As noted, last week Bayley injured her shoulder in a match against Nia Jax. In a WWE.com exclusive video, Mike Rome revealed that Bayley has been removed from the SummerSlam card now that an official evaluation from doctors revealed she’s got a separated shoulder.
Bayley appeared last night on RAW to address the WWE Universe about her injury, in which you can see in the video below:
Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as the Road to WWE SummerSlam continues.
* Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman to face off in a Last Man Standing Match tonight on Raw
* Bayley’s future to be determined:
Bayley’s Raw Women’s Championship opportunity against Alexa Bliss is in jeopardy after suffering an injury to her right shoulder during her match against Nia Jax.
According to WWE medical personnel, the extent of the injury has yet to be determined due to swelling in and around the injured area. A conclusive diagnosis will be made today in Toronto, but based on what we have seen, it doesn’t seem likey that The Huggable One will be getting back into the ring anytime soon.
If Bayley is unable to compete at SummerSlam, who will challenge the so-called “Goddess of WWE” for her coveted championship? Hopefully, details will emerge on Raw.
* Does Rollins truly have Ambrose’s back?
* The Hardys’ fury has been “awoken”
* How will Wyatt respond to Bálor’s mind games?
Female Japanese wrestler Io Shirai returned to the Joshi puroresu promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom at their July 30, 2017 show when she was believed to be headed to WWE.
Shirai had already done her farewell for the promotion and had begun the process of signing with WWE. However, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports a neck injury was discovered during her physical several months back. After the injury was found, she announced she was taking time off and it was believed she would still be joining WWE.
Because WWE had not finalized her contract, she wasn’t allowed to say she was going to the company, even though it was widely known. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports she contacted Rossy Ogawa, who owns Stardom, at the end of last month and said that she was ready to return full-time.
It’s believed WWE discovered the injury and reneged on their contract offer but the story going around publicly in Japan is that she got some bad news and informed Stardom she was ready to return. WWE delayed their contract offer after her physical revealed the injury and informed her they wanted her to take time off to rehabilitate the injury.
Shirai rehabbed the injury and was recently medically cleared to return but she no longer had an offer from WWE. WWE has generally been against bringing in new talent with concussion and/or neck issues. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter also speculates WWE may not have signed her because they already have Kairi Hojo and Asuka and discovered women of other nationalities they want to sign from the Mae Young Classic.
Source: WrestlingINC
Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned that HoHo Lun wasn’t fired from WWE … the wrestler requested his own release in order to deal with a family situation.
WrestlingInc first reported Lun’s exit and now a rep for WWE confirms, “WWE has granted HoHo Lun’s request to be released for personal reasons.”
No word on what the family situation he’s dealing with is exactly.
Lun came to WWE by way of the Cruiserweight Classic where he made it to the second round and was eliminated by current 205 Live star Noam Dar.
HoHo had been used sparingly on NXT TV, but did team with Tian Bing in the Dusty Rhodes Classic.
His last televised match was against Velveteen Dream in a losing effort back in late June.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
After giving birth in May, Brie Bella is getting ready to return to the ring.
On Wednesday, Brie was at the SoCal School of Pro Wrestling in San Marcos, California with Daniel Bryan, Nikki Bella and Nia Jax for a training session.
Brie last wrestled in April 2016 on the WrestleMania 32 Kickoff show at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where she teamed up with fellow Total Divas castmates Alicia Fox, Natalya, Paige and Eva Marie in a 10-Superstar Tag Team Match against Lana, Naomi, Tamina, Summer Rae and Emma. Brie sealed the victory for her team when she forced Naomi to submit to the “Yes!” Lock.
A few days after the show, Brie said she would be taking an extended break from in-ring competition, citing family reasons, while also stating that she would continue working for WWE as an ambassador.
During a panel discussion at Comic-Con with WWE Superstars last month, Brie announced her return to the ring.
“My husband and I were talking, and he was like, ‘You know what, Brie, I think we have enough room to get ring and why don’t we start training?'” she said.
Brie explained that she had begged her husband to build a wrestling ring at their home in Phoenix, Arizona and he finally caved and even agreed to train her.
“We just started training, I’m hoping 2018 I can get back in the ring again,” she announced.
Source: WrestlingINC
Tonight’s WWE 205 Live will take place from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH.
* Who will face WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville at SummerSlam? – Ariya Daivari vs. Akira Tozawa
* Has The Brian Kendrick pushed Gentleman Jack Gallagher to his limit?
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live will take place from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH as the road to SummerSlam continues.
* John Cena and Shinsuke Nakamura to clash in dream match for SummerSlam WWE Title opportunity
* Kevin Owens challenges United States Champion AJ Styles
* Naomi & Becky Lynch join forces for tag team action
* Chad Gable looks to break out against Rusev
* Will The Fashion Police finally crack the case?
* Tyler Breeze posted this video from backstage at Monday’s live event in Ft. Wayne, Indiana:
There are major cutbacks going on all over WWE right now, including the cancellation of WWE Network programs and no longer doing the pyro at shows.
Dave Meltzer stated on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE “promised everyone” they were going to have bigger profits in 2017 than they had in 2016 and they’re not anywhere close.
“So last year’s profits were about $30 million,” said Meltzer on the August 1, 2017 episode of Wrestling Observer Radio. “And this year we’re about halfway through and — I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me – but it’s like five or six million, which means there’s a lot of catching up to do.”
This is believed to be the reason why there is no longer a pyro at WWE shows and a lot of shows on the WWE Network are getting canceled, in an attempt to lower production costs.
“They’re not in any financial trouble but the Network subscriber number is a genuine disappointment,” explained Meltzer. “The growth coming out of WrestleMania that would have been expected wasn’t there.”
One thing that has not helped the growth of the WWE Network is doing brand specific pay-per-views for RAW and SmackDown but it’s not expected that WWE is going to go back to just one pay-per-view a month.
“The one thing that we have learned is that the two pay-per-views a month, that has not helped,” said Meltzer. “The Network number is not growing the way they expected it to so that’s been a bad situation. But I don’t think they want to drop one of the pay-per-views because I think that would hurt ratings a little bit.”
More cutbacks are expected in WWE and it’s one of the reasons why the company has been slow on the United Kingdom show. Dave Meltzer noted their tournament to crown a WWE United Kingdom Champion earlier this year cost a lot of money and the show will mean spending a lot of money for more tapings every month.
Source: WrestlingINC
Sting recently experimented with Facebook Live on his official Facebook page. While his comments were brief, they were newsworthy nonetheless.
“I can still wrestle,” Sting said. “I can still wrestle! I’m just not going to.”
Sting worked his last match on September 20, 2015, where he was defeated by Seth Rollins at WWE Night of Champions. He suffered multiple neck injuries in the bout that were career-ending.
When asked if he would be open to an on-air role on WWE television, similar to what Kurt Angle is doing now, Sting responded:
“Yeah, I might consider something like that,” Sting said. “Good to see Kurt back by the way.”
Sources: Wrestling INC – Sting on Facebook
WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne retained his title in a Fatal 4 Way at Insane Championship Wrestling’s “Shug’s Hoose Party 4” event this past Saturday night in Glasgow. Dunne retained over BT Gunn, Wolfgang and Trent Seven.
In the video above, Dunne says he beats people up, he hurts people and he collects titles, and he now owns ICW just like he owns WWE. In regards to where the title is going next, Dunne says he’s taking it to the top and keeping it as he captures title after title until everything is his.
The event also saw WWE cruiserweight Noam Dar return to the ICW promotion. WWE posted the following on The BruiserWeight and Dar working the event:
WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne retains title in historic defenseIn the first WWE United Kingdom Championship defense to take place in the U.K. outside of a WWE ring, Pete Dunne successfully retained the title Saturday night in Glasgow, Scotland.
The BruiserWeight defeated Trent Seven, Wolfgang and BT Gunn in a Fatal 4-Way Match at Night 1 of “Shug’s Hoose Party 4,” an event held by Insane Championship Wrestling at the O2 ABC. The sold-out event will be available for viewing on ICW’s on-demand service starting 24 hours after the show.
Following the match, the victorious Dunne, never one to mince words, said “ICW is one of the top promotions in the world, and I own it now … just like I own WWE.”
Also at “Shug’s Hoose Party 4,” Cruiserweight Noam Dar returned to action in ICW, which was one of his stomping grounds prior to joining WWE. Dar joined former Pinky Party tag team partner Sha Samuels in tag team action.
Now that Dunne has turned back three opponents in one fell swoop, who will be next in line to step to The BruiserWeight? This much is obvious: The brash but brilliantly dangerous Dunne is unlikely to back down from the challenger, whomever it is.
Source: WrestlingINC
Below are post-match reactions from Gunn, Seven and Wolfgang:
