Rawdown #247: Monday Night Mourning

It's time for the first episode of Season 8 of SHOT OF NOSTALGIA and we're beginning a completely new trip through wrestling history. This season, ACEFIELD RETRO is going back through the WEDNESDAY NIGHT WARS between AEW DYNAMITE and WWE NXT, beginning with the historic first head to head night on October 2, 2019. More than 18 years after the end of the Monday Night War, major American wrestling promotions were once again competing for the same audience on the same night, and we're making our first stop in the DELOREAN to see exactly how it began. Episode 1 takes a close look at both complete October 2, 2019 broadcasts, beginning with NXT's first full two hour episode on USA Network from Full Sail University and the debut episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT from the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. NXT comes out swinging with Adam Cole defending the NXT Championship against Matt Riddle, Shayna Baszler defending the NXT Women's Championship against Candice LeRae, Undisputed Era defending the NXT Tag Team Championship against The Street Profits, plus Io Shirai vs. Mia Yim, Johnny Gargano vs. Shane Thorne and Pete Dunne vs. Danny Burch. The night also features two massive returns as Finn Bálor and Tommaso Ciampa reemerge in NXT. Over on TNT, AEW finally arrives on weekly television with Cody vs. Sammy Guevara opening the first Dynamite, PAC battling Hangman Page, MJF taking on Brandon Cutler and Riho facing Nyla Rose to crown the first AEW Women's World Champion. Chris Jericho, Santana and Ortiz battle Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks in the main event before Jon Moxley takes Omega out of the fight and Jake Hager makes his surprise debut during the chaotic closing moments of the show. We're also digging into the television war happening behind the matches, including expectations surrounding AEW's TNT debut, NXT's move to USA Network, the different presentation of Full Sail compared with AEW's major arena atmosphere and the ratings that immediately made October 2 such an important night. Dynamite debuted with 1.409 million viewers compared with NXT's 891,000, giving AEW the first victory in what would become an 18 month head to head battle. This season will follow the entire Wednesday Night Wars from its beginning in October 2019 through its conclusion in April 2021, revisiting the major matches, stories, ratings swings and changes that defined the era. Don't forget to grab your weekly Shot of Nostalgia to continue FLASHBACK FRIDAY ON THE TAVERN. As always, tip your bartenders & learn from the past!

It's Thursday, and you know what that means! It is time to walk through those Tavern doors and order up a round of professional wrestling coverage from Snead and Hoch! This week we talk AEW and all the happenings of the week! Make sure you go to patreon.com/theturnbuckletavern for all your Tavern needs!

Turnbuckle Tavern is powered by G FUEL and Official Dick Lazer. Use code TAVERN for 20% off at GFUEL.com and DickLazers.com. This week, Wrestling Tonight looks back at an emotional night for professional wrestling as AEW dedicated Dynamite to the life and career of Benjamin Satterley, known around the world as PAC. From Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley putting years of history aside to Kenny Omega returning and The Elite standing together again, the show used some of AEW's longest running relationships to tell the story of just how much PAC meant to the company. Then there was Will Ospreay. The AEW World Champion closed his match against Ricochet with PAC's Black Arrow, revealing afterward just how much preparation went into a move he had not attempted in eight years. We get into why the moment hit as hard as it did, the reaction from the AEW locker room, Ospreay's emotional comments afterward and the conversation that has already started about what should happen to the Black Arrow from here. Ospreay is also at the center of another interesting AEW story involving United Empire. New reporting has revealed an important detail about who actually controls the faction's name, and with United Empire now stretching between Ospreay's growing AEW branch and the group's original home in Japan, there is much more to this than simply bringing an old NJPW faction back. We also preview the 2026 CMLL Women's Grand Prix, with a 16 woman field bringing together talent from Mexico, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. Defending winner and current CMLL World Women's Champion Persephone leads the Mexican side, while AZM, Miyu Amasaki, Momo Watanabe, Mei Seira, Shotzi, Lady Frost and more make this one of the most internationally diverse Women's Grand Prix fields yet. We also look at where the women's tournament fits into the much longer history of CMLL's International Grand Prix concept. Finally, Ari Emanuel had some very definitive things to say about the future of TKO. The TKO executive chairman was asked who could eventually buy the company and gave an answer that opens up a much bigger conversation about WWE and UFC, the exploding value of sports properties, artificial intelligence, the changing entertainment business and why Emanuel believes TKO is sitting on exactly the kind of assets everyone else is trying to acquire. Be sure to support the show and join our Patreon for just $2.99 a month at PATREON.COM/THETURNBUCKLETAVERN for exclusive content, and follow @turnbuckletavern across social media for all the latest updates. Until the following week, when we wine and dine with you kings and queens, stay out of the alley and away from the pork and beans. God luck and good speed.

Turnbuckle Tavern is powered by G FUEL and Official Dick Lazer. Use code TAVERN for 20% off at GFUEL.com and DickLazers.com. This week, Wrestling Tonight asks whether WWE is wrong for airing Worlds Collide opposite AEW's tribute to Benjamin Satterley, known around the world as PAC. Dynamite will celebrate PAC's life and career Wednesday night, while WWE, NXT and AAA's previously scheduled Worlds Collide begins one hour earlier on YouTube. We break down the debate over whether WWE should have moved the show out of respect, or whether the fact that Worlds Collide was already scheduled and can be watched on demand changes the conversation. We also have new details on WrestleMania 43 in Saudi Arabia. Fightful Select reports that WWE hopes to announce the official date around Crown Jewel in Riyadh on November 7 if it isn't revealed sooner. Saudi representatives have reportedly visited WWE headquarters for kickoff meetings, the dates are said to be largely settled internally, and independent promotions are waiting for the announcement before determining their own WrestleMania weekend plans. Plus, Maxwell Jacob Friedman tops the PWI 500 for the first time after a huge year across AEW and CMLL, responding with a very MJF "What took so long?" Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Místico and Konosuke Takeshita round out the top five. In NXT, Mason Rook's first NXT Championship opportunity was pulled just hours before he was scheduled to challenge Grayson Waller after WWE announced that Rook was not medically cleared. Robert Stone later revealed that Rook will be out for the foreseeable future, leading to EK Prosper answering Waller's open challenge instead. We also catch up on the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic as Chazz "Starboy" Hall & Mini Vikingo and Nathan Frazer & Axiom advance. Finally, we look ahead to CMLL's Thursday return to Arena Coliseo in Mexico City, with Titan, Euforia, Valiente, Virus and more featured across the five match card. Be sure to support the show and join our Patreon for just $2.99 a month at PATREON.COM/THETURNBUCKLETAVERN for exclusive content, and follow @turnbuckletavern across social media for all the latest updates. Until the following week, when we wine and dine with you kings and queens, stay out of the alley and away from the pork and beans. God luck and good speed.

It's time to get RAW! It's time to get DOWN! This week we celebrate the life of Benajmin Satterley aka " THE BASTARD PAC" aka "Neville". We also discuss a pretty good overall week for the WWE. All that and more on your #1 source for all things WWE on the Turnbuckle Tavern ...this is the RAW DOWN!

Turnbuckle Tavern is powered by G FUEL and Official Dick Lazer. Use code TAVERN for 20% off at GFUEL.com and DickLazers.com. This week, Wrestling Tonight previews MLP Northern Rising 2026, as Scott D'Amore's Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling returns to Toronto this Saturday for a sold out show at the Mattamy Athletic Centre at Maple Leaf Gardens. Two years after the historic Maple Leaf name was revived, MLP heads into one of its biggest events yet with weekly television on TSN, worldwide streaming through MyAEW and growing relationships with AEW and CMLL. We break down the full Northern Rising card and what this show represents for MLP's continued growth, headlined by Adam Copeland returning home to Toronto to face Steve Maclin. Josh Alexander also returns to settle the MLP Canadian Championship situation with interim champion Stu Grayson, while Andrade El Idolo defends the AEW National Championship against Rohan Raja and Priscilla Kelly puts the MLP Canadian Women's Championship on the line against Nikki Storm. We also get into the history behind D'Amore's revival of the Maple Leaf Wrestling name and whether MLP is beginning to establish an identity that can stand on its own beyond the outside stars and promotional partnerships. We also continue remembering PAC and Benjamin Satterley, as WWE, ROH and wrestlers across the industry paid tribute following his passing at just 40 years old. Tony Khan delivered an emotional tribute during Monday's ROH tapings, and AEW will dedicate Wednesday's Dynamite in Pittsburgh to PAC's life and career, fittingly returning to a city where he once headlined Dynamite against Jon Moxley. Then we get into a busy week of WWE news, including Jaida Parker making her Raw arrival by aligning with The 946 and running over Jacob Fatu, plus Oba Femi vs. Bronson Reed being added to Money in the Bank. We also discuss reports that Naomi could be nearing her WWE return after more than a year away following her pregnancy. Finally, we break down WWE's new highlights agreement with Bleacher Report and why the Warner Bros. Discovery connection immediately raised questions about AEW. Despite WWE content now coming to Bleacher Report, House of Highlights and B/R Wrestling, a WBD source reportedly believes the deal could actually benefit AEW by putting more resources behind wrestling content, with AEW's current television agreement running through 2027 and a WBD option for 2028. Be sure to support the show and join our Patreon for just $2.99 a month at PATREON.COM/THETURNBUCKLETAVERN for exclusive content, and follow @turnbuckletavern across social media for all the latest updates. Until the following week, when we wine and dine with you kings and queens, stay out of the alley and away from the pork and beans. God luck and good speed.

Turnbuckle Tavern is powered by G FUEL and Official Dick Lazer. Use code TAVERN for 20% off at GFUEL.com and DickLazers.com. This week, Wrestling Tonight remembers Benjamin Satterley, known around the world as PAC, who passed away at just 40 years old less than 24 hours after competing at AEW All Out in Chicago. We discuss the shock surrounding his passing and the deeply personal tributes from Marina Shafir, Lance Archer, Jon Moxley, Will Ospreay, Tommaso Ciampa, Mustafa Ali, Natalya, Nick Wayne and countless others across professional wrestling. Then we go back through PAC's remarkable 20 plus year career, beginning on the UK independents before his explosive and innovative style took him to PWG, Dragon Gate and New Japan. We look at how PAC became so much more than a high flyer, combining ridiculous aerial ability with the speed, striking, grappling and intensity he developed while working across completely different wrestling cultures. We follow that evolution into WWE, from becoming NXT Champion and helping define the early TakeOver era to his transformation into the King of the Cruiserweights, before his departure eventually allowed PAC to return as The Bastard. That evolution continued in AEW, where he became one of the company's earliest major signings, the inaugural All Atlantic Champion, an AEW World Trios Champion, a member of Death Triangle and eventually a Death Rider. Along the way, we revisit the matches that showed just how special and versatile PAC really was, from El Generico in PWG and Sami Zayn at NXT TakeOver: R Evolution to his incredible Iron Man match with Kenny Omega, the completely different showcase against Orange Cassidy at Revolution, Death Triangle's battles with The Elite and his 2024 All Out match with Will Ospreay. We also look back at his final match against Andrade El Idolo at All Out 2026 and how, more than two decades into his career, PAC was still performing at an elite level. We also explore PAC's influence on the generations that followed him. Wrestling eventually caught up to a lot of the athleticism that made PAC look almost impossible in the mid 2000s, but he never stopped evolving. From Ospreay calling him a hero to PAC encouraging a young Nick Wayne, his influence went far beyond moves and helped expand what people thought a professional wrestler could physically do. More than anything, this episode remembers both PAC and Benjamin Satterley. Behind The Bastard was a man his friends and peers remembered as kind, humble, soft spoken and incredibly passionate about professional wrestling, someone who looked after his peers and encouraged the wrestlers coming behind him. We celebrate the life, career and lasting influence of one of the most unique performers of his generation. Be sure to support the show and join our Patreon for just $2.99 a month at PATREON.COM/THETURNBUCKLETAVERN for exclusive content, and follow @turnbuckletavern across social media for all the latest updates. Until the following week, when we wine and dine with you kings and queens, stay out of the alley and away from the pork and beans. God luck and good speed.  

It's Thursday, and you know what that means! It is time to walk through those Tavern doors and order up a round of professional wrestling coverage from The Two Bad Chads! This week we talk AEW and all the happenings of the week! Make sure you go to patreon.com/theturnbuckletavern for all your Tavern needs!

Turnbuckle Tavern is powered by G FUEL and Official Dick Lazer. Use code TAVERN for 20% off at GFUEL.com and DickLazers.com. This week, Wrestling Tonight heads to Chicago for a massive preview of AEW All Out and WWE x AAA Worlds Collide, two major shows running the same day in the same market. AEW returns All Out to the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, while WWE brings Worlds Collide to the nearby Allstate Arena in Rosemont with Chicago native CM Punk positioned prominently on the card. For AEW, this is a genuine homecoming. All Out returns to the building connected to the independent All In in 2018 and some of the biggest moments in AEW history, with Will Ospreay defending the AEW World Championship against Jon Moxley in a main event that feels like a confrontation between where AEW has been and where it wants to go next. We break down the entire eleven-match All Out card, including Cage and Cope defending against FTR and The Young Bucks in a three-way ladder match, Swerve Strickland and The New Level battling "Hangman" Adam Page and Brodido, Thekla facing Willow Nightingale, Kazuchika Okada defending against Tommaso Ciampa, Andrade El Ídolo facing PAC and Darby Allin teaming with Steven Borden. With seven championships involved, there is plenty beyond the main event that could reshape AEW heading into the fall. Then attention turns 20 minutes down the road, where WWE x AAA Worlds Collide has become something considerably bigger than another crossover show. WWE finalized its acquisition of AAA last year, WWE talent and AAA championships have increasingly crossed between the two brands, and this third Worlds Collide since June 2025 arrives with the relationship more integrated than ever. We preview La Catalina against Roxanne Perez for the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship, the Lucha Brothers reuniting against Los Perros del Mal, Las Tóxicas against Fatal Influence, Dragon Lee against Jack Cartwheel, the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship contender match and the Relevos Atómicos de Locura. We also look at the larger question surrounding AAA under WWE ownership: can WWE expand AAA's reach without gradually turning the promotion into another extension of the WWE machine? That question leads into WWE's much longer history of working with the outside wrestling world. From the NWA, NJPW, AJPW and SWS to Smoky Mountain Wrestling, ECW, Michinoku Pro, AAA, TNA and NOAH, WWE has opened its doors plenty of times before, usually when the company on the other side offered something WWE wanted. The difference in 2026 is that WWE no longer simply has a working relationship with AAA. WWE owns it. And then there is CM Punk. Punk teams with Rey Mysterio and El Grande Americano against Omos, Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh, while teasing callbacks to his past with his old lucha mask and "This Fire Burns." Putting one of wrestling's most famous Chicago stars at the Allstate Arena while AEW runs All Out nearby gives this match a significance that goes well beyond what happens between the ropes. There is also an incredible reversal in Punk being on this side of the fence. For years, Punk carried the aura of somebody connected to the cool-kids side of wrestling outside WWE's corporate bubble. Now he is one of WWE's biggest stars as the company brings an event built around its newly acquired wrestling promotion into Chicago opposite AEW. We get into that irony, what Punk represents on this particular weekend and why WWE's version of the "Forbidden Door" has always been more complicated than simply opening itself to the rest of professional wrestling. It is AEW All Out against WWE x AAA Worlds Collide, two buildings, two very different wrestling shows and one enormous Saturday in Chicago. We preview every match, make our predictions and examine the history and business sitting underneath a weekend that feels much bigger than either card alone. Be sure to support the show and join our Patreon for just $2.99 a month at PATREON.COM/THETURNBUCKLETAVERN for exclusive content, and follow @turnbuckletavern across social media for all the latest updates. Until the following week, when we wine and dine with you kings and queens, stay out of the alley and away from the pork and beans. God luck and good speed.

It's time to get RAW! It's time to get DOWN! This week, we preview the non-televised televised Worlds Collide show, plus, we recap the week that was WWE and discuss news, rumors and anything else we want to talk about. All that and more on your #1 source for all things WWE on the Turnbuckle Tavern ...this is the RAW DOWN!