Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will be the go-home show for Sunday’s Survivor Series pay-per-view.
Tag: WWE
Rhea Ripley Possibly Moving To Main Roster Soon
Former NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley is most likely done with NXT and moving to the main roster soon, according to Dave Meltzer on the recent Wrestling Observer Radio.
Meltzer noted that he had recently “heard talk of Ripley moving to the main roster” and Ripley losing clean to Io Shirai this week was another sign of the young Australian star moving on from NXT.
After their main event match for the NXT Women’s Championship, Ripley and Shirai embraced for a hug and it seemed to indicate that they were “finishing up their story,” added Meltzer.
Ripley faced Charlotte Flair earlier this year at WrestleMania 36 and has already been introduced to the main roster audience.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE NXT Preview 11/18/20
Tonight’s WWE NXT episode on the USA Network will be headlined by two title matches.
New NXT North American Champion Leon Ruff will grant Johnny Gargano his rematch after last week’s title change. Also, Io Shirai will defend the NXT Women’s Title against Rhea Ripley.
Tonight’s NXT will also feature an appearance by NXT Champion Finn Balor. Balor will give an update on his status and the title, his first since undergoing jaw surgery several weeks back.
WWE ThunderDome Reportedly Moving To Tropicana Field
WWE is set to move the ThunderDome from the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, to the Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, according to a report on eWrestlingnews.
The report added that WWE’s “residency at the venue is expected to last for a while” especially since MLB isn’t expected to return until early 2021. The Tropicana Field hosts home games for the Tampa Bay Rays.
As noted before, WWE had signed a short-term contract extension with Amway Center through November. eWrestlingnews added that WWE is expected to move to the new arena by early December. With the NBA and ECHL scheduled to resume in December, the Amway Center will be tied up hosting home games for the Orlando Magic and Orlando Solar Bears.
Previously, @Wrestlevotes had reported that WWE was scheduled to leave the Amway Center on November 24, and was considering other venues in North Carolina, Illinois, and Texas. However, WWE has decided to stay put in the state of Florida, especially with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis making it clear that the state has no plans to shut down and is encouraging fans to pack sports stadiums–despite the ongoing pandemic.
The Tropicana Field, established in 1990, was originally known as the Florida Suncoast Dome. In 1993, the Tampa Bay Lightning moved to the stadium and its name was actually changed to the ThunderDome.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE RAW Preview 11/16/20
Tonight’s WWE RAW will feature the final build for Sunday’s Survivor Series pay-per-view.
- Drew McIntyre to challenge Randy Orton in a WWE Championship Rematch
- The New Day vs. Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander – Raw Tag Team Championship Match
WWE is teasing that the Ricochet vs. RETRIBUTION storyline will also continue on tonight’s show.
Zelina Vega Fired From WWE
The news of Zelina Vega’s abrupt release from WWE on Friday caught the attention of labor union leaders and politicians, and was covered by mainstream media outlets.
Vega reportedly failed to comply with the third party edict handed out by WWE last month and proceeded to open a new OnlyFans account, which did not help her case among WWE brass, according to Dave Meltzer on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio.
Meltzer noted that Vega was adamant in her position to continue with her Twitch account and the backstory is that she was among “a couple of women who were making more money through social media than their WWE contracts.” Vega was supposedly “making a lot of money on Twitch” prior to WWE asking talents to cease activity on third party platforms.
For Vega, it boiled down to choosing between WWE and Twitch, and she chose the latter, according to Meltzer.
“She made her choice and WWE had no option but to fire her,” he said.
Meltzer mentioned that since the old way of making money in WWE through house shows and PPV paydays is no longer available to talents, they are looking at other revenue sources while working only 5-6 times a month since the start of the pandemic.
Previously, talents who had low guarantees on their contracts were heavily reliant on paydays from house shows and PPVs. While talents who signed contracts pre-AEW are most unhappy due to lower guarantees, talents who got bigger contracts post-AEW have been less vocal about the developing situation.
With WWE taking away the talents’ ability to make money off streaming platforms, there is growing resentment in the locker room, added Meltzer.
“With no house shows or PPVs, they need a way to augment the past money and WWE took it away from them.”
On the flipside, WWE maintains that it should get a slice of the revenue that talents make by utilizing their WWE names, albeit in third party platforms.
WWE is reportedly in the process of doing their own Twitch deal and giving a percentage of that revenue to talents. The percentage will be counted against downside guarantees, which is another bit of information that hasn’t sat well with some talents.
Vega returned to her Twitch feed on Friday within a few hours of her WWE release. She is presently serving the customary 90-day non-compete clause, which prevents her from appearing on TV for any other wrestling promotion until mid-February 2021.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE SmackDown Preview 11/13/20
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will feature more build for the upcoming Survivor Series pay-per-view.
For the second week in a row WWE has not announced a SmackDown preview to open Friday morning with. No matches or segments have been announced for tonight’s show.
It’s likely that more members for Team SmackDown will be revealed tonight. The men’s team currently has Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso and King Baron Corbin with one member to be revealed, while the women’s team h as Bianca Belair and Ruby Riott with three members to be revealed.
The new feud with Carmella and SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks will also likely continue tonight. Lars Sullivan is expected to be in action after two weeks of sitdown interviews, and Daniel Bryan is rumored to return after being attacked by Jey Uso two weeks ago, while WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns watched.
Backstage News On WWE Moving On From House Shows Post COVID-19 Era
During recent contract negotiations, a number of talents in WWE were told that the “old way of touring” and doing house shows is not coming back, even after the U.S. bounces back from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Dave Meltzer noted that the recent releases of close to a dozen employees, including long time ring announcer Tony Chimel, was another indication that WWE was possibly moving on from live events, which was a significant revenue source for the company in the past.
With WWE setting record profits even without doing house shows, the company is gradually moving toward the mindset that it no longer needs to tour for 300 days a year. Furthermore, Meltzer highlighted that the live events division, which started over the past year, was often “a money loser” and had become dispensable for WWE in the longer scheme of things.
Meltzer noted that with the economics of the wrestling business different than they’ve ever been, house shows are now viewed by WWE as a place where they can sell merchandise and give exposure to inexperienced talents. “What they found out is that with no house shows, all of a sudden WWE shop merch numbers skyrocketed and the total merch sales ended up being almost identical to when there were shows, which shocked everyone,” wrote Meltzer.
The pandemic era has seen lesser travel, exhaustion and wear-and-tear, and thus fewer injuries, which has been seen as a positive by WWE brass.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE NXT Preview 11/11/20
Tonight’s WWE NXT episode on the USA Network airing from the Capitol Wrestling Center will feature NXT Tag Team Championship and NXT North American Championship matches.
* Johnny Gargano will defend his NXT North American Championship
* NXT Tag Team Championship: Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch (c) vs. Breezango
WWE Tribute To The Troops Returning To TV This Year?
WWE may be bringing back Tribute To The Troops for TV next month.
There has been a lot of internal talk about bringing back the TTTT TV special over the last week, according to PWInsider. There’s no word yet on when or where the 2020 Troops Tribute special would air from, but it would air some time in December.
WWE’s Tribute To The Troops has been held annually as a TV special since December 2003, except for last year. WWE actually taped matches and segments with top Superstars and Marines last December at the Marine Corps Air Station New River and Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, for the 17th annual TTTT special, but it was not taped for TV. Last year marked the first time that the TTTT was taped at a Marine Base.
WWE has aired Tribute To The Troops on either UPN, NBC or the USA Network since 2003. There were rumors on the event possibly airing on the WWE Network last year, but WWE never aired the footage that was taped in North Carolina as it was for locals only. It was seen as very interesting that WWE and the USA Network would pass on airing the event last year as it usually draws more than 1 million viewers on a slow holiday week, plus it brings the kind of PR that WWE goes for.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
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