Category: WWE

Mysterious Runic Graphic On WWE Raw Suggests Potential Return Of Injured Tag Team

A cryptic video on Monday’s episode of “WWE Raw” may be alluding to the return of a popular tag team that has been on the shelf for quite some time.

During the broadcast, a video vignette was shown of a burning circle, similar to a shield, with runes burning inside. The only audio in the promo outside of the crackling flames was a man’s voice saying, “Fate is woven.” Social media users translated the runes from the oldest form of the runic alphabet into “WAR,” leading many fans to believe the video was a teaser for the return of Erik and Ivar, the Viking Raiders.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1838397500165701761

It was revealed back in May that Ivar’s future in wrestling was uncertain. He had been working on “WWE NXT” before being written off TV for the injury, to the confusion of many of the legitimacy of the injury. Ivar clarified on social media at the time he was indeed injured, and that is was “very serious,” but he had not had surgery at that point in time. However, it was revealed by Andrews Sports Medicine on X (formerly Twitter) that Ivar had undergone surgery on his spine in May. Erik underwent neck fusion surgery, prior to his partner’s injury, in September 2023. The pair’s last match together came on an episode of “WWE Main Event” that year. A timetable was not provided for either of the Viking Raiders’ injuries.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Raw Preview 9/23/2024

WWE Raw airs live tonight on the USA Network from the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.

  • WWE Intercontinental Championship: Bron Breakker (c) vs. Jey Uso
  • Sami Zayn vs Ludwig Kaiser
  • We will hear from Drew McIntyre

New Backstage Reports Claim AEW Stars The Lucha Brothers Have Not Yet Signed With WWE

Ever since early August, when it was reported that Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo wouldn’t be renewing their AEW contracts, every sign has indicated that the tag team known as The Lucha Brothers are heading to WWE. On Thursday, it seemed as though the move had been made official when Cory Hays of PWNexus claimed (or seemed to claim) that Penta and Fenix had signed a multi-year main roster deal. That conclusion now appears to be premature, as both Fightful Select and Pro Wrestling Insider are reporting that, while The Lucha Brothers are still probably WWE-bound, they have not yet signed contracts.

Fightful’s report says WWE sources denied the brothers had been signed, with one indicating that Fenix is still under contract to AEW (though AEW sources wouldn’t confirm his contract status). PWI, meanwhile, reports that both Fenix and Penta are still signed to AEW, and that while there’s strong mutual interest between them and WWE, they cannot legally have signed anything yet. Both reports agree that The Lucha Brothers are still expected to sign with WWE, with Fightful noting that neither WWE nor AEW has responded to official inquiries about the two wrestlers.

Hays, for his part, responded to Fightful’s report on Saturday by clarifying his original post, which never technically said the brothers had put pen to paper.

“Yet, as Rey’s contract hasn’t expired yet,” Hays said on X (formerly known as Twitter), quoting Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp. “But they have had the conversations and merchandise has been given the green light.” When asked by a commenter when Fenix’s deal was up, Hays replied “This month, and [Tony Khan] isn’t adding injury time to it.”

Penta hasn’t wrestled for AEW since the July 19 episode of “AEW Rampage”; Fenix’s last AEW match was the July 20 episode of “AEW Collision.” Neither man has wrestled anywhere in more than a month.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Update On Daniel Garcia’s AEW Status, WWE Reportedly ‘Chomping At The Bit’ To Sign Him

Former Ring of Honor Pure Champion Daniel Garcia has been a major figure in the wrestling news of late, as his AEW contract is set to expire in the near future with Garcia having yet to make his decision. AEW and many people within the company are confident he’ll stay, but according to Cory Hays of PWNexus, WWE has got a close eye on Garcia’s situation, with the company reportedly “chomping at the bit”[sic] to sign him if he becomes a free agent at the end of October. Hays also said Garcia still has not signed a new deal with AEW.

The 26-year old has been extremely private about his contract situation, even going as far as declining to answer a question about it during a recent interview. Many fans assumed that the result of the match between Garcia and MJF at All Out 2024 would have been an indicator as to Garcia’s decisionwith a win signaling that he is staying with AEW. However, MJF won the match, with Garcia’s failure to re-sign reportedly resulting in the result being changed. Garcia has already made it clear that he feels like he’s ready to step up to the next level in his career and be a part of a main event scene, but as of this writing it is still unknown whether that will be in AEW or WWE.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE SmackDown Preview 9/20/2024

WWE SmackDown will air live tonight on the USA Network from the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California.

  • Cody Rhodes and Romans Reigns will seek common ground
  • WWE United States Championship: LA Knight (c) vs. Andrade
  • Bayley & Naomi vs. Nia Jax & Tiffany Stratton (If Bayley or Naomi score the winning fall, they earn a title shot. If they lose, they have to leave SmackDown)
  • Giovanni Vinci vs. Apollo Crews

Report – WWE Show (NXT Level Up) May Be Discontinued After CW Deal Kicks In

WWE has new TV deals, with Monday Night RAW moving to Netflix in January, Friday Night SmackDown returning from FOX to the USA Network, and NXT moving from USA to the CW Network next month.

NBCU still has a streaming deal with WWE for the WWE Network to air in the United States on Peacock. As part of the new deal, the full past-season library of WWE SmackDown is available on Peacock, with new episodes becoming available 30 days after airing on the USA Network.

New episodes of WWE RAW are also accessible on Peacock 30 days after airing on the USA Network. However, Peacock will no longer have the libraries for NXT and RAW after 9/19 and 10/1, respectively.

Moreover, fans will notice countdown clocks for NXT and RAW programming on Peacock, indicating that the library will expire, but only for episodes after the mentioned dates.

WrestleVotes Radio is reporting that NXT Level Up will end soon after airing on Fridays on Peacock since February 2022.

The report states, “While we’re talking about NXT, with the WWE Hulu contract coming up next week, the NXT secondary show Level Up will be discontinued. That’s what we’re hearing. They will no longer continue filming the Level Up show that airs on Peacock, that features a lot of the younger NXT talent. And you know, it is what it is. It’s just a lot of moving parts right now, but we will say goodbye to Level Up.”

It’s uncertain whether the entire NXT library will be removed from Peacock once the CW deal takes effect.

The report adds, “It’s likely everything from NXT 2.0 up until today will disappear and move over to the CW app. With that said, we don’t know if Takeovers are included here. Again, it could be just 2.0 stuff, which would include Deadlines and No Mercy and things like that, could disappear from Peacock, but a lot of the more recent NXT stuff will be gone off of the WWE Network/Peacock….it just comes down to the rights of that now that CW is in charge of having the NXT rights. I think that because they were formally in the hands of Peacock and USA Network. How those agreements all are written is definitely playing into why those past episodes will no longer be available moving forward.”

In addition to potentially discontinuing NXT Level Up, WWE will expand SmackDown to three hours starting January 2025.

Report – WWE SmackDown To Expand To Three Hours In January

WWE Friday Night SmackDown will undergo more changes after moving from FOX to the USA Network.

The SmackDown premiere episode last Friday showcased a new visual design with updated colors, graphics, logo, and theme.

The show no longer has to end two minutes before the top of the hour to make way for local news on FOX, allowing for greater flexibility.

As we’ve been reporting here on WNB, Monday Night RAW will revert back to its previous two-hour format, which it hasn’t had since 2012, starting on October 7. As WWE is transitioning from the USA Network to Netflix, a temporary gap exists before the Netflix deal takes effect in January.

WWE reached an agreement with the USA Network to extend RAW’s run on the channel after the original deal was set to expire this month. The USA Network made the decision to switch RAW to a two-hour format.

Once WWE RAW moves to Netflix, it will become a three-hour show again, with the option to change the duration every week.

According to a report from WrestleVotes Radio, WWE SmackDown is expected to follow in RAW’s footsteps and transition to a three-hour format in January 2025.

The report states, “Before we move off of SmackDown, our first real WrestleVotes tidbit here, as we get going on this backstage pass regarding SmackDown, is that we have learned that starting on the January 3 show 2025, Smackdown will indeed shift to three hours. The other big news here is there are rumors that once the show ends, it will be available on Netflix, which we haven’t heard elsewhere. Those are the internal talkings right now is that probably the day after Smackdown will be available on Netflix. But the real nugget here is that starting January 3, that show will be three hours.”

Source: eWn

Report – The Lucha Brothers (Penta & Rey Fenix) Sign With WWE

The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix) are headed to WWE.

Following numerous rumors and speculation, the Lucha Brothers have inked long-term contracts with WWE, bypassing NXT and moving directly to the main roster.

As we’ve been reporting here on eWn, Penta has been discussing a potential move to WWE since the summer. Penta emphasized that he and his brother Fenix would only make the transition together, and WWE was eager to accommodate this request.

Cory Hayes of PWN has verified the signing, stating, “Multi-year deal. Directly to main roster.”

WrestleVotes Radio is also reporting that the Lucha Brothers’ signing with WWE is likely a done deal as production of masks, t-shirts, and other promotional materials is already in progress.

The Lucha Brothers have been integral to AEW since their debut on the company’s inaugural show in 2019.

Penta’s AEW contract expired between August and September, and Fenix’s contract was also set to expire this year.

Source: eWn

WWE Announces Date & Location For Return Of Saturday Night’s Main Event

WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event is making another comeback. The company announced the return of the iconic show for later this year, with the special airing simultaneously on NBC and Peacock on December 14 at 8 p.m. ET. For those interested in attending, Saturday Night’s Main Event will take place at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island, New York, with tickets available to the public on Friday and pre-sale beginning tomorrow.

These specials will continue airing quarterly as part of WWE’s latest media rights deal with NBCUniversal, which was signed last year and went into effect earlier this month. In addition to the return of Saturday Night’s Main Event, the deal ensured “WWE SmackDown” made the move back to the USA Network after a stretch on Fox.

Today’s news confirms a report from earlier this month that suggested WWE was bringing back Saturday Night’s Main Event for the previously-detailed NBC primetime special. The company first introduced the show in 1985, with a series of occasional events that aired on the network until 1992. These shows sometimes offered major moments to capitalize on all the extra exposure from broadcast TV, and often featured Hulk Hogan wrestling in the main event.

More recently, the promotion revived the branding in 2022, with a series of WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event shows scheduled during that spring. However, unlike previous iterations, those events were not televised. The last televised revival took place from 2006 through 2008, with a series of five hour-long specials that also aired on NBC.

Source: Wrestling Inc

Jesse “The Body” Ventura reportedly will be returning to WWE to be apart of the commentary team for Saturday Night’s Main Event.

WWE NXT Preview 9/17/2024

Tonight’s WWE NXT on USA Network

  • CM Punk will make a special announcement.
  • Ethan Page and Trick Williams contract signing for their upcoming WWE NXT Title match
  • Lyra Valkyria & Tatum Paxley vs. Wendy Choo & Rosemary
  • Lola Vice vs. Jacy Jayne