Vince McMahon is bringing out WWE’s biggest gun of all for Monday’s RAW as viewership continues to drop – himself.
WWE announced this afternoon that McMahon will return to TV on Monday’s post-TLC edition of RAW from the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, CA.
This week’s RAW drew just 2.194 million viewers, the lowest in show history. This week’s second and third hour were the lowest ever second and third hours in RAW history.
Vince’s last RAW appearance came on July 23. His last SmackDown appearance came on October 16, the 1000th episode.
There’s no word yet on what Vince will be doing at RAW.
WWE will be taping two episodes of RAW this Monday, with the second episode airing on Christmas Eve. They will also tape two episodes of SmackDown on Tuesday, with the second airing on Christmas.
The following week’s shows won’t be live either. The New Year’s Eve episode of RAW will be taped on Friday, December 28th in Detroit. The New Years episode of SmackDown will be taped on Saturday, December 29th in Pittsburgh.
Natalya says she has no problem with the death of Jim ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart being the focus of her current storyline, because it feels like her father is getting “one last run.”
“My dad was a professional wrestler,” Neidhart told Yahoo in a new interview. “He was a WWE superstar, he was a WWE legend before he passed away and I feel like in some crazy way this is like my dad is having one last run.”
Adding, “I feel like if I asked my dad right now, ‘Daddy, how do you feel about me doing this storyline?’ My dad would say go for it. He understood pro wrestling, he understood how, for fans to become emotionally invested in stories, there has to be emotionally charged content.”
As we previously reported, Anvil passed away in August.
In case you missed it, Ruby Riott displayed a table with Neidhart’s image plastered over it on the latest episode of Raw and told Natalya she’d throw her through it at TLC.
Matt Hardy has been on the shelf since August while he lets his body heal from over two decades in the ring. He’s dabbled as a backstage producer and did a Halloween special for WWE Network, but Hardy has another WWE role in mind.
Hardy has interest in being the Raw General Manager as “Woken” Matt Hardy. He further talked about his ideas if given that title in an interview with Wrestling Inc.’s Akhilesh Gannavarapu.
“Baron Corbin is obviously a character in the role of abusing his power and putting the good guys in bad situations and taking advantage of it,” Hardy stated.
“I think coming in [as GM], it would be a fresh start considering I would be a good guy in many ways. Woken Matt Hardy in being the character he is, and how over the top he is, I think he would be very entertaining in a General Manager role. I could put guys in unique situations or matches. My interactions with each and every talent would be so unique.
“I think the funnest thing between Broken Matt Hardy and Woken Matt Hardy was the interaction I had with other performers. I think if you have Woken Matt Hardy interacting with the women’s division and all the different athletes of the men’s division, I think there would be so much entertaining tv there.”
The Hardy Boyz really made their name at SummerSlam 2000 when they took part in the first-ever TLC match alongside Edge and Christian and the Dudleys. Matt Hardy reminisced about those early matches and how the impact of them is still evident in WWE today.
“It was the matches that put us on the map and made us Superstars in many ways and it also allowed us the opportunity to go out and do things that had never been done before,” said Matt. “Myself and my brother, when we were doing independent matches before we came to WWE, we used to have a lot of matches against each other where I would be Surge Matt Hardy and he would be Willow the Wisp wearing a mask.”
Matt and Jeff used some of the ideas from those matches and pitched them to WWE. One of those ideas was that of a ladder match and Matt said Edge and Christian would make great opponents because of their athleticism and the chemistry between the two teams.
Soon after, the Dudleys were added and history was made.
“We integrated the Dudley Boyz and tables and that’s where all of the TLC insanity began. To me, being one of the forefathers that started that movement, it’s very cool that TLC is now a pay-per-view and a staple of WWE history. It’s cool to be a performer that created something that became a mainstay in WWE,” Matt said.
Matt also discussed the WWE tryouts that are heading to India next year and said he wished he had that opportunity when first starting out.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for anyone that’s an inspiring WWE Superstar,” said Matt. “When Jeff and I first started, we didn’t have an opportunity to go somewhere and get in front of WWE management. We were driving up and down the east coast and networking and hoping to catch a break one day.”
Matt noted how aspiring wrestlers can go sign up at WWE’s Performance Center website in order to get an opportunity in front of the people in charge at WWE.
“If they see something special, something that stands out or the “it” factor, it could gain you the chance to become a WWE Superstar and that’s a golden opportunity and one I wouldn’t pass up,” stated Matt.
He may have been “fired” last week on Raw, but Rhyno is making one thing clear — he’s not retired.
WWE.com shared an exclusive video of Rhyno tonight in which he states, “I just want to clear up a rumor that I’ve seen going on for about a week now on Twitter about me retiring.”
“I am not retired,” he continued. “I am not retiring. I had no plans on retiring.”
In case you missed it, Heath Slater defeated the ECW legend last week to keep his own job on Raw. He was then told he’d become a referee, which played out on last night’s show as Slater reluctantly helped with Baron Corbin’s agenda in two matches.
Rhyno says he’ll be fulfilling his “contractual obligations” to wrestle at upcoming live events in December/January and “after that I don’t know.”
Over the weekend Bray Wyatt wiped out his entire Twitter feed and left a revealing cryptic message.
WWE posted the following on wwe.com:
Bray Wyatt took the WWE Universe aback this weekend, after wiping out his entire Twitter feed and revealing one cryptic message.
In two short – and shadowy – sentences, The Eater of Worlds, who is no stranger to unexpectedness, purged his entire Twitter feed and left one puzzling note that signals an imminent change.
While mysteriousness is usually a part of Wyatt’s toolbelt, the message does pose many questions. What could this dispatch mean for Wyatt’s future? How will this impact the Raw brand? When should we expect this “different” Wyatt to emerge?
Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California with the final red brand hype before Sunday’s WWE TLC pay-per-view.
* Has Dean Ambrose finally gotten inside Seth Rollins’ head?
* Natalya and Ruby Riott set the tables
* Heath Slater officially begins new career path
* Did Drew McIntyre’s assault on Finn Bálor change the WWE TLC landscape?
* Alexa Bliss to host pre-WWE TLC press conference
Alexa Bliss has announced a press conference segment for Monday’s WWE RAW in San Diego, the final red brand episode before the TLC pay-per-view.
Bliss wrote, “Since taking over the #Raw Women’s division, I’ve put our female Superstars at the forefront of @WWE. So before @NiaJaxWWE and @RondaRousey face off at #WWETLC, I’m holding a press conference and may actually use some of YOUR questions. Use #AskAlexa …and make them good.”
Bliss, who is the new storyline boss of the red brand women’s division, is taking fan questions for the press conference on Twitter with the hashtag #AskAlexa. It sounds like the presser will center on the TLC match between Nia Jax and RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey.
In just three years as a professional wrestler, Nia Jax has become one of the top names of the women’s division. After a dominant run in NXT, Jax was sent to the main roster, defeating numerous enhancement talent to further her push. Jax worked her way up to becoming a number one contender for the RAW Women’s Championship, competing in a four-way match at WrestleMania 33. Although she was unsuccessful, she was able to win the title a year later at WrestleMania 34 by defeating Alexa Bliss.
Although Jax has been successful during her main roster run, she has been heavily criticized for working unsafely in the ring. Along with matches with Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, and Bayley which had moments where her opponents could have been severely injured, Jax threw a punch at the go-home show of Survivor Series to Becky Lynch. Lynch was injured from the punch, forcing her to sit out of her match against Ronda Rousey.
Daily Staris reporting that Ember Moon’s husband, indie wrestler Matthew Palmer, had some harsh comments about Jax’s in-ring work. According to the report, the now-deleted text stated, “Hope this unsafe moron doesn’t hurt my wife again.”
Moon came in as a last-minute replacement for Natalya on RAW as a teammate with Ronda Rousey, following Natalya being attacked and powerbombed through a table by the Riott Squad. Rousey and Moon were successful in the match, following an Eclipse on Tamina which set up for Rousey’s armbar submission.
Although the punch from Jax cost Lynch her opportunity to compete against Rousey, WWE has continued to use this careless moment as a way to generate more heat as a heel. Jax was able to win the battle royal at Evolution to become the number one contender for the Raw Women’s Championship, lastly eliminating Ember Moon. As a result, Jax will be competing for the title at the upcoming TLC event on December 16.
It appears that WWE will be going in a different direction with Ronda Rousey and who she partners with.
Over the past few months, Ronda has had an ally in Natalya. There were plans to turn the latter heel until her father, Jim Neidhart, passed away this past summer. While WWE has been teasing it, now it appears that Natalya will take a small break.
On last night’s Monday Night RAW, Rousey and Natalya were in a match against Tamina and Nia Jax before the Riott Squad interrupted. The trio ended up putting Natalya through a table. In the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that Natalya has an elbow injury. The angle on RAW was done to replace her with Ember Moon in the storyline.
A timetable for Natalya’s return is unknown. Ronda is scheduled to face Nia Jax for the RAW Women’s Championship at the TLC PPV on December 16th inside the SAP Center in San Jose, California.
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