Monday night Alexa Bliss announced the RAW brand participants for this years Money in the Bank ladder matches and last night on SmackDown Live the SmackDown brand participants was announced.
Last night on SmackDown Live, Jeff Hardy confirmed the rumors that he will need surgery and said he will be “out for a long time”. So The Hardy Boyz relinquished the SmackDown Tag Titles.
We’ve noted how Jeff suffered a right knee injury at the April 20 WWE live event in Madison, Wisconsin when The Hardys defeated The Usos. Last night’s SmackDown segment saw Jeff blame the injury on the recent TV attack by Lars Sullivan.
This prompted “The Freak” to make his entrance and attack Matt Hardy. Jeff then acted like he was going to fight through the injury, but R-Truth appeared from behind to aid The Hardy Boyz.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out in Truth’s favor.
The status of The Hardys as been up in the air since Jeff reportedly suffered a right knee injury at the April 20 WWE live event in Madison, Wisconsin when The Hardys defeated The Usos. It was rumored that Jeff may be undergoing surgery after this week’s SmackDown, but that was not confirmed.
There’s no word yet on if WWE plans to take the titles off The Hardys this week, but we will keep you updated. The Hardys just won the titles earlier this month.
The Revival’s Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder were reportedly offered top guy money to stay with WWE.
Dawson and Wilder were reportedly offered new contracts that would run for 5 years, worth $500,000 per year, according to Fightful. The report was confirmed by Dave Meltzer of F4Wonline.com. The deals were not accepted, at least as of this week. Meltzer added that tonight’s RAW “may give you WWE’s reaction to that.”
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross, who now works with AEW, recently mentioned in an interview that WWE had re-signed an undercard performer, who’s not currently on TV, to a $500,000 deal to keep them from going elsewhere.
There’s no word yet on if The Revival will be sticking around with WWE, but it’s been reported that they requested their releases back in January after being unhappy with how they were used. They ended up winning the titles and getting a WrestleMania 35 appearance after that. They then dropped the RAW Tag Team Titles to Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins. Dawson and Wilder look to be feuding with The Usos next on the red brand.
It was noted that as of this afternoon, it did not look like The Revival had plans to accept the deal. They were to meet with WWE officials this afternoon at RAW.
Looks like the Superstar Shake-Up is continuing for a third week, as Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows have been swapped to Raw.
The move was announced during Raw when The Good Brothers made their entrance for a match against The Usos. Unfortunately, it was a losing effort for Anderson and Gallows.
The two veterans were last used on TV in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 35. They were last on the Raw brand in 2018.
Lets hope a couple of good brothers get a pushki on RAW.
Regarding the roster move, PWInsider reports that WWE officials decided on the change a few weeks back on the first night of the Superstar Shakeup, but didn’t make it official until last night.
It was also noted that there has been no change in the contract status of Gallows and Anderson. They are still scheduled to finish up with WWE this September when their contracts expire.
It was reported in mid-March that Gallows and Anderson were at a standstill in their WWE contract negotiations, which led to them being pulled from scheduled live events. The Good Brothers have reportedly turned down multi-million dollar deals as they are not happy with how they’ve been used in recent years.
WWE has yet to officially announce their next event in Saudi Arabia, although it’s rumored to take place on Friday, June 7th.
Triple H had officially announced in March that the next Takeover event will be on Saturday, June 8th from the San Jose State University Event Center in San Jose, California, which would be one day after the Saudi Arabia event. Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that he has been told that Takeover will most likely be moved. WWE will be taping NXT television this Wednesday and Thursday which would run through Takeover, so a final decision will most likely be made by then.
Despite the rumored Saudi Arabia event being less than six weeks away, WWE has been keeping very quiet about it. On last Thursday’s earnings call with Vince McMahon and WWE Co-Presidents, George Barrios and Michelle Wilson, Saudi Arabia was never mentioned by name by WWE brass. When asked about WWE’s second quarter and if the Saudi Arabia event would be part of it, Barrios gave a brief response.
“We’re going to stay away from guiding on specific elements of the quarter,” Barrios said, “So obviously, we’ll talk about it once we report.”
When asked again later in the call about when the Saudi events would be taking place, Barrios replied, “We’re not going to talk about that again, so our guide obviously reflects the best assumption, best knowledge we have right now.”
WWE has put tickets on sale for RAW and SmackDown live events in California on Sunday, June 9th in Stockton and Fresno, two days after the expected Saudi show. The Undertaker, who is expected to face Elias at the Saudi event, is also still advertised for the Niagara Falls Comic Con that Sunday.
The first-ever WWE Stomping Grounds pay-per-view has been announced for June.
Stomping Grounds, which WWE recently filed to trademark, has been announced for June 23 from the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington.
WWE Backlash was originally scheduled for the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, CA on June 16, but Stomping Grounds is the replacement. The San Diego show is now a non-televised live event.
Stomping Grounds tickets go on sale this Friday at 10am local time. The pre-sale begins this Wednesday at 10am local time. Tickets start at $25 and will be available through Ticketmaster.
The Tacoma Dome is advertising Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton for the pay-per-view, but that could change as we get closer to show time. WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins, WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, AJ Styles, Braun Strowman, Charlotte Flair and RAW & SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch are also advertised.
On his podcast, Wrestling Reality with Justin LaBar, Wrestling Inc.’s Justin LaBar had a chance to speak with Jason Baker, who directed Bray Wyatt’s Firefly Funhouse videos that began airing earlier this week. Wyatt has only worked a handful of live events going back to last July, but WWE is obviously looking to gear him up for a return through these vignettes.
In regards to the Firefly Fun House segment, Baker ran down his involvement and the creation of the puppets.
“I directed the segments,” Baker said. “I helped create the puppets over at Tom Savini studios. Tom Savini, Pittsburgh legend. I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to be Tom’s right-hand man for about 6 years. He’s the guy who got me introduced with WWE and allowed me to run with it. It’s been a really fun experience ever since.”
Baker said he wanted the presentation of Wyatt to be a monster hiding right out in the open, which he feels is scarier than any over-the-top style of monster.
“To me, personally, growing up before I got into special makeup effects I went to school for psychology,” Baker said. “All the monsters you see in real life, they look normal. If you looked at a picture of Ted Bundy and didn’t know that was Ted Bundy, you would probably think that looks like a nice guy. I mean John Wayne Gacy was a pillar of his community. True monsters hide right out in the open. They look just like you and me. To me, that’s more terrifying than any monster you can see on a film.”
Getting a chance to work with Wyatt, Baker was impressed with how involved and forward-thinking he was with the character, saying Bray’s level of thinking was on par with other big actors he’s worked with.
“Bray’s great, man,” Baker responded. “He’s intense. He’s always thinking. Then he’s thinking past what he’s thinking. What’s that old saying, ‘There’s a razor’s edge between genius and insanity’—that man walks that razor’s edge constantly. Very, very smart. Smarter than a lot of people give him credit for. Great to collaborate with. You think you’re going to throw an idea at him, he comes back with eight. You think you’re going to hit him up with a piece of trivia knowledge, he sees your trivia knowledge and raises you. He’s a unique, unique human being. Been an absolute pleasure and honor to collaborate with this gentlemen.
“Someone who puts such a thought process into his craft. I’ve had the opportunity to work on films with Russell Crowe, and Tom Cruise and Will Smith and bunch of others working here in Pittsburgh film industry. His mindset for his character development is on par with those guys. It’s a sight to see and something to behold. I was thoroughly impressed with how much dedication he brings to his art and craft.”
Baker also confirms the names of the puppets in the videos, talks props we’ve seen on WWE TV he helped make and more on Wrestling Reality with Justin LaBar. Download the podcast anywhere you can or listen at WrestlingReality.libsyn.com.
