Former TNA President Dixie Carter took to Twitter yesterday and reacted to her “nephew” EC3 getting called up from WWE NXT to the main roster.
Dixie wrote, “So proud of you E! Congrats to @wwe too… Can’t wait to watch you hold those major titles in the air. Love you, Aunt D #toponepercent #wwe #raw #smackdown”
For those unaware, EC3 — aka Ethan Carter III — made his Impact debut as the spoiled nephew of Dixie Carter, who was playing a heel character on TV at the time. The two went on to form the stable Team Carter, which included Rockstar Spud (aka Drake Maverick).
Following an impressive showing on SmackDown Live last week, WWE has announced Mustafa Ali will now be joining the show permanently.
The announcement was made while commentary promoted Ali’s main event match on Tuesday evening. It was not said if he’ll continue to appear on 205 Live.
Later on in the episode, Mustafa picked up a huge upset win over Daniel Bryan in a tag team match where he was paired with former champ AJ Styles.
For those looking to get more familiar with the new SmackDown star, check out his appearance this week on Lilian Garcia’s Chasing Glory podcast. The wrestler talks about being a cop prior to signing with WWE, building up the 205 Live brand and much more.
It was revealed last night on SmackDown Live that Paige is no longer the SD Live GM.
Shane McMahon kicked off SmackDown in the backstage area giving a speech to the roster about how things are going to be changing, just like what was said on RAW. He also explained that wrestlers will now be held accountable for what happens on the show every week.
He then brought Paige forward and praised her work as GM, but confirmed she’d be getting a new position on the show. It was not said what that would be quite yet.
The 26-year-old was assigned to the role in April after announcing her in-ring retirement.
This is all part of Vince McMahon and family announcing they’d be taking back control of Raw/SmackDown and shaking things up.
WWE announced on last night’s RAW that Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens will be returning to RAW soon.
Owens has been out of action since undergoing double knee surgery back in October. Sami underwent double shoulder surgery and has been out of action since June. Sami and Owens were involved in a storyline together before Sami was put on the shelf.
Sami took to Twitter and commented on his return:
During this time off, I've been working on becoming a better person, and letting go of a lot of toxic elements that come with egotism & ambition.
But I just watched that teaser for my return on #Raw and remembered how good I am at pro wrestling. I actually forgot how great I am.
As noted, last night’s WWE RAW opened with Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon promising a “fresh start” for both RAW and SmackDown. They admitted they haven’t listened to fans and have “suffocated” the Superstars.
Part of the “fresh start” includes fresh faces and fresh match-ups, according to Triple H. It was later announced that the following WWE NXT Superstars will be coming to the main roster – Lars Sullivan, EC3, Tucker Knight and Otis Dozovic of Heavy Machinery, Lacey Evans and Nikki Cross. A call-up for Nikki Cross has been long expected.
Vince McMahon returned to WWE TV on last night’s RAW from Sacramento and kicked off the show to “shake things up” in the company.
Vince talked about RAW being on the air for 25 years and changing with the times. He said despite his creativity and his vision, he can’t “do it all” all by himself any longer. The WWE Chairman then introduced Stephanie McMahon, Triple H and Shane McMahon.
Stephanie admitted that they haven’t been doing a very good job lately, and that’s why they were here at RAW tonight. She said they haven’t been listening to the fans, and they have let “middle managers” air their grievances, which has suffocated the Superstars. Stephanie said that all ends tonight as a fresh start will begin. Triple H added that the days of absent management are over, and as of now, the four of them will be taking back Monday Night RAW. Shane said the same thing goes for SmackDown because the four of them are responsible for making sure fans have the best possible experience. Stephanie said they will be empowering Superstars and empowering fans, and Triple H said more importantly they will give the fans what they want with fresh faces, new Superstars, new matches and more. Triple H then declared that as of now, the fans are the authority. Vince ended their speech by saying WWE will always be “Then. Now. Forever.” as long as they give the fans more of what they want, and less of what they don’t want.
Michael Cole has been billing tonight’s RAW as “the new era” and a fresh start for the company.
Baron Corbin came out to interrupt the McMahon’s but he was met with many boos from the crowd. This led to the McMahons saying Corbin could get his General Manager job back if he could defeat WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle. That match began but Triple H and Shane changed it to a No DQ Handicap Match with Corbin losing to Angle, Apollo Crews and RAW Tag Team Champions Bobby Roode & Chad Gable. Heath Slater was the special referee.
One of the biggest surprises at last night’s WWE TLC pay-per-view was the poor reaction to the Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose Intercontinental title match. In a match that went 24 minutes, Ambrose defeated Rollins clean with the Dirty Deeds. During the match, fans chanted “this is boring” and “Becky.”
The fans were reportedly not the only ones upset with the match. Dave Meltzer noted on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that Vince McMahon “was furious” with it.
