Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe and All Elite Wrestling.
Raw Returning to MSG in March
No single venue may be more synonymous with WWE than Madison Square Garden. The Garden has hosted WrestleMania on three different occasions and saw countless big moments unfold behind its doors. Even now, competing in MSG carries a special significance.
In a matter of months, WWE’s flagship show will be returning to Madison Square Garden. The arena announced it will stage the March 10 edition of Raw, which falls squarely during the buildup to WrestleMania 41.
MSG @TheGarden
JUST ANNOUNCED: For the first time in three years, WWE returns to The Garden with Monday Night RAW on Mar 10! Access venue presale tickets starting Wed, Jan 8 at 10am with code SOCIAL.<br><br>Tickets go on sale to the general public on Fri, Jan 10 at 10am. <a href=”https://t.co/eKYVZvJkY2″>pic.twitter.com/eKYVZvJkY2</a>
Any time the company takes Raw or SmackDown to the Garden, there’s always the chance it uses the opportunity to present more than you’d typically get from a usual episode.
WWE and Netflix will also be a few months into their Raw broadcasting partnership by this point. There’s plenty of buzz surrounding Raw’s Netflix debut on Jan. 6, but that momentum is bound to dissipate as a sense of normalcy returns. Staging an MSG “supershow” would be something all involved parties could rightfully hype up as a big deal.
By the same token, fans can’t expect anything too monumental to unfold when WrestleMania will be a little more than a month away on April 19 and 20. You’d think the big matches will pretty much be locked in by then.
Still, a Raw inside Madison Square Garden is always going to feel a little different even if the show doesn’t deviate much from the script.
Copeland Addresses AEW Return at Worlds End
Among the notable events at AEW’s Worlds End show Saturday, Adam Copeland returned after being sidelined for months with a fractured tibia.
All Elite Wrestling @AEW
ADAM COPELAND IS BACK!<br><br>Order <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWWorldsEnd?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#AEWWorldsEnd</a> LIVE on PPV<a href=”https://t.co/JlBXZPLNGj”>https://t.co/JlBXZPLNGj</a><a href=”https://twitter.com/CashWheelerFTR?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@CashWheelerFTR</a> | <a href=”https://twitter.com/DaxFTR?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@DaxFTR</a> | <a href=”https://twitter.com/RatedRCope?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@RatedRCope</a> <a href=”https://t.co/b1U3i0IaY8″>pic.twitter.com/b1U3i0IaY8</a>
Copeland suffered the injury in May at Double or Nothing when he jumped off the top of the steel cage in his match with Malakai Black and landed feet-first on the mat.
During the media scrum after Worlds End, the former world champion said how “it’s not out of my character to do insane things,” per Wrestling Inc’s Sam Palmer, in reference to the high-risk maneuver.
Copeland added, however, he has been more selective at this stage of his career.
“That being said, I also realize that I’m closer to the tail end of my career than the beginning, so I have kids now, so there’s a different mindset that goes into it,” he said. “But in terms of recovery, I’m still lucky in that I recover like Wolverine, and part of that is I just go after it. The day I can go after it is the day I do it, and I’ve actually been cleared for a while.”
The 51-year-old might still have impressive recuperative powers, but he’d be advised to perhaps exercise a little more caution in the squared circle.
Khan Points to AEW’s Commercial Success
Worlds End capped off a big 2024 for AEW, a point that company president Tony Khan didn’t want to be lost during his time with reporters Sunday.
“Last year, we made a lot of history going to Wembley Stadium; we sold 81,035 tickets,” he said, per Palmer. “Over 81,000 tickets sold—we set the world record for tickets sold — and even then people tried to poke holes in what we did last year…allegedly people said 73,000, but we sold 81,000. But the fact that people would even try to hold up 73,000, even if it was that, like it would be a bad thing. That’s amazing, what an amazing achievement. Then this year to make a historic media rights deal which really sets the stage for … all the great things that are going to be coming.”
AEW announced in October it inked a multiyear extension with Warner Bros. Discovery to continue airing Dynamite and Collision on TBS and TNT, respectively.
Rampage was omitted from the announcement, and that doesn’t appear to have been an accident. Khan confirmed the one-hour show is no longer part of AEW’s television offerings. Last Friday, Jon Moxley and The Death Riders symbolically took the show off the air.
Still, Khan said the new WBD contract “is huge for us for many reasons.”
“The deal was very favorable for AEW,” he told reporters. “We were able to get rights fees that are many times larger than what we had in our first five years. It completely changes the financial picture of AEW, and it is a big target that we have aspired to for many years. Part of the agreement is that we would focus on these four hours and really, it’s so important to us that we launched AEW Collision last year.”
Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode below.
