Category: WWE

Erik & Ivar Return To WWE Raw As The War Raiders

The War Raiders’ Erik and Ivar made their triumphant return from injuries on “WWE Raw” on Monday, defeating Alpha Academy’s Otis and Akira Tozawa to advance in the recently-announced tournament for the World Tag Team Championships. “Raw” General Manager Adam Pearce had just announced the tournament to champions JD McDonagh and Finn Balor earlier in the night, and the returning War Raiders (previously known as the Viking Raiders) won the first match of the tournament, their first win together since September 2023. Their return had been alluded to in video teasers featuring the runic alphabet in weeks prior.

Otis and Ivar started off the match before Tozawa was tagged in. Erik slammed Ivar on top of Tozawa and the returning team took control of the match. Erik and Ivar took turns sending the smaller man into one another’s knees. Otis attempted to turn the match back around, but Ivar interrupted his caterpillar attempt. Tozawa tried to hit a missile drop kick, but was caught by Ivar. The War Raiders hit their new finishing move on Tozawa, with Erik throwing his opponent into the line of fire of Ivar’s splash from the top rope, for the victory. The bracket for the tag team tournament had not yet been revealed as of this writing, but the War Raiders are moving on for a shot at the World Tag Team Championships.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Raw Preview 10/14/2024

WWE Raw will air tonight on the USA Network from the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

  • WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill (c) vs. Damage CTRL (IYO Sky and Kairi Sane)
  • The Miz vs R-Truth
  • Bron Breakker vs Kofi Kingston
  • Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes to appear
  • WWE World Heavyweight Champion Gunther to appear

Motor City Machine Guns To Debut On WWE SmackDown Next Week

“Coming soon” has turned into “next week,” as the Machine City Motor Guns are slated to make their first WWE appearance on the upcoming October 18 episode of “WWE SmackDown.”

Nick Aldis was the first to break the news on WWE programming, informing Legado del Fantasma leader Santos Escobar that he was bringing in “a new tag team” next week, and that the team would be facing Escobar’s stablemates, Los Garzas. Shortly following the segment, a vignette featuring the bright lights of Detroit and the purr of motor engines filled fans’ screens. The letters “M-C-M-G” even briefly flashed at the end of the package, all but confirming the identities of Aldis’ expected new tag team arrival — and likely confirming that they will at least be using the same collective name.

Notably, Fightful Select reported earlier on Friday that Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin were not slated to appear on the blue brand until the October 25 episode of “SmackDown,” though the report allowed that the debut date could be changed even as a result of the report itself. Fightful also claimed the Guns’ upcoming debut had nothing whatsoever to do with the situation surrounding The Lucha Brothers, whose WWE arrival has been delayed by AEW CEO Tony Khan invoking his contractual right to extend Rey Fenix’ deal due to injury.

Shelley and Sabin are no strangers to gold — the Motor City Machine Guns boast tag team title reigns across multiple promotions, including NJPW, Deadlock Pro Wrestling, IGWP, Ring of Honor, and most famously Impact/TNA. The Guns’ contracts with TNA expired in April 2024; by September 2024, reports of Shelley and Sabin’s deal with WWE hit the wrestling news cycle. The Guns were initially reported to be heading to “WWE NXT,” but will instead call the blue brand home.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE SmackDown Preview 10/11/2024

WWE SmackDown will air live tonight on the USA Network from the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.

  • Fallout from Bad Blood
  • WWE United States Championship: LA Knight (c) vs. Carmelo Hayes
  • WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Bianca Belair and Jade Gargill (c) vs. NXT’s Jakara Jackson and Lash Legend
  • Roman Reigns will sound off following Bad Blood
  • There will probably be some more info on what happened after Bad Blood between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens

Injury Update On AJ Styles

AJ Styles returned on last week’s episode of “WWE SmackDown” to face Carmelo Hayes. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury that’s derailed the momentum he had. While some fans and reports claimed the health setback was a work, it was ultimately confirmed that Styles is hurt.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the referee stopped the match and that this angered the star. Interestingly, the report further noted that Styles was meant to begin a storyline about farewell tour and teasing his retirement. Despite his injury, the report also claimed that Styles’ retirement storyline is still planned to occur pending the results of an MRI he underwent to assess the severity of the injury.

WWE’s current deal with TNA Wrestling could also factor into Styles’ retirement tour, since he’ll be able to appear in the promotion that put him on everyone’s radar. Earlier this year, Styles commented on WWE and TNA’s partnership, noting that he had hopes that he’ll still have a final match in his old stomping grounds. The veteran also commented on the stars crossing between the two promotions, and expressed how he believes it has enriched the companies and the talent involved. 

Hopefully for Styles, he will heal up while the promotions still have their crossover deal, as a TNA appearance would be the cherry on top of his rumored retirement tour. However, for now, it remains to be seen what’s in store for “The Phenomenal One,” as he is currently focused on recovering from the setback.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE NXT Preview 10/8/2024

WWE NXT live on The CW from The Factory at the District in Chesterfield, Missouri. (St. Louis district)

  • NXT North American Championship Match: Oba Femi (c) vs. Tony D’Angelo
  • NXT Tag Team Championship Match: Nathan Frazer & Axiom (c) vs. A-Town Down Under
  • Randy Orton vs. Je’Von Evans
  • Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair, & Kelani Jordan vs. Fatal Influence
  • We will hear from NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade
  • Trick Williams addresses the NXT Universe
  • Sexyy Red to perform
  • Jey Uso to appear

Conflicting Reports Concerning Legitimacy Of AJ Styles’ Injury On SmackDown

A new update regarding AJ Styles is a cause for concern.

Following a lengthy absence from TV, Styles made his return on the October 4th episode of SmackDown. Opening the show, the former World Champion was quickly interrupted by Carmelo Hayes, who made fun of Styles and said that he was past his prime. After being goaded into a match by LA Knight, Hayes vs. Styles was the opening match of the show.

Sadly the match did not go the way as many hoped as due to an ankle injury the match was stopped and Hayes won via forfeit. Later seen evaluated by the medical team and leaving the arena on crutches, backstage interviewer Jackie Redmond stated on social media that Styles had “suffered a “mid foot ligament sprain” also known as a Lisfranc injury” and would undergo further evaluation. The Phenomenal One also acknowledged this update, saying that he would keep everyone updated.

What’s The Latest On AJ Styles?

Following the injury, two updates have been provided with differing reports as to how serious the injury was. As reported by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select on October 5th, Styles is not injured and the spot was planned:

AJ Styles’ injury angle was planned an he’s fine.

However, the following day, Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer posted in his daily update that Styles is injured and will get an MRI to find out how serious the injury is:

The A.J. Styles injury on Friday was legit and not storyline. He’s getting an MRI done to see the severity of it.

In comments from a previously unreleased interview, AJ Styles gave a concerning health update.

Source: InsideTheRopes

WWE Reportedly Treating Several Upcoming TV Events Similar To PLEs Due To Late Royal Rumble

January is always an exciting time for WWE fans, as the annual Royal Rumble event usually kickstarts the road to WrestleMania, but in 2025, that journey will begin a little later than usual. For the first time in history, the Royal Rumble will take place in February, specifically February 1 at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, leaving a two-month gap where the company will hold no Premium Live Events, as the final PLE of 2024 will be Survivor Series on November 30.

However, that doesn’t seem to be an issue given everything that is set to happen during that time. Fightful Select has been told by WWE sources that the January 6, 2025 episode of “WWE Raw,” the show’s premiere on Netflix, is not only expected to be a big one, but that it is “being talked about as being of the quality of a PLE.” WWE sources believe that it will be one of the biggest episodes in “Raw” history, and that the Netflix deal could go down as one of biggest deals in WWE history, so the company wants to make that first episode count, as they see it as their next leap in popularity.

The show, which is set to take place at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California, will see a whole host of WWE stars, including John Cena as he kicks off his retirement tour, and potentially stars from “WWE SmackDown,” although Fightful weren’t able to confirm if “SmackDown’s” inclusion is still planned. Loading up “Raw’s” debut on Netflix is also part of WWE’s strategy to have major events on all their platforms in consecutive months, with the return of “Saturday Night’s Main Event” acting as December’s major show to bridge the gap between 2024 and 2025.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Raw Preview 10/7/2024

WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network from the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Raw reverts back to a 2-hour format for the rest of the year.

  • Fallout from Bad Blood
  • WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Gunther (c) vs. Sami Zayn
  • WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Jey Uso (c) vs. Xavier Woods
  • Good Ol’ Fashioned Donnybrook: Pete Dunne vs. Sheamus
  • Seth Rollins set to appear following his return last week

Fan Footage Captures Kevin Owens Attacking Cody Rhodes By His Bus After WWE Bad Blood,

Kevin Owens was seen attacking Cody Rhodes in the parking lot following WWE Bad Blood. The pair have stood shoulder-to-shoulder for months now, aligned in their battle against both Roman Reigns’ and Solo Sikoa’s versions of The Bloodline, but they also stood against one another at August’s Bash In Berlin event with the WWE Championship on the line, with a belief that Owens might turn on Rhodes it came as a surprise to see them embrace to close that night. 

But it appears that their relationship was finally tested beyond its limits by Rhodes team-up with Reigns at Bad Blood on Saturday, following on from KO giving his friend the cold shoulder on recent weeks of “WWE SmackDown.” Footage captured and shared by fans in Atlanta saw the “Prizefighter” arguing with Rhodes beside his bus, then eventually punching him before delivering stomps and more punches to a grounded Rhodes. Owens also managed to throw a garbage can in Rhodes’ direction before he was run off by security. It’s unknown when and how WWE will air the segment officially, but the angle was presumably being shot for next week’s TV. WWE CCO Paul Levesque sold the encounter during the post-show press conference, intimating that Rhodes was supposed to attend the presser but was unavailable.

https://twitter.com/ARLOC0LE/status/1842746360652550472

Rhodes and Reigns teamed up for the first time ever to take on Sikoa and Jacob Fatu representing The Bloodline, with Reigns securing the win via pinfall following a familial assist. Jimmy Uso made his return for the first time since April, distracting Sikoa for Reigns to score the win. Uso and Reigns embraced following the match, going on to make the save for Rhodes when he was jumped by The Bloodline after the match. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson also made a cameo to close the segment, teasing a future feud with Rhodes and/or Reigns down the line. 

UPDATE

Paul “Triple H” Levesque Addresses Brawl Between Cody Rhodes And Kevin Owens After WWE Bad Blood

Levesque, on X, said that he and WWE management are aware of the incident and stated that they will deal with it.

“We are aware of the incident outside of the arena last night between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens. The matter will be dealt with internally,” said Levesque.

WWE has yet to acknowledge the incident on its social media or YouTube channel, adding to the intrigue surrounding the clash between the two.

Source: Wrestling Inc.