News Archives - NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage

Conrad Thompson: “AEW is making wrestling for fans and I think WWE is making wrestling for investors”

Aaron Rift — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 02:13:40 +0000

While speaking to Ariel Helwani, longtime podcast host Conrad Thompson commented on the state of WWE’s business in 2026. Here is what Thompson had to say…

“I do think you’re onto something about the flow of the show being disrupted, with all the different ad breaks and the sponsors and things like that.

But I understand that, you know, AEW is making wrestling for fans, and I think WWE is making wrestling for investors. You know, their audience is investors. And [Mark] Shapiro just did a great talk a few weeks ago where he talked about the international shows, and I have been championing that for a long time for WWE.

A hot crowd will get me into it more, like that Penta-Roman match. How much of that did we enjoy because the match was great? And it was, but how much was the environment of the audience? They added so much drama to it that I wanted more of those international shows, please.

I remember in AJ’s farewell tour, before we knew it was that, when it was Cody and AJ, the crowd was so hyped, the camera was shaking. It added so much atmosphere. I just loved it.

Yeah, but Shapiro said, ‘Hey, we’re going to have to do a better job of balancing that,’ because—and this was a blind spot for me—there’s no sponsorship dollars over there. So you look at the mat, and the mat’s clean relative to here in America, where it’s just littered with ads.

But I’m a business guy, and I’ve been told for years that my shows have too many ads. So I get that we have to monetize it. I understand it as a business guy.

I look at what TKO is doing and WWE is doing and think it’s unbelievable and hugely successful and phenomenal. But as a longtime WWE and UFC fan, I’m less interested in those products now than I have been in the past.”

The post Conrad Thompson: “AEW is making wrestling for fans and I think WWE is making wrestling for investors” appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Cody Rhodes addresses his podcast comments being used for clickbait headlines

Aaron Rift — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 22:28:57 +0000

While speaking to WrestleTalk, WWE star Cody Rhodes addressed his comments from the What Do You Want To Talk About? podcast being used for clickbait headlines. It started when the interviewer mentioned to Cody, “You’ve spoken recently about how you hate the term ‘the Fed’ or ‘New York’ [to describe WWE]” which led to Cody stating the following…

“I remember I said it in jest about wrestlers who say it. And the way Fightful tries to cancel me every week, and the way they baited it was as if I said it to wrestling fans.

Wrestling fans, there’s no wrong way to be a fan. You can say ‘the Fed’ you can say ‘New York.’ I blink out when I meet an indie wrestler who says it to me because that’s, uh, ‘Okay, cool. All right. You haven’t wrestled there either.’

But that was more the joke I was making. I feel bad for the producers because that happens every week. Fightful just, ‘Oh, we’ve got to make a headline about how Cody hates…’

This show is a fun show, a conversation, and their efforts to bring me down have only kind of made me, uh, I don’t know, I feel more bulletproof just ’cause, ‘All right, I’ll ride through it.'”

The post Cody Rhodes addresses his podcast comments being used for clickbait headlines appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

News regarding a potential location for WWE WrestleMania 45 in 2029

Aaron Rift — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 18:31:50 +0000

In 2025, WWE moved WrestleMania 42 from New Orleans to Las Vegas. Since then, it has been believed that New Orleans is expected to host a future WrestleMania.

According to Fightful.com, there is currently a hold on the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans from March 12th through April 21st, 2029. A source who has worked WWE events in the city told Fightful that the hold was placed in connection with WWE.

The hold does not necessarily mean WWE would use the Superdome for six consecutive weeks. Major stadium events can require extended load-in periods, and a lengthy hold could give WWE flexibility to finalize the exact dates for an event.

New Orleans and WWE have a hold on the Superdome for the spring of 2029, when WrestleMania would be scheduled, sources told @FightfulSelect

We have more details, including WWE's response for subscribers pic.twitter.com/ijOtnU3YYo

— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) October 7, 2026

The post News regarding a potential location for WWE WrestleMania 45 in 2029 appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Cody Rhodes re-signs with WWE & announces that he’ll be ending his wrestling career with the company

Aaron Rift — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 17:48:11 +0000

During an interview with FLAGRANT podcast, WWE star Cody Rhodes made a “breaking news” announcement about his status with the company. Cody stated the following…

“I just re-signed with WWE, so I’ll end my wrestling career with WWE. But also, my wrestling career with WWE might continue because we are now—I just spoke to The New York Times about this—and this was such a great moment to share this. We’re now able to go do this stuff. So, say I do have another project. Say I got two other projects, whatever it may be. I’m able to take a step away, and I’m able to collaborate with WWE, and I’m able to come back home.”

Cody also commented on talent being paid more money…

“Next-level pay is now comparable with sports. And that’s the part that I’m so proud of being a wrestler because when you’d hear baseball contracts and NBA contracts, and you know, as a wrestler, that you could go all over the world and be known and be seen, but you weren’t on that level. You were on the level of penetration, but not that level of income. Now, Modern TKO and Nick [Khan] have made it that you are.”

The post Cody Rhodes re-signs with WWE & announces that he’ll be ending his wrestling career with the company appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

News regarding Roman Reigns’ WWE schedule for the rest of 2026

Aaron Rift — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 16:29:45 +0000

The schedule of world heavyweight champion Roman Reigns has been announced by WWE for the remainder of 2026. It was confirmed that Reigns will be part of the Crown Jewel and Survivor Series PLEs.

Here are the dates…

Monday, October 19th: RAW in San Diego, California
Monday, November 2nd: RAW and SmackDown in Brooklyn, New York
Saturday, November 7th: Crown Jewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Monday, November 9th: RAW in Greenville, South Carolina
Monday, November 23rd: RAW and SmackDown in Wichita, Kansas
Saturday, November 28th: Survivor Series: WarGames in Houston, Texas
Monday, November 30th: RAW in North Little Rock, Arkansas

Acknowledge @WWERomanReigns in a city near you!

: https://t.co/CWnwDwt2Hz pic.twitter.com/5b7sjDlJAt

— WWE (@WWE) October 7, 2026

The post News regarding Roman Reigns’ WWE schedule for the rest of 2026 appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Joe Hendry: “I have the desire and intention to one day become a world champion”

Aaron Rift — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:49:54 +0000

While speaking to TMZ’s Inside The Ring podcast, WWE star Joe Hendry commented on potentially being part of the John Cena Classic in December. Here is what Hendry had to say…

“There’s been a lot of fun moments of this part of my career. We’ve been able to go all out with the music stuff, but ultimately, pro wrestling is number one for me. I am a pro wrestler, and my desire is to be world champion.

The days of me saying I’m going to do this and I’m going to do that—I mean, there was a period of time where it just felt like I was manifesting anything and everything that was going on in my career. And those, I’m leaving those days behind for now.

There comes phases of your career where, you know, there was a phase where I was doing that, and then there comes a phase where you go, ‘Okay, we’ve had a few years of being able to shoot for all these big goals, but for right now, I’m going to do the work up front.’

Which is, I’m going to attain an main event-level physique. I’m going to constantly work on my ability to have great matches. I’m going to improve my promos. I’m going to improve everything. I’m going to become the best version of myself, and then I’m going to trust that by doing that work is going to take me to where I want to go in the professional wrestling business.

But make no mistake about it, I have the desire and intention to one day become a world champion.”

The post Joe Hendry: “I have the desire and intention to one day become a world champion” appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Members of the WWE roster pay tribute to Pac in official video published by the company

Aaron Rift — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:27:48 +0000

In a post via Twitter/X on September 27th 2026, AEW officially announced that Pac (Benjamin Satterley) aka Neville passed away at the age of 40. On October 7th, WWE published a video with multiple superstars paying tribute to Pac.

Pac was repeatedly described as one of the greatest wrestlers his peers had ever worked with. Kevin Owens recalled telling him after their first match, “You’re like the best wrestler I’ve ever seen and ever worked with.” Owens said, “As a performer, there’s nothing at all that he couldn’t do better than anyone else.” Despite his incredible ability, Pac was praised for being humble and never acting like he was the best.

Several tributes focused on Pac’s generosity toward his fellow wrestlers. Big Cass recalled Pac telling him, “Let’s highlight you, big man. Let’s do everything you want to do. Let’s make sure we shine you tonight.” Tyson Kidd was quoted as saying, “The reason why everybody had such great matches with Ben was because Ben was in them.”

Away from wrestling, Pac was remembered as a genuine, kind and extremely funny person. Becky Lynch noted, “He didn’t have to try to be anything because he just was,” while Kidd described him as “the best of us.” His love for his wife, Natalie, and his family was also repeatedly highlighted, with friends recalling how happy he was when talking about returning home to Newcastle.

Sami Zayn struggled to put their relationship and grief into words, ultimately saying, “We were so lucky. We had the best life, man, and we got to share it together.”

Cody Rhodes summed up Pac’s legacy by saying, “I hope they can discover the magic of what you did outside the ring, which was just maintain your identity and be a good man.”

The post Members of the WWE roster pay tribute to Pac in official video published by the company appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Details regarding the long process of Liv Morgan’s recovery from head injury

Aaron Rift — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:11:08 +0000

As seen during WWE WrestleMania 42 Saturday, Liv Morgan defeated Stephanie Vaquer to win the WWE Women’s World Title. The match lasted approximately 6 minutes and 50 seconds.

Ahead of the event, Liv’s status had been uncertain after she was reportedly been put into concussion protocol following a head collision with Roxanne Perez during a backstage segment. While appearing on the Six Feet Under podcast, Liv addressed the recovery from her injury…

“Like a couple weeks before Mania, you know, we had a segment where Stephanie shoved me into Roxanne and Roxanne and I hit heads super hard and I had this giant like juicy hematoma, really, really, really big. And pretty much we were like, ‘All right, it’s going to settle and go away.’

So like, you know, like six months pass, seven months pass, I still have this hematoma. And so we’re like, ‘All right, let’s let’s inject it with steroids, see if it goes away.’ And so we do like two steroid injections. And the hematoma does go away, but it left like a divot in my head cuz like the steroids ate the fat.

So just this week, I pretty much had a fat graph, which is it’s not lipo, but in my mind, I had like lipo. And then they just put it in my head. And so how’ they do what they do? They like went they put me to sleep on my neck and then they went in my belly button and I have a little suture and they went in my belly button and they like sucked out some fat and then they went in my hairline and they injected it and now it’s going to take a couple weeks to smooth it out and then in 3 months we’ll know if I need another one cuz your body only restores 50% of the fat.

It was pretty much just like long process that no one’s known about that I’ve just been like eternally like struggling with… I liked it for work, I didn’t mind it for work, but in like in life like I was rough. And it’s like all I saw, you know, like it’s all my eyes went to and so I’m glad that it’s like gone and we’re on the mend. But it was a f*cking doozy.”

The post Details regarding the long process of Liv Morgan’s recovery from head injury appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Report: Hardcore wrestler Necro Butcher signs a legends contract with WWE

Aaron Rift — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 11:36:49 +0000

Necro Butcher, a wrestler known for his hardcore matches in various independent wrestling promotions over the years, has reportedly signed a WWE Legends contract. Butcher (Dylan Keith Summers) wrote the following in a Facebook post…

“I have signed a basic legends deal with the WWE. The offer actually came in the day after I walked out of my job. The timing was ridiculous. Now, the door is open for various projects, which have already been discussed. But I’m taking things slow. What does this say about my career ? A man who never worked there. But he worked hard everywhere he went. And still will. I will NOT miss my scheduled shows and most definitely will NOT be making any apology videos or speeches. I’ve worked hard, both for myself and for my fans. Nothing was more important to me than credibility and believability. I hope this leads to more opportunities for guys who never got that call to the big time. This is OUR reward. Let’s enjoy this together.”

Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com noted the following…

“PWInsider.com has confirmed with WWE sources that is 100% accurate. The belief is [WWE President] Nick Khan spearheaded the deal, similar to how he was responsible for the company signing a deal with New Jack’s estate a few years back.”

The post Report: Hardcore wrestler Necro Butcher signs a legends contract with WWE appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

AEW Collision results (SPOILERS) from Paris, France including Clockwork Carnage qualifying match

Aaron Rift — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 23:24:37 +0000

The October 10th 2026 edition of AEW Collision was taped in Paris, France on October 6th. Here are the spoiler results courtesy of catch-newz.com…

AEW World Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks (c) (Nick and Matt Jackson) defeated Clark Connors and David Finlay. After the match, Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight attacked the AEW World Tag Team Champions.

Nick Wayne defeated Chris Jericho with a Cutter.

Swerve Strickland defeated Carlie Bravo with a Double Stomp.

AEW National Championship: Andrade El Idolo (c) defeated Michael Oku. After the match, Tommaso Ciampa entered the ring and told Andrade that he wants a match for the championship.

Qualification Clockwork Carnage: Mike Bailey defeated Lee Moriarty.

Alex Windsor, Jamie Hayter, Kris Statlander and Harley Cameron defeated Julia Hart, Skye Blue, Lena Kross and Megan Bayne.

Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Daniel Garcia and Marina Shafir defeated Willow Nightingale, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly and Orange Cassidy.

The show ended with a fan ovation for the Death Riders. Jon Moxley thanked the French fans and encouraged them to make noise and show that they want AEW to return to France for another show.

The post AEW Collision results (SPOILERS) from Paris, France including Clockwork Carnage qualifying match appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.