The latest WWE and AEW News and Results
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Subscribers can now read this week’s brand-new Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
The lead story is WWE’s debut on Netflix with a three-hour Raw that featured CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins, nostalgia, fans booing Hulk Hogan, and more.
Dave Meltzer also recaps last weekend’s double-dip of Tokyo Dome action with both Wrestle Kingdom 19 and Wrestle Dynasty.
Get that and all the rest of the wrestling news of the week.
Welcome to another episode of The Latest with Denise Salcedo breaking down the biggest wrestling news headlines of the week so far.
Topics:
— WWE & Netflix tout ‘strong’ viewership for Raw premiere
— TKO & Saudi Arabia reportedly set to launch boxing league
— Malakai Black believed to be done in AEW
— WWE announces partnership with ‘shared reality’ company Cosm
— Oba Femi wins WWE NXT Championship at New Year’s Evil
— Giulia wins Women’s title at WWE NXT New Year’s Evil
–Jeff Jarrett’s final AEW in-ring contract ends after one year
— WWE Raw Netflix premiere press confrence notes: Triple H on usage of ‘heel’ and ‘face’ in cold open
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including the FINAL WINNER OF THE 2024 PREDICTION CONTEST, a look at the Netflix and NXT viewership, AEW Dynamite and NXT thoughts, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
WWE and Netflix are touting that Raw got off to a strong start with a big viewership number for its premiere episode on the streaming service.
In a press release issued on Thursday, WWE and Netflix stated that Monday’s Raw episode averaged 2.6 million households in the United States in live and same-day viewing. Globally, the viewership number was nearly five million.
“Netflix and WWE, part of TKO Group Holdings, today announced that the debut episode of RAW on Netflix got off to a strong start, with the Monday night program capturing 4.9M Live+1 views globally,” the press release said.
“The inaugural event on Netflix averaged 2.6 million households (Live+SD) in the US, according to VideoAmp, which is 116% higher than RAW’s average 2024 US audience of 1.2 million households, and higher than any other Monday Night RAW broadcast in the past five years. The event also more than doubled the A18-49 audience vs. last year.”
Views are defined as “total view hours for the program divided by the runtime,” which Netflix says is their “nearest proxy for average minute audience at the household level and does not include co-viewing.”
Raw was held at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on Monday and was headlined by CM Punk defeating Seth Rollins. John Cena, The Rock, The Undertaker, and Triple H all made appearances on the show.
The press release also states that WWE generated more than 223 million social views across its platforms on the day of the Netflix premiere, which is more than any Raw episode in 2024.
San Jose, California will host the second episode of Raw on Netflix with the show set to take place from the SAP Center next Monday (January 13).
The Rock has nothing but praise for both Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns.
In the opening segment of Raw’s premiere on Netflix, Rock appeared with The People’s Championship given to him by Muhammad Ali’s widow last year, eventually handing it to his daughters. He also took time to hug TKO parent company Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel. In his promo, he ended up praising Cody Rhodes, saying that while they spilled blood all over the country in the past, Rhodes has carried the company on his back in the last year and has done an amazing job. In one final message to Rhodes, The Rock said to tell Mama Rhodes he said hello. After his promo, he exited the ring as he and Rhodes hugged.
He ended his promo by saying he would be watching the Roman Reigns/Solo Sikoa Tribal Combat match closely. After Reigns defeated Sikoa, he returned to the ring and asked Paul Heyman to hand over the ula fala. The Rock put the ula fala on Reigns as the two had a staredown. The Rock eventually extended his hand, and the two hugged as Reigns celebrated his win in the ring with The Rock standing in the corner.
During his promo, The Rock also mentioned that WWE had broken their all-time arena gate with tonight’s Raw in Los Angeles.
The situation regarding The Rock’s status for WrestleMania remains fluid, despite teasing a future match with Cody Rhodes shortly after their tag team match at WrestleMania 40. In October, Dave Meltzer reported that Rock isn’t currently scheduled for WrestleMania 41.
Logan Paul is returning to WWE.
It was announced on social media that Logan Paul would be appearing on Monday’s Raw, the first episode on Netflix. The last time Paul was seen on WWE television was at SummerSlam, when he lost the United States title to LA Knight.
After teasing retirement following his loss at SummerSlam, Paul emerged back in WWE during their Netflix kickoff event at WWE Headquarters last month. It was also announced that Paul is the newest member of the Raw roster after previously being a free agent.
In September, Paul and fiancee Nina Agdal welcomed the birth of their first child.
WWE Raw on Netflix premiere announced lineup for Monday, January 6, 2025:
The Rock says he’ll be at the WWE Raw on Netflix premiere.
On Sunday, Rock revealed in a social media post that he’s dedicating tomorrow night’s show to his grandfather, Peter Maivia, his grandmother, Lia Maivia, and his father, Rocky “Soulman” Johnson.
He wrote:
“Besides having my three daughters, my Samoan High Chief Title, High Chief Seiuli, is one of the greatest honors of my life.
I gave my word and made a commitment 20 years ago to His Highness High Chief Maleatoa Tunamafili II and to our people of Samoa that I would “leave my boyish ways behind” (well, I try 😅) and carry my Samoan, Polynesian, and Black culture around the world with great respect, pride, kindness, MANA, humility, and warrior spirit.
Fa’a Samoa (the Samoan way)
After 20 years of proudly carrying our culture with me around the world, I can’t wait to soon return back home to Samoa. I already have chills just thinking about it 🇼🇸❤️💪🏾
Until then, I’ll come back home to WWE tomorrow night as we make history on Netflix and begin a new era.
Tomorrow night is dedicated to my grandfather, the High Chief Peter Maivia, my grandmother, Lia Maivia, and my dad, Rocky ‘Soulman’ Johnson, and my ancestors who have ALL paved the way.
~ High Chief Seiuli”
It will be the first time The Rock has appeared on WWE programming live since Bad Blood in Atlanta on October 5, 2024. Whether or not he’ll perform at WrestleMania this year is unclear. At one point, he was planned to wrestle Cody Rhodes on the show. However, recent reports indicate Rhodes might wrestle John Cena instead.
Our own Dave Meltzer addressed rock’s involvement at WrestleMania 41 in Friday’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
“(Rhodes vs. Cena) isn’t etched in stone because whatever Rock wants to do, he’s likely going to be able to do. I do know that people are expecting him to appear on the show in some form. As for wrestling on the show, I even know people at the top who are expecting that, but it’s not a sure thing and one would think the Netflix show on 1/6 will kick off the season and tip the hand.”
WWE Raw on Netflix premiere announced lineup for Monday, January 6, 2025:
Seth Rollins believes WWE Raw coming to Netflix is the “biggest step forward” the pro wrestling industry has ever taken.
Rollins — a huge Chicago Bears fan — was a guest on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football on Friday. Along with discussing the state of the Bears, he promoted Raw coming to Netflix ahead of Monday’s premiere episode. Rollins said he’s really excited about the move to Netflix and believes it’s huge for the future of pro wrestling.
“It’s huge,” Rollins said before hyping the card for Raw’s Netflix debut. “It’s going to be huge. This is without a doubt the biggest step forward in the history of our industry — that’s not an understatement. We’re off cable for the first time in 30 years, going to streaming, the biggest streaming network on the planet. It’s going to be incredible. I’m really excited about this. This is — for the future of our industry, this is as big as it gets.”
The Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California is hosting Raw’s Netflix premiere this coming Monday (January 6). A grudge match between Rollins and CM Punk is headlining the episode. In addition to that, Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa will face off in a Tribal Combat match, Liv Morgan defends the Women’s World Championship against Rhea Ripley, and John Cena begins his retirement tour.
Raw ended its run on USA Network earlier this week. WWE will still have a presence on USA Network with SmackDown, which moves to a three-hour show starting tonight.
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A stipulation is being advertised for Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley’s title match on Raw’s Netflix premiere.
During this week’s episode of WWE Main Event, a graphic listed that Morgan vs. Ripley on the January 6 Raw episode will now be a Last Woman Standing match. A further announcement past that has not been made yet. Morgan’s Women’s World Championship will be on the line in the bout.
Long-time rivals Morgan and Ripley have been feuding throughout 2024 with Ripley attempting to reclaim the Women’s World Championship after having to relinquish the belt due to injury this April. Morgan won the title from Becky Lynch (who is rumored to be returning to WWE soon) in May.
At Survivor Series last month, Ripley pinned Morgan to win the women’s WarGames match.
Raw’s Netflix premiere is taking place from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins is set to main event the show. Plus, Roman Reigns faces Solo Sikoa in a Tribal Combat match, John Cena returns, and more.
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WWE Raw’s upcoming move to Netflix got some big promotion on Christmas morning.
During the pre-game show for Wednesday’s Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Kansas City Chiefs game on Netflix, WWE star CM Punk stopped by the panel for a special guest appearance. He was asked how excited he is for Raw’s Netflix premiere.
“I’m very excited,” Punk responded. “I’d imagine football is excited to be on Netflix. Wrestling is excited to be on Netflix. I think we have a tremendous global reach that’s only going to be compounded by being on Netflix, and that’s going to reach a lot of people. I’m very excited.”
Raw will debut on Netflix with its January 6 episode from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. A commercial advertising Raw’s move to the streaming service was shown prior to Punk’s appearance on the NFL pre-game.
Punk hyped that the Netflix premiere is like Christmas for WWE. He’s facing Seth Rollins in the main event of the episode, which is also set to feature a Tribal Combat match between Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa, along with Liv Morgan defending the Women’s World Championship against Rhea Ripley.
Two NFL games are airing on Netflix today as the service looks to expand into broadcasting more live programming. Raw coming to Netflix is also part of that effort, as was the recent Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match.
John Cena, who will begin his retirement tour with an appearance on Raw’s Netflix premiere, played Santa Claus in the opening video for Netflix’s NFL games.
Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa will meet next month.
During a promo on SmackDown, Reigns officially challenged Solo Sikoa to a tribal combat match for the ula fala, the necklace that signifies him as the tribal chief. Later in the show, announcers confirmed the bout for the Netflix premiere of Raw on January 6 in Los Angeles.
In the promo, Reigns said that it has been a long year, first losing his family and later losing the WWE Championship. He told Solo that he didn’t take the ula fala, it was given to him by his father and uncle. He was given that responsibility. He said that on January 6, he would take back his Bloodline, the ula fala, and his respect. And once he has that respect, the world will have no choice but to acknowledge him.
Since returning at SummerSlam, Reigns has zeroed in on Solo Sikoa, who took over as the leader of the Bloodline during his absence. At Survivor Series: WarGames, Reigns’ original Bloodline bested the new version of the Bloodline, with Reigns pinning Sikoa.
The updated card for Raw’s Netflix premiere on January 6:
The transfer window is coming.
The open of SmackDown saw Raw’s Chad Gable and American Made come out for a promo, mentioniong that he may be moving to SmackDown as part of the upcoming transfer window. Micheal Cole provided more details, saying that General Managers from Raw, SmackDown, and NXT were working together to bring wrestlers to new brands ahead of the new year.
Other stars from Raw were seen talking to SmackDown GM Nick Aldis throughout Friday’s show. In one segment, Aldis could be seen welcoming Dominik Mysterio into his office. In another, Aldis welcomed World Heavyweight Champion Gunther much to the chagrin of Carmelo Hayes, who wanted to talk to Aldis.
Raw’s move to Netflix has been heavily hyped in recent weeks and would mark the final change to WWE’s television schedule. In September, SmackDown moved from Fox to the USA Network. The following month, NXT moved from USA to the CW. Raw’s final show on USA will take place on December 30.
Dave Meltzer and I are back with our Friday episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about all the big news from today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Here were some of the things we covered:
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