AEW Collision live tonight on TNT from the MassMutual Center in Springfield, MA
Former Ring of Honor Pure Champion Daniel Garcia has been a major figure in the wrestling news of late, as his AEW contract is set to expire in the near future with Garcia having yet to make his decision. AEW and many people within the company are confident he’ll stay, but according to Cory Hays of PWNexus, WWE has got a close eye on Garcia’s situation, with the company reportedly “chomping at the bit”[sic] to sign him if he becomes a free agent at the end of October. Hays also said Garcia still has not signed a new deal with AEW.
The 26-year old has been extremely private about his contract situation, even going as far as declining to answer a question about it during a recent interview. Many fans assumed that the result of the match between Garcia and MJF at All Out 2024 would have been an indicator as to Garcia’s decisionwith a win signaling that he is staying with AEW. However, MJF won the match, with Garcia’s failure to re-sign reportedly resulting in the result being changed. Garcia has already made it clear that he feels like he’s ready to step up to the next level in his career and be a part of a main event scene, but as of this writing it is still unknown whether that will be in AEW or WWE.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE SmackDown will air live tonight on the USA Network from the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California.
WWE has new TV deals, with Monday Night RAW moving to Netflix in January, Friday Night SmackDown returning from FOX to the USA Network, and NXT moving from USA to the CW Network next month.
NBCU still has a streaming deal with WWE for the WWE Network to air in the United States on Peacock. As part of the new deal, the full past-season library of WWE SmackDown is available on Peacock, with new episodes becoming available 30 days after airing on the USA Network.
New episodes of WWE RAW are also accessible on Peacock 30 days after airing on the USA Network. However, Peacock will no longer have the libraries for NXT and RAW after 9/19 and 10/1, respectively.
Moreover, fans will notice countdown clocks for NXT and RAW programming on Peacock, indicating that the library will expire, but only for episodes after the mentioned dates.
WrestleVotes Radio is reporting that NXT Level Up will end soon after airing on Fridays on Peacock since February 2022.
The report states, “While we’re talking about NXT, with the WWE Hulu contract coming up next week, the NXT secondary show Level Up will be discontinued. That’s what we’re hearing. They will no longer continue filming the Level Up show that airs on Peacock, that features a lot of the younger NXT talent. And you know, it is what it is. It’s just a lot of moving parts right now, but we will say goodbye to Level Up.”
It’s uncertain whether the entire NXT library will be removed from Peacock once the CW deal takes effect.
The report adds, “It’s likely everything from NXT 2.0 up until today will disappear and move over to the CW app. With that said, we don’t know if Takeovers are included here. Again, it could be just 2.0 stuff, which would include Deadlines and No Mercy and things like that, could disappear from Peacock, but a lot of the more recent NXT stuff will be gone off of the WWE Network/Peacock….it just comes down to the rights of that now that CW is in charge of having the NXT rights. I think that because they were formally in the hands of Peacock and USA Network. How those agreements all are written is definitely playing into why those past episodes will no longer be available moving forward.”
In addition to potentially discontinuing NXT Level Up, WWE will expand SmackDown to three hours starting January 2025.
WWE Friday Night SmackDown will undergo more changes after moving from FOX to the USA Network.
The SmackDown premiere episode last Friday showcased a new visual design with updated colors, graphics, logo, and theme.
The show no longer has to end two minutes before the top of the hour to make way for local news on FOX, allowing for greater flexibility.
As we’ve been reporting here on WNB, Monday Night RAW will revert back to its previous two-hour format, which it hasn’t had since 2012, starting on October 7. As WWE is transitioning from the USA Network to Netflix, a temporary gap exists before the Netflix deal takes effect in January.
WWE reached an agreement with the USA Network to extend RAW’s run on the channel after the original deal was set to expire this month. The USA Network made the decision to switch RAW to a two-hour format.
Once WWE RAW moves to Netflix, it will become a three-hour show again, with the option to change the duration every week.
According to a report from WrestleVotes Radio, WWE SmackDown is expected to follow in RAW’s footsteps and transition to a three-hour format in January 2025.
The report states, “Before we move off of SmackDown, our first real WrestleVotes tidbit here, as we get going on this backstage pass regarding SmackDown, is that we have learned that starting on the January 3 show 2025, Smackdown will indeed shift to three hours. The other big news here is there are rumors that once the show ends, it will be available on Netflix, which we haven’t heard elsewhere. Those are the internal talkings right now is that probably the day after Smackdown will be available on Netflix. But the real nugget here is that starting January 3, that show will be three hours.”
Source: eWn
The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix) are headed to WWE.
Following numerous rumors and speculation, the Lucha Brothers have inked long-term contracts with WWE, bypassing NXT and moving directly to the main roster.
As we’ve been reporting here on eWn, Penta has been discussing a potential move to WWE since the summer. Penta emphasized that he and his brother Fenix would only make the transition together, and WWE was eager to accommodate this request.
Cory Hayes of PWN has verified the signing, stating, “Multi-year deal. Directly to main roster.”
WrestleVotes Radio is also reporting that the Lucha Brothers’ signing with WWE is likely a done deal as production of masks, t-shirts, and other promotional materials is already in progress.
The Lucha Brothers have been integral to AEW since their debut on the company’s inaugural show in 2019.
Penta’s AEW contract expired between August and September, and Fenix’s contract was also set to expire this year.
Source: eWn
AEW’s existence has objectively done a lot of good for the wrestling business, providing another viable option for wrestlers to ply their trade while earning major money in North America, but within any organization there will always be those who end up unhappy. For a long time, reporting has suggested that Miro, formerly WWE’s Rusev, has been displeased with his tenure in the promotion, and now it appears he wants out.
According to a report from “Fightful Select,” Miro has officially requested his release from AEW. At the time of writing, neither AEW nor Miro himself has confirmed the report, but “The Redeemer” has notably not competed in AEW at all this year, with his last match taking place during the company’s last pay-per-view in 2023, Worlds End. According to Fightful’s sources, Miro ended up being sidelined for longer than anticipated after his match at Worlds End, but that he recovered a long time ago, which the star previously confirmed, explaining that his injuries were seen to back in January.
Fightful also reports that AEW originally considered using Miro in the All In Casino Gauntlet, and an angle for him was pitched involving Jon Moxley, but added that he couldn’t reach creative agreement with management, largely the reason for his absence from programming for the past two years. The report further pointed out that there’s no confirmation if Miro’s been granted his release yet, or if WWE has any interest in picking him up. Fightful’s sources also noted that “The Redeemer” is currently signed to a seven-figure contract that doesn’t expire until Spring 2026, which might complicate the dealings around his release.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
AEW Rampage Friday night on TNT.
Ring of Honor will present a new episode of ROH TV on Honorclub tonight.
TNA Wrestling will present a new episode of TNA Impact tonight on AXS TV.
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