The Turnbuckle Tavern

Turnbuckle Tavern
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Weekly breakdown of this weeks AEW Dynamite episode, plus hot takes on everything going on in the pro-wrestling industry!

  1. 2d ago

    AEW Dynamite: Omega And Ospreay Sit Down | Mox Defeats Jay White | Swerve Teases Trios Partners

    It's Thursday, and you know what that means! It is time to walk through those Tavern doors and order up a round of professional wrestling coverage from The Two Bad Chads! This week we talk AEW and all the happenings of the week! Make sure you go to patreon.com/theturnbuckletavern for all your Tavern needs!

  2. 2d ago

    Wrestling Tonight: COPELAND SAYS TONY KHAN WOULD HAVE ALLOWED FINAL EDGE-CENA MATCH | OSPREAY & OMEGA GET PERSONAL BEFORE ALL IN, PAT MCAFEE SAYS HE'S DONE WITH WWE & CACTUS JACK-FUNK 31 YEARS LATER | 206

    Turnbuckle Tavern is powered by G FUEL and Official Dick Lazer. Use code TAVERN for 20% off at GFUEL.com and DickLazers.com. Episode 206 of Wrestling Tonight begins with one of the biggest "what ifs" surrounding John Cena's retirement run. Adam Copeland says he believes Tony Khan would have allowed him to step outside AEW for one final Edge vs. Cena match in WWE. Copeland made it clear that nothing was ever formally proposed, Tony was never actually asked and WWE never officially rejected the idea, but his belief is that AEW would not have been the obstacle. It is especially interesting because Cena and Edge were so important to one another's careers, and a final match could have been more than nostalgia. It could have been one of those rare moments where WWE and AEW put the promotional rivalry aside for something that made sense historically. We look at whether it was ever realistic, what Tony allowing it would have meant for the relationship between the two companies and why one of the most obvious matches for Cena's farewell never got beyond the hypothetical stage. We then turn to AEW, where Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay have made their All In match increasingly personal. The story has become about far more than simply determining who the better wrestler is, with their history stretching back through PWG, New Japan and Ospreay's years of being compared to the standard Omega established before him. That rivalry now intersects with Ospreay's return from neck fusion surgery and his attempt to prove that he has finally surpassed Omega. Their sit-down with Renee Paquette revisited Omega questioning whether Ospreay ever truly replaced him and the lingering issue of Ospreay needing Don Callis' involvement to defeat Kenny at Forbidden Door. Omega then crossed another line by bringing Ospreay's family into the discussion before ultimately putting him through a table with the One-Winged Angel. With Ospreay back in front of his home crowd at Wembley after everything surrounding his surgery and recovery, AEW has turned this into one of the most important matches of his career. Pat McAfee's WWE future also appears increasingly clear. More than a year after stepping away from Raw commentary because of burnout, McAfee has added another major ESPN responsibility by joining Monday Night Countdown throughout the NFL season. His daily show will also broadcast from the site of Monday Night Football each week while he continues working College GameDay on Saturdays. McAfee has now reiterated that he does not intend to return to WWE television following the WrestleMania 42 stipulation where Cody Rhodes defeating Randy Orton meant McAfee would leave WWE programming for good. He even acknowledged that he may have been wrong about Cody after spending the storyline attacking him. Wrestling stipulations can always be undone, but between McAfee's comments and an ESPN schedule that now consumes both Saturdays and Mondays throughout football season, a regular WWE return looks increasingly unlikely. Josh Alexander is also moving closer to an in-ring return just over four months after undergoing knee surgery. Alexander resurfaced on Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling Mayhem and confronted Stu Grayson, teasing the eventual unification of MLP's Canadian Championship. Alexander has remained champion throughout his injury while Grayson became interim champion, giving them a ready-made program whenever Alexander receives clearance. No date has been announced, but MLP's Northern Rising on October 3 in Toronto would be a logical destination if Alexander is ready. The return is particularly meaningful considering Alexander has spoken about how disappointing it was to be unable to fulfill his responsibilities as champion after becoming the inaugural Canadian Champion following Scott D'Amore's relaunch of the promotion. On the WWE injury front, Logan Paul appears to be making progress from the torn triceps that required surgery after Saturday Night's Main Event in May. Paul recently visited Champion Sports Medicine in Birmingham, with Kevin Wilk saying he is looking good following surgery and eager to return to the ring. Paul himself has been more cautious, recently describing himself as still "very much injured" while saying that he is healing quickly and undergoing PRP treatment as part of the rehabilitation process. WWE has kept him involved on television during the recovery, while The Vision continued without him and Bron Breakker stepped into the tag team picture alongside Austin Theory. There is still no confirmed return date, but the latest update suggests Paul is progressing toward eventually getting back in the ring. Jim Johnston also believes the door to a WWE return is essentially closed. Johnston says he would happily compose wrestling themes again but believes Triple H views him as one of Vince McMahon's guys and has little interest in bringing him back. That is Johnston's interpretation rather than something Triple H has publicly confirmed, but it creates an interesting conversation about one of the most criticized aspects of WWE's current presentation. Johnston's greatest strength was creating music that immediately communicated who a wrestler was before they ever reached the ring. WWE does not necessarily need to turn its entire music department back over to Johnston, but completely ignoring someone responsible for so many instantly recognizable themes is worth discussing when modern entrance music continues to struggle to create that same connection. And finally, 31 years ago this week, Cactus Jack and Terry Funk produced one of the defining matches in the history of deathmatch wrestling at IWA Japan's Kawasaki Dream. Nearly 29,000 fans packed Kawasaki Stadium for the King of the Death Match tournament, with Funk and Cactus each surviving two violent matches before meeting in the final: a no-rope barbed-wire, exploding barbed-wire board and exploding-ring time-bomb deathmatch. Both men entered already beaten up, and what followed became the gold standard for the genre. The match worked because Funk and Foley could create emotion underneath all of the violence. The exploding boards delivered the spectacle, but the planned centerpiece of the match nearly became a disaster when the ring explosion at the ten-minute mark dramatically underdelivered. Instead of allowing the match to die with it, Funk and Cactus improvised. They went back to the remaining explosives and brought a ladder into the match, with Cactus eventually coming off it with an elbow before the closing sequence left both men tangled and destroyed in the wire. Cactus crawled over Funk for the pin and was crowned King of the Death Match. That victory meant considerably more than winning a tournament. Terry Funk was already one of wrestling's great legends and had rarely lost in Japan, while Cactus was still establishing what his career would become after leaving WCW. Foley has described the night as Funk effectively passing the torch to him, and the prestige from defeating Terry gave Cactus credibility that followed him long after Kawasaki. The match was messy, dangerous and even technically failed at the moment that was supposed to provide its biggest spectacle, but Funk and Foley turning that failure into something memorable is part of why it has endured. There have been crazier and more dangerous deathmatches since, but when you combine the atmosphere, violence, improvisation, emotional connection between the two men and what the victory ultimately meant for Mick Foley's career, Cactus Jack vs. Terry Funk remains one of the genre's defining matches. Episode 206 brings together one of wrestling's biggest crossover matches that never happened, Omega and Ospreay turning their decade-long rivalry personal before Wembley, Pat McAfee seemingly closing the door on WWE, Josh Alexander moving toward his comeback, Logan Paul continuing his recovery, Jim Johnston questioning whether WWE would ever welcome him back and a look back at the night Terry Funk helped make Cactus Jack the King of the Death Match.

  3. 4d ago

    Wrestling Tonight: RYOHEI OIWA WINS G1 CLIMAX 36 & GETS OCTOBER IWGP TITLE SHOT | JOSEPH SAWYER WINS GCW TITLE, DRAKE YOUNGER CONTROVERSY, AI INOKI & LA KNIGHT-ROMAN REIGNS | 205

    Turnbuckle Tavern is powered by G FUEL and Official Dick Lazer. Use code TAVERN for 20% off at GFUEL.com and DickLazers.com. Episode 205 of Wrestling Tonight begins in Japan, where Ryohei Oiwa defeated Yuya Uemura in a 35-minute final to win G1 Climax 36 and cap off a tournament that increasingly felt like NJPW finally committing to its new generation. We break down Oiwa's path from qualifying for the tournament to becoming G1 champion, the significance of a final four featuring Oiwa, Uemura, Yota Tsuji and Callum Newman, and Oiwa's decision to follow TMDK mentor Zack Sabre Jr. by taking his IWGP Heavyweight Championship opportunity at King of Pro Wrestling in October rather than waiting for Wrestle Kingdom. Before then, Yota Tsuji must defend against Hirooki Goto at Destruction in Kobe, while Jeff Cobb is suddenly back in NJPW and aligned with Gedo's Unbound Corp after confronting former United Empire stablemate Callum Newman. The G1 weekend also produced one of the strangest moments of the year when an AI recreation of the late Antonio Inoki appeared at Ryogoku, addressed Hiroshi Tanahashi and led the crowd through the traditional "1, 2, 3, dah!" We discuss the uncomfortable contrast of NJPW spending the weekend successfully pushing Oiwa, Uemura, Tsuji and Newman as its future while simultaneously using artificial intelligence to recreate its deceased founder, as well as MJF's social media exchange with Oiwa over their respective headlocks and Oiwa inviting him to enter the 2027 G1. We then head to GCW Homecoming, where former WWE wrestler Joe Gacy, now Joseph Sawyer, ended Atticus Cogar's 266-day reign to become GCW World Champion with assistance from the returning Drake Younger. Drake's appearance immediately generated controversy because of the statements and affiliations that surrounded the end of his WWE tenure, leading to a public apology the following night. Brett Lauderdale then explained his decision to give Drake another opportunity by revealing that Younger helped save his life during Lauderdale's battle with opiate addiction in 2012 and took him to his first Narcotics Anonymous meeting. We look at both the legitimate reasons for the backlash and the deeply personal reason Lauderdale believes Drake deserves a second chance. On the WWE side, Chelsea Green's cracked orbital bone has unexpectedly created one of SmackDown's more interconnected women's stories. Nick Aldis gave Green 30 days to be medically cleared rather than immediately stripping her of the WWE Women's Championship, while Mickie James praised Green's emotional promo as one of the greatest she has seen. Nia Jax and Lash Legend have already targeted the injured champion, Tiffany Stratton came to Green's defense and that decision later contributed directly to Stratton losing the Women's United States Championship to Jacy Jayne and Fatal Influence. We also look at the growing possibility of LA Knight challenging Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship at Money in the Bank in New Orleans, with AJ Styles publicly arguing that Knight has never been more ready to become world champion. Roman's September title defense is also being built through WWE-owned AAA, where La Parka has advanced to face Penta while Rey Fenix defeated El Fiscal on Raw to reach the semifinals of the tournament determining Roman's challenger in Mexico City. That integration is interesting, but it also highlights the continuing disconnect in AAA's presentation when Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio can regularly lose on WWE television while AAA is simultaneously being used to produce challengers for WWE's world champion. Plus, AEW has reached the quarterfinals of the Continental Challenge Cup with Nigel McGuinness fighting through an injury to face Hechicero, Jon Moxley meeting Jay White, Orange Cassidy facing Kyle O'Reilly and Claudio Castagnoli renewing his rivalry with Eddie Kingston as the tournament moves toward Glasgow and the All In final at Wembley. We also discuss Grayson Waller taking aim at CM Punk and the NXT locker room, and TNA bringing Lockdown back for the first time since 2016 while attaching the bizarre stipulation that Leon Slater's entire 298-day X-Division Championship reign will be erased from company history if he loses to Cedric Alexander.

  4. Aug 14

    Wrestling Tonight: G1 CLIMAX FINAL FOUR: TSUJI, OIWA, NEWMAN & UEMURA | COPELAND COMPARES ARENA MEXICO TO 2020 WWE RETURN, BAYLEY CONTRACT UPDATE & ALL IN 38,909 | 204

    Turnbuckle Tavern is powered by G FUEL and Official Dick Lazer. Use code TAVERN for 20% off at GFUEL.com and DickLazers.com. Episode 204 of Wrestling Tonight begins in Japan, where G1 Climax 36 is officially down to Yota Tsuji, Ryohei Oiwa, Callum Newman and Yuya Uemura, guaranteeing a first-time tournament winner. Tsuji faces Uemura and Newman meets Oiwa in the semifinals Saturday, August 15 at Ryogoku Sumo Hall, with the winners advancing to Sunday's final. Both blocks ended with three wrestlers tied at 12 points. In A Block, Tsuji, Oiwa and Konosuke Takeshita all finished 6-3, but Tsuji and Oiwa advanced because both held head-to-head victories over Takeshita. Oiwa clinched his spot by beating Takeshita in the final A Block main event, while Tsuji defeated Jake Lee and benefited from Great-O-Khan eliminating Boltin Oleg by countout. B Block produced almost the same situation, with Newman, Uemura and Gabe Kidd all finishing 6-3. Kidd's losses to both semifinalists eliminated him on the head-to-head tiebreaker. With Tsuji already holding the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, the stakes are different for the other three. If Oiwa, Newman or Uemura wins the G1, that wrestler earns a future championship opportunity against Tsuji. If Tsuji wins, the reigning champion would presumably be positioned to select his own future challenger. Saturday's tournament matches will not headline the show, however. Hiroyoshi Tenzan wrestles the final match of his NJPW career against longtime TenKoji partner Satoshi Kojima in a five-minute exhibition, followed by Tenzan's retirement ceremony. The show begins at 2 a.m. Eastern on NJPW World. We then turn to Adam Copeland's first appearance inside Arena México, where he received a reaction he compared to one of the defining moments of his career. Tony Schiavone revealed that after AEW Grand Slam Mexico, he contacted Copeland to ask whether he had ever experienced a crowd response like it. Copeland's comparison was his 2020 WWE Royal Rumble return, when he returned to the ring nine years after neck issues had seemingly ended his career. Arena México had been a bucket-list destination for Copeland, and Bandido provided additional context for what the building represents by comparing it with Korakuen Hall, the Tokyo Dome and Madison Square Garden. Bandido described competing inside Arena México as the type of achievement that allows someone to call themselves a "real luchador." Copeland is also preparing to check off another deeply personal venue on October 3, when he wrestles for Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, located on the grounds of the former Maple Leaf Gardens. Copeland has called Maple Leaf Gardens his wrestling "hallowed ground" and explained that Tony Khan allowed the appearance because AEW and Maple Leaf Pro are partners, Khan wants professional wrestling to flourish and he understood what the opportunity meant to Copeland personally. We also break down the growing uncertainty surrounding Bayley's WWE future. Bayley has reportedly been offered a new WWE contract but has not signed it, and there is conflicting information about exactly when her current deal expires. Bayley's own comments from April 2025 point toward October 2026, Fightful has reported that the deal is expected to expire by the end of 2026 unless additional time is added, and Bryan Alvarez has heard January 2027 but has not been able to verify that date. Dave Meltzer says Bayley has a decision to make and confirmed that she will not become a free agent in August. The speculation intensified after Bayley posted a training video featuring Mercedes Moné, captioned it "all or nothing, baby" and used the song "All In." WrestleVotes reported through Fightful Select that the post raised eyebrows backstage in WWE and did not land well with everyone. Despite the obvious AEW references, the available contract timelines make an appearance at All In on August 30 extremely unlikely. The bigger story is whether Bayley eventually re-signs with WWE or becomes one of wrestling's biggest free agents later this year or in early 2027. Swerve Strickland is also back in AEW, making his first appearance since losing to Will Ospreay in the Owen Hart Foundation tournament final at Forbidden Door. Swerve and Prince Nana confronted AEW World Trios Champions Hangman Page, Bandido and Brody King before Ricochet, The Demand and Lethal Twist entered the picture. With Jay Lethal, Blake Christian and Lee Johnson challenging Hangman, Brody King and Bandido for the Trios Championship on Collision, Swerve immediately finds himself surrounded by old enemies and a developing championship program. We also discuss the Fightful Select report that Austin Creed and Kofi are expected to join AEW soon. The report stopped short of confirming that either has officially signed, and no debut date has been established. The timing naturally creates speculation around All In, while both men have also been announced for Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea cruise in November. AEW All In 2026 continues to take shape at Wembley Stadium. Kenny Omega defends the AEW World Championship against Will Ospreay, Willow Nightingale defends the AEW Women's World Championship against Mercedes Moné, and Adam Copeland & Christian Cage defend the AEW World Tag Team Championship against The Young Bucks. One of the biggest additions is Kyle Fletcher defending the AEW International Championship against Konosuke Takeshita and Kazuchika Okada. Takeshita defeated Okada for the title at Double or Nothing before Fletcher defeated Takeshita at Beach Break. Importantly, Takeshita has since left the Don Callis Family, while Fletcher and Okada remain aligned with Callis, adding another layer to the three-way. Kevin Knight defends the TNT Championship against Darby Allin in a Falls Count Anywhere match, with Knight entering their fourth singles meeting holding a 2-1 advantage. The men's Casino Gauntlet will begin with Andrade El Idolo entering No. 1 and MJF entering No. 2. MJF secured his position by defeating Mike Bailey and Nick Wayne on Dynamite, guaranteeing that his rivalry with Andrade will be part of the match from the opening bell. The winner receives a future AEW World Championship opportunity. The Wembley card currently includes Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay, Willow Nightingale vs. Mercedes Moné, Adam Copeland & Christian Cage vs. The Young Bucks, Kyle Fletcher vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kazuchika Okada, Kevin Knight vs. Darby Allin, Divine Dominion vs. The Brawling Birds, the men's Casino Gauntlet and the Continental Challenge Cup Final. We also look at the latest Wembley ticket business. WrestleTix reported exactly 38,909 tickets distributed as of August 12, an increase of 1,400 over the previous four days. The current setup is 45,023, leaving 6,114 available and putting AEW at approximately 86.4 percent of its currently configured inventory. All In 2024 finished with 53,922 tickets distributed, meaning the 2026 show currently sits 15,013 tickets behind that mark. With All In taking place August 30, AEW now has 16 days to continue closing that gap, although matching the 2024 total would also require thousands of additional seats to be opened. Additional 500-level inventory has already begun to appear. Be sure to support the show and join our Patreon for just $2.99 a month at Patreon.com/TheTurnbuckleTavern for exclusive content. Follow us on social media @TurnbuckleTavern for all the latest updates. Until the following week, when we wine and dine with you kings and queens, stay out of the alley and away from the pork and beans. Good luck and good speed.

  5. Aug 14

    AEW Dynamite: Swerve Returns To Confront Brodido And Hangman | Ricochet Cooks On The Mic | MJF Gains #2 Spot In Casino Gauntlet

    It's Thursday, and you know what that means! It is time to walk through those Tavern doors and order up a round of professional wrestling coverage from The Two Bad Chads! This week we talk AEW and all the happenings of the week! Make sure you go to patreon.com/theturnbuckletavern for all your Tavern needs!

  6. Aug 12 ·  Bonus

    Rawdown #240: Kevin Owens Doesn't Like CM Punk Very Much

    The RAWDOWN boys discuss all of the news coming out of RAW and Smackdown and get you caught up on all of the news happening inside and outside the ropes in WWE. Everything is on the table. This is just the tip of the iceberg with all of the stories and news going on in the WWE. Let's talk about it and everything else in the WWE Universe! WWE RAW, WWE Smackdown, NXT... It's all there! Come get your best weekly fix for all things WWE on The RAWDOWN, right here at The Turnbuckle Tavern! PLEASE SUBSCRIBE, COMMENT, SHARE, & CLICK THE BELL! TELL A FRIEND ABOUT US! Go to patreon.com/theturnbuckletavern to join our Patreon for only $2.99/mo!

  7. Aug 11

    Wrestling Tonight: WWE HAS A DOMINIK MYSTERIO PROBLEM… AND IT'S GETTING HARDER TO IGNORE | 203

    Turnbuckle Tavern is powered by G FUEL and Official Dick Lazer. Use code TAVERN for 20% off at GFUEL.com and DickLazers.com. Episode 203 of Wrestling Tonight centers on a question WWE may eventually have to answer with Dominik Mysterio: what happens when someone develops into a legitimate main-event talent faster than the company seems prepared to treat him like one? Dominik has now held the AAA Mega Championship since September 12, 2025, a reign that has reached 333 days as of August 11, 2026, and his progression has become increasingly difficult to dismiss as simply the product of heat, presentation or the Mysterio name. We discuss why Dominik has the ingredients of a future WWE main eventer, but also why WWE's recent history of starting and stopping momentum makes it fair to question whether the company will fully capitalize on what it has created. That conversation opens into a larger criticism of WWE's ability to develop new stars and, more importantly, keep them hot once the audience begins responding. Roman Reigns has argued that WWE had two years after he stepped away from the championship picture to give other wrestlers opportunities to get over, but that idea deserves more scrutiny than simply placing the responsibility on the talent. Wrestlers cannot grab a proverbial brass ring that creative repeatedly moves out of reach, and getting over is not exclusively an individual accomplishment when television time, meaningful programs, victories, opponents and sustained creative investment are controlled by the promotion. Roman Reigns and CM Punk can produce a memorable nine or ten-minute segment because they have enormous presence and established equity with the audience, but WWE also has to create the conditions that allow somebody from the next generation to eventually develop that same equity. Professional wrestling history itself complicates the argument that stars simply force their way to the top. Steve Austin did not become Stone Cold because WWE immediately handed him the company and waited for him to succeed. During the period when his momentum was developing in late 1996 and early 1997, Steve Austin was consistently working with Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, The Undertaker, Vader, Sycho Sid, Mankind and other established names. He won the 1997 Royal Rumble, challenged Sycho Sid for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship on house shows, worked repeatedly with Shawn Michaels and remained intertwined with Bret Hart even when he was losing matches. The company did not need Steve Austin to win everything for him to become important; it needed to keep putting him in situations where becoming important was possible. That historical context is why Dominik Mysterio is such an interesting test case. His connection to wrestling history is almost literal, because Zilla Fatu has recalled growing up backstage at WWE events alongside Dominik while their fathers were wrestling, describing the two of them running around backstage, getting into the ring and practicing the 619 as children. Zilla Fatu even remembered Dominik as the wrestler's child he connected with most during that period. What was once two kids playing wrestling backstage has now become part of a much larger generational story, with Dominik holding AAA's top championship while WWE controls 51 percent of the promotion following its acquisition of AAA in 2025. That ownership makes Dominik Mysterio's AAA run more significant than a disconnected excursion. WWE announced its agreement to acquire AAA during WrestleMania 41 weekend, the transaction closed on August 1, 2025, and the relationship has since expanded through Worlds Collide, AAA programming on Fox properties in Mexico and Latin America beginning in 2026, and a Mattel AAA action figure line scheduled for fall 2027. Dominik defeating El Hijo del Vikingo for the AAA Mega Championship at Worlds Collide on September 12, 2025 therefore places him directly inside WWE's larger investment in the Mexican promotion, and his lengthy reign provides an opportunity to determine whether WWE views him merely as a valuable character or as someone capable of eventually carrying a major promotion at the highest level. We also compare that approach with the way AEW has positioned Kyle Fletcher as a future cornerstone, because developing a main-event wrestler requires more than identifying somebody as talented. The audience needs repeated evidence that the promotion believes the wrestler belongs at that level, and the booking has to reinforce that idea long enough for perception to become reality. That does not mean every prospect should win constantly or immediately become world champion, but it does mean losses, programs and television appearances should contribute to an identifiable trajectory rather than repeatedly resetting momentum. That is ultimately why WWE has a Dominik Mysterio problem, although it is a potentially very good problem to have. Dominik has lineage, character, experience, sustained championship credibility in AAA and years of television development behind him, and the question is increasingly less about whether he can become a main-event wrestler than whether WWE will provide the sustained creative environment necessary for him to become one. If the company believes the next generation needs to step forward, Dominik Mysterio represents an opportunity to prove that WWE is willing to meet emerging talent halfway rather than waiting for someone to somehow become undeniable despite the booking around them. Be sure to support the show and join our Patreon for just $2.99 a month at Patreon.com/TheTurnbuckleTavern for exclusive content. Follow us on social media @TurnbuckleTavern for all the latest updates. Until the following week, when we wine and dine with you kings and queens, stay out of the alley and away from the pork and beans. Good luck and good speed.

  8. Aug 10

    Wrestling Tonight: DORY FUNK JR. DIES AT 85 | KEVIN OWENS WANTS CM PUNK IN TORONTO, G1 CLIMAX 36 & AEW ALL IN TAKES SHAPE | 202

    Turnbuckle Tavern is powered by G FUEL and Official Dick Lazer. Use code TAVERN for 20% off at GFUEL.com and DickLazers.com. Episode 202 of Wrestling Tonight begins by remembering Dory Funk Jr., who died at 85 years old. We look back at the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion's remarkable career, his influence across generations of professional wrestling, his importance in both the United States and Japan, and the legacy he leaves behind as one of the industry's most respected figures. In WWE, Kevin Owens has called his shot against CM Punk. After returning at SummerSlam and winning a Fatal Four-Way to become number one contender, Owens told Nick Aldis he wants his WWE Championship match on August 21 in Toronto. We discuss why the setting matters, where Punk vs. Owens could be heading, and Chelsea Green's uncertain status after suffering a broken orbital bone on SmackDown. The G1 Climax 36 enters its final block matches with Konosuke Takeshita leading A Block while Ryohei Oiwa, Boltin Oleg and Yota Tsuji remain within striking distance. B Block is even tighter, with Gabe Kidd, Callum Newman and Ren Narita tied at the top. We break down the qualification picture, the tournament's biggest risers and what to watch as NJPW approaches the August 16 final. AEW's Continental Challenge Cup is underway with Claudio Castagnoli, Eddie Kingston and Orange Cassidy advancing to the final eight. We look ahead to Jay White vs. David Finlay, Jon Moxley vs. Jack Perry and the rest of the opening round as the tournament begins its road toward the final at Wembley Stadium. Plus, Hechicero wins the 2026 CMLL International Grand Prix after eliminating PAC and submitting Claudio Castagnoli, further cementing an incredible year for the CMLL World Heavyweight Champion. Finally, we preview the week ahead across WWE, AEW, NXT, TNA, AAA and NWA, including Penta vs. Laredo Kid on Raw, Grayson Waller vs. Cruz Montana on NXT, two Continental Challenge Cup matches on Dynamite, three championship matches on SmackDown, and the latest developments on the road to AEW All In. The August 30 All In card continues to take shape with Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay for the AEW World Championship, Willow Nightingale vs. Mercedes Moné for the AEW Women's World Championship, Cage and Cope vs. The Young Bucks for the AEW World Tag Team Championship, Divine Dominion vs. The Brawling Birds for the AEW Women's World Tag Team Championship, the Men's Casino Gauntlet and the Continental Challenge Cup final. Be sure to support the show and join our Patreon for just $2.99 a month at Patreon.com/TheTurnbuckleTavern for exclusive content. Follow us on social media @TurnbuckleTavern for all the latest updates. Until the following week, when we wine and dine with you kings and queens, stay out of the alley and away from the pork and beans. Good luck and good speed.

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About

Weekly breakdown of this weeks AEW Dynamite episode, plus hot takes on everything going on in the pro-wrestling industry!

Information

  • Creator
    Turnbuckle Tavern
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    1.4K
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    The Turnbuckle Tavern

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