Category: WWE

WWE RAW Preview 12/4/2023

WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network from the MVP Arena in Albany, New York.

  • WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Jey Uso
  • Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn
  • Two Out of Three Falls: DIY (Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano) vs. Imperium (Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci)
  • Shayna Baszler vs. Nia Jax
  • Katana Chance & Kayden Carter vs. Tegan Nox & Natalya
  • The Creed Brothers (Brutus & Julius Creed) vs. Judgment Day’s Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh
  • Cody Rhodes to address Shinsuke Nakamura

Spike Dudley Makes In-Ring Return

Spike Dudley returned to the ring for the first time in eight years, competing at LIVE Pro Wrestling’s show this weekend.

Dudley hasn’t competed since 2015, and he stepped into the ring with Leon St. Giovanni at the indie event.

St. Giovanni later tweeted,

“I wrestled Spike Dudley tonight. Life is crazy.

Don’t worry about the footage. Trust me, I beat him senseless afterwards.

@LIVEpwevents”

https://twitter.com/LeonStGiovanni/status/1731514037773464045

Source: eWn

Backstage News On Randy Orton’s WWE Contract Status

Fightful Select is reporting that after being out of action from WWE for a year and a half before returning to WWE at Survivor Series last weekend, he might end up sticking around for longer than originally expected.

Orton was teasing free agency for the first time in 2019, before ultimately putting pen-to-paper on a new five-year WWE contract at a time when the company was mass-signing several talents to long-term deals. One particular WWE source noted he would be surprised if the company didn’t extend Orton’s current deal.

The original WWE contract for Orton was scheduled to last until the Fall of 2024, which would put him around one-year remaining. After missing nearly 18 months, there is a strong possibility that WWE could add “injury time” to the deal, which would keep him locked up by the company until 2026. Having said that, it is not a guarantee that this is how things will play out.

There have been similar situations in the past where talents were injured but didn’t have time added to their existing contracts because they worked in other roles, or in some other capacity that involved company-related projects or efforts. It is believed that the situation with Orton right now is not like those, however, and that it is ultimately up to the company as to whether or not they go the former route or the latter.

Source: Rajah.com

WWE SmackDown Preview 12/1/2023

WWE SmackDown will air live tonight on FOX from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

  • Fallout From Survivor Series
  • Randy Orton to appear
  • WWE United States Champion Logan Paul to appear
  • Kevin Owens vs. Grayson Waller
  • Damage CTRL segment

WWE NXT Preview 11/28/2023

Tonight’s WWE NXT in Orlando, Florida at the Performance Center on the USA Network.

  • NXT North American Championship #1 Contender’s Match: Wes Lee vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Bronson Reed vs. Johnny Gargano
  • NXT Tag Team Championship: Tony D’Angelo and Stacks (c) vs. Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo
  • Andre Chase will break his silence
  • Iron Survivor Challenge Qualifying Match: Bron Breakker vs. Eddy Thorpe
  • Iron Survivor Challenge Qualifying Match: Kelani Jordan vs. Kiana James

Backstage WWE & AEW Reaction To CM Punk’s Return To WWE

CM Punk made his return to WWE this past Saturday at the Survivor Series: WarGames 2023 pay-per-view event.

Fightful Select has shared additional details on the backstage reaction of both WWE and AEW to Punk returning “home” at the pay-per-view event in Chicago, IL.

Several top WWE wrestlers are expecting to speak to officials in the company for “assurances” about Punk and his role in the company going forward.

The reaction backstage in WWE has been quite muted, similar to when Punk returned for AEW Collision.

There have been rumors about talents who do not wish to work with Punk and are considering leaving WWE.

Like AEW, however, there have been no reports of anyone actually requesting his/her release over Punk’s return to WWE.

Some top talent in WWE have reportedly asked friends in AEW whether Punk was involved in the ongoing Devil storyline. It has been reported that Punk was never considered for the Devil’s role.

As for AEW President Tony Khan, he reportedly seemed more concerned with losing Katsuyori Shibata, who had to fly back to Japan, than Punk’s WWE return.

Punk’s appearance was kept a top secret in WWE, although the former AEW World Champion either told or hinted to his very close friends that it was happening.

WWE is currently using renders from Punk’s previous stint with the company including the same Titantron video.

A source at Peacock suggested that the playlist of Punk content, which went online immediately after Survivor Series 2023, didn’t require any time to compile.

Prior to Punk’s return on Saturday, WWE talent and staff were advised to ignore any Punk chants at SmackDown and Survivor Series 2023.

Source: eWn

Tammy ‘Sunny’ Sytch Sobs & Laughs In Court After 17-Year Prison Sentence (Photos/Videos)

WWE Hall of Famer Tammy “Sunny” Sytch was sentenced to 10.6 years for driving with a suspended license causing death, and 7 years for DUI manslaughter to be served after that. So a total of 17 years in federal prison. This will then be followed by 8 years post-release probation.

While in court, Sytch blamed the death of Chris Candido on her downfall. She then went on to deliver a “tearful” prepared statement. There weren’t any tears streaming down her face though. At one point, she apologized for her actions and turned to the victim’s family and said, “I know my words are not enough but please know that I think about you every day.”

Once Sytch was done with her prepared statement, she sat down and laughed as her lawyer attempted to feed her some water while she was handcuffed.

Sytch was brought into the courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit and shackles on her wrists.

Sytch appeared stoic as the judge sentenced her to 17 years in prison. The judge ruled in Monday’s hearing that once Sytch is done with her 17-year sentence, she will have eight years of probation and must have a substance abuse evaluation. She will also have to do 50 hours of community service, pay a $10,000 fine, and her driver’s license is permanently revoked. She had no questions for the judge and has 30 days to appeal. She will be 67 years old when she is released from prison.

After sentencing, Sytch was escorted out of the courtroom by officials and taken back to jail to continue to serve out her sentence.

Sytch was facing a maximum prison sentence of up to 25 years.

You can check out some photos and a complete video of Tammy “Sunny” Sytch’s court appearance below:

Source: eWn

Details Behind Lawsuits WWE Facing Over UFC Merger, Endeavor Deal

It was reported yesterday that WWE investors filed a lawsuit challenging the promotion’s merger with UFC. The merger was completed in September under the name TKO Group Holdings after being announced following WrestleMania 39. In an update published by Bloomberg, the lawsuit claims that former WWE Chairman and current TKO Executive Chairman, Vince McMahon, used his “domineering personality” and majority stake at WWE to arrange an “unfair transaction.”

It’s also noted in the lawsuit that McMahon, who reinstated himself onto WWE’s board in January after retiring last summer amid sexual misconduct allegations, rebuffed higher offers to secure a deal with his longtime friend Ari Emanuel, the CEO of Endeavor and TKO, to keep himself involved with the Stamford, Connecticut-based promotion despite “stockholder discontent” and “government investigations.”

The suit also claims that Emanuel put forward a tentative offer to McMahon after the 78-year-old reached out to him following his return to the organization earlier this year. It’s said that Emanuel’s offer was entertained before other competing bids. It was described in the suit as a “sham sales process” to benefit Endeavor and shut out bidders who were looking to take McMahon out of the picture. Meanwhile, longtime wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer mentioned on the latest “Wrestling Observer Radio” that there is another lawsuit being filed by a WWE stockholder. Meltzer claimed that further details about that complaint would be revealed soon.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE RAW Preview 11/27/2023

WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

  • Fallout from Survivor Series: War Games
  • CM Punk who made his surprise return to WWE at Survivor Series is set to appear tonight.
  • Randy Orton who returned as a part of Team Cody for War Games also made his return after being out of action since May 2022 due to back surgery is likely to appear.
  • “Big” Bronson Reed vs. Ivar
  • Tag Team Turmoil Match to becomes No. 1 Contenders to The Judgment Day: The New Day, Alpha Academy, The Creed Brothers, #DIY, Imperium and Indus Sher

Backstage News On CM Punk’s Return To WWE At Survivor Series: War Games

CM Punk made a somewhat unexpected return to WWE at Survivor Series: War Games after a tumultuous near-decade long absence. PWInsider has more details on his Punk’s return as it played over the few weeks:

  • The agreement between WWE and Punk is believed to be “several years in length” according to company sources but despite previous reports, the two sides only began talking to each other over the last week.
  • Once the two sides began having conversations, the deal reportedly came together “rather quickly” and from WWE’s side, they are looking at it as a “new beginning” of a relationship between Punk and the company. The actual deal wasn’t hammered out until sometime yesterday, hours before Survivor Series.
  • WWE reportedly gave serious consideration to holding back Punk’s return until January’s Royal Rumble in Florida but the consensus feeling ended up being that the longer they waited to re-introduce him after signing him to a contract, the more likely it would become that word would spread backstage about their plans, leading to a higher chance that the news would be leaked, ruining the surprise.
  • The other consideration was of course that Survivor Series was in Chicago – Punk’s hometown – where he was guaranteed to get a huge ovation. After agreeing to terms on a new deal and because Punk lives only 20 minutes from the AllState Arena, the company was able to have him drive to the venue and sneak in at the very last minute for his end-of-show appearance.
  • The belief is that while be wrestling for WWE, he probably won’t be working a full-time schedule though this has not been confirmed by anyone.
  • Speculation has already started that WWE has its eyes on potential matches down the road which would see Punk wrestle the likes of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes and possibly even in the long-sought-after dream match against Stone Cold Steve Austin, likely at WrestleMania.
  • The locker room dynamic with Punk back in the fold is something that remains to be seen on how it will fold out and is also a situation that AEW will no doubt be looking at with some level of curiosity. If Punk returns to WWE and remains incident free, it would go some distance in silencing his critics who believe he is the source of a lot of backstage tension. However, if his WWE tenure is also riddled with controversies, it would be validation for AEW. Most wrestlers within WWE have already gone on record to state that if and when Punk returned to the promotion, they were ready and willing to “make money” by putting their differences aside in order to work with him.