The latest WWE and AEW News and Results
Dave Meltzer and I are back talking about Terence Crawford’s victory over Canelo Alvarez on Saturday night.
Here were some of the other things we discussed:
Click here to listen (sub needed) or watch on YouTube
Dave Meltzer and I are back with the Friday edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about all the big news from today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Here were some of the things we discussed:
Click here to listen (sub needed) or watch on YouTube
John LaRocca and Garrett Gonzales return with a brand-new Fight Game to discuss the latest happenings in the world of 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 AJ Lee’s return to WWE.
We also talked about the following:
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There likely wasn’t ever much question as to what would main event WWE Wrestlepalooza, but it’s now officially confirmed that John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar will be going on last.
Wrestlepalooza takes place in Indianapolis on Saturday, September 20 and will be the first WWE PLE to air on ESPN’s new streaming service. To hype up the start of the PLE deal, WWE commentator Joe Tessitore appeared on SportsCenter, previewing the Wrestlepalooza card. He stated that Cena vs. Lesnar will be the main event.
“Understand this, Brock Lesnar is a different beast. He is literally ‘The Beast Incarnate.’ In all my years of being in combat sports, I don’t care if it’s early on covering Mike Tyson or later stages here with WWE and all of the championship fights I’ve covered — I have never experienced anybody quite like just the physical presence of Brock Lesnar,” Tessitore said. “The air changes when he enters the arena, and that is going to be your main event at Wrestlepalooza.”
Lesnar is returning to the ring for the first time since 2023. After his name was mentioned in Janel Grant’s lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE, Lesnar spent nearly two years away from the company until returning this August at SummerSlam.
This will be one of the last matches of Cena’s career with his December 13 retirement fast approaching.
Another in-ring return is taking place at Wrestlepalooza with AJ Lee competing for the first time in a decade. She’s teaming with her husband CM Punk in a mixed tag match against married couple Becky Lynch & Seth Rollins.
“She was this amazing character going back over a decade ago that everybody loved. Then she went away from the business, she retired, she had success in other arenas in life,” Tessitore said. “Her husband, CM Punk, made a huge return a couple years ago. And then all of a sudden, if you could have heard this pop [last Friday]. I’m sitting there broadcasting this thing up in Milwaukee. People love her.”
The Wrestlepalooza PLE has a start time of 7 p.m. Eastern on September 20. Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis is hosting the show.
TKO chief operating officer Mark Shapiro is putting a lot of stock into this month’s WWE WrestlePalooza.
Shapiro spoke at the annual Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference Wednesday where he talked about the September 20 premium live event that will kick off their multi-year deal with ESPN. Audio from the talk can be found below.
He said they hope Wrestlepalooza is “an annual recurring franchise” for the company and one that is both is on par with two of their most notable annual PLEs and becomes part of their big four events of the WWE year.
“Hopefully, Wrestlepalooza is a winner and we can bring that back annually. That could be a marketing bonanza for us if we do that right,” he said, adding that Paul “Triple H” Levesque is spending day and night creatively making “what we think it can be: another WrestleMania or another SummerSlam.”
He said the Royal Rumble is just below that level and they feel Wrestlepalooza could be in that quadrant.
The Saturday show from Indianapolis, Indiana, will be the first PLE on the new ESPN streaming service and will run partially head-to-head with the AEW All Out pay-per-view.
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:
FIRST TIME SUBSCRIBERS GET 50% OFF – Exclusive Subscriber only Podcasts
Click Here to Listen (sub needed)
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including AEW moving the start time of All Out and a big debate on whether they should have, AEW PPVs moving to MAX, Arena Mexico, Nick Hogan suing Bubba, Netflix, Jon Jones exonerated, AEW Dynamite and NXT TV reviews, and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: AEW PPVs heading to Max, AEW All Out moving early to avoid WWE Wrestlepalooza
23:11: Netflix viewership, other ratings
37:32: Nick Hogan suing Bubba the Love Sponge, CMLL notes
42:28: MMA notes on Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Chael Sonnen, AJ Mana & Rampage Jackson
57:20: AEW Dynamite recap
1:16:22: WWE NXT notes
AEW is moving up the start time of All Out 2025, with the pay-per-view no longer set to go directly head-to-head with WWE Wrestlepalooza.
First reported by Fightful today, All Out’s main card will now begin at 3 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, September 20. This means at least most of the show will have already happened by the time WWE’s PLE begins at 7 p.m. Eastern. The original start time for All Out was slated to be 8 p.m.
“Sources that Fightful Select spoke to in AEW said that the afternoon PPV success of Forbidden Door helped contribute to the decision, which had been discussed for weeks,” the report said.
All Out is being held at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto with Adam Copeland & Christian Cage vs. FTR the first match confirmed for the PPV.
Wrestlepalooza is a newly added event to the WWE PLE calendar. It will kick off a new era for WWE with this being the first PLE to air on ESPN’s new streaming service. John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar is expected to be the main event, with the return of AJ Lee also anticipated. Stephanie Vaquer vs. IYO SKY for the vacant Women’s World Championship is the first match officially confirmed.
All Out will also mark a new beginning for AEW with it being the first AEW PPV available on HBO Max. Other providers will still carry the event, but the marketing and promotion of the show will center around HBO Max.
“HBO Max will stream AEW PPV events without ads, with all marketing and promotions of the events primarily centered on HBO Max,” it was announced. “Preorders for AEW All Out will launch Sept. 5, with U.S.-based HBO Max subscribers able to purchase the PPV for the exclusive price of $39.99. Purchase and access to PPV content may vary by subscription provider.”
A new Women’s World Champion is set to be crowned at WWE Wrestlepalooza.
To determine the new champ, Stephanie Vaquer and IYO SKY will face off at the Saturday, September 20 PLE in Indianapolis. Both competitors were owed Women’s World Championship shots against Naomi, who vacated the belt two weeks ago when she revealed her pregnancy.
The announcement of the Vaquer vs. SKY match was made by Raw General Manager Adam Pearce via a video that aired on today’s episode from France:
Vaquer won a battle royal at WWE Evolution earlier this summer to earn a Women’s World Championship shot at Clash in Paris, but those plans were called off with Naomi vacating the belt. SKY had been scheduled to challenge Naomi for the title prior to Clash in Paris — but that match also could not happen due to Naomi being unable to compete.
If Vaquer wins, this will be her first title reign on the WWE main roster. She’s been a champion in NXT before, as well as holding titles internationally for promotions like CMLL and NJPW.
SKY was Women’s World Champion prior to Naomi cashing in at Evolution.
Wrestlepalooza is the first WWE PLE of the ESPN era. The show will stream live on ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer streaming service at 7 p.m. Eastern time.
The first WWE PLE of the ESPN era is now official with Indianapolis set to host Wrestlepalooza this September.
It was confirmed today that the first-ever WWE Wrestlepalooza will emanate live from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Saturday, September 20. The show will be the first WWE PLE to stream live on ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer service, which officially launches this week.
Originally, the WWE-ESPN deal was not supposed to begin until 2026. But WWE is finishing up its PLE commitments with Peacock at the end of this month, paving the way for this new event to be added and the ESPN era to begin earlier than anticipated.
“On September 20, WWE and ESPN are coming together for a can’t-miss event to kick off our new partnership,” Paul “Triple H” Levesque said in a press release. “The biggest Superstars in WWE. The biggest brand in sports media. Are you ready?”
No matches are confirmed for Wrestlepalooza as of now, but it’s expected that the card will be headlined by John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar. WWE has not officially announced Lesnar for the show yet, but Cena, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, CM Punk, and Drew McIntyre are all advertised.
Tickets for Wrestlepalooza are going on sale to the general public this Friday (August 22) at 10 a.m. Eastern time.
The WWE-ESPN PLE deal is reportedly worth $1.6 billion ($325 million per year for five years). In addition to airing on the new ESPN streaming service, some select events in the future will also be simulcast on television.
ESPN has confirmed that the streaming service will also carry WWE’s two remaining PLEs for 2025: October’s Crown Jewel and November’s Survivor Series. The service is priced at $29.99 per month or $299.99 per year, though at least some viewers who already pay for ESPN through a cable package will receive the service at no extra cost.
Netflix is still the broadcast home for WWE PLEs outside of the United States, with Wrestlepalooza set to stream on Netflix for international viewers.
September 20 will be a busy night for wrestling fans with Wrestlepalooza going head-to-head with AEW All Out 2025.
