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AS I SEE IT March 24: RAW in Europe, anniversaries, predatory business practices and Hall of Fame inductions

Posted: Mar 24th 2025 By: Bob Magee

Reminder again this week....for those reading this blog on Monday, remember that RAW airs live on Netflix today at 4:00 pm ET/1 pm PT with replays available afterwards, due to the show originating in Glasgow, Scotland. This will also take place with RAW next Monday, and for Smackdown viewers
internationally this Friday (or watching with a VPN), while in the US, Smackdown will air at its regular time of 8:00 ET on USA Network.

In the unending story of WWE and predatory business practices, Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp reported last Monday that an WWE staff/roster e-mail was sent out indicating that the WWE Smackdown originally scheduled for San Antonio, Texas in June has now been moved to July 18, six days after AEW's ALL IN Texas in Arlington, TX (since confirmed as tickets have officially gone on sale on WWE.com).

It's also reported WWE are planning on hosting a Saturday Night's Main Event show on July 12.... which would be head-to-head with ALL IN. This event was listed on Peacock's WWE schedule, before word got out and the event schedule was pulled down.

This is one of a series of WWE scheduling shows this spring/summer around AEW's biggest events as WWE is first doing this on Memorial Day weekend as the next Saturday Night’s Main Event is scheduled for May 24, and WWE plans to hold NXT Battleground on May 25, both in Tampa, FL... the very same weekend AEW is holding the Double or Nothing PPV in Glendale, AZ.

But wait...there's more: last Wednesday morning....another European tour was announced with shows in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Guess when? The same weekend that AEW has Forbidden Door taking place (not yet official, but understood to be) at the O2 Arena in London, England.

To summarize: THREE instances of WWE shows or series of shows that just HAPPEN to be run head-to-head with AEW events:

1) The go-home Collision prior to Double Or Nothing; and a NXT Battleground PLE just HAPPENS to be run head-to-head with Double or Nothing PPV.

2) A Saturday Night's Main Event show on July 12, head-to-head with ALL IN Texas

3) An entire SERIES of UK shows around the time of Forbidden Door in London

Is it new?

No. Not even close.

WWE played the same game as far back as the days of competing with Jim Crockett Promotions; when on.January 24, 1988, WWF's held the Royal Rumble special on USA Network in direct competition with Jim Crockett Promotions' Bunkhouse Stampede PPV, featuring a steel cage Bunkhouse Stampede main
event.

Well, there are misguided AEW fans who've decided the way to fight back is to keep Sting from inducting Lex Luger into the WWE Hall of Fame during Wrestlemania weekend, and have taken to social media.

I couldn't disagree more. This isn't about how WWE is screwing with AEW (over and over and over again). This is about Steve Borden honoring his friend Larry Pfohl. If he wants to do so, Tony Khan needs to let him.

AEW's biggest deficit in the wrestling war isn't in size...it's in perception. Preventing Sting from doing that
will only serve to make AEW look bad in the eyes of average wrestling fans, hurt Sting's feelings and accomplish nothing. WWE wouldn't lose one red cent. They wouldn't be affected one bit. Meanwhile, AEW and Tony Khan would be criticized endlessly for being petty. Let AEW agree to let Borden do so.

But let them preface it online with the statement I saw on BlueSky:

"AEW owes WWE no more than the same treatment that was given to Sting at Revolution 2024. However, AEW is allowing Sting to perform the induction of Lex Luger into the WWE Hall of Fame out of respect for Luger and his many accomplishments within the world of professional wrestling. Congratulations to Lex Luger on this honor."

It was nice to see Warner Brothers Discovery advertising Dynamite, Collision, and AEW all over NCAA March Madness coverage this past weekend.

Meanwhile, right around midnight, Tony Khan tweeted "Don’t miss Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite 289, Wednesday, April 16 in Boston, AEW Spring BreakThru! We’ll celebrate AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite becoming the longest running prime time weekly pro wrestling program in Turner Sports
history!" In short, Dynamite will surpass Monday Night Nitro as the longest running prime time weekly wrestling program on TBS/TNT, when they run Dynamite episode 289, surpassing the 288 episodes of Nitro.

Also....keep an eye out for some sort of spring/summer special on either TBS or TNT; in what sounds like what the Battle of the Belts shows should have been (and what the original ones were in Florida).

Andrew Zarian brought it up on his Beyond the Bell podcast last Tuesday morning. For those who read this blog, he has folks he knows in Warner Brothers Discovery...and provided a lot of information in the lead up to the Warner Brothers Discovery-AEW TV deal. So keep an eye out on his Beyond The Bell and Mat Men podcasts.

If you'd like to contact me, you can do so at my bobmagee1@hotmail.com account or to through Facebook Messenger at https://www.facebook.com/bob.magee.180, direct message me at https://twitter.com/BobMage70323520, or contact me at BlueSky at
https://bsky.app/profile/bobmagee940.bsky.social


Until next time...