Tag: WWE

WWE RAW Preview 11/4/19

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York with fallout from WWE Crown Jewel.

No matches have been announced for tonight’s RAW but WWE Champion Brock Lesnar is set to appear after he quit Friday Night SmackDown and said he was headed to RAW to come after Rey Mysterio.

WWE has not posted their official preview for tonight’s show as of this writing, but it’s worth noting that their events page has new WWE Universal Champion “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins, Charlotte Flair, RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, and WWE United States Champion AJ Styles advertised to appear.

The arena has Rollins vs. Wyatt in a Steel Cage match advertised locally, which would be the dark main event as The Fiend is a SmackDown Superstar, plus appearances by Lynch, Styles, Flair, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Ricochet, Aleister Black, and The Street Profits.

It’s rumored that WWE NXT Superstars will appear on tonight’s RAW to continue the Survivor Series build that began on Friday’s SmackDown with the NXT invasion angles.

Seth Rollins took to Twitter today to issue his first wrestling-related comments since losing the WWE Universal Title to “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt at last Thursday’s WWE Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.

Rollins thanked Dubai Tourism for the trip he took with RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, and mentioned Ringside Collectibles for the Ringside Fest event on Sunday. He also revealed that he will address his WWE future during tonight’s RAW episode from Long Island.

He wrote, “So much swirling in my head after #CrownJewel. Thank you @dubaitourism & @RingsideC #RingsideFest & all of our incredible fans for the weekend. Will address my future tonight on #Raw.”

https://twitter.com/WWERollins/status/1191377720829267968

 

Source: Wrestling Inc.

A.J. Styles Discusses The Delayed WWE Plane Ride From Saudi Arabia

This past weekend there was some controversy surrounding WWE’s already controversial Crown Jewel event. There was a flight issue that kept several WWE stars and crew in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia following Thursday’s event. As a result, SmackDown was changed due to virtually from the brand nobody being there.

Several stars that were stuck in Saudi Arabia vented their frustration on Twitter, especially after a WWE statement regarding certain talent wanting to buy their own separate charter flight over others. One person who didn’t post anything was A.J. Styles.

Speaking on his Mixer gaming stream, Styles was asked several times what happened and why there was a delay. Styles gave his own perspective on the situation, based on all the facts he knew.

“We were supposed to leave after the show. We got to the airport, they weren’t letting us board,” Styles stated. “What was the problem? Not really sure, heard there was a fuel truck in the way, the guy who drove the truck had left to go home. I know, this makes no sense. Why would the fuel guy leave if he knows he’s got a plane that’s leaving? Then there were some paperwork issues.

“Finally, after at least 4-5 hours, we get on the plane. Then they found something wrong, the fuel or something or another was broken. People can say what they want, ‘It wasn’t broken.’ But I talked to the pilot. On that 14-hour flight the pilots, I guess they take naps as well. We were all chatting, sitting around on this flight and he said, ‘Listen, there was a problem. That’s a real thing.'”

There have been a lot of rumors going around whether this was planned by those in Saudi Arabia or if it was all a misunderstanding regarding convenience. Styles has heard the latter.

“The problem was, we spent all that time, from one o’clock all the way to six or eight in the morning, waiting to board this plane, they are telling us we can’t go anywhere because the pilots and everybody had timed out,” Styles continued. “They can only go so long before they are not able to fly because they’re not able to go 24 hours at a time. They had to go back to a hotel, we had to find a hotel.

“Were there guns? Were there people yelling ‘EVERYBODY OFF THE PLANE!’? No, that never happened. My wife called me in a panic, she’s scared to death. I go, ‘Babe, listen, we’re just not able to go anywhere. It is not a big issue, nobody has threatened to kill us.’ There was none of that going on. Nobody was going to get murdered, it never happened. There was no threat of physical harm or anything like that.”

Former WWE Spanish commentator Hugo Savinovich claimed that he heard from a source that WWE was owed money by the Saudis for past events and Vince McMahon retaliated by cutting off the Crown Jewel live TV feed in Saudi Arabia. On the WWE third quarter earnings call, WWE avoided answering questions regarding Saudi Arabia, although they did mention receiving a $60 million payment “for an outstanding receivable” after September 30 (when the report closes) and before October 31, hours before Crown Jewel. Crown Jewel also reportedly started nearly an hour later on the MBC Action network in Saudi Arabia than scheduled.

A.J. did admit he had the best sleep of his life on the flight due to jetlag. He also explained his understanding of what has been going on between Vince and the Saudi government.

“It is almost blown up, as if, we were on the verge of being killed. That wasn’t the case,” Styles went on to say. “I don’t know what happened between Vince and the King, the Prince or whoever it is. That’s not my job to say anything, my jobs to go to work, my jobs to get home. Was I pretty angry about not going home because I missed my son’s wrestling match? You have no idea. But, if this is out of our hands, if it is out of the pilot’s hands, then there’s nothing we can do.

“There is no point in getting mad, getting angry about something I have no control of. I’m home now, and I’m happy to be here. We’ll find out as we go along why things happened, or we won’t. I don’t know what’s going to happen going forward, it is just going to be what it is going to be.”

Several stars are sure to be wanting answers following the new Plane Ride From Hell. While Styles is not in a rush, he wants to make sure he himself has all the facts together.

“I’ll deal with it when I need to, but I’m not going to throw WWE under the bus, that’s not how I work” Styles stated. “I am a guy who’s committed to making the best product that I can and it is not going to do me any good to throw good people under the bus. There are a lot of good people that work for WWE, and I will not make them look bad. There are a lot of people that were on that plane with me. Until I know more I’m not going to say anything. And if I did find out, and I was offended, I will go to the source, believe me on that one.”

Source: Wrestling Inc,

Hugo Savinovich Continues To Say That There’s More To WWE Talent Being Stranded In Saudi Arabia

Statements from WWE talent and other people close to the situation in Saudi Arabia continue emerging after reports claimed people from the company were stranded in Saudi Arabia following their Crown Jewel event this past weekend.

As seen below via THE HANNIBAL TV, former WWE Spanish commentator, Hugo Savinovich, has continued to speak out about his claim that WWE stars were kept from flying out of the Middle East because the company was owed millions of dollars for two of the shows that the company held in Saudi Arabia.

“It was a very difficult and dangerous situation because of the fact that Saudi Arabia had already been in serious trouble when they killed that reporter in Turkey at the embassy. So the boys were a little bit – not a little bit, they were very, very concerned,” Hugo added. “Vince (McMahon) had left the country already and Brock (Lesnar) had his own plane. It was just about big, big money, millions of dollars that this guy did not send and Vince got upset and cut the feed for South Arabia.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage News On WWE Stars Being Delayed In Saudi Arabia, Talent Reportedly Felt “Deserted”

Saturday afternoon the remaining WWE Superstars and crew that were delayed in Saudi Arabia landed successfully at JFK Airport in New York City.

WWE confirmed flight issues coming out of Saudi Arabia, which led to a number of blue brand Superstars missing Friday’s SmackDown. NXT stars were flown in from Florida, making it to Buffalo at 7:55 pm ET and required a police escort to get to the arena in time.

Former WWE Spanish commentator Hugo Savinovich, who currently works for AAA, posted a video on Facebook discussing the situation. Savinovich noted that he had connections with people in countries like Saudi Arabia. This is very much a rumor, but according to Savinovich, WWE was owed millions of dollars for two of the shows that the company held in Saudi Arabia, between $300 to $500 million, which is incredibly high as WWE is estimated to bring in $40 to $50 million per event in Saudi Arabia.

On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio Dave Meltzer added some more details to the situation that WWE talent and crew had to deal with. It was reported WWE wasn’t paid for the WWE Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia on June 7, as of September 30. It was noted in the WWE third quarter earnings call, WWE avoided answering questions regarding Saudi Arabia, although they did mention getting $60 million after September 30 (when the report closes) and before October 31, hours before Crown Jewel. Meltzer noted there was “clearly money owed” by the Saudis.

Because of this, Vince McMahon didn’t televise Crown Jewel live in Saudi Arabia, and it ended up being on a delay after the two sides made an agreement during the show. Talent was apparently aware that money was owed.

In regards to the plane having mechanical failures, a majority of the talent that reached out to Meltzer didn’t believe the story. Military police were there while they waited, not to mention it took 24 hours for them to finally go, and the second flight that was supposed to go was also delayed.

Some talent have reportedly said they will not go back to Saudi Arabia and “can’t wait to get out of the company.” A lot of people were upset that Vince left the country on his private jet and they were still stuck there. Superstars were said to have felt “deserted”—although it’s unknown if Vince left before or after problems began to arise with the flight leaving—and that they were “pawns” in this whole situation.

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman left on their own private jet. Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, and Jimmy Hart left the country on their private jet. It was believed Tyson Fury also left on one of those private plans while Cain Velasquez was among the group that stayed longer.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Lance Storm Hired By WWE As Producer

Former WWE star Lance Storm will soon be returning to the company as a producer.

Storm made the announcement on Saturday via Twitter. “For those wondering: After SWA closes I will be returning to the #WWE to work as a Producer. I’m really looking forward to working with such a high level of talent again,” he wrote.

Lance announced in August that his Storm Wrestling Academy would be closing at the end of the year.

The 50-year-old wrestler who has trained the likes of Tyler Breeze, Tenille Dashwood, Peyton Royce, Oney Lorcan and more last worked for WWE from 2001 to 2005.

As you may recall, Storm also worked as a producer for Impact earlier this year on a trial basis.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

WWE Announces Special SmackDown Episode With Surprises Tonight, Confirms Saudi Arabia Flight Issues

Tonight’s WWE  Friday Night SmackDownSmackDown will not go off as scheduled, according to a new announcement from WWE.

As noted, there were flight issues that are keeping some of the WWE crew in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia following Thursday’s Crown Jewel event. WWE has just announced that tonight’s SmackDown will feature surprises due to the troubles.

Tonight’s SmackDown on FOX will take place from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY, and as usual we will have live coverage at 8pm ET.

Below is WWE’s announcement on the special episode and the flight issues:

SmackDown set for surprises with WWE roster delayed returning from Saudi ArabiaThe WWE roster is delayed in its return from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, following a historic performance at yesterday’s record-breaking WWE Crown Jewel event.

More than 175 Superstars, production crew and employees boarded a 747 charter flight back to the United States on Thursday. After the door closed, due to several aircraft problems including mechanical issues, all passengers sat on the tarmac for more than six hours. With SmackDown set to emanate live from Buffalo, N.Y., several Superstars felt so strongly that they arranged for their own separate charter in order to make it back to the U.S. for the show. Due to unforeseen issues, that charter will not land until after the live broadcast on FOX.

The remainder of WWE’s Superstars, staff and crew will depart on a charter set to depart Saudi Arabia later tonight.

As always with WWE, the show must go on. Live at 8/7 CT on FOX, SmackDown will feature Superstars, such as Daniel Bryan, The Miz, Carmella, Nikki Cross, Dana Brooke — plus, additional surprises.

For the latest updates on this story and tonight’s SmackDown, check back with WWE.com and follow WWE on social media.

As previously noted, WWE announced a line-up for tonight’s SmackDown but those matches and have segments have been removed from the preview and website listing. Below is the original line-up, which has been nixed now:

* SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Revival defend against The New Day

* Roman Reigns vs. King Baron Corbin

* Sonya Deville, Mandy Rose and SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley vs. Nikki Cross, Dana Brooke and Carmella

* New WWE Universal Champion “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt appears on MizTV with The Miz

Backstage News On Brock Lesnar Vs. Cain Velasquez Going Short At Crown Jewel, Tyson Fury – Lesnar

As seen at WWE Crown Jewel on Thursday, WWE Champion Brock Lesnar retained his title over Cain Velasquez in the opener. Lesnar won by submission in just 2 minutes and 3 seconds.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the idea was always to do a short match, but with Cain’s knee in such bad shape, they decided to do the match were just about nothing happened.

The belief is that Cain needs knee surgery now, but there’s no word yet on when he will have it. It was reported back before he signed with WWE that he would likely undergo the surgery before making any commitment to a pro wrestling company as he was in talks with WWE, AEW and NJPW.

Cain is still scheduled to team with Rey Mysterio to face Andrade and Drew McIntyre at the WWE live event in Mexico City on Saturday, November 30. As we’ve noted, Cain has signed a lucrative, three-year deal with WWE but his future as a regular talent is up in the air at this point.

Regarding Tyson Fury making his WWE debut at Crown Jewel with the count out win over Braun Strowman, the Observer reports that an original idea discussed with Fury was for him to face Lesnar. That idea changed when they were able to sign Cain to a deal. Lesnar vs. Fury never got past early discussions. As noted, Fury is said to be open to working with WWE again in the future, but his match with Strowman was said to be a one-off, at least for now.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

 

WWE Talent Delayed From Leaving Saudi Arabia, In Danger Of Missing SmackDown

Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that  WWE talent has been delayed from leaving Saudi Arabia following Crown Jewel and are in danger of missing SmackDown.

According to multiple sources, the delayed has lasted for hours with WWE Superstars and employees being stuck on the plane the whole time.

It’s unclear what the exact reason for the delay is at this time, but it seems to be an issue with the plane. We’re told WWE has been working on coming up with backup strategies that would hopefully get some of the talent to Buffalo to appear on SmackDown. This would seem to be difficult though due to the length of the flight.

The delay was first reported on Fightful Select.

UPDATE: A second charter flight was put together for top talent that will hopefully get them to the show in time.

UPDATE 2: The second charter flight did take off, but it might not make it to Buffalo in time for SmackDown. Talent still in Saudi Arabia got hotels for the night.

All Three WWE Brands To Do Battle At WWE Survivor Series

WWE NXT, RAW and SmackDown will compete for the first time ever at WWE Survivor Series this year.

As seen below, a promo aired during WWE Crown Jewel that revealed the black & yellow brand will be involved with the Survivor Series this year. No other details were revealed but we will keep you updated.

The 2019 WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view takes on November 24 from the Allstate Arena near Chicago.

WWE Crown Jewel Results 10/31/19 – New Champion

(Kickoff) 20-Man Battle Royal (Winner Faces AJ Styles for the United States Championship): WWE 24/7 Champion Sunil Singh, Mojo Rawley, Erick Rowan, R-Truth, Sin Cara, The Brian Kendrick, Titus O’Neil, Tony Nese, Akira Tozawa, Shelton Benjamin, Apollo Crews, Buddy Murphy, Andrade, Drake Maverick, Eric Young, Luke Harper, Cedric Alexander, Heath Slater, Humberto Carrillo, and No Way Jose –

Winner: Humberto Carrillo

During the match, R-Truth captured the WWE 24/7 Title from Sunil Singh after both were eliminated from the 20-man Battle Royal. Truth is now a 21-time 24/7 Champion. Singh won the title back on the October 21 RAW by pinning Truth.

 

WWE Championship: (C) Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez –

Winner: Brock Lesnar by Submission

After the match, Lesnar keeps the submission applied as the referee tries to get him to break it. Rey brings a steel chair in the ring and smacks Lesnar over the back. That does nothing but angers Lesnar. Lesnar grabs Rey and easily tosses him out of the ring to the floor. Lesnar grabs the chair again and unloads on Cain with it as Heyman watches from ringside. Lesnar drops Cain on top of the chair with a F5. Rey comes back in the ring and unloads on Lesnar with chair shots. Rey gets the upperhand and continues with chair shots, nailing Lesnar all over his body and taking him down. Lesnar retreats from the ring and joins Heyman at ringside. Rey’s music hits as he stands tall and stares out at Lesnar as Cain recovers. We go to replays. Rey clutches his arm and looks out as Lesnar and Heyman stare back at him from the ramp. We get more replays. Lesnar points back at the ring from the stage and warns Rey that he’s going to get him.

 

Tag Team World Cup – Largest Tag Team Turmoil Match: The OC vs. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode vs. The Revival vs. The New Day vs. The Viking Raiders vs. Heavy Machinery vs. Lucha House Party vs. Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins vs. The B Team –

Winners: The OC (Gallows & Anderson)

 

Monsoor vs. Cesaro –

Winner: Mansoor

 

Braun Strowman vs. Tyson Fury –

Winner by Count Out: Tyson Fury

After the match, Fury stands tall and celebrates as we go to replays. Strowman comes back into the ring and nails the running powerslam on Fury in the middle of the ring. Strowman ends up making his exit as Fury plays to the crowd.

 

United States Championship: (C) AJ Styles vs. Humberto Carrillo –

Winner: AJ Styles

 

First-Ever Women’s Match in Saudi Arabia: Lacey Evans vs. Natalya –

Winner: Natalya

 

Team Hogan (Roman Reigns, Rusev, Ali, Ricochet & Shorty G) vs. Team Flair (Randy Orton, Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Shinsuke Nakamura & King Corbin) –

Winners: Team Hogan

 

Universal Championship – Falls Count Anywhere (Can’t be stopped for any reason): (C) Seth Rollins vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt –

Winner and New WWE Universal Champion: “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt

-After the match, Wyatt sits up over Rollins as his music hits. The lights suddenly go out and everything is black. The lights come back on but they’re flashing now as the eerie sound plays. We see The Fiend raising the WWE Universal Title on the entrance way as fans cheer. The lights go back out to pitch black.

https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse/status/1190003525176025088