Andy Williams, widely known to professional wrestling fans as "The Butcher" and to the heavy music world as the punishing rhythm guitarist for the metalcore band Every Time I Die, passed away this weekend at the age of 48. Williams suffered a fatal medical emergency and collapsed in the ring following a tag-team match alongside his longtime partner, The Blade, at an Enjoy Wrestling event at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale, Pennsylvania. Despite immediate CPR from on-site medical staff and subsequent transport to a local hospital, Williams was pronounced dead, leaving both the wrestling and music communities in a state of profound shock and mourning.
Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Williams first carved out a formidable legacy in the hardcore punk and metalcore scenes. As a founding member of Every Time I Die in 1998, his towering physical presence and crushing guitar riffs became the backbone of the band's chaotic, intensely energetic sound, helping to inspire a generation of musicians over a music career that spanned more than two decades and nine studio albums.
Yet, Williams harbored a lifelong passion for professional wrestling, a dream he fully realized when he transitioned to the squared circle in his late thirties. Making his national television debut in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in 2019, he quickly established himself as an imposing enforcer. Alongside The Blade, The Butcher became a fixture of AEW's tag team division, renowned for his intense, bruising in-ring style, unmistakable monocle, and intimidating Victorian strongman aesthetic.
All Elite Wrestling released a statement honoring him as a "trailblazing musician" who made a "successful transition into the world of professional wrestling and was incredibly respected by his peers both in and out of the ring."
Williams leaves behind a legacy defined by his immense talent, his imposing yet beloved persona, and the undeniable impact he made on millions of fans worldwide who watched him shred on stage and dominate in the ring. He will be remembered not just as a titan of heavy metal or a dominant professional wrestler, but as a deeply respected artist, beloved hometown hero, and a passionate performer whose dedication resonated across multiple vibrant subcultures.
Next, It’s Your Turn: T4T Wrestling Restores the Fighting Spirit for LGBTQ+ Wrestlers
Wrestling1 Comment
Photo by Esther Lin (@allelbows) on Instagram
On November 7, 2025, the co-creator of T Boy Wrestling, Adam Bandrowski, announced that the company was closing its doors. In a now deleted Instagram post, Adam alleged that his co-creator Mich Miller had “mismanaged organizational funds”, plunging them into hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Youtuber bittnia goes into much greater detail on the greater controversies surrounding T Boy Wrestling, and the consequences regarding its closure. Long story short, the allegations are horrific and all affected parties deserve justice. Unfortunately, the dissolution of a wrestling company due to carnie behavior is neither new nor rare, but T Boy Wrestling’s fate is especially consequential.
Wrestling has a very dark past in regards to homophobia, transphobia, and the like. The early iteration of Goldust was flamboyant and erotic, and constantly hit on his male opponents to get a rise out of the audience. A 2002 episode of Monday Night Raw centered around the risque promise of ‘Hot Lesbian Action’, or HLA, by then general manager, Eric Bischoff. Sixteen years later, Sami Zayn interviewed his rival Bobby Lashley’s “sisters” on RAW, and they were clearly male wrestlers dressed in drag.
Bad drag, mind you.
You can say wrestling is a product of its time, you can say these bits were pushed on the writing teams by senile old men and sex pests, and you can say it’s not that deep (it is that deep, but that’s a conversation for another time). The undeniable truth is that queer people— and the mere implication of queerness— have been the butt of jokes in wrestling for decades. Gay people were comedy acts and lesser than their hetero counterparts, trans people were only good for shock jock slop. It’s a miracle wrestling still has a queer fanbase today.
Giving credit where it’s due, pro wrestling has taken greater strides for the LGBTQ+ community than most major sports leagues. Openly queer wrestlers like Anthony Bowens, Toni Storm, Mike Bailey, and Giselle Shaw, are proudly presented on screen and have won major championships in AEW and NWA. Iconically, Finn Balor utilized his Wrestlemania 34 entrance to make a “message of inclusion” and show off his support for the LGBTQ+ community. This year, there were over 50 wrestling events in the U.S. to commemorate Pride Month. But pro wrestling can always do more; provide more opportunities, have more conversations, create more spaces.
Despite its many, many flaws, T Boy Wrestling was a prominent space for LGBTQ+ wrestlers to take center stage on the squared circle. The spirit of it is worth fighting for, and Kidd Bandit has the fighting spirit to do just that.
Kidd Bandit is a trans wrestler and the self-proclaimed Protagonist of Pro Wrestling.
Photo by Esther Lin (@allelbows) on Instagram
She blended her love of martial arts, anime, and video games to curate a fighting style that entertained audiences and gave her opponents headaches. She wrestled against men like Zack Sabre Jr., Jay Malachi (Je’Von Evans), and Malakai Black, and against women like Miyu Yamashita, Allie Katch, and former TBS Champion, Maya World. If she continued to evolve and grow, I have no doubt we would have seen her kicking heads and taking names in AEW. However, back in April, Kidd Bandit wrestled her final match, and left her kickpads in the GCW ring.
This was neither ‘goodbye’ nor ‘see you later’, instead it was more of a ‘stay tuned’. Kidd Bandit retired from in-ring competition to focus on a different facet of pro wrestling: promotion. A month before her in-ring finale, Kidd announced on X that she would be re-launching T-Boy Wrestling, cleaning up all the carny grime, and calling it T4T Wrestling. She wanted to create a space that would empower trans and nonbinary wrestlers, boldly declaring “if places ain’t platforming us, then we’ll make our own way”. Shortly after, she announced dates for tryouts and the first show. Over the next few weeks, prolific trans and nonbinary talent gravitated around this new promotion, and wrestling hopefuls put in the work in T4T’s training camp.
The stage was set for July 3rd, when T4T Wrestling would put on its first wrestling show— no, not just a show, but a showcase.
A recital.
From the beginning, T4T Wrestling has separated itself from the mold. It marketed their debut as performance wrestling, a hybrid of wrestling, drag, dance, and theater. Some matches would be more about telling a story while others would be more about good graps and dope dives. At its core, though, T4T Wrestling stays true to its initials: it’s a show by trans people for trans people.
Photo by Esther Lin (@allelbows) on Instagram
Their debut recital sold out fast, and it was a wild, unapologetic celebration of queer identity and pro wrestling— everything Kidd Bandit promised. Abigail Thorn, who plays Admiral Lohar in House of the Dragon, acted as a guest hostess for the event and got involved by hitting a competitor with a steel chair. There was a three-way match for the NWA Women’s Television Championship featuring three of the most prominent trans wrestlers on the scene today: Dark Sheik, Nyla Rose, and the defending champion, Gisele Shaw. And headlining the show was a FQ Princex Of Pride Title Match between trans wrestler Sonny Kiss and nonbinary wrestler Richie Coy.
The spirit of T4T Wrestling is worth fighting for.
It’s diverse, inclusive, and expressive, everything the LGBTQ+ community embodies. Kidd is doing everything that T Boy Wrestling failed to do. She wants T4T Wrestling to be a space where queer people can be their most authentic selves (and get paid for it!), and her pride for this company is well-placed.
I haven’t gone out of my way to read any of the negativity and bigotry surrounding T4T Wrestling— I value my sanity too much to do that— but I can tell what the haters will say. They’ll say it’s doing too much, it’s too goofy, it’s excluding non-queer wrestlers. And if this is you, then I pity the misery you wallow in just for someone to remember you exist. Also, take a shower.
As a cishet man, I will never experience the level of plight and persecution that trans and nonbinary people do. I have never been shamed for being alive, the Supreme Court isn’t barring my entry into certain sports teams, the medication I need to stay alive isn’t being demonized and restricted (yet). In the grand scheme of things, my life is a luxury, one that queer people don’t have access to (yet).
Photo by Esther Lin (@allelbows) on Instagram
Kidd Bandit is giving the LGBTQ+ community a taste of that luxury: a space just for them. It’s beautiful and badass. As a wrestling fan and ally, I hope that T4T Wrestling has a long and fruitful existence. At the time of writing, they are still expanding and improving. In August, they announced a collaboration with Swordplay LA to provide weekly wrestling classes for those in the Los Angeles area, and appointed Emmy-nominated filmmaker Vera Drew as their general manager.
To keep up with news, follow T4T Wrestling on their official Instagram account, and also follow Esther Lin (@allelbows), who took many of the pics you see in this article. Follow me here on Dirt Sheet Radio as well. I have a feeling this won’t be the last time I write about T4T Wrestling, and I’m excited to see what the future has in store for Kidd and her vision.
Jhuvin P. is a writer for CBC/DSR. He has previous experience as a ghostwriter, has published several short stories, and is perpetually working on a novel. In addition to writing, he is also a comedian based out of Colorado Springs. He posts clips of his stand-up along with his other goofy antics on TikTok and Instagram.
Andy "Butcher" Williams Suffers Medical Event During Match at Enjoy Wrestling Event
Comment
Former All Elite Wrestling star and independent competitor Andy "The Butcher" Williams suffered a terrifying medical emergency on Saturday night that resulted in him being rushed to a local hospital.
The incident occurred during Enjoy Wrestling's "Five Years" anniversary event at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale, Pennsylvania. Williams, who is also widely known as the former rhythm guitarist for the metalcore band Every Time I Die, was competing alongside his longtime tag team partner, The Blade, when the frightening situation unfolded.
According to accounts from those in attendance, the tag team match was proceeding normally when Williams' legs suddenly buckled and he collapsed to the mat. The Blade quickly signaled for assistance and attempted to help him back to his feet, but Williams reportedly passed out again shortly after.
The situation immediately escalated as medical personnel rushed to the ringside area to provide emergency treatment. Paramedics administered chest compressions and utilized a defibrillator to stabilize him. Following the intense on-site emergency procedures, Williams was transported away from the venue in an ambulance for urgent medical care.
The obvious severity of the incident prompted Enjoy Wrestling officials to make the immediate decision to cancel the remainder of the anniversary show.
The promotion issued a statement on social media:
"Andy collapsed at the end of his match this evening," the promotion said in a statement on Twitter. "Our doctors on staff tended to him immediately, administering CPR until the ambulance arrived. We sent everyone home and are at the hospital now waiting for more information."
The DSR Indie Wrestling Watch Guide: September 2026
Wrestling, How to WatchCommentWhy watch independent wrestling? TrillerTV won’t pixelate the blood, for one thing. That’s a joke, but only kind of. Indie promotions can take risks that larger televised companies can’t. They’re the closest thing wrestling still has to the territory days. Regional scenes develop their own ecosystems with unique crowds, personalities, and ways of doing wrestling. Indie promotions have more freedom to take risks and fewer people telling them no.
That might mean building an entire promotion around unusual characters like JCW’s cocaine-addicted zombies, a niche style like Horror Slam’s collision of horror and deathmatch wrestling, a specific audience like Hoodslam’s fiercely loyal Oakland crowd, or an alternate universe where the local government is actually a wrestling faction and bureaucratic disputes can sometimes be solved with a moonsault.
Indie wrestling can collapse the distance between fame and fan. Danhausen is known to work national television one month and a no-ring show in a glorified backyard the next. The joy isn’t only finding tomorrow’s stars, though that's where they come from. It’s also seeing what wrestling looks like before anyone has standardized it.
I love the indies. If you don’t already, I think you will. Streaming options make it easier than ever to catch wild shows from all over the world. Plus, supporting independent artists is cool. Everyone’s doing it.
Favorites and B-Sides
Many watch guides eventually settle into a comfort zone, featuring a dozen or so of the easiest promotions to stream, find, and recommend. I love the kind of serialized storylines that require cult-like devotion, but I also love new gems, and you should too. September is a good time to break out of your comfort zone and check out a company you’ve maybe never even heard of.
Dirt Sheet Radio’s monthly how-to-watch can never cover everything happening in independent wrestling around the world. Instead, this month's guide focuses on promotions we haven't spent much time with before, from a three-night trios tournament in Philadelphia and a Toronto lucha program to a Newcastle company wrestling inside a brewery and one of Pittsburgh's best indies preparing to close for good.
And then there's our featured promotion, Hoodslam. The Oakland promotion gets this month's featured spot with a deeper look at the strange world the Dark Sheik has built around wrestling, performance art, nightlife, and Northern California counterculture in general.
Best Bets
Best wrestling weekend: Power Pro Lucha’s Attack on Trios, Sept. 4-6
Show with the most emotional stakes: Enjoy Wrestling’s Five Years, Sept. 5
Best deathmatch event: CZW Tournament of Death XXIII, Sept. 5-6
Best look at the next wave of indie talent: ETU Wrestling’s All I Want 4, Sept. 19
Best Canadian discovery: Demand Lucha’s Masked by Midnight, Sept. 17
Best international discovery: NORTH Wrestling’s Thunder Road, Sept. 19
Deep cut: Horror Slam’s Masters of HorrorCore, Sept. 4
Power Pro Lucha
Attack on Trios
When: Friday through Sunday, Sept. 4-6
Night One: Friday at 8 p.m. ET
Night Two: Saturday at 6 p.m. ET
Night Three: Sunday at 6 p.m. ET
Where: Arlen Specter US Squash Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Where to Watch: Live on IWTV
Cost: IWTV lists each night as a PPV available through a subscription or 1,000 tokens
Why Watch
Power Pro Lucha’s three-day event is an easy recommendation. This is a great promotion for anyone who misses wrestling with elaborate teams, masks, over-the-top characters, and complete earnestness. Over three nights, Attack on Trios, Triple Tech Tournament brings together 16 wildly diverse teams for a battle of “titanic proportions.” The enormous bracket pulls from lucha libre, joshi, and several generations and styles of American independent wrestling.
The structure is cool and fairly unique. Instead of assembling a card around a few big names and recognizable singles matches, Power Pro Lucha invites fans to follow teams across the entire weekend. This is a good pick for fans who like wrestling to feel like opening a comic book halfway through and making up the rest of the mythology as you go.
Can’t commit to the whole weekend? No problem. Each card has enough happening that viewers can drop in for one night and still get a full show. For example, Night 2 includes the six-person Ace of the Skies ladder match, which gives the tournament a break without abandoning the promotion's maximalist instincts.
Matches and Teams to Watch
The field includes Modern Age Violence (Jonathan Gresham, Dominic Garrini and Kevin Ku); Team Lodestone (Janai Kai, Amira and Gabby Forza); Spectral Envoy (UltraMantis Black, Hallowicked and Frightmare); GummiBurger (Cheeseburger, Boar and Erica Leigh); Team ChocoPro (Emi Sakura, Baliyan Akki and Mei Suruga); Mala Fama (Skayde, Toxin and Látigo); The Colony (Ultimo Ant, Electro Ant and Thief Ant); F.I.S.T. (Travis Huckabee, Ryan Mooney and Myung-Jae Lee); High-Flying Star Machines (Bojack, Diego Hill and BK Westbrook); The Delinquents (Josh Fuller, Saul Esparza and Mikey Banker); Wilde LLC (Dr. Ethan Wilde, Dylan Mesh and Journey Burke, Esq.); The Very Good State Champs (Avery Good Professional Wrestler, David Moses and Sal Mistretta); BIG League Chew (BIG CALLUX, Shea McCoy and Weber Hatfield); Thicc & Thin Party (Andy Brown, Billy Avery and Unicorn Party); The Tetrominoes (Z Block, T Block and O Block); and Hands of Fate (Nemesis, Moros and Eris).
Enjoy Wrestling
Five Years
When: Saturday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m. ET
Where: Mr. Smalls Theatre, Millvale, Pennsylvania
Where to watch: No live stream has been announced. Enjoy has made most of its previous events available for free on YouTube, so watch the promotion’s official channels for an eventual release.
Why Watch
Enjoy Wrestling announced on August 26th that it will close after three final events. Five Years is the second of those events and the promotion's final show at Mr. Smalls Theatre, its long-term home base. The final farewell follows on October 4th at Tacomania.
Enjoy began during the pandemic, initially filming on a closed set. It grew into one of Pittsburgh's most distinctive independent promotions. By the time Enjoy closes its doors for good, it will have hosted 36 events, most of them available for free on YouTube. The company became particularly notable for consistently booking LGBTQ wrestlers and cultivating an explicitly welcoming audience. At Enjoy, inclusion never felt like a promotional gimmick. Five Years is weightier than a traditional anniversary card since Enjoy has already announced there will not be a Sixth.
Independent wrestling companies disappear all the time, sometimes without even getting the chance to say goodbye, and Enjoy is getting one last night in the building most closely associated with it. That alone makes it worth finding when the video becomes available.
Scheduled to Appear
Lee Moriarty, the Amazing Red, The Butcher and The Blade, and Dark Sheik are among the wrestlers scheduled to appear, but expect additional Enjoy Wrestling regulars and guests to be added to the card.
COMBAT ZONE WRESTLING
Tournament of Death XXIII
When: Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 5-6
· Event begins: 2 p.m. ET
· IWTV stream: Currently listed for 4 p.m. ET
Where: Townsend, Delaware
Where to watch: Live on IWTV
Cost: IWTV lists each night as a PPV available through subscription access or 1,000 tokens
Why Watch
Combat Zone Wrestling has been associated with ultraviolent wrestling for over a quarter century, and Tournament of Death, now in its 23rd “installment,” is the most distilled version of that. There’s no point pretending this is a recommendation for everyone. Tournament of Death centers on death matches: weapons, blood, and escalating violence. But in wrestling, as in all things, not for everyone doesn’t mean not for anyone. This is a great promotion with a pretty stacked card. The draw is getting to see some of the best deathmatch wrestlers pushed through multiple rounds over a weekend, rather than watching one hardcore match dropped into an otherwise conventional card.
IWTV has both nights listed live, with Night 2 carrying the survivors through the rest of the tournament. CZW has always been more varied than its deathmatch reputation suggests, but the balance has shifted considerably over 27 years. The promotion that once became synonymous with ultraviolence now runs a broader mix of conventional indie wrestling, younger talent, and occasional showcases of the extreme style that made its name.
Tournament of Death is a direct line back to the brutal identity that made the promotion internationally recognizable. For deathmatch-curious viewers or those looking for the style beyond GCW and the handful of names that dominate social media clips, this is a must-have historical rabbit hole.
First-Round Matches
Bear Bronson vs. Alex Colon
Nathan Mowery vs. SLADE
Nino Extremo vs. Joe Dred
Dimitri Alexandrov vs. Tim Strange
Jamesen Shook vs. Eric Dillinger
Eric Ryan vs. Toby Kline
SHLAK vs. Aeroboy for the CZW Ultraviolent Championship
CZW World Championship: Eran Ashe (c) vs. AKIRA, Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch
Horror Slam Pro Wrestling
Masters of HorrorCore
When: Friday, Sept. 4, at 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: Special Taste Hall, Livonia, Michigan
Where to watch: No live stream is advertised. Jobber Radio reports that matches are scheduled to appear later through Hardcam Frio’s channel.
Why Watch
Horror Slam is what happens when a Michigan regional wrestling promotion decides Halloween and underground horror shouldn't be confined to October. And I happen to agree.
The company has a devoted Livonia audience and shows built around cards that shift between conventional wrestling, hardcore matches, and genuinely gory deathmatches. Earlier shows have included everything from conventional title bouts to light tubes and weapons, as well as its annual Murder City Deathmatch Cup, which attracts wrestlers on the national deathmatch circuit.
Masters of HorrorCore is very accessible by Horror Slam standards. It’s also exactly the kind of promotion this guide is useful for. Horror Slam is not difficult to understand, but it is difficult to stumble across until somebody tells you about it.
Matches
Dean Hendrix vs. Matt Cross for the Horror Slam Heavyweight Championship
Terminate on Sight vs. Triple Platinum for the Horror Slam Tag Team Championship
The Pillars vs. Mickie Knuckles & Tara Zep
Dr. Redacted vs. Robert Katchem
Mad Man Pondo vs. Anakin Murphy
Breyer Wellington vs. TJK
DEMAND LUCHA
When: Thursday, Sept. 17; hype-up party at 7 p.m. ET, wrestling at 8 p.m. ET
Where: Parkdale Hall, Toronto, Ontario
Where to watch: Demand Lucha has an extensive archive on IWTV, but a live IWTV listing for the Sept. 17 event has not been confirmed as of Aug. 28.
Why Watch
Toronto has its own increasingly crowded indie ecosystem. Demand Lucha is a user-friendly entry point to the parts of that ecosystem shaped by lucha. The promotion runs regularly from Parkdale Hall and has built its cards around masked wrestlers, Canadian indie talent and visiting luchadores rather than simply trying to reproduce an American televised product.
The main attraction announced for Masked by Midnight is Gringo Loco against Shotzi Blackheart for the Lucha Premier Championship. Both were advertised as featured guests before Demand Lucha confirmed the title match. Demand also has a sizable backlog on IWTV, including the 2025 edition of Masked by Midnight, which makes this a particularly easy promotion to sample while waiting for the September show release.
Marcus Mathers Presents All I Want 4
When: Saturday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. ET
Where: The Mecca, Ridgefield Park, New Jersey
Where to watch: Live on IWTV
Why Watch
ETU stands for Expect The Unexpected, but the promotion says it wants to build its own version of traditional Tri-State professional wrestling. All I Want 4 is presented with Marcus Mathers, and the card is essentially a snapshot of wrestlers moving between the regional independents, GCW, AEW, ROH, WWE’s ID system, and other larger platforms.
The appeal here is timing. Indie wrestling is full of periods when several wrestlers seem to be moving upward simultaneously, and ETU has assembled a card featuring a lot of people currently living in that space.
If the goal of an indie watch guide is partly to introduce wrestlers before everybody already knows who they are, this is exactly the kind of show it should include. I may talk ad nauseam about storylines, but every wrestling fan should appreciate a great match between up-and-comers.
Matches and Scheduled Appearances
Marcus Mathers vs. Tyler Breeze
Aaron Rourke vs. Billie Starkz
Dustin Waller vs. Gravity
Joey Janela vs. Avery Styles
Janai Kai
Cappuccino Jones
Additional matches to be announced.
NORTH WRESTLING
NCL.71: Thunder Road
When: Saturday, Sept. 19; doors at noon ET, first bell approximately 1:30 p.m. ET
Where: Anarchy Brew Co, Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Where to watch: NORTH releases complete events after they happen through Patreon, TrillerTV+ and YouTube. No live broadcast has been announced for Thunder Road.
Why Watch
British wrestling doesn’t begin and end with the promotions that regularly appear on American streaming schedules.
NORTH Wrestling has operated out of Newcastle for a decade. Its DIY identity centers on small-room crowds, a punk-rock atmosphere, and a willingness to put wildly different kinds of wrestling on the same card. Past NORTH events have mixed British technical wrestling, comedy, lucha libre, character-heavy storytelling and harder-edged matches, including an Ultraviolent Championship.
Its commentary team includes Veda Scott and Cultaholic’s Tom Campbell. A documentary about the promotion, Watch the Lights, won a Royal Television Society North East & Borders award in 2025.
Thunder Road returns NORTH to Anarchy Brew Co, a working brewery that regularly hosts the promotion’s rowdier Newcastle events. The full September card is still being assembled, but NORTH makes most of its shows available after the fact through multiple platforms.
If EVE, RevPro and PROGRESS are already familiar, NORTH is a good next stop for exploring the current British independent scene.
ALSO WORTH CHECKING
880 Wrestling’s Thursday Night Fights streams free every Thursday at 8 p.m. ET through IndyWrestling.US. The Pittsburgh promotion is especially easy to sample because it requires no subscription or PPV decision.
Returning Favorites in September
Juggalo Championship Wrestling: JCW Lunacy continues free throughout September on the Psychopathic Records YouTube channel. Catch up on anything you missed at BloodyMania 19.
Game Changer Wrestling: GCW has three September shows currently scheduled for TrillerTV+: Mind Your Business on Sept. 11, No Signal in the Hills 5 on Sept. 12 and Rock Bottom on Sept. 25.
TNA Wrestling: Thursday Night iMPACT! continues on AMC and AMC+ in the U.S. and TNA+ internationally, including a live Sept. 24 episode from San Antonio.
Primos Premier Pro Wrestling: Denver’s Primos returns to the Roxy Theatre Sept. 26-27 for Slave to the Deathmatch XVII; the promotion has streamed previous events through TrillerTV+, although a stream for this year’s tournament has not yet been announced. Read more about Primos Premier Pro Wrestling.
Lucha Libre AAA: AAA continues its September programming, including TripleManía 34 events Sept. 11 and 13; check the promotion and WWE closer to bell time for final U.S. streaming information.
CMLL: CMLL continues its regular Arena México schedule in September, highlighted by the 93rd Anniversary Show on Sept. 18, with programming available through its official YouTube channel.
Major League Wrestling: MLW returns Sept. 12 with Fightland, while Fusion continues streaming free through YouTube and VEEPS.
Have a show you think should be listed?
Send SHOW NAME, HQ POSTER, FULL CARD, LINK TO EVENT to DSRHowToWatch@gmail.com
#Indys4life
For more promotions and ways to stream local, regional, and international independent wrestling, check out the August Guide.
Jenny Catlin is a writer from the Square States, covering racing, pop culture, professional wrestling, country and western, and glam metal music, obsession, sex, pornography, the real working class, indie press, and other obsessions. An award-winning essayist, she is a contributing writer at The Athletic and Denver-based Denverse Magazine. Find her on Substack and Instagram.
Hoodslam: Like a Comic Book Variety Show Where Wrestling Matters
WrestlingComment
I like a great story as much as a great match, and Hoodslam is another promotion putting narrative in the center of the ring. For 16 years, the Oakland company has defied the notion that indie wrestling should look and feel like a small-scale version of the major televised productions. Daniel Torch, who currently wrestles there as Daniel T, knows that better than most. I got a chance to talk with him about his work with the bombastic Bay Area promotion, how it has changed over the years, and why some of its most devoted fans aren't really wrestling fans anywhere else.
DARK Sheik, Hoodslam’s founder, sets up an opponent for a piledriver during a Hoodslam show
Dark Sheik founded Hoodslam in 2010, initially gathering wrestlers at Victory Warehouse for shows built around creative freedom and adult content. She was interested in ideas that didn't fit in with other promotions. Hoodslam quickly outgrew the Victory Warehouse and moved into the Oakland Metro Opera House, becoming part of the city's vibrant First Friday night life. Wrestling shared space with drinking, smoking, burlesque, and sideshow performances, plenty of profanity, and lots of oddball characters.
That reputation still follows Hoodslam, but veteran wrestler Daniel Torch says thinking of it only that way misses what the promotion has become. Torch has been wrestling around Northern California for more than fifteen years, and he’s followed Hoodslam from pretty much the start. Initially, he stayed on the outskirts. Straight edge and quiet, he was uninterested in smoky rooms packed with drunk folks. That version of Hoodslam didn't feel like his natural habitat. However, a venue change, which brought with it a no-smoking-inside policy, convinced him to take a closer look.
His first real foothold as a character came when Hoodslam needed somebody for a funeral. Torch remembers being told, “You're an emo kid; you love the dark. So he showed up, did the segment, and got invited back for three more dates. Soon he found himself alongside Rob Hands and Brooke Havoc during one of Hoodslam's periodic storyline resets. Dark Sheik's creative direction for him was less about inventing a wrestling gimmick than stripping one away. Stop asking how Torch the Wrestler would behave, essentially, and react more like Daniel actually would.
Promotional flyer for a 2025 event featuring Mayor Von Eerie and Brooke Havok.
That took some adjustment. Torch was accustomed to independent wrestling shows where the assignment was largely to go out and have a great match. He told me the match still matters, but Hoodslam might instead give him several story points that needed to land on a particular night because they mattered next month. Sometimes the wrestling is the center of the segment. Sometimes it's the mechanism that propels the storyline. More often than not, it’s both.
“Hoodslam has a Hoodslam crowd,” Torch said. Its fans will follow the story wherever it goes because they’re already invested in the characters and the world around them. Torch describes Hoodslam as “very comic book,” and that world has only become more elaborate over time.
Hoodslam's current mythology centers on Slamtown, an alternate reality populated by distorted versions of existing Hoodslam characters. Anton Voorhees claims to remember another world, and Brooke Havoc becomes a graffiti-tagging hoodlum. Dave Reckoning runs a dungeon that’s also a bar. Richard Shhhnary tended the library. Dr. Mehl and Prisoner 420 eventually recovered memories, which allowed the pair to re-identify themselves as the Stoner Brothers. Other characters have slowly begun to realize something about their reality is distorted, with some catching glimpses of their past lives.
The current municipal government is one of SlamTown's major factions: Mayor Von Eerie, her SlamTown Justice Security Force, and Daniel T (Torch’s SlamTown identity), a perpetually overworked assistant to the mayor. Hoodslam’s site describes Daniel T as overworked and asks that you please be nice to him.
In that same comic-book style, people die, return, change identities and slip into alternate timelines. They also wrestle, occasionally because a supernatural or bureaucratic problem requires the kind of solution that can only be delivered with a powerbomb. The absurdity works because Hoodslam hasn't abandoned the wrestling underneath it.
Torch has watched the promotion move through several phases. The earliest warehouse shows were essentially wrestlers experimenting and entertaining themselves. Burlesque and sideshow acts later became part of the attraction. Torch says those elements helped bring people through the door, but the wrestling is what kept them around. Over time, Hoodslam itself became the draw: “The wrestling and the Hoodslam is why people are coming back,” Torch said.
The promotion has built enough loyalty around its characters and stories that the old party atmosphere no longer has to carry the show. In fact, some of Hoodslam’s regulars barely seem to belong to the larger wrestling ecosystem at all.
Fans crowding the ring during a live show in Oakland
Torch says he routinely meets people who don’t follow wrestling but know Hoodslam, and he sees fans at Hoodslam shows who never turn up anywhere else. Some are wrestling fans who happen to love Hoodslam. Others are simply Hoodslam fans. For them, Hoodslam isn’t a gateway to wrestling. It’s the destination. Torch describes that last group as “I just go to Hoodslam” fans.
For a promotion whose long-term slogan is “Fuck the Fans,” it has built an unusually committed collection of them, making it a particularly good recommendation for people who like the idea of wrestling more than they like conventional wrestling television. The obvious audience includes fans of comics, anime, horror, queer performance, punk, and DIY art. It's for people who like elaborate characters and stories and are willing and eager to set realism aside. The promotion has always made space for queer and trans performers, intergender wrestling, and characters who would have been flattened into stereotypes or simply excluded in more traditional environments.
The overworked assistant to the mayor of SlamTown, Daniel T
This is a good promotion for that one friend who’s decided wrestling isn't for them. Torch says Hoodslam sometimes has to approach its audience differently because not everybody in the room is a wrestling fan. A spectacular sequence of moves means less if the viewer has no reason to care who's doing them. That's true throughout wrestling, but especially at Hoodslam.
“If they can identify with the character,” Torch said, “they're gonna attach to that faster than the wrestling.”
Fans who want their indie wrestling built primarily around great matches, recognizable feuds, and familiar wrestling logic may find Hoodslam a little hard to settle into. Hoodslam can deliver excellent wrestling, and often does, but it doesn't pretend that every match exists primarily to produce the best possible star rating. Sure, sometimes the point is the physical fight. Other times, though, the point is a man dressed as Sherlock Holmes needs to beat somebody into a position where he can interrogate him with a magnifying glass. Torch has done that too. Plenty of wrestling companies would consider that a problem, but at Hoodslam it's the show.
Hoodslam: How to Watch
Hoodslam/SlamTown: Revelations 8:28
When: Sept. 1, 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT
Where: Continental Club, Oakland, California
Where to watch: TrillerTV+
Revelations 8:28 was held Aug. 28 at the Continental Club before its Sept. 1 streaming premiere. TrillerTV lists Anton Voorhees, Lara Frazier, Ricky and Scotty Stoner, KEiTA, Dave Reckoning, Cooper Contra Costa, Sheikah, Daniel T, Sheriff Boone, Deputy Regular Rob and SlamTown Justice among the featured performers.
Revelations 8:28 is a good entry point for newcomers because a lot of the story revolves around characters trying to understand SlamTown itself.
Wrestle Detective Cooper Contra Costa has been following a progression of increasingly strange leads. First, Anton Voorhees showed up claiming to come from another world. The Stoner Brothers recovered memories of previous identities. Sheikah wrote a banned book whose readers supposedly went mad after finishing it and were committed to the Asylum. In typical politician style, former Mayor Mike Rayne seems to know more than he’s letting on.
All those clues point to the same mystery. Residents remember another reality, and one word keeps surfacing from the alternate plane: Hoodslam.
Jenny Catlin is a writer from the Square States, covering racing, pop culture, professional wrestling, country and western, and glam metal music, obsession, sex, pornography, the real working class, indie press, and other obsessions. An award-winning essayist, she is a contributing writer at The Athletic and Denver-based Denverse Magazine. Find her on Substack and Instagram.
Kofi and Austin Debut | Will Ospreay Wins the AEW World Championship| AEW All In: London Results August 30th, 2026
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AEW All In: Buy In begins with Lio Rush and the Rascalz defeating the Opps as the clouds just open and it begins to rain at Wembley Stadium
Kris Statlander helps Harley Cameron gain some revenge on the Sisters of Sin with a win in Wembley Stadium at AEW All In: Buy In
If the Rizzler wants something done, it gets done. Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin are presented with a $50k check by Big Justice on behalf of the Rizzler for getting the victory over Shane Taylor Promotions with Boom and Doom
Bryan Danielson has returned to the commentary booth!!
A masked woman shoves Maya World off the top rope, allowing Persephone to steal the win!! She takes off her mask to reveal herself as Britt Baker!!! Britt baker screwed Maya World out of the TBS Championship!!!!!
Britt Baker has returned to AEW after multi Years Long Absence!!!! Persephone is the new TBS Champion!!!!
Thekla has returned for the first time since dropping the AEW Women's Championship. She says she will never forget what Willow Nightingale did to her. Thekla will be watching the show closely and shit will get Toxic
Persephone has officially aligned herself with Britt Baker!!!! Persephone says since Thunder Rosa wanted to get involved in her business recently, Perse went an found an old friend of Rosa's
The Unstoppable Force(Wife) meets the Immovable Object(husband) as Roddy and Marina Shafir come face to face!!!
Roderick Strong hits Marina Shafir with a backbreaker during the Trios Championship Roulette Royale
The former New Day, Austin Creed and Kofi have arrived in AEW!!!!! They are now in a faction with Swerve Strickland!!! The New Level!!!
The heels in the match had been overpowering the final remaining members of each Babyface trios, Hangman, Jay White and Orange Cassidy, when it's time for Swerve Strickland and the Wild Card team to arrive.
Swerve is out first with Nana. Who are his partners? Who? Who? Who?
THE NEW LEVEL!!! The New Level has arrived with A$ap Ferg's New Level as a theme song!!!
Kofi, the legendary king of the Battle Royale
Swerve Strickland and the New Level win the AEW World Trios Championships!!!
The first ever to win AEW Championships in their debut appearance!!!
The Hometown girls get the win!!!!
Brawling Birds Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor have taken down the undefeated Divine Dominion to become the new AEW Women's World Tag Team Champions!!!!
On the 8th day, God created Jon Moxley!!!!! Nigel McGuinness is THIS CLOSE to the ropes to escape an ankle lock on his injured ankle but Jon Moxley never lets go and Nigel has to submit.
Excellent match!!
"I do not forgive those who laugh at my family" Kyle Fletcher rocks some sick One Piece Donquixote Doflamingo gear complete with special entrance
Kazuchika Okada has recaptured his AEW International Championship!!!!!
An excellent Triple Threat match ends when Kyle Fletcher hits the turnbuckle Brainbuster on Takeshita and Okada hits the Rainmaker on Fletcher
Okada could have pinned Takeshita but he pins Fletcher instead. Post match, Fletcher doesn't want to give up his title but he does reluctantly.
Okada screams at Fletcher to raise his hand and Fletcher doesn't want to but Callis convinced him
Komander makes his way out at number 7 for the Casino Gauntlet match but Justin Roberts announced him as MISTICO
Which the crowd absolutely would not let go off for a few minutes. You fkd up and Mistico chants went until Komander hit his signature Rope Walk
Andrade has earned a shot at the AEW World Championship!!!!! Andrade pins Nick Wayne after MJF low blowed Wayne and hit the heatseeker piledriver.
Andrade tossed MJF out of the ring and pinned Wayne for the win
Order of entry:
MJF
Andrade
Nick Wayne
Mike Bailey
Ciampa
Jericho
Mark Davis
Komander
Mistico
Daniel Garcia
Jungle Jack Perry
Cross one more off the bucket list.
Edge makes his Wembley Stadium debut as the crowd serenades him with his theme music, Metallingus by Alter Bridge
Hes clearly emotional as AEW dumps the pyro budget on him and fireworks go off outside of the Stadium
What a freaking match!!!!! Edge and Christian retain the AEW World Tag Team Championships with a hidden wrench shot
Tag Team Wrestling LIVES IN AEW!!!!!
After retaining their Tag Team Championships, Edge and Christian are confronted by Motor City Machine Guns.
Then FTR returns to AEW TV. Then the Young Bucks get back to their feet. Finally the New Level comes back out and we are shown the STRENGTH of AEW's Tag Team Division!!!!
ITS STIIIIIIING!!!! Metallica's Seek and Destroy blares over the loudspeakers as Sting returns to save Darby Allin and his son Steven Borden
Sting climbs a ladder to splash the Don Callis Family but his son Steve climbs up and begs him not to. Steven makes the splash off the ladder in the ring to the outside instead!!!
Darby Allin leaped off of the stage lighting rig at least twenty feet in the air THROUGH Kevin Knight and the stage!!!!! NO TABLE!! NO NOTHING!!
Paramedics are trying to save Kevin Knight when Darby leaps off the stage again onto Kevin Knight on a stretcher!!!!!
Darby Allin becomes TNT Champion for the third time!!!
AEW Women's World Champion Willow Nightingale makes her entrance dressed as a knight with gigantic confett-titty cannons!!!!
Mercedes Moné has finally captured the big one in AEW at the biggest wrestling show of the year!!!!
Mercedes Moné is the new AEW Women's World Champion after a fantastic match against Willow Nightingale. Willow fought as hard as she could, even pulling out a Spanish fly at one point.
Willow hits a Moonsault (which she almost loses but Mercedes kind of saved it) Mercedes hits Willow's head into an exposed turnbuckle for the closest 2.9999 of the night.
Willow pounced Mercedes into Aubrey at one point and it looked bad but Aubrey seems to be ok.
Excellent back and forth between Willow and Mercedes that ends with Willow passing to an arm wrapped bank statement that Aubrey calls for the bell too early on
One of the best entrances in AEW history did not involve special pyro or dancing. It was a retrospective video and tunnel entrance about Will Ospreay set to Baba O'Riley by the Who
As he walked to the entrance with the United Empire behind him, he passes Zack Sabre Jr, Michael Oku, Ricochet, Swerve Strickland, Mark Davis, Kyle Fletcher, his wife Alex Windsor and finally Jon Moxley waits for him at the front, with the Union Jack.
Moxley hands Ospreay the flag to carry his country on his back. Ospreay's time is now.
"The Flames of your Battle Cry haven't burned out yet. Young man you too, can be a hero. Kenny Omega, it's time to go Plus Ultra!!!!!!!!"
My Hero Academia fans stand tf up!!!! Kenny Omega just made his entrance to YOU SAY RUN with All Might himself, Kenta Miyake, narrating the video in Japanese
UNBELIEVABLE entrance from Kenny Omega.
Will Ospreay just became the first man to kick out of the One Winged Angel in over a decade!!!!
Absolutely incredible. Will Ospreay has done it.
Will Ospreay hits a DISGUSTING Tiger Driver 91. Followed by a One Winged Angel which Kenny Omega kicks out of at one.
Ospreay hits the Hidden Blade, Omega kicks out at one again!!! Ospreay hits the Stormbreaker and one final Hidden Blade to become the AEW World Champion.
Ospreay is in tears. The crowd is in tears. In front of his friends, family and countrymen
Will Ospreay is the first European to win a World Championship in England
Ranking the Top Ten All In Matches So Far
AEWComment
It is All In week, and I decided to go down memory lane and compile what I think are the ten best matches in the history of the pay-per-view. There have been enough editions of All In , and enough matches to sift through, to pick the ten best. Obviously ‘best’ is subjective. My definition is in-ring quality, importance, and legacy: matches that help tell AEW’s story, matches that rank among the best wrestling we have ever seen, and matches I’m especially partial to. All of these matches have carved their own little corner in AEW lore and have been immortalized.
Since the revival of the monumental PPV was announced in 2020 and it became part of the AEW PPV family, Tony Khan set out to make this event his own version of “WrestleMania.” A place where stars are born, moments are made, and AEW continues to grow. This list also gives me a chance to reminisce and see how far this company has come. While only four years old and with five different iterations of the event, All In has become the tentpole for the alternative company.
Photo credit: ROH.
10. Kenny Omega vs Penta El 0 (All In 2018)
This match was a clear precursor to what AEW was all about in its early years. Everything that everyone loves about All Elite Wrestling was front and center in this match. Kenny Omega came into the match as the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, but did not defend it. Pentagon, Penta El Zero, or whatever name you want to call him, came to play and, in one of his first big spotlights, performed as one of the best wrestlers in the world. This was the first singles match between two of the most important wrestlers in AEW history, and it became one of the best and most important matches of AEW's early years.
The crowd was so hot for this match, and they were loving every minute. Both Penta and Omega were fighting for the love of the game, and it showed. The entire event was the seed for what would later grow into something. The wrestling style, in-ring storytelling, and all of it was pure AEW. The match doesn't get talked about as much as other pre-AEW matches are, given its importance to the promotion's creation.
Just as important were the post-match developments, as Chris Jericho, dressed as Penta, attacked Omega, starting their path toward a historic rivalry that carried the baton between All In and Double or Nothing.
Photo credit: AEW.
9. AEW World Championship: MJF def. Adam Cole (All In 2024)
100 years from now, when you're telling the story of All Elite Wrestling, you won't be able to tell the rise of AEW without talking about the main event between Adam Cole and MJF. Cole vs. MJF for the AEW Men’s World Championship is still one of the biggest main events in AEW history, and it looked massive. If you rewatch it, both entrances looked like the biggest deal in the world, and that crowd looked like an endless sea of people.
In retrospect, having Adam Cole main event this match was a bittersweet moment for a wrestler who might never get in the ring again, and he was able to share the spotlight with his '“best friend.” This is the original mega-match in AEW. While other matches have had better drama or better in-ring wrestling, this was the first one in AEW that felt like the biggest thing in the world. The presentation set the standard, and it also gave wrestlers a different path to their “WrestleMania” moment.
So while the match was fun, melodramatic, and goofy at times, the real success of this match, at least for me, was its presentation and the standard it set for the rest of All In.
Photo credit: AEW.
8. Casino Gauntlet (All In 2024)
While AEW had had Casino Gauntlets before All In 2024, this was easily the biggest and most well-received of them all. There was so much going on in this Gauntlet that, on rewatch, you can see why so many people fell in love with this gimmick match that night. Nigel McGuinness made his return to the wrestling ring, Ricochet made his official debut in AEW, and Zack Sabre Jr. was able to wrestle in front of his fellow countrymen and women. By the way, before we move on, a small piece of me likes to think the Casino Gauntlet was brought to London just for McGuinness.
Christian Cage ended up winning the contract for the No. 1 Contendorship, and while Cage cashing it in was a big wet fart, it did set the tone for the rest of the Casino Gauntlet winners moving forward. All In 2024 was the one that shined the brightest and set the standard for the rest of them in the future. This Casino Gauntlet was so well received at All In 2024 that it has now become a staple at the biggest show of the year, and this year’s version might be able to top it.
Photo credit: AEW.
7. AEW Women’s World Championship: Toni Storm def. Mercedes Mone (All In 2025)
Mercedes Mone vs Toni Storm at All In 2025 felt special. On a night full of megastars, it was mentioned as a co-main event alongside Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega and Adam Page vs Jon Moxley. That shows how well these competitors were regarded and how important this match was for the women’s division. I think I like this match so much because we all thought we were going to witness Mercedes’ crowning moment, finally becoming AEW Women’s World Champion and adding to her 15 titles. Instead, it became a Toni Storm moment, as she was recognized as the cornerstone of the women’s division. Storm didnt beat Mone in a fluke way either; it was a deceptive pin to leave no doubt.
This loss started Mercedes's downfall; she went on to lose every single belt after this, then started the rise again after winning the Owen Hart Cup for the second consecutive year. This match not only cemented Storm as the best-ever AEW Women’s World Champion, but it smashed any notion that Mercedes was “Hulking” and politicking her way in the locker room. Most importantly, it was the ultimate showcase for two women who bet on themselves and went against the grain on AEW’s biggest stage.
Photo credit: AEW.
6. AEW Unified Championship: Kazuchika Okada def. Kenny Omega (All In 2025)
When Tony Khan announced he had purchased the rights to Ring of Honor in 2022, and by default the rights back to the original All In, Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada was likely the match he had in mind. This was the biggest match, as far as lore goes, that All In has ever hosted, and AEW did a fantastic job recapping Okada and Omega’s past feud for an audience that perhaps wasn't fully dialed in. This is where AEW turned the corner in recapping feuds and storylines.
This was billed as the co-main event for the night, and with good reason. Both Okada and Omega received superstar entrances, and this was the biggest version of this rivalry to date. Was this match as athletic or physically impressive as their first four match-ups? No. That said, this was the most methodical, calculated, and thought-out match of the five fights. It was structured as though both men knew every move, with neither wanting to make a mistake. This was built up as the biggest match ever, as the winner would take home the International and Continental Championships as the Unified Champion.
Okada is now up 3-2 in the series. Still, this won't be the last match we see between these two bitter, lifelong rivals.
Photo credit: AEW.
5. International Championship: Will Ospreay def. MJF (All In 2024)
In what might preview what happens this weekend, Will Ospreay vs. MJF was the original homecoming moment for the British wrestler. MJF had beaten Ospreay for the International Championship and renamed it the American Championship because, of course, he did. While it wasn't the main event of All In that year, it was treated like a co-main event, with fireworks and an over-the-top presentation for Ospreay. Ospreay still wasn't officially signed to AEW yet, as that announcement came four months later, in November 2024. Tony Khan pulled out all of the stops for Ospreay to make him feel at home in AEW.
This was one of many fantastic wrestling matches these two men have had against each other. MJF and Ospreay seem to bring out the best in each other, and this match, in the brightest of spotlights, proved that they need to keep this rivalry alive.
The Tiger Driver ‘91 was a big point of the storyline, and when Ospreay hit it on MJF, after some assistance from a returning Daniel Garcia, Ospreay got his International Title once again, and the hometown boy got his major moment.
Could this be how All In 2026 ends, with Ospreay standing over the ring with new gold above his head?
Photo credit: AEW.
4. CM Punk vs Samoa Joe (All In 2023)
The opening match of the first reincarnation of All In was a great match between two old rivals set to kick off the biggest show in the young company's history. The pressure was on them, and because of their professionalism, they knocked it out of the park. Add in that CM Punk had just gotten into a ‘fight’ with Jack Perry in Gorilla, and Punk knew this was likely his last match for AEW and probably wasn't in the right mindset; still, with Samoa Joe, he had one of the more memorable in-ring matches in All In history. I couldn't even imagine what was going through Joe’s mind.
These two opponents were a great choice to reintroduce what All In meant. Both competitors had deep roots with Ring of Honor, had a deep-seated rivalry, and knew how to work a great match for the fans. The win for Punk was supposed to kick off his “Real World Champion” storyline, which was going to be a good one. Instead, with his left fist raised to the air, the last we ever saw of CM Punk in AEW was him leaving through the tunnel, back to the fans, with the “real” championship over his right shoulder—an iconic picture for an iconic match.
Photo credit: AEW.
3. Young Bucks vs Swerve Strickland/Will Ospreay
Picture it: Arlington, June 2025, at Globe Life Field. I brought my AEW-agnostic brother for two reasons: he's my brother, and I wanted to show him what AEW was all about. He wasn't the biggest wrestling fan, but he was invested in WWE at the time, around Rock v. Cody Rhodes, so he tuned in. He also likes to troll me and rib me for liking AEW. That changed when Swerve/Ospreay vs. The Young Bucks started. He was already having a good time, but this tag match changed his view of the promotion. It is the perfect encapsulation of what AEW is all about in the ring.
There was so much to fight for, so I don't think many people believed Ospreay/Swerve were going to win, but they pulled it out, and this was the climax of the founding fathers gimmick, going out with a bang. In-ring, this is some of the best wrestling in an AEW ring. The jaw-dropping moves, acrobatics, and near falls are what make AEW so great, and in this match they were dialed up and baselined right into our veins. If it made a believer out of my brother, it still has a chance to convert hardened AEW skeptics.
Photo credit: AEW.
2. AEW World Championship: Bryan Danielson def. (C) Swerve Strickland (All In 2024)
No wrestling promotion in the world tells a fairytale ending better. From Sting to Bryan Danielson, All Elite Wrestling knows how to care for its wrestling legends, letting them go out on top while they hold up wrestling gold and are carried off into the sunset by the fans and the locker room. Though not his official last match, this match will be remembered as his swan song, where, even if he didn't want them, he was given flowers as one of the best wrestlers of this generation and of all time.
From the get-go, the entire city of London could be heard singing The Final Countdown all the way to Neptune. What a feeling that must have been for Danielson. They were hot and stayed with the sentimental favorite for 30 minutes. The match highlighted what made Danielson one of the best of all time, as he took it to the ground and put on a masterclass in technical wrestling. Begrudgingly, Danielson won the title in front of his family and cemented his legacy as one of the best wrestlers of this, or any, generation. While he might make sporadic appearances here and there, this was the perfect send-off to the only best.
Photo credit: AEW.
1. AEW World Championship: “Hangman” Adam Page def. Jon Moxley (All In 2025)
There might be some pushback to this, but I don't think AEW has ever done a better main event than this Texas Death Match. I know the double debut of Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson has been cemented in many people's minds as the best ending to an AEW show, but for my money (which is not a lot), it's when Hangman did his job and hung Moxley over the top rope. What a visual. Those moments are exactly why Tony Khan brought back All In and made it AEW's “WrestleMania.” If there were any questions about which PPV was the crown jewel, All In 2025 erased any doubt.
The match itself was historic, of course, and that is part of why it stands above the rest. Having a Death Match as your main event at your biggest show of the year was a risk, given how the Exploding Barbed Wire had gone, but it went off without a hitch.
Perhaps my opinion is colored, as I was there live in Arlington, but seeing the Cowboy lift the belt after his climb to the top and the belt being held captive in a suitcase for the better part of a year was deeply satisfying. Not only that, but seeing the return of both Darby Allin and Bryan Danielson, exacting their revenge on the same Death Riders that took them out, was cathartic.
This match will live in the annals of AEW lore, as there was only one result that mattered, and it is exactly what we got. All across the country, people could be heard cheering for the Cowboy finally freeing us from our Death Rider purgatory.
A Handy Guide To: AEW All In 2026
AEW, handy, WrestlingCommentNeed to know when and where to watch an upcoming pay-per-view? Need to know who’s fighting who? Need to know why you should care? Then, you’ve come to the right place!
“A Handy Guide” is a new series here on Dirt Sheet Radio where we run down an upcoming pay-per-view’s match card, and discuss the competitors and stories coming into each match. For now, our focus is going to be on WWE and AEW, but if there’s interest, we may expand to companies like TNA, NJPW, and more.
Today’s edition is all about AEW All In 2026, taking place on Sunday, August 30th, at Wembley Stadium in London, England. This is the third time All In has taken place at Wembley and the fourth iteration of this event (fifth, if you count the inaugural pre-AEW event held in 2018). It is AEW’s biggest yearly pay-per-view, their own Wrestlemania, Wrestle Kingdom, Starrcade, Bound For Glory, or Ultima Lucha (shout-out to Lucha Underground).
Because this PPV takes place in the UK, it will be an early start time for US viewers.
These are the start times for the following time zones.
United Kingdom (BST): 4:30 PM
Eastern Time (ET): 11:30 AM (Pre-show) / 1:00 PM (Main card)
Pacific Time (PT): 8:30 AM (Pre-show) / 10:00 AM (Main card)
The PPV will air on major cable and satellite providers in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. U.S. and Canadian viewers can stream the event on YouTube, Prime Video, and DAZN. Additionally, U.S. fans can also stream it on HBO Max or catch it at select Dave & Buster locations nationwide. International viewers can view the event on PPV.com or MyAEW.com.
This article does not cover any of the Buy-In (pre-show) matches, and as always the card is subject to change. But for now, these are the matches, and these are the stories:
Trios Roulette Royale (Buy-In Match)
Okay, so normally, I don’t cover preshow matches in my guide, but I’m going to make an exception due to who’s involved in this. When Hangman Page lost his World Championship rematch against MJF, it meant he could never challenge for that title ever again. When he returned a few months later, he vowed to be a man of his word, but that left him directionless. A ship without a harbor, a horse without a rider, a hangman with nothing to hang. Alright, the metaphor needs work, but you get what I mean. He offered his assistance to guys like Will Ospreay against the Death Riders, and Brodido against the Don Callis Family. The latter of which trusted him enough to join forces and go after the Trios Championships. The former World Champion and the former Tag Team Champions beat The Demand (Ricochet and GOA) for the titles in their first match as a team.
No offense to the Trios Division, but it really seems like these three men are in kind of a holding pattern. In a promo on Dynamite, Swerve Strickland spoke the quiet part out loud, wondering if the end to Hangman’s story is really to “ride off in the sunset” with Brodido. Meanwhile, it’s been almost an entire year, and Brody and Bandido have yet to even challenge for the tag team championships they lost at Full Gear 2025. Regardless of their present or future circumstances, these three men will never back down from a challenge, and this time they’re throwing the challenge out themselves. Any trio that wants a shot at the gold can get it at All In.
Who’s it going to be? The Bang Bang Gang is fully complete for the first time since their inception, and also one of the best Trios champions of all time (totally not biased). Gabe Kidd made a surprise return to Dynamite this month after rehabbing a shoulder injury, so The Dogs are also complete and could go after the Trios titles. Ricochet and GOA could look for their rematch at All In. Or maybe it could be Swerve Strickland who calls his shot. He’s got a vendetta against every one of the Trios champions, and it’s been far too long since Swerve’s House has put gold on display. Problem is, though, that Swerve is just one man. Who could he possibly find to be his partners? Who? Who? Who?
Turns out it’s all of them and more! Tony Khan announced that the Trios Champions would be defending their championships in a Trios Roulette Royale. Seven trios will compete in a gauntlet until one trio, or members of that trio, are remaining. The confirmed challengers are The Demand, The Bang Bang Gang, The Conglomeration (Orange Cassidy, Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong), Death Riders, The Dogs, and a Wild Card Trio. Tune in early to catch this chaotic yet highly entertaining match.
Kyle Fletcher vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kazuchika Okada— AEW International Championship Match
The turmoil in the Don Callis Family continues! The past, present, and future of Don’s endless stable will be at odds this Sunday in a guaranteed banger of a match. The intrigue and drama surrounding these three men is the closest thing AEW has to a Real Housewives series. Back in the far-away times of 2023, Konosuke Takeshita became the definitive head of Don Callis’s growing family. He achieved immediate success for Don by beating Kenny Omega twice in one week, and then used that success to become one of the most prolific International Champions of all time. Kyle Fletcher was the next to join and Don took no time at all to pair his two proteges together, dubbing their partnership as ProtoShita. Despite this, the two did become good friends and there was never any visible tension between them. The same cannot be said for Kazuchika Okada.
One of the brightest stars in New Japan quickly became the Family’s new golden boy, and it created a volatile situation between him and Takeshita. Don tried pairing them up the same way he had with ProtoShita, but they barely communicated and constantly got in each other’s way. Things came to a head at Double or Nothing, when the two faced off for the International Championship. Takeshita exorcised his demons and defeated Okada, and Fletcher came out to celebrate with his friend…or so we thought. Fletcher turned on Takeshita, unceremoniously kicked him out of the DCF, and then defeated him for the International Championship a few short weeks later. In order to “stack the odds” against Takeshita, Don inserted Okada into his championship rematch, much to the dismay of Fletcher. Don wants to ensure the gold stays in the family, but Fletcher is more concerned that the gold stays with him. Okada is being— to borrow a phrase from the Brits— a cheeky bugger and is going along with this, surely in the hopes that the gold comes back to him. Takeshita wants to knee them all in the head.
Herein lies a wonderful conundrum. Takeshita has beaten Okada one-on-one, Fletcher has beaten Takeshita, and Okada beat Fletcher once upon a time (Continental Championship match in 2024). All three men have solid claims for the title, but only one can come out on top. It’s strong style graps with reality TV drama, what a delight.
Cage and Cope vs. The Young Bucks
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AEW World Tag Team Championship Match
When you think of the Mount Rushmore of Tag Teams, you probably think of too many faces to carve into a mountain side. On that crowded mountain, though, there’s bound to be two of the most charismatic, synergistic, influential…istic duos of all time: The Young Bucks, and Edge and Christian. The Young Bucks defined the indie-rific style that you see shades of in WWE and buckets of in AEW. They flipped, superkicked, and piledrived their way into the hearts of every die-hard wrestling fan that was sick of how homogenized and “left behind” tag team wrestling was in the mainstream. They have won the tag team titles in pretty much every promotion not named WWE (or TNA, surprisingly), and catapulted that success into co-founding the second biggest wrestling company in the world today.
The Young Bucks let their egos get the better of them, and they abused their status as Executive Vice Presidents of AEW to get title matches, top billings, and lots and lots of money. Then, at All In 2024, they lost their EVP titles in a genuine banger of a match against Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland. They were swiftly and thoroughly humbled, first by losing their pyro and theme music, and then losing matches and money. At Full Gear 2025, they sunk to a new low by tagging with the Don Callis Family to take on their old friends: Jurassic Express and Kenny Omega. When they lost, they were paid to turn their backs on their friends as the DCF beat them down. It was here that Nick and Matt finally remembered who they were, and they dropped the money in order to save their friends. Since then, they have been on a path to redemption— a path to become elite again. The final step on this path is to regain the AEW Tag Team Championships, but another elite tag team stands in their way.
Before they were Cage and Cope, they were Edge and Christian. And before they were hardened, crafty renegades with a penchant for swinging spiky bats and sleeping with the mothers of their enemies, they were radical ex-vampire thralls who did five-second poses and reeked of awesomeness. I wrote about Cage and Cope’s long-awaited reunion in my guide to Redemption, and at that pay-per-view, the Young Bucks stared down the retaining champions to plant the seeds for this match. The Young Bucks have been vocal about how much of an inspiration Adam Copeland and Christian Cage have been to them, and now these two revolutionary tag teams will go head-to-head in a match that used to only be capable with CAWs in a WWE 2K game.
Casino Gauntlet Match
If you love chaotic spot-fests filled with exciting returns and tense previews of potential feuds, then this is the match for you. The Casino Gauntlet Battle Royale is AEW’s equivalent to the Royal Rumble, or Battle Riot, or Aztec Warfare (again, shoutout to Lucha Underground). It evolved from AEW’s Casino Battle Royale, a unique battle royale with 21 competitors that came out in groups of five every three minutes, with a final mystery entrant known as The Joker. In this modified version, the number of competitors is a mystery; the only people you know for certain that are in the match are the first two entrants. Each competitor enters the ring at random intervals, and instead of over-the-top-rope eliminations, the match goes until the first pinfall or submission. The winner of the gauntlet receives a World Championship Match at the time and place of their choosing.
Over the years, the Casino Gauntlet has been the stage for some of AEW’s wildest moments. In 2024, Nigel McGuinness made an emotional return to in-ring competition in the gauntlet after retiring 13 years earlier. In 2025, Toni Storm “reverted” back to her rookie year gimmick to catch everyone in the match off guard, including the current women’s champion, her former protege/traitor, Mariah May. Also in 2025, MJF won the gauntlet at All In and connived his way into winning the AEW World Championship a few months later. Speaking of championships, Ricochet became the inaugural National Champion by winning the casino gauntlet at Full Gear. At Dynasty, Kevin Knight ran the gauntlet to win the vacated TNT Championship.
The casino gauntlet at All In is full of entrants that are sure to make this another must-see spectacle. MJF and the National Champion Andrade el Idolo are the first two entrants, and they have hated each other since Andrade returned to AEW. Tomasso Ciampa confirmed his entry into the gauntlet and vowed to go through anyone and everyone to win the whole thing. Speaking of which, his former rival Chris Jericho has also confirmed his entry, looking to ride the momentum of his No Holds Barred win against Ciampa into another shot at his long-lost AEW World Championship. Other confirmed entrants include young and hungry competitors like Speedball Mike Bailey and “The Prodigy” Nick Wayne. This will be an entertaining multi-man match, certainly, but be on the lookout for the winner. You might just be looking at the next world champion, after all.
Brawling Birds (Jamie Hayter/Alex Windsor) vs. Divine Dominion (Lena Kross/Megan Bayne)— AEW Women’s Tag Team Championship Match
Is there a more feminine, respectful way to say “big meaty men slapping meat”? Because if there is, that is the best description for what to expect in this match. Lena Kross is a bruiser from Australia who got on AEW’s radar after taking the fight to then-women’s champion Kris Statlander earlier this year. She can knock you out just as well as she can throw you around, and at six feet tall, she towers over most of the female competition. The only exception might be her tag team partner: The Megasus, Megan Bayne. She made her AEW debut back in 2021, though her appearances were primarily on the minor shows Dark and Elevation. It wasn’t until her excursion to STARDOM in 2023 that she came into her own as a competitor, becoming the Greek Goddess that we know today. She re-debuted in AEW in January 2025 by dominating in the women’s casino gauntlet, and three months later, she was already challenging for the women’s championship. In March 2026 at Revolution, these two powerhouses formally joined forces and pried the women’s tag team championships from the hands of the Babes of Wrath (Harley Cameron and Willow Nightingale).
Much like Divine Dominion, the Brawling Birds formed out of necessity and opportunity. They wanted gold, and the women’s tag team championships were right there. Jamie Hayter is a former AEW Women’s Champion who probably would have bulldozed through every contender forever had she not gotten injured. She’s strong, agile, and has a propensity for violence but in a cheeky, British kind of way. Alex Windsor (WINDSAAAH!) is the current NJPW Strong Women’s Champion who hits harder than the hangover after Newcastle loses the Premier League. The newly-crowned Mrs. Ospreay cut her teeth in Pro Wrestling: EVE for fifteen years before making her AEW debut in 2025, and she has been a strong presence in their women’s division ever since.
These teams have been on parallel trajectories of dominance, and they are set to collide in London.
Jon Moxley vs. Nigel McGuinness — Continental Cup Finals
Full disclosure: I wrote half of this match’s description the moment this Cup was announced. Jon Moxley won the Continental Classic at World’s End, and he has held on to the Continental Championship ever since. Last year, he was in the main event of All In, defending the world championship in arguably the most emotional Texas Deathmatch of all time. There is no fathomable universe where he is not playing a prominent role in AEW’s biggest PPV of the year. And it does not make sense for him to drop his championship in a blind-draw tournament on a random Dynamite right before AEW’s biggest PPV of the year. The only thing in doubt was who would be his opponent.
In the end, only one man could overcome their bracket and punch their ticket to Wembley, and that is Nigel McGuinness. Since returning to in-ring competition, many have wondered where Nigel would take his second run. Would he have a steady retirement tour like Sting (crazy dives and table spots included)? Or would he go all out and wrestle like his life depended on it like his perennial rival Bryan Danielson? Turns out, it’s been more of the latter. Nigel has shown he hasn’t lost a step and consistently wrestles circles around his competition. He took Danielson to the limit for the AEW World Championship, tested the mettle of ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty in an Iron Match, and battled Zack Sabre Jr. for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in a technical masterpiece. Though none of these bouts resulted in championship victories, Nigel remained determined and ready for more opportunities.
The Continental Cup is Nigel’s best championship opportunity to date, but it comes with a major asterisk. In his first round match against Katsuyori Shibata, Nigel apparently injured his ankle. Despite this, he refused to pull out of the tournament and managed to power through his next two tournament matches against Hechicero and Kyle O’Reilly— two men known for their submission prowess. Meanwhile, Jon Moxley has defeated Jungle Jack Perry, Jay White, and his own stablemate, Claudio Castagnoli to get to the Finals, and he will have no qualms about exploiting Nigel’s weakness to retain his championship. The valiant yet injured underdog versus the sadistic champion is a textbook wrestling storyline, but it’s fine art when crafted by the right hands. Moxley and McGuinness, at Wembley, are the best hands you can ask for.
Darby Allin vs. Kevin Knight (Falls Count Anywhere)
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TNT Championship Match
Last April at Dynasty, Kevin Knight took to the sky during the Casino Gauntlet Match (more on that later) and became the 20th man to hold the TNT Championship. This was a welcome surprise. Kevin Knight had a stellar rookie year in AEW, wowing crowds with his aerial prowess and undeniable charisma. He springboarded himself to an Owen Hart Cup berth, two Trios Championship reigns, and an impressive showing in the Continental Classic. So, when he won the TNT Championship, the crowd cheered— they were on his side and he had their goodwill and support.
He lost all of that after turning on Darby Allin.
The Jet’s heel turn was unfortunate yet inevitable. For the past few months, he fended off challengers such as Claudio Castagnoli, Brian Cage, Hook, and then-World Champion MJF, and his confidence was devolving into arrogance. Going into Double or Nothing, he told Darby Allin he believed he could beat MJF and retain the World Championship. After all, Kevin Knight did just that to retain the TNT Championship. At Double or Nothing, MJF beat Darby Allin for the world title and left him on a stretcher, and Kevin Knight came to his aid. But knowing that he could do what the former world champion couldn’t, Kevin realized he was— in many ways— above Darby Allin and above everyone else. He took to the skies once more to hit Darby with The UFO (a spinning frog splash) and then tipped the stretcher over with Darby still on it.
Darby Allin, being the protege of Sting, knows how important it is to choose your allies wisely. The vindictive daredevil has not taken Knight’s betrayal lightly, and over the past few months, he has tried to get his hands on the TNT Champion through any means necessary. Like an explosive backpack, for instance (classic Darby). Darby has beaten Knight for the World Championship, Knight has beaten Darby for the TNT Championship. This will be the rubber match (if you don’t count their Thanksgiving Eve match in 2025), and it will be Falls Count Anywhere. They’ve already taken the fight to each other all around the arena, so might as well make it a sanctioned affair. Expect this match to be cringe-inducing in the best way, and wildly unpredictable. Kevin Knight could continue his record-setting reign and cement himself as a main-event star, or Darby Allin could become the winningest TNT Champion in history and find himself back on top again. Either way, this blood rivalry comes to an end on Sunday.
Willow Nightingale vs. Mercedes Moné— AEW Women’s World Championship Match
Oh, what a difference a year makes.
One year ago, the Owen Hart Tournament winner Mercedes Moné walked down the entrance ramp of All In Texas with every women’s championship under the sun, ready to add the AEW Women’s Championship to her collection. This year, she will walk into Wembley with only her Owen belt in tow, still looking to win the one championship that has eluded her. One year ago, Willow Nightingale was coming up short in the first-ever Women’s Casino Gauntlet match. This year, she is going into All In as the reigning Women’s Champion and with a renewed confidence in herself.
The rivalry between Mercedes and Willow is a years-long story told with gold and grandeur. Their first battle was at the NJPW Strong Resurgence PPV in 2023, where Mercedes’s unfortunate injury kept her from becoming the inaugural NJPW Strong Women’s Champion. Their second battle was at Double Or Nothing 2024— two months after Mercedes made her official AEW debut— and Mercedes took her revenge on Willow by beating her for the TBS Championship. A year and a half later, they would fight for the third time at AEW’s TV special New Year’s Smash 2025, and Willow would defeat Mercedes again to end her record-breaking TBS Championship reign.
Each time they have faced each other, they have been on vastly different sides of the proverbial mountain, and yet they still find a way to knock the other one down. Mercedes will never admit she’s jealous that Willow returned from her injury better than ever and won the only championship she hasn’t. She has blindsided, beaten down, and berated Willow every chance she gets, but Willow won’t stay down. In fact, two weeks ago, she recovered from a beatdown by Mercedes, drove her out of the ring, and proudly declared, “I’m still smiling, bitch!”
This will be Willow’s first major test as the top woman in AEW. She is a proven champion, but Mercedes is her proven spoiler. With the history and talent on hand in this match, I expect nothing less than a Match of the Year candidate from these two.
Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay
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AEW Men’s World Championship Match
Wrestling is an anime. An endless shonen anime with big personalities, dynamic finishers, and long filler arcs so the manga can catch up. With that being the case, Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay are Goku and Naruto, respectively.
Kenny possesses a Saiyan-like stamina and moveset that has propelled him to the top of NJPW and AEW, but that power came at a great cost to his health. Since his return from fighting life-threatening diverticulitis, he has vowed to recuperate and ascend to the “best version” of himself. His current run as AEW World Championship is a chance for us to see that. Will Ospreay burst into AEW with a dream to become the undeniable best wrestler in the company. Sure, he can take one too many risks, and maybe he’s a little too trusting, but he believes in himself, and he believes in his dream. Plus, he dresses up like a ninja sometimes.
This will only be the fourth time these titans go one-on-one, but they have a decade of history together. Their factions went to war with each other in New Japan, Ospreay with CHAOS and Omega as the leader of Bullet Club. When Kenny left New Japan to help form AEW, Ospreay was one of the men he penned to become Japan’s next top gaijin, and he famously criticized Ospreay for not being able to “fill his shoes”. That sowed a seed of disdain in Ospreay that he carried into their epic duology for the NJPW United States Championship, first at Wrestle Kingdom 17 and then at Forbidden Door 2023. In AEW, Ospreay and Omega have been bitter rivals pitted against each other by Don Callis, shaky allies against the Don Callis Family and Death Riders, and now fierce opponents heading into the main event of All In: London.
Despite Ospreay breaking ties with the Death Riders and coming to Omega’s aid at the end of Redemption last month, Omega still hit Ospreay with the One Winged Angel. He reasoned that the rescue was just a ruse, and the friend he knew— one who wasn’t so gun shy without help— was long gone. Ospreay says he can still pull the trigger, but he’s going to do it his way, and he’s going to do it when Kenny can see it. Well, Kenny will see pretty clearly under the bright lights of Wembley Stadium. And we will all see who is standing tall when these two goats lock horns.
Other Things To Look Out For
Last year at All In, Adam Cole had to tragically relinquish his TNT Championship due to injury, and he openly contemplated retirement. We have not seen him on AEW television since. Could he make an appearance on Sunday? If only to give us an update on his condition? Either way, we at DSR continue to wish him the best in his recovery.
Where. Is. Toni. Storm. The timeless one has not been seen since being written off in March after a backstage attack. She is reportedly taking time off for a non-injury reason, so we do wish her the best. At the same time, though, if I see the screen go black-and-white on Sunday, or I see a foreboding stiletto come into view, I will lose my mind.
We’re plunging deep into rumor territory here, but Bayley has yet to renew her contract with the WWE. She hasn’t been seen on television since losing to Lyra Valkyria on Saturday Night’s Main Event. Could we see a reunion of the Boss and Hug Connection in AEW?
Jhuvin P. is a writer for CBC/DSR. He has previous experience as a ghostwriter, has published several short stories, and is perpetually working on a novel. In addition to writing, he is also a comedian based in Colorado Springs. He posts clips of his stand-up comedy along with his other goofy antics on TikTok and Instagram.
AEW All In 2026 Preview | AAA/NXT Counterprogram | Lil Yachty vs Baron Corbin | Bakusai is Born | Dirt Sheet Radio Ep 243
DSR Pod, AEW, TNA, WWECommentWelcome to a brand new episode of Dirt Sheet Radio! Jon and Greg are diving into another massive week in professional wrestling, previewing one of the biggest weekends of the year and breaking down shocking debuts, major television deals, and high-stakes sibling rivalries.
Here is everything on the card for today's show:
WWE Leaves ABEMA: ABEMA has officially announced it will stop broadcasting WWE content in Japan on September 30, opening the door for the highly anticipated shift to Netflix later this year.
BAKUSAI is Born: Former NJPW standout Hiromu Takahashi makes his WWE debut under the name Kyoki. We discuss his new alliance with Shinsuke Nakamura to form the tag team BAKUSAI, and their immediate sights on the WWE Tag Team Championship.
AEW All In Preview: The ultimate Wembley Stadium breakdown! With over 43,000 tickets currently distributed, we dive into the storylines leading in, notable missing wrestlers, potential surprises, and our official match predictions.
The Counter-Programming War: Analyzing how AAA and WWE NXT are strategically counter-programming against AEW's massive London weekend.
TNA Lockdown Overdelivers: Reacting to TNA's return to the all-cage Lockdown format in Chicago. Surprisingly, it wasn't bad! We highlight the biggest moments from the event, including the Nemeth brothers winning tag team gold and Leon Slater capturing the X Division title.
Lil Yachty at SNME: Lil Yachty is officially stepping into a WWE ring! We break down his upcoming five-minute survival challenge against Baron Corbin at Sunday Night's Main Event to earn Trick Williams a US Title shot.
CM Punk vs Kevin Owens: Breaking down the escalating tension between Kevin Owens and CM Punk, and what Sami Zayn's sudden involvement means for the heated feud.
BloodyMania 19 and the End of JCW’s First Russo Season
WrestlingCommentIn November 2025, JCW revealed Vince Russo as the company’s new mystery investor on Episode 59 after weeks of buildup. Since then, Russo has worked on-screen and on the creative team. His arrival signaled a push toward consistent serialized television, complete with cliffhangers, recurring segments, and stories that regularly spanned episodes and promos. This was Russo’s first BloodyMania.
True, JCW doesn't officially divide its weekly show, Lunacy, into seasons, but this year’s BloodyMania sure felt like a season finale. The annual event, held during the Gathering of the Juggalos, brought months of stories to a payoff.
JCW leaves BloodyMania with more weekly viewers, recognizable characters, and growing attention from beyond the Juggalo universe. The roster is more defined than it was a year ago, and wrestling media is increasingly treating Lunacy like a show to follow rather than an ICP adjacent curiosity.
It’s not perfect. Obviously. Some elements remained uneven, with too many interference finishes, referee bumps, and stipulations that unnecessarily complicated matches-matches that still sometimes unfold as if they don’t have the physical talent they now do. Still, overall, the company should be counting this year as a win.
JCW and the Gathering
JCW and Insane Clown Posse are inexorably bound, but they’re becoming increasingly less interchangeable. For those who are totally uninitiated into the glorious, odd, and sometimes disgusting world of Juggalo culture, The Gathering is Juggalo Mecca. This year’s 26th Gathering ran Aug. 19-22 in Macks Creek, Missouri. Wrestling, specifically JCW, is part of a much larger four-day reverie that includes musical guests, sideshows, contests, pageants, seminars, camping, and, no doubt, lots of not-so-wholesome activities not fit to print.
BloodyMania has been JCW’s flagship Gathering show since 2007. JCW is, first and foremost, a Juggalo wrestling promotion. Its owners are ICP. Its identity, humor, references, and audience are closely connected to Juggalo culture. As such, BloodyMania and the Gathering remain cornerstones. But Violent J has spent the last two years making JCW into something wrestling fans, in general, love, even if they have no connection to ICP. Before this year’s BloodyMania, he described the goal to PWTorch: “Our goal is to be a respected independent.”
More people are watching.
Vince Russo’s arrival signaled a change in identity, but he didn’t single-handedly propel JCW’s growth. Lunacy began its current weekly run before he joined the company. Violent J says its live YouTube audience has increased from roughly 100 viewers when the project began to around 3,000 now. Viewership may have increased fairly steadily since Lunacy launched, but there was a sizable spike around Russo’s arrival. Episode 54, released in October before Russo’s reveal, sits at about 20,000 YouTube views. Episode 60, the first full post-Russo-as-investor episode, has more than 55,000.
In December of 25, Sports Illustrated reported that Russo’s arrival coincided with Lunacy’s highest week-to-week YouTube viewership to that point. Violent J told SI that the promotion had become “very heavily involved in storytelling,” pointing to long-form stories, reveals, and cliffhangers.
Beyond advancement in episodic storytelling, driven by both Russo and Violent J, production value for the weekly has become more polished and more TV-like overall. That polish shows in weekly recap packages, edited backstage segments, and character vignettes, along with a more established broadcast team led by Joe Dombrowski and a rotating group of commentators. Technical execution is leaps and bounds more refined today than in episode one, though it still has occasional missed camera shots and low-quality backstage audio; the show consistently looks intentionally produced as weekly wrestling television.
Caleb Konley, Russo-era character
Konley has been a Lunacy staple since the beginning. He’s an industry veteran and came to JCW as a talented technical wrestler. His skill level didn’t necessarily change with JCW’s Russo-era storylines. What changed was how the company used him and how much airtime he got.
Over the last year, he's fully transformed into ‘The Chosen One,’ a Russo darling increasingly protected and clearly favored by the person with power over the show. Lunacy put an exclamation point on that in February on Episode 69 when Konley betrayed man-servant Jeeves and backhanded the Ring Rat to a hail of jeers from the audience, only for Russo to appear and applaud him.
Konley’s bro-mantic allegiance to Russo became a weekly staple; he eventually took the Lunacy World Championship, and with it a Russo-ordered custom belt engraved with his own face, which he seems to love gazing longingly into. From there, Russo’s favoritism became part of Konley’s title run, with protection, interference, and rule-bending repeatedly helping keep the championship on him, earning both men considerable heat.
Enter Kerry Morton
A second-generation wrestler and established NWA talent who continually earns his spot, Kerry Morton invested months developing and complicating his own identity on Lunacy. Morton called himself “Mr. JCW” on Episode 62 and kept using the moniker, with commentators and announcers following suit, spotlighting his growing role in the production. Still, JCW gave him space to become more confrontational and increasingly fixated on those he believed were working against him. In an SI interview this spring, Morton said JCW allows him to be “loud and creative and be my own self.”
The growing allegiance between “The Chosen One” and Russo left plenty of room for Morton to shake off the spoiled nepo-baby energy he initially brought to JCW and become a surprise favorite that fans can align with against the Konley/Russo dominion.
Their match on the Gathering edition of Lunacy brought that to a point.
Konley attacked Morton before he could enter the battle royal, leaving him unable to beat the referee’s 10-count and costing him the match. Morton later confronted Konley and got an immediate title defense. He hit a superplex, survived a belt shot and, with the referee down, got hold of the championship himself—but chose not to use it. Konley eventually used the referee as a shield, landed a low blow, and finished Morton with the Burning Hammer to retain. The Chairshot gave it the highest match rating of the Gathering episode and called Morton “a star.”
Morton lost, but the match made him look like an obvious future challenger.
The Supporting Roster
JCW now also has a recognizable group of recurring characters who don't depend on being in the main event.
Paige Collett’s Ring Rat is, perhaps, my favorite, and she’s become one of the most immediately recognizable recurring roles on Lunacy. The name comes from a historically derogatory slice of wrestling slang, but Collett has leaned into the stereotype, creating a deliberately exaggerated groupie-type character. According to Collett, another wrestler turned the role down (thankfully) before it was offered to Collett, who told WrestleZone, “There’s no small role, only small performers.”
“The Boss & the Ring Rat”
posted and captioned by Collett Feb 202g
Lunacy has let her prove that. She’s been tied to stories with Jeeves, Konley, Disco Ray and Steven Flowe, appeared in numerous backstage segments, and eventually moved from ringside character to in-ring participant. By the Gathering, her return in the battle royal got an immediate reaction.
CoKane has a similarly precise relationship with audiences. When he entered the same battle royal, fans threw drinking straws into the ring as part of his cocaine-dealer gimmick. Ring Rat and CoKane are good examples of JCW getting supporting characters over on their own terms. Neither needs to be in the main event to get an immediate reaction.
That depth extends well beyond Ring Rat and CoKane. The Outbreak, Barnabas, Steven Flowe, Brothers of Funstruction, and 2 Tuff Tony have all become familiar parts of the weekly show, while JCW has rotated in higher-profile guests including James Storm, Matt Cardona, Nic Nemeth, RVD, KENTA, and Matt Riddle.
Those big, outside names may bring people to the show, but the regular roster has to give them a reason to come back.
The Gathering Lunacy Episode and BloodyMania.
The final Lunacy before BloodyMania did a lot more than fill out the card.
GCW’s promoter, Brett Lauderdale, was seated in the crowd along with Nick Gage, Vipress, and Parrow. The camera panned to the group repeatedly throughout the show, rousing plenty of fan speculation.
Their presence wasn’t entirely new. JCW and GCW have worked together before, including at last year's Gathering and during The Collective over WrestleMania weekend in Vegas. What changed was the focus on GCW and how they were presented; by the end of the episode, it was clear GCW was no longer purely another independent promotion working with JCW. Lauderdale and his wrestlers had entered the Lunacy universe and storyline, a development that would be made explicit during BloodyMania.
BloodyMania wasn’t the strongest wrestling card JCW has produced this year. And that’s ok. It functioned as the payoff to stories the promotion had invested months developing.
Twisted Snow vs. Steven Flowe and Shane Mercer
James Storm and CoKane, paired as Twisted Snow, opened against Steven Flowe and Shane Mercer. Flowe was originally scheduled to team with Mr. Anderson, but JCW announced on the previous night’s Lunacy that Anderson couldn’t make the show. Flowe recruited Mercer by offering him the Golden Guitar. The match gave the crowd a mix of Storm's veteran offense and the more physical exchanges between CoKane and Mercer. One of the bigger moments came when CoKane launched himself over the barricade with a tope con hilo, carrying him into the second row.
The finish saw the Ring Rat come out to distract Storm, giving Flowe a chance to swing his guitar. Storm moved, and Flowe accidentally hit Ring Rat instead. Storm followed with the Last Call superkick, and CoKane hit the Tombstone to give Twisted Snow the win.
A straightforward opener, but the finish served the larger storyline, with Flowe and Ring Rat’s history on Lunacy giving the interference weight.
Alice Crowley Gets the Next Shot
Alice Crowley defeated J-Rod and Hollyhood Haley J to become No. 1 contender for the JCW Women’s Championship. AEW veteran Nyla Rose served as special enforcer. When J-Rod charged Haley J and Haley moved, J-Rod collided with the referee. Rose then revealed referee stripes under her gear and took over the match. J-Rod later swung at Rose, who answered with a neckbreaker. Crowley followed with a lariat for the pin.
The win establishes a clear path for Crowley as Dani Mo’s next challenger and gives JCW an immediate direction for the women’s championship after the Gathering.
Josh Bishop Remains Champion
Josh Bishop’s three-way title defense against Façade and Father Bronson gave BloodyMania some of its most ambitious in-ring action, with high-flyer Façade absorbing most of the risk. Façade used Bronson as a platform to attack Bishop, then climbed part of the lighting structure before diving onto both men.
Bishop retained with Exit 187, continuing a run that has established him as one of JCW’s more credible champions.
Dani Mo
It’s been a rough year for Dani Mo, who has been embroiled in multiple tense storylines. Earlier in the show, HoKane’s interference helped cost The Outbreak their tag-title match against Choppa City, and by the time HoKane faced off against Dani, the women’s championship was not the only issue between them. Control of Jacksyn and Abel was also on the line.
HoKane controlled much of the match with heavier offense, including a second-rope senton, while Dani answered with a Code Red and worked toward the Moonmist Twist. Barnabas’ interference backfired when special referee Gail Kim hit him with Eat Defeat, allowing Dani Mo to recover and finish HoKane with the Moonmist Twist. The win kept the title on Dani and, more importantly, gave her control of The Outbreak. HoKane then turned on Barnabas, closing one of Lunacy’s longer-running stories while immediately giving Dani a new direction with Jacksyn and Abel—and Alice Crowley waiting as her next challenger.
Konley Retains the Lunacy Championship
Violent J forced Konley into another title defense at BloodyMania, yet again overriding Russo’s “Jack Tunney Rule,” which is meant to limit his “Chosen One” to one defense per month. Mr. Happy emerged as the surprise challenger with unfinished business against Konley. Unlike Konley’s earlier demolition of Jeeves, Mr. Happy was presented as a legitimate threat. But outside interference in the form of Jasmin St. Claire once again handed the champion another escape. St. Claire appeared with fake labor contractions, distracting Happy long enough for Konley to evade with a roll-up, allowing Konley to leave the Gathering with the championship intact after surviving both Morton on Lunacy and Mr. Happy at BloodyMania.
GCW Gets Physical in GoreGames
BloodyMania closed with GoreGames, the five-on-five elimination match billed as the payoff to the months-long JWO-Luciano Family feud, with Mad Man Pondo serving as special ref. After plenty of fan speculation, GCW’s presence turned physical during GoreGames between the JWO and the Luciano Family. Nick Gage brawled with 2 Tuff Tony. Vipress tangled with Willie Mack. Painful Paul delivered the event's biggest turn after looking ready to help finish EC3; Paul turned on his own teammate, hitting Dijak with multiple chokeslams. Afterward, he stripped off his Luciano Family gear to reveal a JWO shirt underneath.
Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope abandoned the commentary desk to join the brawl before the JWO closed the show, standing tall.
GoreGames was a little crowded and difficult to follow as a match, but it worked as a storyline payoff. The JWO–Luciano Family feud concluded, Painful Paul switched sides, and GCW went from a presence in the crowd to an active part of the conflict. What JCW does with that GCW involvement now is a giant question mark coming out of BloodyMania.
What BloodyMania Showed About the Russo Run (so far)
Russo deserves a lot of credit for JCW’s increased emphasis on character development and continuity. Konley has become a reviled, television-worthy heel, Morton has shifted to become one of Lunacy’s principal characters, and Ring Rat is a recognizable, and more importantly, useful part of the show. Dani Mo, HoKane, Barnabas and The Outbreak carried one of Lunacy’s longer-running stories into a BloodyMania payoff that actually felt earned.
That isn’t Russo’s achievement alone. Violent J still sets JCW’s broader direction, and the wrestlers have had to make some pretty absurd material work. By and large, they have done just that.
Yes, there's still plenty of unnecessary padding around some pretty great wrestling. JCW continues to lean a little too heavily on interference, outside interruptions, and ref bumps. Sure, those devices can support a story, but when the wrestlers are already carrying the match, they’re filler at best and a distraction at worst. Morton and Konley showed us what a better balance can look like at JCW. The match still had a ref bump and cheating, but those elements served the characters instead of replacing the actual wrestling. The characters set the stakes, the wrestling carried the match, and the finish followed naturally: Morton refused to cheat; Konley used every shortcut available. The story and the match were pulling in the same direction.
What Comes Next — and Why It Matters
BloodyMania closed several stories. Now the question is whether JCW’s momentum can carry beyond Lunacy.
So far, it looks like it. The harder question may be whether the outside interest pays off. Case in point: On Sept. 6, Caleb Konley is scheduled to defend the Lunacy Championship against Avery Styles at Next Generation Wrestling’s Reckoning in Knoxville. Styles, the 19-year-old son of AJ Styles, announced at TNA Lockdown the day after BloodyMania that he’d signed with the company.
That puts a JCW championship on another promotion’s card against a wrestler who just signed with TNA, exposing both Konley and the title to fans that may not follow Lunacy. For a promotion looking to establish itself beyond the Juggalo world, cross-promotional visibility matters—especially with a veteran champion facing a heavily scrutinized second-generation prospect.
And, of course, Konley still has unfinished business at home. Morton’s loss at the Gathering didn’t close their story. Far from it. JCW has an established feud to return to while Konley takes the title elsewhere.
Dani Mo is another example of JCW talent gaining traction beyond Lunacy. Crowley is next in line for her title at home, while the win over HoKane gave Dani control of The Outbreak, so there’s plenty left to build on leaving the Gathering. But outside JCW, she holds the IWC Women’s Championship, challenged STARDOM’s Hazuki for the SPARK Joshi World Championship, and appeared on Busted Open in August. JCW is developing her as a weekly television character while her profile grows elsewhere. If that continues, it’s evidence that Lunacy can help raise the value of the wrestlers it features—not just its own viewership.
That pattern continues down the roster. Bishop and J-Rod have both drawn outside interest, including WWE tryouts and reported TNA attention. That visibility matters for a promotion still trying to prove it belongs in the broader wrestling conversation. Konley, Morton, Dani Mo, Bishop, J-Rod, etc.: These folks can wrestle.
GCW is another part of that broader reach. Brett Lauderdale, Nick Gage, Vipress, and Parrow moved from lurking around Lunacy to being part of the story at BloodyMania, building on an existing working relationship between the two promotions. Whether that turns into another interpromotional feud, more crossover appearances, or something involving Russo and Lauderdale is still unresolved, but what matters is that there is room to develop it.
These developments may be a better measure of JCW’s progress than any single BloodyMania result. The promotion is getting more wrestling-media coverage, its talent is drawing interest from larger companies, and one of its championships is about to be defended outside JCW. That doesn’t make JCW a major promotion, but it does show the company becoming more connected to the broader independent wrestling business. The next test is whether that attention can translate into sustained growth beyond Lunacy.
Jenny Catlin is a writer and pop culture enthusiast based in the square states. She’s a contributing writer to The Athletic, a Lighthouse Writers Book Project Fellow, and an award-winning essayist obsessed with obsession. You can find her on Instagram or Substack.
Pros and Cons if WWE Expands The Royal Rumble to Two Nights
WWE, WrestlingComment
Royal Rumble 2024. Photo credit: WWE.
It was reportedly recently by WrestleVotes that the 2027 Royal Rumble could be the last, at least for now, in the one night format. The Premium Live Event staple may be expanding to two nights in 2028, joining WrestleMania and Summerslam on the full-weekend slate as WWE internally ‘seriously considers’ the idea. While WrestleMania and Summerslam were successful in transitioning into the multi-night format, fan debate and behind the scene discussions have shown that opinions are generally more divisive. However, there are fascinating pros and cons to the expansion of the first PLE of WrestleMania season.
Pros
Spotlight for the Mens and Womens Rumble Matches:
Asuka winning the first women’s Royal Rumble. Photo credit: WWE.
Each night can feature one Royal Rumble match, giving the women equal closing billing rather than opening the show. The women have not closed the show since Asuka won the inaugural match in 2018.. It would be heavily debated if the women close the weekend, but at minimum they’d have the opportunity to close their respective event.
In a world where WWE continues to promote gender equality, gender equity hasn’t exactly been found amongst their PLE priorities, particularly elevated the women into the main event slots beyond particuar ‘first time’ headlines, though the two-night WrestleMania’s have offered the opportunity for the women to close the show when booked well enough to do so, most notably when Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair made history on Night One of WrestleMania 37 in Tampa. The Rumble being two nights would give the women the same opportunity that WrestleMania moving to two nights has given them.
The Rock defeated Mankid at Royal Rumble 1999 in a brutal I Quit match. Photo credit: WWE.
Relief from Fan Fatigue: The traditional one night Rumble card plus two hour-long over-the-top-rope matches usually leads to at least a four-hour runtime. At times, especially with two matches that are designed to be filled with surprises, crowds can get very exhausting, hindering the flow of the show. With two shorter cards audience burnout may be able to be prevented.
Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan had an excellent undercard match at Royal Rumble 2014. Photo Credit: WWE.
More Undercard Breathing Room: The title defenses in the midcard and the hot non-Rumble storyline feuds have an opportunity to shine instead of being rushed for an absurd amount of time. In recent years, WWE has been putting marquee matches on the go-home show instead of the event card to expand the amount of time they have for the events with matches that are longer. This would give more wrestlers chances on the major shows.
The Million Dollar Man at the ‘90 Royal Rumble Photo credit: WWE.
Increased Revenue: Recent WrestleMania events have given the blueprint to a revenue increase under Endeavor. The TKO Group has used this as an opportunity to bring in people on two tickets instead of one, and have also used the opportunity to bring more individual people into the venue at some point of the weekend. That increases the demand which theoretically should correlate to how much a city bids for the event, but it also gives more opportunities for merchandise sales, and guarantees a significant increase in concessions. This also fosters an environment where they are giving two separate events to their streaming partners, ESPN+ in the United States and Netflix in other territories. The more events they fill, the more ad-space they can run on these events, and potentially could put them in a better situation, should the events perform well enough to justify it, to re-negotiate when the deals are up for renewal.
Cons
Royal Rumble 1989. Photo credit: WWE.
Loss of Traditional Identity: The Royal Rumble always had an unusual aura that stands out from all the PLE’s from WWE, including WrestleMania. The chaos of the men’s and women’s fields unfold back-to-back, setting the immediate tone for WrestleMania season. With that identity being stripped because WrestleMania season no longer has a singular night that immediately sets a tone for the next few months of television being as unpredictable as can be. If the Royal Rumble gmimick is done on multiple nights, it creates an environment that may potentially normalize the event through the lalck of exclusivity, ultimately hurting one of the greatest WrestleMania traditions in the process.
An example of match dilution would be X-Pac defending the European Championship against Gangrel at the 1999 event. Photo credit: WWE.
Card and Match Dilution: Extending the event can force WWE to unfortunately book matches that would be considered filler or elevate feuds designed for weekly television onto a major PLE stage just to pad out the runtime for a second night.
Weakened Appeal for Night Two: Since the Men’s and Women’s Rumbles will probably be split across different nights, there is a possibility that the remainder of the night featuring the women's match might struggle relative to the men's ticket demand or drawing power as the women still clamor for equity amongst the booking, which could hurt the appeal in the eyes of the audience who aren’t as invested in their storylines.
With WrestleMania and SummerSlam already occupying multiple nights, expanding the remaining ‘Big Four’ events risks overexposure while potentially diminishing the special feel of two-night cards. It’s up to WWE and TKO to execute the plan successfully for the Rumble. If the plan backfires due to negative feedback from the fans, expansion of the two night PLE’s could be in trouble outside of WrestleMania.
Regardless, WWE is eyeing an expansion of the Royal Rumble according to early reports regarding the 2028 event. It is not confirmed, but does fall in line with some of their more recent decisions. DSR and CBC will keep you updated on if the event expands, but for now, those are the positives and negatives of a potential expansion of the Rumble.
Avery Styles, son of AJ Styles, signs with TNA Wrestling
CommentThe legacy of AJ Styles continues in the squared circle, as on tonight’s TNA Lockdown, his “Phenomenal Son” Avery Styles announced that he has offically signed with the promotion.
The 19-year-old second-generation wrestler has made big waves in the independent scene, and now, he is moving up to the big leagues in Total Nonstop Action, the house that his father built.
After announcing his signing, Frankie Kazarian came out to congratulate the young up-and-comer, while also warning him that many wrestlers will come after him for a variety of reasons. Kazarian said that Avery can’t trust these wrestlers, but he can trust him.
It appears Avery Styles’ first feud on pro wrestling TV will be against a man that is likely an uncle to him.
AEW Continental Challenge Cup Semifinals Confirmed
AEW, WrestlingCommentThe field for the AEW Continental Cup has thinned down to four, and the semifinals, which will take place on next week’s edition of Dynamite, have been confirmed.
First, it’s Death Rider vs Death Rider as defending Continental Champion Jon Moxley takes on fellow stablemate Claudio Castagnoli. This represents a rematch from the 2025 Continental Classic, a match that Castagnoli won. Moxley will look to avenge that loss against arguably the strongest member of the Death Riders stable and book his place in the final. For Moxley, this is the second consecutive match where he’ll look to avenge a loss, having already finally defeated Jay White in the quarters. Moxley is looking to run the gauntlet to retain the Continental Championship. Claudio will have to defeat two consecutive Death Rider partners if he wants an opportunity to take the championship, as he defeated Daniel Garcia to get here. Garcia had replaced Eddie Kingston.
Meanwhile, it’s a battle of the technicals, as the Conglomeration’s Kyle O’Reilly takes on part-timer Nigel McGuinness.
KOR had to beat out his fellow stablemates Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong in the last two rounds to make it to the semis. For McGuinness, despite dealing with an injury he suffered in his first-round match against Katsuyori Shibata, the Englishman has persevered through the pain and is one step closer to gaining homefield advantage in a Wembley Stadium championship match.
Ilja Dragunov Leaving WWE, Contract Expiration
Wrestling, WWECommentMassive news in the world of professional wrestling as Ilja Dragunov is officially leaving the WWE.
This was first reported by PWInsider in which they say that Dragunov’s deal expired and he was removed internally from WWE”s active roster this week on their website.
Before arriving in the WWE, Dragunov was a massive star during his run with Westside Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) where he is a former Unified World Wrestling Champion, three-time wXw World Tag Team Champion and two-time wXw Shotgun Champion.
Upon arriving in WWE, Dragunov and Gunther had back-to-back 5+ star matches in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter where Dragunov came up short in the first battle but claimed the gold in the rematch against the Ring General.
Dragunov would go on to win the WWE NXT Championship before dropping it to Trick Williams, once he got up to the main roster, he would win the WWE United States Championship where he held it for 70 days and after being eliminated from the 2026 Royal Rumble by Brock Lesnar, then being eliminated from the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal by Aleister Black, Dragunov would not be seen on WWE TV again.
Now, with his deal officially expired and no longer being part of the WWE, he is free to go anywhere he wants, including an opportunity if it rises for him to arrive in All Elite Wrestling before their blockbuster Wembley Stadium PPV next Sunday at AEW All In.
We will keep you updated on any more news we hear regarding Dragunov and his WWE deal expiring.
Rami J. Hanna has written about combat and motor sports, as well sports such as baseball and basketball for a number of publications over the last ten years. In addition to his new role at CBC/DSR, Rami also recently began new roles at WrestlePurists and False Finish, and launched his own YouTube channel, VALUABLE with Rami Afif.
New Beginning for New Japan | Road Dogg's America | CMLL | WWE | AEW | Dirt Sheet Radio ep 242
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Welcome back to a brand-new episode of Dirt Sheet Radio! Jon, Nick and Greg are diving into another massive week in professional wrestling, covering political controversies, historic tournament finals, and the newest updates on returning stars.
Here is everything on the card for today's show:
Road Dogg's AEW Claims: We discuss Brian "Road Dogg" James claiming his conservative political beliefs are the reason he was turned down for a job with AEW
CMLL Noche de Campeones 2026: All hail democracy! CMLL is handing the power over to the fans, revealing online polls to determine the challengers for multiple titles at the upcoming event.
The New Era of NJPW: Breaking down an unbelievable G1 Climax 36 final where Ryohei Oiwa defeated Yuya Uemura by submission with the Big Lock. We also discuss the massive debut of Shun Skywalker and Jeff Cobb's shocking return to join Unbound Co..
AI Antonio Inoki: Discussing the strange AI Antonio Inoki.
Solo Sikoa's Breakout: Solo is officially his own man now! We debate whether this is finally his breakout moment as a top star or if WWE is destined to drop the ball on his current push.
CM Punk & Kevin Owens: The latest updates and escalation in the heated feud between the two massive stars.
Ruby Soho's Return?: Looking into the latest reports that Ruby Soho has been medically cleared for an in-ring return by AEW since June following the birth of her daughter.
AEW Dynamite 08-19-2026 Review: A complete recap and review of all the action and storylines from this week's Wednesday night flagship show.
AEW Confirms Next Round in Continental Cup
AEW, WrestlingCommentAfter eight grueling and exhilarating first-round matches, eight wrestlers remain in the inaugural AEW Continental Challenge Cup. And today, AEW President and CEO Tony Khan announced the matchups for the random draw on the AEW Continental Challenge Selection Special on YouTube. The four matches are set to take place on this week’s editions of Wednesday Night Dynamite and Saturday Night Collision.
The official Continental Cup Draw.
On Dynamite, Continental Champion Jon Moxley will breathe with the Switchblade as Jay White looks to end Moxley’s defense prematurely. This will be their third one-on-one meeting, following the 2019 G1 Climax and 2023 Continental Classic, as Moxley looks to avenge his 0-2 record with his championship reign on the line.
Meanwhile, part-time wrestler and AEW color analyst Nigel McGuinness dukes it out with the CMLL World Heavyweight Champion, Hechicero. There had been speculation that McGuinness would exit the tournament due to an injury sustained in his first-round match against Katsuyori Shibata. Nigel, who has lost a significant portion of his career to injury, announced on the Selection Special that he’s staying in the tournament. He will not let another injury take him away from his opportunity.
“A different man, a smarter man, a prudent man, might say ‘Now is the time to bow out. No way you’re gonna be 100%,” McGuinnes said. “Clearly, I’m not that man.”
On Collision, long-time partners meet once more, as Eddie Kingston will face off against Claudio Castagnoli. The Mad King and The Swiss Superman are no strangers to each other, with a deep and personal history that has spanned 15+ years starting in the independent circuit.
And finally, it’s Conglomeration vs Conglomeration, as Kyle O’Reilly takes on stablemate Orange Cassidy. This will be the second time in a row O’Reilly faces off against a member of the Conglomeration in this tournament, as he defeated fellow member Roderick Strong on last week’s Collision to advance.
The finals will be held at All In on Aug. 30, where the winner will win the cup and become the AEW Continental Champion.
I Went to Arena Mexico for International Week, Now It's Your Turn.
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I've been blessed with a career where I get to travel and have conversations with the artists and people who drive the art forms I dedicated my life to observing. I've been to Japan for Star Wars, I've crossed America for Comic Books and Pro Wrestling. Now I've traveled to Mexico for Lucha Libre.
Admittedly, my relationship with Lucha Libre is new and it started directly because of AEW’s international partnership with El Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, known as CMLL. The world's oldest operating wrestling promotion.
In early 2024, the stars of CMLL officially arrived in AEW after some preliminary crossovers in 2023. I was blown away, not just by the athleticism that we have come to expect from the world's finest luchadors. But, particularly, the technical wizardry of the master known as Hechicero.
Not long after his debut in AEW, Hechicero faced off against Bryan Danielson. Two of the World’s greatest technical wrestling masters. I thought I had seen it all but Hechicero was using moves and transitions I had never even imagined before.
I was completely taken. I needed more. I paid for CMLL’s YouTube subscription service at the Fan Leyenda tier and I never looked back. I have been watching weekly ever since. By the time CMLL announced they were doing a crossover event with THE POKEMON COMPANY of all places, I knew I had found a new home for my heart.
Fast forward two years. My Lucha Libre fever is at a peak. I’m not as knowledgeable as say, someone like the legendary Lucha fan Roy Lucier. But I have a collection of masks. I watch the shows and have rotated CMLL into Dirt Sheet Radio’s regular coverage.
I spread the word in American wrestling circles as best I can because I genuinely think CMLL is one of the most fun pro wrestling experiences you could have at home right now.
But it was time to take it one step further. It was time to visit the Cathedral in person and baptize myself in the religious experience that is an Arena Mexico Lucha Libre event.
Mexico is a beautiful country full of rich history, culture, hardworking people and gorgeous architecture. I wasn't prepared for how familiar everything would seem. I'm a New Yorker from the Bronx. As it turns out, that foundational multi-cultural experience was more useful than I ever could've imagined.
My Spanish is about 40% fluent but I understand it pretty perfectly so I never really had an issue with the language barrier. My experience may not be exactly the same as yours but Mexico City is VERY accommodating to Americans.
There is nothing in the world like Arena Mexico. But before I can even get into the building, we have to talk about the unbelievable vendor experience outside.
For starters Technically these are knock offs and technically you're not supporting the actual luchadors when you buy from these vendors. HOWEVER, the selection of masks, shirts, toys, posters, old magazines and assorted trinkets is absolutely incredible. You will be tempted to spend all of your money. I personally filled up my bag to the brim and spent more money than I'd like to admit.
You're fighting traffic and squeezing your way through a crowd of thousands but it is a MUST EXPERIENCE part of the trip when you're going to watch a Lucha Libre show at Arena Mexico
After you get passed security in the front of the building, you're treated to a culture rich tapestry of artwork in the lobby by the merchandise stands.
Beautiful Mexican artwork with mask designs of legends gone by. The stands themselves may not seem like much compared to the vendor experience outside but there are enough exclusive items with CMLL official patches that you won't be able to leave the arena without at least a Mask or T-shirt.
Of course, once you get down to the nitty gritty and get into the arena where the action takes places, it's off to the races. You are in for some of the greatest in ring action you will ever see in person.
You can expect this kind of high octane, top speed Lucha action on a weekly basis. But I was here for a special week in the year. Semana Internacional or International Week.
AEW is in town for their annual Grand Slam: Mexico event. The only American TV Wrestling company to ever run events in Arena Mexico, let alone broadcast live. CMLL, MLW and New Japan Pro Wrestling also send talent over for the CMLL Men’s Grand Prix, which is one of CMLL’s biggest events of the year. 11 men represent Mexico. 11 men represent the rest of the World. They face off in a Torneo Cybernetico style elimination match.
There is also a preliminary Tuesday show that features the best of each promotion facing off in interpromotional matches. I was allowed to attend all three events.
Watching from home, you can tell it's a great time to be in the audience at Arena Mexico. But you really don't know exactly how incredible the atmosphere is until you attend a Friday Night Viernes Spectacular event. The regulars in the building are UNBELIEVABLY loud and passionate.
The sound of thousands of women screaming when Soberano Jr comes down the steps will genuinely shake your core. As will the roar of the crowd when Hechicero wins the 2026 CMLL Grand Prix by defeating the evil European Foreigners, gaining revenge for Mexico’s loss to Europe during the World Cup.
Because I understand Spanish, I can hear the sometimes outrageous things said by hecklers and even supportors which would never get by in an American audience. The difference in live event culture is wonderful. I hope the continued interest in international expansion never gets in the way of the freedom these people feel to express themselves.
(There was a small period where another international promotion, New Japan Pro Wrestling, made some changes to pacify western fans and that was not taken very well by the fanbase or wrestlers.)
Ultimately, I left Arena Mexico knowing two things.
1) Every wrestling fan needs to do this once in their life time.
2) But once was not enough for me. No matter what else happens in this life of mine. I need to come back.
Until then, gracias CMLL. Gracias, Arena Mexico. 🇲🇽
Square One Pro Announces Kenta Kobashi Fan Meeting in Taiwan
WrestlingComment
In April, Square One Pro, a Taiwan-based promotion that organizes professional wrestling fan meetings, autograph sessions, and talk events, officially announced that Japanese wrestling legend Kenta Kobashi will hold a fan meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, on August 29.
Kenta Kobashi is widely regarded as one of the greatest Japanese professional wrestlers of all time. Best known for his legendary career in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Pro Wrestling NOAH, he was one of AJPW's famous "Four Pillars of Heaven," alongside Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, and Akira Taue. During his career, Kobashi held major titles including the AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship and NOAH's GHC Heavyweight Championship. His hard-hitting style, famous chops, and memorable matches made him one of the most respected figures in Japanese wrestling.
At the event, fans will have the opportunity to meet and take photos with Kobashi. The event will also include an autograph session, a talk session, and a special opportunity for fans to experience one of Kobashi's famous chops. According to Square One Pro's official Facebook page, a limited number of additional spots for the fan meeting will be announced soon.
Square One Pro was officially established in January 2023 by its founder, Shane Liu. Before starting Square One Pro, Liu had experience working as a booker and promoter and had helped bring several major wrestling matches to Taiwan. One of the most well-known examples came in late 2018 at an NTW event in Taiwan, when Johnny Impact defended the Impact Wrestling World Championship against Matt Sydal. The match was made possible through Liu's efforts.
Since 2023, Square One Pro has invited internationally known professional wrestlers to Taiwan almost every year to meet and interact with local fans. Previous guests have included Japanese wrestler Yuki Kamifuku, former WWE wrestlers Mike Rallis and Tenille Dashwood, Japanese wrestling legend Minoru Suzuki, legendary women's wrestler Manami Toyota, and now Kobashi. With such an impressive list of guests, Square One Pro's events have become some of the most anticipated annual events for wrestling fans in Taiwan.
Liu previously told us that the idea for Square One Pro came from his own experience attending wrestling fan meetings. At the time, he was disappointed that, for various reasons, he wasn't able to interact more with the wrestlers. That experience inspired him to create something different. His goal was to give wrestling fans in Taiwan the opportunity to create memories and experiences worth more than what they paid for.
Today, with the efforts of Liu and the many people working alongside him, Square One Pro has gained support from wrestling fans in Taiwan and around the world. For many fans, its events have also become some of their most memorable experiences as professional wrestling fans.
DSR's Andy Chen will also attend the fan meeting in person. Afterward, he will bring readers a more detailed look at the fan meeting, as well as reactions from fans in attendance.
A-Yong-Go: The Man Carrying NTW Wrestling on His Shoulders
WrestlingComment
Photo credit: NTW.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1984, A-Yong-Go has loved sports since he was young. During junior high school, he trained in judo and amateur wrestling, and even finished second in a wrestling competition.
His connection with professional wrestling began when he was in the third or fourth grade of elementary school, first watching professional wrestling with his father. Although his father couldn't remember the wrestlers' names, he would identify them by the colors of their gear. Mitsuharu Misawa was ‘the guy in green,’ while Toshiaki Kawada was ‘the guy in yellow.’ Jumbo Tsuruta was given another nickname by his father because of his personality.
After some time, his father became busy with work, so they didn't watch wrestling together as often. However, A-Yong-Go had already fallen in love with professional wrestling, beginning the search for wrestling information online and renting wrestling tapes to watch on his own. During high school, he discovered an online forum for professional wrestling fans in Taiwan. That discovery slowly started a fire inside him and turned his passion into a dream…A-Yong-Go wanted to be a professional wrestling.
A-Yong-Go attended an exhibition show at Xinyi Elementary School held by Impact Wrestling Love, one of Taiwan's early professional wrestling promotions. After watching the show, he began to believe that he might have a chance to become a wrestler himself. Wanting to see what he was capable of, he decided to join IWL, making his professional wrestling debut in 2004. His performances eventually led him to win IWL's top title, the UWC Championship, in 2006. Three years later, an opportunity to learn from a legendary Japanese wrestler became another important moment in his life.
In 2009, Japanese wrestler Ikuto Hidaka came to Taiwan and helped improve the fundamentals and techniques of Taiwanese wrestlers at the time. Although Hidaka was only there for a few days, he shared as much of his knowledge as possible with his students.
Hidaka carefully wrote down what each wrestler needed to improve and gave them individual advice. His notebook was eventually filled with notes about his Taiwanese students. Seeing how seriously Hidaka treated them made an important impression on A-Yong-Go and strengthened his determination to continue pursuing his dream.
In 2011, A-Yong-Go wanted to build the kind of wrestling promotion he had always imagined. Together with several partners, he helped establish a new professional wrestling promotion in Taiwan: New Taiwan Entertainment Wrestling, better known as NTW. His longtime partner Super Da-Zhi provided the initial funding and invited A-Yong-Go to help organize the promotion in Taiwan, with A-Yong-Go becoming NTW's first president. From that moment, a new chapter in Taiwanese professional wrestling began.
After losing the match to crown NTW's inaugural Undifferentiated Champion, A-Yong-Go later decided to travel to Okinawa in 2014, where he trained and gained experience with Ryukyu Dragon Pro Wrestling. Returning to Taiwan toward the end of that same year, A-Yong-Go once again took on the role of NTW president. His career also began to take him outside Taiwan. He competed for CWF in China in 2016 and Hong Kong Wrestling Federation in 2017.
After receiving several invitations from The Joker, the leader of Moon Circus, a faction made up of NTW's younger generation of wrestlers at the time, A-Yong-Go officially joined the group. With a new group of partners around him, he went on to capture both the NTW Undifferentiated Championship and Tag Team Championship in 2017, becoming only the second wrestler in NTW history to hold both titles at the same time.
However, things changed in 2019. After losing the Tag Team Championship, A-Yong-Go was forced out of Moon Circus. Looking back at the regret and lack of understanding between the former partners, A-Yong-Go now speaks about it calmly. He doesn't have many feelings about what happened anymore. In his view, both sides simply got what they needed from each other. In 2020, A-Yong-Go established the babyface faction BIG WAVE. As the group's spiritual leader, he has continued to support and lead BIG WAVE.
Beginning in 2024, A-Yong-Go helped establish NTW's annual collaborative event with Big Japan Pro Wrestling. NTW has also worked with Japanese women's promotion DIANA for several years, as A-Yong-Go has continued using his connections to expand NTW's relationships across Asia. In recent years, he has also helped NTW wrestlers compete internationally for promotions including Dropkick, PPP TOKYO and FTO in Japan, GrappleMax in Singapore, and APAC Wrestling in Malaysia.
More than two decades after making his debut, A-Yong-Go is no longer simply a wrestler. As NTW's President, a veteran performer, and someone who continues creating opportunities for the next generation of Taiwanese wrestlers, he has become one of the most important figures behind the promotion.
From a young boy watching Japanese wrestling with his father to becoming one of the people leading NTW forward, professional wrestling has been part of A-Yong-Go's life for more than two decades. Today, he continues to help Taiwanese wrestlers find opportunities across Asia. He has carried NTW through its past and present, and now he is helping build its future. He is A-Yong-Go, the man carrying NTW on his shoulders.
Zilla Fatu Debuts | CMLL Grand Prix Live Experience | AEW | WWE | G1 Climax | Dirt Sheet Radio 241
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Welcome back to a brand-new episode of Dirt Sheet Radio! Nick, Mack, Jon and Greg are breaking down the latest monumental week of wrestling news, featuring massive main roster call-ups, international tournament finals, and heated backstage controversies. Here is everything on the docket for today's show:
Airport Stalker Fans: Jon tears into a Facebook Group full of airport stalkers The "Pay Your Dues" Debate: Breaking down the heat between indie wrestler Arik Cannon and AJ Styles regarding Avery Styles and discussing GCW's official statement on the situation.
Kevin Owens vs. CM Punk: Analyzing the escalating feud after Kevin Owens confronted CM Punk on SmackDown, declaring he won't let the business turn him into a "miserable piece of sh*t" like Punk.
Zilla Fatu Debuts: The Bloodline family expands once again as the son of the late Umaga makes a massive surprise debut on NXT, immediately wiping out Grayson Waller and Cruz Montana.
The Jade Cargill vs. Charlotte Disaster: Examining the messy fallout and chaotic booking from their recent SmackDown clash. Tatum Paxley Gets Called Up: Discussing Paxley's jump to the main roster after she surprisingly interfered to help Charlotte Flair fend off Jade Cargill and B-Fab on SmackDown.
Arena México Experience: Jon shares his firsthand personal experience traveling to Arena México for the CMLL Grand Prix and how it compared to AEW Grand Slam.
CMLL 93rd Anniversario Matches: Breaking down the massive stakes for the September 18th card, including the huge breaking news that Andrade's return and Mistico's addition have officially been announced.
G1 Climax Comes to a Close This Weekend: Discussing the best G1 Climax Tournament New Japan has held in years.
Jon Moxley and the Jeans: Jon shares a hilarious personal story involving his son's jeans and the leader of the Death Riders, who just advanced in the Continental Challenge Cup.