WWE getting early ESPN start with John Cena-led Wrestlepalooza — going head-to-head with AEW
WWE announced the first-ever Wrestlepalooza will air Saturday, Sept. 20, from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, live on ESPN's new direct-to-consumer streaming service beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
The event will run directly against All Elite Wrestling's All Out pay-per-view from Toronto's ScotiaBank Arena starting at 6 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime, regularly for $49.99 per show.
WWE announced a five-year, $1.6 billion deal with ESPN earlier this month for the right to stream its premium live events, which was supposed to begin in 2026. Now it appears WWE's PLE deal with Peacock ends after Clash in Paris on Aug. 31.
ESPN's new service, which launches on Aug. 21, will carry all WWE PLEs moving forward. Customers with the service's unlimited plan, which costs $29.99 per month, will be able to stream the WWE PLEs. There is also a Select Plan for $11.99 per month.
3 John Cena was announced for WWE's Wrestlepalooza show on Sept. 20.
Getty Images
Currently, those who have ESPN via DirecTV, Charter Communications, Hulu + LiveTV, FuboTV and Verizon Fios will have access to the WWE PLEs at no additional charge, according to an ESPN spokesperson.
Wrestlepalooza, which is the name of a former ECW event, marks the first time WWE will run a main roster PLE directly up against an AEW pay-per-view. All Out is one of the company's four original PPVs.
3 ESPN's DTC streaming service launches Aug. 21.
USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
WWE announced that John Cena will make a stop on his retirement tour at Wrestlepalooza, with the rumor being that it will be where he will clash with Brock Lesnar.
WWE champion Cody Rhodes, current rival Drew McIntyre, World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins, CM Punk and Women's Intercontinental champion Becky Lynch were also announced for the show.
3 AEW and its world champion 'Hangman' Adam Page will also be running All Out on Sept. 20.
Lee South/WWE
WWE continued its attempts to counterprogram AEW by running NXT's Great American Bash show and a 'Saturday Night's Main Event' headlined by Goldberg's retirement match against Gunther, up against AEW's biggest show of the year, All In, in July.
The move saw AEW president Tony Khan turn All In into the longest televised pro wrestling show in U.S. history at eight hours, including the preshow, to counterprogram WWE's counterprogramming
All In still did an estimated 180,000 to 185,000, according to the Wrestling Observer.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
23 minutes ago
- USA Today
Notre Dame gets more love for its culture, this time from ESPN personality Marty Smith
The Fighting Irish continue to be preseason darlings The plaudits continue to roll in for Notre Dame. With the Fighting Irish looking to not only return to the national championship game but win it, the coaching staff has been garnering praise for its recruiting class and for putting together a team that looks, on paper, ready to be as strong or better than last year. In other words, it appears 2024 wasn't a "lightning in a bottle" one-off. Add ESPN's Marty Smith to the list, as he praised Notre Dame -- and, specifically, head coach Marcus Freeman for building the team's culture. A good culture is obviously something that can help a team win, and we saw that with the Irish last year. But given the final result, perhaps Notre Dame can use that culture to take the final step and bring home a title. Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle Follow Tim on X:@tehealey
USA Today
23 minutes ago
- USA Today
Blue countdown signals Taylor Swift's sixth 'Showgirl' album: 'Baby, That's Show Business'
Taylor Swift has added another variant to her growing "The Life of a Showgirl" campaign. A shimmering blue countdown clock appeared on her website at 11 a.m. ET on Aug. 21, set to expire at 2 p.m. ET. This marks the third countdown in 10 days that sent Swifties into a frenzy of speculation. Some were hoping for a single release. The timer led to a sixth version of the album available for $29.99. Enter, "Baby, That's Show Business," in a first and only pressing limited run. The "lakeside beach blue sparkle" and "lovely bouquet golden" vinyls are available until Aug. 23 at 1:59 p.m. ET The sixth version is resurfacing the conversation on "Taycapitalism" with fans buzzing over growing fatigue: Influencer Dan Cashio posted a video with an empty threat: "I'm not engaging. You can take your glitter blue and you can... empty my bank account." Taylor Swift 'New Heights' podcast: All the biggest moments about her 'Showgirl' era 3... 2... 1... On Aug. 11, Swift launched a orange countdown leading to a "New Heights" tease followed by a purple one on Aug. 18 that unveiled her "Shiny Bug" variant. Both were four-hour timers. Swift announced her upcoming album, "The Life of a Showgirl," on "New Heights." The concept is the singer's life at the end of the night, after the Eras Tour wrapped. The 12 track album is produced by Max Martin and Shellback — the two Swedish masterminds behind her "1989" and "Reputation" albums — and includes a duet with Sabrina Carpenter. The album is out on Oct. 3. Don't miss any Taylor Swift news; sign up for the free, weekly newsletter This Swift Beat. Follow Taylor Swift reporter Bryan West on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
WWE's weekly shows have a DQ problem — and the data shows it's only getting worse
Are there too many disqualification finishes in WWE? Readers of our weekly 'Raw' and 'SmackDown' round-ups will know that Uncrowned's Drake Riggs certainly thinks so. In fact, he's become so sick of the apparently repetitive finishes that he's occasionally resorted to compiling his own "DQ of the Week" award to name-and-shame the worst offenders. Of course, anyone who's watched WWE since before the Netflix era knows that DQ finishes are nothing new. Wrestlers have been getting themselves penalized for breaking the rules for longer than referees have been wearing striped shirts. But there's definitely a sense online that a certain type of DQ/interference finish has become more common in recent months — particularly when a certain faction is around. We get that Seth Rollins and his outriders — now known as 'The Vision' — are supposed to be the most dominant grouping in the WWE, with a duo of enforcers who like dishing out beatings for their own sake. But do they have to make that point repeatedly by constantly ambushing their opponents during each other's matches? Particularly when the same thing happens again the very next week… Indeed as I watched the same dance unfold on this week's 'Raw' during the Jey Uso vs. Bron Breakker match, it got me thinking: What does the data say about this supposed plague of DQs? According to WWE's official results data, we've had 322 matches thus far across the two weekly shows this year, of which 32 have finished in a DQ (about 10%). That's almost double the rate of 2024 (when we saw 29 DQs in 512 matches — or 5.7%) and quite significantly more than two years ago (when we had 20 DQs in 534 matches — just 3.7%). Interestingly, though, the jump isn't anywhere near as big when you roll the clock back into the depths of the latter Vince McMahon era. Back in 2021, the DQ rate on the weekly shows was 8% — the same as in 2016 and 2019. It isn't quite the 1-in-10 that we're seeing this year, of course, but it's not the sort of difference that should really be noticeable unless you're making a point of keeping score. At this point, it's worth addressing some other pertinent factors. If we're going on the overall viewing experience, we should take account of the fact that the overall number of matches on the weekly shows has dropped during the Triple H/TKO era. The effect is particularly pronounced on "Raw," where we've reached an average of just 4.4 matches per week, compared to 5.7 last year and 7.1 in 2021, partly to create space for more commercial content. The numbers on 'SmackDown' are less dramatic, due to the fact that most of the shows were three-hour programs this year rather than two, which meant more matches to fill time. That Triple H prefers slimmer match cards is hardly news by this point. But when you factor in the combination of fewer matches and an increase in DQ finishes, you can see why some viewers are growing increasingly frustrated at the number of matches that don't end with a clear winner. If it's inconclusive finishes that are the problem, it's also worth factoring in the number of matches that are declared a 'no contest' in WWE's official results lists. While these aren't technically counted as DQs, in many cases they might as well be — particularly when they involve multiple run-ins and interferences. If you include those matches too, then the number of non-finishes on 'Raw' and 'SmackDown' rises to an immense 14%. If we're just looking at August, the number is even higher with 22% of all matches ending in either a disqualification or a chaotic run-in situation. That's just short of one in four matches. Of course, not every DQ is alike and some can be entertaining in their own right. I doubt many fans complained about John Cena tossing CM Punk through a table in order to set up a Pipe Bomb tribute, for example. But a big problem flagged up in our weekly reviews isn't just the volume of DQs, but the fact that so many seem to be similar. Just look at the last few weeks of "Raw," where we saw three consecutive main events (July 28, August 4 and August 11) called off due to some form of interference involving 'The Vision' and their opponents. When you have that many repetitive finishes, it makes you feel like these 'Raw' main events are really just treading water. In fairness, these kinds of DQ clusters aren't new either. Both iterations of The Bloodline have also been responsible for their fair share of DQs over the past few years, as have The Judgment Day. It isn't always factions, either: Back in 2022, there was a string of DQ finishes involving Austin Theory, then being pushed as the next great heel by Vince McMahon. But then there are the DQs that just reek of indecision, due to WWE's reluctance to have their big names suffer a defeat. The fact that Iyo Sky vs. Stephanie Vaquer has ended in a non-finish on two separate occasions this year, for example — would it be really so bad just to have one of them take the loss, rather than opting for another interference finish? Of course, booking trends can change and it may be that we're looking at very different numbers in a year's time. Yet as things stand, we can confirm that the DQ problem is indeed very real. Almost one in four 'Raw' matches ending in a dusty finish over the past several weeks — surely we deserve better than that?
