开云体育

=====================================================================
TO UNSUBSCRIBE : mailto:[email protected]
=====================================================================

_ _____ ___ ___ _____ _ ___ _ _ ___
\ \ / / _ \ __/ __|_ _| | |_ _| \| |/ __|
\ \/\/ /| / _|\__ \ | | | |__ | || .` | (_ |
\_/\_/ |_|_\___|___/ |_| |____|___|_|\_|\___|
___ _ _ _ ___ _ _ ___
/ _ \| \| | | |_ _| \| | __|
| (_) | .` | |__ | || .` | _|
\___/|_|\_|____|___|_|\_|___|
_ _ _____ _____ _ ___ _____ _____ ___ ___
| \| | __\ \ / / __| | | __|_ _|_ _| __| _ \
| .` | _| \ \/\/ /\__ \ |__| _| | | | | | _|| /
|_|\_|___| \_/\_/ |___/____|___| |_| |_| |___|_|_\


====================================================
Thursday, January 2, 2025 Issue #7449
====================================================
Visit our website at
====================================================


//->> OPENING WORDS FROM THE EDITOR

Nothing to say today, back tomorrow.

========================================================


//->> NEWS FROM THE WRESTLING-ONLINE NEWSWIRE
Web version at

ADAM COPELAND CHANGES AEW NAME TO COPE

- Over a year after making his AEW debut, Adam Copeland has undergone a name change in AEW and is now simply referred to as Cope. The change became effective last night at the Fight for the Fallen Dynamite where the former TNT champion teamed up with his buddies FTR to take on The Death Riders in the main event of the show. He was introduced as the "Rated R Superstar" Cope on graphics and by ring announcer Justin Roberts as well as by the AEW commentary team.

CASINO GAUNTLET RETURNING NEXT WEEK

- The Casino Gauntlet is returning on next week's episode of Dynamite. The announcement was made last night by Tony Khan in a post on X prior to the airing of Dynamite Fight for the Fallen. The winner of this battle royal will get a shot at the AEW World title, currently held by Jon Moxley, at the themed Maximum Carnage Dynamite on January 15. On the show last night, former IWGP champion Jay White earned the first spot in the match after he defeated Roderick Strong and Swerve Strickland in a three-way match. While drawing #1 is bad in a regular battle royal, getting the #1 spot in the Casino Gauntlet is actually the best outcome as the match can end any time so being the first one in the match comes with its advantages.

SWERVED! JEFF JARRETT ANNOUNCES HE SIGNED AGAIN WITH AEW

- Jeff Jarrett's announcement about his future in AEW ended up being a swerve as Jarrett revealed that he signed his final talent contract and will end his in-ring career in AEW. There was a tease for several days that Jarrett would be hanging up his boots but that was all just that, a tease, as Jarrett explained that this business was a high risk, high reward one and he's taking a big risk now for the biggest reward: becoming the AEW World champion in 2025. Jarrett, 57, then put his name in next week's Casino Gauntlet match where the winner will receive an AEW World title shot against Jon Moxley on January 15. The WWE Hall of Famer has been signed to AEW since late 2022 and also holds an office job as Director of Business Development apart from being an on-air talent.

NEW THEME SONG FOR DYNAMITE

- Dynamite last night, the first one which was also simulcast on Max, started with a brand new theme song as Tony Khan keeps pumping money to license popular songs. The new Dynamite theme is the song I'm So Excited, performed by The Pointer Sisters, a song which came out in 1982 and was #30 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at the time. Elton John's Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting is also returning as the theme for Collision this weekend after the original license expired in July of 2024. Khan has also recently licensed November Rain and Welcome to the Jungle from Guns N' Roses to promote AEW shows.

TRUTV TO AIR DYNAMITE REPLAYS

- TruTV will be airing replays of Dynamite starting next week every Friday night at 10PM ET. TruTV, part of Warner Bros. Discovery, recently underwent programming changes where it turns into a sports network in prime time. The network, which launched in 1991 originally as Court TV, is in around 68 million homes in the United States. All episodes of Dynamite, and even Collision, will be available to stream on Max as well.

BARON CORBIN NOW A FREE AGENT

- Baron Corbin, who is now using his real name of Tom Pestock, announced on social media that he's now a free agent. "I’m officially no longer under contract since i was not fired. I was told they were not extending," he wrote on X. "So if you’re making a horror movie, let me know ha ha ha ha New year, no contract, let’s see what we can create!" The 40-year-old was informed in the beginning of November that he would not get a new deal after it expires at the end of the year, ending his 12-year association with WWE. He was backstage at the AEW Worlds End pay-per-view this past weekend visiting friends.

REPORT: WWE SWAPPING RAW AND SMACKDOWN RING ANNOUNCERS

- PWInsider.com is reporting that WWE is switching up their ring announcers for Raw and Smackdown ahead of Raw's move to Netflix next week. The site says that Lilian Garcia will be doing Smackdown's announcing tomorrow night and will remain on the blue brand moving forward. Smackdown moves to three hours tomorrow on USA Network. Meanwhile, former NXT announcer and current Smackdown announcer Alicia Taylor will be doing the work for the Raw brand on Netflix starting this coming Monday. Taylor moved to Smackdown from NXT in May while Garcia retuned to take over from Samantha Irvin in October.

NO WWE HOUSE SHOWS UNTIL MID-MARCH

- WWE is drastically cutting down its non-televised live events in 2025 and WWE Superstars will have a reduced schedule until March. There are no house shows taking place for the next two and a half months and the first non-televised live event of 2025 will take place on Saturday, March 15 from Germany as the road to WrestleMania begins. There will be six house shows during the two-week tour of Europe and nothing else has been announced past WrestleMania. This means that WWE Superstars and crew will have most of the week off in a new strategy under the TKO Group which seeks to eliminate most of the live events in the smaller cities.

RAW RATING

- The last Raw on USA Network drew 1,595,000 viewers this week, up 142,000 viewers from the prior week and the second-best number since the NFL started. Hour one started with 1,665,000 viewers and that followed with 1,526,000 viewers in the second hour. The NFL game between the Lions and 49ers, which aired on both ESPN and ABC, drew a combined audience of 22.2 million viewers. Raw had a 0.53 rating in 18-49, up 0.11 from last week and was #3 on the top 50 cable chart for the night and #5 in all of television behind NFL-related programming. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)


========================================================
ADVERTISING:
(C) Copyright 1996-2025 Wrestling-Online.com
========================================================