Possible Culprits Behind The Recent WWE SmackDownTV Glitches

Recently, WWE have begun teasing us with one of those mysterious storylines where there is a recurring thing happening on TV for a number of weeks, without any possible explanation as to what it means or who could be behind it. This time, Vince and co. have done a surprisingly good job at presenting the angle, as the delivery has been based on subtlety and not bashing the audience over the head with.

For a number of weeks, people watching SmackDown on their screens have seen random glitches distort the video quality once or twice during the show. The initial guess would have been it was another manifestation of Bray Wyatt’s ever expanding list of superpowers. But as the shows progressed, neither commentators mentioned these glitches nor would they be implicated in any of Bray’s promos or segments.

The rumor mill has since been spinning furiously as to who could be behind these glitches. Could it be a returning superstar? Could it be a sensational debut? Of course, the expectations do need to be tempered slightly given so many of WWE’s storylines end up in Randy Orton’s hometown of Nowhere.

But, since WWE have bothered to give us this juicy narrative thread to feast upon, we would only be doing ourselves an injustice by letting cynicism bog us down. Who could be behind these glitches? Here are seven possible answers according to WhatCulture.

  1. CM Punk
  2. Undisputed ERA
  3. The IIconics
  4. Jeff Hardy
  5. Lars Sullivan
  6. Killer Kross
  7. Mustafi Ali

Source: WhatCulture

Of these 7 possibilities most wrestling news sites and blogs seemed to think it’s either the debut of recent WWE signee Killer Kross or Mustafi Ali who has been off of TV as of late.

WWE Super ShowDown Results 2/27/20

(Kickoff) The OC (Gallows and Anderson) vs. The Viking Raiders –

Winners: The OC

 

Tuwaiq Trophy Gauntlet Match: Andrade vs. AJ Styles vs. R-Truth vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Erick Rowan vs. Rey Mysterio

R-Truth vs. Bobby Lashley – Winner: R-Truth

Post Match: Lashley assaulted R-Truth

R-Truth vs. Andrade – Winner: R-Truth

R-Truth vs. Erick Rowan – Winner: R-Truth by DQ

Post Match: Rowan choke slammed R-Truth

R-Truth vs. AJ Styles – Winner: AJ Styles

AJ Styles vs. Rey Mysterio

The OC assaulted Mysterio in the back.

Styles declares himself winner by forfeit wants his hand raised and awarded the trophy.

The Undertaker beat up The OC in the back.

AJ Styles vs. The Undertaker –

Undertaker hits Styles with a chokeslam for a quick win

Winner: The Undertaker

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1233085075849392128

 

SmackDown Tag Team Championship: The New Day (c) vs. John Morrison and The Miz –

Winners and new SmackDown Tag Team Champions: The Miz and John Morrison

 

Angel Garza vs. Humberto Carrillo –

Winner: Angel Garza

 

RAW Tag Team Championship: Seth Rollins and Murphy (c) vs. The Street Profits –

Winners: Seth Rollins and Murphy

 

Dolph Ziggler w/Robert Roode vs. Mansoor –

Winner: Mansoor

 

WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Ricochet –

Lesnar got a quick squash win.

Winner: Brock Lesnar

 

Steel Cage Match: King Corbin vs. Roman Reigns –

Winner: Roman Reigns

 

SmackDown Women’s Championship: Bayley (c) vs. Naomi –

Winner: Bayley

 

Universal Championship: “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Goldberg

Winner and new Universal Champion: Goldberg

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1233125055426678785

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1233125469903630340

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1233125059952357378

Triple H Announces Special WWE NXT Episode From The WWE Performance Center, Tickets Quickly Go

The March 11 WWE NXT episode on the USA Network will air live from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando.

Triple H appeared after this week’s NXT episode at Full Sail University and announced the special Fan Appreciation Night event for March 11.

WWE is unable to run at Full Sail on March 11 because the school will be hosting their annual Hall of Fame Week from March 8-13, with an event being held that Wednesday at the NXT Arena.

Tickets to the Fan Appreciation Night at the Performance Center were given out for free, and are already gone. The pre-sale for the free tickets began tonight after NXT on the USA Network went off the air, but all tickets were gone in less than 10 seconds, according to a correspondent in attendance. The event is already told out, unless they released another set of tickets at 12:15am ET later tonight, but it’s not likely.

This will be the second time NXT has ran at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando as the Halftime Heat 2019 event also took place at the facility. That match saw Ricochet, The Velveteen Dream and Aleister Black defeat NXT Champion Adam Cole, Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Samoa Joe Suspended For Violation Of WWE Wellness Policy

WWE has announced Samoa Joe has been suspended for violating the WWE Wellness Policy.

WWE released a statement through their website which says:

WWE has suspended Nuufolau Seanoa (Samoa Joe) for 30 days effective Monday, February 24, for his first violation of the company’s talent wellness policy.

As we previously reported, Joe has been out of action as of late after suffering a head injury which took place during a commercial shoot this month. He also suffered a concussion on Raw a few weeks ago which forced him to sit on the sidelines.

Joe is the latest wrestler to be suspended for violating the company Wellness Policy after Andrade was suspended last month and Bobby Roode before that.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

WWE Super ShowDown 2/27/20

February 27, 2020 – Mohammed Abdu Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Available on WWE Network – 12pm ET

Universal Championship: “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Goldberg

WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Ricochet

SmackDown Women’s Championship: Bayley (c) vs. Naomi

RAW Tag Team Championship: Seth Rollins and Murphy (c) vs. The Street Profits

SmackDown Tag Team Championship: The New Day (c) vs. John Morrison and The Miz

Steel Cage Match: King Corbin vs. Roman Reigns

Tuwaiq Trophy Gauntlet Match: Andrade vs. AJ Styles vs. R-Truth vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Erick Rowan vs. Rey Mysterio

WWE RAW Preview 2/24/20

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with the final red brand hype for WWE Super ShowDown.

  • Who will Randy Orton target next?
  • WWE Champion Brock Lesnar to appear live on Raw
  • Will Becky Lynch and Shayna Baszler come to blows in the same building?

Matt Hardy Says “New And Omnipotent” Version Of His Character Is Days Away

Just days after a beatdown from Randy Orton on Raw, Matt Hardy has released a video thanking the WWE star for helping to complete his transformation. (The video was posted on YouTube on February 21.)

The video begins with Matt, as himself, talking about his attempt to confront Orton on Monday going wrong and how he had to go to a medical facility afterward.

“Now I’m home. And I’m speaking. And breathing. And I’m recuperating. But I am alive. I am truly un-killable,” he adds before something in him shifts and Hardy is briefly overtaken by the evil entity known as Abomination from his “Free the Delete”‘ series.

It’s worth noting the effect on Matt’s voice here is similar to what’s been used for AEW’s Exalted One.

As we previously reported, Hardy’s WWE contract expires on March 1.

In the video … Broken Matt resumes control of his vessel from Abomination and talks about how his transformation back would not have been complete without Randy’s violent “assassination” this week.

“We had to witness the burial of the Hardy Boyz version of Matt Hardy,” he explained. “But as I sit here, in my beloved chair of wheels, on the magical Hardy compound, YESSSS, we are now only a matter of days away from the rebirth, the reincarnation, the resurrection, YESSSS, of my essence. YESSSSSS! We are only a few days away from the second coming of the new and OMNIPOTENT version of Matt Hardy.”

Watch the full video below.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

WWE SmackDown Preview 2/21/20

Tonight’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown will take place from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona with the final blue brand build for WWE Super ShowDown.

The Bella Twins are teasing a big announcement for tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX episode.

  • Goldberg returns to SmackDown ahead of Universal Title Match
  • The Bella Twins return this Friday night for “A Moment of Bliss”
  • Naomi and Carmella collide for the right to challenge Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Title at WWE Super ShowDown
  • The New Day & The Usos set to collide with The Miz, John Morrison, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode in Eight-Man Tag Team Action
  • Lacey Evans to sit down with Renee Young for exclusive interview this Friday night on SmackDown

WWE 205 Live Preview 2/21/20

Tonight’s WWE 205 Live will take place from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona

WWE has announced a battle of WWE NXT Superstars for tonight’s 205 Live episode with Joaquin Wilde taking on Raul Mendoza.

205 Live will also feature a No DQ match with The Brian Kendrick and Ariya Daivari vs. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch of NXT.

WWE Reportedly Negotiating With ESPN For Content Streaming On ESPN+

WWE is reportedly having talks with ESPN.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the talks would be in regards to WWE content airing on the ESPN+ service. The deal that WWE is likely trying to broker would be similar to the deal UFC has with ESPN, where WWE would sell their rights to air pay-per-views, which would pay more money for the content than WWE could make on its own by selling the content directly to viewers with the WWE Network. The ESPN+ model with UFC is reportedly what opened WWE’s eyes to the idea.

The ESPN+ deal could potentially bring more mainstream exposure to WWE’s big events and their biggest Superstars. ESPN has proved that when they own rights to a product, they use their various shows to heavily market that product. There’s no word yet on how far the talks with ESPN are, but The Observer noted that it looks like the deal has not been agreed on as of this week.

Wrestling Inc. earlier this month at this link, there was no truth to the rumors on WWE possibly talking to Amazon about selling content rights to them. While Amazon might not be interested in WWE, the company has been talking with other potential partners, which would include DAZN, and NBC’s Peacock service. ESPN+ was also included in the original report on potential content partners.

The belief was that NBC’s Peacock service, which is set to launch later this year, would be the best bet for WWE. TV industry sources recently reported to The Observer that Peacock would look at WWE to be its key initial programming to draw subscribers from the launch moving forward, which would be very similar to how ESPN+ did with UFC. With such a deal with one of these larger streaming services, WWE would be able to get significantly guaranteed money for their big money events, instead of being forced to rely on declining subscription money from the WWE Network. You can read Wrestling Inc.’s original report on the possible content changes by clicking here.

Source: Wrestling Inc.