Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will air live from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas with the final build for Sunday’s Money In the Bank pay-per-view.
This show marks WWE’s official return to touring since the COVID-19 pandemic shut things down last year. WWE is expected to have several surprises this weekend, and a new set will debut on tonight’s SmackDown.
The September 17 edition of WWE SmackDown on FOX will no longer take place at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
The arena announced today that the event has been canceled. No reason was given, but refunds are available at the point of purchase.
WWE has not announced a new location for the September 17 SmackDown as of this writing, but we will keep you updated. The WWE website still has the Atlanta event listed as of this writing, but that will likely be removed soon.
Fans on Twitter expressed frustration with the cancellation as the arena was still selling tickets as of yesterday.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Goldberg’s last match took place against Drew McIntyre at the Royal Rumble. A new report gives us an idea on when he’ll return to WWE.
Goldberg will reportedly make his return to WWE programming very soon.
According to Fightful Select (h/t Ringside News), Goldberg will return to television on Monday Night Raw next week. Apparently, the plan is to run a program between the Hall of Famer and WWE Champion Bobby Lashley for SummerSlam, which will take place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada on Aug. 21.
Last year, Goldberg revealed that his WWE contract consists of two matches annually, and it runs through 2023. The 54-year-old has already wrestled one match this year, losing to Drew McIntyre in a WWE Championship bout at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
SummerSlam is one of WWE’s marquee pay-per-views, so this would obviously be a smart time to use up Goldberg’s second match of 2021. Lashley will defend his title against Kofi Kingston at Money in the Bank (at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth) this Sunday. Even if the former were to lose the title, it doesn’t mean WWE can’t run a non-title program between Lashley and Goldberg.
Next week’s episode of Raw will take place at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. This will be the first Raw show to feature fans since March 9, 2020. WWE spent over five months at the Performance Center in Orlando before launching the ThunderDome technology in August, which they used up until this week. WWE will return to touring this Friday, with SmackDown taking place at the Toyota Center in Houston.
Monday Night Raw suffered its lowest viewership ever last week. Clearly, WWE has some work to do when it comes to fixing the product and regaining the interest of fans. Goldberg remains a giant fan favorite and main event draw, and a program with Lashley could go a long way in enhancing the television product. Simply put, Goldberg’s is coming back at a very opportune time.
Source: The Sportster
Becky Lynch is reportedly scheduled to be at the WWE Money In the Bank pay-per-view.
There is no word on if Lynch will make her return at the pay-per-view, but PWInsider reports that as of this morning she is scheduled to be in attendance at Money In the Bank.
Lynch was working out in the ring with Indi Hartwell at the WWE Performance Center a few weeks back, as part of the process of getting cleared for her return to action.
Lynch gave birth to her first daughter, with Seth Rollins, back in December. She has been out of action since WrestleMania 36, where she retained the RAW Women’s Title over Shayna Baszler. She then relinquished that title to Asuka a few weeks later, announcing her pregnancy.
It’s believed that WWE is saving some of their bigger returns for when they return to the road later this week, beginning with Friday’s SmackDown on FOX from Houston. Money In the Bank will take place from the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE NXT is scheduled to be bumped from the USA Network by coverage of The Olympics later this month.
NBC Universal’s broadcast schedule for The Olympics currently shows that the USA Network will be airing coverage of the games on Tuesday, July 27.
NXT will air on Syfy that night at 8pm ET instead of USA, according to PWInsider.
There’s no word yet on if additional NXT episodes will be bumped from USA to Syfy as NBCU continues their coverage of the games.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Mandy Rose’s move to NXT is a permanent one, and apparently Raw will be getting a Superstar from the black and gold brand in return.
The appearances of Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox, and the video package hyping Toni Storm, on SmackDown last week were somewhat expected. The three of them and other NXT stars have been competing in trial matches ahead of potential call-ups. However, Mandy Rose moving the other way will have taken most people by surprise on Tuesday.
Rose appeared on the ramp during a match on NXT this week, and again later during a backstage segment. It has since been reported that Rose’s move to NXT is a permanent one and she will no longer be appearing on Raw. Bad news for the red brand whose roster is somewhat lacking already.
Fear not, as according to WrestleVotes, Raw will be getting an NXT Superstar in return. A WWE source has told the Twitter account that Aliyah will be taking Rose’s place on Monday nights. That might be considered an odd choice by some. Aliyah hasn’t been reported to have competed in any recent trial matches on Raw or SmackDown, neither can she boast a lot of screen time in NXT. Aliyah has been in NXT longer than you might think though, debuting as Jasmin more than six years ago.
The news that Aliyah will be moving on over to Raw also makes sense after what happened to her on NXT this week. She and Jessi Kamea lost a match to Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter, at which point she snapped and blamed the loss on their manager Robert Stone. Frankie Monet swooped in to pick up the pieces, declaring that the Robert Stone Brand won’t have to worry about Aliyah anymore.
When exactly Aliyah will debut on Raw remains unclear. She technically has a couple of main roster matches under her belt already. Aliyah lost to Carmella on a 2017 edition of SmackDown, and also wrestled and lost to Natalya on Main Event last year. However, as has been proved by Karrion Kross, appearances on Main Event don’t seem to count.
Source: The Sportster
Tonight’s WWE NXT episode on the USA Network will feature fallout from last week’s Great American Bash special.
Sonya Deville may make her ring return during the Women’s Money In the Bank Ladder Match at Sunday’s pay-per-view.
It was first reported back in mid-June back that Deville was training for her return to the ring. Now Fightful Select reports that there has been a significant push to have Deville involved in Sunday’s Money In the Bank Ladder Match, and at one point Deville was penciled in for the match.
WWE sources expect Deville to return to the ring soon as she has been training for that return for a few months now. People within WWE have had “glowing reviews” of Deville, the handling of her past year, and the way she’s worked her new role.
WWE reportedly wanted Deville back in the ring by WrestleMania 37 season earlier this year, but officials kept delaying the return to action for some reason.
Regarding Deville possibly working Money In the Bank, there is just one spot left for the women’s MITB Ladder Match after Deville announced WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Natalya this morning. Deville has announced all SmackDown participants so far, including Liv Morgan and Zelina Vega. The four RAW competitors are Asuka, Naomi, Nikki A.S.H. and Alexa Bliss.
Deville has been working a main roster authority figure role since January of this year, returning after taking some time off in the fall of 2020. Deville has not wrestled since losing the No DQ Loser Leaves WWE match to Mandy Rose at SummerSlam 2020.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE Hall of Famer Paul Orndorff has passed away at the age of 71. His son Travis revealed the news on Monday afternoon.
WWE Hall of Famer Paul Orndorff has passed away at the age of 71. His son Travis revealed the news on Instagram Monday.
Paul Orndorff, better known to some wrestling fans as Mr. Wonderful has passed away at the age of 71. His son Travis Orndorff revealed the news on Instagram early on Monday afternoon. While it remains unclear what caused the WWE Hall of Famer’s death at this time, Travis had let fans know his father was in poor health prior to his passing.
“It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of my father, Paul Parlette Orndorff Jr,” Travis wrote on Instagram. “Most of you will remember him for his physique. Many will remember his intensity. But if I could only get you to understand and see his heart.” You can check out Travis’s touching tribute to his father in full below.
Orndorff made a name for himself in the AWA before making the jump to WWE in the early 1980s. He battled and teamed with Hulk Hogan on a number of occasions during that time. However, the most notable of their battles came in the first-ever WrestleMania main event. Orndorff would team with fellow Hall of Famer Roddy Piper that night to take on Hogan and Mr. T. His time in WWE came to an end a few years after that, at which point Orndorff would sign for WCW.
Orndorff would eventually and deservedly return to the WWE fold so that he could be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Bobby Heenan, who Orndorff spent a lot of his time with both off and on-screen, was the man to induct him that night. That would be his final appearance in WWE until WrestleMania XXX where he appeared on-screen with the rest of the stars from WrestleMania’s first-ever main event.
Orndorff was a heel for much of his career, and a darn good one at that. As his son Travis puts it in the post above, “as much as many of you hated him as a wrestler, he absolutely loved you for it.” The mark of a true heel, and a huge loss to the wrestling business. Our thoughts go out to Travis and the rest of the Orndorff family at this time.
Several groups have paid tribute to the legendary Hall of Famer “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff on Twitter this afternoon.
Mr. Wonderful never worked for TNA or Impact Wrestling but they remembered him on Twitter today.
They wrote, “We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of pro wrestling legend ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Paul Orndorff. We offer our sincere condolences to his friends and family.”
Orndorff also never worked for AEW but they remembered him in another tweet this afternoon.
“AEW joins the wrestling world in mourning the passing of a true legend, ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Paul Orndorff. Our thoughts are with his family, his friends and his fans,” AEW wrote.
The Cauliflower Alley Club paid tribute to Orndorff with two tweets.
“Everyone here at CAC is truly saddened at the news that the legendary Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorff has passed away at 71 years old. We send out our sincerest condolences to his family, friends and fans around the world. Rest in Peace Mr Wonderful and thank you for the memories,” they wrote, also posting a photo collage in a follow-up tweet.
WWE issued a lengthy statement on their website, as seen below:
“Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff passes away
WWE is saddened to learn that WWE Hall of Famer Paul Orndorff, known to fans as “Mr. Wonderful,” passed away at the age of 71.
Orndorff was a standout running back at the University of Tampa and joined Mid-Southern Wrestling after a brief stint in the World Football League. Early rivalries with Jerry Lawler, Ted Dibiase and Jake “The Snake” Roberts gave way to NWA North American Heavyweight and National Heavyweight Championship reigns.
Orndorff joined WWE in 1983 and was tabbed with the “Mr. Wonderful” nickname by his then-manager “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. With his awe-insipring in-ring style and umatched swagger, “Mr. Wonderful” turned his talent into a prototype for the modern-day Superstar. He made a memorable debut on January 23, 1984, with a win over Salvatore Bellomo at Madison Square Garden and launched right into the main event picture with matches against World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan. Mr. Wonderful achieved sports-entertainment immortality by competing alongside Piper to face Hogan and Mr. T in the main event of WrestleMania I.
In the early 1990s, Mr. Wonderful began competing for WCW. It was here that Orndorff captured his first major championship when he defeated Erik Watts in a tournament final on March 2, 1993, to become Television Champion. Orndorff’s championship reigns did not stop there, however, as he was also a two-time WCW Tag Team Champion with Paul Roma in 1994.
When Orndorff’s in-ring days came to an end, the former master of the piledriver became a trainer for WCW’s Power Plant. As a trainer, Orndorff molded a generation of promising stars, including Mark Jindrak, Stacy Keibler and Goldberg.
WWE extends its condolences to Orndorff’s family and friends.
Mr. Wonderful began his pro wrestling career back in 1976. He had stints with WWE, WCW, SMW, Mid-South, the NWA, NJPW, and many other promotions. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2017, the NWA Hall of Fame in 2009, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2009. He was also an inductee into the University of Tampa’s Football Hall of Fame, Class of 1986.
A GoFundMe campaign was launched a few days ago to help prepare for Orndorff’s farewell. The campaign can be found here.
Sources: The Sportster and Wrestling Inc.
The final WWE RAW of the ThunderDome era will air tonight on the USA Network.
Tonight’s RAW was taped last Tuesday, and will feature the final red brand build for Sunday’s WWE Money In the Bank pay-per-view.
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