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!

Welcome to Wrestling Tonight, with your hosts Acefield Retro and Chad.

We open Episode 155 with the defining image of the week: Gunther standing tall as John Cena taps out in the final match of his WWE career. What should have been a shared emotional release instead became a revealing moment about WWE's creative posture, as Saturday Night's Main Event exposed the company's increasingly adversarial relationship with its audience.

The result wasn't the issue. Gunther is already a made man, and his credibility never hinged on retiring Cena. The friction came from the framing. The show was presented as a celebration, yet paced like Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. By the time Cena escaped the sleeper once and Gunther reapplied it, the atmosphere didn't crest into catharsis. It stalled.

That disconnect sharpened during the post-match ceremony. WWE rushed into pageantry — roster surrounding the ring, titles presented, tribute video cued — without letting the building settle. The reaction made clear the audience understood exactly what kind of ending they'd been handed. We break down why the finish felt less organic than corrective, and contrast it with Sting's retirement in AEW, which showed how patience and alignment can create a farewell that feels complete.

From there, we pivot to AEW's Continental Classic, where Dynamite delivered real movement. "Speedball" Mike Bailey stunned Kyle Fletcher, Kazuchika Okada handled Jack Perry, and Claudio Castagnoli and Konosuke Takeshita fought to a punishing time-limit draw that reinforced the Classic as AEW's most sports-driven concept.

We then hit an Observer-style business and schedule corner, breaking down AEW's crowded December — early U.K. Collision, a three-hour Manchester Dynamite with $1 million at stake, a tight Worlds End promotional window — before flipping to WWE's business side: Royal Rumble demand, archive strategy, NXT PLE timing, and mid-December pre-taping.

We close with a look ahead at a loaded week across the industry, from Holiday Bash and the Continental Classic to Impact's cage chaos, SmackDown's continued Cena fallout, NXT's road to New Year's Evil, and a packed runway toward Worlds End, Wrestle Kingdom, the Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, and WrestleMania 42.

This is Episode 155 of Wrestling Tonight — where the moments matter, the context counts, and the conversation goes deeper than the finish

The week we are joined by Tanner from Kicking Out Pod and Travis from Wicked Bitter! Join us as we ask has modern wrestling shifted too far toward an athletic focus and away from storytelling, or is that necessary to keep the industry moving forward and alive; what is more likely to happen- LA Knight becoming world champion or going to AEW; and if you had the pencil, who would be the next 4 AEW men's world champions? It's going to be a fun week here at The Tavern, so to make sure you do not miss anything, go to patreon.com/theturnbuckletavern for all your Tavern needs!

Shot of Nostalgia: The SmackDown Six Era rolls on with your host Acefield Retro, and this week we're diving into one of the most transformative stretches of the entire project. Episode 6: The New Standard covers August through December 2003 — the moment when SmackDown didn't just outperform Raw, it redefined what WWE television could be. The original SmackDown Six formula sharpens into something faster, more ambitious, and more confident, and the blue brand starts carrying itself like the true flagship.

We open with the match that shattered expectations for what a TV main event could look like: the 60-minute Iron Man Match between Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle on September 18, 2003. With no September PPV, WWE hands them an entire hour on network TV, and they deliver a masterpiece of strategy, pacing, and physical storytelling. Lesnar wrestles like a cold, calculating monster, even sacrificing a fall early to inflict damage he cashes in later, while Angle brings textbook precision and furious comebacks. It's chaotic, logical, brutal, and brilliant. Brock's 5–4 win establishes him as SmackDown's apex predator and cements the match as one of the greatest in TV wrestling history.

From there, we hit the Parking Lot Brawl between Eddie Guerrero and John Cena on August 28, and this week's episode is paired with a full Shot of Nostalgia watch-along of that match. Eddie weaponizes an entire parking lot with the same creativity he brings to a wrestling ring — seatbelts, hoods, roofs, doors — while Cena bumps and sells like a young star fighting to earn his stripes. Eddie bleeds, Cena crashes through a windshield, and the Frog Splash off one car onto another remains one of the defining images of the Guerrero legacy. It's gritty, stylish, violent, pure SmackDown identity — and being able to watch it back together in real time adds a whole new layer to how we talk about its impact.

We also revisit Rey Mysterio vs. Tajiri from No Mercy 2003, a match that captures exactly why SmackDown's in-ring output was blowing Raw out of the water. Tajiri's heel turn, complete with red and black mist plus the arrival of Akio and Sakoda, gives the Cruiserweight division the villain it had been missing. Rey brings the explosiveness, Tajiri brings the strikes and swagger, and together they deliver a crisp, high-velocity title match that resets the entire division going into 2004.

The rest of this episode is about how the entire brand evolves beneath the surface. Injuries pile up, Heyman's creative voice gets quieter, Goldberg's Raw run exposes WWE's stylistic confusion, and Evolution stumbles behind the scenes. Yet SmackDown stays true to itself — athletic realism, character-driven drama, and a match quality that feels years ahead of the WWE main-event formula. Even as the original SmackDown Six pairings splinter and reform in new combinations, their philosophy — built by Eddie, Edge, Benoit, Angle, Rey, and Chavo — pulses through every show. By December 2003, SmackDown isn't the "other" brand anymore. SmackDown is the new standard.

Shot of Nostalgia: The SmackDown Six Era — Episode 6: The New Standard premieres Friday, December 13, 2025, wherever you listen. Like, subscribe, and leave a review to help the show grow. Visit TurnbuckleTavern.com for merch, archives, and the full network schedule, subscribe to the Shot of Nostalgia newsletter for bonus writeups and deep-dive extras, and support the project at Patreon.com/TheTurnbuckleTavern for just $2.99 a month to keep these deep dives alive.

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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!

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!

Welcome to Episode 154 of Wrestling Tonight, powered by G FUEL and Dick Lazers — G FUEL keeps us awake for those late-night edits with zero sugar and zero crash, and you can save 20% at GFUEL.com with code TAVERN. Dick Lazers is the official chaos device of The Tavern — a rechargeable red-dot pen with a flashlight and blacklight all in one. Hit DickLazers.com, use code TAVERN, and keep it Tavern.

This week we break down the Netflix–Warner Bros situation and the wild overreactions swirling around AEW. Netflix is bidding for the studio side — not the networks that house TBS and TNT — and AEW's deal remains locked in through 2027 with an option for 2028. Tony Khan addressed everything on the Final Battle call, reiterated AEW's strong relationship with WBD, and reminded everyone he already works with Netflix, Paramount and Comcast through the NFL. The only real unknown is how Max simulcasts evolve after the corporate shuffle.

We also hit WWE's emotional centerpiece: John Cena's final match, locked for December 13 on a retro-styled NBC primetime special. Gunther earned the spot, the legal noise is swirling, and Cena is openly confronting the realities of age, legacy and family as he closes the book.

On the TNA front, the AMC move resets the entire company. Final Resolution felt like the final page of the AXS era before a massive 2026 pivot. A wild card of debuts, title chaos, crossover moments and a dramatic closing angle set the tone for what this next era will look like. ROH Final Battle delivered the usual in-ring consistency while its future waits for the right TV deal — something Tony Khan emphasized he's in no rush to compromise on.

NXT Deadline fallout is coming, with the brand navigating crossover talent, shifting title pictures and a marquee NXT Championship outcome that now points toward a major showdown on NBC. We'll go match by match next episode and look at who steps into Cody's orbit as the road to the new year takes shape.

AEW's Continental Classic continued with injuries reshaping the Gold League and both blocks tightening at the top. Holiday Bash sets up a new Dynamite Diamond path, and the next few weeks will determine the world title picture heading into 2026. We also talk PPV pacing, retirement teases, big men looking for one more run, and WWE's internal pressure as the new PLE deal shifts expectations.

The week ahead is stacked across every promotion — major specials, tournament twists, international cards, big-brand build toward January, and the first real momentum toward WrestleMania season.

This is Episode 154 of Wrestling Tonight — let's get into it.

The week we are joined by The Tavern's own Acefield Retro and Colton! Join us as we ask will TNA's AMC TV deal positively or negatively affect AEW; did Survivor Series prove WWE cares more about making shows look huge than actually telling fresh stories; and with Sting proving how strong an AEW retirement can look, does Chris Jericho risk a flatter ending if he finishes up in WWE instead? It's going to be a fun week here at The Tavern, so to make sure you do not miss anything, go to patreon.com/theturnbuckletavern for all your Tavern needs!