Category: WWE

WWE Announces Changes To Commentary Teams For NXT, RAW & SmackDown

WWE has officially announced changes to the commentary teams for all three brands – RAW, NXT, and SmackDown. 

Kevin Patrick & Corey Graves will be the commentators for Raw while Cathy Kelley is back and will work as an interviewer and Byron Saxton. For SmackDown, the team is Michael Cole & Wade Barrett, while NXT’s team will be Vic Joseph & Booker T.

Pat McAfee will return to the WWE announce booth following his commitments to ESPN’s College GameDay.

WWE issued the following:

WWE announces updates to commentary teams

Today WWE announced that Raw, SmackDown, NXT and Premium Live Events will all have updated announce booths starting with this week’s season premieres. The news was first reported by Variety on Thursday afternoon.

On Friday Night SmackDown, the commentary table will be headed by Michael Cole with Wade Barrett doing color commentary. Samantha Irvin will be the ring announcer, and interviews will be conducted by Kayla Braxton and Megan Morant.

On Monday Night Raw, Corey Graves will still be providing his colorful insights and will be joined by Kevin Patrick on play-by-play. Mike Rome will continue to announce from the ring, and Byron Saxton will transition from the commentary booth to backstage interviews. Also joining Saxton in backstage interviews is none other than Cathy Kelley in her return to WWE.

Over on NXT, Vic Joseph will be assisted by six-time World Champion and WWE Hall of Famer Booker T. Alicia Taylor will still provide her exceptional voice to ring announcing, and McKenzie Mitchell will once again be conducting interviews.

On the Premium Live Event side, Michael Cole and Corey Graves will come together again to announce from the booth.

Pat McAfee will return to the WWE announce booth following his commitments to ESPN’s College GameDay.

Tales From The Territories Episode Could Have Been A Dark Side Of The Ring One

The creators of Vice TV’s popular “Dark Side of the Ring” series have another show on the way with “Tales from the Territories.” While speaking to Chris Jericho on the “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, creators Evan Husney and Jason Eisener spoke about the process of selecting topics for the series, including what separates a “Tales from the Territories” entry from “Dark Side of the Ring.” One episode that could have found a place on either show was the installment detailing the famous feud between legendary Memphis wrestler Jerry Lawler and comedian Andy Kaufman.

“[Andy Kaufman and Jerry Lawler] could have been a ‘Dark Side of the Ring’ episode,” Husney said. He explained that the process for putting the show together consists of researching books, interviews, and podcasts of wrestlers from the era to find the best potential topics for episodes. “Obviously, when we’re getting into Memphis, it’s hard to ignore … the Kaufman-Lawler thing. … The Kaufman versus Lawler angle we actually built out into an entire episode.”

Hunsey would go on to explain that the people involved in the Lawler-Kaufman story made it an easy decision to base an episode around. “When we got there, we were filming with the guys, the chemistry was so good. It was like. ‘All right, let’s tell the Kaufman story,’ and they just went, and they went for hours,” Husney said. “It was cool because I had never really heard Lawler’s … top-to-bottom perspective on the whole angle.”

“Tales from the Territories” is produced by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and debuts tonight on Vice TV. Tonight’s episode is on Memphis wrestling. The episode on the Lawler-Kaufman feud premieres on Tuesday, October 11. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.

“Tales From The Territories” Debuts Tonight On Vice TV

“Tales from the Territories” is produced by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and debuts tonight on Vice TV at 10 PM EST. Tonight’s episode is on Memphis wrestling.

The premiere episode is titled Memphis: Where Wrestling Was Real. 

The episode will feature a round table discussion with Jerry Lawler, Jeff Jarrett, Jerry Jarrett, Jimmy Hart and more.

Promotional material for tonight’s premiere notes, “In Memphis, the Mid-South Coliseum’s unique blend of slow-burn, story-driven matches and pre-MTV music video vignettes captivated audiences every week.”

Vice TV will air a Dark Side of the Ring marathon in advance of the premiere.  The marathon schedule:

7 AM – Chris Kanyon.

8 AM – The Fabulous Moolah.

9 AM – The Plane Ride from Hell.

10 AM – Herb Abrams.

11 AM – Collission in Korea.

12 PM – Randy Savage & Elizabeth.

1 PM – XPW

2 PM – Dr. D David Schultz.

3 PM – Owen Hart.

4 PM – Bruiser Brody.

5 PM – Von Erichs.

6 PM – Chris Benoit

8 PM – Ultimate Warrior.

Montez Ford Sidelined With An Injury

WWE Superstar Montez Ford is presently sidelined with an injury.

During last night’s (10/3) episode of “WWE Raw,” The Bloodline was confronted by Street Profits in a backstage segment, as “The Honorary Uce” Sami Zayn warned Angelo Dawkins & Ford to be prepared to acknowledge Roman Reigns next week at the “Raw” Season Premiere special episode. This led to Ford saying The Bloodline “don’t own the arena” and that they need to acknowledge two things – deez [nuts]. Just then, Jey Uso warned Ford not to disrespect the Bloodline, or he’ll “get another boot.” The cameras then zoomed in on Ford wearing a walking boot on his right foot. The segment ended with Solo Sikoa challenging Dawkins to a singles bout.

Later, during the Sikoa vs. Dawkins match, the announcers confirmed that Ford is dealing with an injury. However, there was no mention of the nature of the injury or the timeframe of his recovery. 

Street Profits were last seen in action against Alpha Academy at a WWE live event on September 24. It’s likely that Ford suffered the injury during that match.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE NXT Preview 10/4/2022

Tonight’s episode of WWE NXT will be a live broadcast at 8:00 pm EST on USA Network. NXT returns to the live broadcast format tonight after several weeks of taped shows.

Latest White Rabbit QR Code References Joe Gacy, Extreme Rules Venue

The “White Rabbit” QR Code teases continued on Raw, referencing Joe Gacy and the site of Extreme Rules. The latest QR Code let to a URL that features an image of Samson & Delilah, specifically the painting of that name by Jose Salome Pina which was completed in 1851. Samson was the Biblical strongman who was betrayed by Delilah, his lover who cut his hair and thus robbed him of his strength.

The URL for the QR Code is 01000111 01000001 01000011 01011001, which spells out “Gacy” in binary. In addition, the coordinates 751720W appear on the right side of the page if moused over, which is the location of the Wells Fargo Center where Extreme Rules takes place on Saturday.

In further addition, below the image is a mouseover message written in the written language of the Yautja — aka the titular aliens from the Predator franchise. The message translates to “Before me things created were none, save things. Eternal, and eternal I endure.” The quote is from Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, which precedes the more famous line “All hope abandon, ye who enter here.”

As noted by Fightful, Bray Wyatt posted a similar photo of Samson & Delilah the day before he was betrayed by Alexa Bliss at WrestleMania 37 last year.

Source: 411Mania

Update On Brandi Rhodes’ Wrestling Career

Brandi Rhodes recently wrestled a match at the WWE Performance Center during a live event, but it doesn’t appear the former AEW Chief Brand Officer is a WWE Superstar quite yet.

Fightful Select is reporting that Brandi Rhodes is still a free agent. While Brandi has wrestled at the Performance Center and her husband is under contract, Rhodes has yet to reach a deal with WWE. Rhodes has reportedly been in contact with Warner Bros Discovery earlier this month. No context has been provided for the conversation, but it is noted that Brandi and WBD aren’t in regular contact, though both parties have maintained a cordial relationship. News broke earlier this month that WBD had reached out to Brandi’s husband Cody Rhodes to try and retain him before Cody’s exit from All Elite Wrestling.

Besides her wrestling life, Brandi Rhodes is also a board member of Kulture City and had been hopeful of integrating the non-profit into her work with WWE. AEW and Kulture City have maintained a good relationship despite Brandi & Cody’s departure from the wrestling promotion.

Rhodes hasn’t only been wrestling in the Performance Center, as reports suggest she’s also been active in the ring at the Nightmare Factory training facility, telling Muscle & Fitness Magazine that she wasn’t training in the ring “for the hell of it,” and is staying in shape for whenever her in-ring return might be. Brandi’s last official match was a win over KiLynn King on a January episode of “AEW Dark: Elevation.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE RAW Preview 10/3/2022

Tonight’s WWE RAW takes place live from the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota at 8/7c on USA Network.

Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat Returning To The Ring

WWE Hall of Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat will team NJPW, AAA and ROH tag team champions FTR at Big Time’s Wrestling’s “Return of the Dragon” event, which will take place at the Dorton Arena, in Raleigh, Carolina on Sunday, November 27.

Steamboat and FTR will square off against Jay Lethal (as Black Machismo), Brock Anderson and a mystery partner with Arn Anderson as the team’s manager. The 69-year-old last wrestled alongside his son, Richie at a June 2010 FCW show against Trent Beretta & Caylen Croft.

https://twitter.com/BTWwrestling/status/1576544060264751104

Steamboat has made recent appearances for MLW and the NWA. He also served as the special guest timekeeper for the House of Dragon themed August 17 episode of AEW Dynamite.

The Briscoes vs. The Rock ‘N’ Roll Express has also been announced for the event.

Source: WrestleView

Dark Side of the Ring Co-Creator Confirms Show Will Continue

The arrival of VICE TV’s Tales From The Territories hasn’t killed Dark Side of the Ring, as Evan Husney says the latter show will continue. Husney, who is the co-creator of Dark Side of the Ring, recently appeared on Talk is Jericho to promite Tales From the Territories and confirmed that talks are underway for a fourth season of Dark Side

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Husney said (per Wrestling Inc). “It’s really interesting because when we decided to do Tales From The Territories, like I said, it was in the making since 2019. We finally got the opportunity to do it, and obviously when Vice picked it up it was like, okay, this is gonna occupy that space after season three to really focus on this, to produce it, to get it off the ground, kind of establish what it is, so it can kind of live on its own eventually. We had no intention of stopping doing Dark Side.”

He added of the fourth season, “It’s in talks right now. Everyone’s gonna hear something real soon. We’re just kind of getting that machine going real soon. So, stay tuned, but yeah, definitely not going anywhere for sure. It’s definitely here to stay.”

The third season premiered in May of 2021 and ran through October. Husney co-created the show with Jason Eisener.

Source: 411Mania