John Cena’s heel turn was abruptly ended because even in WWE’s view “it sucked” and wasn’t working, plus it made more sense for Cena to be a face going against the returning Brock Lesnar. (WO)
Speaking of Cena his new movie with Idris Elba on Netflix has done over 75 million views as of this writing. It’s called “Heads of State.”
WWE’s legal team “cleared” Brock Lesnar four weeks ago. Also — WWE cancelled post-PPV press conferences so they didn’t have to answer questions about Lesnar when he came back Sunday night. (WO)
At their “not a media scrum” post fight show, Triple H threw Cena under the bus by saying it was his idea to work with Brock Lesnar. (WWE)
Cena is booked to appear on this week’s SmackDown. (WWE)
Jelly Roll approached Randy Orton about recording a cover of his theme song “Voices” and Orton was “very receptive” to the idea. (FF)
Tom Hannifan and Matt Rehwoldt have both gotten TNA contract extensions.
GCW “Hit ‘Em Up” results can be found below. (CMN)
- Terry Yaki & YDNP def. Adrenaline Drip & Gringo Loco
- JCW Championship Match: Masha Slamovich def. Gary Jay
- Mark Sterling, Matt Cardona & Tommy Invincible def. Deonna Purrazzo, Matt Tremont & Shotzi Blackheart
- 1 Called Manders def. Steve Maclin
- Billie Starkz def. Atticus Cogar
- Death Match: Drew Parker & Emersyn Jayne def. John Wayne Murdoch & Reed Bentley
- GCW World Championship Match: Effy (c) def. Crowbar
- Death Match: Bear Bronson & SLADE def. Dr. Danger & Dr. Redacted
Three new live WWE TV dates have been announced. (WWE)
- Friday, September 19 – Toledo, Ohio – SmackDown – Huntington Center
- Monday, September 22 – Evansville, Indiana – Raw – Ford Center
- Friday, September 26 – Orlando, Florida – SmackDown – Kia Center
Jade Cargill tells us what we already knew — some fans are just creepers with absolutely no social skills and no chill. “There was a lot of men that legit wanted me to like punch him and step on them, and like one guy wanted me to spit on him. It was the weirdest thing, and I felt so uncomfortable. Like, it all started because this one girl wanted me to, like, choke her, and I was like, all right, cool. Like, we can get the photo op. Oh, my gosh. But that’s when I was doing the step on me thing, but not, like, legit stepping on people. It just was a thing I was saying. But this guy wanted me to spit on him, degrade him, stomp on him, and I had on heels, and I was just like, this is the weirdest. That’s the weirdest thing. Like, he was just, like, ‘can you spit?’ I was just like ‘no,’ then he was like, okay, and then I was like, ‘alright I’ll put my heel on you and I put my heel on him like, ‘okay, this is funny.’ He was like, ‘just spit on me’ like quick, quick, like loud, and I was like ‘security!’, like this is not it. I was like you’ll be shocked I was like ‘please get him out.’ I was so, I had to take like a minute because it was such like a weird feeling and vibe because even when he got up, he was like, just grabbing my leg to like climb up. It was odd.”
ICYMI there’s a video of five people fighting in the crowd at SummerSlam. Scarily one looks like she could have been pushed over a barricade had it continued.
AEW Full Gear will be Nov. 22nd at the Prudential Center in New Jersey.
The last SmackDown before SummerSlam did a 0.46 18-49 and 1.544 million viewers. That’s down from 0.48 and 1.707 the week before. (PI)
Bret Hart talks about the legacy of Hulk Hogan: “You can never deny what Hulk Hogan did. His footprint in the wrestling business will always be huge, maybe as big as it is ever going to get. When Hulk Hogan left WWF in 1992 and wasn’t at SummerSlam 92, it was WrestleMania 8 when I fought Roddy Piper, Piper was one of the few guys that reached down and pulled me up to his level. ‘I want to wrestle Bret Hart because I want to make him.’ Roddy Piper made me and contributed to the next generation. There were a lot of wrestlers who didn’t do that. Hulk Hogan never did that for anybody, never pulled anyone else up. Jake Roberts never did anything for anybody else, he only did for Jake Roberts. I look at Jake Roberts and Hulk Hogan, that’s just two guys. Hulk Hogan, when I got to WWF in 1984, there was a smorgasbord of bad guys like Piper, (Paul) Orndorff, Bob Orton, Kamala, Killer Khan, (King Kong) Bundy. It was like a candy box. He had such a lineup of guys to work with, the best villains in wrestling that all made Hulk Hogan. Same with Jake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat and Macho Man. They never lost, they got their hands raised. 1992 comes along and they’re going to give me this big push. There is nobody there and nobody left. I didn’t have anybody to work with when I won the belt, really. Not any monsters, anyway. That’s what I always think. 1992, the elevator was falling to the bottom. Everything was sinking so fast. They were in trouble. Hogan was off and the steroid scandal, though he said he never took them. All of that hurt the business. Hulk’s shtick was getting tiring at that point. I don’t know how I got picked. I never had any say. When I found out I was going to be world champion, I was the first one to find out and it was a shock. I didn’t expect it, but I was grateful for it. I always felt like things were falling so bad and Vince had to figure out something. ‘Stick it on him.’ I was a safe bet. I wasn’t a guy who was going to get busted for having a couple ounces of coke in my bag like Jake Roberts’ might’ve. I wasn’t a guy who was going to fail my drug test. I was a safe bet. That’s why Vince picked me to be the champion. ‘I need somebody who is not going to drop the ball and have any scandals. I can’t take any more scandals. Stick it on Bret Hart.’ So, they stuck it on me. I wasn’t expecting it, but I stepped up to the plate. I always thought that the day that I won the belt, Hulk Hogan would come up and pat me on the back and tell me how glad he was that I was the guy they picked to pull the sword out of the stone for him. Unfortunately, that’s not how it was. The second I won the belt, I was the enemy. I had what he wanted, and we were never really friends ever again. That had nothing to do with me. I was always honest. Hulk, it was like a little kid in elementary school. Some kids are bullshitters who tell bullshit. Classic bullshitters. Sometimes, you have to kick kids like that. I think Hulk Hogan was a bullshitter.”
Here’s the card for NXT tonight. (WWE)
- WWE NXT Women’s North American Championship Match: Sol Ruca (c) vs. Tatum Paxley
- WWE NXT Tag Team Championship Match: Hank Walker & Tank Ledger (c) vs. Chase U
- Blake Monroe vs. Kelani Jordan
- Yoshiki Inamura vs. Stacks Lorenzo
- Lexis King vs. Myles Borne
- Nia Jax vs. Thea Hail
Gunther is now “out indefinitely” in storyline to get nose surgery. (WWE)
Here’s an early card for Raw next week. (WWE)
- WWE Women’s World Championship Match: Naomi vs. IYO SKY
- Becky Lynch vs. Maxxine Dupri
- Sami Zayn vs. Rusev
Three new NXT live events have been announced. (WWE)
- Friday, September 5 – Spartanburg, South Carolina – Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium
- Saturday, September 6 – North Charleston, South Carolina – North Charleston Convention Center
- Sunday, September 7 – Augusta, Georgia – Bell Auditorium
Hulk Hogan’s funeral services are today in Clearwater, Florida. I’m just going to say this for myself and nobody asked me to say it — unless you are family, stay out of it. They don’t need a bunch of wrestling fans gawking and or prostrating themselves.
Here are G1 Climax night 12 results. (NJPW)
- The United Empire (Jakob Austin Young & Callum Newman) beat Masatora Yasuda & Taichi.
- Toru Yano & Boltin Oleg beat HOUSE OF TORTURE (Dick Togo & EVIL).
- The House of Torture(Yoshinobu Kanemaru & SANADA) defeated Katsuya Murashima & Hiroshi Tanahashi.
- TMDK (Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa) defeated Shoma Kato & Yuya Uemura.
- The Bullet Club War Dogs (Gedo & David Finlay) defeated Daiki Nagai & Yota Tsuji.
- G1 Climax 2025 B Block match: Konosuke Takeshita defeated YOSHI-HASHI.
- G1 Climax 2025 B Block match: Ren Narita defeated The Great-O-Khan.
- G1 Climax 2025 B Block match: El Phantasmo defeated Drilla Moloney.
- G1 Climax 2025 B Block match: Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Shingo Takagi.
Bandido will defend his ROH World Title against Hechicero at Death Before Dishonor.
Here are this week’s Main Event results. (PWI)
- Stephanie Vaquer def. Ivy Nile
- The War Raiders def. The LWO
Here’s the updated card for Dynamite tomorrow. (AEW)
- AEW TBS Title Qualifier Match: Queen Aminata vs. Skye Blue vs. Alex Windsor vs. Billie Starkz
- AEW Tag Team Title Eliminator Tournament Semifinal Match: Young Bucks vs. Bandido & Brody King
- MJF vs. Brody King
- Mercedes Mone returns
