Browsing: event

The next edition of Saturday Nightâ€s Main Event is going to be a big one, and has just gotten even bigger with the inclusion of a huge match for WWE Champion Cody Rhodes.

During Fridayâ€s episode of WWE SmackDown, Drew McIntyre attempted to show up amidst his ongoing suspension. He pulled up into the backstage area of the show and was promptly met by Adam Pearce, Nick Aldis, and several WWE officials. As they argued, McIntyre was eventually forced back into his car, where Cody Rhodes had snuck in to wait.

Tomorrow night just got a whole lot bigger!

The winner of the NXT Championship Match at NXT Deadline will be facing Cody Rhodes NEXT WEEK at Saturday Night’s Main Event ? pic.twitter.com/SigcbWNSIW

— WWE (@WWE) December 6, 2025

Rhodes attacked McIntyre and was eventually pulled from the car. McIntyre then drove off, leaving an irate Rhodes there. Later in the show, Rhodes would find himself a match for Saturday Nightâ€s Main Event in an unlikely way.

While backstage, Rhodes spoke with NXTâ€s Ricky Saints and Oba Femi. He then said that whoever won the NXT Championship at their match at tomorrowâ€s Deadline event would get to face him next weekend.

Alongside Rhodes†match, Bayley and Sol Ruca will also take part in singles action. The matches coincide with John Cenaâ€s wish to promote younger stars at the show, which will also be his last. Bayley and Sol Rucaâ€s match was also set backstage, with the two stars talking about facing off.

WWE Saturday Nightâ€s Main Event is set to take place on December 13, 2025. The show will be at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., and will feature John Cenaâ€s final match with WWE.

READ MORE: WWE SmackDown Results: Review, Grades, Card For Dec 5

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The 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black included an unusual wrinkle.

When an injured Viktor Hovland scratched himself from Sunday singles, the so-called “Envelope Rule” was enacted. Under that agreement, each captain — the skippers at Bethpage were Keegan Bradley (U.S.) and Luke Donald (Europe) — submits an envelope containing a player’s name in advance of the singles matches. Should a player from the opposing team withdraw on account of injury or illness, out comes the opposing team’s envelope and whoever’s name is sealed inside also sits out the singles matches, with half a point going to each side.

When the rule came into play at Bethpage, it drew no shortage of scorn. Among the questions that surfaced: Why should the U.S. be penalized for a European player’s inability to play? And why should any player — in this case, Harris English — be denied his hard-earned opportunity to play a match on one of golf’s grandest stages? Sure, it’s sporting to split the point, but, naysayers argued, surely the rule needs some rethinking now that the Ryder Cup has evolved from a friendly exhibition to a high-stakes, hyper-charged event at which legacies are shaped.

Another team event, in progress this week, might have the solution.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Skechers World Champions Cup, that might be because it debuted in 2023 and was cancelled in 2024 on account of bad weather, meaning this week’s playing — at Feather Sound CC near Tampa, Fla. — is only its second edition. The event is the PGA Tour Champions’ answer to the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, with teams of 50-and-older golfers from the U.S., Europe and the rest of the world playing five sessions over three days. There are six players on each side, including a playing-captain, and also a pair of vice-captains.

If there’s a player on the three World Champions Cup squads who you wouldn’t expect to fall prey to illness, it might be the gym-going, whole-grain-eating ageless wonder, Bernhard Langer. And yet last weekend, Langer began feeling crummy (sore throat, achiness, low energy), and when he arrived at Feather Sound, he still wasn’t feeling himself — so much so that Langer decided it best to sit out the first day of matches Thursday.

Every player plays every session at the World Champions Cup, so one of the event’s rules was set in motion: European captain Darren Clarke could replace Langer with one of Clarke’s two assistant captains, Søren Kjeldsen and Jesper Parnevik. Clarke elected Kjeldsen, who sprang into action Thursday morning. Playing alongside Alex Cjeka in a nine-hole best-ball match, the duo made 6 birdies and picked up a session-tying-best 10.5 points before collecting another 9.5 points in the afternoon modified alternate-shot format.

Major champs battling…in sixsomes?! How new team event stands apart

By:

Alan Bastable

“Bernhard was not great when we came here,” said Team Europe player Thomas Bjørn, who, like Kjeldsen, hails from Denmark. “Søren, you could see that he got kind of the idea that he might be playing. He prepared well. I think that says a lot about him. A lot of guys will have come here as a vice captain and just kind of bobbled around and not doing anything. Søren prepared like he was going to play, and that’s why he went up and played well.”

Sensible and fun rule, right? And one that makes you wonder whether it should also be incorporated at the Ryder Cup.

For one, it would add some spice to vice-captain selections (you’d need at least one baller who’d be ready to play on short notice), and two, it would eliminate the awkwardness of having to split a crucial Sunday point without playing for it.

If the rule had been in place at Bethpage, Donald would have had five assistant captains from whom to choose: Thomas Bjørn, Francesco Molinari, Edoardo Molinari, Alex Noren and José María Olazábal. And there’s little doubt about who Donald would have landed on: Noren, who shined in the second half of the season and who many observers believe could have been on the team as a player.

How great would that have been: a Ryder Cup snub getting a shot at redemption at . . . the Ryder Cup!

Here’s hoping the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe are taking notes this week.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Peter Jacobsen, the seven-time PGA Tour winner turned broadcaster and general man about golf, co-created the World Champions Cup because he thought senior golf needed a team event in the mold of the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. In at least one regard, the upstart tournament, the second playing of which kicked off Thursday morning here at Feather Sound Country Club, does mimic its more established cousins: the best players from the U.S., Europe and the rest of the world playing for their flags in a format that breaks from the drumbeat of traditional stroke-play events. But in far more regards, this World Champions Cup has its own identity.

For one, no hecklers!

We’re joking, but only kind of. The 18 players who competed in the opening three six-ball sessions Thursday morning were welcomed on the 1st tee by a couple hundred fans peering down on them from a half-filled wraparound grandstand — but not with booming chants of U-S-A or ole-ole-ole or by a foul-mouthed emcee . . . just with good old-fashioned applause. Patriotic symbolism was also at a premium, short of Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” blaring from speakers by the tee. No fans in face paint. No Viking horns. No Stars-and-Stripes overalls. The couple of Team USA supporters who did have American flags draped over their shoulders said they were a last-minute impulse buy, snagged while shopping for throat lozenges at CVS.

If the environment lacked electricity, though, it allowed for fluidity. One moment, you could have a front-row seat to Colin Montgomerie smoothing balls on the range or Miguel Ángel Jiménez firing up a stogie; the next, you could be sitting tee-side as major winners like Stewart Cink, Darren Clarke and Mike Weir ripped their drives (and, in Clarke’s case, cracked wise) at the opener. Out on the course, even better sightlines were available; whereas at a Ryder Cup, you need to elbow for space and get four or five holes ahead of a group for a decent vantage point, at the World Champions Cup, you can get so close to tees and greens that you can hear the players’ banter. (Yes, that was Jerry Kelly at the par-5 5th, razzing his partner, Steve Flesch, for an awkward bathroom encounter Flesch had had on the walk to the tee.)

The World Champions Cup’s format is also a long way from that of the Ryder or President Cup. To begin with, there are three teams in the mix, which complicates the scoring; traditional head-to-head match play doesn’t work.

When Jacobsen conceived of the event with his co-founder, Intrasport chief Charlie Besser, Jake said the two men “locked themselves into a room with reams of papers” to concoct a scoring system. What they settled on was a stroke-play format that is contested across 24 nine-hole groupings and includes both team and singles play.

On the first two days of the three-day event, the players compete in six-balls (i.e., best ball scoring with three pairings in each group) and Scotch Sixsomes (which is a modified version of alternate shot). In both of those formats, according to the official rules, “The team with the lowest score on a hole will receive two points. The team with the second lowest score on a hole will receive one point. The team with the highest score will receive no points. Whenever teams finish with the same score on a hole, those teams will be awarded the same number of points.” On Sunday, the event will wrap with six singles matches with scoring that follows that of the team formats. All in all, there are a total of 648 points up for grabs. At the inaugural event, in 2023, the U.S. won in a nail-biter, collecting a total of 221 points, which, amazingly, was just two more than the International side’s haul.

You still with us?! If not, you’re not alone.

“Two years ago, I had a bunch of players say to me, ‘I don’t get the format,’” Jacbosen told me. “All I could said to them was, ‘Once you play the first hole, you’ll get it.’ And then they all came in afterward and said, ‘Oh, ok, yeah, I get it.’”

If six players and their caddies on a hole sounds like a crowd, it is, especially when they’re collectively bunched around a tee box or pacing a green. Simply keeping track of who has the honor can be a chore — unless you were Stewart Cink on Thursday morning. In his opening six-ball match, Cink found himself in the unenviable and “tedious” position of hitting last on every hole. “We didn’t win any holes outright,” he told me after he and Jason Caron picked up 7 points in their match against Darren Clarke and Thomas Bjorn (Europe), and Steven Alker and Mike Weir (International). “So I hit sixth for nine straight holes and three straight hours.”

That bit of ignominy aside, Cink said that he likes six ball, because with so many balls in play, “there’s always going to an action moment on hole, good or bad.”

Jerry Kelly, who won 6 points with Flesch on Thursday morning, sounded like he was less well suited for a format that requires the patience of a schoolteacher. Kelly, who has a reputation for playing quickly, said he started getting antsy . . . on the first tee. “After the fifth guy,” he told me, “I totally quick-stepped him off the tee.”

12’s a crowd: a six-ball match at the World Champions Cup on Thursday.

Alan Bastable

Kelly said the heavy traffic on the greens was a challenge, too. “It’s tough stepping around everyone’s mark, and just about everybody stepped on a mark,” he said. “Really a bit of cluster in your mind, and you kind of don’t focus on your game as much as you normally do, because you’re always trying to get out of someone’s way or trying to figure out when it’s your turn to hit. Takes you a little more out of your game.”

Steve Stricker, who with his partner Justin Lenard earned only 5.5 points in their morning session before they bounced back to a 9.5-point tally in the afternoon, said the key to sixsome golf is giving yourself mental breaks when play slows down — and it will slow down: the nine-hole morning sessions all took three-plus hours. “You gotta just go away and get into another zone for a minute and not pay attention,” Stricker told me.

As the afternoon matches made their way to the final hole, a par-4 with water short and right of the green and a box seating behind it, the crowds were bigger and livelier than they had been at the opening tee shots. Three women in star-spangled caps stood near the green angling for a view around a couple of camera operators and photographers, while up in the stands, where bartenders were pouring drinks, fans mustered a short-lived U-S-A! chant.

But, really, it was the blue-and-gold that deserved the cheers. When Justin Leonard holed the day’s final putt, a 5-footer for par, Europe had opened up a 4.5-point over both its opponents. Maybe this event isn’t so different from a Ryder Cup after all.

Jim Ross will be in attendance when AEW comes to his home state of Oklahoma next month.

The Wednesday, January 7 episode of AEW Dynamite is set to be held at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. On the latest episode of his Grilling JR podcast, Ross confirmed that he will be in the building for the Dynamite show. He did not reveal whether he would be doing any commentary that night.

“Yeah, I’ll be there. I’ll be in Tulsa,” Ross said. “And you can too if you buy a ticket. That’s the thing about it, get yourself a ticket and come join us. It’ll be a hell of a show. Just out of old times sake and tradition and all that good stuff. It’ll be a night you don’t want to miss. It’ll be a special night. And I’m sure that Tony Khan will put together a hell of a show, no doubt about it in my mind.”

Ross’ role in AEW is to provide commentary at pay-per-view events. He signed a new one-year contract this summer to continue in that position but has been absent at PPVs of late. Ross noted last month that he’s feeling better than he has in a long time and will make his AEW return in the next few weeks. He traveled to Winston-Salem, North Carolina last week for an appearance at the WrestleCade convention.

Oklahoma is where Ross lives full-time once again after recently selling the condo that he owned in Jacksonville. He’ll be celebrating his 74th birthday on January 3.

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Joseph Currier

Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.

In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated’s wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.

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Seth Rollins may be sidelined with a torn rotator cuff, but the Visionary just confirmed he wonâ€t miss one of the biggest WWE events in history—John Cenaâ€s final match.

Rollins, whoâ€s currently out of action, revealed during an interview on The Rich Eisen Show that his travel plans include a stop in Washington, D.C. for WWEâ€s Saturday Nightâ€s Main Event on December 13, 2025, where Cena is scheduled to wrestle his retirement bout at the Capital One Arena.

While talking about his Chicago Bears fandom, Rollins casually dropped the news when explaining his weekend itinerary.

“So, also breaking news. Iâ€m going to go to my first Bears game of the season coming up.â€

When asked which game, he added:

“Cleveland. The Cleveland game.â€

And then came the Cena mention:

“And then Iâ€m going to the Packers game. Iâ€ve got to—John Cena is—yeah, weâ€re going to do some traveling. Weâ€re going to stop through Chicago for the Cleveland game just because we have a nice little route back from D.C. after John Cenaâ€s last match.â€

That places Rollins at Cenaâ€s final match just one day before the Bears host the Browns at Soldier Field. While itâ€s not a confirmation of an on-screen return, itâ€s clear Rollins wonâ€t miss this historic send-off.

In a separate interview on Somethingâ€s Burning, the former World Heavyweight Champion gave fans a timeline for his return—and WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas is firmly in his sights. The two-night mega show is set for April 18 and 19, 2026, and Rollins says heâ€s targeting a February return to start “locking in†ahead of WWEâ€s biggest event.

“Uh, gosh — itâ€ll probably be gradual. I donâ€t even really know. My guess is about 8 to 12 weeks of, ‘Okay, now I have to stop eating like an a***.†Probably 12 weeks. Plus, weâ€ll be moving right into WrestleMania season, which is when I — you know — 12-day weeks. April. Yeah. Yeah, thatâ€s April. So Iâ€m hoping like around February, after all the holiday stuff, I can start to be like, ‘Okay, lock in. No more BS.†Probably after the Super Bowl and stuff, I would say. Like give myself a month before I come back-ish. Maybe — I donâ€t even know. You know, they say six months, so this could be April.â€

For now, the WWE Universe can expect to see him in D.C. as part of Cenaâ€s final chapter—one legend saying goodbye while another gears up for a major comeback.

Are you hoping to see Seth Rollins return in time for WrestleMania 42? Do you think heâ€ll make an appearance during John Cenaâ€s final match? Drop your predictions in the comments and let us know what you think.

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.

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CLEARWATER, Fla. — You would be forgiven for thinking that Tiger Woods’s much-anticipated press conference at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas was the most captivating golf happening on this Tuesday in December. It was not. The most entertaining action unfolded in a carpeted conference room at Feather Sound Country Club, here on Florida’s west coast, where eight of European golf’s leading lights from the past three-plus decades presided at a dais and joyfully held court in the prelude to the Skechers World Champions Cup.

The World Champions Cup is a relative newcomer to the professional golf calendar, a three-team (U.S, Europe and rest of the world), three-day contest for the 50-and-older set that is essentially a mashup of the Ryder and President Cups, albeit with a different fomat (sixballs and scotch sixsomes!) and a more complicated scoring system. In 2023, the Americans won the inaugural playing in nail-biting fashion with 221 points, while last year’s event was nixed on account of inclement weather. That brings us to the 2025 edition, where, in the all-important Team Vibes category, Europe — no surprise — has jumped out to a commanding lead.

Here was Darren Clarke, Europe’s playing-captain, cackling as he entered his team’s Tuesday-morning session with reporters; there was one of Clarke’s five playing teammates, the pony-tailed Spaniard, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, wearing the European flag like a cape; and, look, is that 55-year-old Alex Cejka with his hat spun around backward?! As Colin Montgomerie, who is 62, clambered up to the stage, his teammates jokingly groaned, then celebrated when Monty successfully arrived at the summit. This wasn’t a winner’s press conference, but it sure felt like one.

Filling out Clarke’s team are Thomas Bjorn and Bernhard Langer, along with vice captains Soren Kjeldsen and Jesper Parnevik, who used the occasion of his opening remarks to reveal: “I have made all the mistakes I can make this week. I got lost driving here. I couldn’t find the 1st tee in Sunday’s match with Darren. I couldn’t find the 10th tee yesterday. And I just today figured out how to work the shower in the hotel.”

Parnevik wasn’t the only player perplexed by the plumbing. When Montgomerie’s turn came for an opening statement, he said, “I’d just like to start by asking Jesper how the shower actually does work? I haven’t quite found out, and I’ve been here three days, Christ.”

And so it went. Cracks, quips, barbs, laughs.

When Clarke mistakenly said that his team would be ready to play when the matches begin Friday, Parnevik quickly corrected his captain, deadpanning, “I think we’re starting Thursday.”

“Yeah, Thursday,” Clarke said, laughing. “Yeah, when Thursday comes along, we are here to try to win this week, make no mistake. We want to do ourselves probably a little better than we did last time and get ourselves right in the mix.”

Clarke wasn’t just paying lip service. The guys aren’t here this week only for giggles. Last time around — at The Concession Golf Club, an hour’s drive south of here — the event came down to a Sunday clash between the U.S. and International sides. The Internationals had control of their own destiny, but then both Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen dumped their approach shots into a penalty area on the final hole, essentially handing the title to the U.S. “Kind of like throwing a Hail Mary touchdown in the last 10 seconds and then getting the onside kick and kicking a field goal,” Peter Jacobsen, the World Champions Cup tournament chairman, told me Tuesday. “We were in shock.”

As the Americans celebrated, the other teams’ skippers — Clarke and Ernie Els — stewed.

What Tiger Woods means when he hints at sweeping PGA Tour changes

By:

James Colgan

“Darren was pissed, and Ernie was pissed. So pissed,” Jacobsen said. “Because it means so much. There’s no age limit on competitive desire. Whether you’re 7 or 57, it doesn’t matter.”

This week, the U.S. playing-captain is Jim Furyk; his team is comprised of Stewart Cink, Jerry Kelly, Justin Leonard, Steve Stricker and Jason Caron, and vice captains Steve Flesch and Billy Andrade. International playing-captain Mike Weir will tee it up alongside Angel Cabrera, K.J. Choi, Steve Alker, Y.E. Yang and Mark Hensby; Weir’s assistants are Charlie Wi and Ricardo Gonzalez.

The Americans haven’t been letting the Europeans have all the fun. On Monday night, the U.S. team members sounded like they stayed up past their bedtimes. “Too many drinks probably to start the week off,” Stricker said. “That’s the way we ended two years ago, and we had a ball.”

Added Justin Leonard: “Need some electrolytes, please.”

However you feel about “Silly Season” events in the window between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s hard not to appreciate the assemblage of global talent that took the dais here Tuesday morning. For golf fans of a certain era, Feather Sound this week feels a little bit like one of those baseball fantasy camps that populate this area of Florida. But instead of World Series winners, you get major champions. Wander the property and you might spot Y.E. Yang, who famously upset Tiger Woods at the 2009 PGA Championship; or a Masters champion such as Mike Weir or Angel Cabrera; or an ageless wonder like 68-year-old Bernhard Langer.

On Tuesday afternoon, Montgomerie had just finished a nine-hole practice round when Langer’s tugged approach into the 9th green nearly doinked Monty on the head.

You couldn’t have blamed Montgomerie for being salty, but instead he quickly laughed it off. There’s a lot of that on this team.

“You would get that in a Ryder Cup setting, too” Montgomerie told me greenside. “We make fun of each other, take the mickey out of each other, take the piss out of each other. We leave our egos behind and all fight for each other.”

WWE filed a trademark for a premium live event name last used in 2020.

In 2016, Clash of Champions replaced Night of Champions (which had run from 2007 to 2015), and it is an event where every active WWE championship was defended. The premium live event was held four times in 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2020. After its last edition five years ago, Night of Champions was reinstated in 2023 and was held again this year in Saudi Arabia.

The event originated from WCW’s Clash of the Champions, which began in Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988 and was continued by the National Wrestling Alliance until WCW took over in 1991, holding it until 1997.

Now, WWE could potentially bring back the Clash of Champions event after filing a trademark in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The Stamford-based promotion is the principal owner and has amended the goods and services, which can be seen below:

“Cardboard and paper hangtags; packaging, namely blister cards; paper for wrapping and packaging; collector albums for sticker collectables; stickers; sticker albums; collectable photos; photo albums; photographs; framed pictures; labels, namely printed paper labels; folders; paper place mats, paper table mats, paper napkins; paper tablecloths; paper table linens; paper lunch bags; postcards; greeting cards; pictures; calendars; posters; decals; temporary tattoo transfers; trading cards; brochures, magazines and newspapers concerning sports entertainment; coloring books;

children’s activity books; souvenir programs concerning sports entertainment; books concerning sports entertainment; books featuring pictorial biographies; comic books; picture books; book covers; paper book markers; notebooks; memo pads; note pads; date books; address books; agenda books; markers; pens; pencils; pencil sharpeners; pencil cases; rubber stamps; stamp pads; chalks; paper banners; printed paper signs for doors; drawing rulers; erasers, rubber erasers, chalk erasers, blackboard erasers; bumper stickers; window decals; lithographs; paper party bags; paper party favors; stencils for tracing designs onto paper; paper gift wrap; paper cake decorations; paper; stationery; indoor ornaments of paper.”

âš¡: Drew McIntyre vs Randy Orton – Ambulance Match

🎥: WWE Clash of Champions (2020)

🎧: Creature – Jelly Roll, Tech N9ne, & Krizz Kaliko pic.twitter.com/jqSwedVbW9

— ðŸƒðŸ (@TheUndisputedJB) September 30, 2024

What Happened Last Time At WWE Clash of Champions 2020?

The Stamford-based promotion last held the Clash of Champions Premium Live Event on September 27, 2020, at the WWE ThunderDome in Orlando, Florida, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the event, eight titles were put on the line. Seven of them were retained, while Sami Zayn became the undisputed Intercontinental Champion, defeating Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles.

5 years ago today,

Roman Reigns (c) vs Jey Uso

WWE Universal Championship

Clash Of Champions 2020. pic.twitter.com/jkKK2TFHKG

— WrestleSeek (@WrestleSeek) September 27, 2025

Meanwhile, Roman Reigns, Drew McIntyre, the Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins), Bobby Lashley, Asuka, Bayley, and Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura retained their WWE Universal, WWE RAW Tag Team, United States, RAW Women’s, SmackDown Women’s, and SmackDown Tag Team Championships, respectively.

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December 2, 2025 | Alan Lane

The final Ping Aspire event of the season brought together an enthusiastic and diverse group of players at Kintbury Table Tennis Club, rounding off the series with a day full of competitive matches, new connections and outstanding sportsmanship. The welcoming atmosphere at Kintbury TTC helped set the tone for an event that celebrated improvement, determination and the spirit of community table tennis.

A special acknowledgement goes to Bribar, the series sponsors, whose continued support has enabled the Aspire programme to thrive. Their commitment to providing quality equipment and backing grassroots development has been central to the success of the series. Thanks also to Kintbury Table Tennis Club for hosting the finale and for creating an environment where every player felt valued and ready to perform.

One of the distinguishing features of this event was the breadth of ages, experiences and playing levels represented. From developing juniors to seasoned adults, the mix of competitors demonstrated the inclusive nature of the Aspire ethos. The morning grading sessions allowed players to compete in a structured assessment format, helping organisers place everyone into appropriate tables for the afternoon. This thoughtful approach ensured closely matched contests throughout the second half of the day, with many matches going the distance and generating a fantastic atmosphere around the hall.

When the final points were played and the results tallied, three table winners emerged from the afternoon session. Congratulations to Filip Zmuda, who topped Table 1 with impressive consistency and composure. Mark Laker secured the Table 2 victory with a strong display of tactical awareness, while Bradley Harris claimed the Table 3 title following an afternoon of determined and energetic performances. Each of the winners exemplified the competitive spirit and progress that the Aspire series aims to nurture.

As we reflect on a successful series and a memorable finale, attention now turns to the future. There is growing interest across the region from clubs keen to provide more opportunities for player development.

Any club interested in hosting a future Ping Aspire event is encouraged to get in touch to discuss how to get involved. Hosting is a rewarding way to bring your table tennis community together, engage new players and support the development pathway.

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An incident occurred at a C4 Wrestling event in Ottawa on Friday.

The independent promotion was holding its 18th Anniversary show at the Preston Events Center when two people entered the ring and attempted to assault the referee before the main event. The men were subdued and ejected from the building. However, they attempted to re-enter and a second scuffle occurred.

A fan in attendance posted their personal account of what happened to Reddit on Monday:

“Just prior to the main event, after the Referee was introduced, two large males jumped into the ring and attempted to assault the Ref with punches.
Security was quick to intervene and was able to grab them before they could actually land a punch.
Security did there best to subdue the assailants and get them out of the Event Centre venue. There were punches thrown throughout the process from both sides but the secruity seemed to be doing it through self-defence. Once the men were thrown out they tried to come back in and another scrum ensued until they were finally cast out for good.
After some recuperation time and checking everyone was okay, the show continued with a standing ovation of support for the Ref and staff. The Ref was shaken but contiuned working.”

The author of the post later added that it seemed as though the crowd, at first, thought it was part of the show as the two men were wearing similar clothing.

The post continues:

“The crowd was confused intially thinking it was part of the story line. The two men were wearing similar outfits (grey shirt, caps, jeans) and some thought it was a tag team or something similar but soon realized it was not.”

“The Ref seemed okay and was visibly shaken by the experience. The Wrestlers made sure that he was recognized before the match started.”

John Pollock of Post Wrestlingspoke with C4 owner Mark Pollesel, who stated that security overheard two fans discussing rushing the ring, and that the C4 team subdued them when they did so. He said that while punches were thrown, it does not appear anyone from either side was hurt. Pollesel says he got into a shouting match with the two men when they attempted to claim their actions were part of the show.

Pollesel was quoted as saying:

“The incident as a whole is absolutely not something that ever happens at our shows. I can count on one hand how many times fans have gotten into the ring or confronted talents on one hand in 18 years.  I absolutely hate that this all happened. The group that jumped in the ring was absolutely not regular fans, and not representative of our community.  Something we are incredibly proud of is that we have an awesome, inclusive, and welcoming crowd.  I just hate that anybody would try to cause problems on our anniversary like thatâ€.

Capital City Championship Combat, aka C4, was created in 2007 and typically runs monthly shows in Ottawa. The promotion teamed with Evil Uno’s Mystery Wrestling earlier this year for the World’s Longest Match fundraiser in August.

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Ian Carey

Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.

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December 1, 2025 | Paul Stimpson

In recent months we have undergone a robust consultation on Table Tennis England’s current draft Transgender Inclusion Policy on gender eligibility within our sport, including consultation with multiple stakeholder groups and inviting feedback and lived experience on this topic.

The policy is expected to be finalised and released in early 2026 and will be implemented for the 2026/27 season.

The policy on gender eligibility will include the eligibility criteria for ‘Open†and ‘Womenâ€s†gender categories for TTE-regulated competition at nationally ranked level. This aligns with the general approach being adopted across the wider sporting landscape.

Full details and guidance documents will be published alongside the policy in due course.

Because of the introduction of the gender eligibility terminology, there is the potential for confusion with the existing terminology used in competition event formats.

Therefore, we are launching one further round of consultation related to the terminology used in competition event formats, which indicate whether entry to a regulated event is restricted to specific groups or available to all eligible players. These are currently Open, Invitation and Closed.

It is proposed to change the existing names for competition event formats from ‘Openâ€, ‘Invitation†and ‘Closed†to ‘All-Comersâ€, ‘Invitation†and ‘Closedâ€. This will allow ‘Open’ to instead be used within gender eligibility categories. All-Comers has been chosen as it is a term in widespread use in the sporting landscape and is well understood in this context.

The definitions of these competition event formats will remain unchanged:

• ‘All-Comers†will refer to a competition that can be entered by any individual affiliated to TTE, including reciprocal affiliations (members of other home countries) and visiting players (members of other ITTF associations). This includes 1*/2*/4* Tournaments.
• ‘Invitation†will continue to refer to a nationally authorised tournament which complies with all the regulations for an ‘All Comers†Tournament, except that it is not open to every Affiliated Member. This includes National Championships, National Series and National Cups.
• ‘Closed†will continue to refer to competitions that are authorised and regulated by a TTE affiliated organisation (county, club or league) and restricted to its bona fide membership.

To take part in the consultation around the new event formats naming convention, please click here. The closing date is Wednesday 10 December at 8pm.

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