The lineup for this Thursday’s Ring of Honor on HonorClub TV show will feature three title matches.
NJPW TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. will continue his recent ROH run as he defends against Rocky Romero. Sabre Jr. is 2-0 in TV titles defenses in the red and black promotion and is coming off a tag team win alongside ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe last week.
ROH Women’s Champion Athena will look to extend her long winning streak as she defends against Kiera Hogan. Athena is entering her sixth month as champion and hasn’t lost since last September’s AEW All Out — a stretch of over 40 matches.
ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata will attempt to earn his second title defense since winning the gold in March as he takes on Alex Coughlin in a teacher vs. student match.
In what should be an exciting trios encounter, AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo will team with Komander & Bandido against Jack Cartwheel, Angelico & Serpentico.
Here’s the full lineup:
ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata defends against Alex Coughlin
ROH Women’s Champion Athena defends against Kiera Hogan
NJPW TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defends against Rocky Romero
The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) vs. The Infantry (Shawn Dean & Carlie Bravo)
Kip Sabian and The Butcher & The Blade vs. Shogun, Bryce Saturn & Jakob Austin Young
El Hijo del Vikingo, Komander & Bandido vs. Jack Cartwheel, Angelico & Serpentico
Brian Cage vs. Willie Mack
Action Andretti & Darius Martin vs. The WorkHorsemen (JD Drake & Anthony Henry)
Dark Order (Alex Reynolds, John Silver & Evil Uno) vs. The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch) and Stu Grayson
Tony Khan on Twitter confirmed Saturday that Bandido will challenge Orange Cassidy for the International Championship on this coming Wednesday’s Dynamite in Sunrise, Florida.
“This Wednesday, 4/26 Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS at 8pm ET/7pm CT AEW International Title @orangecassidy vs. @bandidowrestler Orange Cassidy has won 19 straight title defenses, but standing in the way of 20 is the highly anticipated return of Bandido THIS WEDNESDAY!,” Khan wrote.
Bandido has been out of action for months due to visa issues, with his last AEW appearance being on the January 4 edition of AEW Dark Elevation, defeating Christopher Daniels. Orange Cassidy has been constantly defending the International Championship, most recently on the April 12 edition of Dynamite where he defeated Buddy Matthews.
Here is the updated lineup for Wednesday’s Dynamite:
AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy defends against Bandido
TBS Champion Jade Cargill defends against Taya Valkyrie
Sammy Guevara vs. Darby Allin in the Four Pillars tournament final
*Update on C.M. Punk. AEW’s new television deal, issues a Saturday show has to deal with and pluses of a Saturday show
*Lots of news on WWE & AEW major shows the next few months, including All In, SummerSlam, Double or Nothing and Backlash.
*Nick Khan talks the WWE/UFC merer and what it means, upcoming negotiations, how Endeavor can help WWE grow, WWE budget cuts and more
*Full coverage of AAA TripleMania, the good, the bad, the angles and more
*Full coverage of New Japan’s U.S. tour in Washington, DC and Philadelphia
*Ted DiBiase Jr. indicted on 13 counts in welfare fraud cause, and updates on it
*Full coverage of Saturday’s UFC show
*The most detailed look at the TV ratings from the past week, including where wrestling ranks with sports an with entertainment programing, competition, segment by segment, comparisons with last year and more
*Continuation of the CMLL champion of champions tournament
*Mercedes Mone in Japan, negotiation updates, her comments on Japan and more
*Details of the biggest women’s show in Japan in decades this weekend at the Yokohama Arena
*Ticket sale update on the show
*Cinderella tournament finals
*Champion Carnival update
*Notes on major NOAH show
*Will Ospreay talks future
*John Morrison’s boxing debut and comments form that
*Lots of notes on he death of Butch Miller
*Bill Goldberg and a retirement tour
*Abdullah the Butcher and financial issues
*NCAA looking at changes to wrestling rules and scoring and why
*Concert/wrestling joint promotions
*Major European show this weekend loaded with top international stars
*Impact major show rundown
*Lots of fallout to C.M. Punk returning to AEW
*Great lesson for AEW wen getting a big sports lead-in going forward
*Lots of injury updates
*Advanced ticket sales for WWE & AEW upcoming show
*Streaming numbers for WWE & AEW
*International TV ratings
*What milestone did Raw achieve this past week
*What milestone did AEW achieve this past week
*Lots of new UFC major fights
*What were the most in-demand sports tickets so far in 2023
*Former UFC fighter arrested in a $200,000 burglary
*More details on the new WWE Twitch deal
*WWE performer goes into another major sports competition next week and attempts to make the 2024 Olympic team
*Notes on two WWE signees that a betting site already has odds that one of them will be world champion by 2027
*Notes on all the WWE live events on the road over the past week
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Friday Update
Garrett Gonzales and I will be doing our show on Saturday morning this week and there is a ton to talk about, plus we’ll be doing history talking thing like Bruno Sammartino, Andre the Giant. Bryan and I will be doing our weekend show on Sunday night.
Bandido’s new visa and passport are literally in his hands so he will be back in AEW shortly.
Smackdown is tonight in Columbus, OH, with Gunther vs. Xavier Woods for the IC title, Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan vs. Sonya Deville & Chelsea Green for the tag team titles and Viking Raiders vs. Braun Strowman & Ricochet. They had 9,500 tickets out as of this morning so with a walk-up would probably hit 10,000. It looks like it’ll be up 55 percent or more from the last night Smackdown ran in the building last year.
A Dwayne Johnson 2022 Panini Prizm WWE Back Prizm trading card sold for $126,000 last night at the PWCC marketplace. It would have been the largest sale of a WWE trading card of all-time. The reason the price was so high is that only one card was printed. Because there was only one card, showing Rock vs. Steve Austin, it was considered the most valuable trading card from WWE in existence.
Rampage will be airing tomorrow night at 10 p.m. Eastern headlined by El Hijo del Vikingo defending the AAA title against Dralistico, Jon Moxley vs. Christopher Daniels, and FTR & Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal vs. Slim J & Tony Nese & Ari Daivari & Josh “Woods.
We’re looking for reports on these weekend shows:
*WWE Smackdown tonight in Columbus, OH (dark matches only)
*GCW tonight in Atlanta
*WWE Saturday night in Fort Wayne, IN
*WWE Sunday night in Toledo, OH
We’re looking for results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]
We’re doing one weekend poll, which will be for Sunday’s Stardom show at the Yokohama Arena. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
UFC tomorrow at the Apex in Las Vegas which starts at 4 p.m. Eastern time
Brady Hiestrand (136) vs. Batgerel Danaa (136)
Francis Marshall (146) vs. William Gomis (147) – Gomis missed by one pound
Mohammed Usman (239.5) vs. Junior Tafa (252)
Karol Rosa (144.5) vs. Norma Dumont (145)
Rani Yahya (136) vs. Montel Jackson (136)
Ricky Glenn (155.5) vs. Christos Giagos (155.5)
Jeremiah Wells (171) vs. Matthew Semelsberger (171)
Jasmin Lucindo (126) vs. Brogan Walker (126)
Bobby Green (156) vs. Jared Gordon (155.5)
Brad Tavares (185) vs. Bruno Silva (185)
Sergei Pavlovich (260.5) vs,. Curtis Blaydes (262.5)
Priscila Cachoeira vs. Karine Silva was canceled as Cachoeira missed weight by four pounds
Bellator runs tonight on Showtime at 10 p.m. as part of its two shows in Honolulu at the Neil Blasdell Center Arena:
Liz Carmouche (125) vs. DeAnna Bennett (126.2)
Tim Johnson (262) vs. Said Sowma (239.2)
Arlene Blencowe (146) vs. Sara McMann (145.6)
Danny Sabatello (135.6) vs. Marcos Breno (136)
Levan Chokheli (169.6) vs. Michael Lombardo (170.8)
The main event is unique as it was to be for the flyweight title. Bennett missed weight by 1.2 pounds so she can’t win the title. Carmouche said that she would still put up the title and if she loses, she will vacate the title. I have no idea why she would do this.
Ray Borg also had what was called weight management issues and was pulled from tonight’s show. There must be something serious to this because Bellator has released him and his management team has dropped him for missing weight. Borg, who once fought for the UFC flyweight title against Demetrious Johnson, had missed weight four times already in his career. He was to be facing Kyoji Horiguchi.
Bellator also runs tomorrow night in the same building at 11 p.m.
Charlie Leary (164.2) vs. Yancy Medeiros (162.4)
James Gonzalez (145.8) vs. Aaron Pico (145.6)
Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (126) vs. Kana Watanabe (125.6)
Raufeon Stots (134.2) vs. Patchy Mix (135) for the bantamweight Grand Prix and a $1 million prize and the interim bantamweight title
This is Pico’s return after his horrible shoulder injury in October and surgery. Macfarlane is super over in Honolulu and has some of the best ring entrances anywhere.
Other Notes
David Taylor has been added to the Beat the Streets event on 6/10 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ which will feature best of three matches to determine who represents the U.S. in the upcoming world wrestling championships . The names wrestling announced so far are Taylor (189 pounds), Amit Elor (women 158), Zain Retherford (154), Kayla Miracle (women 136), Yianni Diakomihalis (143), Sarah Hildebranddt (women 110), Kyle Dake (162), Kyle Snyder (213), Helen Maroulis (women 125) and Jordan Burroughs (174). Taylor, 32 won a gold medal in 2021 and was world champion in 2018 and 2022. In college he won the Danny Hodge trophy in both 2012 and 2014.
MCW is doing an all-women’s show on Saturday night in Joppa, MD at the RJ Meyer Arena. Leila Grey of AEW is on the show.
AIW tomorrow night in Akron, OH at the Tadmoor Shrine has AIW champion Matt Cardona vs. Joshua Bishop, Fred Rosser vs. Dominic Garrini, plus Tom Lawlor, Jordan Oliver, Steph De Lander and a meet and greet with Ron Simmons.
The PFL has announced a show on 7/8 in Berlin, Germany at the Verti Music Hall. The show will air live on DAZN. Farfbod Iran Nezhad (11-2) vs,. Francesco Nuzzi (9-1)_ headlines the show. The shows on 7/8 in Berlin, 9/30 in Paris and 12/8 in Dublin will be part of tournaments in different weight classes with $100,000 going to the winners.
Join on-camera personality Denise Salcedo on her weekly Speak Now Pro Wrestling post-show where she covers AEW Dynamite every single Wednesday here on F4W Online.
Matches announced for the show:
–Orange Cassidy(c) vs. Jay Lethal –AEW All-Atlantic Championship.
—The Young Bucks(Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. Top Flight(Darius Martin & Dante Martin)
–Jake Hager vs. Ricky Starks
–Willow Nightingale vs. Toni Storm
–Darby Allin(c) vs. KUSHIDA – AEW TNT Championship
Bryan Danielson will face Bandido on the January 18 AEW Dynamite.
In a match announced during this week’s Dynamite, Danielson will face Bandido on next week’s show at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California.
Danielson, the top contender to MJF’s AEW World title, will wrestle for the fourth consecutive week on Dynamite as he continues his march towards a title bout with MJF.
In another singles bout announced for next week, Ricky Starks will be in action against Jake Hager of the Jericho Appreciation Society.
Starks vs. Hager was announced by Excalibur during a rundown of next week’s episode, but Starks formally issued the challenge to Hager in a promo segment that immediately followed the rundown.
AEW also announced that they will reveal more matches for next week’s Dynamite during this week’s Rampage episode.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including three injuries in both AEW and WWE and how they all tie in to house shows and young talent developing, Rampage, Smackdown, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Tony Khan announced on social media Friday evening that Bandido had signed with the company. It was reported earlier this month by Dave Meltzer that he had signed with the company, choosing to go to AEW over WWE, who had also offered Bandido a contract.
Bandido is best known for his runs in PWG and Ring of Honor, where he was the world champion of both promotions at one point. When Tony Khan purchased Ring of Honor earlier this year, he continued to use Bandido, who at the time was Ring of Honor World Champion. At Khan’s first ROH event Supercard of Honor in April, Jonathan Gresham defeated Bandido to unify the championship.
Bandido has also made several appearances for AEW, most recently losing to Chris Jericho in a ROH World title match on Dynamite that took place on September 28.
Brian Cage and Bandido have advanced in the AEW World title eliminator tournament.
Cage defeated Dante Martin on Friday’s Rampage to advance after hitting Martin with Weapon X. Bandido defeated Rush after John Silver of the Dark Order came out to ringside, distracting Rush long enough for Bandido to score the rollup win.
The winner of Friday’s match between Cage and Martin is set to take on the winner of a match between Lance Archer and Ricky Starks. However, Starks was taken out in an angle that aired on social media, with AEW later announcing the match wouldn’t take place on Friday’s show. It is currently not known when the Starks/Archer match will take place.
Ethan Page was the first to advance in the tournament, defeating Eddie Kingston. He will face Bandido on next week’s Dynamite.
The winner of the tournament, which will be determined at Full Gear on November 19, will receive an AEW World title match at the Winter is Coming Dynamite special, which will air on December 14.
More details on Bandido’s AEW contract have been revealed along with his rationale for not signing with WWE.
In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that his full-time contract is for three years and has a maximum amount of dates.
While Meltzer didn’t have the amount of dates, he was told “it is more matches than most AEW wrestlers work in a year now, so that shouldn’t be an issue, but that could change if they (start doing) house shows.”
While Bandido was initially thought to be signing with AEW following his post-Chris Jericho Dynamite match contract offer, he also got an offer from WWE that he was mulling over before doing so.
The reasons for Bandido choosing the AEW offer were family related.
“In the end, he realized he couldn’t sign with WWE because he has a child in Mexico, his significant other doesn’t want to move from Mexico, and he doesn’t want to not see his child all the time,” Meltzer wrote.
A WWE deal, where it’s assumed he would begin in NXT, would require him to be based in Florida with any main roster call-up likely keeping him away from home more often than he would like to be.
Bandido will have his second match in AEW on Friday’s Rampage as he takes on Rush in the first round of the AEW World title eliminator tournament.
Bandido has signed his AEW contract, according to Dave Meltzer.
The 27-year-old was initially offered a contract following his promotional debut on the Wednesday, September 28th Dynamite against ROH Champion Chris Jericho.
In early-October, our website initially reported he had signed the deal but retracted it after it was learned Bandido had also received an offer from WWE. He was considering both while saying in an interview that he was leaning toward accepting the AEW offer.
Bandido is working for PWG Sunday in a trios match with Aramis & Komander against Latigo, Arez & Black Taurus. He recently wrestled in Japan, Mexico and Belgium.
The length of the deal and details on his ability to work outside AEW are unknown as of now.
AEW is the third televised U.S.-based organization Bandido debuted with this year, joining Impact Wrestling and MLW. He is a former ROH Champion, ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champion, and former PWG Champion.
He is set to face Rush on this Friday’s AEW Rampage in the first round of the AEW World title eliminator tournament.
Despite reports Wednesday that stated otherwise, Bandido has not signed his contract with AEW.
Fightful reported Wednesday that Bandido had agreed to terms with Dave Meltzer later confirming he had signed a deal. On Thursday, Meltzer reported that he was incorrect and that a source close to the Mexican star told him he had not signed his deal.
The 27-year-old was offered a contract immediately following his AEW debut eight days ago against Ring of Honor Champion Chris Jericho on Dynamite.
In an interview with Mas Lucha, Bandido said he is still in talks with AEW, but also confirmed he received an offer from WWE as well.
After being offered a contract immediately following his promotional debut last Wednesday, Bandido has signed his full-time AEW contract.
Fightful first reported the news Wednesday and Dave Meltzer confirmed earlier this evening.
The length of the deal and specific details on his ability to work outside AEW are unknown.
The 27-year-old challenged Ring of Honor Champion Chris Jericho in last Wednesday’s main event, eventually falling in defeat. Fightful had previously reported that Bandido was unable to get his gear on time due to the match being made on short notice, but was professional and positive backstage in dealing with it.
AEW was the third televised U.S.-based organization Bandido debuted with this year, joining Impact Wrestling and MLW.
Bandido is a former ROH Champion, ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champion, and former PWG Champion.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including an AEW staffer’s house burning down and how you can help, Dynamite ratings, update on the NXT Performance Center, VICE doing a documentary on Vince McMahon, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
