Wrestlepalooza 2025: The Newest New Era
Wrestlepalooza 2025
Date: September 20, 2025
Location: Gainsbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Commentators: Michael Cole, Wade Barrett, Pat McAfee
It’s officially the ESPN Era and the card is actually pretty stacked. Well as stacked as a five match card can be. In this case we have John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar opening the show and Cody Rhodes defending the Smackdown World Title against Drew McIntyre in the so called main event. The real feature match of the show is a mixed tag between Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch against CM Punk and the returning AJ Lee. Let’s get to it.
I was in the arena for this match, sitting about five rows from the top of the building and with the Titantron on my right.
We have a new Then/Now/Forever video, only about a year and a half after the stars one was released.
The rather long opening video, narrated by HHH, looks at the history between WWE and ESPN, which has dabbled in wrestling over the years. This includes a history of mainstream athletes getting involved in wrestling, including a bunch of stuff from 30+ years ago.
HHH is in the ring for the customary welcome to a new era. They have a lot of those these days.
Pat McAfee returns, and nearly gets mugged in the back by HHH. This takes a long time.
Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena
Cena comes out with a bunch of Make-A-Wish kids. This continues to amaze me as Cena’s heyday was probably when those kids’ parents were 10 years old but they’re way into him anyway. Cena gets a heck of a response…and then it’s forgotten as PAUL HEYMAN pops up to handle Lesnar’s entrance. That’s rather well received and Lesnar starts fast with the pain as he fires the shoulders to the ribs.
Cena gets thrown down without much trouble, followed by a running powerslam so Lesnar can yell some more. There’s the first German suplex out to the floor as Cole reads off a history of their rivalry, which is as scripted as it could get. Lesnar powers him around again but Cena slips out of a powerslam and sends him into the corner. Four flying tackles finally drop Lesnar so Cena hits three straight AA’s for two. The Shuffle is loaded up but Lesnar pops to his feet, hits FIVE STRAIGHT F5’s and gets the pin at 8:48.
Rating: B-. I had this one rather wrong as I was expecting Cena to get his big win before moving on to his final match, but that might be a rematch with Lesnar. Either way, Cena was once again basically squashed here, which is not something I was expecting. At the same time, it pretty much guarantees that Lesnar is going to be sticking around, which might not be so well received. Still though, he can do his thing here and that’s what matters.
Post match Lesnar gives the referee an F5, plus another one to Cena. With Lesnar gone, Cena gets the big sendoff and the fans still love him.
Commentary toasts Pat McAfee with Real American Beer.
Earlier today, Adam Pearce decided that the Usos vs. the Vision deserved a guest referee in the form of LA Knight. That’s fine with Knight, who says his only job is to call the fall with everybody saying his name.
Usos vs. Vision
LA Knight is guest referee. The Usos come through the crowd, with Jimmy asking people to turn on the lights on their phones. That means they get their big long entrance and of course they run it back, to quite the reaction. Jey and Reed start things off with Jey sending him into the corner for some kicks to the head. Jimmy comes in to drive Reed into the corner for a running shoulder from Jey. Reed powers Jimmy away as well though and it’s off to Breakker to take over.
They go outside, with Reed grabbing a chair, though Jimmy takes it away. Knight doesn’t seem to care and shrugs it off, allowing Jimmy to chair Reed down. Back in and Jimmy hammers down some right hands but Breakker low bridges him to the floor. Breakker gets a running start and hits a heck of a flying shoulder. Reed throws in some chairs, though the fans want tables. Back in and Breakker hits a big backdrop, followed by a suplex for one, as Breakker would rather do some pushups.
Reed’s charge into the corner only hits chair but Breakker is up to cut off a diving tag attempt. A Steiner Bulldog gets two on Jimmy but Reed misses a backsplash. The tag brings in Jey to clean house, including the running Umaga Attack and high crossbody for two on Breakker. A table is brought in and the Usos start firing off the superkicks. Reed is back in for a save, allowing Breakker to give Jey a super Frankensteiner. Reed’s moonsault misses though, which lets Jimmy hit a Swanton to send Reed outside.
Breakker spears Jimmy but gets speared by Jey, setting up the Superfly Splash for two. Jey is back up with a suicide dive to Reed, with Knight having to dive out of the way. Back in and Jey nearly chairs Knight by mistake before cracking Reed instead. Jey throws a chair at Reed but gets speared by Breakker. Another spear puts the Usos through a table in the corner and the Tsunami finishes Jey at 16:49.
Rating: B. The Vision winning is the right call here and that’s a nice thing to see. They are the new monster enforcers for the top heel stable so having them beat one of the best teams ever is a good sign. Knight was only so much of a factor here, and I’m sure he’ll be dealing with Jey down the line. Good, back and forth match here, with the monsters eventually taking it in the end, as they should have.
Various celebrities are here.
Raw Women’s Title: Stephanie Vaquer vs. Iyo Sky
For the vacant title after Naomi’s pregnancy caused her to have to vacate the championship. We get the Big Match Intros and they shake hands as they’re both on the good side. They go with the grappling to start with Sky spinning around onto her for a quick standoff. Vaquer kicks her away before grabbing a headlock takeover. A headscissors is broken up but Vaquer spins around and gets two off a sunset flip.
The Devil’s Kiss is blocked and Sky gets in a suplex to put Vaquer down. Sky starts in on the ankle but Vaquer reverses into a triangle choke over the ropes. With that broken up, Vaquer gets two off a snap suplex but still can’t get the Devil’s Kiss. Instead they trade chinlocks until Sky hits something pretty close to an SVB. Some palm strikes into a flapjack drop Vaquer again and a springboard missile dropkick sends her to the floor. The suicide dive connects but Vaquer blocks a sunset bomb.
That lets Vaquer hit a heck of a springboard dive, followed by a springboard high crossbody back inside. Some knees to the apron have Sky in more trouble and they trade shots to the head. A belly to back suplex looks to set up the Devil’s Kiss, which is broken up yet again. Sky pulls her into a crossface but Vaquer escapes and grabs a dragon screw legwhip. Back up and Sky gets two off a hurricanrana, followed by a big kick to the head.
Sky’s Bullet Train connects in the corner but Over The Moonsault hits raised boots. Another dragon screw legwhip finally allows Vaquer to get the Devil’s Kiss and the SVB gets two. They both go up top and Sky manages a super Spanish Fly, only to bang up her own knee in the process. Vaquer is sent into the corner and Sky takes down the kneepads for another Bullet Train. Another Over The Moonsault misses though and Vaquer hits a corkscrew moonsault for the pin and the title at 19:42.
Rating: B+. This turned into a question of which one would survive and it made for an awesome match. What matters the most here is that Vaquer got the big win clean and moves into the title picture. It’s the kind of thing that she’s been needing to really establish herself and that’s what we’re getting here. Rather impressive match here and Vaquer gets the elevation she’s been needing.
Post match Vaquer gets to celebrate and hugs her dad.
Pat McAfee leaves for some reason. Ok then.
We recap the mixed tag. Seth Rollins and CM Punk have been feuding for approximately 62 years, including Rollins’ wife Becky Lynch costing Punk the World Title. Punk wouldn’t put his hands on a woman, but his returning wife AJ Lee would. Violence has ensued and it’s time for a mixed tag, which is probably this show’s main event.
AJ Lee/CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins/Becky Lynch
Rollins and Lynch have matching outfits, even down to the sunglasses. They also lower off a platform down onto a pedestal on the stage to really show off. Both of them use a mashup of their theme songs, though the crowd reactions to Punk and Lee was so loud that I couldn’t tell Let’s Light It Up had started. Punk is also wearing a jacket saying HUSBAND, which is a smart move.
Lynch won’t face Lee so Punk and Rollins start things off instead. It’s back to Lynch, who mockingly punches at Punk so it’s off to Lee, sending Lynch to the floor. Punk follows Rollins outside and sends him over the barricade but Rollins gets in a shot of his own. Back in and Lynch chokes Punk from the apron, only for Punk to send Rollins into the other corner.
Lee chokes away just like Lynch did in a nice moment, allowing Punk to hit some top rope ax handles. Rollins knocks him out of the air though and sends Punk outside and onto the announcers’ table. Back in and Rollins hits some ax handles of his own but stops for a kiss from Lynch. Choking in the corner (this time from Rollins) keeps Punk down but Punk wins an extended fight over a suplex. Punk gets caught in a front facelock and drives himself over for the tag to Lee…which the referee doesn’t see, sending Lee into a frenzy.
Rollins gorilla presses Lynch and tries to drop her onto Punk, who moves and causes Rollins to drop Lynch onto her face. She’s fine enough to cut Lee off from another tag but Punk gets in a quick GTS. Lynch tries to cut him off but Punk easily brings her to the corner for the tag off to Lee. The beating and stomping is on in a hurry and a big spinwheel kick into a high crossbody gets two on Lynch. Rollins tries to make a save so Lee beats on him as well, followed by a tornado DDT.
Punk helps Lee with a Sliced Bread to Rollins into a moonsault onto Lynch for two. Lee and Punk hit stereo corner clotheslines into the bulldog, followed by a Shining Wizard each for two more. Back up and Lee gets the Black Widow as Punk puts Rollins in the Sharpshooter. Those are broken up and Rollins and Lynch grab a pair of Pedigrees for two of their own. With that not working, they try a GTS each but Punk clotheslines Rollins outside. Lee suplexes Lynch but Rollins trips her down. That earns Rollins a Stomp from Punk so Lynch slaps Punk in the face.
Rollins is up for a distraction, allowing Lynch to Sharpshooter Punk. That’s reversed rather easily and Punk gets Lynch in the Sharpshooter, which is broken up by a Rollins Pedigree. Lee makes the save with her own Stomp but gets Manhandle Slammed for two. Back up and the women put their respective husbands into the corner and slug it out. That’s enough for them to go outside and they go onto the announcers’ tables, where Lynch throws Lee into Punk (and Rollins) for a crash through one of the tables. Lee is right back up and grabs the Black Widow for the tap at 29:15.
Rating: B+. I really liked this and it didn’t feel long either watching live or later on. This was about Lee going in there and getting her hands on Lynch, which went about as well as it could have gone. The men were doing their usual thing and it turned into a struggle near the end, as they were trading big moves. I had a great time with this and it lived up to the hype.
Post match Punk is rather happy as Lee celebrates.
And here’s the Undertaker, who rides his motorcycle up to Stephanie McMahon. He accuses her of following him because she was at the fight last week and now she’s here. They’ve known each other for a long time…and now he gets to announce that she is the first inductee into the 2026 Hall Of Fame class. Stephanie looks like she’s about to cry and kill Undertaker, as she pretty clearly didn’t know this was coming.
Stephanie getting into the Hall Of Fame is a bit of a stretch, but you knew it was coming one day. That being said, it might have made more sense to have HHH do this. He and Undertaker have a lot in common with Stephanie. They both kidnapped her. In a car. And married her. Again her will. On Raw. In 1999. Wrestling is weird.
We recap Drew McIntyre challenging Cody Rhodes for the Smackdown World Title. McIntyre attacked Rhodes by Claymoring him through the announcers’ table so now it’s time to fight. As a bonus, McIntyre thinks Rhodes is a bit too obsessed with being champion and is going to do something to make life easier for him.
Smackdown World Title: Drew McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes
Rhodes is defending. Rhodes slaps a laughing McIntyre in the face to start and gets elbowed in the face for his efforts. A headlock takeover puts Rhodes down and McIntyre grinds away a bit. Back up and Rhodes snaps off the jabs into an elbow to the head. The Cody Cutter gets two but Barrett thinks Rhodes is off by a few steps, possibly due to McIntyre attacking him.
Rhodes is fine enough to kick him to the floor for a suicide dive but McIntyre gets in a posting. McIntyre throws him over the table and snaps off the overhead belly to belly back inside. Rhodes knocks him to the floor but gets dropped onto the apron, setting up a reverse Alabama Slam onto the steps. McIntyre goes up back inside, only for Rhodes to get up top for a superplex and the big crash. They go with the big slugout until Rhodes snaps off a powerslam.
The Disaster Kick connects and another Cody Cutter drops McIntyre again. Rhodes gets caught going up for a change and a super White Noise gives McIntyre two. The Claymore misses though and Rhodes slaps on the Figure Four. McIntyre gets smart by just punching him in the face for the break and then rips off a turnbuckle pad (this won’t go well). The referee is almost crushed in the corner so he bails to the floor, meaning McIntyre’s rollup gets a VERY delayed two.
Back up and McIntyre is sent into the exposed buckle, with Cross Rhodes connecting for two more. Rhodes is sent outside and taken down with the big flip dive, followed by the Claymore to give McIntyre another near fall. They go outside and McIntyre tries another Claymore into the table, only to miss and wreck his own knee. Back in and the Glasgow Kiss gives McIntyre a breather but the leg gives out. Cross Rhodes retains the title at 16:51.
Rating: B. There was very little reason to believe that McIntyre was going to win here and while Rhodes has star power, it was only going to carry this so far. The good thing is that they had a solid match with Rhodes using his brain to beat the overly aggressive McIntyre, whose emotions have cost him a lot over the years. It’s a good match and felt important, but they weren’t following the mixed tag and there wasn’t much of a way around that.
Rhodes celebrates to end the show.
Overall Rating: B+. Pretty great show here, with nothing bad and a feeling like you were watching something special. If you could take the ESPN obsession out and make WWE stop talking about it so much, you would have had an even better show. Unfortunately this leads us up to Crown Jewel and the champion vs. champion stuff, but for now, we had a good mixture of emotions and a bunch of stuff taking place, making for a rather awesome show. Hopefully they lighten up on the self praise, but it could just be due to being the big ESPN debut. Either way, very nice job here.
Results
Brock Lesnar b. John Cena – F5
Vision b. Usos – Tsunami to Jey
Stephanie Vaquer b. Iyo Sky – Corkscrew moonsault
CM Punk/AJ Lee b. Seth Rollins/Becky Lynch – Black Widow to Lynch
Cody Rhodes b. Drew McIntyre – Cross Rhodes
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It’s a new era when 50-year-old Lesnar wrestles 50-year-old Cena, or Punk wrestles Rollins. Flavor of the month wins the title, then she wrestles only once a month, just like Giulia or Iyo. That show was a 7 at best. AJ wrestled so slowly. Drew and Cody had an underwhelming build. You chose to ignore the storytelling aspect of the show—other than the Punk vs. Rollins feud, most of the stories were underwhelming. Brock cut one of the worst promos ever against R-Truth
I’d hardly say I ignored it. I can get underwhelming, but the point of a lot of this was to wrap up the stories, not continue them.
I get that you like WWE, but man, you complain about WCW using older talent in reviews. Meanwhile, a 50-year-old Punk is wrestling a 40-year-old Seth Rollins, and 50-year-old Cena is wrestling 50-year-old Lesnar. Yet you still gave that show an 8.5, which means you thought it was great — but in reality, it was basically a one-match show. AJ Lee wrestled so slowly, and Drew, Cody, and Steph vs. Iyo had an underwhelming build. If you’re reviewing the show, at least be honest about it instead of just standing up for WWE.
Completely agreed.
Well aside from none of them being that old, they’re also still drawing and making a fortune, as opposed to WCW, which is the all time disaster of major wrestling promotions. Also, Cena is gone in what, three months max? He’s hardly the centerpiece of the promotion.
When Hogan (45) vs. Warrior (39) or Hogan (43) vs. Piper (42) happened, that was their age. They were a lot younger than the current top guys like Punk, Cena, Lesnar, or even LA Knight. Also, the last WWE PPV that had a four-way title match had a combined average age of 41. Even on the women’s side, they are relying on Becky, Asuka, and Charlotte.
Yeah, and the stuff you’re seeing today is about 198 miles better than any of that. It isn’t about the age. It’s about how they’re doing, both in the ring and at the box office, which isn’t anywhere close to the same ballpark as WCW. They’re also bringing in other stars and putting them in prominent positions, as they did on this show.
You said that none of the current stars are old. Now you’re saying they are box-office draws. WCW was drawing great in 1998, so by that logic, you should praise the show since you care about box-office draws. Second, how many new talents are being elevated? Priest, LA Knight, Jey Uso, Gunther, and Drew are all floundering. Drew or Gunther squashing Cena could do wonders for them. Instead, a 50-year-old Lesnar beats Cena and moves on.
I was trying to say that the ages you listed for all of them are wrong.
As for which new talents were being elevated, you have people like Stephanie Vaquer, Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker, all of whom won on Saturday. Dominik Mysterio is becoming a bigger star week by week. There’s also Jacob Fatu, Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky, Logan Paul, Tiffany Stratton and, as you mentioned, Gunther.
The only star WWE has elevated is Rhea. Jacob Fatu lost to Solo Sikoa, meanwhile 40-year-old Sami Zayn beat him three times. Most of the titles don’t mean anything—Dominik barely defends his. Tiffany has been feuding with Nia Jax for the last 9 months. Logan Paul is a star because of YouTube, not because of WWE. Calling them “stars” is a stretch when Elimination Chamber has a hard time selling out, and even The Rock said in an interview that’s why he had to show up.
If you don’t think Fatu or Mysterio have been elevated, I don’t know what to tell you.
Jacob Fatu is supposedly so elevated that he disappeared from SmackDown. The last time he appeared, he played second fiddle to Sami Zayn. Also, they claim to have elevated Dominik Mysterio, but he barely defends his title.
Mysterio is set to defend the title next week on Raw. That’s his second title defense on Raw this month alone and follows his previous successful title defense at Summerslam in August.
Dominik has held the title for almost six months, and he’s had only five defenses. What amazing booking
Actually he won it on April 20, so it’s been five months and about three days. A title defense a month has been about the standard for decades in WWE. His sixth, which puts him at over one a month, is in less than a week (and that’s not counting house shows).
So you pretty much agree with me that WWE creates only one or two stars. No wonder they rely on pops. They keep signing older wrestlers like Lesnar, AJ Lee, Nikki Bella, Rusev, and Aleister Black. Can’t wait for Jericho and Paige to return next year.
Uh, no not really no, as I listed a lot more below. If you disagree then cool, but no, making new stars isn’t an issue for them right now.
Just because someone gets a pop does not mean they are stars. Elimination Chamber had a hard time selling out—that’s not me saying it, that’s what The Rock said in an interview. SmackDown was doing 6–7k attendance before Cena’s heel turn and retirement tour (check WrestleTix). There’s a reason “King of Pops” Triple H keeps bringing in older wrestlers: the younger ones can’t draw. The only stars they’ve really created are Rhea, and maybe Dominik that’s about it.
I thought you rated Lesnar vs Cena too high, but again your reviews and i was legitimately annoyed after watching it live. If it’s really just an angle for a rematch sure, but we are really wasting one of Cena’s final appearances on this? I’m still in awe how badly botched Cena’s final run has been. I watched an interview of him talking about it and saying “i cant talk about it much but after december i will”.
According to F4W there’s no rematch in the works which makes sense because I think they’re going to do Cody/Lesnar at Mania.
That’s a possibility and….yeah not feeling that.
They absolutely wasted about six months of it. That is still an all time botch of a heel turn.
I thought the show was solid. But Cena vs Lesnar is minus five stars. I’m tired of that bullshit Brock match, and it was an absolute waste to do that again with Cena this close to the end. Worst match of the year.
In theory it sets up a rematch for Cena’s last match, or at Crown Jewel. Though yeah, I can see that style getting old after doing it so often over the years.
I liked this show and pretty much agree with your review, although the Brock/Cena could have had a bit more time. However I didn’t watch this live, as I fast-forwarded most of the non-wrestling stuff between the matches, so watching it live might have changed my opinion. I also haven’t seen AEW All Out yet, so I don’t have that to compare to.
So you blow the overly long mixed tag match Winfree from 411 says ” Thoughts: This did not need almost 30 minutes, at least 10-12 minutes lost the crowd in a pretty big way. It’s a testament to the wrestlers that they were able to get the crowd back after a middle third or so that struggled that hard. AJ looked OK with some of the physicality but her timing, especially on pins and kick outs was visibly off.”
I agree more with winfree, it was way too long, the crowd was too dead and they spent too long on the heat segment with punk in peril. A lot of AJ’s shit looked awkward especially those horrible windmill slaps. Punk also looked completely pussywhipped as he was wearing a AJ’s Husband shirt and was wearing like troon colors for some reason and letting AJ boss him around. That’s kind of a nitpick but still obnoxious.
“It’s a good match and felt important, but they weren’t following the mixed tag and there wasn’t much of a way around that.” LOL what, no Cody/Drew was better than the mixed tag dude. You’re right that Drew hasn’t been built up well AT ALL but the match was still better, didn’t have an incredibly boring heat segment and didn’t feel botched or awkward at all. The main problem with it is it continues to cement Drew as a fucking jobber loser but whatever I wasn’t expecting much as you mentioned. Still a much better match than the overly long pretentious lets make our wives look good mixed tag match and actually woke the crowd up.
So 411 gives All Out an 8 and palooza a 7, hey I think even a 7 is generous tbh but that’s better than you giving what All out a b and this a b plus? This was NOT a b plus show dude you are tripping and no one is praising this show. Oh yeah another disappointment about this show, Triple H said to expect some surprises at the end of the show or during. What surprises? Nothing happened. People were expecting The Rock to come out or something to happen at the end of the show. Nothing happened. Cody pins Drew 123 and its over. The only surprising thing was how shitty Lesnar/Cena was and the fact that Cena got squashed. The only things saving this show were the main and Vaquer/Iyo (which ok it was a good match but they both have no character).
I really do not care that my opinion isn’t in line with everyone else’s (and that’s of course ignoring that not everyone is in lockstep hatred over this show).
” Pretty great show here, with nothing bad and a feeling like you were watching something special”
Bro wtf are you talking about? EVERYONE IS HATING ON THIS SHOW ONLINE ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Nothing bad, really? Nothing bad? Its becoming more and more obvious that you’re a WWE shill every day. Dude Cena got squashed by Lesnar in under 10 minutes during his fucking retirement tour. Punk/AJ vs Seth/Becky had ridiculously contrived spots with a completely dead crowd (the crowd was obviously deflated from Cena getting buried at the start of the show) and Cody/Drew was a pretty flat match with Cody beating Drew clean cementing the fact that Drew is basically a main eventer jobber as he wasn’t won a big match since he beat Punk at Summerslam over a year ago. Add on top of that the fact that you had fucking adds on a PPV or PLE whatever that you had to pay 30 bucks for a subscription like come on dude are you serious? I really don’t know if I’m going to keep on coming here because the pro WWE bias is getting ridiculous, like Jim Cornette levels. Everyone but you is saying this show sucked because it did. I mean goddamn you even defended Cena’s dog shit heel run giving him vs Cody at Mania a decent rating for whatever reason and tried to defend Cena/Orton at Backlash which was literally just finisher spam. Y’know I wonder, you’ve been to multiple WWE shows right? Have you ever been to an AEW show? IDK the bias is just so ridiculous, even HARDCORE WWE MARKS are saying palooza sucked and that all out was better yet you give this a better rating and actually have the balls to say nothing on this show was bad?
Well, I’m not hating on it. I guess that makes me wrong though.
Also, as someone who was part of that crowd, you’re rather wrong about it being deflated.
I mean from tv I could tell the crowd was just dead for most of the mixed tag. Also Winfree wrote about that match “This did not need almost 30 minutes, at least 10-12 minutes lost the crowd in a pretty big way. It’s a testament to the wrestlers that they were able to get the crowd back after a middle third or so that struggled that hard. ” and then for the main ” Decent match, the lack of heat was a problem and they did a decent job protecting Drew with a few odd moments from the ref.” So I’m not the only one noticing lack of heat.
Well, as someone who was there, you’re wrong.
You need to relax. Not everyone likes the same things you do or feels the same way about various things that you do.
He doesn’t have to reply to you and he doesn’t have to put up with this nonsense every week. I would have banned you a long time ago if you I was in his shoes.