Catching Up!
October 27, 2025It has been quite awhile since I wrote something on ringside, part of it is because I had this extreme block and motivation, and part because wrestling has been business as usual with nothing totally shocking to me. So here is my catch up on what has been going on in the world with wrestling starting with Wrestlepalooza.
WRESTLEPALOOZA (September 20, 2025) – ESPN Debut
WWE’s first premium live event on ESPN was a good start but not a big bang as some said it was. Brock Lesnar destroyed John Cena in a one-sided match an interesting twist in these final days of his retirement tour. CM Punk & AJ Lee defeated Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch (AJ’s first match back in 10 years after her return early that month) in an incredibly fun match setting up potential match for the Women’s IC title with Lynch hopefully.
Stephanie Vaquer and Iyo Sky stole the show and the best match of the night with Vaquer becoming the new Women’s world champion starting the era of La Primera on Monday nights. Undertaker surprising Stephanie McMahon with her induction into the 2026 WWE hall of fame was a nice moment that felt genuine. Then the main event between Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre was a fine match, just a good match main event where McIntyre’s hubris once again cost him championship gold as Rhodes retains his undisputed championship.
CROWN JEWEL: PERTH (October 11, 2025)
The first Crown Jewel held outside Saudi Arabia in Perth, Australia where that crowd was absolutely incredible. Seth Rollins defeated Cody Rhodes to win the Men’s Crown Jewel Championship in a banger of a match giving Rollins another big win to his current reign. Stephanie Vaquer beat Tiffany Stratton to win the Women’s Crown Jewel Championship in a good match that we hopefully will see in some future Wrestlemania main events between them.
John Cena’s last international match was an instant classic against AJ Styles who announced his retirement tour for next year that Friday was filled with tributes to their rivals’ finishers that was easily the match of the day, as dates countdown Cena seems to be leaving it all in the ring with some truly fun matches. While it still does not feel real that this is ending, but perhaps if he is at Survivor Series it will be when it hits me finally.
Rhea & IYO defeated The Kabuki Warriors, giving the hometown crowd and home country hero Ripley a fun win on Mami’s birthday. Bronson Reed defeated Roman Reigns in a Street Fight when Jey Uso accidentally speared Reigns costing him the match, Reigns told the Usos after the match “I don’t want to see y’all till Christmas” with Jey leaving Jimmy behind making the OG Bloodline fractured adding another layer to this epic angle.
The Vision Breakks! (Raw after Crown Jewel)
There was a triple threat number one contender match between CM Punk, Jey Uso, and LA Knight which was a good match where CM Punk won to become the number one contender for the world heavyweight title. But what happened after the match would surprise us, when Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed turned on Seth Rollins leaving us to believe that the Vison is over before it even started, but also feels like the launch pad for Breakker into the world heavyweight championship picture on Raw.
Meanwhile, on Friday Night Smackdown…
Sami Zayn has held an open challenge for the United States title has given us some incredible matches so far. But, last Friday a returning Ilja Dragunov challenged Sami Zayn and became the new US champion in an absolute banger. With Dragunov as champion I seriously hope we get Ilja versus Carmelo Hayes for the US title in what would be an incredible feud.
Drew McIntyre vs. Jacob Fatu has been heating up on SmackDown, where all I can say is “Shut up and take my money” for once the phrase “Better late than never” is absolutely perfect if we are to get series of awesome matches soon.
Solo Sikoa and his MFTs are coming back, especially when we finally got the Guerillas of Destiny, face paint and all appeared on Smackdown a few weeks ago and I cannot wait! And this potential match up with the Wyatt Sicks could be ideal for the Survivor Series whether it is in a traditional Survivor Series teams match or perhaps War Games? We will see how this unfolds.
WWE NXT
NXT NO MERCY (September 27, 2025)
Ricky Saints defeated Oba Femi to become the new NXT World Champion. It was a shock but something that the brand needed, With Saints as the face of NXT as well as hopefully sending the ruler Oba Femi up to the main roster to truly shake things up.
Jacy Jayne retained the NXT Women’s Championship over Lola Vice, where Jayne’s reign as the cowardly chicken champion has been good while it feels like the tide could be turning against Vice especially with the dueling start and go situation with Jaida Parker has fans getting impatient and want to see one of these women or both of them finally breakthrough into some serious title contention.
Jordynne Grace defeated Blake Monroe in a Weaponized Steel Cage Match (Why? Just Why?) was a solid match but clearly Grace and Monroe have to be the only contenders to dethrone Jacy Jayne for the NXT Women’s championship giving a real boost to one of the most talented women’s divisions in pro wrestling.
NXT vs. TNA SHOWDOWN (October 7, 2025)
TNA wrestlers invading NXT are finally giving us this dual brand battle that we have been expecting that included with the Hardy Boys becoming the NXT tag team champions beating DarkState and the surprise return of Matt Cardona in September for TNA has made this more interesting. With the team captains being Ricky Saints & Jacy Jayne for NXT and Mike Santana & Kelani Jordan (who is TNA Knockouts Champion from NXT) to set up some interesting matches at TNA’s Bound for Glory.
TNA’s Bound for Glory (October 12th, 2025)
Bound for Glory was a solid show from TNA, Kelani Jordan and Indi Hartwell had a really good match for the knockouts championship where it seems like the NXT/TNA collaboration is doing wonders for talent like Jordan who are getting more ring time and chances to display their skills. The highly talked about match between Je’Von Evans and Leon Slater did not seem to disappoint, while that style of match is not always my jam I get why this match was a show stealer. Both guys are young with crazy potential that can fly and move, even with it ending in a no contest the match was probably the match of the night.
The Hardys and The Dudley’s (Team 3D) faced for the last time in a fun match with all the callbacks, while it wasn’t a classic it served the purpose with Hardys retaining the titles as this second act of what is their farewell tour continues to be positive and hopefully erases our memory of their time in AEW. But the main event for the TNA championship between Trick Williams and Mike Santana was a good match, Trick Williams continues to make slight improvements as we continue to wait on his main roster call up. But the evolution of Mike Santana has been incredible especially since his strange departure from AEW where he defeated Williams to become the new champion finishing this incredible comeback story becoming the face of TNA ending a fine PPV for the brand.
AEW
ALL OUT: TORONTO (September 20, 2025)
First All Out held outside Chicago since 2020 where it is business as usual with AEW, but some pleasant surprises happened. Kris Statlander finally became AEW women’s world champion, something I and other fans had been wanting for a while finally happened where hopefully this will be a jolt to that division. A surprise return of Eddie Kingston who looked good hopefully can be presented better this time around and stop with the Japanese wrestling tribute style match and be himself.
Edge excuse me Cope and Christian reunited to defeat FTR with Beth Phoenix/Copeland making her AEW debut in Cope and Christian’s hometown was a nice touch. Luchasaurus and Jack Perry reunited Jurassic Express, which had a good reaction from the crowd after the Young Bucks ladder match, setting up a feud between them which was predictable sadly. Moxley and Darby continue to have their garbage style matches where Moxley left victorious thanks to PAC returning (again) meaning the Death Riders remain strong for now.
Hangman Page retained the AEW world championship against Kyle Fletcher in a good match where Kyle Fletcher looks like a main event player especially with Swerve and Ospreay out for a little bit.
AEW Wrestledream (October 18th,2025)
AEW Wrestledream saw Hangman Page defeated Samoa Joe where Joe and the Opps turned which should be a promising thing having Joe as the heel challenging Page to give this title run something extra. Mercedes Mone retained one of many championships as her “Ultimo Mone” era continues which is just a bad name and idea but what do I or we know right? Statlander retained her newly won championship in a rematch against Toni Storm in another good match.
And finally, Darby Allin defeated Jon Moxley in a I quit match that was just a mess, which isn’t surprising especially with Moxley but with help from Sting who gave Allin his bat passing the proverbial torch making Moxley say I quit and finally get the win.
That is my quick yet delayed catch up on all this pro wrestling, expect an NXT Halloween Havoc review this week and other pieces as I try to get back on track again.
