Charlotte Flair was visiting the WWE Performance Center this week but as it turns out, her rival Becky Lynch also was in Orlando this weekend. WWE has stated through their social media channels that they are investigating an altercation which took place between the two.
The NXT Twitter account posted the following earlier this morning:
Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair Altercation At The WWE Performance Center
Unfortunately, if there is footage of the altercation, WWE has yet to release it. One current NXT wrestler/WWE developmental talent, Donovan Dijak, has called out the person who would be responsible for leaking the footage.
Mulder and Scully were the detectives on the X-Files, in case you didn’t get the reference.
Charlotte Flair was back on the road for WWE’s house shows in Hartford this weekend and has yet to comment on the matter.
The biggest heel of the 2nd Mae Young Classic, Rhea Ripley, was not too impressed with Charlotte’s trip to the Performance Center. The woman who is now on her way to the semi-finals of the MYC due to Tegan Nox’s injury, posted the following in regards to Flair’s visit to the PC.
Impact Wrestling will be back in Scott D’Amore’s hometown in March. The promotion recently announced they will be returning to Windsor, ON, Canada for 2 nights of tapings. Impact held 2 nights of tapings in Windsor back in early June as well.
Border City Wrestling and Impact held a joint show just outside of Detroit recently dubbed Motown Showdown. That show is available on the Global Wrestling Network.
Impact Wrestling Tapings
Following the purchase of the company by Anthem Sports and Entertainment last year, the company has become more international. Television deals Anthem has in place in the UK, Mexico, and India have led to stars from those locations playing prominent roles on Impact television. It has also led to the promotion holding tapings and One Night Only PPVs across the globe.
In 2018, Impact Wrestling has traveled to Orlando, Windsor, Toronto, Mexico City, New York, and soon will head to Las Vegas. They’ve also held a Twitch special in the UK.
The next Twitch special the promotion is producing will take place on November 30th. “Gold Rush” will take place from Newark, California and will feature Eddie Edwards, Tessa Blanchard, Moose, and Eli Drake. The event will be held in conjunction with Big Time Wrestling. They will then hit Nashville for the Homecoming PPV in January with nothing else booked until the Windsor tapings in March.
Despite being with WWE for nearly 15 years now, the Miz says neither fans nor the WWE Universe respects him. Many felt Miz’s days without respect were over after he won over even his harshest critics with his work ethic the last few years.
According to Miz, however, he still doesn’t get the respect he feels he deserves. Miz made comments to this effect during a recent interview with the Mirror in the UK.
Miz Still Searching For Respect 15 Years Into WWE Career
“I will never get the respect I deserve because I was on a reality show. Whenever you’re on a reality show, you’re the scum of the earth. You have no talent, you’re a nothing and you deserve nothing,” Miz described his reputation.
Miz’s career has come first circle in the sense that he’s back on another reality TV show. In 2001, Miz dropped out of college in order to appear on MTV’s “the Real World”. Now Miz is the star of “Miz and Mrs.”
“That’s the way I’ve been brought up and how I feel people look at reality [television]. Do I look at it that way? Absolutely not; I thank my lucky stars I was on a show like The Real World on MTV and I thank them for putting me on that show because it gave me the ability to say ‘I can do anything I want with my life’.”
Speaking of Miz and Mrs, Miz explained he doesn’t consider it a reality show. Rather, Miz thinks of the show as a docu-series.
“I like to think it’s a different type of show, but now that I have that, it puts even more ammo against me. But, maybe now, people will look at me and say ‘this guy can lead a show’.”
Last night in Winnipeg, Kenny Omega took part in a Premiere Championship Wrestling show. Following Omega’s match that night, Don Callis cut a promo running down the IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He would later take a shot at Omega before the melee could be broken up. The events were filmed and posted online by the promotion which hosted the show.
Omega responded to Callis’ actions earlier this morning on Twitter. He Tweeted out only the words “See you on the cruise” indicating what happened last night will be settled on Chris Jericho’s upcoming Rock N Rager At Sea.
While originally Jericho said the matches on the cruise would not air anywhere, it’s since been announced they will air on the Fite App shortly after the cruise is over.
“Ever since we announced Chris Jericho’s Rock N Wrestling Rager At Sea, everybody who couldn’t make it onboard the cruise have been asking me if we are streaming the event,” said Jericho in a press release sent in to SEScoops.com. “Now, after months of pondering, planning and probing, I can proudly say the answer is YES!! Preorder “Streaming for Vengeance” now to see the biggest main event of the year, The ALPHA CLUB vs The BULLET CLUB, and the entire Sea Of Honor Tournament on FITE TV! Stream it in, Maaan!”
Rhea Ripley is off to the semi-finals of the Mae Young Classic, whether that’s how things were planned or not. In the episode which aired this week, Tegan Nox suffered a knee injury causing her match with Ripley to be stopped prematurely.
Nox detailed the injury on social media not long after the episode aired:
“Well…that happened. I may be out for a while but I cannot thank my friends and family for everything they’ve done the past few weeks and for all the kind words I’ve received, it genuinely warms my heart and gives me that extra (fire) to come back even better.”
Ripley also responded to Nox’s injury on social media. First, she commented on how in honor of her Mae Young Classic opponent from Wednesday, she would be focussing on leg workouts at the gym.
In honor of my win on the #MYC yesterday against @TeganNoxWWE_ today at the gym I did… LEGS! ?
Rhea Ripley is a 22-year-old Australian who was signed by WWE shortly after she competed in the Mae Young Classic last year. Before signing with WWE, Ripley competed for Riot City Wrestling in Adelaide, South Australia. She is a former Riot City Wrestling Women’s Champion.
Smackdown General Manager Paige has announced a grudge match for Smackdown this Tuesday. On the 1001st edition of Smackdown Rusev and Aiden English will face each other in single’s competition.
It will be the first time the two former tag partners have faced each other on the main roster. In 2013, they wrestled twice on NXT house shows with Rusev winning both matches.
Rusev Vs Aiden English
The team formerly known as Rusev Day teamed up originally in October of 2017. They were defeated by Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura on an edition of Smackdown. Rusev Day wrestled twice for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships, coming up short both times. They wrestled in a fatal 4-way tag match for the titles at Clash of Champions 2017. That match was won by the Usos. Their other tag-team title opportunity was also their last match together as a team. They lost to New Day on the 2018 Hell in a Cell Kickoff show.
They would disband earlier this fall, with Aiden then claiming a physical relationship had taken place between him and Lana. English has spent the last few weeks claiming a video of his and Lana’s relationship turning physical existed from a hotel room in Milwaukee. Now, Rusev and English will face each other in single’s action
This past week saw the 1000th episode of WWE Smackdown air with a litany of stars from the show’s past. One of the biggest talking points came when Evolution reunited and Batista seemingly goaded Triple H into a match at some point down the line.
Cameras caught up with ‘The Animal’ following the segment and he made some comments on his WWE return. “It was alright, it probably could have gone a little better, but I think considering how nervous I was.” Batista then revealed what he said to WWE owner Vince McMahon before getting in front of the camera; “I told Vince how nervous I was, he said, ‘When you go out there, just tell them, be honest and speak from the heart.’ First thing I said, ‘I’m nervous’ because I was. I didn’t want to pull any punches, I was nervous, man.”
Batista also commented on making his return with the Evolution stable, stating that “It’s a special thing with Evolution, it’s just a special group,” Batista elaborated on this saying that “I know it’s a newer audience, but they can feel it. There’s a special vibe between all of us, there always has been, there always will be. So, it’s a timeless energy.”
The Animal finished by stating that “I miss it here, I miss the energy, the immediate feedback,” Batista continued. “We’ll see where it goes, but it was quite an honor to be a part of this, especially since it was in my hometown.”
Pro Wrestling: EVE has released their Wrestle Queendom show on YouTube for free. The event took place on May 5th earlier this year and featured some of the most critically acclaimed bouts in Women’s wrestling in 2018. Japanese legend and Mae Young Classic competitor Meiko Satomura, Aja Kong, Viper/Piper Niven, WoS Star Kay Lee Ray and more can be seen on this incredible card.
War Games Eight Man Tag Team Match – Addy Starr, Emi Sakura, Laura Di Matteo & Rhia O’Reilly vs Blue Nikita, Charli Evans, Jamie Hayter & Jayla Dark
Wild Card Qualifying Match (Special Referee: Erin Angel) – Jetta vs. Kris Wolf
Wild Card Ladder Match – Nina Samuels vs Jetta vs Kasey Owens vs Kris Wolf vs Leah Owens vs Livvii Grace vs Millie McKenzie
Kay Lee Ray vs Meiko Satomura (w/Emi Sakura)
Aja Kong (w/Emi Sakura) vs Viper
EVE Title Match – Charlie Morgan vs Sammii Jayne (c)
Revolution Pro (Rev Pro) has announced the second bout for their Uprising 2018 event. The British Heavyweight Championship will be on the line at Bethnal Green’s York Hall.
Tomohiro Ishii will be defending against David Starr. Starr issued a challenge via Twitter earlier this week and Rev Pro management have honoured the request. Starr is already the Cruiserweight Champion of the promotion and will look to become the first two-weight class Champion in company history.
Rev Pro has also announced that Zack Sabre Jr and Minoru Suzuki of Suzuki-gun defend will against Aussie Open on the night. ZSJ and Suzuki have been Champions since January when they defeated Moustache Mountain. Aussie Open are the current Number 1 contenders to the titles.
Revolution Pro (Rev Pro) also debuted on FreeSportsUK this past Friday. The UK based company will be using the nationwide channel as the home for their new TV show going forward.
You can check out the exclusive interview we conducted with Rev Pro owner Andy Quildan here. When we discussed the timing of the new show Andy confirmed that “WoS had no impact on our decision. In all honesty whilst I watch as much product as possible from WWE, ROH, NJPW, CMLL to all the indies here in the UK, aside from learning best (or at times worst) practice I try not to let what others are doing dictate the way I choose to run my business.”
WWE debuted the NXT UK brand show on the Network this past Wednesday. This was a long awaited step in the evolution of NXT in terms of global presence for the ‘developmental’ brand.
NXT UK may not be the only branch of NXT in the European territory. According to the Wrestling Observer WWE are looking at expanding into Germany with a specific NXT Germany brand being considered. The Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) brand are reportedly in the fold in a relationship akin to that of PROGRESS and NXT UK.
WWE are holding a four-day tryout in Cologne next month. WWE Performance Center coach and British legend Robbie Brookside was recently seen at a wXw event reportedly scouting talent. This was all believed to be part of WWE’s planned extension into Germany, whether this means that they will be getting an NXT brand? This remains to be seen.
Opinion: It would be interesting for WWE to introduce a specific German NXT programme. The UK division took a long time to establish and bring to the Network and whilst Europe is a big market it is arguably not big enough to have TWO brands. Could WWE introduce an NXT Europe brand in the near future? This would be far more of a likely and intriguing prospect.
NXT UK debuted on the WWE Network earlier this week. The long awaited show has several shows taped and many were waiting for WWE to pull the trigger and release the content.
The initial rumor and belief was that WWE were waiting for the fate of WoS/World of Sport to be decided before unveiling NXT UK on the Network. Whilst this may be way off base it is interesting that WWE has waited this long to finally unveil their new show. With WoS getting a planned tour in 2019 the show may still be moving forward with a second series on the ITV family of channels but is yet to be confirmed.
Another interesting aspect to WWE’s timing of the release is that Rev Pro debuted on the FreeSports channel this week. FreeSports as a channel is in no way comparable to WoS’s ITV, the viewer base is but a minute of the broadcasting giant that is ITV.
Two of WoS’ stars Nathan Cruz and Kay Lee Ray took to Twitter to congratulate their fellow countrymen/women on the new NXT UK show. Kay Lee Ray stated that it was “good to see a lot of hard work paying off for people.” Cruz had further comments, stating that it was a “hell of a debut show for NXT UK. Won’t lie, it was very emotional seeing so many of my friends and peers in that opening package. So many who deserve that stage. The new boom era for the UK continues. Let’s keep competing, let’s keep improving. It’s bloody brilliant.”
Revolution Pro (Rev Pro) debuted on FreeSportsUK this Friday. The UK based company will be using the nationwide channel as the home for their new TV show going forward. FreeSportsUK made the announcement back in August via Twitter where the channel announced that the show initially would be airing “later in September.”
Here’s the results of Episode 1:
Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger b. Chris Brookes – Liger took the win after hitting a Brainbuster, Brookes turned heel after the bout after kicking Liger low. El Phantasmo came out for the save
Lord Gideon Grey appeared and announced that he had ‘acquired’ the services of The Great O-Kharn.
The Great O-Kharn b. Harrison Thompson – O-Kharn took the win with the Iron Claw Slam
Zack Sabre Jr. b. KUSHIDA – ZSJ took the win via submission. Zack locked on the Orienteering With Napalm Death after a great 20 minute bout
You may remember FreeSports as the channel that hosted the ill-fated 5 Star Wrestling earlier this year. Rev Pro is an extremely well established promotion comparatively and will relish the opportunity to be available in UK homes.
You can check out the exclusive interview we conducted with Rev Pro owner Andy Quildan here. When we discussed the timing of the new show Andy confirmed that “WoS had no impact on our decision. In all honesty whilst I watch as much product as possible from WWE, ROH, NJPW, CMLL to all the indies here in the UK, aside from learning best (or at times worst) practice I try not to let what others are doing dictate the way I choose to run my business.”
Tickets to WWE’s Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia were supposed to go on sale on October 19th. It seems ticket sales have been indefinitely postponed to the event. Advertisements now state tickets will go on sale November 2nd, the same day the event is set to take place. It is not clear if an earlier on-sale date will be announced.
Many are speculating the reason tickets didn’t go on sale as planned could be related to recent events surrounding the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi of the Washington Post. The Saudi government admitted responsibility for the death of Khashoggi yesterday.
Crown Jewel Controversy
In the last week, the controversy surrounding the Saudi Arabia-WWE deal has been covered by the mainstream media. JBL and Randy Orton both made public statements recently in support of the event.
JBL was on Fox Business recently and explained his position on why WWE should follow through with the show.
“My personal opinion is that they should go (to Saudi Arabia),” stated JBL. “Look at what we did with Cuba. You isolate a country all you do is impoverish that country. You want to promote change? WWE went to Abu Dhabi, did the first women’s match that had ever happened in the Middle East. The crowd was chanting, in English, ‘This is Change’.”
Matt Hardy debuted on WWE programming when he was just 19-years-old in 1994. Now close to a quarter-century later, Hardy has moved his career behind the camera. Not only is the 44-year-old working as an agent, but he’s also filmed a Halloween special for the WWE Network. There is also speculation the special will serve as a pilot for a more regularly airing show.
According to a report from WWE Network News, the House of Hardy Halloween Special will begin airing on the network Sunday, October 28th, 2018 directly after the upcoming WWE Evolution Pay-per-view.
House of Hardy Halloween Special
Over the last few weeks, Hardy has been dropping hints regarding the special through social media. He Tweeted out a photo from the set after the crew had wrapped filming for the special.
Hardy returned to WWE in 2017 after creating a buzz around him and his brother’s Woken gimmicks. After leaving TNA Wrestling, however, the old-new management team would not allow the brothers to continue portraying the gimmicks. They could not bring the Broken Universe to either Ring of Honor or WWE. After Don Callis was named to the Impact Wrestling management team, the company reversed its stance, however. Now, Impact allows talent to continue performing as characters developed through their programming.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) was back in action this weekend as they held their Smokey and the Bandido event on Friday, October 19, 2018 at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California in front of a sold-out crowd. This show will later be made available on DVD.
There were two big title matches featured on this card – WALTER defending his PWG Title Jeff Cobb in the main event as well as The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defending the PWG Tag Team Titles against the Latin American Exchange.
This show comes off three events that spanned over the course of three nights that was branded as BOLA, Battle of Los Angeles. This was a tournament that saw Cobb win in order to get a future shot at the PWG Title.
In the headliner, there was one big title change as Cobb beat Walter to become the new PWG World Champion. Here are the results:
Trevor Lee defeats Darby Allin Puma King defeats Flamita and Rey Horus Zack Sabre Jr. defeats Hechicero Bandido defeats Rey FenixTimothy Thatcher defeats Brody King
PWG World Tag Team Title Match: The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) (c) defeat Latin American Exchange (Ortiz & Santana)
PWG World Title Match: Jeff Cobb defeats Walter (c)
– Chelsea Green signing with WWE was confirmed on Thursday as the organization announced the latest batch of talent to join the Performance Center. Green’s NXT debut is imminent as she is scheduled to appear at two live events next week.
Green announced tonight on Instagram that she will appear at Thursday’s show in Cocoa, Florida and Friday’s show in Largo, Florida.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpIcBvIHzTV/
– Rusev and Lana will appear on a future episode of Drop the Mic on TBS, which pits celebrities against one another in a comic battle rap competition. Lana revealed the news today on her Instagram Story.
– Ahead of WWE Evolution, Alexa Bliss is Lilian Garcia’s next guest on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia. Alexa is teaming with Mickie James at the all-women’s pay-per-view and she will discuss her match against Trish Stratus and Lita. The interview will be available starting Monday.
The National Wrestling Alliance has unveiled the new NWA National Championship, which will awarded to a new champion this Sunday at the NWA 70th Anniversary pay-per-view live from Nashville, Tennessee. Eight men will compete in two 4-way elimination matches. The winners of the elimination matches will battle to crown the new champion.
Elimination Match A:
Willie Mack
Jay Bradley
Mike Parrow
Ricky Starks
Elimination Match B:
Sammy Guevara
Colt Cabana
Scorpio Sky
Sam Shaw
Click here to check out the full card for the NWA 70th Anniversary, which can be streamed live on the FITE app.
Impact Wrestling aired their first episode since Bound For Glory last night. For the next 4 weeks the Impact will take place inside New York’s Melrose Ballroom.
Here are 9 Takeaways From Impact Wrestling 10/18:
Fenix To Challenge For Impact World Championship Next Week
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExgKZhn5VUo
Johnny Impact kicked off this week’s episode with an in-ring promo. He said he will be a fighting champion and then threw some shade on Austin Aries for having been the opposite. Impact also said if he felt someone deserves a title shot, he will give one to them. This brought out Fenix who said he wanted a shot at the title. That title match was then made official for next week.
Sami Callihan Wants A Shot At The X-Division Championship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odg2NQ1acxE
X-Division Championship Brian Cage (c) defeated Rich Swann
Brian Cage defended his title this week against Rich Swann in the main event. After finishing off his challenger with Weapon-X, Sami Callihan hit the ring. Callihan made it clear he wants a shot at Cage’s title next. The Draw became the first person to pin Cage at Bound For Glory on Sunday, albeit it took a barrage of super-kicks from 3 wrestlers and Callihan’s Cactus Driver to do it.
On Sunday, champion and challenger each kicked out of the other’s signature finishing moves. In Tessa’s case, however, the referee was momentarily out of position putting away the ring apron which she had dragged into the ring. The question is then would Valkyrie have won if Tessa hadn’t of brought the ring apron into play? Valkyrie kicked out of Blanchard’s Buzzsaw DDT but was then unable to kick out after a top-rope codebreaker (Magnum – named after her step-father, Magnum TA), allowing Blanchard to retain.
After defeating Katarina this week, Valkyrie said she was not impressed with the champion’s tactics at the PPV, referring to bringing the ring apron in to buy time. Lucha Royalty continued to say she has lost her respect for Tessa Blanchard.
“I’m just more disappointed more than anything,” Valkyrie said after her match with Katarina. “I really respected Tessa and after that, I don’t.”
Allie’s Fine, Totally Fine. Don’t Even Worry About It
Allie defeated Alisha Edwards
Despite having descended into the Undead realm on Sunday, Allie’s fine, don’t even worry about it. That was what she told Kiera Hogan earlier in the show. She defeated Alisha Edwards this week but it’s clear her experience in the underworld has left her unhinged or possibly even possessed. Allie was adamant on Sunday that she and Hogan had to go back for Rosemary.
She began slapping herself in the face near the end of the match. She finished Edwards off with a codebreaker shortly after. Allie then continued to beat down Edwards after the match, choking her until Kiera Hogan brought her back to her senses.
Killer Kross And Moose Have Taken Out Their Competition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecSpkIKRZC0
Killer Kross defeated Tommy Dreamer via referee stoppage
Austin Aries may be gone but his two henchmen are still running rampant over the Impact Wrestling roster. They may have lost to Edwards and Dreamer at the PPV, they won the war by taking out Edwards after the match. They delivered a beatdown to Tommy Dreamer this week. Kross defeated Dreamer in single’s action via referee stoppage after 2 Doomsday Saito suplexes. Moose and Kross again kept up the attack after the match.
With Edwards and Dreamer out of the way, Moose and Killer Kross have an open road ahead of them.
The Great Gama Singh Returns To The Ring Next Week
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X8ReWGJuCI
The Great Gama Singh hasn’t wrestled since some reunion shows in Alberta in 2006-07 and also in Puerto Rico around the same time. Backstage this week, Singh told Rohit Raju he would have to face him next week in Rohit’s final test. Raju defeated Gursinder Singh last week in a match where the loser had to leave the Desi Hit Squad and go back to India.
The OGZ Still Have A Piece Of New York
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSPcDHGsAi8
After losing the Concrete Jungle Deathmatch at Bound For Glory, the OGZ met with the family bosses. King told Konnan the bosses were kind enough to allow them to keep a piece of New York provided they stay on their side and leave LAX alone. Then they left. So, I guess this means King and the OGZ are still around but they can’t do anything to mess with LAX, for a while at least, anyway.
Ethan Page and His 3rd Eye Pick Up A Victory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkMR8u3Q8QA
Ethan Page defeated Trevor Lee
Page and Sydal lost at Bound For Glory but that’s ok because as the Buddha teaches, life is suffering. That was how Sydal told Page to think about it, at least. They got back into the win column this week when Page defeated Trevor Lee in single’s action.
Jordynne Grace Is On Her Way To Impact Wrestling
Josh Mathews mentioned the news that Impact signed Jordynne Grace to a contract. Grace competed in the Battle Royal at All In. With the nickname “Thick Mama Pump”, Grace is a powerhouse who has won over fans across the independent scene.
Check out Grace in this free match from Smash Wrestling’s Northern tournament held this summer. Grace takes on Joey Janela in the tournament’s 1st round:
Quick Results:
Taya Valkyrie defeated Katarina
Ethan Page defeated Trevor Lee
Killer Kross via referee stoppage
Allie defeated Alisha Edwards
X-Division Championship
Brian Cage (c) defeated Rich Swann
As seen on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live, which was the 1000th edition, in Washington, DC at the Capital One Arena on the USA Network, Sheamus and Cesaro defeated The New Day to win the SmackDown Tag Team Titles. The finish of this title match saw The Big Show chokeslam Kofi Kingston through the announce table in order to help Sheamus and Cesaro win the titles.
According to Mike Johnson of Pwinsider.com, there has been some talk about naming the Big Show, Sheamus and Cesaro team as “Showbar.” WWE fans will likely find out why Show turned heel and joined forces with the newly crowned SmackDown Tag Team Champions on next week’s show.
The Rock’s Jingle Cruise Movie Gets New Release Date
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson announced on Friday that his film “Jungle Cruise” has a new release date, which was pushed back to July 24, 2020. Johnson and Emily Blunt will star in the movie, which is set to be directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. He wrote the following on his official Instagram account:
“IT’S OFFICIAL. It’s a ways away, but we plant our summer flag today — JULY 24th, 2020. Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages. My partner in crime, Emily Blunt and I, cordially invite you to join us for THE ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME. What could possibly go wrong? All aboard.. DISNEY’S JUNGLE CRUISE.”
Braun Strowman is sporting a minor eye injury thanks to WWE RAW Tag Team Champion Drew McIntyre. Cathy Kelley noted on the latest episode of “WWE Now” that Strowman suffered an eye injury after McIntyre connected with the Claymore. The injury is not serious and he should be fine.
As seen on this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW in Philadelphia, PA at the Wells Fargo Center on the USA Network, The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) defeated Strowman, Dolph Ziggler & McIntyre in a six-man tag team match, which served as the headliner.
Strowman recently took to his official Twitter account to send a warning to McIntyre heading into next Monday’s episode of RAW in Providence, RI at the Dunkin Donuts Center.
He wrote, “Took two of your best shots and got up from them!!! After I put the big dog down for good I’m coming for you @DMcIntyreWWE #GetTheseHands #TheMonstersComing.”
Strowman is slated to take on Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns in a Triple Threat Match with the Universal Championship on the line at the upcoming Crown Jewel pay-per-view event on November 2nd, 2018 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the King Saud University Stadium on the WWE Network.
The groundwork is being laid for a new wrestling promotion. It involves some of the top players in the industry and financial backing from a billionaire family already involved in professional sports.
Jim Ross and Chris Jericho have been working with renowned agent Barry Bloom in putting the pieces together. JR’s contract with WWE expires shortly and he has declined an offer to renew. He has been sending out feelers to select WWE performers, while Jericho has been handling the New Japan side. Bloom was recently in Japan taking meetings related to this deal.
The project is being financed by the Khan family. Shahid Khan, the patriarch, is one of the wealthiest men on the world (and a colorful personality). He owns the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham F.C. of the English Premier League. Shahid’s son, Tony, is a big wrestling fan and has been hands-on with getting this off the ground. He follows a few wrestlers on Twitter, including Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and Marty Scurll.
Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks are on board, as are Hangman Page and a few others. Kenny Omega’s status is unclear. For what it’s worth, Bill Goldberg is a client of Barry Bloom, along with JR and Jericho. When The Elite has talked about sticking together next year, this is what they’ve been alluding to. Jim Ross has been coy about this on his podcast, vaguely teasing something big on the horizon without showing his cards.
With the A-level talent they are getting commitments from, the group will burn through a ton of cash quickly. They are moving forward with the understanding that significant losses are expected for the first couple years.
Talks are underway with AXS to secure a TV deal. AXS TV executive Adam Swift is fast-tracking this. (Update: A rep from AXS TV has denied this report.) AXS currently airs New Japan Pro Wrestling and recently announced Jeanie Buss’ Women of Wrestling premieres in January. Sinclair Broadcasting, which provided logistical support for All In and has been acting in good faith, has been in the dark about this story.
The timeline for this going live is 12-16 months from now (late 2019 / early 2020).
We’ve reached out to the involved parties for comment and will update this article if necessary.
Ring of Honor has announced some matches for the Global Wars tour that kicks off next month. The first match is at the event on November 7th where Tetsuya Naito & EVIL & BUSHI & SANADA will face ROH Champion Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham & Chris Sabin & KUSHIDA.
Also announced is ROH Champion Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham vs. The Young Bucks vs. Chris Sabin & KUSHIDA vs. The Kingdom’s TK O’Ryan & Vinnie Marseglia at the show on November 8th.
The Baltimore-based promotion will be holding this annual tour with both ROH and New Japan Pro Wrestling stars just like they have done in previous years. More matches for this tour will be announced shortly.
The tour kicks off on November 7th in Lewiston, Maine, Androscoggin Bank Colisee and concludes on November 11th in Toronto, Ontario at Mattamy Athletic Centre. The four shows will stream live on HonorClub. Here are the dates and locations:
November 7 – Lewiston, Maine, Androscoggin Bank Colisee
November 8 -Lowell, Massachusetts at Memorial Auditorium
November 9 – Buffalo, New York at Buffalo RiverWorks
November 11 – Toronto, Ontario at Mattamy Athletic Centre
ROH is hyping that the “Global Wars events could play a significant role for both companies” heading into the co-promoted G1 Supercard event at Madison Square Garden in New York City on April 6, 2019.
There was one key member of the WWE NXT announce team that was not at Wednesday’s NXT TV tapings in Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University. That person was lead announcer Mauro Ranallo. The reason for his absence was due to him being in New York City to receive a Mental Health Advocacy award from Fountain House. Vic Joseph did the announcing for NXT TV.
Ranallo posted the following on his official Instagram account, “Much love to my @shosports fam for coming out and supporting me last night as I received a #MentalHealth advocacy award from the FANTASTIC folks at @fountainhouse in New York city. Fountain House is the standard bearer for mental health care!”
Although WWE has yet to officially announce any matches or segments for next Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live in Newark, NJ at the Prudential Center, there are two matches being locally advertised. SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair and WWE Champion AJ Styles & Daniel Bryan & Rey Mysterio vs. The Miz & Shinsuke Nakamura & Randy Orton in a six-man tag team match.
This episode will feature the fallout from SmackDown 1000 as well as continue to build the hype for WWE Evolution and Crown Jewel pay-per-view events.
WWE has announced a new special that will air on the USA Network this coming Monday, October 22nd.
Unlike previous specials that would typically air on WWE’s streaming service, WWE Network, “Road to Evolution” will air after Monday Night RAW goes off the air on the USA Network.
In the official announcement, WWE notes that this special “will chronicle the journey to the first-ever all-women’s pay-per-view event, WWE Evolution” as well as “look back on the groundbreaking Women’s Evolution in WWE, featuring Superstars of the past, present and future coming together to celebrate a new chapter in WWE history.”
The special is also slated to air on E! on Wednesday, Oct. 24, at 10/9 C following the latest episode of the reality series, “Total Divas.” The Evolution pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, October 28, 2018 in Long Island, New York at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and will air on the WWE Network.
Updated WWE Evolution Card
Trish Stratus & Lita vs. Alexa Bliss & Mickie James
NXT Women’s Champion Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler
WWE RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey vs. Nikki Bella
SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair – Last Woman Standing Match
Battle Royal: Tamina, Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, Ember Moon, Nia Jax, Alicia Fox, Dana Brooke, Asuka, Mandy Rose, Lana, Carmella, Sonya Deville, Naomi, Torrie Wilson – Winner will a receive championship match
As WWE gets closer to Crown Jewel on November 2nd, they will further the build to DX vs the Brothers of Destruction on Monday. According to a recent report from PW Insider, there are plans for Shawn Michaels to be on Monday Night Raw next week.
Monday Night Raw this week will be held in the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
Shawn Michaels On Raw This Week
Shawn Michaels’ last match in WWE was a loss to the Undertaker at WrestleMania 26. Now, 8.5 years later, it’s looking as though HBK will be coming out of retirement. In storyline, the justification appears to be that it is the man who retired HBK who is calling for him to come back. In reality, the Saudi Arabia deal makes it possible for Michaels to earn more in one night than he’d previously been able to do.
The last time Shawn Micheals and Triple H teamed up as part of D-X was just two weeks before WrestleMania 26, aka the end of Shawn’s career. HBK and Triple H teamed up with John Cena on the March 14th, 2010 house. They defeated the team of Jack Swagger, Sheamus, and Batista. Michaels’ last match on Monday Night Raw was a win over Kane in a No DQ match.
