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Monday, December 30, 2024 Issue #7446
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Visit our website at http://www.wrestling-online.com
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//->> OPENING WORDS FROM THE EDITOR

Not much going on today. Catch ya later.


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//->> NEWS FROM THE WRESTLING-ONLINE NEWSWIRE
Web version at http://www.wrestling-online.com/

LAST RAW ON USA NETWORK

- Tonight's Monday Night Raw will be the last one ever on USA Network as the show moves to Netflix starting from next week. The show, which made its debut on January 11, 1993, has always aired on USA Network apart from a five-year period between 2000-2005 when it moved to TNN/Spike TV. It moved back to USA Network in 2005. USA Network was the home of some incredible episodes of Raw, especially during the most important period during the Attitude Era. It has catapulted USA Network to the top of the cable chart for many, many years and its loss from the line-up will certainly be felt since it has constantly been the most-watched series on the cable network. But WWE is not ending its association with USA Network altogether as Smackdown remains on it for the next five years in a brand-new deal. Smackdown is also expanding to three hours starting from this Friday. Raw was originally supposed to end its USA Network run in October but the Netflix deal was not kicking in until January 6, ena
bling WWE and NBCUniversal to strike a separate, three-month deal worth $25 million to keep the red brand on USA. The show moved to two hours on October 7, ending its continuous three-hour broadcast after 12 years.

NEARLY 100,000 FANS ATTEND WWE HOLIDAY TOUR EVENTS

- Almost 100,000 fans were part of a very successful WWE Holiday Tour, a five-day, 10-event tour which will end tonight with the final two events. The tour kicked off on December 26 with over 12,000 fans at Madison Square Garden in New York and over 6,000 fans at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville. On December 27 there were over 7,700 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh and over 11,700 at Amalie Arena in Tampa for the live Smackdown on USA Network. December 28 had two shows more, with over 8,000 at the Kia Center in Orlando and over 8,300 at the CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore. The Orlando house show out-drew the AEW Worlds End pay-per-view on the same day in the same city. On December 29, over 6,600 fans were at the Casey Center in Miami and then over 12,000 attended at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont. It ends tonight with over 9,000 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit and a sold out Toyota Center in Houston with over 14,500 expected. All attendance numbers are courtesy
of ticket tracking service @WrestleTix on X.

PUNK TAKES ON GUNTHER IN STEEL CAGE MATCH IN ROSEMONT

- Over 12,000 fans showed up at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois last night to witness CM Punk getting a WWE World Heavyweight title shot against Gunther inside a steel cage. This was Punk's first crack at a title since returning to WWE 13 months ago at the Survivor Series and it was the first Gunther vs Punk match ever as well. Unfortunately for the hometown boy, Gunther came out victorious thanks to the interference of Dominik Mysterio, who showed up just in time to slam the cage's door in Punk's face, blocking his exit and allowing Gunther to recover and walk out of the door. The match received rave reviews from fans in attendance and despite the ending which fans did not want to see, they still went home on a high due to the post-match antics. After the match, Dirty Dom was joined by Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Santos Escobar as they attacked Punk. Thankfully for Punk, Rey Mysterio, LA Knight, and Otis came out to save the day and the faces cleaned house.

RICKY STARKS APPEARS AT DEFY BLUEPRINT EVENT

- Ricky Starks, still exiled from AEW, showed up at the DEFY's Blueprint show yesterday night and had a stare down with Kenta. The show took place from the Washington Hall in Seattle, Washington and was headlined by Kenta defending his title against Schaff. The way this was set up suggests that Kenta and Starks will eventually meet each other in the promotion down the line. Starks has not been seen on AEW television since March and recently was pulled from an upcoming appearance with GCW. As a contracted AEW talent, he still has to clear his indie appearances with AEW so at least there seems to be at least communication between the two sides. AEW President Tony Khan has so far refused to answer why Starks has been kept off television or if he is coming back.

KONOSUKE TAKESHITA TO DEFEND AEW INTERNATIONAL TITLE AT WRESTLE KINGDOM

- AEW International champion Konosuke Takeshita could be pulling double duty this weekend wrestling on back-to-back days at the Wrestle Kingdom and Wrestle Dynasty events in Tokyo. New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced that Takeshita will defend his AEW International title against Shingo Takagi and Takagi will put up his NEVER Openweight title on the line as well so this will be a title for title match. If Takeshita survives Takagi, he then has Tomohiro Ishii waiting for him the next night at Wrestle Dynasty, who will challenge for both titles whoever the champion might be.
Wrestle Kingdom takes place on January 4 while Wrestle Dynasty takes place on January 5, with the latter being the co-promoted show with AEW, ROH, CMLL, and Stardom. Both shows are at the Tokyo Dome.


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