Honestly for me, I see many problems with Survivor Series 2025 on Saturday (11/29/25). Let me list the many issues that I have with this TKO produced show.

#1 – WWE events work better in arenas, not stadiums.
Right now on Ticketmaster.com, if you wanted to purchase the CHEAPEST ticket for this event at Petco Stadium in San Diego, CA, it will cost you $107.20. Nevermind the parking cost (between $40 and $100), you’ll endure the upper deck of that facility with massive structures around the ring that block your view plus the BRIGHT lights that will be staring at you all night long.

By the way, this event is NOT sold out… Plenty of seats available.

And if you ponied up for the ringside view (paying over $2,000 and up to $5,000 PER TICKET), just realize that thanks to the WarGames format, there are two rings side-by-side. Enjoy the neck strain of looking back and forth, no matter what ticket that you purchased.

#2 – WarGames Theme Sucks
If you are going to have these ignorant cage matches, trying to rehash Dusty’s old idea, then stop calling it “Survivor Series”. Survivor Series, which was invented by the WWE, features 5 on 5 or 4 on 4 elimination style match-ups. It was invented to counter and defeat the promotion who created the “War Games” cage format, NWA Mid-Atlantic territory which later become World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

By the way, the 5 on 5 or 4 on 4 elimination style match-ups were MORE EXCITING than those cage matches. Take out the top War Games match-ups from NWA’s past, and you’re left with many bad match-ups. Often, the Survivor Series match-up allowed for midcarders and main eventers to actually work together and it created a measuring stick for wrestlers to potentially climb up the card. Then, WWE made its Royal Rumble plans and then Wrestlemania plans.

Wrestlers are NO GOOD to a wrestling promotion if they are INJURED. Having cage matches, which encourages stupid stunts by the wrestlers, are recipes for disaster for the WWE as it heads into Rumble to Wrestlemania season when they need their top wrestlers to be healthy. Furthermore, great match-ups DO NOT need match gimmicks to succeed. A 5 on 5 classic Survivor Series match-up would draw equally was well as this stupid catch match this year. That’s a FACT. People aren’t watching Survivor Series just for the cage match, no, they are watching because CM Punk and Roman Reigns are teaming up against a team that features Brock Lesnar. THAT IS THE DRAW, not a stupid cage covering 2 rings.

Plus, now that WarGames is the Survivor Series theme, it’s ridiculous to think that wrestlers are like “well, it’s November, might as well have a cage match”.

NO!!! If you’re going to have a big match that involves cages, ladders, tables, chairs, of no-disqualification standards, then the STORYLINE should induce it, not the month of the event!

Because it’s November, both men and women have to wrestle in a catch that spans 2 rings. That is such LAZY booking.

#3 – The Vision Sucks
Even when Seth Rollins was there, this stable did nothing for me or most wrestling fans. Attendance and viewership have both dropped since the Seth/Paul Heyman heel turn and forming of the group occurred. Switching back and forth between heel, face, and tweener has burned Seth out as a wrestler, while Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed just aren’t exciting as characters.

You can tell that Bronson is a “Triple H guy”, based on the way he’s incorporated into bigger WWE storylines. I, along with other wrestling fans, felt NOTHING when Reed defeated Roman Reigns. Again, HHH, you can keep pushing guys like him, Kross, Black, or Priest… Brooding big guys, which was your template, just doesn’t draw when the in-ring performances aren’t exciting or mic skills/personality aren’t there.

With Bron Breakker… He’s a more athletic version of his Dad and Uncle, but he lacks personality like those two. Rick Steiner was the “Dog Faced Gremlin” and brought a lot to the table as a singles wrestler, back in the day, when he was feuding with the Varsity Club. Took Scott Steiner a while, but “Big Poppa Pump” was full of personality and thrived when he finally made the heel turn to join the NWO. Bron has been switched between heel and face too many times, and honestly, I think being seen too much in NXT actually exposed him in the WWE.

Paul Heyman’s time deserves better. If I were booking the ending of Survivor Series 2025, I’d have Heyman fully rejoin Brock Lesnar and then have Lesnar just obliterate Breakker and Reed. Vision is over and we can at least have 1 great heel for the many babyfaces (Punk and Reigns, especially) to challenge. As the NoDQ Review guys said the other night, there’s real money in a big CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar feud and I agree.

#4 – Survivor Series could be renamed to OLDER Series
Let’s look at the average age of the WarGames main event on the male side:

CM Punk = 47
Cody Rhodes = 40
Jey Uso = 40
Jimmy Uso = 40
Roman Reigns = 40

Versus

Brock Lesnar = 48
Bronson Reed = 37
Bron Breakker = 28
Logan Paul = 30
Drew McIntyre = 40

Now, in pro wrestling circles, many top performers work well into their 40s… I’m NOT disputing that, as often, that is still the prime for many performers.

My issue is WHAT IS BEHIND those wrestlers coming up in the WWE midcard or in the NXT developmental system.

I already discussed my concerns with Reed and Breakker above… For Logan Paul, I see all kinds of superstar potential with him, but he has only wrestled 25 matches in 4 years and from those matches, he has a 11-14 win/loss record. All of the top guys have already defeated him, while most of Paul’s wins are against midcarders or someone line AJ Styles past their prime. Thus, rebuilding him would take time if there were ever consistent considerations to make him a long-term main eventer.

With Lesnar, Punk, the Usos, Reigns, Drew, and Cody, we’ve seen each of them achieve their peak moments and already wrestle virtually everybody already. Punk vs. Cody or Punk vs. Lesnar, in my opinion, is the only thing that remains from this group with any form of juice to draw.

The WEAKNESS of WWE Developmental should be a major concern for the strategy makers at TKO. This has been a massive issue of the WWE for YEARS, as I’ve argued for 15 years now. The trainers on the male side just aren’t teaching personality, mic skills, or encouraging charisma like they used to in OVW or FCW. Hell, look at this match-up… Aside from Breakker, who was a John Laurinaitis signing, Reed, and Paul, it’s all OVW and FCW signed and developed guys. Roman started in FCW, by the way, and was later moved over to NXT.

#5 – Why is there a female WarGames match?
Sorry, but I dislike having 2 of the same special match on the same card. Completely waters down the events when 2 of the same match happens, such as TLC, Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, and WarGames. “Too much of a good thing” and “less is more” should be principles for the WWE to consider with these specialty matches.

And I just don’t get the psychology of the match-up, either, as it feels so thrown together unless the babyface unravels. The babyface with Rhea, Iyo, Charlotte, Alexa, and AJ Lee is far more stacked and interesting compared to Nia Jax, Lash Legend, Kabuki Warriors, and Becky Lynch.

#6 – If Nikki Bella wins, San Diego fans should riot.
DISCLAIMER: I’m joking and being sarcastic with the “riot” comment! Fans in attendance should obviously not riot.

Sorry, but older Nikki Bella with in-ring mileage and injuries mounted should not be wrestling Stephanie Vaquer. This is likely going to be staged right before the men’s WarGames match to allow everyone to get one last beer or take a piss at the stadium.

If Nikki wins, this is an absolute crime and diminishes the women’s title that Vaquer holds. In fact, if I were booking this, I’d have Stephanie absolutely obliterate her within 1 minute. That, or just toy with her for 5 minutes and let the fans enjoy it.

Nikki Bella just isn’t good inside the ring, but that’s merely thanks to getting older and the injuries she sustained. Remember, she retired due to her neck injury and the cyst inside her head. Thus, she’s overly protective inside the ring and afraid of taking any risks. The end result equals a bad performance by her, especially against performers who are more athletic than her right now.

#7 – Dominik Mysterio should defeat John Cena to win back the IC Title
Recently, ESPN listed Dominik Mysterio as the top wrestler under 30 years of age. Hard to dispute, as Dominik has more than proven himself as a PERSONALITY who is magnetic with fans. While I think he’s a solid worker, it’s his personality, charisma, and confidence that sets him apart from many other wrestlers his age. The guy totally owned his character and has made a name for himself.

This is a big stage for Cena and Dom, and a perfect one for Dom to steal a win from Cena, if not outright defeating him. However, I think WWE needs to save that big CLEAN win for someone else for Cena’s final match and thus can get away with Dom CHEATING TO WIN instead. In fact, Dirty Dom should defeat Cena with a past method used by Eddie Guerrero as a 20-year tribute to a guy once alleged to be his father. Cena can then just laugh inside the ring that Dom did him, much like Eddie would, and then Cena can just move on to the big retirement match without feeling any need to get revenge on Dominik.

#8 – WWE should incorporate Mr. Tito’s idea for Survivor Series
I have suggested this idea for YEARS! Instead of having these STUPID and I repeat STUPID WarGames cage matches, WWE should retain the 5 on 5 Survivor Series elimination matches but with a massive special stipulation on the match.

The top 5 babyfaces and then the top 5 heels should face-off with the classic elimination style matches, unless WWE really wants RAW and Smackdown teams instead. Whatever the format may be, the basic idea is that the WINNING TEAM receives slots #26-30 at the WWE Royal Rumble while slots #1-5 are given to the LOSING TEAM. WWE could make it simpler by having the #1 seed as the reward for the lone survivor instead, and in the event that more than 1 person survive on the team, they should have a match during the December PLE to determine who gets that #1 seed.

My point is to LINK Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble together, while also placing a “sense of urgency” on the Survivor Series 5 on 5 classic elimination style match-up and the PLE.

The WarGames cage match is not only LAME, but a tired format. Tito’s plan of placing Royal Rumble positions up-for-grabs makes Survivor Series a much more interesting event.

Otherwise, if “WarGames” is going to continue to dominate Survivor Series, then make WarGames a separate event and either retire Survivor Series or make that a separate event? Give event to the Saudis, as they’ll literally buy anything that advertises what is currently happening in their country.

Actually, let’s give WarGames to the Saudis so they can enjoy those crappy matches while keeping the better WWE events here in North America where they were created and belong.

Follow me on Blue Sky!

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post MR. TITO: Happy Thanksgiving – The WarGames Format SUCKS for WWE Survivor Series Events appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

But I am not going to focus on AEW this week. That’s what honestly burned me out. It’s like screaming into the abyss and expecting to get a response. So I’m gonna focus my attention on the WWE this week. The WWE is not without it’s own problems right now.

The biggest problem that I have with them is the pacing of the show itself. RAW on Netflix especially is terrible when it comes to pacing. Every time a match starts to get interesting…what happens? A DAMN COMMERCIAL BREAK. I know it’s been like this since the start of RAW on Netflix, but man last night on RAW it just seemed like overkill. This commercial overload just kills the flow of the show. I was really interested in the Maxxine Dupri vs. Becky Lynch match and soon as it got started…we go to commercial. I did pop for Maxxine winning so yay for that. Later in the night we have Je’Von Evans vs. GUNTHER and again just as the match was picking up…WE GO TO COMMERCIAL!!!

I understand there needs to be commercials. We just don’t need the sheer volume of them especially on Netflix when I have for the ad free tier (are there commercials on the international version?) It’s impossible to get into a match on Netflix because of the commercials.

Evans vs. Gunther wasn’t a bad match despite all the commercial interruptions. The problem with the match though was the outcome was seen as soon as the match was announced last week. Not a person in the world believed Je’Von could beat Gunther. Didn’t mean it wasn’t competitive. But Je’Von was going to be defeated. This whole tournament has been too predictable. The heavily rumored winner of the whole tournament is supposedly going to be Gunther. I have no problem with Gunther winning. What I have a problem with is everything leading up to it being predictable.

The way John Cena announced it you would think there would be some interesting choices for this tournament. The choices though are not that interesting. They went with Sheamus over Shinsuke. I was not happy with that. Rusev over Damien Priest was a good move but it leads to Sheamus vs. Rusev and there’s a possibility that could go to a no contest or something leading to Jey Uso getting a free pass to the semi finals when he almost certainly wins over LA Knight.

This week on Smackdown the other quarterfinal matches will occur with Carmelo Hayes vs. BIG Bronson Reed and Penta vs. Finn Balor. I suspect Bronson will lose to Carmelo via shenanigans to set up the impending War Games match on the 29th. That gives us Carmelo vs. Gunther. The only match I can’t pick a winner on is Penta vs. Finn. It could go a number of ways. I hope most of them are in favor of Penta because if things were aligned right, Cena vs. Penta would be a fun match for Cena to retire with.

I’m predicting a Gunther vs. Penta final for the Cena tournament. Anything else would feel like a let down to me and I’m sure a lot of you. Gunther has nothing to gain by facing John Cena in his last match. Penta could use the proverbial rub by facing Cena in his last match. The WWE needs a new mega star and Penta is just at the cusp of reaching that next level for them. My only question is “does Cena win or lose that final match”? The WWE has always been built on sending people home happy so of course it would be a very WWE thing to do to have Cena win his final match and ride off into the sunset like that.

I mentioned Penta as a potential Mega Star because the WWE is filled with so many guys who won’t be there in the next couple of years. CM Punk is pushing 50. Roman Reigns is barely a part timer. AJ Styles is retiring in the next year. Cody Rhodes has repeatedly said he will retire sooner rather than later. The WWE has plenty of talent in NXT, but someone has to be the Captain of the ship when the time comes. I don’t know if Penta could be the guy to be that guy someday, but him being Cena’s final opponent would be a good start.

Honestly I don’t trust Triple H’s booking with the talent of NXT when they finally get moved up to the main roster. Though to be fair, the main roster of the WWE has been a terrible place for NXT talent for eons. For every one good success story…there are a dozen of swing and misses. A guy like Trick Williams has peaked in NXT. But not if, but when he makes the move to the main roster the question is will he be treated as something special or will he just be another guy on the roster kinda like Carmelo Hayes is at the moment. I’m not knocking Hayes there. It’s just booking wise he’s been “just there”.

Oba Femi is another guy I have doubts about. In NXT he’s mostly unstoppable. But when he gets the call to the main roster, how long will he last before he’s just another guy (which would an impressive feat considering how damn imposing he is).

Well we shall see where the Last time is now tournament ends up going with the matches on Smackdown this week. The WWE can be very predictable, so I’m fairly certain my predictions for who will win will end up happening.

On that note I am done for this week. As always you can leave comments down below, on Twitter or email me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com

The post The Phantom Rant: My Problems With The WWE appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

RVD took offense to the pressuring by Vince, John, and even some of his fellow stooge wrestlers who felt that they HAD to go to Afghanistan to perform in front of the troops. They kept asking and asking him to perform, but RVD was adamant about finally receiving time off.

The irony of the situation is that the 2005’s initial “Tribute to the Troops” location actually had a few incidents and became “unsafe” for non-military personnel to be there. Then, the newer location truly did become voluntary for the wrestlers.

This Saturday, the WWE will be holding their Night of Champions Premium Live Event (PLE) on Saturday, June 28th at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The show was to be headlined by John Cena vs. CM Punk, and that’s unique given CM Punk’s previous posts about Saudi Arabia on social media especially telling the Miz to “go suck a blood money covered d***” there. While Punk and the Miz have reportedly made up, I’m guessing that Punk’s apprehension towards an entire country must have as well?

On any other week, prior to June 2025, this would be just another international WWE event. After all, the WWE has been hosting PLE events there since April 2018 and making between $20 to $30 million per event. While the road hasn’t always been smooth, such as dealing with Saudi’s political events and the WWE plane full of wrestlers not being allowed to take off following Crown Jewel 2019, it has been a mostly lucrative experience for both parties involved. WWE gets a big fat check as a corporation, while Saudi Arabia is using WWE events to advertise cultural changes of their country.

June 2025 is different, however… In case you have lived under a rock, war drums are beating in the form of Israel and Iran launching missiles at each other and then on Saturday evening, the United States launched missiles and dropped bombs on 3 specific nuclear locations. Through today as retaliation, missiles have been launched at the United States military bases in the countries of Iraq and Qatar.

Reportedly, WWE production staff for this Saturday’s event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia are stuck in an airport in Qatar. They left early for preparations for the big event.

How are they in Qatar?

After all, Qatar is actually East of Riyadh… Most flight plans have planes flying above Europe and then essentially taking a turn at Italy to fly South of Israel before landing in Saudi Arabia. Flying to Qatar is unique, unless WWE officials were diverted there on purpose. That’s unique because it’s Qatar receiving missile strikes, not Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, there are 5 separate United States military bases in Saudi Arabia which we use to protect them as an ally and to watch the region, particularly since the early 1990s Desert Storm where Sgt. Slaughter turned heel and took on Hulk Hogan for Wrestlemania 7.

As NoDQ Review contributor Virtue pointed out, Saudi Arabia is extremely close to the military action right now with them being Southeast of Israel and only separated by water and the country of Jordan while being Southwest of Iran separated by the Persian Gulf body of water and Iraq. Given that both Israel and Iran are launching rockets at each other, this presents significant risks for any pro wrestling flying to Saudi Arabia, let alone performing there. Furthermore, shooting missiles into Qatar and Iraq is getting really close to Saudi Arabia.

However, how close is Saudi Arabia with either Israel or Iran?

Saudi is not a big trade partner with either country. Militarily, while some religious tension may exist, Israel and Saudi Arabia are peaceful between each other and no recent conflicts have existed between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi kind of keeps to themselves, but they are heavily protected by the United States military for over 30 years now. When Iraq invaded Kuwait to initiate Desert Storm, the fear was that Saudi Arabia would be invaded next. Why? Oil… While the United States only imports 7% of their oil from Saudi Arabia now, it was much higher 35 years ago. Had Saddam Hussein lit Saudi’s oil fields on fire, gas prices would have been higher than they already were during 1990-1991.

Still, they are a big enough country to export oil to the United States but they are also heavily invested in many other U.S. ventures as well. Besides the WWE, they host UFC events, own much of pro golf, have investments in big corporations like X/Twitter, among many other things. They are a country that the United States takes very seriously on the world stage for their energy and financial assets, even if certain things don’t align culturally.

In other words, if Saudi Arabia received any military strikes by Iran, I can guarantee that ANY President of the United States would retaliate immediately.

Compare that to Qatar today, which is a smaller country, and Iraq whom Iran has bombed before (January 2020). It’s likely that both military actions today were a message that their range missiles can hit targets and assets nearby, though the United States shot down most missiles before they reached their destination to cause any damage.

Within Saudi Arabia, it could be safe for the WWE wrestlers… Again, 5 United States military bases in that country and right now, thanks to actions taken in Iran, there are plenty of United States military assets in that region. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia is a difficult country to get in and a harder one to get out (see 2019 WWE plane incident). They are a police state and ruled pretty much with an iron fist. The way they operate plus U.S. military assistance would keep the WWE talent safe.

Where I have worries is flying… Right now, the flight plan goes SOUTH of both Israel and Iran. Getting too close to that HOT stove is dangerous enough, but any jetliner in the sky for 12 hours could be at risk. While I would guess that the United States military may provide some assistance, you never know what could happen with DRONES these days or ROCKET LAUNCHERS, whether they are from the shoulder variety or launching off the back of a truck. You never know what could pop out of the Atlantic Ocean to launch something, too. Lots of bad things could happen for over 6,500 miles too and then over 6,500 miles heading back home.

Getting back to the recent news…

Qatar airways have re-opened, so the stuck WWE production crew should be on their way to Riyadh anytime soon.

Statement sent to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp indicates that WWE Night of Champions will happen, as planned, on 6/28.

With that said, if the WWE and TKO are adamant about getting that WWE event in Saudi Arabia to cash that $20 to $30 million check and assure that the even BIGGER check for 2026 Royal Rumble gets cashed, do the WWE wrestlers have any say in this matter? Like Rob Van Dam, could they refuse performing in Saudi Arabia?

Yeah, if they unionized and all collectively refused to go.

But WWE wrestlers are independent contractors who are paid based on a downside guarantee. As long as the WWE provides the minimum accommodations to perform anywhere, the WWE talent has to do perform where they are told. Certain exceptions may apply here and there, but as you can see from the headlining match of this event, we’re seeing CM Punk vs. John Cena. The same guy who told the Miz to “go suck a blood money covered d***” in Saudi Arabia now has to oblige to his WWE contract or else be in breach of it.

Let’s not cry foul for CM Punk… He signed that contract and likely as being one of the highest paid WWE talents, he’ll probably be placed on a private jet to ensure that a top superstar gets home safely. His principles might have taken a low blow, but he’s well taken care of by the WWE and TKO, believe me.

Security for Saudi Arabia trips has always been high by the WWE. Prior to 2018’s Crown Jewel event, a journalist named Jamal Khashoggi was reportedly killed by “agents of the Saudi government” and as mentioned before, the 2019 Crown Jewel event had hours upon hours of flight delays. Relations between WWE and the Saudi government have been strong since, as seen by them acquiring one of the WWE’s “big 3” events with 2026’s Royal Rumble. But WWE probably remains cautious and not only beefs up security for their wrestlers, but likely converses with the United States government about their trips. I’m sure that they will now…

For WWE and TKO, is it the RIGHT THING to do right now in continuing to host the event in Saudi Arabia?

While Saudi Arabia had nothing to do with what is happening in Israel, Iran, or the United States, they are still very close geographically to Israel and Iran. Just too much of a risk… However, as Stephanie McMahon once put it following the Jamal Khashoggi incident and still having the 2018 Crown Jewel event despite metric tons of political pressure, it was “strictly a business decision”.

And that’s what this is all about… Business. TKO and its Silver Lake-owned Endeavor daddy LOVE money. They want to pad their financials as much as humanly possible to jerk off investors of their TKO stock. THAT is what truly matters to TKO and WWE executives…

For TKO to pull WWE events out of Saudi Arabia risks the $20 to $30 million per event payday along with forgoing two of those paydays, per year, moving forward. Plus, the 2026 Royal Rumble payday is likely to be much larger than that!

TKO cares more about the shareholders purchasing their stock than anything else that could occur. In fact, their executives are paid highly to take RISKS just like this. Sure, it would be terrible publicity if a plane full of WWE wrestlers was hit with a rocket or if an arena full of WWE talents got bombed, but that doesn’t happen, nothing but pure profit for TKO and WWE as a line item. I guarantee that TKO executives have weighed the pros and cons of the situation, making the assumption that Iran wouldn’t gain sympathy from the world by killing WWE talents from different countries (not just U.S.) or Saudi Arabia fans in attendance for 2025 Night of Champions on Saturday. Trust me, they’ve had that conversation and weighted the option. They don’t want to lose that $20-$30 million payday, along with future paydays from Saudi Arabia.

Welcome to corporate hell, everybody.

I’ve been behind closed doors when some rough things were said about other people’s money, exploiting consumers openly through marketing, and what companies really think about their employees. Both consumers and employees are numbers on an Income Statement, folks, and that’s why you’re seeing this major race to implement Artificial Intelligence. They want to use computer automation to SHRED as much labor as they can and companies give ZERO craps about how sudden unemployment affects their employees. Zero empathy, zero cause for concern, and everything about pure profit to yank the crank of shareholders who are shredding their own employees, too.

While TKO’s revenues from the WWE continue to skyrocket from these Saudi events, lucrative TV deals such as the one with Netflix, and from higher ticket prices, wrestler pay is NOT moving at the same rate. In fact, it has plateaued and many wrestlers are getting let go simply because they’ve earned too many promotions by being there longer than others. See R-Truth and Braun Strowman.

If WWE wrestlers don’t want to attend Saudi Arabia events, then they need to take a stand together and refuse collectively to participate in the event unless certain security standards are met and payment increases. You know, like bargaining for something as a team…

But if you’re a fan and you’re upset that WWE is placing your favorite wrestlers at risk, then don’t watch WWE Night of Champions 2025. I keep telling you that CONSUMERS have more power than the WWE wants them to think, as WWE needs bodies tuning into USA Network/Netflix, logging into social media or YouTube, attending events in-person, or buying merchandise to truly survive. In particular, fans have the true power to screw the WWE out of the latter 5 years of their 10-year deal simply by boycotting RAW on Netflix. We’ve already gone from 4 million to 2.5 million in a matter of 5 months, think about how much lower that could go to change Netflix’s mind about paying out the rest of that $5 billion deal with the 5-year opt-out clause in place.

Personally, I’d air on the side of caution with things just too warm in Iran and Israel right now… But I no longer have to answer to shareholders as career-driven corporate employees do. It’s funny how the upper management of a corporation work as a team to come to decisions collectively (i.e. make as much money as possible, so do that Saudi WWE event!), but the wrestlers NEVER work together for their own safety or collective benefit.

Until wrestlers work together and let TKO/WWE treat them individually, I hope they enjoy being told where to work, even if near a warzone, while also worrying if they might get randomly terminated as well. You are all bricks in the wall, numbers on an Income Statement.

Enjoy WWE Night of Champions 2025, marks!

I’ll pass on this event, please and thank you, out of concern for the safety of the wrestlers despite the “travel advisories” out there. Saudi Arabia is surrounded by “do not travel” level 4 countries, by the way, while being a level 2 themselves to “express caution”. You should NEVER have to express any forms of caution when traveling.

TKO Corporation can suck it.

Follow me on Blue Sky!

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post MR. TITO: Should WWE Have Their Night of Champions PLE in Saudi Arabia This Saturday? appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

MEANWHILE, a 26-year old former AEW Women’s Champion and 2024 Owen Hart Tournament winner Mariah May debuted on NXT.

But which story is getting more headlines?

That a 53-year old wrestler was released or a 26-year old top female performer left All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in her prime to join WWE?

Of course, the outrage is for a guy whom everyone has remembered for the past 25 years in pro wrestling. They remember the times he forgot that he was not in a Money in the Bank match, putting a ladder up during the Royal Rumble, referring to Dominik Mysterio as “Dom and Nick” Mysterio, among other hilarious things… But those funny memories are compounded from a 25-year career in the WWE, with 7 years or so taken in TNA and Truth returning to the WWE to work for the past 17 years. YET, he was a midcarder for most of his career and mostly a comedic act who had a ceiling.

WWE literally did the same thing to “Edge” or Adam Copeland as you know him now in AEW. He was in his early 50s and rather than re-signing him to an equal or higher salary, WWE offered him a lower guaranteed salary due to his age. Copeland rejected that and took AEW’s money. There is a consistency in WWE’s policy, whether Vince McMahon is there (and he was for Edge’s release) or not.

WWE doesn’t want to pay you once you hit your late 40s, and their analytics folks are crunching numbers to determine $ of revenue divided by guaranteed salary. Braun Strowman found that out with his first release.

I get it, timing is terrible, letting someone know on a Sunday afternoon…

BUT…

How much more is left in R-Truth’s tank?

Because I see plenty of runway for Mariah May’s career at age 26 along with her in-ring ability and supermodel stunning looks (not being sexist, that matters in a presentation form of entertainment like wrestling). She has at least 15 years of peak performance left in her, while R-Truth will be 68 years-old in 15 years.

Do you see why many of your statements are getting ridiculous?

And again, why are we overlooking that AEW just lost a massive free agent?

Former AEW Women’s Champion who is 26 years old, GONE from their company.

Just like Jade Gargill…

In fact, outside of 2019 when AEW obtained Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley) from the WWE as a free agent and Bryan Danielson, has anyone else made a massive impact for AEW when the exit was THEIR choice?

Mind you, Edge and Christian just didn’t have their contracts renewed by WWE or were offered lower deals. WWE could have kept both if they offered better contracts.

Mercedes Mone (Sasha Banks) walked off the WWE job and took a few years before joining AEW. Granted, she did negotiate with WWE for a possible return, but they lowballed her on a deal after she walked out on them twice.

Chris Jericho was long gone from WWE when he joined AEW. Doesn’t count.

Many other wrestlers have been picked up by AEW because WWE outright released them from their contracts. It wasn’t their choice to leave WWE…

But I can show wrestlers who CHOSE to leave AEW to join WWE:
– Cody Rhodes (rejected offer to return as EVP, too)
– Jade Cargill
– Mariah May
– Penta
– Rey Fenix
– Ricky Starks (now Saints)
– Ethan Page
– Stephanie Vaquer (worked one AEW event, immediately signed with WWE)

There are other younger wrestlers reportedly eye possibilities at the end of their AEW deals, too.

AEW did NOT learn what harmed World Championship Wrestling during the late 1990s. As WCW was rocking and rolling during 1996-1997, he gave massive extensions to the veterans while any incoming former WWE star that joined WCW received a big deal too (Hennig, Bret Hart, etc.). With all of those high contracts on the books that are guaranteed, WCW had to justify using them rather than developing and pushing younger wrestlers beneath them on the roster.

What does AEW now have on their roster? Highly paid Christian Cage, Adam Copeland, Will Ospreay, Okada, Mercedes, Jericho, Moxley, and the EVP trio of Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. I purposely leave MJF out of that group because of his much younger age, but AEW has to keep pushing and featuring him with the big contract in place (he’s talented, mostly worth it). Effectively, Tony’s spending spree has caused a BLOCKADE up top and thus many younger wrestlers are seeing WCW’s history repeating itself (except the Khans have better revenue streams to survive longer).

YET, instead of pointing out how AEW cannot keep their talent without severely overpaying them, the drive-by online wrestling fans, probably consisting of passive aggressive AEW fans, are focusing on the following stories to attack Triple H and/or the TKO ownership of the WWE:
– R-Truth and Carlito’s releases
– Slim Jim sponsoring rings and tables
– Vince McMahon starting his own entertainment company
– Trumpeting MVP’s claims about Triple H

And it’s so easy to swat down each one.
– R-Truth and Carlito’s contract expirations are consistent with WWE policy about age of performers and revenue gained versus guaranteed salary
– Wasn’t Slim Jim the one sponsor who broke the WWE during January 2024 when they wanted to pull their ads as long as Vince McMahon was Chairman of TKO? YEAH, that happened. Now, they are willing to give their money to a company no longer helmed by a sexual predator.
– Vince McMahon starting his own company? 14 & I? Good look with that in your late 70s and past history.
– MVP is a 51 year-old non-wrestler, Bobby Lashley is a 48 year-old wrestler, and Shelton Benjamin is 49 years old. You can pull that card all day, but WWE has consistency with their policy on age UNLESS you are exceptional draws like Cena, Punk, or Mysterio. Sorry, but Lashley wasn’t a strong draw and while I love Benjamin’s ability, the drawing power is questionable.

Stop deflecting what is really happening!!! WWE is assembling one of the most LOADED talent rosters of all time that can literally fill 3 full brands of wrestling (RAW, Smackdown, and NXT) while AEW cannot keep younger talent around. That’s a FACT.

AEW couldn’t even retain CM Punk, who was the guy getting AEW back over the 1 million viewership hump and the FIRST main eventer to help AEW achieve a $1 million gate. Instead, their culture sabotaged him with lies and going off-script, while trying to attack him backstage with many NDAs signed afterward. THAT is the culture that still remains, along with Tony Khan showing favoritism towards his high priced free agent signings.

Say, that sounds like WCW during 1997-1998… Toxic backstage for the younger wrestlers yet favorable for the overpaid wrestlers at the top.

And WWE is taking the bullets this week for being fiscally responsible for output and age of wrestlers versus salary paid?

R-Truth has only wrestled SIX TIMES in 5 months for 2025!

Mariah May’s contract was expiring to join the WWE, and yet she still worked 4 matches in less than 3 months for 2025.

This is why YOU ARE FANS and why you’re NOT running any wrestling companies. Your outrage, lack of logic, and lack of business sense would cause the house of cards to fall immediately!

I write this column as a big fan of R-Truth… I literally wrote the other day that he would still have VALUE as both an occasional wrestler but also as a TEACHER. Truth got over based on his personality and character versus his in-ring ability. What do the NXT wrestlers need taught to them besides their athletic ability? Personality and character. THAT is why I think it was a big mistake for WWE to release him, because he could have been the perfect coach for future talents. Then, they could still use him for the part-time wrestler he has become.

But make no mistake, a 53 year-old part-time midcard act should NOT be receiving massive headlines as AEW losing its younger stars in its 6th year of existence. Mariah May is a BIG signing for the WWE and stocks the WWE’s pond for years with great matches and moments, along with more work inside the ring that an older veteran like R-Truth wasn’t producing.

WWE, through a couple of smart signings, just gave their Women’s Division a major shot in the arm by signing a 32 year-old Stephanie Vaquer and a 26 year-old Mariah May. And they get to wrestle a 28 year-old Rhea Ripley for YEARS.

Go ahead and mock WWE for selling out to sponsors, pulling massive money out of cities to host big events, or signing big streaming deals… They won’t lose top free agents that can make a difference elsewhere, EVER, nor will they ever let AEW raid their developmental system of their top stars.

Meanwhile, AEW needs to figure out that signing Dave Meltzer’s favorite wrestlers as free agents and ex-WWE stars will NOT make them become the #1 company. They have someone on the AEW roster named Jim Ross who built WWE’s developmental system and they need to talk to him about developing new stars from the ground up.

Create a 5-year plan… By the time 5 years are up, Netflix will likely ditch the WWE and USA Network will be in worse shape with fewer subscribers. Endeavor was purchased by a Private Equity firm who will strip down WWE and UFC’s assets for their investors and pick said companies clean. Triple H will be a little older and might be over it by then, too… Tony is still young and by 5 years with a true talent development plan in place, he could be in a good position to get closer to that #1 spot.

You have Jim Ross right there and God bless the man, he’s fighting for his life with cancer. Tony should grab a handful of legal pads and start writing things down from Jim’s spoken word on talent. Use advice from Jim to create a strategic plan to build up AEW to be stronger in 5 years with a proper talent developmental system instead of the one that is in place where the WWE can easily pick off your best talents.

Sucks that R-Truth was released, but the truth is his release is more normal business for the WWE versus losing a former champion still in their prime like AEW has had repeatedly done to itself.

Follow me on Blue Sky!

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post MR. TITO: Wrestling Fans Too Focused on R-Truth, but AEW Losing Mariah May to WWE is a BIGGER Story appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

AEW

AEW Grand Slam – I’m not going to go all negative on this and focus on the backstage drama because, at this point, we all know how chaotic the whole thing was. But as an event itself, the show was actually good.

My only problem with the booking was Mercedes winning over Harley Cameron. While Harley lacks in-ring experience, she is a wrestler who got organically over, which is very rare in AEW. When that happens, AEW should take advantage of it—because if they don’t, WWE might take notice, and she could switch brands once her current contract is up.

So, I would have put her over Mercedes and given her a huge push with the title instead of keeping the belt on Mercedes, who is, quite frankly, one of the coldest characters on the roster right now.

The Grand Slam Ring Controversy – This has been covered a lot by pretty much everybody in the business, and I agree with them—this was a rookie mistake on AEW’s part. They should have made sure they had their ring ready in Australia before they arrived instead of hoping to find one once they got there. The fact that they weren’t able to find a 20×20 ring and had to go with an 18×18 one was noticeable and could have been dangerous for the talent. In fact, they’re lucky that only one person got injured because it could have been much worse.

The Thunder Rosa Run-in on Dynamite – Again, it’s stuff like this that makes AEW look amateurish and takes attention away from the actual product. Dynamite was a really good show, but because of two people who either went into business for themselves or were told to make Thunder Rosa look bad, nobody is talking about the rest of the show.

This segment made Thunder Rosa look bad, made Kris Statlander look even worse because everyone forgot she was in the ring, and made Penelope Ford and Megan Bayne look weaker as heels. Worst of all, it made AEW look bad for allowing this to happen.

NXT/TNA

Ricky Saints’ Debut – Speaking of AEW, former AEW talent Ricky Starks, now known as Ricky Saints, made his debut on NXT this week, and boy, did NXT make sure he looked like a major star.

The fact is, Ricky is more over after two weeks in NXT than he was during most of his AEW run. This, at least to me, shows how AEW fails to recognize when they have someone who can actually be a draw for their company. Ricky is just the latest former AEW star to look way better in NXT than he did in AEW, just like Ethan Page and Lexis King, who have also received strong pushes and now feel like bigger stars than they ever did in AEW. This makes AEW look bad.

The TNA/NXT Partnership Is Heating Up – This week on NXT, we saw Moose make his debut, and it was announced that The Hardys will wrestle on NXT next week. Then, on Thursday, Cora Jade continued her program with Masha Slamovich by attacking her from behind, while Oba Femi made his TNA debut and will be part of a huge eight-man tag match on next week’s show.

This is big for a number of reasons, mainly because it’s probably the first time WWE has sent their top guys to TNA since the partnership started last year. I feel like we’re in for something major heading into WrestleMania season, and I can’t wait to see where all of this goes. Also, the fact that The Hardys are coming back to WWE through this partnership is a big deal for a lot of fans. I hope this won’t be a one-off and that Jeff will be able to get the redemption he’s seeking before they retire.

WWE

Road Dogg Returning to SmackDown’s Creative Team – I know a lot of fans and some columnists are down on him being put back on creative, considering how bad his last run was, but I’m willing to give him a chance. If last night’s SmackDown is any indication of what he can do, I’m on board.

Outside of The Rock segment—which I’ll talk about in more detail later—this show was really good and made all the top stories feel important. That’s exactly what a good head of creative is supposed to do.

The WrestleMania Build Feels Cold – I really hope things pick up after Elimination Chamber because, right now, it just doesn’t feel like WrestleMania season.

I love Jey, and I’m happy they took a chance on him for Mania, but this program with Gunther just feels like a TV feud rather than a WrestleMania-worthy main event. My thoughts on Jey right now? He’s the new Kofi Kingston “flavor of the month.” By that, I mean he’s over because fans want him to get a big world title run for everything he’s done in his career. But once he gets it, his popularity will slowly decline, and fans will move on to the next guy. So while I get that he’s the most over guy right now, I also feel like his big moment will be overshadowed by bigger stars—especially Cena’s moment and The Rock’s return. After Mania, he might be forgotten.

As for Tiffany vs. Charlotte, my biggest fear is that Charlotte wins and kills Tiffany’s momentum as a top face. Tiffany has been one of the most popular women’s division stars since her call-up, and this should be her big breakout moment. But the way this build has been going—especially with her still stuck in a feud with Nia and Candice—makes her look inferior to Charlotte.

This should be a passing-of-the-torch moment, similar to Ric Flair passing the torch to Sting in 1990, but I’m not sure if it will be.

The Rock’s SmackDown Appearance – This is the reason I waited until today to write this column. What the hell was that segment?

Last year, the “Final Boss” character was a cool, strong heel who would do anything to make Cody’s and Seth’s lives miserable. The Rock reinvented himself. Even though he had trouble staying in character, he still went all in and made it work.

Now? He’s just the same old boring Rock, here to promote WWE and kiss up to the fans. Last night was one of the worst segments of his entire career. Right off the bat, we didn’t even know if he was a heel or a face—because after the big Mania announcement, he kept switching between both personalities. The whole “trying to recruit Cody” story isn’t interesting, and I’m not looking forward to the next chapter. This whole thing feels like a desperate move to sell more tickets for Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania.

While I was never a big Rock fan, I recognize that he’s one of the biggest draws in wrestling history. But if he really wants to be the “Final Boss,” he needs to go all in—not just half-ass it like he does in most of his movies.

Conclusion

On that note, this is my take on what happened in wrestling this week. With Mania season entering its final stretch, I hope things pick up and get even more exciting.

The post The Rock’s SmackDown appearance – What the hell was that segment? appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

It’s amazing how there’s just something that bothers you. It’s so irksome that it becomes a distraction. That’s how I’ve felt about Roxanne Perez. She’s incredibly talented, has the look, and natural charisma, but something about her just hasn’t fully grabbed me, and what that was has always been just out of my grasp.

Until tonight.

After a long day, I came home, smoked some great indica, ate a hybrid edible, grabbed two cold slices of pizza from the fridge for a 10 p.m. dinner, and cuddled up with my wife and pulled up Vengeance Day on Peacock. In this state of mind, as they highlighted the feud between Roxanne, Bayley, Giulia, and Cora, it clicked.

She doesn’t deliver her promos with emotion. They showed the highlights of her promo after she lost her title, and there’s nothing in her tone. I can’t tell if she’s supposed to be angry, smug, ironic, confident… because there is no emotion. She comes off as someone just reciting lines.

She speaks well. Her cadence is usually good; she rarely stumbles over her words, but she has no feeling behind those words, no matter how well she delivers them. Now I replay it in my mind. I see it often in her promos. It’s wooden, and it becomes painfully obvious because if you watch when the unexpected happens, that’s when she does stumble with her words.

But this is what I couldn’t put my finger on with her. Is this a knock? No. I do see a bright future for her. It just means she’s not there yet. Maybe she needs to grow more on the acting side of things, or perhaps she’s not fully comfortable with her character? Or is she so focused on delivering her lines correctly that she’s overlooking any kind of emotion?

Who knows? But she’s young. I’m confident she’ll get there; she’s just not quite there yet.

Now, a few odds and ends.

I have no issue with Jey Uso winning the Rumble. Love him or hate him, the dude is insanely over. Even if it’s only because of a phrase as simple as “Yeet,” he’s a draw right now. WrestleMania isn’t about matches; it’s about the spectacle and creating moments. Right now, what’s a bigger spectacle than a WrestleMania special entrance for Jey Uso, interacting with 70,000 fans yeeting? What a great moment it would be for Jey Uso, the man always looked at as nothing more than a tag team wrestler, who has always come up short with Gunther, finally winning that championship no one ever foresaw him winning. It just screams WrestleMania.

I don’t want to see John Cena fight for the championship at WrestleMania. The story is always about the chase. SummerSlam is two nights and is taking the full WrestleMania treatment now. Cena was last eliminated from the Rumble. At Elimination Chamber, he’s the final elimination for whoever wins. At Money in the Bank, he has the briefcase almost in his hands when the winner knocks him off and takes the case for himself. Running out of chances, his last chance is King of the Ring. He wins King of the Ring to finally get his chance at SummerSlam. Book it.

As for Mania, the two biggest mainstream names need to be put together. John Cena vs. Logan Paul draws in new people. It also gets coverage on ESPN, late-night talk shows, and podcasts outside the wrestling demographic.

One last thing: If you have AMC+ or Shudder, then check out Bad Match. It’s a good wrestling horror movie with a menacing Chris Jericho as the villainOne last thing: If you have AMC+ or Shudder, then check out Bad Match. It’s a good wrestling horror movie with a menacing Chris Jericho as the villain cult leader.

Current Playlist:
*Crazy Rap by Afroman
*Always Watching You by Escula Grind
*Raw Meat by Fae Fatale
*Holiday by Turnstile
*Middle Child by J. Cole
*King Kunta by Kendrick Lamar
*Sun//eater by Lorna Shore
*Dead Skin Mask by Slayer
*Closer to the Sun by Slightly Stoopid
*Dig Up Her Bones by Misfits

Follow me @donwayho.bsky.social

The post State of Mind: Roxanne Perez isn’t Ready, Jey Uso and more appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

In my view, I’m predicting that Saudi Arabia is going to host the WWE Royal Rumble for at least the next 5 years. They’ll cut WWE big checks, TKO and Endeavor loves that dollar bill, and Saudis are obsessed with the word “Royal” and buying up stuff to host on their soil. That and with John Cena’s final year plus never seeing a handful of wrestlers live, such as CM Punk, I found a pair of reasonably priced yet not-too-far seats and I went to the Royal Rumble. I was so excited, as I’ve only seen episodes of RAW and Smackdown live before and just 1 PPV/PLE (the Extreme Rules in Pittsburgh from late 2010s).

I even got to meet the BOSS of NoDQ, Aaron Rift, before the show (yes, that is a REAL picture above this column!). We met up at a restaurant before that where I also met his lovely wife and her friend. It was a pleasure to meet all 3 in-person and enjoyed the company before the show! I also saw NoDQ Review occasional panelist Songoshaku at the door of this establishment and as I held the door for several of his friends, I said “hi Son” and he looked at me funny like “who is this?”. LOL

As I walked to the Lucas Oil Stadium, I was amazed by the insane lines of people getting in. This was truly a massive show for WWE, packing a NFL stadium with just over 70,000 people. Took forever to get into the venue and when I got in, I was amazed at the incredible set-up. Then, when you look at the set-up on Peacock/WWE Network/Netflix, you can see why it looked incredible on television. Just a massive sea of people and they were LOUD and excited to be there.

BUT, I only watched 1 match live in-person… The Women’s Rumble. That’s it. I wasn’t feeling well as the event started and I had to tap out early and continued to be ill through the rest of the weekend and into Monday. So I can only tell you my impressions about the Women’s Rumble live in-person, while the rest is what I just watched on Peacock.

Let’s get right into the review…

Mr. Tito’s PHAT WWE Royal Rumble Review

Always good to see Stephanie McMahon out there… That’s a nice touch that Triple H has done to rebuild her confidence after volunteering to step away when her Dad, Vince McMahon, started getting into trouble. She’s a babyface now, as fans feel for her, and they were excited to see here there.

While the WWE lighting set-up looks great on television, it’s just brutal to see in-person. While they weren’t always pointed in my section, I could hear “turn the lights off” from the upper deck portions and I could see which lights were punishing them from the top of the light deck. WWE has to give fans their “bang for their buck” and that includes NOT blinding them at live events. If you’re going to ask anyone to pay $200 to $3,000 to attend a live event, you shouldn’t impair them from enjoying the event. We’re in 2025 and surely, lighting technicians can figure out a better way to make a fantastic presentation for both TV and live attendees at the same time for these massive stadium events.

First match was the Women’s Rumble, the only match that I saw live… But I’ve seen this now in-person and live. I’ve seen online criticisms that this match “sucked”, but I’m baffled as to why anyone hated this. It was arguably the best Women’s Rumble match yet, aside from the very first year that was full of nostalgia. Could it have been better with Becky Lynch or AJ Lee appearing? Sure, but AJ doesn’t want to come back and holding Becky back allowed Charlotte’s return to make a bigger impact. I thought the match, overall, was fun, action packed, and gave a ton of newer female wrestlers big spots to work and be featured.

And damn that Alexa Bliss pop was HUGE. Everybody in that arena jumped to their feet and were screaming when she appeared. Hearing it in person and then listening to it on television plus watching the rest of the matches on television, she had the biggest pop of the night. And yes, there’s that “dirt sheets” attack that’s associated with it, but the FACT remains that Alexa wasn’t coming back UNLESS she was given a brand new WWE contract. Well, WWE caved and gave her a new 5-year deal. That negotiation friction was what many of the reporters were reporting and that actually happened. So don’t spike the football too early yet on the insiders, as they had that story right.

I thought Chelsea Green was a huge hit in the Rumble match. Fans were into her and so proud anytime she escaped defeat or tossed someone over. I thought Zoey Stark looked incredible, as her outfit (silver pants, black top) and the face paint made her look like a badass and I saw a ton of big spots from here. WWE has a ton of youth, length, and energy in the Women’s division that I’m about to REVERSE COURSE on one position that I once had… The US and IC Titles in the Women’s division are needed. There’s a ton of talent out there and adding the likes of Jordynne Grace will only require more things to fight over.

Loved seeing Grace out there… She was such a badass and fans were in awe when she lifted someone 3-4 times her weight like a feather and gave her the Death Valley Driver. I’m so happy that all of that hard work in TNA has paid off for her and she’ll be a tremendous asset for the WWE to enjoy. As a longtime fan, I popped huge for Trish Stratus and like Aaron’s wife, I like the Bella Twins and had ZERO problems with Nikki Bella at #30. Trish and Nikki were the bridges to the older division, as the WWE women’s division is stacked. NXT performers were amazing, too, and should fill out this roster nicely for years to come as the current stars get older and start to move on.

It was good to see Charlotte Flair back… Would I have picked her to win the Rumble? I need to see where this goes before I am critical. For example, if she challenges Tiffany Stratton and has a match with Tiffany that makes Tiffany look like a stronger star, win or lose, then I’ll be OK with it. But if it’s just Charlotte assuming her usual top dominant spot at the top of the roster with her same old “I’m the queen” and “elite because I’m Ric’s daughter” character, then in hindsight, I’ll dislike the move. THAT SAID, as a fan attending the event and mostly liking Charlotte’s work, it was nice to see her having a big moment in-person.

Personally, I would have gone with Bianca Belair. When Bianca entered the Rumble match, she pumped so much energy and excitement into that match by her admission alone as she can practically do anything inside that ring. When Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley get a chance to wrestle at Wrestlemania, it’s gonna be huge. Maybe it’s not this year, but for future years, that’s a massive match-up.

Here’s an overall comment I want to make about the Women’s division… GET BETTER ENTRANCE MUSIC, PLEASE! Your music sucks and nothing stands out to help these ladies get further over. If Triple H and crew really want to make this company blossom into something even larger, take investment in a REAL composer of music and craft themes that get the female wrestlers over instantly rather than you needing the Titantron screen to tell you who is coming out. How is it that I know exactly when Trish and Nikki are coming out but struggle mightily to tell who in the hell is coming out with the rest of the roster? Trish and Nikki have good theme songs crafted for them that you’ll know instantly when they play…

What I saw live was equally as great, if not better, on television.

Now, on to the review of the rest of the show which I’ve seen on Tuesday morning…

As I said on the NoDQ Predictions show, I really wasn’t into the DIY vs. Motor City Machine Guns 2 out of 3 falls match. They were in a tough spot, for one, but their experience as tag teams really didn’t produce a great tag match. Could you imagine giving this spot to the Hart Foundation and Demolition? Hardys and Edge/Christian? I would imagine those teams, among other all time great teams, could have given us more in 14 minutes. I know that Shawn Michaels and Triple H love themselves some DIY, but we’ve had years of them selling Ciampa and Gargano as “great talents” yet they appear to be just consistent as workers and not necessarily evolving into something bigger or greater. And with due respect to Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin, there’s a reason why mostly just TNA and Ring of Honor had interest in them. Good tag team for those promotions, but on this stage with 70,000+ people, it just didn’t fit. Sandwiching this match between 2 rumble matches and a ladder match isn’t fair, but I’d argue other tag teams would have LOVED this spot and made something of it. These 4 guys had a rough night in a tough spot, so just pick yourselves up and try again.

Cody Rhodes vs. Kevin Owens was as great, violent, and psychological as advertised. For this one, you could just feel the HATRED that Kevin Owens’s character had for Cody. And with that energy, it pushed Cody to dig deep down into his darker devices and hit Owens right back. That ending was so violent with the Alabama Slam through the ladder. Hopefully, Cody keeps the winged eagle belt as his World Title rather than that TURD “WWE” logo belt. Plus, those massive outside WWE Shops can price gouge people to re-sell the winged eagle title if Cody adopts it. I saw a long line on the Northern end of the stadium that I had to walk through and here it was the WWE’s outside merchandise shop taking everyone’s money.

Folks, this Royal Rumble was the #3 WWE gate of ALL TIME and is only behind Wrestlemania 40’s Night #1 and #2. Think about how absurd that is.

The Men’s Royal Rumble Match was fantastic… Where do I begin? This was the MOST STACKED Rumble in many years, as it was loaded with a collection of top stars and former world champions. Just that moment when CM Punk, Roman Reigns, and John Cena are each staring at each other while AJ Styles is on the mat, selling something… And then Seth Rollins comes in. Just so much star power and it felt like everybody had a moment to shine.

This match made me convinced that WWE’s future is in good hands with Bron Breakker and Jacob Fatu as the next top stars. Damn, they both looked like legit badasses out there. That poor fill-in guy got MURDERED with a spear by Bron Breakker! Fatu looked like he has been in the WWE for years, yet he’s been there less than a year.

WWE really likes what they have with Penta… It was interesting to see him work with Rey Mysterio, as Rey is so polished and smooth and Penta has a rougher, more physical style. WWE Creative gave Penta a huge debut and a long-lasting Rumble debut. Make the most of it, kid! Don’t know what WWE was thinking with Ludwig Kaiser’s 6 second elimination, but oh well. Loved seeing Joe Hendry out there and he deserved that big entrance after the breakout 2024 that he had. Crazy seeing him work with Miz, Roman Reigns, and others. MASSIVE heat for Dirty Dom and Logan Paul, loved it. I personally like the choice of Logan Paul getting #30 and then eliminating CM Punk to make you feel like he’ll really steal this. Yet, Paul would become the second to last person gone when Cena eliminated him.

Jey Uso won the 2025 Royal Rumble and therefore gets to choose which World Title to chase. Now, since I just watched this today after having 2 days to think about this, I don’t know how I would have reacted if I saw it live. If I saw this live, I’d be in Lucas Oil Stadium and within a crowd loudly chanting “YEET” and probably would be happy about it. But not having to write a column instantly allowed me to think on this decision.

On one hand, much of Jey Uso’s career has been as a Tag Team wrestler with his brother Jimmy… BUT, you have to consider Jey’s growth as a singular character since 2020. While Roman Reigns is the central character of the Bloodline, don’t forget it was Jey Uso who first challenged Roman’s turn to the dark side and pushed Roman to his best matches, to date, during the Fall of 2020. Then, he was a supporting character of the Bloodline who could be very versatile by working both as a singles and then tagging with Jimmy again. Don’t forget, however, that it was Jey Uso who really sold the conflict of adding Sami Zayn to the Bloodline during late 2022 and then during 2023. Jey also had another good feud with Roman Reigns.

This “YEET” stuff is unreal, and is pushing loads of merchandise and getting tons of crowd reactions, particularly with his entrances. If you think back, wrestling fans who were like 10 years old during 2020 are now deep into their teenage years and Jey Uso has been “their guy” since they were young. With that, I totally understand the reasoning for Jey Uso winning the Royal Rumble. It’s a reward for everything that Jey Uso has done, on his own and contributing well to the Bloodline, since 2020.

My only worry is that Jey Uso is just Daniel Bryan 2.0, though I’d argue that Bryan is a way better in-ring worker who doesn’t take short-cuts, relies on the spear like everyone, and is prone to having a bad match on an occasion. Such as one of the FEW stinkers of Wrestlemania 40 with his match against Jimmy. That match was AWFUL and a total letdown that would make me question whether to let Jey or Jimmy work as singles ever again. However, it appears that Jimmy might be receiving the bulk of the blame for WM 40 match, as Jey Uso has continued his push throughout 2024 and is now the Rumble champion. Jimmy appears to be a bit player since Wrestlemania 40.

Getting back to my Daniel Bryan comparison, the draw for Bryan was WITH THE CHASE rather than actually winning the championship. Then, after they win the title, it’s like “now what?”. Same thing happened with Kofi Kingston, Miz, Alberto Del Rio, and others… Once they win the title, that’s their biggest accomplishment and the PEAK of their career. I was similarly worried about Cody Rhodes having similar issues after finally defeating Roman Reigns but he seems to be doing moderately well as WWE Champion. I worry about Gunther, whom I thought was more impressive as the IC Champ rather than the World Heavyweight Champion.

We already saw Gunther vs. Jey Uso and the match was OK on Saturday Night’s Main Event. Gunther dispatched of him and if Jey Uso goes after him again, then it proves my point about the value in Jey being the chase and not defending the title against a threat like Gunther. However, I just can’t get excited for Cody Rhodes vs. Jey Uso as a main event… But this is “old man Tito” here who struggles to see a major WWE live event without his health collapsing. Maybe I’m out-of-touch in assessing whether Jey Uso is worthy capturing the WWE Title with all of the lineage that Cody obtained by actually defeating Roman Reigns which Jey Uso could not do.

But I have worries about how Wrestlemania 41 may be rebooked… Hearing rumors of Roman now wrestling Seth Rollins rather than CM Punk, though I could see this becoming a Triple Threat instead. I really wanted CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns as a epic Wrestlemania match this year, especially if getting denied Rock vs. Roman for the 492948824777472th time. BUT, WWE is expanding its fanbase with younger folks who are buying up Jey Uso merchandise for a reason.

Honestly, I’m torn… I like what Jey Uso has accomplished and feel that he’s one of the key contributors to the WWE product since late 2020. These “YEET” chants are massive, but I remember the “YES!” chants being massive and they died down quickly after Wrestelmania 30 and weren’t as loud whenever Bryan returned. I just don’t see “it”, in terms of a “larger than life” MAIN EVENT star like you see in the Rock, John Cena, Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Seth Rollins (to a degree), Brock Lesnar, Macho Man, Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Batista, and others who have made it to the top and can sustain drawing power once they are champion. I see more value in Jey Uso chasing the title rather than winning it because once he’s won it, in my opinion, that’s his peak.

Rather than just throw Jey’s 2025 Rumble win over the bus, I’m going to take a fair “wait & see” approach and go from there. I want WWE to prove that he’s the next big thing and I have some trust with Triple H and his creative team that they may be right… I’ll be delighted to be proven wrong, but would be extremely worried about the time and opportunity wasted if I’m right.

LAST WORD: Atmosphere, besides the bright lights blinding everybody, was incredible with this packed stadium. Match quality was strong with 2 great rumble matches and Cody/KO killing each other. The DIY and MCMG tag match should have never been on this card, as it could have drawn 70,000 fans as just a 3 match card. But hey, the tag match was the true “piss break” of this show and you need those with the long lines for everything that this stadium had. I hope that the sporting commission who paid WWE handsomely for the Rumble, SummerSlam, and Wrestlemania to be in Indianapolis are better prepared to handle the massive crowds for the latter 2 events. Getting into the arena, getting food, and going to the bathroom were time consuming events.

I’ll go [ A- ] (A minus) for the overall show because I HAVE to include the tag match which just didn’t compare to the rest of the card. Furthermore, I need to see where Charlotte Flair and Jey Uso go as Rumble winners to assess whether their wins were great decisions or not to possibly enhance the grade of the show.

Sorry for the delay on the column review, but if you only knew what I went through, you’d understand. I am retiring from seeing major events live.

Follow me on Blue Sky!

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post Mr. Tito’s PHAT WWE Royal Rumble 2025 Show Review and Grade appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Well hello there! Hopefully some of you remember me, even if my last column was in late May! I will say his–it was a hell of a first month talking  (mostly) WWE with the No DQ crew, and I am thankful I can still log-in and bring this to you! If you’re wondering were I’ve been and what I’ve been working on, I’ll elaborate more at the bottom. But for now, let’s come back strong…with a list!

NOTE: This is not a Top 5 talent list, in that it’s not who I think is “the best.” This is MY Top 5 list, simply who I enjoy the most. These are my favorites. I also want to know yours… that’s what the comments section is for!

Greg DeMarco’s Top 5 Wrestlers Of Today

Honorable Mentions:

• Bron Breakker – A star on the rise, Bron will main event a WrestleMania or four before it’s all done.
• Wren Sinclair – She’s the perfect example of someone who does “the little things” so well–watch her closely next time she’s on NXT.
• Gunther – A man who would have been on this list had I done it a few months ago, but he’s become a bit stale. Hopefully the Road To WrestleMania will give us more (but if it’s CM Punk, I don’t know if that’ll do the trick).
• Konosuke Takeshita – AEW has far too many championships, so it’s easy to forget that he’s their International Champion. But when he’s wrestling, I can’t help but tune in.

#5 – Stephanie Vaquer

I admittedly didn’t follow a ton of Stephanie Vaquer’s career before she was linked to WWE, but I am almost glad that I waited. Because when she showed up in NXT, I was immediately blown away. So much so that I think the wrong new star won the NXT Women’s Championship. And that’s not a knock against Giulia, who is phenomenal. But there is an element that Stephanie Vaquer offers that I see in very few wrestlers today. And it what makes Vaquer an arguable choice for the best in-ring performer on the planet today.

What is it? It’s believability. Everything Stephanie Vaquer does comes off as real. And in 2025, that is hard to pull off. I don’t know if it comes from her trainers, which include Ricky Marvin, Último Guerrero, Gran Apache and more. If you watch her “moveset” closely (I used quotes because I really hate that word), you’ll notice she gives the move, and lets her opponent sell it. There is no guiding the opponent through the sell, and to me that is how it should be done. You hit the move, and your opponent sells it. And that makes Stephanie Vaquer stand out. If nothing stands in her way, she will be a top-level member of the WWE roster for several years to come.

#4 – Jey Uso

I mean, how can you not love Jey Uso. He’s the true “American Dream” in pro wrestling. He struggled to catch on early into his WWE career, in a tag team with his twin brother, dancing as part of his entrance, and often seeing the pre-show for major WWE events. Eventually The Usos did catch on, and slowly they amassed what is quite possibly the greatest collective career of any tag team in WWE history. But opportunity would eventually come knocking for Jey, thanks to an injury to his brother.

Often in wrestling history, when one member of a tag team is hurt, the other member might try to get singles work and rarely see it work in their favor. Others simply disappear until their partner is cleared to return. But for Jey Uso, Jimmy’s injury combined with the rise of “The Tribal Chief” Roman Reigns gave birth to The Right Hand Man, “Main Event” Jey Uso. That led to multiple PPV matches between Jey and Roman during the COVID era of WWE, along with a SummerSlam main event in Detroit.

Fast forward to 2025 and we have one of the most popular wrestlers in the world, an iconic entrance, and a top merchandise seller for WWE. It remains to be seen if Jey Uso ever wins a world championship, but he is already cemented as one of this top stars of this era.

#3 – Roman Reigns

Ahead, but only slightly, of his cousin is the newly re-minted Tribal Chief himself, Roman Reigns. While Roman doesn’t compete as regularly as he once did, he still carries more weight than anyone else in the company.

Don’t believe me? Just look at last year’s Bad Blood PLE, which featured Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu in a tag team match against Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes. Rhodes, the sitting WWE Champion (both at the time and now) was treated as an afterthought around Roman. In fact, Cody’s reign has largely fallen short of what one might expect, and that’s because for much of it, he was in the shadow of either Roman Reigns, The Bloodline, or both.

And further evidence is that Cody’s reign has finally taken off now that he is far away from Roman Reigns (even if Cody’s current story with Kevin Owens was largely built on the fact that Cody teamed with Reigns in the aforementioned Bad Blood main event).

Roman Reigns has built a “Mount Rushmore” all-time career, and he remains one of my favorite performers to see.

#2 – Roxanne Perez

You could see flashes of greatness in Roxanne Perez when she was Rok-C in ROH and on the indies before she ever landed in NXT. But NXT has brought out the best in her, showcasing just how special of a talent she is. She survived the NXT 2.0 presentation, and after turning heel she has shown just how amazing of a performer she is.

She has learned how to compete at her size in the larger-than-life WWE ring. She has modified her attack so it makes sense against any size opponent. She has learned to deliver effective promos. She can make any WWE crowd hate her, or love her, in a split second.

Roxanne’s transition to the main roster appears to go through Bayley, and I can’t think of a better way. The main roster is loaded with talented women, but Roxanne Perez has the ability to shine in a very crowded space.

#1 – Jacob Fatu

Apparently I have a type, because I have 3 (well, 2.5) Samoans on my list. But each is amazing in their own way. For Jacob Fatu, well he is a living, breathing, walking, ass-kicking cliche.

That cliche is simple: Jacob Fatu is just built different.

And it’s the damn truth. To leverage another cliche, if you look up “built different” in the dictionary (it’s not a word, it’s a phrase, so you might have to use Urban Dictionary), you’ll see a picture of Jacob Fatu. The man is legitimately scary in that ring, and offers an air of believability matched only by Stephanie Vaquer above.

Here is the biggest compliment I can pay to Jacob Fatu: if he were to win a world championship in his very next match, everyone would buy it. According to CageMatch, he’s had 24 matches since joining WWE–most of them untelevised on live events. And he’s already a believable world champion. I also can’t think of anyone in WWE today with more “dream matches” in front of him.

Jacob Fatu truly is “that man,” and it’s been a treat to see him on the grandest stage since he arrived in 2024.

But Greg, where in the hell have you been?

I was so excited to jump on board at No DQ, and I am thankful that Aaron Rift still has me active on here because writing more is a goal for my 2025. But 2024 became insanely busy.

Just take a look:

• My son graduated high school and went off to college in Nebraska. He’s kicking ass and taking names, and I couldn’t be more proud.
• I got promoted at the day job, and I’ve had some really long hours depending on the active projects (without saying too much, I work for a software company).
• I continue to prioritize my health as I work on getting this Chronic Myeloid Leukemia into remission, officially.
• IZW Wrestling, the local Arizona indie that I promote, has really taken off in the past year. We continue to pack the house, and were lucky enough to welcome Nic Nemeth for his first match in his home state of Arizona back in November. We also had our first FREE event in January, which was a damn  miracle to pull off.

Speaking of IZW Wrestling, we have an event coming up on February 22 here in Phoenix. This one features Frankie Kazarian, who is wrestling in IZW for the first time since 2007. He’ll be wrestling a legendary performer in the wrestling circles, The Navajo Warrior, in the first match of Nav’s retirement tour, “The Last Mile,” celebrating his 35th, and last, active  year in the ring.

As I did last year, anyone reading who wants to attend can get $5 off your tickets. Clink this link to get your discounted tickets, or visit IZWTIX.com and use the promo code NODQ.

Share your modern day Top 5 Favorite Wrestlers list in the comments, and thank you (in advance for welcoming me back with open arms! I look forward to dropping some more knowledge on you soon!

The post Greg DeMarco: My Top 5 Favorite Wrestlers Of Today (2025) appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Of course, the more I post column, the more it attracts nuisances to my columns and their obsession with me floods each Comment section of my column. I can literally write on any random WWE topic or write on safe topics covering AEW, but that creates triggering responses by the same AEW marky marks like TKW, Shawn, Joe Cirillo, and whatever burner accounts are associated with them. My columns are read by thousands per post, yet 2-3 hateful AEW marks can flood my Comments sections with triggered responses.

Let’s look at my last 4 columns, for example… 2 were covering WWE (RAW review, Rock vs. Roman) and the other 2 were based on news stories that I’ve heard. The first one was how anyone born from 2025 through 2039 would be called “Generation Beta” and the other was about how Fox Sports 1 created a very toxic culture where an employee (Joy Taylor) allegedly corrupted an Executive Vice President with sexual favors for promotions. I related both current event situations to today’s wrestling product, while giving examples of the past.

With the WWE columns, I’m attacked for being “pro-WWE”. With the Generation Beta/FS1 columns, me mentioning AEW without viciously attacking them caused these same attacking and looking for attention marks to attack me. In no way, shape, or form were those columns anti-AEW. They were about the roster constructed, as they were lacking in confident leadership types (Generation Beta) and the obvious struggles Tony Khan has had as a leader himself (FS1). In BOTH of the Beta and FS1 columns, I clearly laid out that WWE, too, had their own problems with their roster and leadership which caused them to SUCK from 2010 through early 2020, only with them fully realizing their growth through mid 2022.

Here is what I want to emphasize with anyone attempting to grandstand within my columns AND to attack any of my readers… AEW fans are the MINORITY and DO NOT represent the MAJORITY of wrestling fans. Your top AEW show scores barely 600,000 viewers out of 70 million North American housesholds who still have Cable/Satellite. There’s an average of 2.5 people per household, so the true viewership potential is 175 million people. 600,000 out of 175 million possible people watch AEW dynamite… On top of that, filling an arena with 5,000 fans for AEW events is an absolute struggle for AEW right now.

Thus, AEW marks who keep flooding my Comments section, you have ZERO legs to stand on when lecturing ME about my wrestling opinions or columns, especially with one of them (TKW) being a columnist himself here at NoDQ.com. TKW, if you’ve got something to say, then WRITE BETTER COLUMNS YOURSELF instead of trying to obtain attention by flooding my Comments section with literally 10-20 comments per Mr. Tito columns. Seriously, count how many times below each of my columns that you see “TKW” posting below, along with his usual buddies who are in his AEW cult.

For one, go show me where I was unfair or purposely negative about AEW. You can’t… I gave my opinions recently about how AEW’s roster was constructed or the weaknesses of Tony as a leader, but I PROFESSIONALLY stated both opinions. In no way, shape, or form am I belittling anyone who enjoys AEW. Consistently, my issue with AEW is about their LEADERSHIP and the choices they’ve made with their AEW company. Tony Khan and the Young Bucks has NOT shown enough maturity to run a hotdog stand, let alone a company full of athletes who are putting their bodies on the line.

And again, instead of flooding my Comments with 10-20 comments each, how about you STOP reading my columns all together? Isn’t that a novel idea? If you don’t read my columns, it won’t upset you. Furthermore, if you don’t read my columns, you’ll save time by not posting 10-20 times underneath my columns in the Comments section.

Here’s the truth: I’m NOT going away anytime soon, nor can any of you AEW marks cancel or silence me. For one, I give zero Fs about your feelings over AEW and the only time I even react is when you flood my Comments section with hateful stuff or when you attack my readers. You can flood the other NoDQ posts with your AEW love or write whatever columns you’d like, I don’t care. But accusing ME of purposely bashing AEW on purpose or just being pro-WWE, that’s ridiculous.

Secondly, I’ve got a great relationship with Aaron Rift and nothing that I’ve posted has been censored or edited by him. No issues with ads that are present on my columns, and the significant majority of feedback on my columns is positive compared with 2-3 haters. Again, each column receives thousands of unique pageviews, so thus 2-3 loud haters are the significant minority of readers.

Furthermore, I’m ENJOYING writing about wrestling right now and I’m finally enjoying the WWE. That’s right, if you read my columns throughout the 2010s, I was HIGHLY critical of how Vince McMahon and Triple H led the company. From many NXT male call-ups failing to overpushing an inexperienced Roman Reigns as a main eventer, I actively held the WWE’s feet the fire. I held them accountable and after years upon years of literally BEGGING the WWE to get their Talent and Creative right, they finally have that with an experienced Triple H leading the way. Am I not allowed to enjoy that? Because all WWE metrics increasing prove that everyone else is enjoying that too.

You harass me with any column that I post and then you attack my readers, with one of this AEW mark clowns calling them “pedos” at one point. So toxic…

I’m not going anyway and would require a shotgun blast to get me out of this chair and to stop typing away on this keyboard. You are wasting your time yelling at me when you exist within a MINORITY of wrestling fans who are fully devoted to AEW and not accepting that WWE is very successful right now. Many AEW fans are not like you, and same thing with wrestling fans who like BOTH AEW and WWE.

And believe me, I could go waaaaaaaay more negative on AEW if I wanted, but I just let them sink on their own. I’ve already written multiple opinion pieces on what AEW could “improve”, so I don’t feel the need to repeat myself.

But that’s not going to silence my opinion when I come up with a comment idea where it can be related to AEW. Hence what I did with the “Generation Beta” and “FS1” recent columns, while doing so professionally.

How can I tell that you’re in a cult? When ANYTHING triggers you and you’re constantly trying to get new people to join said cult. Sounds very familiar, like anyone who isn’t fully devoted to a particular politician or pop stars. Yeah, say that you dislike Taylor Swift’s music online and see how many of her fans swarm you.

Again, you flood my Comments with your accusations that I fully hate AEW when I literally have 6 years of columns actively cheering them on to succeed and be a real competitor to WWE. But, your favorite company purposely sabotaged CM Punk instead of giving a real star the respect that he deserved. And viewership, attendance, and merch sales have declined ever since.

Don’t like my columns, don’t read them. Save your energy on more important things.

Did you understand the words coming out of my mouth (or keyboard)? You probably didn’t, as I expect this rant to merit 10-20 responses each by the usual 2-3 people below in the Comments section. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

If any of my posts have truly hurt your feelings, then I’m sorry…

Onto your questions…

———————————–

ASK TITO: Your Questions, My Answers

What are your thoughts on Netflix’s reported viewership for the debuting 1/6/25 RAW on their streaming service?

I’m going to be totally honest here… I don’t know. Before, when Cable/Satellite subscriptions were above 85 million households, I could point to that with WWE and say that nobody is demanding to tune in. However, if you look at WWE arenas nationwide, they are PACKED and that’s at a higher price level. Seriously, I looked into the recent Pittsburgh WWE houseshow and the same floor tickets that I purchased for an edition of Smackdown during the Spring of 2019 were DOUBLE for this houseshow for December 2024.

Now, however, Cable/Satellite subscriptions were at 70 million for the past year… I really struggled to assess what 1.5 million RAW viewership meant for USA Networks when attendance was way up for WWE shows. Conversely, I could probably make that same comment about AEW’s television numbers being difficult to read, but their attendance has factually declined since 2023.

Netflix numbers aren’t easy to obtain unless they report them. Since they have many shows, they aren’t obliged in their financials to present viewership. They mostly just post number of subscribers and total content viewed with breakdowns of the overall network. Then, if one of their shows specifically causes a loss, they’ll report that. From their news release, Netflix reported 4.9 million views globally. Now, keep in mind that they are computing how many subscribers watched RAW live, so that household number comes into play here of 2.5. Thus, that number is likely larger of total human beings who watched this thing here in the United States. A third-party estimates that 2.6 million households watched RAW in the United States, which suggests roughly 6.5 million COULD HAVE watched it live in the United States at maximum.

Not bad… And I think RAW displacing the very popular Squid Games 2 for a day proves that it was successful. THAT tells me that RAW was very successful on episode #1.

BUT, as I wrote recently, it’s all about the next few shows that truly matter. WWE put on a PLE-like show on 1/6, but they can’t exhaust energy or bring in the Rock for EVERY show, nor will Roman Reigns be wrestling for every show.

So, we’ll see… Going to be very difficult for WWE to keep both Netflix and NBC/Universal happy, but WWE does have a deep roster and a very motivated Creative Team right now.

*****

What does NXT’s 957,000 on their 1/8/25 show say about that brand?

It says trying a PLE type show with the Rock appearing draws viewers… Easy as that.

BUT, remember with the CW network, you do not need a Cable/Satellite subscription… It’s a local network channel that can be freely obtained with a digital antenna and is included in most Cable/Satellite subscriptions. Its reach, I’m guessing, is probably 90-100 million households, with there being 131 million households in the United States.

I still say that people overlook how valuable being on the CW Network is and how the WWE could really take advantage of that relationship through their NXT deal. Furthermore, both Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery own a sliver of this channel each, while majority owner Nexstar owns 197 television stations nationwide (can vary between NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and CW of course).

Again, the Rock cannot show up every week, but NXT has a tactical advantage of being on a Network channel that most everyone has in the United States. Getting this deal was a steal for the WWE, history shall show.

*****

Do you think that Malakai Black will leave AEW and return to WWE?

He’s still married to Zelina Vega, who is currently happy in the WWE, so yes, he’ll return to WWE especially as a Triple H guy.

Many could get into the “Tony misused him”, but I’d argue that Malakai Black is just OK as a personality beyond his in-ring skill. He was groomed as a Triple H clone during the 2010s just like Bobby Roode, Tommaso Ciampa, Karrion Kross, or even Finn Balor (smaller version)… Dark gimmicks who are brooding as characters, whereas guys with more flash and charisma is what truly sells.

I think if Black returns to the WWE, they need to give him a new gimmick… Biker looking guy with a bunch of tattoos has been out there many, many times in the WWE. Try something new and present yourself in a different light. Otherwise, you’ll look the same as you were 5 years ago when WWE released you.

I don’t blame AEW for any “misuse” here… I think that he kept trying the same failing gimmick he had in NXT and WWE, and thus his refusal to vary has caused him to become a free agent… Again.

Fancy that… I just DEFENDED AEW!

*****

Thoughts on Vince McMahon settling with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC)?

He got off cheap with them… Paying $1.3 million to TKO/WWE and $400,000 fine by SEC is a bargain compared to what Vince McMahon has done over the past 20 years with the WWE Corporation. He paid out those NDA payments out of WWE’s funds, not his, while never disclosing why such legal costs existed.

Janel Grant’s lawyers think that this will solidify their lawsuit case against Vince, TKO/WWE, and John Laurinaitis and it will probably result in a larger settlement of $2-3 million, I’m guessing. If I were Vince, I’d pay that “cheap insurance” immediately to prevent anything else humiliating from appearing in discovery. Vince is only in this hot water situation because he stop making payments for the NDA to Janel Grant. Had he just agreed to pay the $3 million originally (stopped after $1 million), this fool wouldn’t have the lawsuit.

I expect a $2-3 million settlement with Janel Grant coming soon and then the Trump-led Department of Justice will soon drop their investigation.

*****

What can WWE do with Hulk Hogan after the massive boos received at Netflix RAW?

This is pro wrestling, right? When someone is getting real heat, don’t you want to capitalize on it?

Next time that you see Hulk Hogan, he’s “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan with black and white clothing on and the NWO theme song blasting in the arena. Then, Hogan channels WCW Bash at the Beach 1996 and just shred the fans for booing him. LEAN into the hatred, Hogan.

That’s what I’d do… Oh, you think Hogan is still a racist? You think that he’s a liar? You dislike his political affiliation? Well, Hogan has something to say about that, brother.

Of course, Hulk Hogan probably doesn’t want to play the heel, as he still wants to be loved and he really wants a job as some sort of ambassador for the Donald Trump team. But, Hogan just signed a 2-year deal with the WWE and if he wants to stay relevant with them, then turn heel and lean into it.

Sorry, but Hogan is disliked for YEARS of telling lies, screwing over other wrestlers with his “creative” clause in his contract, and using the N-word repeatedly on a video. Sure, Hogan was openly supporting Donald Trump, but didn’t the Undertaker have Donald Trump on his Podcast recently? Yet, Undertaker was showered with cheers as he came out to embrace Rhea Ripley. Undertaker doesn’t have YEARS of lying, screwing over wrestlers, or using N-word slurs like Hulk Hogan. See the difference?

Make Hogan a heel again and he’ll draw you money with his appearances. Otherwise, enjoy the booing whenever the red and gold come out. Brother.

*****

How good could Gunther vs. Bill Goldberg be at Wrestlemania 41 (assuming it happens then)?

That’s really up to Gunther… Honestly, besides Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania, nobody else has really squeezed a good match out of Bill Goldberg. He’s older, obviously not fully trained, and not always in the best cardio shape. Wrestling Goldberg is like wrestling a broomstick that breaks on you a few times… If you’re a good talent, then you can make that broomstick look great in a match.

Honestly with Gunther, WWE hasn’t had the best direction with him as World Champion. I think the better solution would be to pair him up with Drew McIntyre for an extended feud and maybe switch the title between the two of them. There’s more value in Drew, in my opinion, with his revised character than the same old Gunther that we’ve seen previously. Let them have an extended feud from Wrestlemania throughout the Summer where that title repeatedly changes hands and that will create excitement for one of the brands before we get to SummerSlam.

This is my opinion and am probably saying this as an old school WCW fan, but I think Goldberg’s career since 2016 has been successful. Matches weren’t always great, but Goldberg is a household name again and that mystique was always there. MUCH better than whatever joke we saw during 2003-2004.

Follow me on Blue Sky!

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post ASK TITO: WWE RAW on Netflix Viewership, NXT on CW, Malakai Black, Vince, Hogan, & More appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

First Match: Men’s Iron Survivor Match

First of all, I have to mention that I’m not a fan of these types of matches. I wasn’t a fan of them when they were called the Championship Scramble, and I like them even less now. My main issue is that they always seem to be booked for dramatic last-second endings rather than exploring a different structure—like having participants fight from behind. This match was no exception.

That said, I’ll give credit where it’s due: everyone gave it their all. However, the fact that everyone managed to score at least one decision before the 24-minute mark took me out of it. They had the chance to build Oba Femi as a huge monster, but instead, they went with a lucky finish where he scored two pinfalls in the last 10 seconds. It felt rushed and underwhelming. 3/5

Second Match: Underground Match (Lola Vice vs. Haida Parker)

Wow, what a fight this was! First off, I’m glad NXT brought back the Raw Underground concept and adapted it for NXT. It was a brilliant move to attach the gimmick to Lola Vice, as it fits her character perfectly.

For me, this was probably Lola’s best performance since debuting in NXT. The story they told in this match was really well done, with Lola fighting from behind for much of it. I also loved the ending, where Haida’s frustration led her to make a mistake, allowing Lola to capitalize and secure the win. This match showcased the potential both women have in the company. 4.5/5

Third Match: NXT Tag Title Match (Axiom & Nathan Frazer vs. No Quarter Catch Crew)

Another strong match with a well-told story. Nathan Frazer was not at 100%, so Axiom had to carry the team for a large portion of the match. No Quarter Catch Crew capitalized on this, beating Frazer down and making it look like there was no way they could win.

Eventually, Frazer made the hot tag, and Axiom tried to overcome the odds, only to get cut off again. A great moment was when Axiom accidentally hit Frazer with a missile dropkick, taking him out of the match. In the end, Axiom managed to surprise Miles with a small package to retain the titles. A solid match overall. 3.5/5

Fourth Match: NXT Championship (Trick Williams vs. Ridge Holland)

For me, the placement of the Men’s Survivor Elimination Match before this one hurt it. It essentially spoiled the outcome, as the winner of that match was already obvious before the bell rang. So, it was no surprise when Trick Williams retained.

That said, this was still a strong match. Ridge Holland finally showed he can deliver in high-stakes situations, but the predictability of the outcome dulled the excitement. Trick ultimately retained with his finisher. A decent match, but the lack of suspense detracted from it. 3/5

Main Event: Women’s Survivor Elimination Match

Like the men’s match, this was booked in a way that protected everyone involved, ensuring no one looked bad for losing. Unfortunately, it also made the match feel like the only moment that mattered was the final minute.

The rest of the match felt like a chore to get through, with everyone tied up until Sinclair scored a pinfall at the 24-minute mark to tie things up. Then, Giulia got a quick pinfall on Zaria with 30 seconds left to take the lead and win. As I mentioned earlier, I’m not a fan of this match format, and this one was no exception. For me, it was a disappointing way to close out the show. 2.5/5

Final Thoughts

In the end, this wasn’t the strongest NXT PLE of the year. For what will be the final PLE of the WWE Network era—at least for international fans—it felt like the era ended on a bit of a whimper. With two underwhelming bookends and little of note happening, the show was average at best. Overall Rating: 3/5

The post Quick review of WWE NXT Deadline 2024 appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.