WWE were extremely pleased with the recent trend of NXT ratings.
Fightful Select spoke to a number of WWE sources who indicated to us that there has been a recent increased importance put on the NXT viewership numbers on Tuesday nights. We’re told this is a big reason why Judgment Day, Becky Lynch and others have started to regularly appear on NXT.
WWE sources said that the reason is simple, and financially motivated – WWE wants to increase their television viewership numbers ...
2023-09-30 16:59:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
On Rampage, some interesting stuff to start off the WrestleDream weekend. Let's see if they add a minimum of one, hopefully two women's matches to the PPV card.
On SmackDown, a very good, VERY long US Title Match where the wrong guy absolutely won. Because the powers that be in WWE simply cannot plan for the future.
Then there's Charlotte jumping the line again.
And Jimmy Uso recklessly asserting himself, and John Cena being angry about it.
Oh, and Cameron Grimes is a ...
2023-09-30 01:55:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
Fightful Select has learned the following plans for WWE Smackdown, which are subject to change.
- Bloodline promo
- SPOILER MATCH
- Grayson Waller Effect with Bobby Lashley
- Cameron Grimes vs. Austin Theory
- United States Title: Rey Mysterio vs. Santos Esobar
- LWO, Cena backstage segments
- Charlotte Flair vs. Bayley
- John Cena segment
BACKSTAGE NEWS
- Butch vs. Ashante Thee Adonis is set for a pre-show dark match
<...
2023-09-30 00:03:51 +0000 UTC
View Post
- The last we heard from WWE sources, they were hopeful LA Knight would be back this week, but it wasn't guaranteed.
- Fightful Select has confirmed with HOG that Mike Santana set to face Rocky Romero at HOG Friday the 13th
- Fightful interviewed Sean Waltman today ahead of An Afternoon With Sean Waltman and Kevin Nash. That will release early next week publicly, but is available for tier 2 members now.
- Our 15% off annual sale runs through this Monday!
- Fightful is ...
2023-09-29 23:05:30 +0000 UTC
View Post
A longtime WWE talent has been released by the company, but he had supporters within All Elite Wrestling long before.
Fightful Select has heard that Shelton Benjamin has had numerous talent hoping that he’ll join the company in some capacity, but it doesn’t stop there. There were actually talent pushing for him to join the company several months ago, when there were incorrect rumors within the industry that his contract was set to expire soon. As it turned out, there was plenty of t...
2023-09-29 21:00:02 +0000 UTC
View Post
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/Gm3IikEGlY8
2023-09-29 18:38:45 +0000 UTC
View Post
Adam Cole said that he had to have surgery, but many still doubted if he was actually injured.
Due to the nature of pro wrestling, many questioned if Adam Cole's injury was legitimate. DPW announcing his match against Chris Danger following the injury (they'd later say the match is off due to injury), and the masked men showing up at the end of Dynamite led some to suspect he wasn't injured.
The word within AEW is that he is legitimately scheduled for surgery and will be out for q...
2023-09-28 20:20:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
The news on WWE releases doesn’t stop coming in.
Needless to say, there were several people unhappy with Mustafa Ali’s release from WWE. Ali had been effectively moved to NXT, where he was gaining steam on the brand. Sources that Fightful spoke to were frustrated with the lack of communication between WWE and NXT.
Specifically, we were told that some of the frustration emanated from the fact that there’s been a renewed effort to stack NXT with familiar names. In addition to ...
2023-09-28 16:40:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert got to catch up with NXT’s Ilja Dragunov before his upcoming match-up against NXT Heavyweight Champion Carmelo Hayes at NXT No Mercy on Saturday, September 30th.
Jeremy brought up that when Ilja had his first match against Carmelo Hayes, some people noticed he brought out a more aggressive Carmelo Hayes. Ilja was asked if he thought that was the case. Ilja replied, “I think I bring out a lot of different things out of a lot of people.” He said when he s...
2023-09-28 16:03:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
MLW, New Japan Pro Wrestling and CMLL have announced a strategic alliance, and Fightful Select has more news on it.
CMLL Informa broke the news today, but Fightful Select has confirmed that discussions started in early July between the three groups. The partnership will launch in October.
MLW adjusted its roster to alight with CMLL, which means that they will not use any AAA talent. This is the reason why talent like Sam Adonis finished up with Major League Wrestling in recent mon...
2023-09-27 23:49:14 +0000 UTC
View Post
Needless to say, the ending of the AEW Dynamite International Title match wasn’t supposed to go the way that it did.
Fightful reported that almost immediately following the Jon Moxley vs. Rey Fenix match, that Moxley had been hurt early in the match, and most believed it wasn’t actually the highly criticized piledriver that did the damage. Either way, Moxley walked out on his own power, and was checked on by the BCC and Tony Khan after the situation. Moxley implied to people that he...
2023-09-27 20:15:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
SRS and Jimmy talk about how Dynamite adjusted last week!
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/srAAbSRTig0
2023-09-27 19:33:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
- As of this past weekend, we were told that the working plan for AEW WrestleDream was Wheeler YUTA vs. Ricky Starks. As always, that can change.
- For those asking, Willow Nightingale was not injured. This is fairly obvious considering
- The gear that Saraya has noted is missing is not related to the storage unit that had belongings sold the same day. Saraya's gear went missing when someone stole a trunk of her recent gear from an AEW venue recently.
- News re-emerged this ...
2023-09-27 17:45:15 +0000 UTC
View Post
Serena Deeb hasn’t been on screen for nearly a year, and we’ve learned a couple of claims why.
Deeb attended the Califlower Alley Club recently, making one of her first public appearances in quite some time. However, Fightful had reported this past Summer that Deeb was sidelined and not factored into creative, but also under contract to All Elite Wrestling. At the time, AEW sources said that she wasn’t injured.
Deeb has told people that she’s dealt with a serious injury an...
2023-09-26 20:02:55 +0000 UTC
View Post
This isn't Sour Graps, and not everything sucks! There were a number of booking decisions and matches that Sean Ross Sapp really enjoyed this week! Listen to his quick review!
2023-09-26 18:24:16 +0000 UTC
View Post
- WWE Raw in Ontario, California is the highest-grossing WWE event in market history. Internal reports tout it as a sell out.
- Michael Kingston told us that he was in talks with Jade Cargill and Bray Wyatt in the past for Headlocked Comics stories in the past that fell through. You can check out the Kickstarter for his new Tales From The Road 3 here: https://...
2023-09-26 17:47:14 +0000 UTC
View Post
Fightful Select has learned the following plans for tonight's WWE Raw tapings, which are subject to change and often do
Better late than never.
- Cody Rhodes promo
- Otis ( w/ Maxxine Dupri) vs. “Big” Bronson Reed
- Tommaso Ciampa vs. Ludwig Kaiser ( w/ Giovanni Vinci)
- Tegan Nox vs. Natalya (Becky Lynch on commentary)
- Seth “Freakin” Rollins Promo
- NXT North American Title: Dragon Lee vs. Dominik Mysterio
- Spoiler Promo #1
- M...
2023-09-26 00:52:52 +0000 UTC
View Post
One WWE hopeful didn’t end up getting to go to her tryout last week.
WWE held tryouts last week in Orlando, with several participants with wrestling experience attending the tryout. However, one announced name didn’t end up getting to go.
We’re told that Hollyhood Haley J was pulled from the WWE tryouts due to reasons related to medical paperwork, per WWE and OVW sources. However, we’re told that WWE is hopeful that they can get her in the future.
Haley J was one one...
2023-09-25 21:00:03 +0000 UTC
View Post
Hey guys! Sean Ross Sapp here.
We want to thank you for investing your time and money into Fightful Select. This end of the site has really helped support our staff and coverage, and we're so thankful to have you here. You already know the benefits of Fightful Select, so I won't bore you with those details. However, we're happy to now offer annual memberships that you can pay up front for Fightful Select. It has always been very important to me for us to make the service as affordable a...
2023-09-25 19:13:20 +0000 UTC
View Post
Jey Uso is an integral figure for WWE, and they have seemed very happy with how things have went.
Around the time of Summerslam when Fightful inquired as to whether or not there had been any plans for Roman Reigns to lose the WWE Universal Championship, several sources also pointed to other members of the Bloodline as important building blocks. Specifically, WWE and those around the Bloodline angle were confident that the angle would launch Jey Uso into singles stardom, and so far, so g...
2023-09-25 19:00:03 +0000 UTC
View Post
- LA Knight
- Randy Orton
- Luke Gallows
- Sheamus
- WWE releases
- Johnny Gargano
- Becky/Tegan
- Moxley & Adam Cole
- Santana & Ortiz
- Paul Wight, Matt Taven, Eddie Kingston
- Sami Callihan contract
2023-09-25 18:07:41 +0000 UTC
View Post
STEPHEN JENSEN is back with a new edition of the WEEKENDER!
Topics:
- BLP: "Turbo Graps 24 2023" results
- GCW: "Long. Live. GCW. 2023" + "GCW vs. The World" results
- GLORY PRO: "Ascend" (Ep. 3) results
- NXT Level Up (9/22) results
- MLW: "Fusion" (9/21) results
- NWA: "Powerrr" (9/19) results
- ROH *TV TAPING SPOILERS* (45 min-52 min)
- IMPACT *TV TAPING SPOILERS* (53 min-end)
2023-09-25 03:31:30 +0000 UTC
View Post
Me and the wife & kid went on a little weekend getaway and there was a LOT of wrestling stuff that happened that I haven't talked about yet.
LA Knight got COVID and the end of SmackDown was weird!
Charlotte ruined an otherwise amazing match between Iyo & Asuka because everything has to be about her!
They're teasing a breakup between Lashley & The Street Profits like three minutes after they got together!
Team SSW (Spooky Scottish Witches) have placed a curse on t...
2023-09-25 01:08:39 +0000 UTC
View Post
Another big contract in IMPACT Wrestling is up very, very soon.
Fightful Select has learned that former IMPACT World Champion Sami Callihan’s IMPACT contract is up in just under a week, at the end of September. Callihan has been with IMPACT Wrestling since 2017, and there is believed to be interest from both sides on possibly re-signing. However, sources close to the situation say that Callihan is able to speak with other wrestling companies.
The 36-year old Callihan also has ex...
2023-09-24 16:59:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
The Weekender's Stephen Jensen speaks with Najasism
2023-09-24 16:59:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Fightful’s Joel Pearl caught up with AEW’s Matt Taven at Greektown Wrestling’s Greektown Cup in Toronto. The former Ring of Honor World Champion discussed various topics with Fightful.
Joel would ask Taven to describe a typical Northeast Wrestling match; Taven said, “It entails Matt Taven winning.” He would add that he “would go out, slap a bunch of hands, make someone look like a Melvin, get his belt, and go home.”
Taven tells us who he believes is a standout in Nor...
2023-09-24 15:00:02 +0000 UTC
View Post
ROH World Champion Eddie Kingston spoke with Cam Hawkins for a new interview with Fightful.
We ask that you wait until the full interview emerges Monday to aggregate it.
Kingston told Hawkins that it hasn't hit him that he's ROH World Champion and probably wont until he retires. He got through the rush of the match, taking pictures and being congratulated and realized he has to defend them now. He said that winning in New York meant a lot for him, but he would have traded it for a...
2023-09-23 22:23:43 +0000 UTC
View Post
Luke Gallows has been absent from WWE TV of late.
On the September 22 episode of Smackdown, Gallows was not seen on screen, while Karl Anderson expressed sincere concern about AJ Styles' well being, and Mia Yim (cowardly, honestly) did not beat up the Bloodline. The previous week, Michael Cole mentioned that Gallows was injured.
Gallows has not wrestled in over one month, last teaming with the OC at a live event in Canada. Fightful was told that Gallows had to get his ...
2023-09-23 20:05:28 +0000 UTC
View Post
- The November 15 episode of AEW Dynamite is slated for the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. Per the terms of WWE's deals with the venues, they can't promote that episode of Dynamite there until this Monday's WWE Raw emanates from the arena.
- As revealed here and on the Fightful Post-show, LA Knight tested positive for COVID shortly before Smackdown and had to leave the building. He was factored in to the show in a HUGE way. The main event segment pretty well went as it would...
2023-09-23 19:25:17 +0000 UTC
View Post
