WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross who did the commentary for the UK Championship Tournament and will also be calling the UK Championship match between Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne at tonight’s NXT TakeOver: Chicago, has confirmed to Busted Open Radio that he will also be calling the WWE Women’s Tournament this summer.
Source: WrestlingINC
WWE Championship: (C) Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal
United States Championship: (C) Kevin Owens vs. AJ Styles
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Dolph Ziggler
SmackDown Tag Team Championship: (C) The Usos vs. Breezango
SmackDown Women’s Champion Naomi, Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch vs. Tamina Snuka, Carmella & Natalya
Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin
Luke Harper vs. Erick Rowan
(Kickoff) Tye Dillinger vs. Aiden English
NXT Championship: (C) Bobby Roode vs. Hideo Itami
NXT Women’s Championship: (C) Asuka vs. Ruby Riot vs. Nikki Cross
NXT Tag Team Championship – Ladder Match: (C) The Authors of Pain w/Paul Ellering vs. #DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa)
WWE United Kingdom Championship: (C) Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne
Roderick Strong vs. Eric Young
We reported on Thursday night that Tommaso Ciampa of DIY was injured at that evening’s NXT live event in Highland Heights, KY. Early during a match pitting DIY against Sanity, Ciampa dived off the ring apron onto Sanity and hurt his left leg. The match was quickly stopped and ruled a no-contest. An upset Ciampa hopped to the back yelling, “get me the f–k out of here.”
Ciampa and Johnny Gargano were scheduled to face NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain for the titles at NXT: Takeover this Saturday. Triple H took part in a media conference call this morning to promote the event. During the call, I asked Triple H about Ciampa’s injury and his status for this Saturday.
“He turned his ankle somewhere [during the match],” Triple H said. “As a precaution everything shut down, it stopped, he got out of there. He went for an X-ray last night, and there’s no break or fracture. He’s got an ankle sprain. When I texted with him this morning, he was feeling better and was up moving around and felt like he was not going to have an issue with it. It was not really bothering him, it was not really as bad as they thought it was.”
Triple H noted that Ciampa was up and moving around, and their medical team will decide if he can work Saturday’s show. He said that as of right now, Ciampa is in “but we’ll see how that goes.” He added that Gargano and Ciampa were very excited to work in Chicago, which is somewhat of their homebase, and he would hate to see that ruined because it’s a moment for them.
Asked if there was a backup plan in place in case Ciampa is not able to work the match. Triple H said that if Ciampa’s condition worsens today, then he will try to figure out other plans.
“Right now I’m going to keep a positive frame of mind that he will be there tomorrow,” Triple H said
Source: WrestlingINC
Summer Rae has reportedly been cleared to return to action. Dave Meltzer reported on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that she is healthy and was at last week’s television tapings.
Rae has been out of action since last August due to neck and back injuries. She was training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando in March.
Meltzer speculated that WWE may be holding her off of television because the company has an even number of women on each brand. However, it should be noted that with Lana’s impending debut and Emma’s recent injury, both brands need one more woman to even out their respective active women’s division.
WWE currently has Summer Rae listed on the RAW brand on their website.
Source: WrestlingINC
Tonight’s WWE 205 Live will take place from the SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.
* TJP and Neville want Austin Aries out of the picture: TJP vs. Austin Aries
* Will Drew Gulak confront Mustafa Ali?
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live will take place from the SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire with the final hype for Sunday’s WWE Backlash pay-per-view.
* No. 1 contenders square off ahead of title matches: AJ Styles vs. Jinder Mahal
* Will Rusev get the WWE Title match he’s demanding?
* Six-Woman Tag Team Match participants make it official
* The Highlight Reel, hosted by … Kevin Owens?
* The Viper takes on The Lone Wolf before WWE Backlash
According to squaredcirclesirens.com, WWE has signed independent wrestler Kennadi Brink as a referee for the company. Brink is 25, and started training in July of 2010 at Gillberg’s Professional Wrestling Academy in Severn, Maryland. She has worked for MCW, SHIMMER, SHINE, and ROH and is the winner of the 2014 Reid Flair scholarship, presented at the Mid-Atlantic Legends fan-fest in Charlotte, North Carolina. She worked as a referee or a few NXT events in March of this year when they toured Ocala and Jacksonville, Florida.
Source: 411Mania
WWE reported on Monday that Braun Strowman is expected to be out of action for up to six months after undergoing successful elbow surgery.
“Strowman underwent surgery on Thursday in Birmingham, Ala. with Dr. Jeffrey Dugas,” the company wrote on their website. “During the procedure, it was revealed, among his other injuries, that Strowman’s elbow had been shattered, and he is expected to miss up to six months of action as a result.”
Dave Meltzer revealed on Wrestling Observer Radio that the six month number is a work, and Strowman is actually expected to wrestle at SummerSlam. Strowman will likely face WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at the event and return in mid-July to start the build for the match.
Meltzer speculated that WWE will swap Brock Lesnar’s original opponent for SummerSlam – which was most likely Seth Rollins or Finn Balor – for the main event of the Great Balls Of Fire pay-per-view in July. As seen on RAW last night, WWE announced that Rollins, Balor, Samoa Joe, Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns will square off in a Fatal 5-Way at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on June 4th, with the winner becoming the new #1 contender.
Source: WrestlingINC
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross announced yesterday that he will be calling the UK Championship match at Saturday’s WWE NXT “Takeover: Chicago” event on the WWE Network. JR’s announce partner for the match will be Nigel McGuinness.
JR and Nigel will also be calling the WWE UK special that premieres on the WWE Network this coming Friday afternoon.
