Category: WWE

Reason Pat McAfee Missed Monday Night’s WWE Raw (Updated)

Pat McAfee missed last night’s WWE Raw due to a reported family emergency.

Raw took place in Indianapolis, where McAfee lives and hosts The Pat McAfee Show. Despite this, McAfee was absent from the commentary team. The Miz filled in briefly alongside Michael Cole, who handled most of the commentary alone.

According to PWTorch, McAfee’s absence was due to a “legitimate last-second family emergency.” McAfee has not yet commented publicly on the situation.

Speculation arose that the storyline might explain McAfee’s absence as being caused by the Wyatt Sicks. This group, which debuted on Raw last week, had caused disruptions on The Pat McAfee Show, leading some to connect the dots.

“My normal broadcast colleague Pat McAfee, not here tonight,” Cole announced at the start of Raw. “I’m not going to read too much into that.”

It’s unclear if McAfee’s absence will be integrated into the Wyatt Sicks storyline. During Raw, a mysterious box was delivered to the commentary desk, containing a VHS tape featuring Bo Dallas/Uncle Howdy talking about Bray Wyatt’s death.

After covering for McAfee, The Miz competed in the main event, where he and R-Truth lost the World Tag Team titles to Finn Balor and JD McDonagh of Judgment Day.

Source: WrestlingHeadlines

UPDATE

Yesterday on The Pat McAfee Show, Pat announced that his Father-In-Law had passed away.

“… Yesterday was a day that is obviously a day that will be remembered forever in our family because my father-in-law passed away unexpectedly after the [talk] show ended yesterday in a hospital here in Indianapolis, Indiana,” McAfee explained on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “He had been in the hospital fighting an infection, and on Friday, we were told that he was probably going to be discharged by Sunday. They had figured it out, and he was going to be okay. So we are all in high hopes with incredible optimism, and then yesterday, literally as the show is ending, my wife calls me and says that I have to get to the hospital because there had been an emergency.”

WWE RAW Preview 6/24/2024

Tonight’s WWE Raw come live on the USA Network from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.

  • Men’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Braun Strowman vs. Chad Gable vs. Bronson Reed
  • Women’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Lyra Valkyria vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane
  • Karrion Kross vs. Kofi Kingston
  • Bronson Reed vs. Ludwig Kaiser
  • Isla Dawn & Alba Fyre vs. Katana Chance & Kayden Carter
  • Will we see another creepy appearance from Uncle Howdy and his group The Wyatt Sick6

WWE Announces Host City For Royal Rumble 2025, Future SummerSlam & WrestleMania

Wrestling fans in Indianapolis, Indiana, will have plenty to look forward to in the coming years, as WWE is bringing three of its tentpole events to the city. According to a press release put out by the company and the Indiana Sports Corp on Monday morning, the 2025 Royal Rumble and future WrestleMania and SummerSlam shows will emanate from the city as part of a unique partnership.

The first event to hit Indianapolis will be next year’s Royal Rumble, which is scheduled to take place from the Lucas Oil Stadium. No dates have been confirmed for the other premium live events at the time of this writing, but everyone involved is excited about WWE bringing three of its biggest shows to the city.

“We are excited to bring this groundbreaking partnership to Indianapolis and our state,” said Patrick Talty, President of Indiana Sports Corp. “For over four decades, our city’s sports strategy has brought in millions of visitors and priceless hours of international brand-building media coverage. This partnership with WWE continues to push that strategy forward in new and exciting ways. We look forward to welcoming the WWE Universe to our community and state and showing them all that Indy has to offer.”

The company will host “Raw,” “SmackDown,” and “NXT” live events across Indiana in the forthcoming months, but no dates have been confirmed yet. Similarly, WWE and the Sport Corp plan on introducing a collaborative program that will ensure the city benefits from the partnership after the announced shows are over.

While some of the announced Indianapolis shows remain shrouded in secrecy, other cities are already bracing for WWE’s biggest events. WrestleMania 41 has been confirmed for Las Vegas and SummerSlam 2026 is scheduled to emanate from the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Jacob Fatu Makes Long-Awaited WWE Debut

The newest member of The Bloodline made his debut after the main event of “WWE SmackDown” on Friday, making a big impression after sending Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes through the announce desk with a big splash. Jacob Fatu made his debut to help his cousin, the new “Head of the Table” Solo Sikoa, against Rhodes, Randy Orton, and Kevin Owens following a match between Rhodes and Sikoa. 

Sikoa was set to face off against Rhodes with none of The Bloodline ringside, but Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa made their presence known shortly after the bell rang for the match, causing the disqualification. Orton and Owens ran down the ramp to help Rhodes against the stable, and all three men had Sikoa backed into a corner of the ring, where he started groveling to be spared before breaking his face broke into a grin. That’s when Fatu debuted, sneaking up behind Rhodes, Orton, and Owens, taking the latter two men out before beating down Rhodes. Fatu got him onto the announce desk and hit a big splash from the top rope of the ring, then got back into the ring and hugged Sikoa, and Fatu, Sikoa, Tonga, and Loa raised their “ones” in the middle of the ring as “SmackDown” went off the air.

Fatu, a former Major League Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion, revealed he had agreed to a deal with WWE over WrestleMania 40 weekend back in April. He had been a free agent for much of 2024.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Pat McAfee Addressed The Power Outage From Yesterday On Show Today.

Yesterday, “The Pat McAfee Show” welcomed on former U.S. Navy SEAL and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr as a special guest. Amidst the conversation, McAfee, Carr, and show staff turned their attention to some obscure, offstage phenomena, to which McAfee uttered, “What the f*** is that?” Upon Carr’s subsequent mention of security, all the lights switched off, causing the studio to be engulfed in complete darkness. Seconds later, the broadcast came to an abrupt end.

There is speculation that The Wyatt Sicks was behind the power outage.

Today on the show Pat McAfee addressed the situation from yesterday’s show.

“Good morning beautiful people.. At the end of yesterday’s show a startling and eery power outage took place in our ThunderDOME.. It shut down our progrum abruptly and left A LOT of folks worried and confused.. I, just like the rest of the boys, saw the assumptions of the Wyatt Sick6 being the culprits.. and that we might be dead. We were gonna address those rumors earlier but didn’t think anybody would ever understand without actually seeing what happened.. So, we gathered all of our Generator Powered security camera footage to explain.. And all we can say is..”

WWE Reportedly Close To Bringing 3 Major PLE’s To Indianapolis

F4WOnline and Fightful are reporting, per WrestleVotes that WWE is said to be close to announcing a multi-year deal that would bring three of its signature events to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

It is being said that WWE and the Indiana Sports Corp are close to an agreement that would bring a future WrestleMania, a future SummerSlam, and the 2025 Royal Rumble to Indiana as part of the multi-year agreement.

Indianapolis last hosted WrestleMania 8 back in 1992, and then hosted SummerSlam in 2008. Indiana has never hosted the Royal Rumble.

Lucas Oil Stadium is home to the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts since 2008. The venue has also hosted the NCAA Final Four back in 2021, Super Bowl XLVI, and the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship game.

https://twitter.com/WrestleVotes/status/1803893646757876222

Source: WrestleView

UPDATE

The Indianapolis Business Journal has provided some additional details on this prospective deal between WWE and Indiana Sports Corp., with the first being that it is likely to span at least seven years. Furthermore, this agreement would include several more events in addition to the aforementioned Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, and SummerSlam. Possible supplemental shows, such as “WWE SmackDown,” “WWE Raw,” non-televised live events, and smaller premium live events, would be held at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse, which is situated a six-minute car ride away from Lucas Oil Stadium.

IBJ also notes that the WWE- Indiana Sports Corp. welcomes the possibility for WWE to present shows in other nearby Indiana markets, such as Evansville and Fort Wayne. An official announcement on the deal is expected to take stage on next week’s episode of “Raw,” which emanates from Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Next week’s “Raw” is also slated to feature more Money in the Bank qualifying matches.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE SmackDown Preview 6/21/2024

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown live on FOX from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.

  • An appearance by CM Punk
  • Men’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Randy Orton vs. Tama Tonga vs. Carmelo Hayes
  • Men’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Kevin Owens vs. Andrade vs. Grayson Waller
  • Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes will respond to The Bloodline’s attack
  • LA Knight to confront Logan Paul
  • Will there be an appearance from the Wyatt Sick6

Video: Lights Go Out On Set Of The Pat McAfee Show, Seemingly At Hands Of Wyatt Sicks

The Wyatt Sicks made their chilling debut on this week’s episode of “WWE Raw” by laying out a path littered with incapacitated WWE officials and talents. Fresh off their introductory appearance, the quintet of Uncle Howdy, Nikki Cross, Dexter Lumis, Joe Gacy, and Erick Rowan now seems to be targeting “Raw” color commentator Pat McAfee.

On Thursday, “The Pat McAfee Show” welcomed on former U.S. Navy SEAL and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr as a special guest. Amidst the conversation, McAfee, Carr, and show staff turned their attention to some obscure, offstage phenomena, to which McAfee uttered, “What the f*** is that?” Upon Carr’s subsequent mention of security, all the lights switched off, causing the studio to be engulfed in complete darkness. Seconds later, the broadcast came to an abrupt end. While it’s unclear if the Wyatt Sicks are the forces behind the “The Pat McAfee Show” power outage, McAfee has been notably absent from social media since then.

The Wyatt Sicks’ arrival comes on the heels of a two-month long series of mysterious clues and QR codes teasing the introduction of a new “family” in WWE. Four of the five reported members were broken away from their previous “families” in storyline, while Uncle Howdy, portrayed by Bo Dallas, is the real-life brother of the late Bray Wyatt, whom the Wyatt Sicks are paying homage to. Looking ahead, the faction is expected to have a “widespread” effect on WWE programming, with a number of storylines reportedly set to be impacted. Based on the aforementioned events, it seems that Pat McAfee may have been one of the first figures, aside from a bloodied Chad Gable, to find themselves caught in the crossfire.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Injured WWE Star Charlotte Flair Provides Promising Update On Her Recovery

Charlotte Flair’s ACL, MCL, and meniscus injury wasn’t going to heal overnight, but after a series of optimistic reports from close confidantes and Flair herself, WWE fans have been waiting in cautious anticipation for the return of “The Queen.” Flair recently gave fans some more reason to hope for an imminent return, as she took to Instagram to post an injury update.

The video features Flair in a Biodex testing machine, furiously kicking her injured leg. “The Queen”‘s face is red, and her knuckles are white as she grips the seat’s handles to stabilize herself as she pushes herself to the limit.

Today marked Flair’s first Biodex test, specifically an isokinetic test. Isokinetic tests are considered one of the most objective ways to determine a moving muscle’s endurance, strength, and rate of force development, or how fast Flair can develop force in her surgical leg. According to Flair, she needed to be “in the 40% or less deficit” compared to her non-injured leg. Essentially, her injured leg’s strength needed to be no more than 40% less powerful than her non-injured leg in order to be considered on track for recovery. Flair excitedly shared that the deficit in her quad strength was “20% or less,” and that in some measurements, her injured leg was actually stronger than her non-injured leg. These hopeful statistics imply that her recovery is well ahead of schedule, and is going smoothly.

Flair ended the post by expressing an excitement to resume in-ring activity. Several WWE stars extended their good wishes to Flair, with Carmella posting several applause emojis and Dakota Kai expressing her support with some choice muscle emojis.

As of writing, Flair has been out of action for six months. “The Queen” could resume in-ring action in September 2024, at the absolute earliest. There have been no reported plans regarding Flair’s return from a creative standpoint at this time.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage Report On WWE’s Plans For NXT Debut On The CW

Late last year, WWE announced that their development show, “WWE NXT,” would be making the jump from USA Network to The CW Network. As the date of transfer looms over the heads of WWE’s newest stars, PWInsider Elite has offered more information regarding the nature and magnitude of this broadcast home transfer.

Starting October 1 at 8pm Eastern, fans can expect to tune into an episode of “NXT” filmed not within the walls of the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, but “on the road in a major arena.” “NXT’s” debut episode on The CW is expected to be a high-profile event, with one internal source comparing it to the hallowed “NXT” Takeovers of the past in terms of significance to the overall brand. The reported spectacle comes from WWE’s desire to impress The CW as the two companies begin working together.

There are several locations being discussed for the location of “NXT’s” new network debut. As of writing, the most significant argument has been made for a Chicago-based show, as the Windy City is home to one of the Nexstar Media Group’s headquarters — Nexstar Media Group is The CW’s current owner, and the group that verified the “NXT” deal. However, it should be noted that the location for the October 1 episode of “NXT” is still in discussion, and may change in the coming months. There is also no announced special theme or premium live event planned in October for the developmental brand as of writing.

The shift in “NXT”‘s broadcasting home comes from an earlier deal to move “WWE SmackDown” off of Fox and onto USA Network. Despite gaining the rights to WWE’s Friday-based show, USA Network and parent company NBCU failed to outbid Netflix, who is slated to assume the broadcasting rights for “WWE Raw,” and The CW.

Source: Wrestling Inc.