he had heard May 17th as a possible date for the new television show announcement.

Meltzer additionally brought up that it is up in the air regarding where the new show, reportedly called Collision, will air overseas, bringing up that while Rampage airs in the UK, it does not air in Canada.

VIDEO: Why is WWE doing a draft?

Posted on by F4W Staff

Talk regarding the upcoming WWE Draft took place on Wrestling Observer Radio Monday morning.

Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer were reviewing WWE SmackDown when Alvarez started to talk about the draft, pointing out that there’s more evidence to suggest the shows are better without a brand split than with one.

“In the last eight months, after Vince left, this [brand split] was done,” Alvarez said. “Guys worked wherever they needed to work, whenever they needed to work, and I have seen zero evidence in the last eight months that life was better when the [brand split] was strict. Zero evidence.”

“The whole company has been carried by The Bloodline feud, so they gotta be on every show,” Meltzer said. “Given the success of these shows, it would be absolute insanity if they kept people on separate rosters after this draft.”

Meltzer explained that it would be insanity to go back to having split rosters when evidence is clear that, if anything, WWE has benefitted from having everyone work on both SmackDown and Raw, specifically mentioning Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and The Usos.

This year’s WWE Draft begins this Friday on SmackDown and continues the following Monday on Raw.

VIDEO: The CM Punk/Elite issues in AEW remain unresolved

Posted on by F4W Staff

Amongst all the news regarding CM Punk and the new AEW Saturday night show, one thing is still true: the situation between Punk and The Elite remains unresolved.

Pat Laprade joined Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales on Wrestling Observer Radio Saturday to discuss the situation between CM Punk and The Elite, who will appear to be working on two different shows starting in June.

“ [Punk] is going to be on one show, they are going to be on Dynamite, only meet on pay-per-views and I’m like, but this thing isn’t resolved yet,” Laprade said. “I mean how can you bring a guy back. It’s almost worse than Bret and Shawn from, I don’t know, 25 years ago.”

Meltzer agreed that it’s a worse situation than the issues between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels in 1997, as he pointed out that after the two got into their backstage fight, they eventually agreed to continue to work together. Meltzer said that some in AEW backstage wonder when the next backstage drama could start up.

“I know people in the company..the mood of the people that I know there that aren’t any of the people we just mentioned…it’s kinda like, when’s the next explosion going to happen? We know it’s going to happen, we just don’t know when,” Meltzer said.

Meltzer explained that the idea seems to be that people think the backstage situation has improved, even as ratings and attendance remain soft. Punk could be the answer that AEW needs to improve business, even if it means the potential for more backstage drama.

“The thought is of course if he delivers, if Punk delivers the numbers that he did when he first came in…but we don’t know if that’s going to happen, we don’t know it’s not going to happen,” he said.

VIDEO: The CM Punk/Elite issues remain unresolved

Posted on by F4W Staff

Amongst all the news regarding CM Punk and the new AEW Saturday night show, one thing is still true: the situation between Punk and The Elite remains unresolved.

Pat Laprade joined Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales on Wrestling Observer Radio Saturday to discuss the situation between CM Punk and The Elite, who will appear to be working on two different shows starting in June.

“ [Punk] is going to be on one show, they are going to be on Dynamite, only meet on pay-per-views and I’m like, but this thing isn’t resolved yet,” Laprade said. “I mean how can you bring a guy back. It’s almost worse than Bret and Shawn from, I don’t know, 25 years ago.”

Meltzer agreed that it’s a worse situation than the issues between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels in 1997, as he pointed out that after the two got into their backstage fight, they eventually agreed to continue to work together. Meltzer said that some in AEW backstage wonder when the next backstage drama could start up.

“I know people in the company..the mood of the people that I know there that aren’t any of the people we just mentioned…it’s kinda like, when’s the next explosion going to happen? We know it’s going to happen, we just don’t know when,” Meltzer said.

Meltzer explained that the idea seems to be that people think the backstage situation has improved, even as ratings and attendance remain soft. Punk could be the answer that AEW needs to improve business, even if it means the potential for more backstage drama.

“The thought is of course if he delivers, if Punk delivers the numbers that he did when he first came in…but we don’t know if that’s going to happen, we don’t know it’s not going to happen,” he said.

VIDEO: Dave Meltzer discusses Kenny Omega vs. El Hijo del Vikingo

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Dave Meltzer discussed the new match announced for Wednesday’s Dynamite.

On Sunday morning’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer said that the match between Kenny Omega and El Hijo del Vikingo should connect well with the live crowd, but may struggle in the ratings.

“He’s a harcore wrestling fan’s name who follows lucha libre which is not enough people to sway ratings,” Meltzer said. “As far as a match that will be a great match on television on Wednesday night and make for a great show, it will probably be that.”

Providing examples such as Bandido and Kommander, Meltzer said that while unknown guys can get over to the live crowd, it will take time before the other metrics start to grow.

“These guys, they get over to the crowd when they come in and do this stuff,” Meltzer said. “But like everything else, it takes a while to build to be a player in the eyes of people who are casual viewers.”

Meltzer said that the match being added to Dynamite showed that despite recent troubles in the relationship, AAA and AEW are still willing to work with one another.

“After what happened in December with the FTR thing, the relations with AAA and with AEW, which were frayed, very much so at one point, are at least to work together, and I know 100% that AAA really wanted this match to headline a Triplemania, the logical thing to say that as show of good faith, you can have a rematch first.”