BY JEFF KNAPP
First and foremost, I’d like to take this moment to send my condolences to the entire family of Polaivao Leati Sika Anoa’i. Brother of Afa, and ½ of The Wild Samoans, one of the greatest tag teams in all of pro wrestling. He is also the father of Roman Reigns and Matt “Rosey” Anoa’i. He and his brother wrestled and won tag gold in every promotion they competed in, from Big Time Wrestling (The original Sheik’s promotion) WWF, AWA, NWA, Georgia, Continental, Mid-South and Stampede.
In much brighter news, Rhea Ripley and Buddy Matthews got married this past Sunday (23rd). I wish them a long and happy marriage.
Also, over the weekend, former WWE and TNA wrestler, Cassie Lee announced the birth of her 2nd child. Congratulations!!
WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “HHH” Levesque appeared on the Pat McAfee show to promote the agreement between the WWE and the state of Indiana which will bring 3 major events to the city of Indianapolis. He also discussed the WWE Raw’s move from the USA Network to Netflix in 2025, and specifically how the company will not face much of the censorship issues that they currently need to deal with while on TV.
“Netflix is a completely different animal. It’s a streaming service, how are commercials going to work? How are breaks going to work? What’s the length of time? What are the restrictions? What are not restrictions? Just as an example, us being on FOX, if the crowd chants ‘holy shit’ or something much worse, they just take the audio (out). Sometimes they take the picture and the audio off and it’s just a black screen.”
“The Rock comes in, and you sorta kinda can’t tell The Rock what to do, right. What are we gonna tell him? So he does what he does. But we won’t have those issues with Netflix. The ability to be live globally, the ability to have everything seen all at once everywhere, it’s a game-changing moment. I think in many ways, not to disparage other partners because we want to be everywhere, but that’s sort of where the world is heading is streaming services.”
Saturday July 6th is the WWE’s Money in the Bank PLE and below is the updated card for the show:
World Heavyweight Championship Match: Damian Priest (c) vs. Seth Rollins
If Priest retains, Rollins can’t challenge for the title ever again as long as Priest is champion. If Rollins wins, Priest exits The Judgment Day
Intercontinental Championship Match: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Bron Breakker
Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton & Kevin Owens vs. The Bloodline
Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Jey Uso vs. Andrade vs. Carmelo Hayes vs. Chad Gable vs. LA Knight vs. TBD
Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: IYO SKY vs. Chelsea Green vs. Lyra Valkyria vs. Tiffany Stratton vs. Naomi vs. TBD
After NXT we found out that Chase U will face Axiom and Nathan Frazer for their NXT Tag Team Championships at NXT Heatwave when they competed in a tag team turmoil match against Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, Malik Blade & Edris Enofe, Tyler Bate & Pete Dunne and Angel & Berto
After Shawn Spears defeated NXT Champion Trick Williams in a non title matchup, GM Ava made Trick’s Heat Wave Championship match a fatal 4-way, with Trick Williams, Shawn Spears, Ethan Page and Je’von Evans.
On Wednesday, TNA announced the signing of a new tag team out of British Columbia, Canada, Judas Icarus and Travis Williams AKA Sinner and Saint.
Donovan Dijak has announced that the WWE will not be resigning him when his contract expires on 6/28 and will be a free agent. He is a great wrestler, and he will be on TV sooner than later. (I’m talking to you TNA).
On Friday at the CMLL Viernes Espectacular event at Arena Mexico Atlantis Jr. Defeated Kyle Fletcher to become the new ROH World Television Champion.
Speaking of the CMLL Super Viernes show, the rest of the results are as follows:
Micro Sagrado, Chamuel & KeMalito def. Tengu, Micro Gemelo Diablo I & Micro Gemelo Diablo II.
2/3 Falls Match: Raider & Vegas def. Los Viajeros del eSPACIO (Futuro & Max Star) (2-1).
2/3 Falls Match: Zeuxis, Persephone & Stephanie Vaquer def. Skadi, Lluvia & Tessa Blanchard (2-1).
2/3 Falls Match: Star Jr & Ultimo Guerrero (w/ Perico Zacarías) def. Titan & Templario (2-0).
2/3 Falls Match: Mistico, Volador Jr & Esfinge def. Ángel de Oro & Los Infernales (Averno & Euforia) (2-1).
ROH World Television Championship Match: Atlantis Jr (w/ Atlantis) def. Kyle Fletcher (c) to win the title.
In a shocking display of violence, Solo Sikoa and the rest of the current Bloodline viciously attacked “The Wiseman” Paul Heymen for not acknowledging Solo as the Tribal Chief.
This coming Sunday is AEW’s Forbidden Door PPV and the updated card goes as follows:
Swerve Strickland (c) vs. Will Ospreay (AEW World Title)
Jon Moxley (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito (IWGP World Title)
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Jack Perry vs. Lio Rush vs. Dante Martin vs. El Phantasmo (TNT Title Ladder Match)
Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Stephanie Vaquer (c) (TBS & NJPW STRONG Women’s Titles)
“Timeless” Toni Storm vs. Mina Shirakawa (AEW Women’s Title)
Zack Sabre Jr vs. Orange Cassidy
MJF vs. Hechicero
Bryan Danielson vs. Shingo Takagi (Owen Hart Cup)
Kris Statlander & Momo Watanbe vs. Willow Nightingale & Tam Nakano
Minoru Suzuki vs. Chris Jericho for the FTW Championship
Hiroshi Tanahashi & The Acclaimed vs. The Elite (Kazuchika Okada and The Young Bucks)
Rollcall of Current Champions from Around The Wrestling World
WWE
Undisputed WWE Champion – Cody Rhodes
World Heavyweight Champion – Damian Priest
World Tag Team Champions – The Judgement Day (Finn Balor & JD McDonagh)
WWE Tag Team Champions – Grayson Waller & Austin Theory
WWE Women’s Champion – Bayley
Women’s World Champion – Liv Morgan
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions – Isla Dawn & Alba Fire
WWE US Champion – Logan Paul
WWE Intercontinental Champion – Sami Zayn
NXT
NXT Championship- Trick Williams
NXT Women’s Champion – Roxanne Perez
NXT North American Champion – Oba Femi
NXT Women’s North American Champion – Kelani Jordan
NXT Tag Team Champions – Nathan Frazer & Axiom
NXT Heritage Cup – “The Don of NXT” Tony D’Angelo
AEW
AEW World Champion – Swerve Strickland
AEW TNT Champion – VACANT
AEW Women’s Champion – Toni Storm
AEW TBS Champion – Mercedes Mone
AEW World Tag Team Champions – Young Bucks
AEW & ROH Unified Trios Champions – Bullet Club Gold (Jay White & Austin & Colton Gunn)
AEW International Champion – Will Osprey
AEW Continental Champion – Kazuchika Okada
TNA
TNA World Champion – Moose
TNA X Division – Mustafa Ali
TNA Tag Team Champions – The System (Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers)
TNA Digital Media Champion – AJ Francis
TNA Knockouts Champion – Jordynne Grace
TNA Knockouts Tag Champions – The System (Alisha Edwards and Masha Slamovich)
ROH
ROH World Champion – Mark Briscoe
ROH TV Champion – Atlantis Jr.
ROH Pure Champion – Wheeler Yuta
ROH Tag Champions – The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett)
ROH Women’s Champion – Athena
ROH Women’s TV Champion – Billie Starkz
NWA
NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion – EC3
NWA World TV Champion – Max The Impaler (unified men’s and women’s)
NWA World Jr Heavyweight Champion – Joe Alonzo
NWA National Champion – Thom Latimer
NWA Mid America Heavyweight Champion – Jeremiah Plunkett
NWA World Tag Team Champions – Blunt Force Trauma – (Carnage & Damage)
NWA US Tag Team Champions – VACANT
NWA World Women’s Champion – Kenzie Paige
NWA World Women’s Tag Team Champions – The King Bees (Charity King & Danni Bee)
NJPW
IWGP World Champion – Jon Moxley
IWGP Global Heavyweight – David Finley
IWGP Junior Heavyweight – Sho
Strong Openweight Champion – Gabe Kidd
IWGP Television Champion – Jeff Cobb
IWGP Tag Team Champions – TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste)
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions – Bullet Club War Dogs (Drilla Moloney and Clark Connors)
Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions – TMDK (Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls)
NEVER Openweight Champion – Shingo Takagi
NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Champions – Los Ingobernables de Japón (Yota Tsuji, Bushi and Hiromu Takahashi)
KOPW 2023 – Great O Khan
IWGP Women’s Champion – Maya Iwatani (Shared with Stardom)
Strong Women’s Champion – Stephanie Vaquer (Shared with Stardom)
AAA – Triple A Worldwide
AAA Mega Champion – Nic Nemeth
AAA Latin American Champion – Octagon Jr
AAA World Cruiserweight Champion – Komander
AAA World Tag Team Champions – Nueva Generacion Dinamita (Sanson & Forastero)
AAA World Trios Champions – Los Vipers (Abismo Negro Jr, Psicosis & Toxin)
AAA Reina de Reinas Champion – Flammer
CMLL – Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
CMLL World Heavyweight Champion – Gran Guerrero
CMLL World Light Heavyweight Champion – Averno
CMLL World Middleweight Champion – Templario
CMLL World Welterweight Champion – Titan
CMLL World Lightweight Champion – Stigma
CMLL World Tag Team Champions – Los Nuevos Ingobernables (Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja)
CMLL World Trios Champions – Los Bárbaros (Dragon Rojo Jr., Bárbaro Cavernario & El Terrible)
CMLL World Women’s Champion – Stephanie Vaquer
CMLL World Women’s Tag Team Champions – Stephanie Vaquer and Zeuxis
Stardom
World of Stardom Champion (main title) – Maika
Wonder of Stardom Champion (secondary title ie IC tite) – Saori Anou
Goddess of Stardom Champions (tag) – Fukuoka Double Crazy (Hazuki and Koguma)
Artist of Stardom Champions (trios) – Empress Nexus Venus (Maika, Mina Shirakawa & Xena)
High Speed Champion (lightweight or x type of title) Saya Kamitani
The Sports Insanity Network 