It’s very possible that a member of WWE’s large social media team was reprimanded during this week’s WWE RAW episode after All Elite Wrestling was accidentally mentioned by the official WWE Instagram account.
The original caption on the photo read, “The #NXT Tag Team Champions AEW here on #Raw!”
They meant to say, “…are here on #Raw!”, but for some reason AEW was on the mind of the social media employee who made the post, or they fell victim to auto-correct.
WWE’s Executive Vice President of Digital & Social Content Jayar Donlan spoke with Sports Business Daily in May 2018 and revealed that he then had a staff of 90 employees who worked WWE’s social media department. There’s no word on if that number included interns or how big the team is today.
The error received several thousand likes and comments on Instagram before it was fixed. The corrected photo, seen below, has many comments from fans about the botch, with most people joking about someone getting fired.
Last night on RAW, WWE shot a backstage segment with Mike and Maria Kanellis approaching Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins. Maria challenged Lynch and Rollins, referring to Mike as “my bi–h” and saying that they wanted to face Becky and her “bi–h,” which led to a mixed tag team match.
During the mixed tag match, Maria announced that she was pregnant. Maria took the mic and wondered how Mike got her pregnant because he wasn’t man enough. Maria continued to berate Mike on the air before he tapped to Lynch’s “Disarmher” finisher.
According to the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Maria is actually pregnant. That would be the explanation as to why she didn’t compete inside the ring.
Prior to Monday’s RAW, Mike had been wrestling on 205 Live. Both Mike and Maria recently signed new five-year deals with the company. The deal is reportedly worth $500,000 per year.
Last night on RAW there was a heel turn by AJ Styles and The Club are officially back together as they beat down United States Champion Ricochet after he retained his title in the main event of RAW against Styles.
Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre called out The Undertaker and he came out to the ring and had a message for Shane & Drew.
Braun Strowman & Bobby Lashley were both taken by ambulance to the hospital after Strowman speared Lashley through the stage’s LED boards which sparked some explosions.
Mike and Maria Kaneliis had a mix tag team match against Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch. During the match, Maria announced as Becky was about to hit her that she was pregnant, but that she doesn’t believe Mike was man enough to be the one to have impregnated her. After The Kanellis’ lost, she got on the microphone and further berated her husband.
Drake Maverick regained the 24/7 title from R-Truth just as he was heading out on his honeymoon.
Paige recently spoke with The Sun to promote the DVD release of WWE Studios’ “Fighting with My Family” movie and was asked about Vince McMahon’s reaction to the film.
“I don’t know what Vince’s reaction to it was. But if you get a big hug from Vince McMahon you’re doing well. I saw him last week and he gave me a big hug and said, ‘I’m very happy for you.’ I don’t know it that’s about the movie or the fact that I’m healthy. I think he probably liked it if he did watch it,” Paige said.
Paige also spoke about being the manager for The Kabuki Warriors, Asuka and Kairi Sane. Paige is convinced the team can be a game changer for the WWE women’s tag team division, if they can get the TV time. She talked about being frustrated over how the team has been used.
“If we don’t get used I get really frustrated because we’re a good tag team and we need to be utilised. Sometimes the writers have so much on their plate with everyone else’s storylines, they put things on the backburner. I have to remind them, ‘Ok, but there is a women’s tag team title… I’m like, ‘What the hell dudes? Let’s make something happen.’
“It frustrates me but once you actually get to speak with Vince and Hunter about your problems and frustrations, they’re always the first to say, ‘Let’s change this.’ If you go up to writers it’s like talking to a brick wall sometimes, whereas if you go to Vince and Hunter they’re like, ‘If you have a problem we can change that for you.’ The Kabuki Warriors can be a force to be reckoned with and that was the plan from the beginning… After the match in Tokyo hopefully we’ll get to build towards a pay-per-view, which gives the girls something to look forward to. So I’m happy we have a boss that really listens to us.”
As noted, Sane and Asuka became the new #1 contenders to WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions The IIconics by winning a non-title match in Tokyo this past week. There’s no word yet on when they will get their title shot.
Regarding her WWE future, Paige said she wouldn’t be interested in a role on the creative team, but she does see herself staying with WWE in some capacity, and she’s interested in pursuing acting.
“One way or another I’ll always be a part of WWE, whether it’s in front of the camera or behind the camera. I’d love to do a GM role again. I felt like I really found myself in that role. It really pushed me,” she said. “Also, I love acting, I truly really love it. Obviously wrestling always will be my first passion but unfortunately I can’t do that anymore.”
Jinder Mahal revealed on Instagram today that he just underwent knee surgery at Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham, Alabama.
Mahal noted that he ruptured his patella tendon on Saturday, June 15 at the WWE live event in Denver, Colorado. He lost to Ali that night. There’s no word yet on when Mahal will be back in action on the SmackDown brand, but he noted that surgery went well and his knee is better than expected.
“On the mend. Ruptured my Patella Tendon in Denver Colorado June 15 in a match against @aliwwe . Happy to say surgery went well, and my knee was better than expected. This comeback is going to be legendary,” he wrote.
AEW is expected to start on Turner during the first week of October, which is the same week that WWE SmackDown will being airing on Friday nights on FOX. The news was first reported by MMA insider @fightoracle, who first broke the story that Turner Sports would be presenting AEW at their upfronts last month. As noted, AEW applied for the trademark “Wednesday Night Dynamite” earlier this month.
With the television show seemingly airing on Wednesday nights, the premiere date will be October 2nd. Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that while there are still meetings occurring regarding the show, strategies, and other ideas from the TNT side, the plan is for the show to air on Wednesdays, with 8-10 p.m. being the most likely time slot.
WWE SmackDown will make its much anticipated debut two nights later at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. It was reported in The Observer that FOX will be testing out two new cameras for the debut. FOX is also looking to invite a lot of celebrities and give the show the feel of a major event, which is a reason that it’s being held in Los Angeles. It was noted that the idea is to make WWE look as major league as possible, which in turn would make AEW look minor league from the start.
Earlier this week, KIRO 7 News in Seattle reported a very devastating story about 5-year-old Timmy Vick having his two WWE championship replica belts taken away from him. According to the news report, Vick is supposed to undergo brain surgery, due to a brain tumor. His request, like any child, is to have some type of prize procession in honor of the battle he was going to have to face.
Sports memorabilia artist, Serg More, of Edgewood, Washington, offered to take the two WWE titles and create them into a personal replica for Vick. Before More was able to retrieve the two packages sent to him to customize, two women walked up to his front porch and took them.
News of this horrific incident surfaced the Internet, causing for people to try to come together and find these two women. On Wednesday morning, the two women surrendered by leaving the two boxes on More’s door with an apology letter.
“We are so sorry for taking your stuff,” the letter stated. “Never in a million years would I have expected I would have stolen from a sick five year old… I am ashamed of what I did.”
Even though they returned the packages, the Edgewood Police Department would like for the two women to turn themselves in, but more specifically, speak to the police about what happened.
“While we are grateful that the suspects returned Timmy’s belts, we would still like to talk to them,” deputies said. “So if you know who they are, we are counting on you to also do the right thing and call or message the Edgewood Police Department.”
On a bright note, the Edgewood Police Department are excited for what More will do with these belts, and how Vick will react to it.
“We can’t wait to see Sergio’s handy work after he completes these belts and ships them off to Timmy Vick who is patiently waiting for them!” Edgewood police said.
Redemption: Thieves ask for forgiveness, return the most-prized possession of boy with special needs https://t.co/sNDPsCxroP
As noted, WWE has hired Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman to work as Executive Directors of RAW and SmackDown. Bischoff will head up the blue brand while Heyman will run the red brand, and both will report directly to WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
Below is a new WWE Now video with Cathy Kelley looking at the buzz surrounding the latest WWE creative shake-up. While this is not currently planned to be a part of any storyline, the WWE website did cover the announcement after WWE issued their press release to us and other media outlets. The story was originally reported by Sports Illustrated, and has since been picked up by some mainstream media. The story is currently the featured article on the WWE website.
It’s possible we see significant creative changes to RAW and SmackDown as soon as Monday and Tuesday as Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that he’s heard Bischoff and Heyman will begin their new roles immediately. It’s unknown if that means right now or next week, or soon after, but we should have an update on when they are starting soon. Meltzer also noted that Fox officials had no idea that the Executive Director hires were coming, but it was indicated that they did want to work with Heyman.
“I do know the Fox people had no idea this was coming… but they wanted the other guy,” Meltzer said.
Bischoff will be working closely with Fox officials as the blue brand prepares to premiere on Fox Friday nights in October.
On a related note, Bischoff’s full-time return to WWE has surprised a lot of people. Meltzer noted that people who worked with Bischoff in TNA, that are working with WWE now, were more than baffled by the news.
It looks like the former WCW President will continue to be involved with his “83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff” podcast. John Pollock noted on Twitter that there will be “no change” regarding Bischoff and the podcast, which features Starrcast founder Conrad Thompson as the co-host. The podcast takes a weekly look at Bischoff’s time in the business, mainly in WCW. It will be interesting to see if the podcast continues as Bischoff gets settled into his new gig with WWE.
Heyman and WWE just recently came to terms on the new role but they have been going back and forth on the new deal for a long time, according to PWInsider. The former ECW boss has been in WWE’s inner circle when it comes to the creative process for some time, but without an official title. That changes with the announcement. We noted earlier how WWE has been pursuing Heyman to officially sign on to work in their corporate circles since February. An offer was made to Heyman to work as a full-time member of the creative process back around the same time Bruce Prichard was brought back as a Senior Vice President. The talks were slowly progressing, and just recently finalized. It’s no secret that Heyman had been working creatively on storylines involving Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar, but he has also been working on material for Alexa Bliss and many others, long before the talks.
Regarding Bischoff’s return, WWE looked at his previous work with Turner Broadcasting, Spike and other networks in building past TV series, and that was one of the reasons they hired him for the role, according to PWInsider. The deal with Bischoff was inked within the last few weeks.
As noted, while they will still report to Vince, Heyman and Bischoff will essentially be running RAW and SmackDown. One source compared the new roles to Triple H’s role in WWE NXT, in that they will be in charge, but this is still Vince’s company and he still has the final say-so. There’s no word yet on how Triple H and others will factor into this shake-up.
Heyman is expected to continue his TV role as the mouthpiece for Lesnar. Despite this not being a part of any TV storyline as of now, there’s obvious speculation on when we will see Bischoff return to TV, if he’s brought back at all, given how he’s always done well in those character roles.
Big Cass aka CaZXL has opened up in a new interview about his struggle with depression and anxiety.
The 32-year-old wrestler was interviewed on DDP Yoga’s channel and begins the video talking about how he wasn’t well mentally during his WWE run.
“TVs were the worst for me because of anxiety,” Cass explained. “I’d always had it, and then it kinda ramped up after the debut. And you don’t really tell anybody. You kinda hide it deep down, which is the worst thing you could do.”
Cass then talked about how he had no medication to help him cope with his issues, or someone he could talk with about it, so he self-medicated using alcohol. This lead to a moment where he wished death upon himself.
The next day he woke up and went to the arena for a Raw match against Enzo Amore, which is ultimately where he tore his ACL.
“I was just a wreck, man. A complete and utter wreck. I didn’t know who to look to,” he added. “I don’t know how I’m alive today. The amount that I was drinking was ridiculous. The food that I was putting in my body was ridiculous. No physical activity. Chain smoking cigarettes.”
Images were then shown of his home covered in wine bottles and food.
Cass then admits WWE had every right to release him at the time.
Cass also addressed having a seizure at a House of Hardcore show and revealed he hadn’t slept for two days prior. He says this was a wakeup call for him though and it felt like a message from God telling him to turn his life around.
The former WWE star then immediately began living with someone who offered to help him get sober, as well as out of depression.
The video ends with Cass urging anyone going through a similar struggle to know they’re not weak. They just need to get assistance through the proper channels.
