Author: John Bass

WWE Announces New Dates For Cancelled RAW Weekend Tour, Possible Reason For Cancellation

As previously reported, WWE cancelled an upcoming RAW weekend tour later this month, with shows scheduled in Louisiana and Alabama. WWE has confirmed that the events that weekend have been postponed, below are the new dates:

* Friday, August 23 in Bossier City, Louisiana postponed to Sunday, March 22, 2020.

* Saturday, August 24 in Lafayette, Louisiana postponed to Friday, January 17, 2020.

* Sunday, August 25 in Mobile, Alabama postponed to Thursday, March 19, 2020.

WWE will be presenting SmackDown live events in South America that weekend with shows in Lima, Peru on Saturday, August 24th and Panama City, Panama the following night. WWE added several RAW stars to those events this week, so the cancellations may just be to strengthen those shows. RAW stars AJ Styles, Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, Samoa Joe, Sami Zayn and Rey Mysterio are scheduled for those shows in South America. SmackDown talent booked for those events include WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, Charlotte Flair, Randy Orton, Kevin Owens and Andrade, amongst others.

As noted, PWInsider reported that WWE also cancelled RAW live events on Friday, August 30 in Bangor, Maine and on Saturday, August 31 in Portland, Maine. It should be noted that there were no SmackDown live events scheduled that weekend.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

News On WWE King Of The Ring Tournament Plans

Next Monday’s WWE RAW from St. Paul, Minnesota will feature the return of the King of the Ring tournament. The rest of the competition will play out over the next few weeks.

The finals of the KOTR tournament will take place at the WWE Clash of Champions pay-per-view on September 15 from the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to Dave Meltzer of F4Wonline.com. The tournament matches will be held on both RAW and SmackDown until the finals are determined. WWE should be announcing the KOTR brackets soon.

The sixteen-man tournament will feature 8 Superstars from RAW and 8 Superstars from SmackDown – the red brand will be represented by Baron Corbin, Cesaro, Cedric Alexander, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe, and The Miz. The blue brand will be represented by Ali, Andrade, Apollo Crews, Buddy Murphy, Chad Gable, WWE 24/7 Champion Elias, Kevin Owens, and Shelton Benjamin.

The last KOTR tournament took place in April 2015, and was won by Bad News Barrett. Before that the last tournament was held in November 2010, won by Sheamus.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Roman Reigns Signs New Multi-Year WWE Contract

Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that Roman Reigns recently signed a new WWE contract.

According to their sources, Reigns signed on the dotted line last month for a deal that will keep him with WWE for at least a few more years — though the exact length is unclear.

Roman returned to WWE programming in February and announced his leukemia had gone into remission. After a reunion with The Shield, Reigns once again began competing in singles action by facing-off against Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 35.

Reigns is currently in the midst of a whodunnit angle playing out on WWE TV and is scheduled to wrestle against Buddy Murphy on SmackDown tonight to further the storyline. He’s also in the #1 movie in America — “Hobbs and Shaw” — and on the cover of WWE2K20 alongside Becky Lynch.

WWE Cancels Several RAW Live Events, No SmackDown Monday Live Events Scheduled

WWE has canceled 5 upcoming RAW live events, according to PWInsider. The following events have been nixed:

* Friday, August 23 in Bossier City, Louisiana
* Saturday, August 24 in Lafayette, Louisiana
* Sunday, August 25 in Mobile, Alabama
* Friday, August 30 in Bangor, Maine
* Saturday, August 31 in Portland, Maine

The RAW live event scheduled for Sunday, September 1 in White Plains, New York is still on the schedule, at least as of this writing.

In another interesting note on WWE live events, there are currently no more Monday SmackDown live events on the schedule. As noted, once SmackDown moves to FOX in October, the SmackDown brand is expected to be touring from Thursday – Sunday while the RAW brand will stick to Friday – Monday.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE SmackDown Live Preview 8/13/19

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown and WWE 205 Live episodes will take place from the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with more fallout from Sunday night’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view.

* Roman Reigns to clash with Buddy Murphy tonight on SmackDown LIVE

* Will Randy Orton respond to Kofi Kingston’s Kendo stick attack?

* What’s next for Kevin Owens?

* Who will step up to Bayley next?

Bray Wyatt Comments On New Theme, WWE Edits Out Wyatt’s Head Lantern

WWE re-posted Bray Wyatt’s SummerSlam entrance as The Fiend and edited out a part where he used a Wyatt head as the lantern holder. The original video featured an up-close shot of the head.

Wyatt debuted “The Fiend” at SummerSlam on Sunday night and defeated Finn Balor. This was one of the most-talked about happenings coming out of the pay-per-view, and received a “that was awesome!” chant from fans in the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Social media indicates mostly positive feedback to the entire presentation, from entrance to post-match exit.

WWE previously released Wyatt’s TitanTron entrance video on YouTube but deleted it after it was online for about an hour on Monday. They have not re-posted the video as of this writing.

“The Fiend” is also drawing big for WWE’s YouTube channel. As of this writing, the re-posted video of Wyatt’s SummerSlam entrance has 2.356 million viewers while a clip from the Wyatt vs. Balor match has 915,332 views.

To compare, a clip from Randy Orton vs. WWE Champion Kofi Kingston has 637,000 views while footage from Brock Lesnar vs. WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins has 3.2 million views, Charlotte Flair vs. WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus has 337,000 views, and Dolph Ziggler vs. WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg has 1.7 million views.

Hardcore punk band Code Orange scored the new theme song for Wyatt. This “Let Me In” song was their remix/cover of Mark Crozer’s “Live In Fear” single. The band wrote on Twitter, “LET. HIM. IN. @WWEBrayWyatt proud to set the tone for THE FIEND from here on out. #HURT #HEAL”

Wyatt then gave the band props on Twitter, writing, “Big props to @codeorangetoth For successfully creating a soundtrack to the technicolor pit that is my mind. Damn it feels good to be a Gangsta #YowieWowie”

Code Orange previously played Aleister Black’s “Root of All Evil” entrance at the WWE NXT“Takeover: Brooklyn III” event in 2017, before Black’s win over Hideo Itami. Their “Bleeding In the Blur” single was used as the Takeover theme song that night, and the event opened with a live performance by the band.

https://twitter.com/codeorangetoth/status/1160733724163694592

Sasha Banks Returns On WWE RAW And Turns Heel

Sasha Banks made her long-awaited return to WWE TV on tonight’s post-SummerSlam edition of RAW.

Banks returned during a segment where Natalya was talking about it being one year since her father passed away, WWE Hall of Famer Jim Neidhart. Banks hugged Natalya but then turned and dropped her with a right hand. Banks took off her purple wig and revealed new blue hair, then proceeded to destroy Natalya until RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch ran down to make the save.

Lynch and Banks then brawled until Banks got the upperhand. The beatdown to Lynch involved several steel chair shots, tossing her into the barrier and the steel steps, among others. Fans chanted “thank you Sasha!” and “this is awesome!” at times. Banks left Lynch laying and then walked to the back.

Banks had been away since dropping the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania 35. There were reports on Banks being unhappy, and at one point it was rumored that she was looking to sit out for the remainder of her WWE contract. It was reported in late May that Banks had met with Vince McMahon and the situation was improving, and that she would be back in the ring this summer.

It looks like the attack to Natalya may have been done to write her off TV for a few weeks. Natalya earlier mentioned that she suffered a dislocated elbow in the SummerSlam Submission Match loss to Lynch, and said she was to undergo an MRI tomorrow.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE King Of The Ring Tournament Returning Next Week On Raw 8/19/19

The King of the Ring tournament will be returning on next week’s WWE RAW.

WWE has announced that next Monday’s RAW from the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota will feature the return of the KOTR tournament.

King of the Ring was an annual event from 1985-2002. After that the tournament happened either on Raw or WWE Network, with the most recent winners being Sheamus and Bad News Barrett.

The following was posted on wwe.com:

Don’t miss the return of the celebrated WWE King of the Ring tournament next Monday night on Raw, live at 8/7 C on USA Network.

Sixteen Superstars from Raw and SmackDown LIVE begin their quest to become in-ring royalty as the illustrious King of the Ring tournament returns next Monday night, live on Raw.

The winner of this intensely competitive tourney will join the likes of Harley Race, Bret “Hit Man” Hart, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Booker T, Kurt Angle, Triple H and Brock Lesnar as bearers of the King of the Ring crown.

The following Superstars have been confirmed to represent their respective brands in the tournament.

Raw

SmackDown LIVE

Don’t miss any of the action as the King of the Ring tournament kicks off next Monday night, live at 8/7 C on USA Network.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1161070386542288896

WWE RAW Preview 8/12/19

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with the fallout from last night’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view.

* Rollins once again slays The Beast

* The Miz and Dolph Ziggler to face off tonight

* What’s on tap next for The Man?

* Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross to defend the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships against The Kabuki Warriors on Raw

* Can The O.C. remain “Too Sweet” after SummerSlam?

WWE’s First Episode On Fox Will Celebrate 20th Anniversary Of SmackDown

WWE will celebrate the 20th anniversary of SmackDown in October during the company’s premiere episode on Fox — and the show will be loaded with legends.

The press release for SmackDown’s 20th anniversary celebration explains:

The 20th anniversary celebration will mark the premiere of SmackDown on FOX broadcast network at 8 pm ET and take place at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Friday, October 4, 2019. Tickets are available starting this Friday, August 16 at 10 am PT via the Staples Center box office, www.AXS.com or by calling 1-888-929-7849.

WWE Superstars past and present will be on hand at Staples Center to celebrate the occasion including Kurt Angle, Lita, Mick Foley, Booker T, Hulk Hogan, Trish Stratus, Goldberg, Jerry Lawler, Mark Henry, Ric Flair and Sting.

“SmackDown has been delivering action-packed, family-friendly programming for two decades, and we look forward to entertaining generations to come as we begin this next chapter on FOX,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman & CEO.

“Since we announced our five-year agreement last June, we have been eagerly counting down the days to the launch of SmackDown Live on FOX Sports,” said Eric Shanks, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Producer of FOX Sports. “We couldn’t be more excited and are pulling out all of the stops to commemorate SmackDown’s 20th anniversary celebration.”

In addition to these names, WWE is reportedly working on booking The Rock for the show as well. The Undertaker is featured on a graphic for the event, seen above.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet