Tag: WWE

WWE SmackDown Preview 8/5/22

The fallout from SummerSlam will play out on tonight’s “WWE SmackDown” episode airing on FOX at 8/7C.

No matches have been announced for tonight’s show at the time of this posting.

There should be more build up for matches at Clash at the Castle.

Probably something about Ronda Rousey’s suspension after she attacked the referee following her loss to “SmackDown” Women’s Champion Liv Morgan at SummerSlam.  Rousey forced Morgan to tap out to an armbar. However, the referee did not see Morgan tapping out and instead counted Rousey’s shoulders down for the pin. In addition to attacking the referee after the match, Rousey also laid out Morgan.

Rousey’s “suspension” shouldn’t last long. Rousey is reportedly expected to return to WWE programming in time to set up a match for her at Clash at the Castle.

Pat McAfee is expected to be back at his usual post on commentary. He’s coming off a win over Happy Corbin at SummerSlam.

Glenn Jacobs Re-Elected As Mayor Of Knox County

WWE Hall of Famer Glenn Jacobs, AKA Kane, will remain mayor of Knox County, Tennessee for another four years.

Jacobs, a Republican, defeated Democratic nominee Debbie Helsley in the mayoral race Thursday night. According to The Knoxville News Sentinel, Jacobs led the unofficial vote tally by more than 4,400 votes when 63 percent of the nearly 43,000 votes were counted at 10 p.m. local time. The margin was reportedly enough to project Jacobs as the winner. The wrestling legend celebrated his victory with fellow GOP attendees at a watch party in downtown Knoxville, per his social media feeds.

“It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve as mayor for the past four years, and I am just so grateful that you have trusted me to work hard to keep our economy strong and to protect our freedoms and our way of life,” Jacobs said of his victory [H/T The Knoxville News Sentinel].

In his press conference, Jacobs appreciated the other candidates who ran in the mayoral race.

“In this day and age, as contentious as politics is, we should respect anyone who is willing to put their name on the ballot,” Jacobs stressed. “I promise you, and I don’t make many promises because they’re hard to keep. But I do promise you that I will continue to work hard every day for the brightest future possible for our Knox County.”

Jacobs was last seen on WWE TV at last weekend’s SummerSlam premium live event, appearing in a brief segment to announce the attendance of 48,449 for the show at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, TN. Earlier this year, Kane faced a lot of backlash on social media for his reaction to the United States Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade – the court’s landmark 1973 judgment that made abortion a constitutional right. A plethora of wrestlers from across promotions called out Jacobs for his comments.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Lifts Ban On Forbidden Words [Report]

Reports indicate that WWE are easing up on restricted terminology amidst backstage shake up.

A constant complaint amongst WWE fans for years has been the companies strict avoidance of certain words and phrases in promos, interviews, media and on commentary. Having been an irritation for years, reports indicate that WWE are easing up on such rules, with banned terminology no longer forbidden from leaving talent’s mouths.

Reported in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer details that amidst the various changes going on behind the scenes at WWE, talent have had some restrictions on what they can say lifted. More precisely, Meltzer reports that ‘wrestling’ and ‘wrestler’ are ‘no longer dirty words’. Whilst talent are sure to still be referred to as ‘WWE Superstars’ as part of the company’s branding objectives, the easing of the rules certainly gives talent more freedom in what they say.

Previously, terms such as ‘wrestler’ and ‘wrestling’ had been forbidden under the last several years of Vince McMahon’s reign over WWE creative. Cody Rhodes had attested to this recently, sharing how he had been fined $1000 for uttering the term championship ‘belt’, proving just how forbidden certain phrases had become.

As part of these reports, Meltzer notes that this change to terminology comes along with ‘a positive and fresh vibe’ that has swept through the company following the installation of the new management regime. Amongst talent, Triple H is seen as a more caring figure compared to Vince McMahon, and whilst there is still some worry for certain individuals about losing their spot under the new creative direction, the overall atmosphere backstage is ‘more excitement and more positive about the future’.

Just over a week into the new regime, it appears that change is coming much quicker than fans, or talent, might have expected. So far, the initiative under Triple H certainly looks to be angled towards giving talent more creative freedom and making their jobs easier as a whole. Whilst the lifting of a ban on certain terms may appear as a somewhat small measure, it is indicative of a broader approach to WWE programming.

Source: TheSportster

Backstage News On Last Minute Plans WWE Made For Bayley’s New Stable

One of the biggest, if not the biggest, stories coming out of WWE SummerSlam last weekend was the return of both Bayley and Dakota Kai, along with the main roster debut of Iyo Sky (fka Io Shirai). The new stable has quickly made an impact between their appearances at WWE SummerSlam and “WWE Raw” two days later, and it’s even more impressive given the last-minute nature of the stable’s conception.

According to PWInsider, things came together for the group so late that Sky’s new name wasn’t trademarked until July 31, the day after SummerSlam, a wildly uncharacteristic move for the promotion, which likes to trademark character names well before they debut. Indeed, Sky’s debut at SummerSlam was accompanied by video graphics that still displayed the Io Shirai name. PWI also noted that while Bayley was expected to be at SummerSlam, there were no “concrete” plans for her to appear when the creative was overseen by Vince McMahon.

PWInsider also confirmed that Kai had not originally been in the plans for SummerSlam. The WWE star, who was released by the promotion back in April and whose noncompete clause had long since elapsed, was reportedly contacted at the last minute and didn’t travel to Nashville, the site of SummerSlam, until the night before. Kai herself stated the deal came together quickly prior to the PLE in an appearance on “WWE: The Bump” this Wednesday.

While the group doesn’t have a formal name as of yet, Bayley hinted that the group could be called Control in a tweet shortly after their SummerSlam appearance. On “Raw,” the trio set the tone for the show, attacking Becky Lynch and brawling with “Raw” Women’s Champion Bianca Belair, Asuka, and Alexa Bliss shortly after Sky’s match with Belair, which ended in a no contest.

https://twitter.com/itsBayleyWWE/status/1553775548580724737

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Monday’s Raw Registered The Show’s Highest Rating For More Than Two Years

Things are naturally going to start feeling pretty different now Vince McMahon has retired and Triple H is head of creative. In fact, some of those changes have already started to show through, perhaps a little earlier than expected. Monday’s Raw was effectively the first show during which The Game had full creative control since he is sort of able to hit the reset button on everything McMahon put in place following SummerSlam.

It seems a lot of fans were interested to see how a Triple H-led Raw would look. As reported by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics, this week’s Raw pulled 2.23 million viewers. That’s the highest rating the show has achieved since the start of the pandemic. The last episode that bettered that number was on March 16, 2020. The first show of the pandemic era when fans were keen to see what exactly a Raw in an empty Performance Center looked like.

An impressive 2.433 million viewers were watching when Raw got underway, and that number naturally declined as the three-hour show progressed. Perhaps one of Triple H’s next moves will be to dial Raw back to two hours, although the amount of ad revenue generated by that third hour makes that unlikely, even without McMahon at the helm.

The good news keeps on coming for WWE when breaking down who exactly was watching Raw on Monday. Total viewership is all well and good, but that key demographic is 18 to 49-year-olds. 796,000 of those watching Raw fell into that age group, translating to a rating of 0.61. The next best rating for a show on at that time was Better Call Saul with a 0.36. Honestly, that the Breaking Bad spinoff was on at the same time just makes all of the above numbers even more impressive.

Even though some of the changes Triple H and his team have made so far have been plain to see, there still hasn’t been anything too drastic. Most will be subtle and will hopefully improve the quality of WWE’s product and increase the number of people watching on a regular basis over time. This was also the Raw after SummerSlam which is almost always guaranteed to do a good number. Now The Game needs to see if he can keep those new and lapsed fans tuning in every week.

Source: TheSportster

Major Update On Sasha Banks And Naomi’s Reported WWE Status

A significant update has developed regarding the WWE statuses of Sasha Banks and Naomi in WWE.

“Wrestling News Co.” reported yesterday that they were told an agreement has been reached for both Banks and Naomi to return to the company. Brian Alvarez of the “Wrestling Observer Live” podcast stated that a source confirmed the report to him. He said he believed the report was accurate but couldn’t say 100% definitively that it was true.

Banks and Naomi walked out of the May 16 edition of “Raw” after being unhappy about their creative plans for the show. The duo relinquished their Women’s Tag Team Titles soon after, stating that they didn’t feel respected as a team and felt unsafe working with specific colleagues in the ring. The two women had also been edited out of WWE content, removed from the internal roster, and changed their social media handles in the wake of the news. Dave Meltzer of the “Wrestling Observer” mentioned last week that he had been told that WWE would be attempting to reconcile with the two women while speaking on the “Sports Illustrated Media” podcast.

Wrestling INC.’s Raj Giri reported that Banks had been released from WWE in June after the two were given indefinite suspensions without pay. Banks’ contract was reportedly set to expire in July, and both women were said to be involved in ongoing contract negotiations with the company up until this point.

Banks and Naomi are slated to appear at the Chicago And Entertainment Expo Convention (C2E2) this weekend in their first fan signing experience outside WWE since the ordeal. AEW World Champion CM Punk, Danhausen, and Lita are also set to appear at the convention.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE NXT Preview 8/2/22

Tonight on WWE NXT 2.0 at 8 pm ET on USA Network:

Becky Lynch Confirms Injury

As we noted earlier this weekend, it looked like top WWE star Becky Lynch suffered a shoulder injury during her match against Bianca Belair at SummerSlam this past Saturday. Tonight’s episode of WWE “Raw” confirmed that news shortly after reports emerged online that Lynch’s injury was legitimate. Becky appeared in a sling as she walked down to the ring in all black on tonight’s show, and through evident emotions, she told fans that she had two choices when she realized the injury had occurred: give up or keep fighting on.

That made her realize who she was deep down — not someone that needs constant validation or fancy clothes. Instead, she will focus on grit, determination, and defining what it means to be the man. Lynch promises she is starting a new era with the most impressive comeback in WWE History.

Becky would then invite Bianca Belair to the ring and express her admiration for the EST of WWE before telling her to “hold it down” while she is away. Bianca supported the idea that Becky is “The Man” and explained that she couldn’t pass up the opportunity at SummerSlam to become allies with Lynch. That’s when she was interrupted by a live feed from a backstage camera. Bayley, IYO SKY, and Dakota Kai, seemingly named “Control” as a group based on recent social media posts, were shown attacking an injured Becky in the backstage area as her arm was still in a sling. Bayley had caught her arm in the chair and was on the offense as Bianca Belair retreated from the ring and ran to make the save. IYO, Dakota, and Bayley fleed as soon as Bianca approached, leaving Bianca alone to console a hurt Becky.

https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1554289194306093058
https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1554256535550935040
https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1554257246703570944

As noted, Lynch was leaving the arena at WWE SummerSlam with the medical team while keeping her arm close to her body. Lynch noticeably started favoring her shoulder after taking a Glam Slam from Belair during their WWE “Raw” Women’s Title match.

A report from Fightful said they couldn’t give a timetable on Becky Lynch’s eventual return, and it is a 50/50chance  whether or not Lynch would have to have surgery.

Becky Lynch is expected to miss at least several months of in-ring action, WWE announced via a tweet Monday.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1554274811098329088

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Raw Preview 8/1/22

WWE RAW, tonight at 8/7 C on USA Network.

Coming out of WWE SummerSlam, the red brand saw returns, debuts, and even a celebrity having his first one-on-one match in company history.

Most notably, Triple H, in his first couple of weeks in charge of creative, clearly sought to shake things up in the women’s division. With the “Raw” Women’s Championship staying around the waist of Bianca Belair for now, her next major challenge became apparent when a returning Bayley made her way down the ramp before stopping, allowing two other wrestlers to join her in shocking fashion — Dakota Kai, who was released back in April from “NXT,” and Iyo Sky, formerly known as Io Shirai, also making her return from injury and having seemingly signed a new contract. The trio entered the ring and faced down Belair, who was unexpectedly backed up by Becky Lynch, whom Belair had just defeated for the championship.

Also on the “Raw” side of SummerSlam, Logan Paul made his singles debut when he took on The Miz, busting out moves that we had not seen the social media influencer perform prior to this match. Miz had Maryse and Ciampa at ringside to start out with, but later into the match, AJ Styles came out to help fight off Ciampa, leaving just Maryse in Miz’s corner. Paul defeated Miz using Miz’s own move, the Skull Crushing Finale.

Bobby Lashley has now beaten Theory in back-to-back PLEs at Money in the Bank and SummerSlam, retaining his United States Championship over Mr. Money in the Bank in fairly quick action. Theory would be seen again in the main event of SummerSlam, attempting to cash in during the main event between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns, but Lesnar hit Theory with an F-5 before Theory had the chance to cash in, and he left the arena still holding the battered briefcase Reigns used as a weapon to help put Lesnar away.

In the last “Raw” match of the night, the Mysterios went 2-0 over The Judgment Day’s Finn Balor and Damian Priest as the father and son team secured the win off of a returning Edge’s help.

As of early Monday morning, nothing has been promoted for “Raw,” but you can certainly expect fallout from SummerSlam, likely in all four of these storylines.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage News On Ric Flair’s Health After Last Match

Ric Flair is reportedly “doing great” despite getting bloodied and taking several bumps in his final match Sunday evening.

According to PWInsider, two doctors were waiting for the 73-year-old Flair the second he returned to the locker room after his match. A person who spoke to The Nature Boy after the medical evaluation provided a positive update, noting that Flair was perfectly fine. The report added that Flair was “obviously spent after the bout” and was saying he was “starving and wanted to go out and eat.” During his farewell speech, Flair told Tony Schiavone he was going to party with Kid Rock at the musician’s bar in Nashville, TN.

Fans were understandably concerned for Flair’s health after watching him take several bumps, especially towards the closing stages of the match. Furthermore, Flair appeared to be gasping for air midway through the bout, and one could notice that Andrade El Idolo, Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal tried to buy him time so he could catch his breath.

Flair appeared to get busted open after Karen Jarrett handed her high heel to her husband, who proceeded to strike Flair with the foreign object. Jarrett then slammed Flair’s head onto the barricade, which led to Megan Flair confronting Karen. During this sequence, Lethal continued to beat down on Flair, causing him to start bleeding from the forehead.

https://twitter.com/FiteTV/status/1553918348806733824
https://twitter.com/FiteTV/status/1553918166203568128

The match eventually ended with Flair applying his signature figure-four leglock on Jeff Jarrett as referee David Miller counted to three. Prior to the finish, Andrade pulled Flair out of harm’s way as Jarrett accidentally hit his tag partner, Lethal, with a guitar shot. This was followed by Conrad Thompson throwing a pair of brass knuckles to Andrade, who proceeded to strike Jarrett.

A few more highlights from Ric Flair’s swansong can be seen below.

https://twitter.com/FiteTV/status/1553920335732424704
https://twitter.com/FiteTV/status/1553919406723530753
https://twitter.com/FiteTV/status/1553918719121833984
https://twitter.com/FiteTV/status/1553920810343096324
https://twitter.com/FiteTV/status/1553922283407872000

Source: Wrestling Inc.