The big event heading into the next 72 hours is, of course, the retirement card for future WWE Hall of Famer John Cena. But, there’s so much more to this weekend than just that event.
We have picked out nine different shows to consider over the next three days, including: NJPW’s annual tag league wrapping up, a free-to-watch indy super-card, deathmatch madness, international AEW action, and much more! Let’s dig in.
Friday
NJPW World Tag League Night 16 / 4:30 a.m. ET / NJPW World
The second half of NJPW’s World Tag League finals will be determined this morning when the promotion heads to Kagoshima, Japan.
The main event of this card (which will have concluded by the time this article is up, but can be watched via replay on NJPW World) will see a semi-final bout between the Knockout Brothers and the duo of Gabe Kidd and Yota Tsuji.
The recent alliance between the Bullet Club War Dogs and former Los Ingobernables de Japon members caused the overpowered duo of Kidd and Tsuji to be made for this tournament. After a solid run in Round Robin action, they’ll try to earn their biggest win of the tour thus far when they take on current IWGP Tag Team Champions Yuto-Ice and OSKAR, who have made quite the impression since they returned to NJPW earlier this year.
The winners of Friday’s main event will go on to meet Zack Sabre Jr. and Ryohei Oiwa in the finals on Sunday!
- Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Drilla Moloney, Shingo Takagi & Daiki Nagai
- Boltin Oleg & Zane Jay vs. Alex Zayne & Lance Archer
- El Desperado, Shoma Kato & Shuji Ishikawa vs. Ren Narita, SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, Katsuya Murashima, Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura vs. Chase Owens, Dick Togo, Don Fale, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi
- Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan & Jakob Austin Young vs. David Finlay, Gedo & Hiromu Takahashi
- Satoshi Kojima, Taichi & El Phantasmo vs. Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr.
- Gabe Kidd & Yota Tsuji vs. OSKAR & Yuto-Ice (World Tag League 2025 Semi-Final)
WWE Friday Night Smackdown / 8 p.m. ET / USA Network
24 hours before WWE hosts John Cena’s last-ever match, the promotion will head to the Mohegan Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on Friday night for Smackdown.
The biggest highlight of the night for many will be the return of The Terror Twins (Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest), reunited on TV for the first time in over a year. Now months deep into his rivalry with Aleister Black, Priest called on Ripley for support in a mixed tag match against Black and Zelina.
Ilja Dragunov’s U.S. Open Challenge will continue with a match against Tommaso Ciampa, who has been bugging the champ for an opportunity for weeks. And in her first in-ring Smackdown appearance since getting called up to the main roster, Lash Legend will meet former tag team champion Alexa Bliss.
- Alexa Bliss vs. Lash Legend
- Ilja Dragunov vs. Tommaso Ciampa (WWE United States Championship)
- Aleister Black & Zelina vs. Damian Priest & Rhea Ripley
Saturday
NOAH Sunny Voyage / 12:45 a.m. ET / Wrestle Universe
If you crave some early morning wrestling on Saturday, NOAH’s newest Sunny Voyage card might be your best bet.
In their first appearance since regaining the GHC Tag Team Championships, Team 200X’s Masa Kitamiya and Takashi Sugiura will defend their gold in the main event against Naomichi Marufuji and Kenoh. Attempting to take down former tag partner Sugiura, Marufuji could begin a milestone 10th reign with the tag titles if successful this weekend.
Junior heavyweight tag action will go down earlier in the evening when Daga and Daiki Odashima meet Tadasuke and Jun Masaoka.
Not one of their bigger cards, but nonetheless some stand-out tag action to get things started on Saturday:
- HAYATA vs. Hayato Koyanagi
- Shuji Kondo & Eita vs. Aoi Takahashi & Hiroto Tsuruya
- Ulka Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo vs. AMAKUSA & Junta Miyawaki
- Kaito Kiyomiya, Harutoki, Alejandro & Kai Fujimura vs. Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara, Hi69 & Black Mensore
- Daga & Daiki Odashima vs. Tadasuke & Jun Masaoka (GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships)
- Yoshiki Inamura, Will Kroos & Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Manabu Soya, Saxon Huxley & Muhammad Yone
- Masa Kitamiya & Takashi Sugiura vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Kenoh (GHC Tag Team Championships)
AEW Collision / 4:30 p.m. ET / TNT
AEW heads overseas this weekend, touching down at the Utilita Arena in Cardiff, Wales, for an international edition of Collision.
This weekend’s episode is a lineup full of notable pairings. In a battle for first place in the Continental Classic Blue League’s standings, Claudio Castagnoli and IWGP World Champion Konosuke Takeshita will go one-on-one. While Castagnoli scored an upset win over Jon Moxley last week, he’s now coming back from an upset loss of his own against Mascara Dorada on Saturday. Takeshita is the one entering with momentum, thus far being undefeated in the tournament.
The card will also include Swerve Strickland making his first singles appearance since returning, and Mark Briscoe defending his TNT Championship for the first time, meeting former titleholder Daniel Garcia.
This card is airing significantly earlier than usual, three-and-a-half hours to be exact. This means you don’t have to pick between Collision and John Cena’s last match, if you’d like to see both this Saturday.
- Josh Alexander vs. Swerve Strickland
- Jamie Hayter & Kris Statlander vs. Julia Hart & Skye Blue
- Claudio Castagnoli vs. Konosuke Takeshita (Continental Classic Blue League)
- Mark Briscoe vs. Daniel Garcia (TNT Championship)
GCW Nick Gage Invitational X / 6 p.m. ET / TrillerTV+
Don’t want to watch John Cena’s retirement match, or AEW Collision, or something else? Might I suggest one of GCW’s biggest deathmatch cards of the year, the Nick Gage Invitational?
The tournament, which includes a lineage of past winners like MASADA, Mance Warner and John Wayne Murdoch, features an eight-person bracket this year, including ex-AEW talent Bear Bronson, former King of FREEDOM World Champion Drew Parker, and GCW vet SLADE.
Deathmatch wrestling can be a little too much for jumpy old me, so I have to admit that I will not be watching. But, if this is up your alley, then you know where to find it.
- Bear Bronson vs. Slade
- Lil Sicko vs. Mr. Danger
- Otis Cogar vs. The Bev
- Drew Parker vs. Jack Harrop
WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event: John Cena’s Final Match / 8 p.m. ET / Peacock
John Cena’s illustrious in-ring career, spanning over a dozen world title reigns, more than 2,300 matches and a quarter-century of carrying the title of a professional wrestler, will finally come to a close at WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event card at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
After a year-long retirement tour which received mixed reviews, featuring a so-so heel title run to a jumble of matchups in the second half of the year, ranging from good to meh, Cena hasn’t had the most incredible 2025. However, facing “The Ring General” Gunther in his last-ever appearance, it seems more than likely that Cena will at the very least go out with one final great showing before calling an end to his career this weekend.
The rest of the card has a focus on the future, with stand-out talents from NXT meeting main roster veterans on a big platform. Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes will face NXT kingpin Oba Femi, who earned the opportunity by reclaiming his title against Ricky Saints last weekend. High-flying Sol Ruca, one of the more underrated talents from NXT’s women’s division, will take on Bayley. And the duo of Leon Slater and Je’Von Evans, a team who have a combined age of 42, which would still be six years younger than Cena, will take on AJ Styles and Dragon Lee.
As much as I’m anticipating Cena’s final match, the rest of this card looks great too. This is a can’t-miss event.
Worth noting: There was some talk earlier this week regarding whether Cena’s match would kick off the card or end close the show. As of right now, the answer is: We’re not sure.
- John Cena vs. Gunther
- AJ Styles & Dragon Lee vs. Je’Von Evans & Leon Slater
- Bayley vs. Sol Ruca
- Cody Rhodes vs. Oba Femi
Wrestling REVOLVER Season Finale / 9 p.m. ET / TrillerTV+
Wrestling REVOLVER, one of the stronger independent U.S. wrestling outfits currently running, will close out its 2025 schedule with a stellar lineup from the Horizon Events Center in Clive, Iowa, this Saturday evening.
While there are a few matches I find intriguing here, I’m most interested in how the four-way main event for the REVOLVER World Championship will go. Myron Reed has been incredibly impressive this year, and Steve Maclin is a consistent worker who has also shown out in TNA as of late. Add in two more wrestlers to the mix in Rich Swann and Jake Crist, and you’re in for a hectic main event.
The show will also see The Rascalz duo of Zachary Wentz and Dezmond Xavier aim for tag titles, a special tag match between Youtubers turned wrestlers Chris Danger and BDE, and a “Macabre Deathmatch” between Krule and Alan Angels.
- Krule vs. Alan Angels (Macabre Deathmatch)
- Chris Danger & ??? vs. BDE & ???
- Anthony Greene & Brick Mastone vs. KJ Reynolds & Ryan Matthias
- Gringo Loco vs. Damian Chambers vs. Jake Something
- KJ Orso vs. Crash (REVOLVER Texas Championship)
- Sabin Gauge & Koda Hernandez vs. Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier (REVOLVER World Tag Team Championships)
- Myron Reed vs. Rich Swann vs. Jake Crist vs. Steve Maclin (REVOLVER World Championship)
Sunday
NJPW World Tag League Night 17 / 1 a.m. ET / NJPW World
NJPW’s World Tag League will wrap up on Sunday morning from the Grand Messe Kunamoto in Kunamoto, Japan.
We learned on Wednesday that the TMDK duo of Zack Sabre Jr. and Ryohei Oiwa will appear in the finals, getting a shot at the trophies after taking down three-time league winners Bishamon in the semi-finals. Who will they meet in the finals? That’s the question we’ll know the answer to by the end of today’s card.
Since the undercard of this show will be different depending on who advances in the other semi-final bout, we don’t know any other matches for Sunday’s show thus far.
This one is on at 1 a.m. ET, earlier than most NJPW shows. If you are a night owl (or live on the West Coast), you might be able to catch the World Tag League finals before you even head to sleep on Saturday night!
- Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa vs. TBD (2025 NJPW World Tag League Finals)
JCW Roundball Rock / 5 p.m. ET / Youtube
One of the more underrated parts of this weekend has to be Jersey Championship Wrestling’s Roundball Rock, a stacked indy card which will be presented for free on Youtube.
A big focus of this show is the lead-in to GCW’s annual Jersey J-Cup, which is scheduled for February 2026. Many matches on this show will see wrestlers competing for a spot in the two-night tournament, which they have run for over a decade.
True to the NBA theme of the card, there are some basketball-inspired matches in the mix, including a 3-point competition (“First Three Falls Qualify for Jersey J-Cup) and an all-star game.
There’s a lot to like about this card, including appearances from Billie Starkz, Bryan Keith, Violence is Forever, and Mad Dog Connelly.
- Valentina Rossi & Nixi XS vs. Ava Everett & LSG
- Gabby Forza vs. Lena Kross
- Ryan Clancy vs. Rich Swann (Jersey J-Cup Qualifying Match)
- Darian Bengston vs. Eli Knight (Jersey J-Cup Qualifying Match)
- Jordan Blade, Josh Woods, Matt Mako, Rebecca J. Scott & Sam Holloway vs. Dominic Garrini, Janai Kai, Kevin Ku, LaBron Kozone & Mara Sadè
- Manny Lo vs. Griffin McCoy vs. Oni King vs. Drew Parker vs. Gary Jay vs. Jay Lucas vs. Terry Yaki vs. Jake Parnell (3-Point Competition: First Three Falls Qualify for Jersey J-Cup)
- Thomas Shire & Tombstone Jesus vs. Beastman & Mad Dog Connelly (No Holds Barred)
- Marcus Mathers, Joey Janela & Nick Comoroto vs. Hoodfoot, Bryan Keith & Joshua Bishop (Loser of Fall Leaves Town for 90 Days)
- Alec Price & Jordan Oliver vs. Matt Tremont & Bam Sullivan (GCW Tag Team Championships)
- Billie Starkz vs. Charles Mason (JCW World Championship & Jersey J-Cup Qualifying Match)
