It’s a major weekend with shows across the world, ranging from the final nights of the G1 Climax, one of the biggest AAA events in years, and the UFC begins its final run of pay-per-views.
The weekend kicks off Friday with WWE staging SmackDown at the TD Garden in Boston, with Drew McIntyre following up on his attack on Cody Rhodes to conclude last week’s edition. Meanwhile, TNA presents its Emergence event in Baltimore with Trick Williams and Moose headlining the event for the group’s championship, and MJF returns to Arena México to defend the CMLL World Light Heavyweight title against Zandokan Jr.
The G1 Climax runs back-to-back nights at the Ariake Arena for the final two G1 Climax events as the twenty participants have been cut down to four. Pro Wrestling NOAH renews a long-term rivalry with the first match involving KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji since 2018, and TripleMania XXXIII will be shown worldwide on WWE’s YouTube channel at Arena Ciudad.
The UFC 319 card sees the promotion return to Chicago for the first time in six years as Dricus du Plessis defends the UFC middleweight title against Khamzat Chimaev and Aaron Pico makes his long-awaited debut. The show comes off the news that the company will exit the pay-per-view business after 2025, inking a seven-year deal with Paramount+, where a monthly subscription to the service will include its numbered events and Fight Night cards.
It led to mixed messaging by company execs Mark Shapiro and Dana White, with the latter promoting the “antiquated” nature of pay-per-view, while White, in promoter mode, is still selling five more pay-per-views this year and implied that the death of pay-per-view was greatly exaggerated.
We will have coverage of all these events in podcast and/or written form over the weekend
FRIDAY
Show: Friday Night SmackDown
Location: TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts
Start time: 8 p.m. ET on USA Network, Netflix (Int’l)
Lineup:
*Drew McIntyre speaks
*Alexa Bliss vs. Piper Niven
*DIY vs. Street Profits
*Fraxiom vs. Carmelo Hayes & The Miz
Show: TNA Emergence
Location: Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore, Maryland
Start time: 8 p.m. ET on TNA+ (subscription necessary), pre-show at 7:30 p.m.
Lineup:
*TNA World Championship: Trick Williams © vs. Moose
*TNA Tag Team Titles: The Hardys © vs. Zachary Wentz & Myron Reed
*X Division Championship: Leon Slater © vs. Cedric Alexander
*Knockouts Tag Titles: The Elegance Brand © vs. The IInspiration vs. Lei Ying Lee & Xia Brookside vs. Fatal Influence
*TNA International Championship: Steve Maclin © vs. Jake Something
*Mike Santana vs. Sami Callihan
*Matt Cardona vs. Mustafa Ali
*AJ Francis & Rich Swann vs. Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards
*Ryan Nemeth vs. The Hometown Man (pre-show)
*Rosemary vs. Indi Hartwell (pre-show)
Show: CMLL
Location: Arena México
Start time: 9:30 p.m. ET on CMLL YouTube (subscription necessary)
Lineup:
*CMLL World Light Heavyweight Title: MJF © vs. Zandokan Jr.
*Místico & Hologram vs. Beast Mortos & Difunto
*Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja vs. Templario & Titán
*Último Guerrero vs. Bárbaro Cavernario vs. Dragón Rojo Jr. vs. Averno vs. Valiente vs. Rey Bucanero vs. Felino vs. Edfinge
*Lluvia, La Jarochita & La Catalina vs. Persephone, Reyna Isis & Hera
SATURDAY
Show: G1 Climax – Night 18
Location: Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan
Start time: 4 a.m. ET on New Japan World
Lineup:
*G1 Climax – Semi-Final: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Konosuke Takeshita
*G1 Climax – Semi-Final: Yota Tsuji vs. EVIL
*Ryohei Oiwa, Kosei Fujita & Hartley Jackson vs. Ren Narita, SHO & DOUKI
*SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Drilla Moloney & Taiji Ishimori
*Shingo Takagi & Daiki Nagai vs. David Finlay & Gedo
*Hiroshi Tanahashi, El Phantasmo & Katsuya Murashima vs. Great O-Khan, Callum Newman & Jakob Austin Young
*Oleg Boltin & Tomoaki Honma vs. Don Fale & Yujiro
*Shota Umino, Yuya Uemura, El Desperado, YOSHI-HASHI & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Taichi, Satoshi Kojima, Master Wato, YOH & Toru Yano
Show: NOAH Star Navigation
Location: Korakuen Hall Tokyo, Japan
Start time: 5:30 a.m. ET on Wrestle Universe
Lineup:
*GHC Heavyweight Championship: KENTA © vs. Naomichi Marufuji
*OZAWA vs. Owadasan
*Alpha Wolf, Dragon Bane, Super Crazy & Galeno vs. Flamita, Bendito, Calibus & Luis Mante
*Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Harutoki
*Takashi Sugiura, Daga & Null vs. Go Shiozaki, Muhammed Yone & Hajime Ohara
*Masa Kitamiya & Tadasuke vs. Manabu Soya & Daiki Inaba
*Ulka Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo & HAYATA vs. Kenoh, Shuhei Taniguchi & Black Menso-re
*Hiromu Takahashi, Atsushi Kotoge, Junta Miyawaki & AMAKUSA vs. Eita, Alejandro, Kai Fujimura & Daiki Odashima
Show: UFC 319
Location: United Center in Chicago, Illinois
Start time: 10 p.m. ET on pay-per-view, early prelims at 6 p.m.
Lineup:
*UFC Middleweight Championship: Dricus du Plessis © vs. Khamzat Chimaev
*Aaron Pico vs. Lerone Murphy
*Geoff Neal vs. Carlos Prates
*Michael Venom Page vs. Jared Cannonier
*Kai Asakura vs. Tim Elliott
*Eric Nolan vs. Baysangur Susurkaev
*Michal Oleksiejczuk vs. Gerald Meerschaert
*Jessica Andrade vs. Loopy Godinez
*Alexander Hernandez vs. Chase Hooper
*Drakkar Klose vs. Edson Barboza
*Bryan Battle vs. Nursulton Ruziboev
*Dione Barbosa vs. Karine Silva
*Alibi Idris vs. Joseph Morales
Show: AAA TripleMania XXXIII
Location: Arena Ciudad in Mexico City
Start time: 9 p.m. ET on WWE YouTube
Lineup:
*AAA Mega Championship: El Hijo del Vikingo © vs. Dominik Mysterio vs. El Grande Americano vs. Dragon Lee
*AAA Latin American Championship: El Mesias © vs. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.
*AAA World Tag Team Titles: Los Garza © vs. Psycho Clown & Pagano
*Finn Balor, JD McDonagh & Raquel Rodriguez vs. Mr. Iguana, Nino Hamburguesa & Lola Vice
*AAA Reina de Reinas Championship: Flammer © vs. Natalya vs. Faby Apache
*Copa Bardhal Cup
SUNDAY
Show: G1 Climax – Night 19 (Final)
Location: Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan
Start time: 2 a.m. ET on New Japan World
Lineup:
*G1 Climax – Final: TBA vs. TBA
