DATE: October 4, 2020 at 7:00 PM ET (Preshow at 6:30 PM ET)
LOCATION: Full Sail, Winter Park, Florida
AVAILABLE ON:WWE Network (first month free for new subscribers)
NXT CHAMPIONSHIP
Finn Balor (c) vs. Kyle O’Reilly
NXT WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Io Shirai (c) vs. Candice LaRae
NXT NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Damian Priest (c) vs. Johnny Gargano
NXT CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Santos Escobar (c) vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott
KUSHIDA vs. The Velveteen Dream
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will air live from the Amway Center in Orlando, FL with fallout from last Sunday’s Clash of Champions pay-per-view.
WWE reportedly has tentative plans in place to move WrestleMania 37 from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
It was reported today by Gary Cassidy of Inside The Ropes that WWE has the plans in place for WrestleMania 37 to be held at the original location for WrestleMania 36, before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the event to be moved to the WWE Performance Center. The news was originally reported by Ringside News earlier this summer.
WrestleMania 37 was previously announced for Inglewood with the “WrestleMania: Hollywood” name.
There’s no word yet on why the location is being changed, but word is that WWE has “locked down” most of the buildings in the Tampa area for potential events to take place during WrestleMania 37 Weekend.
WrestleMania 37 is scheduled to take place on March 28, 2021.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
The October 23 WWE SmackDown on FOX episode is scheduled to be preempted due to Game 3 of the MLB World Series. It will likely air on FS1.
FOX Sports released their October schedule this afternoon and it shows that SmackDown will be preempted on October 23 due to Game 3. It also indicates that the October 16 SmackDown on FOX episode could be preempted for Game 5 of the MLB National League Championship Series, if necessary.
SmackDown on FOX was also preempted on October 25, 2019 due to Major League Baseball. That episode aired on FS1, which meant it was live for both coasts. There was also a replay of SmackDown at 11pm ET on FS1 that night, following a special edition of WWE Backstage. Backstage is no longer airing, so there’s no word yet on what that means for a potential replay.
The October 23 SmackDown show will be the go-home episode for the Hell In a Cell pay-per-view, which takes place on October 25.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Wrestling Inc. reports that Vince McMahon sent an email to talent this week reminding them that they have until this Friday, October 2nd, to sever any unauthorized business relationships with third parties. It was noted that talent who fail to comply could be fined, suspended or terminated.
It was reported in September, McMahon issued an edict instructing talent that they can no longer engage with third parties. The company later clarified the edict, stating that talent could maintain Twitch and YouTube accounts under their real names, however they would still need to inform the company of those accounts.
Wrestling Inc. has also learned that talent were told this week that the company will be taking control of their Twitch accounts in four weeks. WWE will own those accounts, however talent will receive a percentage of the revenue, which counts against their downside guarantees.
Former Democratic Presidential candidate Andrew Yang openly criticized the edict when it was first revealed last month, and said that he would take action if Joe Biden were to be elected President. Yang spoke with Wrestling Inc. recently about why he feels that WWE has been able to get away with some of their labor practices.
“A lot of it is that wrestlers are afraid to speak out, and I’ve had wrestlers past and present reach out to me and say that Vince has been getting away with exploitation of wrestlers calling them independent contractors while controlling their activities for years and years,” Yang said. “A lot of it is just that they are a quasi-monopoly, and wrestlers fear that if they do try and unionize or organize in any way that Vince doesn’t like, that it will never work again.”
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Tonight’s WWE NXT episode on the USA Network will feature the final build for Sunday’s NXT “Takeover: 31” event.
Former Impact Wrestling star James Storm says he was set to debut in WWE this year after WrestleMania, but the whole thing came to a halt due to the pandemic.
Speaking with Pro Wrestling Sheet’s Editor-in-Chief Ryan Satin in a soon-to-be-released interview, Storm revealed he was first approached by the company during the weekend of the Royal Rumble in January. Unfortunately, he missed the email while working an NWA show and didn’t see it until returning home.
“I get home and I see I got an email from Canyon Ceman saying, ‘Hey, we’re interested. Paul Heyman wants me to reach out and bring you to Raw,” Storm said. “I was like, ‘Wait … I think Bobby is going to Raw. Hmmm. This could be interesting.’ Ya know?”
Back in October of 2015, Storm wrestled two matches in NXT that aired on the weekly shows. Instead of signing with WWE though, he opted to re-sign with TNA for significantly more money.
The current NWA World Tag Team champion explains that this time around Billy Corgan and Dave Lagana let him out of his NWA contract early by not exercising a rollover clause in his deal, saying they wanted to help him finally get to WWE all along. “I told them I would work the weekend of WrestleMania shows with Eli [Drake] to drop the NWA belts to whoever they wanted to drop it to. Just go out on good terms. Good business, ya know? Then that show got cancelled for the NWA, and then it kept snowballing.”
In the months that followed, James says he prepared for WWE’s mandatory pre-signing physical by paying out of pocket for his own each month — just to make sure he’d pass. He also bought new gear.
“We agreed on all the terms,” he added. “It was signed.”
Unfortunately, as the time approached, he was told they’d have to put things on hold because of the virus. That continued all the way up until July when he last spoke with people in WWE.
Storm isn’t letting the situation get him too down though, as he remains hopeful another opportunity could come along down the line (possibly involving his old tag team partner Bobby Roode). “You just take it and keep rolling,” he said. “It’s not their fault. It’s just how everything is right now.”
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
Tonight’s WWE RAW will air live from the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida with fallout from last night’s Clash of Champions pay-per-view.
WWE has not announced an official preview for tonight’s show, but it’s likely that the build for the October 25 Hell In a Cell pay-per-view will begin tonight. RAW Underground will also continue tonight with a possible follow-up to how last week’s segments ended with SmackDown Superstar Braun Strowman standing tall following his win over Dabba-Kato.
WWE did note during the Clash of Champions Kickoff pre-show that RAW will feature an update on the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax were scheduled to defend against The Riott Squad last night but WWE announced that both of the champions were not medically cleared to compete. Their status will be addressed during tonight’s RAW.
WWE has confirmed the 2020 Draft for next month.
It was announced during last night’s Clash of Champions pay-per-view that the WWE Draft will kick off on the October 9 SmackDown episode. It will then end on the October 12 RAW episode.
There’s no word yet on potential WWE Draft plans.
https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1310376497228771329
The 2020 WWE Clash of Champions Kickoff pre-show opens up from the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida as Charly Caruso welcomes us. She’s joined by WWE Hall of Famers JBL and Booker T, and Peter Rosenberg. Charly confirms that Nikki Cross vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley will not happen tonight, and The Riott Squad vs. WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax has also been scrapped. She says Cross, Jax and Baszler are not medically cleared to compete. Bayley will address her match on tonight’s pay-per-view, but the tag team match will be addressed during tomorrow’s RAW.
WWE SMACKDOWN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP (KICKOFF)
Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Lucha House Party
Winners: Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP (WINNER TAKES ALL LADDER MATCH)
Jeff Hardy (c) vs. AJ Styles vs. Sami Zayn
Winner and New Undisputed WWE Intercontinental Champion: Sami Zayn
– We see the Kickoff appearance by WWE 24/7 Champion R-Truth. We see Truth backstage now, being careful. He enters the referee’s room but gets called out by referees. Drew Gulak ends up rolling Truth up for the pin to become the new WWE 24/7 Champion. Gulak runs off with the title.
WWE RAW WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Asuka (c) vs. Zelina Vega
Winner: Asuka
WWE US CHAMPIONSHIP
Bobby Lashley (c) with MVP vs. Apollo Crews with Ricochet
Winner: Bobby Lashley
WWE RAW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
The Street Profits (c) vs. Andrade and Angel Garza
Winners: The Street Profits
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley comes out carrying a steel chair, and stops to raise it on the ramp as the pyro goes off.
Bayley places her title in the chair and takes the mic. She says it sucks that Nikki Cross is unable to compete tonight. She was looking forward to Cross proving the world wrong and beating her because she doesn’t have Sasha Banks in her corner. Bayley goes on mocking Cross and says she even got new gear for her tonight. Bayley says she’s our role model and will not let us down tonight. She’s extending an offer for anyone on SmackDown to come challenge for her title. No one comes in the few seconds since she made the offer, so Bayley calls for the referee to come in and declare her the winner. The music finally hits and out comes RAW Women’s Champion Asuka to a big pop.
WWE SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Bayley (c) vs. Asuka
Winner by DQ: Asuka
– After the bell, Bayley delivers another chair shot over the back. Bayley is announced as the champion. Sasha Banks suddenly appears, still wearing a neck brace, but she nails Bayley over the back with a steel chair to drop her. The crowd pops for Banks. Banks kicks Bayley in the face and starts beating on her at ringside. Banks stops to clutch her own neck as she’s in pain. Bayley grabs Banks and brings her in the ring, stopping to yell at Cole. Bayley slides a steel chair in and then brings a kendo stick in. Bayley stands the chair up and grabs another chair from the corner. Bayley stalks Banks but Banks kicks her leg out and she goes down. Banks grabs the kendo stick and unloads on Bayley with it, beating her around the ring. Bayley crawls for a chair but Banks steps on it to stop her. Banks grabs the chair and backs Bayley into the ropes. She swings the chair but Bayley retreats to the floor to avoid it. Banks sells the neck injury as her music hits. She looks on from the ring as Bayley takes her title and heads up the ramp. We go to replays. Banks stands tall in the ring, holding her neck. Bayley stares back from the stage, clutching her title.
WWE CHAMPIONSHIP (AMBULANCE MATCH)
Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Randy Orton
Winner: Drew McIntyre
– After the match, Drew stands tall as his music hits. The referee hands him the WWE Title and raises his arm in victory. Drew beats on the back of the ambulance, giving the signal for it to be driven away. Drew goes up to the stage and watches, raising the WWE Title in the air as the crowd cheers him on. The referee then slaps the truck but it’s not moving. The referee goes up to the front seat to see what the hold up is. We see WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair at the wheel of the ambulance. Flair delivers a line and a “Woooo!” before driving the ambulance away, sirens blaring.
WWE UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Roman Reigns (c) with Paul Heyman vs. Jey Uso
Winner: Roman Reigns
– After the bell, Reigns finally backs off Jey. Jimmy hits the ring to check on Jey, yelling at Reigns and telling him that they’re family. Jimmy tells Reigns he’s the chief, if that’s what he wants to hear, just leave Jey alone. Jimmy goes on about how they’re family and Reigns needs to chill. Reigns takes his title and looks down at The Usos. Heyman brings in the Samoan lei that Jey wore to the ring, and places it around Reigns’ neck. Reigns’ music hits as he raises the title in the air and is announced the winner. Still in the ring, Reigns stands tall and stares down at The Usos as WWE’s “Clash of Champions: Gold Rush” pay-per-view goes off the air.
Transcript via Wrestling Inc.
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