* SAnitY vs. The Undisputed ERA
* Ruby Riot vs. Ember Moon vs. Sonya Deville – Winner to join the NXT Women’s Title Fatal 4-Way Match at TakeOver: WarGames
* Drew McIntyre sounds off on the state of the NXT Championship
* Aleister Black vs. Raul Mendoza
* Kassius Ohno vs. Cezar Bononi
* Rich Swann w/Cedric Alexander vs. The Brian Kendrick w/Jack Gallagher
* Enzo Amore & Ariya Daivari vs. Mustafa Ali & WWE Cruiserweight Champion Kalisto
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live will take place from the Key Arena in Seattle, Washington as the road to Survivor Series heats up.
* Sami Zayn to kick off SmackDown LIVE
* WWE Champion Jinder Mahal to make Survivor Series announcement
* Bobby Roode and Dolph Ziggler meet in WWE Hell in a Cell rematch tonight on SmackDown LIVE
* United States Champion Baron Corbin to be in action
* Breezango break open their next case in “Pulp Fashion”
‘The Devil’s favorite demon’ Kane returned to WWE last night on RAW. He came up through the ring, then chokeslammed Roman Reigns twice before he and Braun Strowman took turns beating him up. After that, Strowman won the match and The Miz announced Kane would be the final member of their team along with Cesaro & Sheamus on Sunday at WWE TLC when they face-off against The Shield in a 5-on-3 TLC match.
Tonight’s WWE RAW takes place from the Moda Center in Portland, OR with the final hype for Sunday’s TLC pay-per-view.
* Reigns and Strowman meet inside the steel
* Sister Abigail is coming for Finn Bálor
* Emma has a date with The Empress of Tomorrow
* Kalisto maintains momentum going into WWE TLC
* Has Alexa Bliss made a massive mistake for the “ages”?
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We’ve noted how multiple sources reported that Neville walked out of Monday’s RAW in Indianapolis after finding out that he would be losing to WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore in the non-title main event of the show that night. The match ended up having Kalistodefeat Enzo to become the new champion but The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the plan is to put the title back on Enzo, possibly at the October 22nd TLC pay-per-view when he gets his rematch. It was also reported that Neville’s status with the company was up in the air but one source close to the situation believed that he was finished.
In an update, PWInsider reports that their sources say Neville never walked out of RAW as he was never backstage at the show, during any time on Monday. They also noted that Neville was originally scheduled to work Enzo on weekend WWE live events but he was replaced by Mustafa Ali.
According to PWI’s report, the original plan of Neville vs. Enzo was changed late in the day when it became known that Neville would not be at the show. They also note that there was talk of doing the non-title match after it was mentioned that Neville couldn’t receive a title shot due to the non-contact stipulation from the week before. Apparently they went with putting the title on Kalisto as a way to tie him to the legacy of WWE Hall of Famer Eddie Guerrero as it was Eddie’s birthday. Kalisto did make a tweet dedicating the win to Eddie and Rey Mysterio, plus it was mentioned on RAW and in backstage Fallout video. Kalisto even received a congratulatory tweet back from Rey, mentioning Eddie.
Other sources report that Neville has pushed for a release from the company with the idea of going to the indies and making a name for himself outside of WWE, similar what Drew McIntyre did before he returned to WWE NXT. Neville has reportedly been unhappy with several factors, including being left off the WrestleMania 33 DVD and receiving no royalties from what is usually the best-selling WWE DVD of the year. Neville retained the WWE Cruiserweight Title over Austin Aries on the WrestleMania 33 Kickoff pre-show but all three pre-show matches were left off the version of the DVD released in the United States.
PWI adds that Neville is still under contract to the company and has not been released. However, WWE officials are not factoring The King of The Cruiserweights into any cruiserweight division plans for the time being but it is possible that the two sides come to terms and he returns to action. Neville is also not being booked for any upcoming live events or TV events. We will keep you updated on his status.
Source: WrestlingINC
In an interesting twist on the situation between WWE and The Young Bucks, the brothers were contacted to do WWE 2K19 work just one day after they received their cease & desist letter from WWE following the recent “invasion” outside of a RAW TV event in California. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the company in charge of the WWE 2K franchise contacted The Bucks to ask them about doing motion capture work for next year’s video game. The game creators felt like they needed all of the signature YB moves in the game because so many people playing last year’s edition were using the Create-A-Wrestler mode to play as the brothers.
Source: WrestlingINC
Stephanie McMahon spoke at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, and she revealed some details about just how much the WWE Universe impacts the company’s strategy.
McMahon, the Chief Brand Officer for the WWE, described how audience feedback can force the company to adjust its plans. She said that plans for WrestleMania are set a year in advance, and then they can be changed based on how the WWE Universe reacts to the storylines.
“Our audience tells us what they love, what they don’t like and worse, what they don’t care about. And you have to be listening, and in WWE, yes, we do, we pivot on the fly,” McMahon said. It’s an advantage that we’re live. We do set our storylines out a year in advance, WrestleMania being our Super Bowl and then we program backwards, but things happen. The audience might not be invested in a character that we think they will be invested in for whatever reason. There could be an injury that happens, because we really are an incredible athletic event as well. Anything can happen, so that ability to pivot and twist is really important.”
So if the audience doesn’t respond to a wrestler the way the company had predicted, it could lead to a halted push. On the flipside, it’s possible for a lower-tier superstar to be given a chance if the audience clamors for it lout enough.
McMahon pointed to NXT as a clear example for how the audience affects programming. The NXT Universe is the most passionate fan base in all of WWE, so their reactions help determine which superstars are ready for a call-up to the main roster.
“And when you think about NXT, for example, our audience is actually determining who makes it to the next level, who goes to that main roster,” McMahon said. “And they know it, they know that they are a part of that person’s success, so they are that much more invested in it. And again, I just think that engagement is really important.”
Source: WrestlingINC
Regarding Neville’s WWE status, sources have confirmed that he walked out of Monday’s RAW in Indianapolis before the show hit the air. The plan was for Neville to lose to WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore in the non-title Lumberjack main event. The match ended up having Enzo drop the title to Kalisto.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Neville walked out when he learned of the loss he was to take. This was a last minute decision made by Vince McMahon, reportedly because no one could come up with a better idea at the last minute, they put the title on Kalisto instead of having Enzo defeat another cruiserweight. The Observer adds that the current plan is to get the title back on Enzo. The title change could come at the October 22nd TLC pay-per-view when Enzo receives his rematch.
Neville’s status with the company is still up in the air but it’s believed that he’s gone. One source close to the situation insists that he’s 100% gone. As noted yesterday, WWE is officially denying that he quit and the official word is that he’s still with the company. His profile remains on the WWE website as of this writing.
Source: WrestlingINC
WWE aired a new promo for Erick Rowan and Luke Harper’s return at last night’s SmackDown Live. They called themselves the Bludgeon Brothers.
No word yet on when the two will debut with their new looks.
