Saturday, December 21, 2024

A message from NJPW:

“Hiroyoshi Tenzan, who was scheduled to compete on Sunday December 22’s Road to Tokyo Dome card, has presented with a fever. While he has tested negative for both influenza and COVID, he will miss action on the night out of an abundance of caution. We apologize to fans who were looking forward to seeing Tenzan wrestle, and appreciate your understanding.

The following change has been made to tonight’s card:

1st Match

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs Boltin Oleg & Toru Yano →

Satoshi Kojima vs Boltin Oleg

NJPW joins fans in wishing Tenzan a fast recovery.”

Jim Smallman has left NXT’s creative team.

Be aware that if you watch the RoH media scrum on YouTube from last night the first half an hour is dead air, nothing.

House of Torture had a message for the RoH Tag Team Champions:

In case you missed it, MIA AEW star Danhausen appeared at RoH Final Battle last night after a year of not being featured on AEW television. He emerged as a masked man from under the ring to clock M+M’s manager Mason Madden in the “lower abdomen” in the Mansoor versus Atlantis Jr. match.

Friday, December 20, 2024

RoH’s Final Battle PPV is tonight. Here is the card:

ROH Champion Chris Jericho vs. Matt Cardona.

ROH Women’s Champion Athena vs. Billie Starkz.

ROH Women’s TV Champion Red Velvet vs. Leyla Hirsh.

ROH Tag Team Champions Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara vs. The Righteous – Texas Bullrope Match.

ROH TV Champion Brian Cage vs. Willie Mack vs. Mark Davis vs. AR Fox vs. Blake Christian vs. Komander – Survival of the Fittest.

ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty has an Open Challenge.

QT Marshall vs. Jay Lethal.

Mansoor vs Atlantis Jr.

Katsuyori Shibata vs Tommy Billington.

Zero Hour:

Matt Taven & Mike Bennett vs the Infantry.

Harley Cameron vs Stardom’s HANAKO.

Dark Order vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans

Lee Johnson & EJ Nduka vs The Gates of Agony.

Charlotte Flair could be returning soon:

On last night’s episode of TNA Impact – which was a Best Of 2024 compilation episode – the company announced these Best Of awards, which were voted on by fans:

  • Knockout of the Year: Jordynne Grace
  • Moment of the Year: Joe Hendry going viral (for his theme song becoming a mainstream hit on streaming sites)
  • The One to Watch in 2025: Leon Slater
  • Men’s Tag Team of the Year: ABC (Ace Austin and Chris Bey)

This week’s Level Up taping was the last for WWE. The show is being discontinued.

Remember, tonight’s episode of Smackdown was taped last week. You can find your spoilers here:

Smackdown spoilers

Slam’s John Powell has your streaming schedule for the weekend here:

What’s New To Stream This Weekend December 20th to 22nd

AEW Dynamite ratings:

This week: 625,000 overnight viewers and 0.19 in the key demos.

Last week: 594,000 overnight viewers and 0.17 in the key demos.

WWE’s Executive VP of Talent Relations and Head of Communications, Chris Legentil, has stated: “This year alone, we did more than half our (premium live events) outside the U.S. Look for more of that when we’re in partnership with Netflix because we’re going to be working with them hand-in-hand to select locations across the world where we can grow our audience and hopefully gain some subscribers for them.”

Thursday, December 19, 2024

SlamWrestling.net’s very own Nathan Hatton has been published in the academic historical magazine Intersections (v7, i3) by the University of Toronto Press. His piece on early women’s wrestling in Canada begins on page 20 of the publication.

We now have an official publication date for Irresistible Force: The Life & Times of Gorilla Monsoon from ECW Press! Look for it September 30, 2025! It will indeed be a happening. And I promise you, it will be worth the wait.

Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson and his co-stars from the new Christmas movie Red One competed in an ugly-sweater- making competition for EW.com.

The ‘retired’ Logan Paul has been shifted from Smackdown to Raw.

In case you missed it:

In the mood for some Christmas horror? Slam’s John Powell has your list right here:

Ranking All The Christmas TV horror

NXT ratings:

This week: 708,000 overnight viewers. 0.16 in the key demos.

Last week: 680,000 overnight viewers. 0.17 in the key demos.

Here are your Rampage spoilers:

Konusuke Takeshita and Brian Cage beat Powerhouse Hobbs and Kyle Davis.

Action Andretti and Lio Rush beat Goldy & Myles Hawkins. Private Party and Top Flight joined a brawl.

Willow Nightingale defeated Harley Cameron.  Penelope Ford attacked Nightingale.

Brody King defeated Komander.

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Here is what you will see on Dynamite tonight:

  • Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta & Pac vs. Jay White & Orange Cassidy & “Hangman” Adam Page – Trios match
  • Mercedes Mone vs. Anna Jay – TBS Championship match
  • Will Ospreay vs. Darby Allin – Continental Classic Gold League match
  • Shelton Benjamin vs. The Beast Mortos – Continental Classic Blue League match
  • Nick Wayne & Christian Cage vs. Hook & Katsuyori Shibata
  • FTR will speak
  • MJF will speak

Raw ratings:

This week: 1,554,000 overnight viewers and 0.47 in the key demos.

Last week: 1,385,000 overnight viewers and 0.43 in the key demos.

It has been announced that Liv Morgan will defend the WWE Women’s World Championship against Rhea Ripley on Raw’s debut on Netflix.

Also slated for the debut is CM Punk and Seth Rollins squaring off. Solo Sikoa and Roman Reigns will face each other for the Ula Fala and the winner will be acknowledged as the true Tribal Chief.

Word is that NXT’s Wes Lee was injured at a Main Event taping. He suffered an ankle or a foot injury.

Ethan Page had this to say after his brutal attack on Je’Von Evans on NXT last night:

Some news from TNA:

Some unfortunate news from Xia:

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we could not get the recent NWA POWERRR recap.

But, you can watch it here from “X”:

 

AEW Collision ratings:

This week: 246,000 overnight viewers and 0.09 in the key demos. This is Collision’s lowest ratings ever in its regular time slot.

Last week: 278,000 overnight viewers and 0.09 in the key demos.

On his Substack blog, Jesse Ventura had this to say about his appearance on SNME: “First of all it was truly an honor to come back home to the WWE. First off, I have to thank my son, Tyrel Ventura, for putting the wheels in motion last summer. It’s been such an incredible feeling to return to the place where my career essentially began or, more accurately, really took off from. A few thoughts on the new regime at the WWE. The biggest thing I noticed was how different the energy and vibe is backstage. You don’t feel a battle of egos like you often did back in my day. From the executive level to the locker room level you instead feel a very strong sense of teamwork and creativity. Everyone is running in the same direction. Fueled by a desire to see everyone succeed, not just themselves. I think this speaks volumes about the leadership of Paul “HHH” Levesque. I think Paul, Nick Kahn, and the team at WWE are creating a truly incredible and unique environment unlike any I have seen before in the world of wrestling.”

AEW Rampage ratings:

This week: 279,000 overnight viewers and 0.08 in the key demos.

Last week: 177,000 overnight

Here are some updated ticket sales figures from WrestleTix.

AEW Dynamite
Wed • Jan 01, 2025 • 7:30 PM
Harrah’s Cherokee Center, Asheville, NC
Available Tickets: 670
Current Setup: 2,516
Tickets Distributed: 1,846

AEW Worlds End
Sat • Dec 28, 2024 • 7:00 PM
Addition Financial Arena, Orlando, FL
Available Tickets: 873
Current Setup: 5,943
Tickets Distributed: 5,070

WWE Friday Night SmackDown
Fri • Jan 03, 2025 • 5:30 PM
Footprint Center, Phoenix, AZ
Available Tickets: 2,010
Current Setup: 8,512
Tickets Distributed: 6,502

WWE Live Holiday Tour
Mon • Dec 30, 2024 • 7:30 PM
Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI
Available Tickets: 2,590
Current Setup: 9,433
Tickets Distributed: 6,843

AEW Hammerstein Ballroom Weekend Update
ROH Final Battle
Fri, Dec 20, 2024 • 7:00 PM
Available: 205 | Distributed: 1,191 (+130 in 7 days)

AEW Collision
Sat, Dec 21, 2024 • 7:00 PM
Available: 97 | Distributed: 1,299 (+39 in 7 days)

NJPW: Battle In The Valley 2025
Sat • Jan 11, 2025 • 7:00 PM
San Jose Civic, San Jose, CA
Available Tickets: 1,199
Current Setup: 2,143
Tickets Distributed: 944

AEW Dynamite
Wed • Dec 18, 2024 • 7:30 PM
Entertainment & Sports Arena, Washington, DC
Available Tickets: 592
Current Setup: 2,736
Tickets Distributed: 2,144

NJPW Strong Style Evolved
Sunday, December 15, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Walter Pyramid, Long Beach, CA
Available Tickets: 423
Current Setup: 2,760
Tickets Distributed: 2,337

WWE Royal Rumble
Sat • Feb 01, 2025 • 5:30 PM
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
Available Tickets: 5,704
Current Setup: 52,054
Tickets Distributed: 46,350

WWE NXT TV
Tue Dec 17 2024 18:30:00
Lowell Memorial Auditorium, Lowell, MA
Available Tickets: 440
Current Setup: 1,914
Tickets Distributed: 1,474

NXT is airing one episode live and taping next week’s show tonight. Here is what you will see on tonight’s show:

WWE NXT Champion Trick Williams vs. Eddy Thorpe.

WWE NXT Tag Team Champions Gallus Axiom and Nathan Frazer vs. Gallus.

Zara and Sol Ruca vs. Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson.

Wren Sinclair vs. Jaida Parker.

Lexis King to work out with Charlie Dempsey.

Unfortunately, it is not good news on the health front for Black Bart (Rick Harris). His wife posted an update to Facebook: “Bart was brought home today, he still isn’t able to walk but he isn’t making progress in the rehab so the insurance will not continue to pay for him. He has told me that he doesn’t want any more chemo, he feels that it’s doing more damage than good and I have to back him up on that. He doesn’t feel that he has given up he’s just not putting any more poison in his body. He is completely in Gods hands now. God’s will be done.”

The video shown on Raw last night of a  zero with a slash through it was in reference to Penta El Zero Miedo.

The Rock’s film The Red One received 50 million worldwide viewers in its first four days on Prime Video. It has become the most watched Amazon MGM Studios film on Prime.