Dave Meltzer and I are back with our Friday episode of Wrestling Observer Radio. We talked about all the big news in today’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and took questions from subscribers about the AEW TV deal.
Though his title won’t be on the line, Cody Rhodes is looking forward to returning to Atlanta as Undisputed WWE Champion.
Rhodes and Roman Reigns are teaming up for the first time ever this Saturday night, facing Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu in the main event of WWE Bad Blood. The show is being held at State Farm Arena in Atlanta — which is Rhodes’ hometown and was once home to WCW.
“It always feels Game of Thrones-like in a sense,” Rhodes told Billboard about bringing the WWE title home to Atlanta. “Here’s the belt from formerly the World Wide Wrestling Federation and the Northeast Territory and I was just this Georgia Championship Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions, WCW kid. To be able to be the first Rhodes to have it, but also bring it back to where The Omni once stood. I mean, I got goosebumps when they put The Omni in the scene from [SmackDown’s] Georgia Tech [episode] because being able to be on the ground of that building and to have this [belt], was not expected. It’s a homecoming. I’m very much looking forward to it.”
Rhodes has been champion since dethroning Reigns at WrestleMania 40. The two rivals are now uniting against a common enemy in The Bloodline. After Reigns lost at WrestleMania, Sikoa made himself the new Tribal Chief and reshaped The Bloodline with the additions of Fatu, Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa.
Bad Blood has a start time of 6 p.m. Eastern this Saturday, airing live on Peacock/WWE Network.
WWE Bad Blood (Saturday, October 5) —
Cody Rhodes & Roman Reigns vs. The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu)
Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan defends against Rhea Ripley (Dominik Mysterio will be suspended above the ring in a shark cage)
Damian Priest vs. Finn Balor
WWE Women’s Champion Nia Jax defends against Bayley
It’s a newsworthy week with AEW’s TV deal finally becoming official and some huge matches set for Bad Blood this Saturday. We’ll look at what the TV deal means for AEW and make our picks for the WWE PLE.
The lead story, and one of the biggest stories of the year, is the new AEW media rights deal with WBD. We take you inside the numbers, how things came together, and what’s potentially still to come.
I also look back at the kickoff to the NXT on CW era which started this past Tuesday.
I also look ahead to this Saturday’s WWE Bad Blood — one of the hottest tickets in recent wrestling history.
I also talk about this year’s Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame ballot which just came out this week and all the other stories in wrestling and MMA.
The life of Vince McMahon and the Netflix documentary. This is a lengthy story talking about the documentary, my reactions, more details on the various stories talked about, comments from Vince McMahon, Bill Simmons, Ann Callis, things we did learn, what wasn’t accurate and what wasn’t and reviews.
More on what the latest settlement in the Cung Le lawsuit against UFC entails, how much more fighters will be getting if the judge approves this, and if the judge doesn’t, what happens next.
A note about Bad Blood and Wrestle Dream, interest levels of both and card update.
How the audiences for WWE & AEW have changed over the past year, as far as income, viewing together and age of viewers. What show viewerships have grown in income the most over the past year.
The most detailed look at the ratings of the past week, placings for the night and week, competition, segment by segment numbers and more.
The upcoming women’s World Grand Prix show.
Wrestling star accused of kidnapping his son
Toni Storm returns to Japan.
The 48th World Tag League from All Jaan
Thoughts on Queen of Villains
El Hijo del Santo retirement tour
Tony Khan talks more business
Fenix and Penta update
International TV ratings and streaming number s
Ricochet talks this past week
Ticket advances for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
More notes on the UFC show at The Sphere
Changes to WWE television in 2025
This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter Back Issue
PWInsider reports that Cody Rhodes & Roman Reigns vs. Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu is scheduled to main event Bad Blood this Saturday night. CM Punk and Drew McIntyre’s Hell in a Cell match is set to open the show.
Rhodes told Undisputed that, with him and Reigns teaming together, Bad Blood will be the best WWE PLE to date: “Anything is really possible now. The quarterback and the cornerstone. It’ll be the best WWE PLE to date.”
Rhodes spoke to Complex about Bad Blood being in his hometown of Atlanta:
When you’re the one in the ring in your home, where you grew up, I mean, literally, the train tracks that you would go over to get to The Omni backstage are the same train tracks that you go over to get to State Farm backstage. The same spot I watch Sting and watch Dusty walk and all the fans see them and then have that moment, I get to walk that… You try to make every town your town as WWE champion, but there are those places you grew up. There are those places that informed you and created you.
In an interview with the New York Post, Roxanne Perez reflected on her promo segment with CM Punk from the September 17 episode of NXT:
That was, oh my gosh, I mean to have an in-ring promo with, like, the best promo I think ever, was so insane. It definitely was like a pinch-me moment. But the fact that I’ve been able to create a friendship with him and sit under his learning tree for months now, I think being able to have that relationship definitely made me so much more comfortable.
I do remember getting in the ring and starting to say my lines and just really feeling it because I was just like, wow, this is insane. I’m standing in the ring with someone that I looked up to my whole life. A part of me was like, well, I can’t believe this but another part of me was like, wait, I can believe this, because this is everything I’ve ever worked for. I felt like I definitely stood my ground. I gave him a little bit of attitude, something that he would have done a few years ago.
With October 1 being the 19th anniversary of Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi, ROH will revisit the classic bout on tonight’s TV episode on HonorClub with Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman doing commentary. The episode has a special start time of 8 p.m. Eastern (one hour later than usual).
Indie wrestler Juicy Finau apologized for an Oasis Pro angle where Journey Fatu had supposedly gone “missing.” The angle had received criticism on social media, especially for its timing given how many people are missing in real life due to Hurricane Helene.
Finau wrote:
First & Foremost I want to apologize for any emotional damage & distress I have caused with the following Journey angle. We’ve been working on this story since early august for our home promotion. Unfortunately I wasn’t aware of the situation that is currently happening in the real world. I want to apologize for My ignorance to current world events. I am sorry. To those I have offended with this I apologize sincerely. This was only meant to be a story and it blew up. I am sorry.
CM Punk is determined to deliver a classic Hell in a Cell match at WWE Bad Blood.
On the 27th anniversary of the first-ever Hell in a Cell match, Punk and Drew McIntyre will square off inside of the cell this Saturday night. It’s the culmination of a story that has lasted throughout 2024. Punk and McIntyre each own a victory over the other with their record tied at 1-1 during their intense rivalry.
Punk told the No Contest-Wrestling podcast that his goal is to bring Hell in a Cell back to its roots with this match. He believes that, for too long, WWE got away from what Hell in a Cell was originally supposed to be.
“I feel like I have to deliver a classic. And I have to stay true to myself, my beliefs of what good wrestling is, and that cell that I feel like as a company we’ve gotten away from for so long. Where it just became a toy. Like, ‘We’re just going to have a pay-per-view, call it Hell in a Cell, and everyone’s going to go inside and have matches.’ When in reality that should be presented as the most dangerous, diabolical thing that any wrestler would ever want to do,” Punk said.
“I want to bring it back to what it’s supposed to be. I don’t want to have a cell that needs a match, I want to have a match that needs the cell. And I feel like me and Drew have done that. Like, there’s no other way — there’s no other way to settle this.”
Punk has wrestled in five other Hell in a Cell matches in his career. This is his first since 2013.
The first Hell in a Cell match took place on October 5, 1997 with Shawn Michaels defeating The Undertaker at Badd Blood: In Your House.
State Farm Arena in Atlanta is hosting Bad Blood 2024 this Saturday. The event has a start time of 6 p.m. Eastern.
The October 5 WWE Bad Blood PLE in Atlanta will have a pair of hosts in the Women’s Tag Team Champions.
WWE revealed during Friday’s SmackDown that Women’s Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill will serve as hosts for next Saturday’s Bad Blood event.
A hype video for the hosts aired during Friday’s SmackDown:
Five matches are currently official for next Saturday’s show at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, with a Gunther vs. Sami Zayn World Heavyweight title match also teased for the event, though not yet officially announced.
WWE Bad Blood, Saturday, October 5, 6 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock/WWE Network —
Hell in a Cell match: CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre
Roman Reigns & Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu
WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan defends against Rhea Ripley
WWE Women’s Champion Nia Jax defends against Bayley
Damian Priest vs. Finn Balor
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill host
The former Women’s Champion has a chance to reclaim the title from Nia Jax at Bad Blood on October 5 in Atlanta. She defeated Naomi to become the new number one contender, connecting with the elbow off the top rope for the win. After the match, Bayley attempted to shake Naomi’s hand but Naomi instead left the ring, appearing upset with the loss.
Two weeks ago Nia Jax and Tiffany Stratton challenged Naomi and Bayley to a match where if they pinned her or Stratton, they would get a title match at Bad Blood. But if Jax or Stratton pinned either of them, whoever lost would have to leave SmackDown. Naomi and Bayley ended up both getting the pin on last week’s SmackDown, leading to a disputed finish. The number one contender’s match was then set for this week’s show.
Towards the end of SmackDown, it was also announced that the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill would be hosting next month’s premium live event.
Here is the updated lineup for Bad Blood:
WWE Bad Blood 2024 (Saturday, October 5) —
Hell in a Cell match: CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre
Roman Reigns & Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu
Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan defends against Rhea Ripley
WWE Women’s Champion Nia Jax defends against Bayley
Dominik Mysterio will be suspended above the ring in a shark cage for the Women’s World title match at WWE Bad Blood.
A new stipulation was added to the Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley Women’s World Championship match set for Bad Blood, as Raw GM Adam Pearce announced during Monday’s program that due to his interference in past Morgan matches, Mysterio will be placed in a hark cage for the title bout.
Five matches are official for the Bad Blood PLE, with a sixth — Gunther vs. Sami Zayn for the World Heavyweight Championship — expected to be added to the card.
Bad Blood is set for Atlanta on Saturday, October 5. The current lineup:
Cody Rhodes & Roman Reigns vs. Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu
Hell in a Cell match: CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre
Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan defends against Rhea Ripley with Dominik Mysterio suspended in a shark cage above the ring
WWE Women’s Champion Nia Jax defends against Bayley or Naomi
Cody Rhodes could have a special entrance at WWE Bad Blood.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff marching band, also known as The Marching Musical Machine of the Mid-South, has announced that they will be performing at the October 5 pay-per-view in Atlanta. The band made headlines recently when they played Rhodes’ theme song “Kingdom” during the August 29 football game between Arkansas and Arksansas-Pine Bluff.
Rhodes responded to a clip of the band’s performance on X, writing:
“Berlin had me already fired up for #WWEBash But THIS may be played once or twice in the locker room before my match today. Awesome stuff”
The university’s director of bands John Graham spoke with ESPN about the reaction the song received.
“When our arranger put the song on paper for us, I looked at it [and] some of the students were shaking their heads thinking, ‘No, why are we playing this’ and then we started rehearsing it, the piece came alive,” he said.
“I said, ‘This is going to go.'”
“As soon as I dropped the hammer and we started playing, I looked over and saw fans reacting like, ‘They’re playing “Kingdom,'” Graham continued. “I saw them standing up with excitement and positive reactions, and I told myself, ‘We’re in here now.’ It was a beautiful moment.”
A World Championship match is expected for WWE Bad Blood.
Dave Meltzer reports that Gunther defending the World Heavyweight title against Sami Zayn at next month’s Bad Blood premium live event has been listed internally by WWE.
In Sunday’s daily update, he wrote:
Gunther vs. Sami Zayn is listed on the internal lineup for a WWE title match at Bad Blood on 10/5, so I guess it’s a six-match show and not a five-match show with the Cody Rhodes & Roman Reigns vs. Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu, Drew McIntyre vs. CM Punk Hell in a Cell, a teased Nia Jax tag match (depending on next week’s Smackdown tag match result), Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley for the women’s title and Damian Priest vs. Finn Balor.
Following the events of Bash in Berlin, Sami Zayn has confronted Gunther about getting a World Heavyweight title match on two occasions, noting that Gunther’s last loss was against him at WrestleMania 40 earlier this year. Gunther rejected the challenge, then did it again on last week’s Raw when Zayn interrupted a conversation between Gunther and Bret Hart. After Hart called Gunther yellow for ducking Zayn, Gunther and the former Intercontinental Champion ended up in a brawl that Zayn got the better of.
– Both of our weekend shows are up on the site. We got a lot of great feedback to the variety of stuff we talked about on the Friday show. Last night was UFC, and we talked some about the weekend shows, Smackdown, and what wrestling Terry Funk watched and how he followed it over the last six or so years of his life.
– Gunther vs. Sami Zayn is listed on the internal lineup for a WWE title match at Bad Blood on 10/5, so I guess it’s a six-match show and not a five-match show with the Cody Rhodes & Roman Reigns vs. Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu, Drew McIntyre vs. CM Punk Hell in a Cell, a teased Nia Jax tag match (depending on next week’s Smackdown tag match result), Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley for the women’s title and Damian Priest vs. Finn Balor.
– Last night’s UFC show had two title changes: Merab Dvalishvili over Sean O’Malley for the welterweight title and Valentina Shevchenko over Alexa Grasso to win the women’s flyweight title. Both matches were complete domination even if the Dvalishvii-O’Malley scorecards don’t indicate it. In each case it was five rounds of mostly takedown and control. Each were so dominant I don’t think there should be a rematch but O’Malley is a big enough star where there could be.
– However, there were two match-of-the-year candidates on the show. the Edgar Chairez vs. Joshua Van fight was topped by Daniel Zellhuber vs. Esteban Ribovics. Joe Rogan when the latter fight was over talked of it as one of the greatest fights of all time and that round three may have been the greatest round of all time. I thought the 4/13 Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway fight had the match of the year clinched, and it was higher profile so it gives it the edge. But this was amazing and would win fight of the year in most years, and I can see it having a real shot at winning this year.
– The other story is The Sphere. It was unlike any UFC show to date. It was an amazing production and it led to a much longer-than-usual PPV show, topping four hours for just five fights. The look was amazing and while watching my thought was that WWE and AEW should run the building, but the reality is with the cost it really doesn’t make sense. Maybe WWE could do it for a Mania, but then you can only get 15,000 fans in. But I can’t see spending $20 million for Smackdown or Raw in Vegas next year sandwiched around Mania. AEW I don’t think could financially make it work.
– The gate ended up at $22 million, the largest in MMA history and bigger than any gate in pro wrestling history as well.
– The show did 1 million Google searches, beating out the 500,000 for the Canelo Alvarez win over Edgar Berlanga in the battle of two PPV events head-to-head and both from Las Vegas. We will have an estimate on Alvarez buys later this week but UFC buys are only known to Dana White and ESPN.
– Rey and Dominik Mysterio, seated separately, were shown on the UFC show last night as part of the cross-promotional efforts. They did not sit together for pro wrestling storyline reasons. Dominik didn’t get much of a reaction but Rey got a very big reaction.
– Mistico won the Opera Cup during MLW’s show last night beating Bad Dude Tito and then KENTA. John Layfield who was at the TNA show the night before, was the person who was teased to us as a game-changing surprise for that show. He seems to be wanting to work with promotions all over the U.S. and even outside the U.S.
– I don’t know why AEW announced that Chris Jericho beat Mistico at Aena Mexico on Friday night, both on social media and on TV. There probably is a story behind it. They listed Jericho as winning both on TV and on social media. They did later put out a post saying that Mistico had won the match. We do know that Mistico was always winning and it wasn’t a change in plans at the last minute that people didn’t know about.
– For the weekend, besides the two UFC matches that I did see, the bouts we’ve been told were the weekend highlights were the Hechicero vs. Valiente vs. Euforia vs. Esfinge four-way mask match on Friday’s Arena Mexico show (many saying best match of his year in Mexico), Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Ryohei Oiwa from Saturday’s NOAH show and Zachary Wentz vs. Mike Bailey on the TNA Victory Road show.
– Hechicero thought that he may have torn his right biceps during the four-way match.
– We’re looking for your thoughts from the Arena Mexico anniversary show on Friday so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
– If anyone wants to see the first Jon Moxley vs. Darby Allin match from years ago that has been referenced in AEW storyline, it’s from the Brass City Brawl for Northeast Wrestling and is available on Amazon Prime.
– Athena broke the all-time ROH recorde being women’s champion for 646 days. The old ROH record of 645 days for any title was set by Samoa Joe for a 645 day reign as ROH champion.
– The movie “The Killer’s Games starring Dave Bautista and also featuring Drew Galloway (McIntyre) was No. 6 at the box office this weekend. Right now the estimate is that including today it will do $2.6 million, putting it behind Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Speak No Evil, Deadpool & Wolverine, Am I Racist? and Reagan. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is being estimated at $51.6 million for first.
– Guy Evans has a book called Beyond Nitro, a sequel to his Nitro book, that will be released on 11/29
– Rad Lightning (Troy Brostrom, also known as Red Lightning), announced that he had finished his career last night on a show in Eau Claire, WI. He and Austin Aries started together in 1998 under Eddie Sharkey and he’s been doing independents in Minnesota and Wisconsin in particular since that time. He was announced as part of the Steel Domain Wrestling Hall of Fame and got plaques from Northern Lights Wrestling, Midwest All-Star Wrestling, and Steel Domain Wrestling.
– Results from last night’s Showtime Pro Wrestling show: Devlin Kain b Lennox Leone, Kaz Karte b Kyle Por Sierra won three-way over Nick Pride and Ethan Matthews, Ruf Ryde Rashaan b arrison Creed Paul Virk b Joey Avalon, Rad Lightning & Austin Aries & Jason Rage b Brock Hall & Salem Lasher & Bobb Storm. (thanks to Cody Endres)
– Both seasons of the TV show “Heels” on Starz are now streaming on Netflix.
– WPW from last night in Winnipeg: Chad Daniels b Josh Holiday, Danny Duggan & Anderson Tyson Moore b Matt Honey & Brian Singh, Badger Briggs b Priceless Lee, Lince Dorado b Diabl Azeca Sammy Peppers & Mo Jabari & Devon Monroe b Bryce Bentley & Prosperity Gospel, Bobby Schink b Kevin Cannon, Nepaloey Diabel Ronnie Attitude Ava Lawless b Tara Zap. Next show is 10/24 and they already have 1,000 tickets sold for it according to Blair Pacheco.
– Innovate Wrestling Bloody Sunday on 10/13 at 6 p.m. at the Beautiful Bobby Eaton Arena in Kingsport, TN.
Roman Reigns is ready to get his hands on The Bloodline.
A tag team match pitting unlikely partners Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes against Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu was made official for next month’s Bad Blood event on October 5 in Atlanta during Friday’s SmackDown. Despite saying earlier in the show he had no intention of signing the contract, Rhodes signed after he and Reigns got the better of a sneak attack by Tonga Loa and Tama Tonga.
The open of the show saw Rhodes defeat Sikoa in a steel cage match to retain the WWE Championship. However, Fatu and the rest of the Bloodline attacked Rhodes after the match, leading Reigns to come out for the save. Fatu, who was outside of the cage, entered as he and Reigns had a staredown. However, he was pulled away by Sikoa before it could go any further.
A show-long storyline saw Nick Aldis attempt to sign the tag team match for Bad Blood. Cody Rhodes, however, told Aldis that he wouldn’t sign it as after tonight, he was done with the Bloodline.
Nia Jax on Friday announced she would be defending the WWE Women’s Championship at Bad Blood. However, a tag team match on next week’s SmackDown will determine who she faces. It will be Nia Jax & Tiffany Stratton teaming together to take on Bayley and Naomi.
WWE Bad Blood 2024 (Saturday, October 5) —
Hell in a Cell match: CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre
Roman Reigns & Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu
Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan defends against Rhea Ripley
