Tonight’s WWE Raw come live on the USA Network from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Wrestling fans in Indianapolis, Indiana, will have plenty to look forward to in the coming years, as WWE is bringing three of its tentpole events to the city. According to a press release put out by the company and the Indiana Sports Corp on Monday morning, the 2025 Royal Rumble and future WrestleMania and SummerSlam shows will emanate from the city as part of a unique partnership.
The first event to hit Indianapolis will be next year’s Royal Rumble, which is scheduled to take place from the Lucas Oil Stadium. No dates have been confirmed for the other premium live events at the time of this writing, but everyone involved is excited about WWE bringing three of its biggest shows to the city.
“We are excited to bring this groundbreaking partnership to Indianapolis and our state,” said Patrick Talty, President of Indiana Sports Corp. “For over four decades, our city’s sports strategy has brought in millions of visitors and priceless hours of international brand-building media coverage. This partnership with WWE continues to push that strategy forward in new and exciting ways. We look forward to welcoming the WWE Universe to our community and state and showing them all that Indy has to offer.”
The company will host “Raw,” “SmackDown,” and “NXT” live events across Indiana in the forthcoming months, but no dates have been confirmed yet. Similarly, WWE and the Sport Corp plan on introducing a collaborative program that will ensure the city benefits from the partnership after the announced shows are over.
While some of the announced Indianapolis shows remain shrouded in secrecy, other cities are already bracing for WWE’s biggest events. WrestleMania 41 has been confirmed for Las Vegas and SummerSlam 2026 is scheduled to emanate from the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
The newest member of The Bloodline made his debut after the main event of “WWE SmackDown” on Friday, making a big impression after sending Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes through the announce desk with a big splash. Jacob Fatu made his debut to help his cousin, the new “Head of the Table” Solo Sikoa, against Rhodes, Randy Orton, and Kevin Owens following a match between Rhodes and Sikoa.
Sikoa was set to face off against Rhodes with none of The Bloodline ringside, but Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa made their presence known shortly after the bell rang for the match, causing the disqualification. Orton and Owens ran down the ramp to help Rhodes against the stable, and all three men had Sikoa backed into a corner of the ring, where he started groveling to be spared before breaking his face broke into a grin. That’s when Fatu debuted, sneaking up behind Rhodes, Orton, and Owens, taking the latter two men out before beating down Rhodes. Fatu got him onto the announce desk and hit a big splash from the top rope of the ring, then got back into the ring and hugged Sikoa, and Fatu, Sikoa, Tonga, and Loa raised their “ones” in the middle of the ring as “SmackDown” went off the air.
Fatu, a former Major League Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion, revealed he had agreed to a deal with WWE over WrestleMania 40 weekend back in April. He had been a free agent for much of 2024.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Yesterday, “The Pat McAfee Show” welcomed on former U.S. Navy SEAL and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr as a special guest. Amidst the conversation, McAfee, Carr, and show staff turned their attention to some obscure, offstage phenomena, to which McAfee uttered, “What the f*** is that?” Upon Carr’s subsequent mention of security, all the lights switched off, causing the studio to be engulfed in complete darkness. Seconds later, the broadcast came to an abrupt end.
There is speculation that The Wyatt Sicks was behind the power outage.
Today on the show Pat McAfee addressed the situation from yesterday’s show.
“Good morning beautiful people.. At the end of yesterday’s show a startling and eery power outage took place in our ThunderDOME.. It shut down our progrum abruptly and left A LOT of folks worried and confused.. I, just like the rest of the boys, saw the assumptions of the Wyatt Sick6 being the culprits.. and that we might be dead. We were gonna address those rumors earlier but didn’t think anybody would ever understand without actually seeing what happened.. So, we gathered all of our Generator Powered security camera footage to explain.. And all we can say is..”
F4WOnline and Fightful are reporting, per WrestleVotes that WWE is said to be close to announcing a multi-year deal that would bring three of its signature events to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
It is being said that WWE and the Indiana Sports Corp are close to an agreement that would bring a future WrestleMania, a future SummerSlam, and the 2025 Royal Rumble to Indiana as part of the multi-year agreement.
Indianapolis last hosted WrestleMania 8 back in 1992, and then hosted SummerSlam in 2008. Indiana has never hosted the Royal Rumble.
Lucas Oil Stadium is home to the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts since 2008. The venue has also hosted the NCAA Final Four back in 2021, Super Bowl XLVI, and the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship game.
Source: WrestleView
UPDATE
The Indianapolis Business Journal has provided some additional details on this prospective deal between WWE and Indiana Sports Corp., with the first being that it is likely to span at least seven years. Furthermore, this agreement would include several more events in addition to the aforementioned Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, and SummerSlam. Possible supplemental shows, such as “WWE SmackDown,” “WWE Raw,” non-televised live events, and smaller premium live events, would be held at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse, which is situated a six-minute car ride away from Lucas Oil Stadium.
IBJ also notes that the WWE- Indiana Sports Corp. welcomes the possibility for WWE to present shows in other nearby Indiana markets, such as Evansville and Fort Wayne. An official announcement on the deal is expected to take stage on next week’s episode of “Raw,” which emanates from Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Next week’s “Raw” is also slated to feature more Money in the Bank qualifying matches.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown live on FOX from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.
The Wyatt Sicks made their chilling debut on this week’s episode of “WWE Raw” by laying out a path littered with incapacitated WWE officials and talents. Fresh off their introductory appearance, the quintet of Uncle Howdy, Nikki Cross, Dexter Lumis, Joe Gacy, and Erick Rowan now seems to be targeting “Raw” color commentator Pat McAfee.
On Thursday, “The Pat McAfee Show” welcomed on former U.S. Navy SEAL and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr as a special guest. Amidst the conversation, McAfee, Carr, and show staff turned their attention to some obscure, offstage phenomena, to which McAfee uttered, “What the f*** is that?” Upon Carr’s subsequent mention of security, all the lights switched off, causing the studio to be engulfed in complete darkness. Seconds later, the broadcast came to an abrupt end. While it’s unclear if the Wyatt Sicks are the forces behind the “The Pat McAfee Show” power outage, McAfee has been notably absent from social media since then.
The Wyatt Sicks’ arrival comes on the heels of a two-month long series of mysterious clues and QR codes teasing the introduction of a new “family” in WWE. Four of the five reported members were broken away from their previous “families” in storyline, while Uncle Howdy, portrayed by Bo Dallas, is the real-life brother of the late Bray Wyatt, whom the Wyatt Sicks are paying homage to. Looking ahead, the faction is expected to have a “widespread” effect on WWE programming, with a number of storylines reportedly set to be impacted. Based on the aforementioned events, it seems that Pat McAfee may have been one of the first figures, aside from a bloodied Chad Gable, to find themselves caught in the crossfire.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Charlotte Flair’s ACL, MCL, and meniscus injury wasn’t going to heal overnight, but after a series of optimistic reports from close confidantes and Flair herself, WWE fans have been waiting in cautious anticipation for the return of “The Queen.” Flair recently gave fans some more reason to hope for an imminent return, as she took to Instagram to post an injury update.
The video features Flair in a Biodex testing machine, furiously kicking her injured leg. “The Queen”‘s face is red, and her knuckles are white as she grips the seat’s handles to stabilize herself as she pushes herself to the limit.
Today marked Flair’s first Biodex test, specifically an isokinetic test. Isokinetic tests are considered one of the most objective ways to determine a moving muscle’s endurance, strength, and rate of force development, or how fast Flair can develop force in her surgical leg. According to Flair, she needed to be “in the 40% or less deficit” compared to her non-injured leg. Essentially, her injured leg’s strength needed to be no more than 40% less powerful than her non-injured leg in order to be considered on track for recovery. Flair excitedly shared that the deficit in her quad strength was “20% or less,” and that in some measurements, her injured leg was actually stronger than her non-injured leg. These hopeful statistics imply that her recovery is well ahead of schedule, and is going smoothly.
Flair ended the post by expressing an excitement to resume in-ring activity. Several WWE stars extended their good wishes to Flair, with Carmella posting several applause emojis and Dakota Kai expressing her support with some choice muscle emojis.
As of writing, Flair has been out of action for six months. “The Queen” could resume in-ring action in September 2024, at the absolute earliest. There have been no reported plans regarding Flair’s return from a creative standpoint at this time.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Late last year, WWE announced that their development show, “WWE NXT,” would be making the jump from USA Network to The CW Network. As the date of transfer looms over the heads of WWE’s newest stars, PWInsider Elite has offered more information regarding the nature and magnitude of this broadcast home transfer.
Starting October 1 at 8pm Eastern, fans can expect to tune into an episode of “NXT” filmed not within the walls of the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, but “on the road in a major arena.” “NXT’s” debut episode on The CW is expected to be a high-profile event, with one internal source comparing it to the hallowed “NXT” Takeovers of the past in terms of significance to the overall brand. The reported spectacle comes from WWE’s desire to impress The CW as the two companies begin working together.
There are several locations being discussed for the location of “NXT’s” new network debut. As of writing, the most significant argument has been made for a Chicago-based show, as the Windy City is home to one of the Nexstar Media Group’s headquarters — Nexstar Media Group is The CW’s current owner, and the group that verified the “NXT” deal. However, it should be noted that the location for the October 1 episode of “NXT” is still in discussion, and may change in the coming months. There is also no announced special theme or premium live event planned in October for the developmental brand as of writing.
The shift in “NXT”‘s broadcasting home comes from an earlier deal to move “WWE SmackDown” off of Fox and onto USA Network. Despite gaining the rights to WWE’s Friday-based show, USA Network and parent company NBCU failed to outbid Netflix, who is slated to assume the broadcasting rights for “WWE Raw,” and The CW.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
In an interview with Busted Open Radio (via Fightful), Matt Hardy spoke about he and his brother Jeff winding down their careers and noted that he hopes they end up back in WWE. Here are highlights:
On how he wants their careers to end: “I would like to do TNA and have a hell of a run there, and then I almost feel like now, just the destiny has revealed itself in many ways, I almost feel Jeff and I, we end up returning to WWE, do something small and then go onto the Hall of Fame. That’s a best case scenario.”
On Jeff Hardy wanting to prove himself: “That’s a great question. I think Jeff really wanted to come back to TNA to continue to build equity, and he knows that TNA and WWE are working together. I have friends in the WWE, I have spoken with people in WWE. So I think Jeff just wants to once again just show people how he is a different human being. The way to put equity into that is to go to TNA, have a kickass run, and show people he’s on his best behavior.”
Source: 411Mania
Wrestling News Blog 