Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from Madison Square Garden in New York City with the final red brand build for Sunday’s WWE Clash of Champions pay-per-view.
* Raw King of the Ring Semifinal Match becomes a Triple Threat
* The battle of WWE’s Four Horsewomen
WWE RAW has been nominated for an E! People’s Choice Award.
RAW was nominated for “The Show of 2019” award. They are going up against Game of Thrones, Grey’s Anatomy, Riverdale, Stranger Things, The Big Bang Theory, The Walking Dead and This Is Us.
Fans can vote for RAW at this link. Voting ends on Friday, October 18, and fans can vote up to 25 times.
The E! People’s Choice Awards will air on Sunday, November 10 on the E! network.
Last night’s WWE RAW from Baltimore saw SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley turned heel on RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch.
The turn came after the Women’s Championship Showcase main event, which had Bayley and Lynch teaming to face WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross in a non-title match. Sasha Banks appeared during the match and watched from ringside, after previously locking in a title match with Lynch at WWE Clash of Champions.
Banks attacked Lynch during the match to cause the disqualification, and beat her down with a steel chair until Bayley made the save. Bayley then took the chair from Banks, and hesitated before smiling and unloading on Lynch. RAW went off the air with the crowd chanting “yes!” before Bayley ended her assault on The Man.
Banks will challenge Lynch at the September 15 Clash of Champions pay-per-view. Bayley will defend against Charlotte Flair that same night.
Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, MD
* Can Ricochet repeat history in King of the Ring quarterfinals?
WWE officials have been discussing a new Draft concept to build permanent RAW and SmackDown rosters, according to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
It was previously reported that there would be no major changes to the rosters ahead of the SmackDown Fox premiere on October 4, just some minor changes. This new directive was made by Vince McMahon.
Meltzer noted that plans are being kept quiet as USA Network and Fox representatives will be the first ones to know when the new concept is decided on.
There’s no concrete word yet on WWE NXT Superstars being used on RAW to build their names ahead of the NXT USA premiere on September 18, but there have been arguments for and against this idea. Some feel that this will give the NXT talents the exposure they need to help build the USA Network launch, but the other argument is that any kind of “cross-pollination” on RAW would establish the NXT stars as secondary level talents, which they would want to avoid right now.
Bringing the NXT Superstars to RAW ahead of the big premiere could also lead to more interference from the vision that NXT higher-ups have. It was described to the Observer that Triple H’s dream of creating a legitimate third brand of his own just came true, but now he’s faced with the task of “playing defense” to keep Vince and Kevin Dunn’s influence away from NXT.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin has been announced for the September 9 WWE RAW episode from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
This will be the final RAW episode before the WWE Clash of Champions pay-per-view on September 15.
The announcement was made today by MSG. You can see their promo below.
Austin took to Twitter and commented on his first MSG appearance in almost 20 years.
“I cannot believe it has been so long. Time flies by. The Garden is home to many of my favorite moments in my career. @BretHart in #survivorseries @undertaker in #summerslam #highwaytohell and stunning @VinceMcMahon for the very first time. Along with many others. Hell Yeah!,” Austin wrote.
https://twitter.com/TheGarden/status/1166039958982995968
https://twitter.com/steveaustinBSR/status/1166042014661562369
Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
* Ricochet faces Drew McIntyre in King of the Ring clash
* The Miz squares off against Baron Corbin in first-round King of the Ring bout
* Bayley takes on Nikki Cross following “A Moment of Bliss” interruption
* Can Sasha Banks’ rampage be stopped?
* Seth Rollins & Braun Strowman bring the Raw Tag Team Titles to New Orleans
After yet the latest hiatus of the event, the King of the Ring has been revived yet again by WWE. The tournament returned for the first time since 2015 last night on RAW.
Some of the greatest Superstars in WWE history have won past editions including Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Booker T and the recently deceased Harley Race. Many of the past winners have even adopted king gimmicks after winning such as Booker T becoming King Booker and Randy Savage becoming the Macho King.
But someone who has had “King” in his name throughout essentially his entire career is Jerry “The King” Lawler. The King isn’t thrilled with the idea of The King of the Ring returning as it, in part, infringes upon his gimmick as he told Wrestling Inc’s Andy Malnoske.
“When they had the very first King of the Ring tournament, that’s what made me show up in the WWE because I was a little PO’d about it, and I still am to be honest with you. It’s so easy to win a couple of matches and slide a crown on yourself and call yourself the King of the Ring. I’ve been doing this 49 years to earn this crown right here [shows off his crown],” said Lawler.
“For them to have a one-night or two-night tournament to crown a king, I’m not too crazy about it. But they use it as an opportunity to promote somebody and put somebody in the spotlight which, in that respect, I understand so I can’t be too upset about it.
“I promised them that I wouldn’t go in the ring and spoil the coronation of the new king.”
The King of the Ring preliminary matches will take place on both RAW and SmackDown with the finals being held at Clash of Champions.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Last night on RAW Jerry Lawler was attacked by “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt after he talked up the King of the Ring Tournament and before he was able to interview Sasha Banks.
Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota with the return of the King of the Ring tournament.
* 2019 King of the Ring tournament returns
* Braun Strowman to face AJ Styles for the United States Title on Raw
* Sasha Banks’ brutal return sparks questions – Sasha to explain her actions on “The King’s Court” with Jerry “The King” Lawler
* Cedric Alexander squares off with Sami Zayn as the King of the Ring kicks off
* Cesaro and Samoa Joe to throw down with their eyes on the throne
* Walking with (and running after) Elias
As previously reported, WWE cancelled an upcoming RAW weekend tour later this month, with shows scheduled in Louisiana and Alabama. WWE has confirmed that the events that weekend have been postponed, below are the new dates:
* Friday, August 23 in Bossier City, Louisiana postponed to Sunday, March 22, 2020.
* Saturday, August 24 in Lafayette, Louisiana postponed to Friday, January 17, 2020.
* Sunday, August 25 in Mobile, Alabama postponed to Thursday, March 19, 2020.
WWE will be presenting SmackDown live events in South America that weekend with shows in Lima, Peru on Saturday, August 24th and Panama City, Panama the following night. WWE added several RAW stars to those events this week, so the cancellations may just be to strengthen those shows. RAW stars AJ Styles, Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, Samoa Joe, Sami Zayn and Rey Mysterio are scheduled for those shows in South America. SmackDown talent booked for those events include WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, Charlotte Flair, Randy Orton, Kevin Owens and Andrade, amongst others.
As noted, PWInsider reported that WWE also cancelled RAW live events on Friday, August 30 in Bangor, Maine and on Saturday, August 31 in Portland, Maine. It should be noted that there were no SmackDown live events scheduled that weekend.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
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