AEW NEWS - SEPTEMBER 2025

[JLowe]

On 9/5/2025 at 11:21 PM, Craig H said:

Marina is so fucking bad. She's pretty fortunate to have been in the Mr. Hughes/911 role in the Death Riders. If she could work at all then doing her vs Willow is a no brainer, or even Marina vs Statlander, but they're staying away from that with a 10 foot pole. It feels like there is zero confidence Marina could put on a decent match with anyone. The only way it probably works if she just gets her ass beat for about 5 minutes and then gets pinned. 

They’re hiding her actual matches in ROH I think, brutalizing jobbers.

[JLowe]

On 9/6/2025 at 8:49 AM, Death From Above said:

 Looks like MJF got married, no word on whether Tony Schiavone objected on the grounds that MJF is "a giant asshole" 

I sent this to my wife and she said “who is the guy in the shiny tux jacket and non-matching pants?”. I told her when you’re a billionaire and the boss you can dress how you want.

Things that make me laugh about the photo:

1. TK is in the center looking like he’s about to invoke prima nocta.

2. pretty sure Max Caster is lurking in the background on the right of the photo, like he’s a wedding crasher.

[NikoBaltimore]

Trying to post via multiquote on mobile was acting up last night so PC it is.  But thanks for the kind words.  We're all a part of a great community and I'm just happy to make myself useful.

As for the wedding photo Kip Sabian has a great look for wrestling but outside of it he looks like he stepped out of an 80s time machine.  Not a bad thing at all but he really stands out compared to the others.

Edited September 8 by NikoBaltimore

[The Natural]

8 hours ago, NikoBaltimore said:

Trying to post via multiquote on mobile was acting up last night so PC it is.  But thanks for the kind words.  We're all a part of a great community and I'm just happy to make myself useful.

You're a big part of what makes it a great community, Nick. Love you, Paul xxx.

[The Natural]

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/bryan-danielson-vince-mcmahon-wwe-aew/

Bryan Danielson the GOAT.

Edited September 8 by The Natural

[Zimbra]

Jesus wept, Wardlow tore his pec clotheslining Prince Nana at Forbidden Door.

I feel like pulling a Kevin Nash is a good time to question whether wrestling is right for you.

[Craig H]

It’s time to pull the plug on Wardlow. This felt like his last shot anyway.

Sucks, but guys in his position have bounced back in other promotions and made their way back to tv. Maybe he will too.

[porksweats]

26 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

Jesus wept, Wardlow tore his pec clotheslining Prince Nana at Forbidden Door.

I feel like pulling a Kevin Nash is a good time to question whether wrestling is right for you.

The Don Callis family simply has the worst luck in their picks getting hurt

see; Mark Davis, Trent, Brian Cage

[zendragon]

On 9/6/2025 at 3:09 PM, Technico Support said:

My god, Bryan just throwing up his hands and saying IF THE NUMBERS ARE FAKE WHY ARE WE EVEN REPORTING RATINGS ANYMORE was amazing.  Dave is on the spectrum, which is fine, but sometimes it’s just too fucking much.  
 

I seriously look at the timestamps just to skip past ratings talk because, FUUUUUUCK, it’s not 1998.  Who cares?

 

On 9/6/2025 at 3:17 PM, Niners Fan in CT said:

Not defending Dave at all but they kind of have to report the numbers even if none of the numbers make any sense.  The online nerds love to discuss the numbers to death mostly over tribalist bullshit and the Twitter handles and websites that talk numbers get a lot of engagement from all of it.  Social media has ruined wrestling discourse on 99% of sites, forums, anywhere.  Consider yourselves lucky that we don't get bogged down in all of that on here.  We talk about it a little bit but it's usually with nuance and without hyperbole. 

You have guys like Brandon Thurston who considers himself a numbers geek more or less and he doesn't have a clue how many viewers 'Dynamite' gets on HBO or what any of the Netflix numbers for 'RAW' really mean.   But does that stop him from going all in with the reporting on them?  Of course not. They feed off negative energy. 

One thing that worth remembering is that how the business has changed, in the 80's nobody paid attention for the most part cause you made your money at the live gates and TV (which you sometimes payed for or gave away) was just to drive that business.

Then in the 90's we had a shift towards TV primarily being to drive the PPV business.  Today the money comes from the massive TV rights deals so even if we don't have a late 90's RATINGZWAR~! It's arguably more important than ever to get eyeballs on the actual shows.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I might catch hell for this and people can call me a fanboy or whatever but I think after these past twelve months, Mercedes Mone' has made a case for the best North American women's wrestler of all time.  I don't like to throw around the word "GOAT" because it's become so played out and I don't want to speak on Japanese/Joshi wrestling too much because I simply haven't seen enough,  I follow STARDOM to an extent but not enough and I don't know much about the 80s/90s Joshi scenes beyond some key matches here or there so I am leaving all of that out.  

Here's the past 12 months -  2 matches with Statlander ('Full Gear' and 'World's End'),  vs. Hakushi at a NJPW show,  vs. Toni Storm at 'ALL IN', vs. Athena on a special Dynamite episode,  vs. Jamie Hayter at 'Double or Nothing' and that's just big matches that most people watched on PPV or Television.  There's way more.  You could watch her match with Mina Shirakawa in Japan or the return match on Dynamite.  Throw in title matches vs. Kanji, Emersyn Jayne and Safire Reed at RevPro.  Throw in her matches in Mexico vs. Zeuxis and La Catalina.  Throw in the triple threat with Mina and AZM.  Throw in the stellar TV matches with Alex Windsor,  Harley Cameron and Billie Starkz.  Random matches in Austria and Poland. Etc.

There is a variety to the opponents, the match structures are all different,  the finishing sequences are mostly different and she's doing this often times with little to no rest AND with no rehearsal.  I'm not a guy who thinks "rehearsal" is a bad thing but think of the difficulty to layout a match in a couple of hours against someone you've never faced straight off the airplane or the difficulty of facing someone you've never met and calling it the ring on the fly.  Yes, of course wrestlers of past generations used to do this all the time but that was the past. She's doing this now with a variety of opponents and finishing sequences against people she's never met and in several countries after hours of travel. 

One of the other things about this run is how unselfish it's really been.  People can look at wins and losses and say she's winning but for the most part she is making sure each opponent has a great showing and then she runs to her socials and promotes the hell out of the person she faced which instantly puts them on the map. It's a win-win for everyone as the promotions want her to be there,  the opponents get a spotlight put on them and get to face someone in many cases they looked up to and Mercedes herself gets to promote women's wrestling across the globe and gets to travel everywhere doing it. 

Mercedes in-ring style has changed quite a bit as well.  She always had a level of grit and tenacity in the way she's hit people, lock in submissions,  stomp on fingers and wrench back on necks and attack body parts but now she's incorporating some strong style, lucha and something she's really good at,  mat wrestling and submission transitions. This allows her to put on matches that feel vastly different one from the next. Not every move looks great but most of them do and she breaks them out at the perfect time.  She had already mastered that "WWE main event style" and that's why she's so great at not just telling a story in her matches but knowing when to hit what move that's going to get the reaction they need and the pacing is off the charts with how she gradually ups the levels of desperation and nearfalls.

She was already one of the best women just from her WWE career but this run has solidified her greatness. 

[The Natural]

14 hours ago, Zimbra said:

Jesus wept, Wardlow tore his pec clotheslining Prince Nana at Forbidden Door.

I feel like pulling a Kevin Nash is a good time to question whether wrestling is right for you.

 

14 hours ago, Craig H said:

It’s time to pull the plug on Wardlow. This felt like his last shot anyway.

Sucks, but guys in his position have bounced back in other promotions and made their way back to tv. Maybe he will too.

Man, to get injured on your return is such bad luck. Poor Wardlow. Reminds me of Bandido getting a concussion on his return, an ROH run in after been on the shelf for a while with a broken wrist.

[The Natural]

9 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I might catch hell for this and people can call me a fanboy or whatever but I think after these past twelve months, Mercedes Mone' has made a case for the best North American women's wrestler of all time.  I don't like to throw around the word "GOAT" because it's become so played out and I don't want to speak on Japanese/Joshi wrestling too much because I simply haven't seen enough,  I follow STARDOM to an extent but not enough and I don't know much about the 80s/90s Joshi scenes beyond some key matches here or there so I am leaving all of that out.  

Here's the past 12 months -  2 matches with Statlander ('Full Gear' and 'World's End'),  vs. Hakushi at a NJPW show,  vs. Toni Storm at 'ALL IN', vs. Athena on a special Dynamite episode,  vs. Jamie Hayter at 'Double or Nothing' and that's just big matches that most people watched on PPV or Television.  There's way more.  You could watch her match with Mina Shirakawa in Japan or the return match on Dynamite.  Throw in title matches vs. Kanji, Emersyn Jayne and Safire Reed at RevPro.  Throw in her matches in Mexico vs. Zeuxis and La Catalina.  Throw in the triple threat with Mina and AZM.  Throw in the stellar TV matches with Alex Windsor,  Harley Cameron and Billie Starkz.  Random matches in Austria and Poland. Etc.

There is a variety to the opponents, the match structures are all different,  the finishing sequences are mostly different and she's doing this often times with little to no rest AND with no rehearsal.  I'm not a guy who thinks "rehearsal" is a bad thing but think of the difficulty to layout a match in a couple of hours against someone you've never faced straight off the airplane or the difficulty of facing someone you've never met and calling it the ring on the fly.  Yes, of course wrestlers of past generations used to do this all the time but that was the past. She's doing this now with a variety of opponents and finishing sequences against people she's never met and in several countries after hours of travel. 

One of the other things about this run is how unselfish it's really been.  People can look at wins and losses and say she's winning but for the most part she is making sure each opponent has a great showing and then she runs to her socials and promotes the hell out of the person she faced which instantly puts them on the map. It's a win-win for everyone as the promotions want her to be there,  the opponents get a spotlight put on them and get to face someone in many cases they looked up to and Mercedes herself gets to promote women's wrestling across the globe and gets to travel everywhere doing it. 

Mercedes in-ring style has changed quite a bit as well.  She always had a level of grit and tenacity in the way she's hit people, lock in submissions,  stomp on fingers and wrench back on necks and attack body parts but now she's incorporating some strong style, lucha and something she's really good at,  mat wrestling and submission transitions. This allows her to put on matches that feel vastly different one from the next. Not every move looks great but most of them do and she breaks them out at the perfect time.  She had already mastered that "WWE main event style" and that's why she's so great at not just telling a story in her matches but knowing when to hit what move that's going to get the reaction they need and the pacing is off the charts with how she gradually ups the levels of desperation and nearfalls.

She was already one of the best women just from her WWE career but this run has solidified her greatness. 

I've always rated Sasha Banks as the best of the Four Horsewomen and I'd agree she's the best North American female wrestler ever, her back catalogue of matches is insane and she gave some their best ever match. I still think her WWE work is her best. My top ten Sasha Banks/Mercedes Mone. I could have easily done 15.

1. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley. NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn. *****.

2. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley. NXT TakeOver: Respect. *****.

3. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte Flair. WWE RAW, 28th November 2016.

4. Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair. WWE WrestleMania XXXVII.

5. Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch. NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable.

6. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley. WWE Hell in a Cell 2020.

7. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte. NXT TakeOver: Rival.

8. Mercedes Mone vs. Toni Storm. AEW All In 2025.

9. Mercedes Mone vs. Kris Statlander. AEW World's End 2024.

10. Sasha Banks vs. Asuka. Post Royal Rumble 2018 RAW.

[RazorbladeKiss87]

I would need to do a deep dive but she's definitely in my list of wrestlers I've enjoyed a lot this year, something I couldn't say before.  I still think she tries to do things she's not good at often but everything else is tighter. I've really enjoyed Mercedes this year. 

[The Green Meanie]

[The Natural]

Man, Wardlow will have a shit tom of injury time added to his AEW contract.

[HarryArchieGus]

17 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I might catch hell for this and people can call me a fanboy or whatever but I think after these past twelve months, Mercedes Mone' has made a case for the best North American women's wrestler of all time.  I don't like to throw around the word "GOAT" because it's become so played out and I don't want to speak on Japanese/Joshi wrestling too much because I simply haven't seen enough,  I follow STARDOM to an extent but not enough and I don't know much about the 80s/90s Joshi scenes beyond some key matches here or there so I am leaving all of that out.  

Here's the past 12 months -  2 matches with Statlander ('Full Gear' and 'World's End'),  vs. Hakushi at a NJPW show,  vs. Toni Storm at 'ALL IN', vs. Athena on a special Dynamite episode,  vs. Jamie Hayter at 'Double or Nothing' and that's just big matches that most people watched on PPV or Television.  There's way more.  You could watch her match with Mina Shirakawa in Japan or the return match on Dynamite.  Throw in title matches vs. Kanji, Emersyn Jayne and Safire Reed at RevPro.  Throw in her matches in Mexico vs. Zeuxis and La Catalina.  Throw in the triple threat with Mina and AZM.  Throw in the stellar TV matches with Alex Windsor,  Harley Cameron and Billie Starkz.  Random matches in Austria and Poland. Etc.

There is a variety to the opponents, the match structures are all different,  the finishing sequences are mostly different and she's doing this often times with little to no rest AND with no rehearsal.  I'm not a guy who thinks "rehearsal" is a bad thing but think of the difficulty to layout a match in a couple of hours against someone you've never faced straight off the airplane or the difficulty of facing someone you've never met and calling it the ring on the fly.  Yes, of course wrestlers of past generations used to do this all the time but that was the past. She's doing this now with a variety of opponents and finishing sequences against people she's never met and in several countries after hours of travel. 

One of the other things about this run is how unselfish it's really been.  People can look at wins and losses and say she's winning but for the most part she is making sure each opponent has a great showing and then she runs to her socials and promotes the hell out of the person she faced which instantly puts them on the map. It's a win-win for everyone as the promotions want her to be there,  the opponents get a spotlight put on them and get to face someone in many cases they looked up to and Mercedes herself gets to promote women's wrestling across the globe and gets to travel everywhere doing it. 

Mercedes in-ring style has changed quite a bit as well.  She always had a level of grit and tenacity in the way she's hit people, lock in submissions,  stomp on fingers and wrench back on necks and attack body parts but now she's incorporating some strong style, lucha and something she's really good at,  mat wrestling and submission transitions. This allows her to put on matches that feel vastly different one from the next. Not every move looks great but most of them do and she breaks them out at the perfect time.  She had already mastered that "WWE main event style" and that's why she's so great at not just telling a story in her matches but knowing when to hit what move that's going to get the reaction they need and the pacing is off the charts with how she gradually ups the levels of desperation and nearfalls.

She was already one of the best women just from her WWE career but this run has solidified her greatness. 

Mercedes has been very good in ring, but her mic work, tho far better from where she started, continues to leave a lot to be desired. You make a fair case for her being the best in ring, but the mic work needs to be a lot better to be the ‘best’.  Over the past year, I’d say she was number 2 to Toni’s number 1 in AEW. In WWE I only ever saw the famous (and excellent) Bayley match and her slightly overrated Mania main event vs Bélair. 

[tbarrie]

20 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I might catch hell for this and people can call me a fanboy or whatever but I think after these past twelve months, Mercedes Mone' has made a case for the best North American women's wrestler of all time.

I mean, you clearly are something of a Mone fanboy, but that doesn't make you wrong.:) I'd say she's definitely in the conversation. I'm personally inclined to put Becky Lynch over her, but I'd want to put some thought into Lynch vs Mone vs Storm vs whomever I'm forgetting at the moment before casting a vote.

Of course, I haven't seen much women's wrestling beyond WWE and AEW, so I'd only be voting for best North American major-league women's wrestler of the last few decades.

Edited September 9 by tbarrie

[just drew]

20 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I might catch hell for this and people can call me a fanboy or whatever but I think after these past twelve months, Mercedes Mone' has made a case for the best North American women's wrestler of all time.  I don't like to throw around the word "GOAT" because it's become so played out and I don't want to speak on Japanese/Joshi wrestling too much because I simply haven't seen enough,  I follow STARDOM to an extent but not enough and I don't know much about the 80s/90s Joshi scenes beyond some key matches here or there so I am leaving all of that out.  

Here's the past 12 months -  2 matches with Statlander ('Full Gear' and 'World's End'),  vs. Hakushi at a NJPW show,  vs. Toni Storm at 'ALL IN', vs. Athena on a special Dynamite episode,  vs. Jamie Hayter at 'Double or Nothing' and that's just big matches that most people watched on PPV or Television.  There's way more.  You could watch her match with Mina Shirakawa in Japan or the return match on Dynamite.  Throw in title matches vs. Kanji, Emersyn Jayne and Safire Reed at RevPro.  Throw in her matches in Mexico vs. Zeuxis and La Catalina.  Throw in the triple threat with Mina and AZM.  Throw in the stellar TV matches with Alex Windsor,  Harley Cameron and Billie Starkz.  Random matches in Austria and Poland. Etc.

There is a variety to the opponents, the match structures are all different,  the finishing sequences are mostly different and she's doing this often times with little to no rest AND with no rehearsal.  I'm not a guy who thinks "rehearsal" is a bad thing but think of the difficulty to layout a match in a couple of hours against someone you've never faced straight off the airplane or the difficulty of facing someone you've never met and calling it the ring on the fly.  Yes, of course wrestlers of past generations used to do this all the time but that was the past. She's doing this now with a variety of opponents and finishing sequences against people she's never met and in several countries after hours of travel. 

One of the other things about this run is how unselfish it's really been.  People can look at wins and losses and say she's winning but for the most part she is making sure each opponent has a great showing and then she runs to her socials and promotes the hell out of the person she faced which instantly puts them on the map. It's a win-win for everyone as the promotions want her to be there,  the opponents get a spotlight put on them and get to face someone in many cases they looked up to and Mercedes herself gets to promote women's wrestling across the globe and gets to travel everywhere doing it. 

Mercedes in-ring style has changed quite a bit as well.  She always had a level of grit and tenacity in the way she's hit people, lock in submissions,  stomp on fingers and wrench back on necks and attack body parts but now she's incorporating some strong style, lucha and something she's really good at,  mat wrestling and submission transitions. This allows her to put on matches that feel vastly different one from the next. Not every move looks great but most of them do and she breaks them out at the perfect time.  She had already mastered that "WWE main event style" and that's why she's so great at not just telling a story in her matches but knowing when to hit what move that's going to get the reaction they need and the pacing is off the charts with how she gradually ups the levels of desperation and nearfalls.

She was already one of the best women just from her WWE career but this run has solidified her greatness. 

She has elevated herself greatly in my eyes over the last year. Idk if I'm ready to say she's the GOAT or anything, but I have found her immensely entertaining since she stopped playing a role on tv and started having fun...

[Niners Fan in CT]

4 hours ago, tbarrie said:

I mean, you clearly are something of a Mone fanboy, but that doesn't make you wrong.:) I'd say she's definitely in the conversation. I'm personally inclined to put Becky Lynch over her, but I'd want to put some thought into Lynch vs Mone vs Storm vs whomever I'm forgetting at the moment before casting a vote.

Of course, I haven't seen much women's wrestling beyond WWE and AEW, so I'd only be voting for best North American major-league women's wrestler of the last few decades.

 

I'd be down to have a Mercedes and Becky conversation.  In my view, Mercedes in-ring catalog dwarfs Becky's and for me that's what is most important but for others it's going to be in-ring promos like some of the stuff Becky was doing as "The Man" etc.  From an in-ring standpoint, I think Mercedes is the more complete wrestler and can put on a banger match with almost anyone.  Becky,  I believe needs really good dance partners to be great.  From a talking standpoint, Mercedes actually does comedy pretty well but she doesn't do it often,  she's cut some good serious promos but they are few and far between.   Becky has had many great promos over the years. 

[RazorbladeKiss87]

Anyway, the real GOAT, the Bunny is back in training.  

Spoiler

I kid, I kid. She is back in training though. 

 

[Casey]

If TK had any sense he'd re-hire her. I like Megan Bayne but Penelope was better with The Bunny.

[porksweats]

Speaking of The Bunny being back in training, has there been any update on her husband The Blade?

[The Natural]

My ranking of the Four Horsewomen:

4. Charlotte Flair.

3. Becky Lynch.

2. Bayley.

1. Sasha Banks.

Sasha Banks is definitely #1. It's close between Bayley and Becky Lynch for second and third. Charlotte Flair is a distant fourth behind the other three.

Edited September 10 by The Natural

[The Green Meanie]

2 hours ago, porksweats said:

Speaking of The Bunny being back in training, has there been any update on her husband The Blade?

More importantly, where's The Butcher been?

[Casey]

Butcher has been doing a few indie shows and he also has another band (Atomic Rule) now that Every Time I Die broke up/called it quits.

Blade is recovering from back fusion surgery. He said in June that around September would be the one year mark since his surgery and should get the go ahead to start in-ring training at that point. He’s already doing gym training like weights and whatnot.