Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Radio give their thoughts on the new changes to WWE RAW, including the updated set and the new commentary team.
Meltzer thought that Jerry “The King” Lawler stole the show amongst the RAW announce team that includes Vic Josesph and Dio Maddin. He said Lawler was very strong in getting over the angles.
You can listen below:
WWE has announced a big Team Flair vs. Team Hogan ten-man tag match for WWE Crown Jewel 2019 in Saudi Arabia.
WWE Hall of Famers Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan will be the two coaches for the teams. Hogan’s Team Captain is WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins, while Randy Orton will be the Team Captain for Team Flair. The match was announced during MizTV on tonight’s RAW season premiere.
Crown Jewel 2019, which will air on the WWE Network, will take place on Halloween, Thursday, October 31, from the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh. Others advertised for the event are The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, WWE United States Champion AJ Styles, Roman Reigns, Big E, Xavier Woods, “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman, Rey Mysterio and Mansoor Al-Shehail.
Crown Jewel 2019 will be a part of “Riyadh Season” that runs from October 15 through December 15. The Saudis will be holding 11 festivals during these two months, as a way to boost domestic and international tourism in the country, and Crown Jewel will be a part of the festivals. This will be WWE’s fourth big event under their ten-year deal with the Saudi General Sports Authority.
Regarding the Team Hogan vs. Team Flair match, Orton and Rollins will announce their partners over the next few weeks. Rusev will be on Team Hogan while King Baron Corbin is on Team Flair.
WWE Raw this week ended with the returns of Bobby Lashley and Lana whose surprise appearance together included an uncomfortably long steamy makeout session.
This week’s Raw was originally scheduled to feature Seth Rollins vs. Rey Mysterio in the main event. Mysterio and his son Dominick was taken out by Brock Lesnar at the top of show and was later replaced by Rusev.
Mid-way through the match, while cutting to commercial, a limousine was shown pulling up.
The match ultimately came to a no-contest ending when Lashley’s music hit and he hit the stage to taunt Rusev. Moments later, Lana joined Bobby onstage and they started their long steamy kissing session as Lana’s husband Rusev watched from the ring.
Tonight’s WWE RAW season premiere will take place from the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.
* Debut of the new RAW announce team with Vic Joseph, Dio Maddin and WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler
WWE has confirmed that not only are new sets on the way, but pyro is also making a return.
The New York Post’s Joseph Staszewski tweeted saying, “Talked with #WWE Executive Producer Kevin Dunn about [WWE on Fox]. Confirmed there will be new sets, openings, logos, graphics & theme music for both #Raw and SmackDown. Pyro is also returning including “flames, lasers.”
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
WWE has announced new commentary teams with some big changes for Raw and SmackDown.
According to WWE, the announce teams going forward are as follows:
RAW – Vic Joseph, Dio Maddin and Jerry Lawler
Friday Night SmackDown – Michael Cole and Corey Graves with Renee Young as a Special Contributor
WWE announced the following:
STAMFORD, Conn. – WWE Premiere Week ushers in an unprecedented era of coverage with special episodes of Monday Night Raw, NXT, Total Divas and the FOX debut of Friday Night SmackDown bringing fans eight hours of primetime programming.
As part of WWE Premiere Week, new voices will be brought to the Raw, NXT and SmackDown broadcasts. Raw’s new announce team will include play-by-play from Vic Joseph with Dio Maddin and WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler serving as analysts; NXT play-by-play will be called by Mauro Ranallo with Beth Phoenix and Nigel McGuiness as analysts; and SmackDown will feature Michael Cole handling play-by-play, Corey Graves serving as analyst and Renee Young as a Special Contributor.
Monday, September 30
The season premiere of Monday Night Raw airs at 8/7 C on USA Network as WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins defends his title against Rey Mysterio; The Miz hosts WWE Hall of Famers Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair on a special edition of Miz TV; Brock Lesnar makes a special appearance; AJ Styles defends his United States Title vs. Cedric Alexander; and Alexa Bliss takes on Sasha Banks.
Wednesday, October 2
NXT will make its two-hour live premiere this Wednesday, October 2, on USA Network at 8/7 C, as The Undisputed ERA defend their golden prophecy and the NXT Tag Team Championships in a match against the Street Profits. Also, NXT Champion Adam Cole defends his title against Matt Riddle; NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler takes on Candice LeRae; Johnny Gargano competes against Shane Thorne; and fans can witness “The Velveteen Dream Experience.”
Immediately following NXT, season nine of Total Divas will premiere on E! at 10/9 C. The hit series is back with a season more personal and action-packed than ever. WWE Superstar Ronda Rousey joins Natalya, Naomi and Nia Jax for the new season, which also includes returning cast member Carmella and newcomer Sonya Deville. Nikki Bella and Brie Bella will make guest appearances in the series as well.
Friday, October 4
SmackDown’s 20th anniversary will kick off the new era of Friday Night SmackDown’s highly-anticipated move to FOX broadcast network on Friday, October 4 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, when WWE Champion Kofi Kingston puts his title on the line against Brock Lesnar. The Four Horsewomen also square off as WWE Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair team up against WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley and Sasha Banks in tag team competition. Later Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon look to finally settle their ongoing dispute in a high-stakes Ladder Match with the loser forced to leave WWE.
Prior to the premiere, the Friday Night SmackDown Kickoff Show “blue carpet” special will air at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on FOX from the Staples Center, featuring celebrity, Superstar and Legend arrivals, as well as backstage access.
Michael Cole’s return to SmackDown marks the end of a long run on Raw for “The Voice of WWE.” He first joined the Raw commentary team in 2008 and has remained there since. Before that he was the lead play-by-play man on SmackDown for nearly ten years.
Maddin recently made his debut on commentary during a recent edition of 205 Live.
The NXT announce team will reportedly stay the same for now. No word at this point on where Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton will be utilized in the future.
Lawler will likely only be used for a short period of time on Raw. Other people are reportedly being looked at for the spot on a full-time basis. This could explain why Mickie James was featured on commentary this week during Main Event, but we’ve been unable to verify this.
As we previously reported, Renee Young will now be hosting WWE Backstage Tuesday nights on FS1. Young is reportedly thrilled by the move since hosting is her passion and now she gets to do it on a giant platform every week. She echoed this sentiment via Twitter by sharing the new show announcement and calling it a dream come true.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
Last night on WWE RAW, an updated logo was revealed for next week’s season premiere, which you can see above.
A new song was also used which is called Legendary by the band Skillet.
Also it was announced that Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair will appear as guest of The Miz on Miz TV.
Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Chase Center in San Francisco, California as the road to Hell In a Cell continues.
WWE will reportedly begin making significant changes to the look and feel of RAW and SmackDown next week.
WWE is set to bring back pyro to their weekly RAW and SmackDown TV shows next week, according to a new report from @Wrestlevotes. It was noted that fireworks will once again be a fixture on WWE programming, which comes after WWE reportedly cut back on expenses a few years ago.
It was reported over the weekend, via @Wrestlevotes, that this week is the final week that WWE will be using the current entrance stage. RAW and SmackDown are set to receive “updated, fresh feeling” sets next week. There will apparently be a new set for RAW and a different set for SmackDown.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
A WWE fan was arrested at Monday’s RAW after filming a Snapchat video of a police officer and other individuals urinating in the bathroom, according to WKYT in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Tyler Bollinger was accused of recording video inside the bathroom of the Thompson-Boling Arena. An arrest report notes that other individuals were in the video, and that a man and his son flagged an officer down to report what had happened. Police questioned Bollinger and found the video in question. Bollinger admitted to having six adult beverages. Bollinger first denied the accusation but agreed to show police his phone. He later admitted to taking video of the officer and at least one other man while they were urinating.
The officer said he was working the WWE event and had went to use the restroom. He stated that when he left the restroom, he was stopped by a man and his young son, who told him that they saw a man recording people in the bathroom while urinating. The man pointed out Bollinger and that’s when police confronted him.
Bollinger was charged with disseminating unlawful photographs and public intoxication. He was due in court earlier this week.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
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