It’s Friday which means a new episode of Wrestling Weekly with Vic Sosa and Les Thatcher.
With it likely being John Cena’s final show in Chicago, tonight’s WWE SmackDown was already meaningful. But with rumors flying regarding who’s in the Windy City tonight and who may be at this month’s Wrestlepalooza, tonight’s episode has the potential to be much bigger than originally anticipated.
On this week’s show, the guys look at that as well as the week in AEW.
John LaRocca and Garrett Gonzales return with a brand-new Fight Game to discuss the latest happenings in the world of pro wrestling.
We kicked off the show with our Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down winners and losers of the week before getting to our headline topic about whether or not Tony Khan moving AEW All Out to an earlier start time was the right move.
We also talked about the following:
The possible return of AJ Lee
AEW PPVs being available on HBO Max
A low TV rating for AEW Dynamite
Whether Darby Allin has the characteristics of a top babyface
Looking at the current All Out & Wrestlepalooza lineups
An official WWE social media account looks to have spoiled AJ Lee’s return to the company.
Following a 10-year absence, it’s expected that Lee will return to the ring later this month for a mixed tag team match at WWE Wrestlepalooza. That’s been heavily hinted at on WWE television over the past few days but has not officially been announced by the company yet. But a since-deleted post from the WWE Shop X/Twitter account says new merchandise is being planned for Lee’s return.
In a since-deleted reply to Wrestling Daze, WWE Shop has spoiled AJ Lee's return. pic.twitter.com/pddIxiiclt
“With AJ Lee’s return to the ring, we are looking to have some [fire] gear hopefully in time for Wrestlepalooza,” the account wrote in response to a fan. “Be sure you’re signed up for emails and get the latest updates on new live inventory. Happy shopping!”
It’s possible that the reply could have been written by an AI bot or someone just assuming that Lee’s return is coming.
Our Bryan Alvarez has confirmed that Lee will be teaming with her husband CM Punk against fellow married couple Becky Lynch & Seth Rollins at Wrestlepalooza. The event is being held in Indianapolis on Saturday, September 20 and will begin a new era with WWE PLEs moving to ESPN’s direct-to-consumer streaming service.
With SmackDown taking place from Chicago this Friday night, we could potentially see Lee appear on the show to make the Wrestlepalooza match official. There was a segment on Raw this week where — after being taunted and slapped by Lynch — Punk warned that she would regret her actions. Punk then all but confirmed that he’ll be coming to SmackDown on Friday.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about including the latest on the return of AJ Lee to WWE, Raw thoughts from Monday night, Hologram’s clone, plus Karl Stern joins us to talk his awesome Pioneer Era Pro Wrestling Omnibus! A fun show as always so check it out~!
WWE is planning for AJ Lee to wrestle her first match in over ten years at Wrestlepalooza.
Our own Bryan Alvarez is reporting that AJ Lee and CM Punk vs. Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins is the plan for the September 20 show, which will mark the first WWE premium live event to air on ESPN.
“So Punk & AJ vs. Seth & Becky is planned for WrestlePalooza”
The former three-time Divas Champion last wrestled on the Raw after WrestleMania 31 on March 30, 2015, in San Jose, California. She teamed with Paige and Naomi in a win over Natalya and The Bella Twins in a six-person tag. The night before at WrestleMania 31, she and Paige defeated Nikki and Brie Bella in a tag team match.
AJ Lee’s last time working in wrestling was with WOW (Women of Wrestling), where she served as an executive producer and color commentator from 2021 to 2023.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including RAW from Monday night, what’s going on with AJ Lee, the UFC on Paramount deal, Dave’s thoughts on the CMLL Grand Prix match this weekend, plus some mailbag questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps: Start: ‘The Smashing Machine’ premieres at Venice Film Festival, The Rock’s slimmed-down new look 4:58: More on UFC/Paramount deal 12:24: Dave’s CMLL Grand Prix thoughts, ROH Death Before Dishonor streaming problems 23:53: AEW Dynamite & NXT lineups, more on Buford Pusser 29:20: AJ Lee possibly returning, WWE Raw recap 52:36: Q&A
– Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio covering Raw, more on Bufford Pusser and lots of other weekend shows as well as the latest news.
– Raw certainly led one to believe that AJ Lee would be coming in to team with CM Punk against Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch. As noted many times, WWE is going to want to load up the next PPV big given it’s the debut on ESPN. We haven’t gotten a confirmation that match is happening or when but on last night’s show that seemed to look like it was being set up, and it looked even more obvious today.
– The Roman Reigns injury angle is because he’s filming Street Fight for the next nearly four weeks. That’s why he wasn’t advertised for the Indianapolis PPV on 9/20.
– Just want to say I’m sorry about the PDF version of the Observer not being up until yesterday. I’m not sure what happened but the people at the site didn’t get it when I sent it on Friday and I was gone the entire weekend on a trip so didn’t get home until last night when it was put up. Also, there were two matches that were supposed to be rated from last week that weren’t that we didn’t get taken care of until last night, which were Jon Moxley vs. Daniel Garcia and Oba Femi vs. Je’Von Evans at ****1/4.
– We’re doing weekend polls on these shows:
WWE Clash in Paris yesterday’
Real American Freestyle from Cleveland on Saturday
ROH Death Before Dishonor on Friday
We’re looking for your thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match from each show to [email protected]
– Because of the holiday, ratings will be delayed this week. SmackDown numbers will be out tomorrow. Collision numbers probably won’t be out until Wednesday. Last week’s Raw number will be out tomorrow afternoon and we’ll go into detail on that. NXT won’t be out until Thursday. Dynamite will probably be out Thursday but sometimes coming off holiday weeks it’s delayed until Friday.
– Doug Hunt, who usually sends us two or three must-see matches over the weekend, listed six. No. 1 was Bandido vs. Hechicero from the ROH show on Friday. That match was incredible, easily top three of the year, many had it No. 1. I can’t say enough good about it. Athena did a great job with Mina Shirakawa having to follow that match, and while the 2300 Arena is small, the crowds thus far have been great. Others on his list were QT Marshall vs. Paul Walter Hauser, which for a celebrity match was a violent bloodbath and you can really see how much the “you’re a wrestler” chants meant to Hauser. The CMLL Grand Prix went nearly 90 minutes. I haven’t seen this one yet but have had people who thought it was incredible and others who felt it went too long. He also listed Saturday night matches with Villano III Jr. & El Hijo del Villano III vs. Lio Rush & Action Andretti from Arena Coliseo on Saturday night and Tomohiro Ishii & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Josh Alexander & Kyle Fletcher from Collision on Saturday, as well as FTR vs. Adam Priest & JD Drake. Will talk about as many of them as I can tonight as well as Sami Zayn vs. Solo Sikoa from Friday. Another one mentioned by a few people was Kazusada Higuchi vs. Jun Akiyama on the DDT Peter Pan show.
– Legendary wrestling announcer and weatherman Dave Brown turned 79 today.
– Some notes on Google searches this past weekend. With no UFC show, the only stuff was:
Clash in Paris at 130,000
The Rock/Dwayne Johnson at 50,000 because critical reviews have started coming out for The Smashing Machine. At Rotten Tomatoes it lists 93 percent positive review for the movie that comes out on 10/3 at theaters in the U.S. The North American premiere is 9/8 at 9:45 p.m. at the Toronto Film Festival
AJ Lee is at 20,000 based on the rumors of her returning to WWE
Darren Till is at 20,000 for his knockout of Luke Rockhold
Nothing from Real American Freestyle’s debut was listed
– We’re looking for reports from Paris today regarding the matches not on the live show or anything else to [email protected]
– Buff Bagwell will be part of Memphis Wrestling on Saturday with Wrestling Night for the Memphis Redbirds at Autozone Park.
– Pro Wrestling Revolucion will be having matches all day on 9/13 at the Mexican Heritage Plaza as part of the Chile, Mole, Pozole event as well as there will be matches at the San Jose Earthquakes game that night at Levi’s Stadium featuring an appearance of Blue Demon Jr. There will also be matches at the Santa Cruz County Fair that day as well as on 9/10, 9/11, 9/12 and 9/14. There will also be matches Wednesday night at the San Jose Giants minor league baseball game.
– Josh Alexander vs. TJP for the Canadian title has been added to the Maple Leaf Wrestling show on Friday night in Ohsweken, Ontario that also has Grail champion Rohan Raju vs. Bishop Dyer, Canadian women’s champion Gisele Shaw vs. Priscilla Kelly, PCO & Shotzi Blackheart vs. Taylor Rising & Kris Chambers plus Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Billy Gunn, Stu Grayson and Ace Austin.
– The second Real American Freestyle show will be on 11/8 according to an article in Cleveland.com. Eric Bischoff said he would announce the date and location (rumored to be in the Northeast) later in the week.
– NXT tomorrow night has Lash Legend vs. Jaida Parker, Candice LeRae vs. Xia Brookside in the Speed tournament over 3:00 and Hank & Tank & Oba Femi & Ricky Saints vs. DarkState.
– AEW Wednesday at the 2300 Arena has Mercedes Mone vs. Alex Windsor for the TBS title and Adam Page & Kenny Omega & Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey vs. Young Bucks & Josh Alexander & Kyle Fletcher.
– TNA will be live Thursday night on AXS TV from Minneapolis with Matt & Jeff Hardy & Masa Sade vs. John Skyler & Jason Hotch & Tasha Steelz, Eddei Edwards & Brian Myers vs. Nic & RyanNemeth, Indi Hart vs. Dani Luna vs. Jody Threat in a winner gets a shot at Ash by Elegance for the TNA women’s title, AJ Francis vs. Moose plus Mike Santana and Joe Hendry.
– There will be a Q&A on Wednesday night at the Graza Foot Hall in Minneapolis with the Hardys.
– TNA is doing a promotional appearance on 9/25 in Edmonton, before its shows in that market at The Rec Room in South Edmonton with Trick Williams, Leon Slater, Matt Hardy, Steve Maclin and Ash.
– Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Chris Brookes was announced for the 11/3 DDT show at Sumo Hall in Tokyo.
– Bam Bam Bigelow would have turned 64 today. Doug Williams turned 53 today.
– Green Mountain Wrestlingon 9/14 in Barre, VT at the ElksLodge with a one-night tournament to crown a champion.
AJ Lee’s long-awaited WWE return could be happening as soon as this Friday.
At WWE’s Clash in Paris PLE, Becky Lynch helped her husband Seth Rollins retain the World Heavyweight Championship in a fatal four-way match. She low blowed CM Punk in the process, which led to speculation that we could see AJ Lee return and help her husband Punk even the odds against Rollins and Lynch.
It still hasn’t been confirmed that Lee is coming back to WWE — or if she’ll be competing in the ring when she does — but today’s Raw episode included a tease that Lee could appear on SmackDown in Chicago this Friday night. After being taunted and slapped by Lynch in a promo segment, Punk warned Lynch that she is going to regret putting her hands on him. Punk then all but confirmed that he’ll be showing up on SmackDown in his hometown of Chicago.
There were multiple chants for Lee during the Punk-Lynch promo battle. At one point, Lynch responded to the fans: “Classic, always chanting for a dope that doesn’t work here.”
Becky Lynch’s response to the loud chants for AJ Lee:
“Classic, always chanting for a dope that doesn’t work here!”
An in-ring comeback would be Lee’s first match since 2015. She was a popular star and champion for WWE during the 2010s. Since retiring, she’s published a memoir as well as working as a screenwriter in Hollywood. Lee (AJ Mendez) did have a wrestling role from 2021-2023, when she was part of the Women of Wrestling promotion as an executive producer and commentator.
The husband-wife duo of Rollins and Lynch are both champions at the moment with Rollins holding the World Heavyweight Championship and Lynch holding the Women’s Intercontinental Championship.
Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois is hosting this week’s SmackDown, with an appearance by John Cena also set for the episode. It will be Cena’s final appearance in Chicago before he retires from the ring.
The full Punk-Lynch segment from Raw can be watched below:
Fightful Select reported on Sunday that the former Divas Champion has been brought up in “numerous pitches” as of late. Following the end of Clash of Paris, it was noted to Fightful that the pitches were related to that ending, and some of those pitches “weren’t quite shut down like they used to be.”
“We can’t confirm an AJ Lee return is a go, but sources in WWE said there has been more traction on it of late than in previous years,” Fightful’s report states.
The end of Sunday’s WWE Clash in Paris event saw Becky Lynch interfere on Seth Rollins’ behalf, low blowing Lee’s husband CM Punk and allowing Rollins to score the win with a stomp, retaining the World title. While discussing the finish at the Clash in Paris post-show, Lee’s name was brought up by the panel as a potential backup for Punk.
In the years since her retirement in 2015 due to a neck injury, Lee has focused on a writing career and being an advocate for mental health. She briefly returned to wrestling in 2021 as an executive producer and color commentator for Women of Wrestling before departing the company two years later.
Updating the John Cena/Cody Rhodes interview, what was and wasn’t said, update on the plans for WrestleMania as well as the current ticket demand and interest level.
WBD expresses interest in UFC and evaluating the value of the UFC PPV business, the methods of distribution, how many buyers or subscribers will it take to cover what UFC wants and that value, how a deal with WBD would affect AEW (it would, perhaps significantly).
Full coverage of the final week of the New Japan Cup, including a look at one of the best shows of the year and New Japan’s next major show.
2024 Gaspard/Huber award winners, the most important award we give each year
The most detailed look at the ratings for the various shows, including competition, men vs. women and things to note from the different shows over the past week.
Build to CMLL’s second biggest event of the year
How the foreign talent is doing in Mexico
AAA champion suspended in key market and why
Difference between commission suspensions in U.S. and Mexico
What WWE superstar was suspended for a drug test failure by athletic commissions nationwide and a commission didn’t honor it and why several years back
Angle for a non-wrestling booker to face a woman star in a match
Homicide retirement notes
A look back at the most famous NCAA wrestling tournament match of all-time
The state of El Hijo del Santo’s retirement tour
Updates on Border City Wrestling
Queen of the Ring updates
More on the early days of women’s pro wrestling history
Mandy Rose talks business after wrestling
AEW Dynasty updates including business
AEW and the Ryan Nemeth lawsuit against the company, Tony Khan and CM Punk
International TV and streaming numbers
WWE countering AEW PPV shows
Lex Luger Hall of Fame questions
How much is Dwayne Johhnson’s ownership of TKO worth
How much is Vince McMahon’s current ownership worth
Lots of injury updates
Developmental updates
This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter Back Issue
Earthquake’s family reacted to the news that he and Typhoon are being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame: “We are BEYOND excited to be able to officially share that our dad, alongside his friend and tag team partner, Fred Ottman, will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. It’s an unbelievable honor to say that they’re both a part of the Class of 2025, and we are truly so grateful that our father’s lifelong dedication to this singular craft is being recognized on the world stage. Thank you for all of your love and support for our dad – you all made this dream come true. We are so grateful. To think “John from West Virginia” will be cemented as one of the top heels in the business is surreal… and we are so, so proud of our dad.”
Chris Bey reflected on his benefit show held on Sunday in a post on X: “Last night was an incredible moment I’ll never forget. A show with wrestlers from every company and talent from all over the world. Thank you to everyone who tuned in on @Triller_TV @FSWVegas. Wrestling is family, we are family. I love you all.”
TNA has uploaded the full Unbreakable event from 2005 featuring AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe.
AJ Lee and Aimee Garcia’s short film Aimee Comes Firstrecently premiered at the San Diego Latino Film Festival.
Atlantis and KUSHIDA have been confirmed for MLW’s Battle Riot on April 5.
Despite her name being on a bracelet at the center of her husband’s feud with Drew McIntyre, AJ Mendez (FKA AJ Lee) appears to know very little about the storyline.
The former Divas Champion is busy promoting her upcoming comic book Day of the Dead Girl, which recently announced a Kickstarter campaign. During an interview with Comicbook.com, AJ was asked about Punk’s current storyline and she admitted she has no idea what’s going on.
“I mean this in the most loving way, I have no idea what’s going on [laughs]. I’m weird about like — I don’t want to watch my husband wrestle live because I’m scared. It’s like a weird juju thing,” Mendez said. “But also, it’s kind of like when you go home from work, do you open up your email? It’s kind of like that. It feels like that if people can understand. So, I’m sort of on theperiphery, and I get kind of looped in mostly for women’s stuff, because that’s what I’m interested in.”
“So my husband will let me know who’s the cool chick at the moment. And I’m so obsessed with people. Like Bayley and Naomi? Those are my girls. So that’s what’s interesting to me. I kind of don’t know what’s happening in the storyline. I know that my dog is famous all of a sudden! He’s got some surprise merch coming. I’ve been privy to that. But it’s cool. I’m happy that he’s happy and healthy and just killing it. I’m proud.”
Replicas of the fan-made bracelet at the center of the storyline are back being sold on WWE.com after briefly being taken off the site, although they now feature CM Punk’s name rather than Larry and April. The fan who made the original bracelet for Punk is hoping she’ll be sent one.
Day of the Dead Girl releases October 9. A description of the miniseries reads as follows:
“Death is never the end of the story. Coroner Sam Castillo will learn this the hard way, when a supernatural serial killer targets her hometown just as she moves back. A skeptical woman of science, Sam butts heads with her spiritual mother Ana, a leader of a witch coven specializing in Brujeria. But when the coven’s Brujas start turning up murdered, Sam and Ana must work together to find the killer and save their town’s Day of the Dead festival from turning into an occult bloodbath. As if sharing a bathroom with her mom wasn’t hard enough.”
NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez still hopes to face her idol AJ Lee one day.
Perez grew up as a huge AJ Lee fan and saw her as an inspiration. In a picture that’s since resurfaced on social media, Perez got emotional when meeting Lee outside of a WWE show when she was younger. Lee now considers Perez one of her wrestling “daughters.”
Facing Lee would be a dream match for Perez. And though it’s been nearly a decade since Lee retired from the ring, Perez is still hopeful that the match could happen. Perez told Pro Wrestling Illustrated that she’s had conversations with Lee’s husband CM Punk about trying to get her back in the ring.
“Definitely, yeah. I try,” Perez said. “But [Punk] tells me that he’s doing the same thing. He’s trying to get her to, like, come back, pulling her in. But I hope one day she decides to come back and have a match with me.”
Lee (AJ Mendez) stepped away from WWE in 2015 following a neck injury. She’s since built a career as a writer and has been focused on mental health advocacy. In 2021, Lee was named as an executive producer and color commentator for Women of Wrestling. She departed the promotion in 2023.
A trailer for the upcoming season of Heels has been released.
The second season of the show premieres July 28 on the STARZ app. Punk is set to reprise his role as Ricky Rabies and AJ Mendez will debut on the show playing Elle Dorado. Both were shown in the season two trailer helping to train the character of Crystal Tyler played by Kelli Berglund
Season two begins after a spectacular showing at the South Georgia State Fair, and the Duffy Wrestling League’s popularity is suddenly on the upswing. Hoping to seize the opportunity, Jack and his cohorts prepare for a possible business deal with a new streaming service that may propel them onto a national stage. But the past and its tragedies threaten to upset everything when Ace leaves Duffy and the Dome in his rearview, meanwhile rival promotion Florida Wrestling Dystopia’s vengeful frontman Gully comes calling,” reads a description of the show.
The first season of the show aired from August to October 2021 and consisted of eight episodes. It has a 96% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Stephen Amell will reprise his role as Jack Spade while Alexander Ludwig returns as his brother, Ace. Other roles include Alison Luff as Staci Spade, Mary McCormick as Willie, Allen Maldonado as Rooster, Robby Ramos as Diego Cottonmouth, Trey Trucker as Bobby Pin, Mike O’Malley as Charlie, Roxton Garcia as Thomas Spade, David James Ellito as Tom Spade and Alice Barrett Mitchell as Carol Spade.
WOW is returning to television with a familiar wrestling personality also returning to the business to help relaunch the brand.
AJ Mendez will serve as an executive producer and color commentator for the WOW – Women of Wrestling show when it returns to TV in syndication in September 2022 on ViacomCBS stations in the United States.
Mendez has not been involved in pro wrestling since her retirement from WWE in 2015, but she has fashioned a new career as an author, comic book writer and mental health advocate.
WOW announced their relaunch with a press release and a press conference on Wednesday. WOW and Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, WOW and GLOW’s original creator and Buss’s business partner David McClane, Mendez, Tessa Blanchard and The Beast were all part of the presser. A trailer for the new season of WOW can be seen here.
WOW last produced content in 2019. A series of tapings in 2018 and 2019 produced a season of WOW Superheroes that aired on AXS TV. When Impact’s parent company Anthem bought AXS, that signified the end of the partnership between WOW and AXS.
WOW began as a successor to GLOW and ran in syndication during the pro wrestling boom period in 2000 and 2001. It was dark for over a decade, then was relaunched in 2012. It has since sporadically produced content on a variety of platforms.
The WOW release trumpets the ViacomCBS deal as the largest distribution platform in the company’s existence.
Past seasons of WOW will be made available on CW Seed and Pluto TV channels beginning in December 2021 in advance of the relaunch, according to Entertainment Tonight.
Danni, Alex Gracia, Briana Montez, Kate Smith and Imo Akpan were other talent mentioned in the WOW press release.
AEW’s CM Punk said not to expect wife AJ Lee to join him in returning to the ring.
Talking with the New York Post as part of a big media push for Sunday’s All Out, Punk was asked if Lee was interested in returning to the ring and whether him returning to pro wrestling helped light a spark to do so herself.
“I just want to say no…just because of her neck. The reason she stopped wrestling is because of her neck,” he said. “I wouldn’t want her to jeopardize her health and neither would she, so we’ll put an end to that rumor right now.”
Then in WWE, the 34-year-old Lee retired from in-ring competition in April 2014. She later said it was due to permanent damage in her cervical spine.
Since retiring, Lee (April Mendez) wrote a memoir that hit no. 10 on the New York Times best-seller list, co-wrote several comic book series and has since moved into screenwriting. She and Punk (Phil Brooks) have been married since June 2014.
