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Andrew’s Top 5 Matches: Week Ending 7/19/2020

We get another fairly stacked week of TV specials or actual PPVs! Impact, AEW and WWE tried their hand at some bigger shows, and of course I went digging for some gold in Japan! Did your choices for match of the week make the Top 5?

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We get another fairly stacked week of TV specials or actual PPVs! Impact, AEW and WWE tried their hand at some bigger shows, and of course I went digging for some gold in Japan. So let’s see what I was able to come up with!

As usual, first we need to address last week’s vote. I’m happy that this match didn’t get lost in the collective outbursts of the main event, but, NJPW Dominion: NEVER Openweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs SHO, moves into the July pool for possible MOTY contenders! That puts two New Japan matches into the pool, so I guess you can say that people are happy that NJPW are running shows again.

Now let’s see where we stand this week!

Quick Top 5:

  1. Impact Slammiversary: Vacant Impact World Championship 5 Way: Eric Young vs Ace Austin vs Trey vs Rich Swann vs Eddie Edwards
    Rating: **** 1/2
  2. NXT: Double Championship Match: Keith Lee (c) vs Dominik Dijakovic
    Rating: ****
  3. Impact Slammiversary: Motor City Machine Guns vs The Rascalz (Dez & Wentz)
    Rating: ****
  4. NOAH Stay Together Forever!: Naomichi Marufuji & Keiji Mutoh vs Kaito Kiyomiya & Go Shiozaki
    Rating: *** 3/4
  5. AJPW Chiba Extra Dream 24: AJPW World Tag Team Championship: Violence Giant (Shuji Ishikawa & SUWAMA) (c) vs Yankee Two Kenju (Isami Kodaka & Yuki Miyamoto)
    Rating: *** 3/4
  6. NXT: NXT Women’s Championship: Tegan Nox vs Io Shirai (c)
    Rating: *** 3/4

Honorable Mentions:

  • Impact Slammiversary: Knockouts Championship: Jordynne Grace (c) vs Deonna Purrazzo
    Rating: *** 1/2
  • WWE Horror Show Extreme Rules: WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre (c) vs Dolph Ziggler
    Rating: *** 1/4
  • AJPW Chiba Extra Dream 24: Akira Francesco & Kento Miyahara vs Hokuto Omori & Kuma Arashi
    Rating: *** 1/4
  • NOAH Stay Together Forever!: KONGO (Kenoh, Nio, Haoh, Masa Kitamiya & Manabu Soya) vs Sugiura-Gun (Takashi Sugiura, Kaz Hayashi, NOSAWA Rongai, Kendo Kashin & Kazushi Sakuraba)
    Rating: *** 1/4
  • AJPW Chiba Extra Dream 24: Hair vs Hair Match: Yusuke Okada vs Seigo Tachibana
    Rating: *** 1/4
  • Impact Slammiversary: Old School Rules TNA Heavyweight Championship: Moose (c) vs Tommy Dreamer
    Rating: *** 1/4
  • WWE Horror Show Extreme Rules: SmackDown Women’s Championship: Nikki Cross vs Bayley (c)
    Rating: ***
  • AEW Fight for the Fallen: AEW Heavyweight Championship: Brian Cage vs Jon Moxley (c)
    Rating: ***
  • WWE SmackDown: Intercontinental Championship: Matt Riddle vs AJ Styles (c)
    Rating: ***
  • NOAH Stay Together Forever!: 3v3 Elimination Match: Stinger (HAYATA, Kotaro Suzuki & Yoshinari Ogawa) vs Daisuke Harada, Tadasuke & YO-HEY
    Rating: ***
  • Impact Slammiversary: Impact Tag Team Championship: The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) (c) vs Ken Shamrock & Sami Callihan
    Rating: ***
  • WWE Horror Show Extreme Rules: SmackDown Tag Team Championship Tables Match: New Day (c) vs Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura
    Rating: ***
  • IMPACT!: Rosemary, Taya Valkyrie, Kiera Hogan, Tasha Steelz & Kimber Lee vs Havok, Nevaeh, Susie, Kylie Rae & Alisha Edwards
    Rating: ***
  • NOAH Stay Together Forever!: Full Throttle (Atsushi Kotoge, Seiki Yoshioka & Hajime Ohara) vs Katsuhiko Nakajima, Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi
    Rating: ***
  • Impact Slammiversary: Knockout’s Gauntlet: Tasha Steelz vs Kylie Rae vs Taya Valkyrie vs Havok vs Katie Forbes vs Madison Rayne vs Kiera Hogan vs Rosemary vs Susie vs Nevaeh vs Alisha Edwards vs Kimber Lee
    Rating: ***
  • WWE Horror Show Extreme Rules: Raw Women’s Championship: Asuka (c) vs Sasha Banks
    Rating: ***

4t. NXT: NXT Women’s Championship: Tegan Nox vs Io Shirai (c)

From Mitchell’s Coverage:

Tegan is beside herself but the crowd rallies up. Tegan CHOPS Shirai, and CHOPS and then rallies with clotheslines! She brings Shirai back up to whip, but Shirai reverses. Shirai runs in, Tegan goes up and over to uppercut back! Tegan sits Shirai down, runs and CANNON-BOARS! Shirai staggers while Tegan climbs, FLYING CROSSBODY! Cover, TWO!! Tegan wants to try again to make Kane proud! Choke grip, CHOKE SLAM! Cover, TWO!?! Shirai survives and Tegan doesn’t know what to make of it! Shirai crawls away but Tegan glares at her. Tegan runs in, corner uppercut! Tegan goes corner to corner, for another! And then corner to corner again, but Shirai dodges! Shirai waistlocks to CORNER GERMAN SUPLEX!

The crowd is thunderous again as Shirai goes corner to corner, SHINKANSEN! Shirai puts Tegan on the ropes, for the TIGER FEINT KICK! Tegan flounders, Shirai climbs up and leaps, missile dropkick! Tegan is in a daze as Shirai covers, TWO!! Tegan will not die! The crowd will not stop rallying, either, and both women slowly rise. Shirai drags Tegan into the underhooks but Tegan fights out to mule kick the bad leg! GOURD BUSTER! Tegan hurries up top as Shirai rises, MOLLY-GO-ROUND!! Cover, TWO!?!? The best moves of Tegan’s role models haven’t been enough, but she still has something of her own! SHINIEST- SHOTEI!! Then DESCENT INTO DARKNESS!! The Asai Moonsault hits, Shirai covers, Shirai wins!

Winner: Io via Moonsault

 

4t. AJPW Chiba Extra Dream 24: AJPW World Tag Team Championship: Violence Giant (Shuji Ishikawa & SUWAMA) (c) vs Yankee Two Kenju (Isami Kodaka & Yuki Miyamoto)

From My Results:

So initially the size difference is staggering to the point where you’d have to expect shenanigans or a surprise cradle/flash pin for Violence Giant to lose. Which funnily enough, Yankee Two Kenju focus heavily on Shuji’s left leg to bring the big man down to size. Miyamoto shows off a few interesting ways to set up submissions, including a back handspring, that instead of going into a back elbow, he extends for a drop toehold and manages to grapevine the worked over leg. Be it a save or a botch, it looked cool and was smart with the story of the match.

We saw Kodaka counter out of the Splash Mountain multiple times, once flipping through and hitting a Shining Wizard, and another time with a Sunset Flip pinfall attempt. After a tandem Meteora/Diving Knee, it looked like Yankee Two would pick up the upset, but SUWAMA broke it up. Shuji managed to hit the elusive Splash Mountain, but only for a near fall, having to bring out the big guns with the Giant Slam.

Winner: Ishikawa via Giant Slam

 

4t. NOAH Stay Together Forever!: Naomichi Marufuji & Keiji Mutoh vs Kaito Kiyomiya & Go Shiozaki

From My Results:

So it’s nice to see that Dad Jokes/Grandpa Humor is the same even in Japan. After starting against Kaito, Mutoh powders out to regain his bearings and sees the newer addition NOAH has made to commentary in the form of Jurina (some may remember when she did guest stuff for NJPW, Japanese Pop Idol who really likes wrestling). So Mutoh goes over to her to do the M Alliance finger symbol. This makes sense because a few weeks ago they claimed that if your name ends with, starts with or has an M in it, you’re part of the Alliance. Jurina’s last name is Matsui. So Mutoh gets cute and you see him motion to the ring and say “touch”, which in broken English wrestling direction is tag in, and nothing untoward. It was just an amusing interaction that really made me realize how similar dad humor is, the old “Get in there, you’re on my team” kind of vibe.

Aside from that, this was pretty awesome at setting things up. Mutoh and Kaito have a nice chemistry that will hopefully get better when Kaito remembers the leg Mutoh kicks is the one that goes back, not that you fall to. But Marufuji looked like one hell of a threat. Even with Shiozaki brushing off Marufuji’s chops and having his echo with every slap, Marufuji put together some great offense.

The corner combination into a flurry of Thrust Kicks + KO-OH attacks was nice. Plus Mutoh and Maurfuji showed decent tag chemistry doing a Shining Wizard/KO-OH combination on Go, followed by a KO-OH/Dragon Screw to Kaito’s right knee, before Mutoh locked him in the figure four.

Plus winning with the close range hammerlock variant of the KO-OH looked pretty damn effective.

Winner: Marufuji via True Tiger King

 

2t. Impact Slammiversary: Motor City Machine Guns vs The Rascalz (Dez & Wentz)

From My Results:

Rascalz issue the open challenge, and the Guns answer the challenge! This was a fun match, where it wasn’t classic MCMG, but it told the story of the current team dominating early and showing off a lot moves the Guns used to do. But as the match continued, you saw the Guns slowly start coming together.

A few tandem spots gave MCMG a way back into the match, but once Wentz tagged in Dez we saw a whole new level of athleticism. Shelley proved he learned from Kevin Nash during the Paparazzi Productions days since he was on a whole different level of arrogance. We saw some classic tandem moves from the Guns, including the Cravat/Sliding Dropkick combo. Guns finish things off with Dirt Bomb, and that seems promising. Promising from the angle of, I doubt the Guns would win if it was a one off.

Winner: MCMG via Dirt Bomb

 

2t. NXT: Double Championship Match: Keith Lee (c) vs Dominik Dijakovic

From Mitchell’s Coverage:

Keith drags Dijakovic up, puts him in a corner and hoists him to the top rope. The crowd rallies as Keith CHOPS Dijakovic then climbs up to join him. Keith sits Dijakovic up with a choke grip, but Dijakovic throws body shots back. Dijakovic headbutts Keith again and again, and again and again, until Keith flops to the mat! Dijakovic steadies himself, adjusts his position, and Keith stands for Dijakovic’s FLYING BLOCKBUSTER!! TWO!! Dijakovic keeps going, with a BOOT and rolling elbow! Dijakovic runs to spin, CYCLONE BOOT! Cover, TWO!! Dijakovic stays focused as he goes back up top. Dijakovic aims at “Keith Lee! Woop Woop!” and he leaps into GRIZZLY MAGNUM!

Lee pops Dijakovic up for the LIMITLESS SPINE BUSTER! Keith fires up, drags Dijakovic into a fireman’s carry, but Dijakovic elbows away. It’s not enough! BIG BANG CATASTROPHE!! Cover, Keith wins!!

Winner: Keith Lee via Big Bang Catastrophe

 

1. Impact Slammiversary: Vacant Impact World Championship 5 Way: Eric Young vs Ace Austin vs Trey vs Rich Swann vs Eddie Edwards

From My Results:

Anyway, so we get the originally scheduled five way, with an actual surprise. Then it turns into an old fashioned TNA X Division “oh my god moves and I’m covering my head”, kind of match. Trey tried to focus on Ace, but Fulton managed to make his presence known. So in a rare display of competence, we see a referee take control of the situation. He ejected Fulton and said if Fulton didn’t leave, he’d eliminate Ace. So Ace quickly made Fulton comply cause he can’t throw this chance away.

Again, this was an X Division style match, so there’s more moves than you can shake a stick at. EY hits the Piledriver on Trey to make sure his dumbass was eliminated first. Now hopefully he never sniffs the World title picture until he puts some bass in his voice and stops using potatoes and eggs in promos. Seriously, who signed off on that?

Eddie has Ace on the top turnbuckle, but EY rams Rich into them causing them to fly off into a nicely placed table. EY hits The Edge of Sanity, but this isn’t WWE, so that’s not a finish. Rich plays dead to counter two attempts at the Piledriver, and on the third attempt, he cradles EY for the flash win. This causes EY to get enraged and he snaps. Beating Rich with a chair, wrapping it around his ankle to re-injure the ankle he just returned from and just be an evil bastard heel.

Ace being an opportunistic heel takes advantage of the situation. Rich does a good job putting up a fight with one leg, but falls to The Fold. Which then leaves us with Eddie and Ace, the first really big feud that Ace had when he was trying to bang Alisha. Some great moments here, Ace kicks out of a Boston Knee Party, Eddie kicks out of a Fold; so both men need to go deeper into the playbook.

Eddie catches Ace with another Knee Party, and pulls out a move I haven’t seen him do since his run as GHC Heavyweight Champion, the Diehard Flowsion! Eddie Edwards is the new champion!

Winner: Eddie Edwards via Diehard Flowsion

 

Thoughts:

My main thoughts are really a lot of what has been echoed through Twitter, Impact Wrestling brought a hell of a show, and deserve praise and credit. They managed to secure some solid free agents, nice veterans from the infancy of TNA and put on a coherent show (a few technical hiccups aside). With all that said, the main event of Slammiversary was a great match, told a great story and gave everyone something to strive for.

If you’re pressed for time and need to catch up on shows, watch Slammiversary, it was the best show of the week; and in my opinion, the best PPV of the year so far.

 


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Opinion

Greg DeMarco’s 2024 WWE Royal Rumble Reaction

It’s the Royal Rumble! A favorite of many fans, the Rumble kicks off the Road To WrestleMania. Greg DeMarco is here with his live reactions to the event!

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WWE Royal Rumble 2024 Results

It’s the Royal Rumble! A favorite of many fans, the Rumble kicks off the Road To WrestleMania. Greg DeMarco is here with his live reactions to the event!

The WWE Royal Rumble is upon us, and while the Men’s Royal Rumble Match isn’t for the World Heavyweight Championship like I suggested, it’s still the most anticipated event of the year.

Why? The Unknown.

That’s right–in this age of the internet (usually incorrectly) telling us everything it possibly can about what is going to happen in the world of wrestling, the Royal Rumble stands out because despite what we’re told (or, more importantly, what we choose to listen to), the event is always full of fun and surprises.


Check out Steven Mitchell’s 2024 WWE Royal Rumble Results & Review!


Women’s Royal Rumble Match

  • They really are driving home the “main event WrestleMania” point this year–strengthens my thought that women will main event Night 1. Triple H would catch a ton of heat if he keeps women out for the third straight year.
  • NAOMI! Good to see her back, and the emotional response she had.
  • Love Michael Cole calling out Naomi’s time in TNA, and recognizing her as a former Knockouts Champion.
  • Entering #3 doesn’t bode well for Bayley. I honestly don’t think she is gonna win.
  • JORDYNNE GRACE! I saw the reports earlier today. This is a much bigger deal than Mickie James, because Mickie was a returning legend.
  • “TNA HAS A WEAPON!” So glad to have Pat McAfee on the call.
  • Honestly, Jordynne Grace belongs in WWE.

  • Asuka comes in, and they sell the surprise of Bayley. STORYTELLING, people!
  • Something tells me when we get Kairi Sane in there, The Kabuki Warriors will eliminate Bayley.
  • Ivy Nile enters, and I immediately want to see her go toe-to-toe with Jordynne Grace.
  • What if they pulled some crazy sh*t and had Jordynne Grace win???
  • Just step through the ropes next time, Bianca.
  • When I first saw the C4 clock, I thought I would get tired of it But I am already used to it.
  • Here’s Kairi Sane, time to set the plan into motion!
  • This crowd does not appear to like Tegan Nox.
  • Welp, there goes my idea o Asuka and Kairi eliminating Bayley.
  • That was a hell of a way for Jordynne Grace to go out.

  • I think Michael Cole secretly loves to call a Meteora.
  • There’s a reason Maxxine Dupri doesn’t wrestle much.
  • That tandem Code Red was very Young Buckish. And that’s not a compliment.
  • Hair,…gear…this might be the messiest Royal Rumble yet.
  • Ah, here comes the winner, Becky Lynch (I am calling Becky eliminates Bayley to win her second Royal Rumble).
  • LOVE the scoreboard of time in the Rumble for selected wrestlers.

  • R-TRUTH?!?! (Funny story, it was Truth’s spot that Nia Jax took in 2019.)
  • If you push Mia Yim, she’ll take it further than you could imagine.
  • “How is everybody the most athletic person on Earth?” – Pat McAfee
  • Surprising that Roxanne Perez, at #27, is the first NXT entrant. I don’t think we’ll be seeing Tiffany Stratton of Blair Davenport since we only have 3 more to come.
  • Amazing reaction for Jade Cargill. Give her time, she’s definitely going to be a huge star.
  • JUST GIVE HER TIME.
  • Seriously, Nia Jax had to help Jade eliminate her–A LOT.

  • Greg Was Wrong: It is indeed Tiffy Time in the Royal Rumble.
  • Back to Jade–she is insanely over.
  • I know it won’t be, but this should be Tiffany Stratton’s official main roster call-up.
  • Liv Morgan returns at #30, and good for Liv. She nearly went wire-to-wire last year.
  • Liv Morgan: “Thank you!” Pat McAfee: “No problem.”
  • Tiffany Stratton eliminating Roxanne Perez is, to me, an invitation for a match with them on Raw this Monday.
  • Still love the scoreboard as Naomi passes an hour.
  • The camera is catching a lot of in-ring communications right now.
  • And Jade Cargill eliminates my pick to win. Bye Becky.
  • Jade Cargill in the final three of the Royal Rumble (with Liv Morgan and Bayley) is huge for her.
  • Hell of a debut for Jade Cargill.
  • And a huge win for Bayley.

Winner of the 2024 Women’s Royal Rumble Match: Bayley (eliminating Liv Morgan to win)

Fatal 4-Way Match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Randy Orton vs AJ Styles vs. LA Knight vs. Roman Reigns (champion, with Paul Heyman)

  • Glad to see AJ Styles got his tights back. Pants AJ Styles (but still with the football gloves) was not working. Not just bring the beard back to your face Allen–the think beard also ain’t working.

  • Pat McAfee campaigning for Roman Reigns to be given at least a 26% chance is amazing.
  • Say what you want about LA Knight, he’s a damn star and totally belongs in this match.
  • Roman completely sandbagged Randy on the table drop. I don’t think it was on purpose, but he definitely didn’t jump.
  • Roman Reigns is very much like Gunther in that he does the simple things SO WELL, like a jumping clothesline. That’s how you do it.
  • Yes, I compared Roman Reigns to Gunther. Don’t @ me, I’m right.

  • RKO City, Bitch.
  • Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand here’s Solo! (At some point, Solo will get tired of saving Roman’s ass.)
  • Solo ’bout to go through that barricade.
  • Solo indeed went through that barricade.

  • Yes, we had the Solo interference mid-match, but honestly in the end Roman won that clean.

Winner, #ANDSTILL your Undisputed WWE Universal Champion: Roman Reigns

WWE United States Championship: Kevin Owens vs. Logan Paul (champion)

  • Kevin Owens wearing Zubaz shorts in the Performance Center fight makes me very happy.
  • Logan Paul talking about a full time run, and now he’s putting on size.
  • Logan’s headband didn’t list very long.
  • I honestly hate it when modern-day wrestlers bust out a crotch chop.
  • If you were watching the Royal Rumble and didn’t know who Logan Paul was, you’d just assume he was a pro wrestler. That says everything you need to know about how good he is at this.
  • ANOTHER crotch chop. Now we’re at 2 too many.

  • Cue the “Better Buckshot Than Hangman” tweets. But they might be right.
  • I love the idea of a Logan Paul, Austin Theory, and Grayson Waller stable.
  • C’mon, there’s NO WAY Ryan Tran could see the knucks on Kevin Owens’ hand given his placement. It’s the little things.
  • Finish here tells me we’ll see KO vs. Logan Paul again. I’d guess on TV, if not in Australia.

Winner by disqualification, #ANDSTILL WWE United States Champion: Logan Paul

Men’s Royal Rumble Match

  • Jey Uso coming at #1 was expected thanks to the internet reports. But I still think Jimmy should be #1 and Jey #2, for the reaction shots on Jimmy.
  • Grayson Waller talking himself to the ring is perfect.
  • “No Yeet!” Grayson is a brilliant performer. I’d make a Roddy Piper comparison here, but y’all would get at mad at me.
  • Good to have Andrade back in WWE. Great reaction for him when the mask came off.

  • SmackDown superstar Carmelo Hayes! I really really really hope Trick is also in this match, just for the chants.
  • Melo pointed to the sign, C’mon, man.
  • Do you send Andrade to Smackdown, or do you send him to Raw and let him do his own thing?
  • Oh goody, Karrion Kross is here. Yay.
  • (Yes, that’s sarcasm you read.)
  • Dominik Mysterio is so good. Give him time, he’s going to be a huge star.

  • The Royal Rumble was a great place for the Apple Spot.
  • Here comes Bob Lashley–please just eliminate Karrion Kross.
  • Lashley wearing the WrestleMania white gear more than 2 months early.
  • Austin Theory still gets his concussion effect entrance, despite it being the Rumble.
  • What if–hear me out now–Finn Balor wins the Royal Rumble to get the shot at Seth Rollins, and Priest uses his briefcase to make that match a triple threat at ‘Mania?
  • I know he didn’t, but it sure looked like Jimmy was swerving while he drives in that interaction with Gunther.
  • Kofi did tell us the Rumble Magic wasn’t happening anymore.
  • Give me Ivar vs Gunther!
  • Bron Breakker is a star. It’s inevitable.
  • Of course Omos would be in the Rumble. Good to see MVP on my TV as well.
  • “I didn’t know humans came that big!” – Pat McAfee
  • I half think Pat McAfee didn’t know he was entering the Rumble.
  • Nice moment for Bron Breakker eliminating Omos. WrestleMania match?
  • R-Truth trying to get Dominik (Tom or Nick?) Mysterio to tag him in is brilliant.
  • DOM MADE THE TAG!!!
  • “And now R-Truth is the legal man.” – thank you Michael Cole.
  • Michael Cole delivers multiple TNA references tonight, along with a Dolph Ziggler reference. God Bless Michael Cole.
  • Imagine for a second that this was CM Punk’s actual WWE return.
  • The reaction to Drew McIntyre’s entrance is a reminder that they don’t actually need him.
  • Sami Zayn enters at #30, also known as “Not The Rock.”

  • In the ring, Drew McIntyre is amazing. Just keep the microphone away from him. (And stop the damn counting!)
  • And there goes my choice for the Men’s Rumble!
  • Love having both Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in the press boxes watching to see who wins.
  • Punk kinda looks like Chris Jericho in there. Seriously.
  • Between Punk and Cody, Cody is the right choice. I really don’t want to watch Punk right now–he needs to hit the cardio, and hard. Given Seth Rollins’ injury and Punk’s conditioning, WWE would be smart to make the World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania 40 a multi-man match.

Winner of the 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble: Cody Rhodes


Overall thoughts on the 2024 WWE Royal Rumble

For at least the second straight year, the Men’s Royal Rumble Match was kinda disappointing. Not the result–that’s fine. But the match itself. It just wasn’t nearly as exciting as the Women’s. Of the four matches, I would place it 4th in terms of enjoyment.

Great moments for both Bayley and Cody Rhodes. Logan Paul continually shows that he deserves to be considered a pro wrestler, not a celebrity who is wrestling. Pat McAfee is a joy on commentary. Jordynne Grace is a WWE Superstar, regardless of what company she is signed to. Bron Breakker is a star.CM Punk is very out of shape. Cody Rhodes is about to become THE guy, and he deserves it.

Overall I give the event a thumbs up, but they have to do something about the Men’s Royal Rumble Match moving forward.


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Opinion

WWE Raw Heads To Netflix: What Does It Mean?

Monumental news drops as WWE RAW is moving to Netflix. Is it truly a game changing move? Greg DeMarco analyzes this shift for the TV wrestling business.

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Monumental news drops as WWE RAW is moving to Netflix. Is it truly a game changing move? Greg DeMarco analyzes this shift for the TV wrestling business.

Being a wee little kid in the 80s, I am “lucky enough” to remember having 3 TV channels, and my dad explaining what an 8-track is, how shocked I was when I say a laser disc for the first time, when I bought a 6 CD changer, installed my own car stereo, and all the way up to the fact that I have now been watching WWE pay-per-view/premium live events on the WWE Network and Peacock for 10 years. Hell, in the same month (February 2014) I signed up for the WWE Network, cut the cord to drop cable and got Sling TV. I have since moved onto YouTube TV which is highly recommended.

Over the last two years the NFL has put Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime, simulcast to various streaming services, and less than 2 weeks ago put a playoff game exclusively on streaming when a Wildcard Weekend showdown between the Chiefs and Dolphins was only shown on Peacock.

And now it’s fully permeated into pro wrestling.

WWE and AEW are both in the midst of a very important time on the business side, with all of their TV rights up for grabs. The first domino fell when SmackDown On FOX became SmackDown on USA Network, and soon after we learned that WWE NXT was moving to broadcast television and joining The CW (which is also rebranding, but just to CW).

The AEW suite of programming that includes Collision, Rampage, and their most successful show Dynamite is up for renewal with Warner Bros/Discovery, and Tony Khan has been optimistic about the relationship and potentially an increase in rights fees.

That brings us to Tuesday morning, and the likely groundbreaking WWE announcement that Raw is moving to Netflix, starting in January 2025. Triple H tweeted that they’re changing the game, and TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro (who knows a thing or two about shifts in media consumption) used the word “transformative” in his statement, and I really think he couldn’t be more right.

But what does it all mean?

Wrestling Remains A Strong Media Product

I have been claiming this for over a year now. As many online will cite a decline in TV viewership for both WWE and AEW, the TV product has been a strong value to networks. Even in dropping SmackDown, FOX themselves said they didn’t pump enough resources into the show, and that the advertising return wasn’t what they wanted. That doesn’t mean the product (TV value, we’re not talking about creative here) isn’t strong. It’s so strong that USA Network picked up SmackDown for $280 million per year, giving WWE an increase over the FOX deal. CW is paying $20-$25 million annually for NXT, and now Netflix is paying $500 million for RAW.

Why? Because wrestling isn’t just a strong media product, it’s consistent. And that is key.

Look at this quote from Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria:

“Raw is the best of sports entertainment, blending great characters and storytelling with live action 52 weeks a year and we’re thrilled to be in this long-term partnership with WWE.”

Now cross reference that with a comment from CW President Dennis Miller from back when the CW/NXT deal was announced:

“We are thrilled to welcome the WWE brand into the CW Sports portfolio as they play an integral role in our mission to bring live sporting events to the network year-round.”

What do those statements have in common? The year-round, 52-week nature of wrestling programming. It’s an unbeatable value for networks. It’s cheaper than a deal with a major sports league, and it’s not finite. Wrestling joins news, talk, and sports talk as the only year-round programming available to networks. And WWE and AEW have shows that essentially always land in the Top 5 after you factor out live sports. You can’t beat it.

What Does This Mean for Netflix?

Don’t get it twisted, this is also a huge leap for Netflix. Prior to the WWE Raw deal, Netflix has only experimented with live events, streaming the live Chris Rock “Selective Outrage” special, and showing The Netflix Cup live (a golf event featuring athletes from their F1 series “Drive To Survive” and their golf series “Full Swing).

WWE is the perfect partner for Netflix as it gets into live programming. It’s sports entertainment: sports like programming (which Netflix has done) that focuses on storytelling (which Netflix has obviously done). And no one does it better than WWE. It’s essentially plug-and-play for Netflix, the perfect solution for their live programming aspirations.

The perfect solution that they were willing to pay $5 billion for.

What Does This Mean for AEW?

The biggest risk to an AEW renewal with Warner Bros Discovery was WBD picking up WWE Raw–and that risk has been eliminated by Netflix. Don’t discount that fact–Netflix did Tony Khan a huge favor by throwing $500 million per at WWE. The path is clear for AEW to remain on the Turner networks.

But at what price?

I know I usually write as if I have all the answers, but I have zero idea either way on this one. WBD no longer has any other options if it wants to keep wrestling (except for TNA, who recently expressed a desire to be on a bigger network), and AEW (at least, Dynamite) is a weekly Top 5 program for them on Wednesdays, on cable.

On the other hand, AEW doesn’t exactly have another network begging for their services. The reason WWE could get a yearly increase for Raw, SmackDown, and NXT is because it was truly a bidding war. Unless Tony Khan gets another network involved, any threat of walking away from a deal doesn’t really hold water.

So if I were a betting man (and who would ever bet on this) I would expect an announcement of a renewal for AEW and WBD relatively soon. We may not know the terms of the deal, I will take a shot in the dark and say that AEW gets a small increase (not the “nearly double” that had been reported last year).

Regardless of the increase (or not), given AEW’s recent attendance challenges, this likely renewal would have to be viewed as a win for the company.


Personally, this is simply an amazing time to be a fan. We’ve seen WWE go from one live TV show per week with Monday Night Raw, through the Monday Night Wars, the addition of SmackDown and later NXT, to being this global juggernaut that is commanding half-a-billion dollars per year for Raw. I also think this makes Raw the flagship once again. All of this comes after Vince McMahon is largely out of power, Triple H has taken over creative (and holds a pretty good success rate so far), and the company was sold to Endeavor, and merged with the UFC as a business entity under the TKO banner.

If you know me, you know I am a huge follower of the business side of the wrestling business. I often care less about WHAT wrestling companies do, but HOW they do it. I have always gravitated towards that, since middle school. And for the past near 24 months, I have been like a kid in a candy store.

The Peacock deal for the WWE Network runs out in 2026, right? The fun never stops!


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