Plus, Trinity wins gold! The current card for WWE SummerSlam 2023, and where you’ll be able to watch AEW ALL IN.
Two matches were made official for WWE Summerslam the first week of August. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor for the world championship and Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar were added to the card.
Cody challenged Brock to come out on Raw, and after destroying Cody, Brock accepted the challenge:
Meanwhile, the Seth vs. Finn match was established in a backstage segment:
Surprisingly, the viking rules match between Alpha Academy and the Viking Raiders actually delivered:
Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville are the new WWE Womens Tag Team Champions:
The other matches scheduled but not yet officially announced for WWE SummerSlam on August 5th include:
Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso
Trish Stratus vs. Becky Lynch
Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Bazler.
Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair
Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Rodriguez
Gunther vs Drew McIntyre
Logan Paul vs. Ricochet
Colin is reunited with Jordan and Rob on this episode, which is the go-home edition to WCW World War 3. The main event is Hulk Hogan vs. Sting and we have a lot of thoughts on the match, also a great showing from Eddy Guerrero vs. Brian Pillman, Scott “Flash” Norton vs. The Shark and Big Bubba Rogers is here too!
WWE NXT is live tonight at 8pm on USA Network. I might check it out just for the lucha match:
AEW Dynamite this Wednesday at 8pm on TBS is basically a free PPV as it’s their Blood and Guts special, a take off on the traditional War Games. The lineup includes:
Impact Wrestling is Thursday at 8pm on AXS TV:
WWE Smackdown is Friday at 8pm on FS1 instead of Fox:
Ring of Honor’s next PPV event, Death Before Dishonor is this Friday night at 8pm on Bleacher Report and FITE:
AEW Rampage is Friday night at 10pm on TNT with this lineup:
AEW Collision has one match announced so far for Saturday at 8pm on TNT:
On a media call, Tony Khan said there is no timetable yet for Bryan Danielson’s return from his arm injury. Khan noted that Bryan wants to come back as soon as possible.
Khan confirmed that fans all over the world will be able to watch All In live (around 1pm eastern in the states) but was not able to announce where yet. The rumor is the show will be on traditional pay-per-view.
Trinity, the former Naomi, won the Impact Womens Championship at this weekend’s Slammiversary event, defeating Deonna Purrazzo. “I’ve never had a match like that,” Trinity Fatu told Sports Illustrated. “Deonna is incredible in the ring. I had to step up to match her intensity and energy, and matching her style was a challenge, too. She is the hardest opponent I’ve had to face in my career, and I feel so honored to have shared the ring with her.”
On a recent interview on The Dan Le Batard Show, Tony Khan addressed the new guidelines we reported in the last column, playing down the severity of them. “Yes, I want to have a great pro wrestling company, a hard-hitting pro wrestling company. Those aren’t really crazy changes. It’s nothing that’s going to change the show. It’s really more guidelines for the referees as much as anything else. It’s good stuff for the wrestlers to know,” he said. Khan added “maybe 20%” of matches he wanted to book didn’t happen because of injuries. That seems like a lot to me!
Nick Aldis is wrapped up with Impact Wrestling and PWInsider reports WWE is interested in bringing him in as a producer. At 36 years old, it feels like he has some gas in the tank to wrestle.
Bayley suffered a knee injury this weekend at a house show but it appears she will be okay:
Two matches I would suggest going out of your way to see from this weekend are FTR vs. Jay White and Juice Robinson from AEW Collision and Kenny Omega vs. Vikingo from Triplemania. Here is footage of Don Callis getting attacked (for real) by a local photographer because they didn’t know that Callis was in on the story:
Knotfest’s wrestling coverage is Squared Circle Pit. Two columns a week to catch you up on all the wrestling news, as well as a weekly podcast, all written and hosted by Robert Pasbani. Follow @robpasbani on Instagram and Twitter and @Squaredcirclpit.