We’re right in the heart of a busy time for wrestling this summer: WWE is on the road to Summerslam, AEW is barreling towards All In, and seemingly every company in Japan is either hosting a tournament or gearing up to present one. No shortage of options to watch this weekend, and we’ve picked out nine for you to consider in this week’s TV guide. Let’s get started!
Friday
WWE Friday Night Smackdown / 8 p.m. ET / USA Network
With just a week to go until Summerslam, some of Smackdown’s top storylines will be in focus as part of a show tonight from the Oakland Arena in Oakland, California.
For the first time since it was announced that they will square off in the ring, Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis and Gunther are expected to appear. Plus, you can’t forget that we’re currently building to a highly anticipated match between Undisputed WWE Champion CM Punk and Cody Rhodes.
Tonight’s show is billed to include a match between Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax, with the winner joining Summerslam’s ladder match to crown an interim WWE Women’s Champion. We already learned last week that the bout will include Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill.
As is always the case with Smackdown, more segments are likely to get announced last minute. So, keep an eye out today.
- Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax (Interim WWE Women’s Championship Ladder Match Qualifier)
Saturday
STARDOM 5Star Grand Prix Night 4 / 12 a.m. ET / STARDOM World
STARDOM’s 5Star Grand Prix will continue this weekend with shows on Saturday and Sunday. This weekend’s events will be focusing on the Red Stars A and B Blocks, so it’ll be the same batch of performers appearing on both nights. The card set to go down tonight at midnight includes some fun first-time matchups, including former World of STARDOM Champion Sayaka Kurara facing Maika, and Maki Itoh going up against Saya Iida.
- Sayaka Kurara vs. Maika (Red Stars A Block)
- Tomoka Inaba vs. AZM (Red Stars A Block)
- Itsuki Aoki vs. Tora Natsuko (Red Stars A Block)
- Rina vs. Akira Kurogane (Red Stars A Block)
- Mei Seira vs. Konami (Red Stars B Block)
- Saya Iida vs. Maki Itoh (Red Stars B Block)
- Lady C vs. Rina Yamashita (Red Stars B Block)
- Azusa Inaba vs. Utami Hayashishita (Red Stars B Block)
- Hanan & Matoi Hamabe vs. Anne Kanaya & Ema Maishima
TJPW Princess Cup Night 2 / 4 a.m. ET / Wrestle Universe
Not only are NJPW and STARDOM presenting tournaments currently, but Tokyo Joshi Pro is as well! The prominent Joshi brand is currently hosting its annual Princess Cup, a single-elimination tournament which determines the next woman in line to challenge for their top title. After first-round action took place earlier this week, a series of second-round bouts are scheduled to go down on Saturday morning. While there are a few fun bracket matchups, including HIMAWARI looking for the upset win over Wakana Uehara, the main event between Miyu Yamashita and Rika Tatsumi should steal the show. They’re two of the best workers in the company, and their pairing is probably one of the best to emerge out of this tournament, despite only being in the second round.
- Yuki Kamifuku, Mifu Ashida & Shion Kanzaki vs. Haru Kazashiro, Uta Takami & Momo Sato
- Raku vs. Sakura Hattori vs. Ren Konatsu
- Yuki Arai, Suzume, Miu Watanabe & Mahiro Kiryu vs. Shoko Nakajima, Yuki Aino, Pom Harajuku & Toga
- Wakana Uehara vs. HIMAWARI (Princess Cup Second Round)
- Arisu Endo vs. Chika Nanase (Princess Cup Second Round)
- Mizuki vs. Hyper Misao (Princess Cup Second Round)
- Miyu Yamashita vs. Rika Tatsumi (Princess Cup Second Round)
NJPW G1 Climax 36 Night 6 / 5:30 a.m. ET / NJPW World
NJPW’s G1 Climax will keep chugging along this weekend, heading to EBARA WAVE Arena in Tokyo, Japan for a show tomorrow morning. We’re still early enough in the tournament that it’s anyone’s to win: A five-way tie currently sits atop the A Block, and everybody else trails by just one win.
Yota Tsuji has been great through three singles matchups in the G1, as expected. After facing Hirooki Goto and Konosuke Takeshita, he’s being given another huge showdown tonight when he takes on Shingo Takagi. That could easily be one of the best matches of the weekend. I’m also looking forward to Takeshita against Boltin Oleg, who has been one of the more underrated names in the tournament thus far.
- Aaron Wolf & Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. OSKAR & Gedo
- HENARE & Jakob Austin Young vs. Dick Togo & Ren Narita
- Callum Newman & Zane Jay vs. Daiki Nagai & Drilla Moloney
- Satoshi Kojima & Yuya Uemura vs. Shota Umino & Toru Yano
- Hirooki Goto vs. Great-O-Khan (A Block)
- SANADA vs. Jake Lee (A Block)
- Konosuke Takeshita vs. Boltin Oleg (A Block)
- Ryohei Oiwa vs. Yuto-Ice (A Block)
- Shingo Takagi vs. Yota Tsuji (A Block)
AEW Collision / 8 p.m. ET / TNT
Just before AEW presents Redemption on Sunday, a taped edition of Collision will take place tomorrow night. Tomorrow’s show will serve as a preview for the two top women’s programs on Sunday’s pay-per-view. AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla and TBS Champion Hikaru Shida will team up to face their opponents for Sunday, Willow Nightingale and Maya World.
We also learned on Wednesday night that an explosive six-way ladder match at Redemption will determine who’s next for a shot at Kyle Fletcher’s AEW International Championship. While it was already announced that the bout will include Mike Bailey, The Beast Mortos, Komander and Jack Perry, the final two entrants in the match will be decided through qualifiers on tomorrow’s show. Following a really fun title challenge last weekend against Kevin Knight, AR Fox will appear in a qualifier against Nick Wayne. And in his first match back on AEW in months, El Clon, one of my personal favorites, is back against Lio Rush.
The show also includes Matt Sydal appearing in an AEW ring for the first time in two years, a trios title showdown, and more!
- Persephone in action
- Jay Lethal, Blake Christian & Lee Johnson vs. Matt Sydal, Scorpio Sky & Dante Martin
- Tommaso Ciampa vs. Zachary Wentz
- AR Fox vs. Nick Wayne (AEW International Championship #1 Contenders Match Qualifier)
- El Clon vs. Lio Rush (AEW International Championship #1 Contenders Match Qualifier)
- Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson vs. Daniel Garcia & Wheeler Yuta
- Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Dalton Castle, Truth Magnum & Turbo Floyd (AEW World Trios Championships)
- Hikaru Shida & Thekla vs. Maya World & Willow Nightingale
Sunday
STARDOM 5Star Grand Prix Night 5 / 12 a.m. ET / STARDOM World
The 5Star tourney will continue on Sunday morning with eight more block matches. I’m curious to see Saya Iida and Utami Hayashishita face off for the first time since 2020, and I also, of course, think Maki Itoh facing the wild Rina Yamashita should be scenes.
- Sayaka Kurara vs. AZM (Red Stars A Block)
- Tomoka Inaba vs. Maika (Red Stars A Block)
- Itsuki Aoki vs. Akira Kurogane (Red Stars A Block)
- Tora Natsuko vs. Rina (Red Stars A Block)
- Mei Seira vs. Azusa Inaba (Red Stars B Block)
- Lady C vs. Konami (Red Stars B Block)
- Saya Iida vs. Utami Hayashishita (Red Stars B Block)
- Rina Yamashita vs. Maki Itoh (Red Stars B Block)
NJPW G1 Climax 36 Night 7 / 2 a.m. ET / NJPW World
Staying in Tokyo for a second night, NJPW’s G1 tourney will continue on Sunday with B Block action. The wild anti-NJPW name that is Gabe Kidd will receive his first main event spotlight of the tournament when he takes on former IWGP champ Zack Sabre Jr. I’m personally also looking forward to Callum Nemwan, riding the momentum of an upset win over ZSJ earlier this week, meeting Drilla Moloney in the co-main event.
- Masatora Yasuda & Boltin Oleg vs. Jake Lee & Zane Jay
- SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa
- Konosuke Takeshita & Toru Yano vs. Shingo Takagi & Taiji Ishimori
- Gedo & Yuto-Ice vs. Daiki Nagai & Yota Tsuji
- OSKAR vs. Aaron Wolf (B Block)
- HENARE vs. Ren Narita (B Block)
- Drilla Moloney vs. Callum Newman (B Block)
- Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Gabe Kidd (B Block)
PRODUCE: PRODUIT – An Afternoon Special / 1 p.m. ET / MyAEW PPV
Orange Crush’s PRODUCE series has quickly become the talk of the town on the U.S. indies. After back-to-back stacked lineups over the past month, the PRODUCE series will head up to Montreal, Quebec, Canada on Sunday for a special show taking place just before AEW Redemption. “PRODUIT” is a lineup full of notable indie talents: Mance Warner defends gold against indie vet Tracy Williams, STARDOM talents Hazuki and Fuwa-chan make their debut in the promotion, and Quebec’s own Super Smash Bros, Evil Uno and Stu Grayson, appear in action against fellow Canadians Junior Benito and Macrae Martin. The list just keeps going on: Jonathan Gresham, Mad Dog Connelly, Darian Bengston, Joey Janela, Nixi XS… It’s a good lineup to catch before AEW goes live later in the evening.
- Darian Bengston vs. Oni King
- Fuwa-chan vs. Nixi XS
- Joey Janela vs. LaBron Kozone
- Evil Uno & Stu Grayson vs. Junior Benito & Macrae Martin
- Hazuki vs. Liiza Hall
- Green Phantom & Jonathan Gresham vs. Beastman & Mad Dog Connelly
- Mance Warner vs. Tracy Williams (IWTV Independent Wrestling Championship / REVOLVER World Championship)
AEW Redemption / 7 p.m. ET / PPV
AEW’s final pay-per-view stop before All In at Wembley Stadium will be the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where a first-ever “Redemption” card will take place. While AEW has visited the legendary wrestling city that is Montreal many times before, this weekend marks their first-ever time bringing a PPV.
Let’s be honest: While there will be some amazing performances this weekend, some headlines, and lots of good reason to give this card a watch, it’s undoubtedly one of the smaller shows for AEW this year. It’s a transitional event, helping put together the final storyline pieces before the company’s largest show of the year. For some, that might be reason to not shell out the expensive PPV price and instead skip the show.
But, there are still many matchups I think could be great: I see a big change emerging in the women’s division when Willow Nightingale challenges world champ Thekla. While there’s no way in hell Kevin Knight wins, he’ll likely show he’s one of the best up-and-coming singles talents when he faces Kenny Omega in the main event. If Kyle Fletcher vs. Bandido isn’t amazing, hell must’ve frozen over. And an electric six-way ladder match is planned featuring many fun high-flyers.
No doubt, Sunday is a smaller show for AEW. But there’s still a lot of fun that could come from it.
- Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson vs. Jon Moxley & Will Ospreay
- Jericho vs. Tommaso Ciampa (No Holds Barred)
- Jack Perry vs. The Beast Mortos vs. Komander vs. Mike Bailey vs. AR Fox or Nick Wayne vs. Lio Rush or El Clon (Ladder Match) (AEW International Championship #1 Contenders Match)
- Mark Davis vs. Andrade El Idolo (AEW National Championship)
- Kyle Fletcher vs. Bandido (AEW International Championship)
- Hikaru Shida vs. Maya World (TBS Championship)
- Adam Copeland & Christian Cage vs. Claudio Castagnoli & PAC (AEW World Tag Team Championships)
- Thekla vs. Willow Nightingale (AEW Women’s World Championship)
- Kenny Omega vs. Kevin Knight (AEW World Championship)
