AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com
For the first time on TV, WWE announced on NXT that they
will hold a dual show on Sunday, August 30 to run head-to-
head with ALL IN, as AAA and NXT will run literally back-to-
back starting at Noon ET. The still-unnamed AAA show, will
kick things off at 11:00 AM CDT, followed immediately by NXT
Heatwave.
Both shows will be held at the Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg,
TX, and will be "buy one ticket and get two shows" with AAA
at 12 noon Eastern, NXT at 3 pm ET. AAA will be broadcast on
YouTube in the U.S. and on FOX in Mexico, Central America
and South America (excluding Brazil). NXT Heatwave will be
broadcast on CW as a "premium live event on TV" and on
Netflix internationally.
ALL IN begins at 1:00 pm ET, with the following matches
currently announced: AEW World Championship Match: Kenny
Omega defending the AEW Men's Heavyweight Title against Will
Ospreay and Thekla defending the AEW Women's World
Championship against Mercedes Moné.
It doesn't seem to be hurting ticket sales in recent days,
as Wrestletix says that as of Sunday, ALL IN has distributed
31,235 tickets with six plus weeks to go. This has occurred
because of a combination of the Kenny Omega-Will Ospreay
match and a 50% sale of selected tickets at Wembley. As of
right now, the Observer Report indicates this is the third
largest crowd and gate in company history behind only the
first ALL IN Wembley Stadium shows.
So WWE seems to be beating their head into a wall again,
with likely the same result. But if that wasn't enough for
you, WWE is running head-to-head against ALL OUT.... IN THE
SAME MARKET. Last Thursday, WWE sent out its fall list of
shows and sale dates. In it, NXT/AAA Worlds Collide is
scheduled for the Allstate Arena in Chicago, IL on September
26...20 miles away.
So again, AAA and NXT will be thrown out there as
sacrificial lambs, and to hurt ALL OUT ticket sales,
although ALL OUT does have a considerable head start.
This past week, the crowds in Boston gave out with loud and
repeated Fuck ICE chants last Wednesday on Dynamite as
Brodido came out. It wasn't surprising given that Boston is
a liberal city with many colleges and universities...plus
this past week. ICE recently murdered yet another innocent,
this time a father in a car with his little girl still
dressed in her Bluey pajamas.
AEW announced last Monday that the 2026 Full Gear will be
taking place on Saturday, November 16 live from the Mortgage
Matchup Center (previously known as the PHX and in Phoenix,
AZ.
AEW President Tony Khan told AZ Central last Tuesday
“Phoenix is a fantastic sports town For the big matchups,
it’s a town that creates that big-fight feel. And Full Gear
is one of those events. There will be a lot of excitement
around this show.”.
Tickets go on sale on Ticketmaster.com to the general public
next Monday, July 27 at 10AM local time. VIP and premium
tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10AM. A pre-sale will kick
off Thursday at 10AM. The 17,000-seater arena is the home of
the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA and
has been the host of many, many wrestling in the past, most
recently for AEW in February 2023 for a live Dynamite.
The Saturday, August 1st edition of Collision is currently
scheduled to air LIVE on Thursday, July 30th instead, due to
a TNT boxing card on August 1.
This is also listed on MyAEW as a LIVE episode, and will be
the last episode before Grand Slam Mexico.
In an amazing number, the July 15 Dynamite did 786,000
viewers (up 13,000 viewers) with a 0.15 18-49 rating (up .03
from last week), finishing #2 in 18-49 cable. The show was
the most viewers has had on TBS Network in two years since
Blood & Guts July 2024. It should be noted that figure
doesn’t even include viewers on HBO MAX (which didn't exist
in 2024).
Jeremy Lambert and Fightful.com presented a 24-hour
professional wrestling charity stream marathon this past
Thursday and Friday on the Fightful Overbooked YouTube
channel; during which Fightful and Fightful Overbooked
personalities and podcast hosts, and wrestling talent from
MLW, NWA, AEW and ROH including Trevor Lee, AJ Francis,
Steve Maclin, and Deonna Purrazzo, Pollo Del Mar, Rachel
Ellering to raise money for NAMI (National Alliance on
Mental Illness).
Most notable was the appearance of Tony Khan during the last
hour of the marathon with Jeremy Lambert, Joel Pearl, and
SP3 being interviewed and playing booker on 5 Star Booker.
The charity stream raised of last count an estimated
$3,061 as of 5:00 pm on July 17 between YouTube
superchats and direct donations through Tiltify.
Since we're talking wrestling helping the community, it may
be a hot (and smoky if you're in the Northeastern US and
eastern Canada as I write this) July day as you read this,
but it's not too soon for local independent wrestling
promotions to think about what efforts they can undertake to
help their communities during 2026's Holiday season. Given
the political environment, more help will be needed from
every private source possible to help the hungry, the sick,
the cold, the homeless, sexual/domestic violence victims,
animal welfare, and too many more. Fightful did. You can
too.
Indies, start thinking about what you can do now. If you're
aware of shows your local indie is scheduling this Christmas
season, let me know at the addresses below.
If you'd like to contact me, you can do so at my
bobmagee1@hotmail.com account or to through Messenger at
https://www.facebook.com/bob.magee.180 , direct message me
at https://x.com/BobMage70323520 , or contact me at BlueSky
at https://bsky.app/profile/bobmagee940.bsky.social
