Tag: Power Slap

Jake Hager, Lance Anoa’i both win in Power Slap debuts

Posted on by Josh Nason

Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion and former Bellator MMA fighter Jake Hager made his Power Slap debut on Friday a successful one.

Hager won by third round knockout over Devin “Big Jinxx” Jenkins (seen below).

Hager’s AEW contract expired in May 2024 and he was very critical of Tony Khan in an interview that came out last year, saying he was “very jaded” about his exit and lobbing claims about FTR that the team later refuted. He wrestled ten times following that exit, but has not been in the ring since November 2024.

He competed four times for the now-defunct Bellator MMA, going 3-0-1 and last fighting in October 2020. In a September 2023 interview, he said he was retired from MMA.

Also on the show, Lance Anoa’i scored a knockout win over Amanpreet Singh in his Power Slap debut while “Hollyhood” Haley J picked up a decision win over Destiny McCubbin.

WOL: Elimination Chamber, Jake Hager Power Slap, Paramount & WBD

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about including WWE Elimination Chamber, Jake Hager doing Slap Fight, Mark Nash, the RAW line-up for tonight, Paramount and WBD and how AEW might be affected, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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Former WWE and AEW wrestler to make Power Slap debut

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Former WWE and AEW wrestler Jake Hager is getting back into the combat sports game.

On TMZ’s Inside the Ring podcast, Hager revealed that he will be debuting for Dana White’s Power Slap promotion next month. He’s signed a six-appearance contract with the slap fighting company and will be making his debut during a show that’s taking place during WrestleMania week. The event will be broadcast on YouTube.

“I’m so excited to announce that I’ve signed with UFC Power Slap, and they are doing a show April 17 in Vegas live. That’s the Friday before Mania. I’ll be competing in that show in the heavyweight division,” the former Jack Swagger announced. “I’ve been told that I have a very slappable face, so I’m sure the line will be around the corner.”

Recruiting indie wrestlers into Power Slap has been a goal for the organization. Hager told Inside the Ring that Sinn Bodhi (former WWE wrestler Kizarny) works for Power Slap and was the person who reached out to him about joining the group.

Though slap fighting has drawn a lot of controversy for its risk of head injuries, Hager isn’t worried about that possibility.

“I mean, you know what you signed up for. You’re signing up to get slapped and trying to slap someone back as hard as you can,” he said. “So I expect injuries to happen. I know UFC does a great job of covering all expenses related to the injuries. I’m not worried about it, to be honest.”

Hager had a few fights for Bellator MMA from 2019-2020 but told Inside the Ring that he doesn’t think an MMA comeback is in store given that he’s about to turn 44 years old. A pro wrestling return could happen, though, despite Hager previously calling himself retired. Hager said he would like to get back into the ring now that his body is feeling better after some time off.

If a pro wrestling return does happen for Hager, it likely will not be in AEW. Hager has been very critical of AEW’s Tony Khan in other interviews, though Hager did have fun while with the promotion and appreciates that he got to be part of Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle faction.

Hager said he does not keep up with the WWE or AEW product at the moment, telling Inside the Ring that he’s busy being a father and managing the trucking company he owns.

“I definitely don’t watch AEW,” he responded when asked if he still watches WWE or AEW programming. “Like you said, I was a founding member of that company. I don’t watch a lot of pro wrestling or MMA right now. I’m pretty busy with the company and keeping the wheels turning. When I do have some downtime, I’m playing video games with my kids or playing soccer with my daughter.”

Dana White: Indie wrestlers should come to Power Slap and make ‘a sh**load of money’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

UFC boss Dana White is hoping to recruit indie wrestlers into his Power Slap league.

Power Slap is a promotion that White launched in 2022 after seeing slap-fighting videos on social media. The controversial organization airs its events on YouTube, and White is hoping that we’ll see some aspiring pro wrestlers crossover to slap fighting.

“For instance, there’s a bunch of people out there that want to get into the AEW or the WWE, right? And these guys will f*cking jump off a ladder onto a table full of tacks for $50 a night,” White told the Cutler Cast. “You can come into Power Slap and make a sh*tload of money, you know what I mean?

“And these guys are all tough guys, big guys. So we’re looking at these guys that wanted to be professional wrestlers, and a lot of other athletes around the world that didn’t become professional athletes to come into Power Slap.”

White said money isn’t a problem for Power Slap. A bigger issue has been finding a steady flow of talented fighters since, unlike when the UFC started, there isn’t an existing pool of talent.

“Any big guys out there, if you are a bodybuilder, or you’re trying to be a pro wrestler, or any of that sh*t, whatever your dream is, you can literally come into this and make some real money,” White said.

White has a relationship with WWE due to WWE and UFC both being under the TKO Sports umbrella. He is also friends with AEW founder Tony Khan.

F4D: Bryan & Filthy on Smackdown, Rampage, POWER SLAP

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Filthy Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about including our usual Smackdown report, Rampage with Continental Classic matches, who we think will win the tourney, plus, yes, a POWER SLAP finale. A fun show as always so check it out~!

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Dana White’s Power Slap not returning to TBS, finds new home

Posted on by Josh Nason

Power Slap will not be continuing on TBS.

The upstart and controversial new league, co-founded by UFC president Dana White, will instead head to video streaming service Rumble for its second and third seasons of Road to the Title.

The deal is for two years, but terms were not disclosed. It’s unknown if TBS or Warner Bros. Discovery made the decision to not renew it or if White and his partners made the decision themselves.

Rumble aired the company’s first live event this past weekend, originally scheduled to be a traditional pay-per-view.

In an announcement, White said that in addition to the next two seasons of Road to the Title, Power Slap will air eight more live events over the next two years on the conservative-leaning YouTube alternative.

White also told Pat McAfee that he is attempting to have the second season filmed in Abu Dhabi.

The reality show, built using the same playbook as the groundbreaking The Ultimate Fighter, debuted on TBS in February following AEW Dynamite.

The debut was delayed by a week following the public controversy surrounding White and his wife exchanging slaps on New Year’s Eve in a domestic dispute at a nightclub.

AEW Dynamite viewership up slightly, Power Slap doesn’t hold audience

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Wednesday night’s AEW Dynamite averaged 969,000 viewers on TBS, virtually identical to the 967,000 viewers the show did last week. This is the highest audience total for Dynamite since October 26.

In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite finished third on the cable charts with a 0.31 rating. That’s down 6.1 percent from the previous week but is Dynamite’s second-highest rating in the demo since December 14. The show only trailed two NBA games on ESPN on the cable charts.

Dynamite’s ratings were relatively steady in all demos with the biggest increase coming in the women 18-49 age group, which was up 4.6 percent. The biggest decline was in people 18-34, which had a 12 percent drop.

As compared to the same week in 2022, Dynamite’s overall audience was down 6.1 percent and its 18-49 rating was down 29.6 percent, so the audience is skewing much older. In fact, the 50-plus demo is now the strongest for AEW which hasn’t been the case historically.

The debut of Dana White’s Power Slap: Road to the Title, which aired on TBS immediately following Dynamite, did not hold much of the audience. The debut episode of Power Slap averaged 295,000 viewers and finished 45th on the cable charts with a 0.10 rating.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership and individual demo ratings for Dynamite, along with the 10-week averages in all categories. This week’s show was up 8.4 percent in overall viewers and up 3.3 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

Wrestling Observer Radio: Potential WWE sale, Vince & Stephanie timelines

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

Dave Meltzer and I are back on Wrestling Observer Radio going over all the news in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

We discuss the following:

  • Why the rumor of Saudi Arabia as the WWE buyer was running wild Tuesday night
  • New possible buyers rumored like Tony and Shad Khan and Netflix
  • Why timing of this sale is key with media rights deals coming up
  • The timelines for the changes in WWE corporate
  • Morgan Stanley analysis on WWE SmackDown
  • Dave’s 2022 year in numbers
  • AEW ratings and momentum
  • FTR taking time off
  • Power Slap and Dana White

The video version of this show is available for video subscribers at video.f4wonline.com.

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Wrestling Observer Radio: Vince McMahon is back, Dana White, Omega vs. Ospreay

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

Dave Meltzer and I are back on Wrestling Observer Radio going over all the news in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

The main topic of the show is Vince McMahon coming back to WWE. We focus on the following:

  • Vince adding himself, George Barrios, and Michelle Wilson to the board
  • The WWE meeting for employees today
  • Vince saying that no management roles will change
  • The stock being way up
  • The media landscape
  • How talent might be taking this
  • The story on Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund emerging as a possible bidder for WWE 

And then we also talk about the following subjects:

  • Dana White and Power Slap League
  • New Year Dash!! and the Omega Powers
  • Mercedes Moné, AEW, and the Battle of the Valley show
  • The history of six star ratings
  • Dynamite ratings

The video version of this show is available for video subscribers at video.f4wonline.com.

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Dana White’s ‘Power Slap’ debut pushed back one week

Posted on by Josh Nason

In the wake of video emerging of UFC president Dana White and his wife exchanging slaps during an argument on New Year’s Eve, the debut of White’s new Power Slap league has been delayed by a week.

Originally scheduled to debut after AEW Dynamite on Wednesday, January 11th, the show will now start on Wednesday, January 18th according to a TBS representative who spoke to the New York Post.

That came after the Post reported TBS is “is having serious discussions about pulling the plug” altogether. 

Earlier in the day, Jeremy Botter reported the show was no longer on any internal programming schedules, all ad spots had been dropped, and “the death of the deal…is basically just paperwork at this point.”

As of now, the show is set for an eight-episode run.

TMZ posted video earlier this week of White and his wife, Anne, having a physical altercation on New Year’s Eve at a nightclub where she slapped him and he retaliated with two slaps of his own. 

He gave an interview to TMZ where he said he had no excuse and acknowledged his past stance on how men should never lay hands on women. He claimed this was the first time anything like this had happened between them and that things were good between he and his wife. Their focus, he said, was on their three children in the wake of the incident.

ESPN, a major broadcast partner of UFC, and Endeavor, UFC’s parent company, have yet to comment about the incident.

White, former UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta, and other involved partners are hoping the league, which sees two people slap each other until one is unable to continue, would take off with a reality show in the same way The Ultimate Fighter pushed the UFC into mainstream pop culture.

The league is regulated by the Nevada Athletic Commission.