Various: Backstage Update on NJPW’s Booking of EVIL in G1 Climax 2025 & Rumor Killer on AEW Having Any Control Over G1 Climax Finals Booking, “Filthy” Tom Lawlor Set To Undergo Hip Replacement Surgery This Week, Indies/Misc.

Backstage Update on NJPW’s Booking of EVIL in G1 Climax 2025 & Rumor Killer on AEW Having Any Control Over G1 Climax Finals Booking

Sunday’s NJPW G1 Climax 2025 Finals event at the ARIAKE ARENA featured Konosuke Takeshite defeating EVIL to become the winner of this year’s G1 Climax tournament.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that despite the online rumors, AEW CEO Tony Khan does not have any control nor affect how the G1 Climax is booked especially for the reason why EVIL went to the Finals.

In regards to the reason for EVIL’s lack of history in AEW and not being booked for AEW shows, those spoken to reportedly stated that it is due to Khan had never particularly been a fan of EVIL’s work. This reportedly has also been the case for why EVIL had not been booked for Forbidden Door events or even Ring of Honor under Khan’s ownership.

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“Filthy” Tom Lawlor Hip Replacement Surgery Update – Lawlor Set To Undergo Surgery This Week

As noted before, indies wrestler Filthy” Tom Lawlor announced this past July that needs to undergo hip replacement and spinal-related surgery and he is currently not sure if he will be able to ever wrestle again.

A recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Live featured co-host Lawlor providing an update on the status of his hip replacement surgery.

“Going under the knife Tuesday morning, 7:30 a.m. Yeah, I’ve heard from quite a few people that have had hip replacements…this is one of them that a lot of people say they’ve had great success with, was a game changer, helped them out. So I hopefully I fall into that boat as well.”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com

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Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Sunday’s NJPW G1 Climax 2025 Finals event at the ARIAKE ARENA featured Yuto Nakashima and OSKAR Leube making their surprise returns and joining Bullet Club War Dogs. Following Satoshi Kojima & Taichi defeating Katsuya Murashima & Togi Makabe, their post-match celebration with TAKA Michinoku was after David Finlay came out to the ramp and signaled for someone to come out. This led to the Young Blood’s Nakashima and Leube making their surprise return and being revealed under the new team name of “Knock Out Brothers.” Nakashima and Leube then made their way to the ring and proceeded to lay out Kojima, Taichi, and Michinoku before leaving and rejoining Finlay giving the Bullet Club’s “too sweet” hand gesture confirming them as the newest members of the War Dogs stable.

Saturday’s Triplemania XXXIII event for Lucha Libre AAA in Mexico City, Mexico featured Rey Mysterio inducting Lucha Libre legend and AAA booker Konnan into the AAA Hall of Fame.

Saturday’s AAA Triplemania XXIII event also featured Judgement Day (Finn Balor, Raquel Rodriguez, & JD McDonagh) defeating Mr. Iguana, Lola Vice, & Niño Hamburguesa in a Six-Person Tag Team match. This match was notable for Balor debuting a new puppet called “Demonito” as a counter to Mr. Iguana’s Yezca lizard puppet. Following the match, WWE announced that Demonito puppets are currently available for purchase at their online WWEShop at $99.99 each.

Prior to the start of Saturday’s AAA Triplemania XXXIII event, WWE Hall of Famer and SVP of NXT and Talent Relations Shawn Michaels revealed on Twitter that he and The Undertaker were in attendance backstage at the event.

WrestleVotes Radio reported that their sources stated that WWE is currently strong considering plans to potentially redesign AAA’s official logo. It was reported that the idea being WWE feeling a new logo design would better reflect AAA’s new identity under the WWE umbrella while giving it a fresh modern look.

C4 Wrestling announced that they raised over $132,000 in Canadian dollars for the Canadian Cancer Society from this past Friday’s Fighting Back 2025 charity event in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Pro Wrestling EVE recently announced that Queen Aminata will be making an appearance for the company at their EVE x The World on August 23rd in London, England.

The New York Comic Con recently announced that former UFC fighter and WWE wrestler Ronda Rousey will be making an appearance for the company at their New York Comic Con 2025 convention on October 10th in New York City, New York.

House of Glory recently announced that The Hardys (Matt & Jeff Hardy) will be making an appearance for the company at their With Glory Comes Pride event on October 10th in Jamaica, New York.

In a recent interview with The Hannibal TV, former WWE manager Paul Ellering gave his thoughts about AOP’s Akam and Rezar being very interested in continuing their WWE careers after their release from WWE this past February. Ellering stated “Well, that’s probably what would it would take. Yeah — is a big company picks up on ‘em, or maybe Japan and does a deal with them. They’re very interested in continuing in the business.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)