The latest WWE and AEW News and Results
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It’s a big weekend of wrestling for AEW and WWE and that means another big Wrestling Weekly with Les Thatcher and Vic Sosa.
The guys run down the cards for both shows and make predictions about who will emerge victorious and who might have to rethink their next move.
Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!
Editor’s Note: This is an opinion-based preview that reflects the views of the author and not our website.
Seven years in, Saturday’s AEW All Out is both a pay-per-view and a checkpoint: a place where AEW takes stock of what it is, where they are as a company, and what it might become.
The roster is battered and its depth is tested for the first time in a long time. Yet, the company still stands tall as the most viable alternative in modern wrestling history. A second, viable North American wrestling promotion is a boon to the entire industry; iron sharpens iron and all that. A perfect approval rating will never exist, but the alternative AEW provides is needed.
Injuries to Kenny Omega, Will Ospreay, and Swerve Strickland leave this year’s card without some of its most reliable big show anchors. All performers who, if they weren’t closing the show, were a sure bet to steal it. But absences lead to opportunities and AEW has a roster filled with names: Willow Nightingale, Daniel Garcia, Kris Statlander, Jamie Hayter, Queen Aminata and Konosuke Takeshita are among those who are ready for more.
A new generation in wrestling comes faster than anyone expects. For growth to continue, new stars must be developed.
All Out 2025 (3 PM Eastern main card start on PPV) is a test of depth, of patience, and of AEW’s ability to make new stars when old ones aren’t available. Let’s take a look at the card.
FTR has to be kicking their feet in the air and giggling at the thought of this match. Two men who live and breathe tag team wrestling get to square off with Hall of Fame-level Canadians in front of their home crowd. It’s the perfect storm for Dax and Cash who have looked revitalized in recent months. Cope, for me, has always been a mixed bag — overlong matches, overstuffed with drama — but there’s no denying that he’s a living legend.
Christian, a different kind of legend but one all the same, refuses to soften his edges and fully give the crowd what they want. Together, it works.
AEW does this kind of nostalgia showcase better than anyone. FTR will do everything in their power to make the legends shine. Cope and Christian will hit their spots, soak up the deserved love, and go over. Let’s keep this one under 15 minutes, boys.
Prediction: Cope and Christian
It’s a stroke of booking genius to announce this match rather than have it be a surprise. It gives the audience something to be excited about while saving the outrageous return pop Kingston will receive. Kingston’s authenticity and fervor in the ring are desperately needed. His absence was glaring. I’m thrilled he’s back.
Few things in wrestling are as satisfying as Kingston walloping another man. Bill, meanwhile, has quietly become one of AEW’s most effective big men: simple moves presented without irony. This won’t be pretty and it shouldn’t be. Kingston thrives in these meat-and-potatoes brawls, the kind where emotion carries more than execution. Bill will get his moments: a chokeslam here, a big boot there, but make no mistake, this is Eddie’s showcase. He’ll drag Bill into the deep water, spit in his face, yapping the whole time.
Prediction: Eddie Kingston
Just because this is likely the filler match doesn’t mean it won’t be good with a solid faction on one side, a reinvented daredevil and two bruisers on the other. Lashley and Benjamin are closer to the “greatest hits” stage of their careers rather than their prime, but that can still be wildly effective when paired with Ricochet’s chicanery and the raw power of Kaun and Liona.
The wheel won’t be reinvented, but it doesn’t need to be in order to be successful. Expect Ricochet to bounce around like a pinball, Lashley to hit one or two spears that could be considered like assault, and for the Gates of Agony to show people who they are and what they can do (they’re good!).
Prediction: The Hurt Syndicate
I should have saved the ‘kicking their feet in the air and giggling’ reference I used earlier for this match. Moxley and Allin have to be over the moon coming up with some really sick things they can do to each other during this match. These are two men who would happily hurl themselves into actual caskets and get buried alive if the occasion called for it. Maybe even light it on fire while we’re at it, but it’s also a perfect match for a perfect pairing.
Moxley is the connective tissue of AEW. There is no situation where he can’t shine. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is, the program, or the match. You can drop him into anything and trust it will land. Darby, meanwhile, remains wrestling’s crash test dummy, a man with no regard for either his body or tomorrow. If this clicks, and it should, this won’t feel like a stipulation match, but more like a natural extension of who these two are.
Expect a car crash watched between slits in your fingers, full of blood, and bodies crumpled in unnatural shapes. No one will be left wondering if they held anything back. Darby is one of the few performers in wrestling who is not hurt by losses. Mox wins and continues his path of destruction on whoever steps up next.
Prediction: Moxley
AEW is never better than when it leans into chaos and there are few wrestlers more chaotic than Mark Briscoe. He’s a one-man demolition derby. The idea of him and Darby Allin working on a blank canvas fills me with joy. Pairing Briscoe’s brand of unhinged with MJF, a man who is all about control and theatrics, is a recipe for either disaster or delight, depending on how self-indulgent the newly married Max (congrats!) is feeling.
He must show restraint and let the match itself be the theatrics. The match will be over the top without his typical antics. His job is to hold the match together and to provide structure around the madness. If he leans into being more of a conductor instead of a melodramatist, this could be special.
The stipulation pushes MJF out of his comfort zone while Briscoe will gleefully throw himself through every piece of furniture in the building if it means entertaining the crowd. Blood is promised; just how much is the unknown. As much as I’d like to see Briscoe gain some constant momentum, I don’t think that’s happening.
Prediction: MJF
Mercedes Mone is at her most compelling when she can lean into cruelty. Against Riho, she has a rare size and power advantage which should allow her to work with a different cadence: stretching her out, bullying her, making every bump feel violent.
Riho is an AEW original, someone who can pull on the crowd’s heartstrings and rallying them through her resilience. The success of this match depends on contrast: Mercedes as the precision villain vs. Riho as the stubborn survivor. Play that chord and we have some music. It’s not an epic waiting to happen, but it’s a smart piece of matchmaking.
It’s always nice to see Riho pop back up for her semi-annual six-week run. There were certainly signs of ring rust, but she’s a proven performer on big stages. There’s the potential for some seriously gruesome bumping in this match. Count me in.
Prediction: Mone retains
For all of Okada’s undeniable greatness, this match feels like Takeshita’s to define. He’s been on the cusp of superstardom for what feels like forever and it’s only a matter of time before he makes his move to that tier. If Kenny Omega couldn’t bring out the full Okada experience, can Takeshita? At some point, perhaps, but not in a triple threat.
The subtle teases for an Okada/Takeshita collision have been there for a while, but this doesn’t feel like two titans settling a final score. This is the amuse-bouche for something more and hopefully something greater. It should lead to the Don Callis family imploding in some capacity with Takeshita emerging as a top of the card babyface that’s been inside of him all along.
The intrigue comes in the form of Dorada. He prevents the straight-line collision between Okada and Takeshita. He’s certainly not here to win, but to add a sense of bombast and excitement to the match. Besides, if Big Kazu decides to run this one at 60% capacity, Dorada can certainly pump up the heartbeat of the match.
Prediction: Okada retains
This is AEW at its most AEW: eight wildly different wrestlers thrown into a ladder match with full intentions to tear the house down. JetSpeed brings the juice, Knight and Speedball look better and better every week, and Hechicero’s unorthodox brilliance meshing with Josh Alexander’s no-nonsense power.
Then there’s Brodido, a pairing that shouldn’t work on paper but absolutely does. What do you mean the lead singer of a hardcore band is partnering with a masked bandit? That brings us, then, to the Young Bucks. Not much needs to be said about these absolute legends. 20 years of wrestling their style, wrestling their way, and transforming an industry. Their style doesn’t lend itself to longevity, but here they are, as good as they’ve ever been after all this time.
Expect insanity, expect bodies flying off ladders, and expect at least one terrifying spot that will have the older pro wrestling ‘intelligentsia’ clutching their pearls. But don’t expect the belts to change hands. Let Brodido cook for awhile as they’re too much fun to cut short. The Bucks will come close, JetSpeed will shine, and the Callis Family will menace, but Brodido stays on top.
Prediction: Brodido retains
An ace elevates everyone around them. Toni Storm is exactly that. More than anyone else in the company, she is a foundation. The entire women’s division works because of her. She is the sun everything revolves around. Not everything is a home run, but nothing ever misses. The three most important people to AEW right now are Toni, Moxley, and Hangman and she’s not third on that list.
Kris Statlander is here to take the pin, I fear. She remains AEW’s perennial “almost,” talented enough for the spot but perpetually stuck in holding patterns. The parallels with Daniel Garcia’s character are certainly noted. Booking replete with half measures and unfulfilled teases leave her in perpetual limbo. The talent is well and truly there, but something has to change for it to completely click.
Prediction: Storm retains
When I listed people ready to make the leap, Kyle Fletcher’s name wasn’t listed. That’s because he’s already made it. He’s seized his opportunity and run through a wall with it. He is ruthlessly efficient. His moves hit hard and hit with purpose. His rise has been consistent with no moment too big for the preternaturally talented Aussie. This is the biggest moment of his career. I doubt he shrinks from it.
Page is as reliable a champion as AEW could want. He’s always good for a fight, always capable of tapping into emotion. Will this be as memorable as his clashes with Omega or Swerve? Probably not as there’s not enough heart in the story. When emotion is involved, no one is better than Hangman. If this had a few more weeks, maybe we could get there. As is, we’re looking at an incredibly solid main event with the potential for more.
Expect Hangman to give Fletcher a ton, maybe too much, before closing the door. The goal of this match isn’t for Page to dominate, but to put the final stamp on the main event version of “The Protostar” Kyle Fletcher.
Prediction: Page retains
The following is an opinion-based preview and reflects that of the author, not of the website.
Over the last six months, I have become a martini guy. Partially out of an unrealistic and romanticized idea of what the cocktail is, and partially because I can only have two drinks at a time, so I better make them count.
A good martini is alert. It makes you sit up a little straighter and open your eyes a bit wider. It is a polite nudge asking for your attention. The first sip reminds you that you are, in fact, alive. Now I ask you, my beautiful readers, if Saturday’s AEW All Out (8 PM EST on various PPV providers) asks for your attention.
More importantly, does it make you feel alive? We watch wrestling to feel something, to be moved by the indomitable physical spirit of the performers. There are a couple of matches that make me feel something and give me a real tingle in my plums. The rest? Color me intrigued. That’s all I ever ask for.
I was down on last year’s All Out and it wound up blowing me away. If All In brings the pageantry, maybe this is the show Tony Khan books for the sickos. Let’s run through some previews & predictions for Saturday’s show from the NOW Arena in Chicago.
After doing a career-threatening neck injury spot, Garcia returned to a huge pop at All In. The dancing is gone and Red Death is back. Garcia is an example of someone AEW seems to have waffled on. Much like Konosuke Takeshita, he has been handed a number of frustrating starts and stops. Maybe some of that is contract-related, maybe it’s a lack of foresight. It’s likely a bit of both. Regardless, the fans remain invested in his success and now is the time to prove their faith founded. If not now, when?
All I could do was shake my head when MJF popped up on the Dynamite after All In and was no worse for wear. While others have sold the impact of the Tiger Driver for weeks, everyone’s favorite overbearing superhero had other ideas. Armed with only kinesiology tape on his neck and conviction in his heart, MJF showed up to rip off yet another promo rather than at least pretending to sell the move. Alas, we soldier on in the hopes he does the right thing on Saturday.
I would have liked a longer build, but the All In/All Out schedule does not allow for that. Garcia goes over nonetheless
Prediction: Garcia
I love PAC; he will go down as a big ‘what could have been.’ What if AEW existed a few years earlier? What if WWE cared more about wrestling talent than how a person looked? What if he could dodge the injury bug just a teensy bit more? In my best Bill Simmons impression, ‘You know, Russillo, there’s a real sliding doors situation with this guy PAC! People forget he beat Kenny Omega! If a few things broke right, I really think we’re talking about a pantheon level wrestler.’
Terrible impressions aside, there’s an alternate future where he’s had far more acclaim, far more time on television, and far, far more gold.
While PAC brings love out of me, Ospreay still brings some hesitation. I remain astonished at what he is physically capable of in the ring. Often, it veers too much into caricature, but, my lord, there is nothing he can’t do. He is a physical marvel. The Ospreay matches I enjoy have a grounding element or him working against something. His matches against Bryan Danielson and Lance Archer immediately come to mind. They tempered his worst instincts as a performer and gave the matches structure. Ospreay’s worst instincts are brought out when he’s in the ring with someone who can match his athletic gifts. He can lean too far into self-indulgence in an attempt to make a moment. What gives me hope, though, is that PAC does not suffer for melodrama. He does not allow for a lightness of being. Something special is in the realistic range of outcomes for this, and consider me interested.
Prediction: Ospreay retains
The Star vs The Ace. A match where, hopefully, Mone can show everyone in AEW what she’s truly capable of in the ring. Her match with Britt Baker at All In was disappointing. I’m loathe to use this term after just deriding Ospreay for seeking this out, but she lacks that “signature moment” in AEW. I’m not worried, I’m not shook, I’m just saying that it’s time to do something that stays in our brains for more than an hour. So far, her biggest moment has been her debut and while that is a high bar to clear, nothing in the ring has been special. These two wrestled back in August and it was perfectly fine. This weekend, I’m hoping for something that sings.
If Mercedes is looking for someone to shine with, few are better to do that with than Shida. She’s proven she can have a good match with anyone and in any type of match. Mercedes is someone who is tempted to overact: exaggerating her movements, stretching the moments like taffy. Shida is someone who can both play into that and punish it. She’ll let her wrestle the match she wants and be the perfect foil. It’s been too long since she had a big spot on a major show. It’s great to see her back, albeit certainly in a losing effort.
Prediction: Mone retains
This originally was set to be for Nightingale’s CMLL Women’s title, but that was changed this week.
There has been tremendous content from these three over the past few months which is unsurprising considering the individual talents involved. I’ve been waiting for years for Hathaway to get a chance to be his special brand of funny on TV. Equal parts irreverent and bitingly smart, he is such a unique performer. His previous failings were not through any fault of his own, merely the wrong circumstances. The stars are aligned now, and seeing him flourish is wonderful.
He is matched in performance by both Nightingale and Statlander. Not much more needs to be said about Willow. She’s well on her way toward being the biggest babyface on the female side of the roster. Her opportunities to grow and develop her character in meaningful programs outside of the main event will pay off in spades. Statlander is a delight in the antagonist role. Like Big Stoke, she has a brand of humor that is entirely her own and entirely weird. The pairing has allowed her to lean into that, and has brought the best out of both of them. This should continue for a long, long time.
Plunder matches are always fun and Willow especially shines in them.
Prediction: Willow wins
Here are five quick observations about this match since it was announced late on Wednesday and I am tired:
Prediction: Bucks retain
All roads are pointing towards a Konosuke Takeshita and Okada program in the (hopefully) near future. I am trying to manage my expectations around Takeshita; I refuse to have the rug pulled out from underneath me again. If that’s the direction they go and he does the deal, he would have beaten both Okada and Kenny Omega, two of the best wrestlers of this century. The list of who has done that in marquee matchups is minuscule. It’s not like they’re fighting against the crowd to get him over either. Whenever he’s been given a sustained chance, the crowd is extremely into it.
Regardless of who winds up in the match, an Okada victory is all but assured.
Prediction: Okada retains
It’s sink or swim for the former Jungle Jack. If he can’t have something approaching a memorable performance with Danielson this weekend, I’m afraid it might be Joever for the “Scapegoat.” His match at All In was encouraging, though. Beating Darby Allin in his signature coffin match certainly raised my eyebrows. An easy and apt comparison for Perry is Sammy Guevara. Both have had a ton of TV time and endless opportunities, but neither of them are anywhere near the top of the card. Neither do anything at a top level. They each cap out at “pretty good.” In 20 years they’ll just be some guys we remember on occasion, not wrestlers whose work we seek out. And pretty good isn’t nearly good enough to retire the Greatest Of All Time.
His opponent, Danielson, is someone whose work will be sought out forever. He capped off his remarkable career with an incredible main event performance at All Out. The perfect modern wrestler got to feel the confetti fall and celebrate in the middle of the ring with his family. AEW’s treatment of legends in the twilight of their career could not be better. Giving them special moments on their terms harbors more goodwill than any match booked for the sickos ever will. Unfortunately, the sickos are going to be disappointed. With so few matches left in his full-time career, this certainly is one of them.
Prediction: Danielson retains
When Swerve’s pre-tape about buying his childhood home aired early in Dynamite, I was the physical embodiment of the Jack Nicholson nodding gif. When Hangman showed up sloshing gasoline around, I was kicking my feet in the air and giggling. Then he lit the whole thing on fire and poured himself a drink.
This is why we watch this silly, perfect sport.
Clearly, this is a main event that requires no championship stakes. AEW has done an incredible job keeping this feud top of mind even when Swerve was preoccupied with something else. It never felt overbearing, but the constant reminders — delivered through the best work of Adam Page’s career — kept this feeling fresh. Page’s level of work can’t be understated. This is a performer unrecognizable from his time as the fresh-faced AEW World champion. Imbued with new dad strength and fueled by vengeance, Page has transformed everything about his character. It’s all different from the wrestling, the manner of speaking, and even how he walks.
And it should be different! He was traumatized by Swerve Strickland. Swerve broke into his house and threatened his infant son. If a man isn’t transformed by that, of what use is he as a man? If going through that didn’t bring about change, why would we ever care about him? Up until Wednesday, he was seen as the aggressor in this feud, rather than the aggrieved. That speaks more to Swerve’s likability and Q-rating more than flaws in Page’s performance. This is a layered, deeply interesting character whose future is a source of endless fascination. There are so many ways this can go, and I can’t wait to see where.
Swerve might not be the champion, but my gosh, was he strong in defeat. There’s certainly no shame in losing to Bryan Danielson in the way that he did. He put on a main event that would not have been out of place at any All In or WrestleMania, for that matter. It may be easy to assign much of the credit to Danielson, but Swerve raised his game to its apex. He wrestled that match as much for the people in the front row as the ones in the nose bleeds. He has become a no doubt main eventer — one who elevates the quality of the programs in which he is involved just by showing up.
It seems like AEW wants this to be their forever feud. For that to happen, Page needs to get some type of a win. Swerve is bulletproof and can take the loss but if Page loses, how much further into madness can he fall?
Prediction: Page
