AEW Dynamite Grand Slam will air live tonight on TBS from Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York.
Randy Orton has been spotted at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, FL in recent weeks.
According to a report from Pwinsider, numerous people training at the Performance Center have seen Orton at the facility over the past few weeks. The Viper has been spotted in the building and is often seen working out in the gym at the facility.
It’s worth noting that as of August, Orton had not been cleared for a return.
Finally, it was added that WWE has a very strict rule that talent who are returning have to work out in some capacity. As of this writing, there is no word on when Randy Orton will be making his return to WWE television. Of course, it’s obviously a good sign to see that he’s back at the Performance Center and beginning to work out again.
Source: eWn
Tonight’s WWE NXT Live from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center on the USA Network:
Some late changes were made to the lineup for tonight’s episode of “WWE Raw.”
According to PWInsider, Tegan Nox was originally set to answer the open challenge issued by the new “NXT” Women’s Champion, Becky Lynch. However, at some point before the show, Nox was pulled from the title match and replaced by Natalya, who has reportedly earned plenty of praise backstage following her involvement in the Superstar Spectacle in India.
The segment started with Lynch coming out and cutting a promo about how important the belt is to her and revealing that she would also be live on “NXT” tomorrow night with the belt. Natalya eventually came out, calling Lynch a “hypocritical ginger witch” and answering the challenge. The 15-year veteran ended up losing the match to Lynch, getting rolled up by the new champion following a back-and-forth match.
Getting back to Nox, she was relegated to a match against Xia Li that was recorded for “WWE Main Event.”
Another key change to tonight’s episode, according to PWInsider, was to push the match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Ricochet deeper into the show. The reported reasoning behind this was a desire by WWE officials to position more star power later in the episode, namely WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, who was involved in segments before and after the Nakamura-Ricocet match.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
The XFL, owned by Dani Garcia, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital may merge with the USFL.
The XFL was purchased by Garcia, Johnson, and RedBird Capital in 2021 after Vince McMahon shut down the league due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league made a deal with Disney to broadcast games on ESPN, FX, and ABC.
The inaugural season took place earlier this year, with the Arlington Renegades winning the championship.
Axios.com reports that the XFL is in advanced talks to merge with the USFL, with a 50/50 merger and games broadcast on FOX and Disney-owned stations. Sportico also reports the two leagues are in talks.
It’s been just over two weeks since AEW owner and CEO Tony Khan publicly announced that CM Punk had been fired by the company, “with cause,” due to a backstage incident involving Punk and Jack Perry during All In at London’s Wembley Stadium one week earlier. Despite initial reports that Punk might issue an “explosive response,” to being let go, he has since stayed silent on anything to do with the subject. That silence ended last night, at least somewhat. Punk returned to his occasional gig of doing color commentary for Caged Fury Fighting Championships on Friday, and he and broadcast partner John Morgan made several clear references to the incident at All In.
First, Morgan introduced Punk by saying “look who I ran into backstage,” and adding that Punk was back on commentary “with cause.” Later in the broadcast, Punk suggested the commentary team do a post-fight show, to which he was asked by another colleague if he had time on his hands, and Punk responded “yeah, I got some time on my hands, for the next two months.” At one point, Morgan also playfully mentioned that he and Punk had some things to discuss, and Punk replied with “what do you wanna talk about,” in an equally playful manner.
Nothing is known publicly about whether or not Punk has a noncompete clause with AEW following his firing that would prevent him from working for WWE or any other wrestling company for a certain period of time. That said, Punk’s comment about having two months on his hands has unsurprisingly already led to rampant fan speculation that after that time, he will be free to return to wrestling. Furthering that speculation is the fact that in just over two months, WWE is in Chicago for Survivor Series, although knowing Punk’s penchant for messing with the internet, he may well just be trolling fans on purpose.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE Raw airs live tonight on the USA Network, from the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, UT.
Jade Cargill is expected to begin training at WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando, following reports that she is joining the promotion.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the former TBS Champion was ‘finishing up’ her time with AEW with sources in both promotions believing that she is WWE-bound.
Pwinsider is reporting that it is believed that Cargill’s AEW contract has now expired and she is expected to head to WWE’s training facility in Orlando, Florida this week.
Cargill competed on this week’s episode of AEW Rampage, where she lost to current TBS Champion Kris Statlander and the pair shared a sign of respect after the match.
Sources in WWE believe that Cargill will go straight to the main roster rather than spend time in WWE’s developmental program, NXT.
Cargill is the third AEW name to make the move to WWE, following Cody Rhodes & Brian Pillman Jr., though the latter has yet to appear on WWE programming.
Source: eWn
Former WWE Superstar & Impact Knockout Cassie Lee will be making her return to the ring next month in her native Australia.
On her Instagram Stories, Lee revealed that she will be part of World Series Wrestling’s ‘Full Throttle’ tour that will see her appear in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane & Sydney.
Lee has not competed since April 2022, when she and Jessica McKay lost to Madison Rayne & Tenille Dashwood on the Impact Rebellion kickoff show.
In August 2022, Lee and her husband Shawn Spears announced they were expecting their first child and would welcome their son Austin Jay in January 2023.
PWInsider is now reporting that Friday’s WWE layoffs have concluded, with Dana Warrior along with more than 100 employees fired. None of the layoffs were talent and talent releases were never scheduled for Friday. Breaking down the firings in totality, PWInsider reports that WWE’s Insights & Analytics team was cut from at least 20 employees down to three, and that the Marketing, Graphic Design and Live Events department was also impacted. In an email, WWE President Nick Khan reportedly informed employees based out of Stamford, Connecticut, that there would be a staff meeting at the new WWE headquarters Tuesday morning, and confirmed the conclusion of the layoffs.
More layoffs have been announced following WWE’s merger with UFC after Endeavor’s acquisition of the company, resulting in the creation of TKO Group Holdings. According to PWInsider, one of the more surprising layoffs included Dana Warrior, the wife of late WWE Hall of Famer Ultimate Warrior. She worked in creative from 2019 to 2022, and more recently was working with the company’s community outreach department.
PWInsider reported Friday’s layoffs included WWE’s Digital Campaign Manager, Alexa Gotthardt, who announced her departure on LinkedIn, and several members of the company’s marketing department, with Brand Director Kimberly Kirkegard and Affiliate Marketing Manager Saverio Brighina both gone. A higher-ranked official — Andy Levine, WWE Vice President, International and Platform Strategy — was also let go. Levine worked for the company since 2018 and wore multiple hats within WWE, including overseeing international social and digital strategy and working alongside other departments like marketing, programming, content operations, business planning, and many more. Other layoffs on Friday included WWE’s Executive Vice President of Development and Digital Jamie Horowitz, Executive Vice President and Head of Marketing Catherine Newman, and Director of Enterprise Master Data & Governance Amanda Bloom.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
