With only a week of gap between SummerSlam and Payback, it was inevitable that WWE would book several matches for the short-notice PPV on this week’s episode of Raw.
That expectation was realized as WWE announced three title matches (and Keith Lee’s main roster debut) Monday night at the ThunderDome.
The first match which was announced earlier was the return bout for Roman Reigns who will be involved in a triple threat match against Braun Strowman and ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt for the Universal Championship.
The company has also announced a United States title match between Apollo Crews and Bobby Lashley and a rematch between Randy Orton and Keith Lee for the Payback PPV after their bout on Raw ended in a disqualification.
Though probably the most surprising match which was announced is for the Women’s Tag Team Championships.
It will see the current champions Bayley and Sasha Banks defending their titles against the unlikely team of Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler.
This match was put together after Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler had several interactions during the show and Jax managed to convince the former NXT Women’s Champion that they can win the tag titles together.
The Payback PPV will be taking place this Sunday, August 30 from the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. You can check out the current standing match card for the event below:
Universal Championship Triple Threat No Holds Barred Match: Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt
Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler vs. Sasha Banks and SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley
United States Championship Match: Bobby Lashley vs. Apollo Crews
Black then made his first appearance in almost a month during the Red Branded Show and he came out covering one eye, still selling the attack from Murphy and Seth Rollins which originally put him out of action.
Kevin then tried to interview the former NXT star but Aleister stumbled out of the seat. The former Universal Champion stopped to check on him and called for help from the back.
However, the returning star decked Owens and then dropped him with a Black Mass, turning heel in the process for the first time in his WWE career.
The former NXT Champion took on his Twitter after the show to comment on his actions and he wrote “Let us begin.” You can check out his tweet and some photos and video of the segment below:
There is no word on what the company is planning for Aleister Black after this heel turn but a feud with Kevin Owens seems to be the immediate plans for the former indie star.
WWE RAW aired from the Amway Center in Orlando. It was the first episode of RAW following WWE SummerSlam 2020. Former NXT Champion Keith Lee made his main roster debut tonight. It was announced that The Fiend will defend the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman this Sunday at WWE Payback.
Asuka def. Sasha Banks to retain the RAW Women’s Championship
RETRIBUTION interfered in the main event (Rollins & Murphy vs. Dominik & Rey)
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Randy Orton Attacked Drew McIntyre
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre kicked off this week’s episode of RAW. McIntyre defeated Randy Orton last night at SummerSlam via a backslide cover to retain the WWE Championship.
McIntyre asked for a thumbs up from everyone in the ThunderDome before speaking about his match against Orton last night. Drew said it was one of the biggest challenges of his career but he stands here today still your WWE Champion.
Drew claimed that he was hungrier than Orton and worked harder than him last night. He added that he knows what it is like to feel desperate and wonder where his next paycheck is coming from. McIntyre said that Orton has always been coddled and his inner circle always made sure that he made it to the top.
McIntyre brought up Orton’s victory against Edge in the “Greatest Wrestling Match Ever” and joked that he is now the greatest wrestler because he beat Orton last night. McIntyre made his way up the entrance ramp and posed with the title but Randy Orton attacked him from behind. Orton beat McIntyre down and hit him with the Punt backstage. Randy hit another Punt before leaving. McIntyre refused medical attention and walked away under his own power.
Banks & Bayley Will Defend The Women’s Tag Titles Against Nia Jax & Baszler At WWE Payback
Bayley faced Shayna Baszler tonight on RAW and Sasha Banks was ringside. Before the match, Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax argued backstage. Just before the bell rang, Nia Jax came down to the entrance ramp.
Match Recap: Shayna and Bayley locked up to start off the match as Nia crept to the middle of the entrance ramp. Baszler took Bayley to the canvas and shoved her boot into the SmackDown Women’s Champion’s shoulder.
Bayley escaped and rolled out of the ring in an effort to regroup. Bayley got back into the ring and connected with a kick to Shayna’s midsection and took her down with an Arm Drag. Bayley then spun around on top of Shayna while laughing before applying a Headlock.
Baszler quickly escaped and sent Bayley to the corner of the ring. Shayna caught Bayley with a knee to the face and started taunting Sasha Banks. Bayley capitalized a strike to the back of Shayna’s head and unloaded some strikes in the corner.
Bayley connected with an elbow to the back of Shayna’s head for a near fall. Bayley sent Shayna outside the ring and towards the entrance ramp where Nia Jax was standing. Shayna made her way to the apron and Nia Jax attacked Baszler from behind. Banks and Bayley had a smile on their face as they left the ring. Jax then stared at Bayley and Baszler got up and did the same. They then walked towards Bayley and Banks and the Women’s Tag Team Champions retreated.
Later on RAW, Nia Jax said that she wants to team up with Shayna Baszler and win the Women’s Tag Team Championships. Baszler said that she will help her with that if Nia gets off her back. Jax told Baszler that she has to follow her lead and Shayna slapped her in the face.
Aleister Black made his return following Murphy shoving his eye into the steel steps a last month on an episode of RAW. Black joined the Kevin Owens Show and requested that the footage be shown from last month.
Owens said that he has done a lot of terrible things to people in his career but has tried to take a different path. Owens added that Rollins hasn’t done that at all.
Aleister Black fell out of his chair and onto the canvas. Kevin Owens requested help but Aleister got up and elbowed him in the face. Aleister leveled Owens with Black Mass and left the ring to end the segment.
Opinion: I just want WWE to do something significant with him. He is an awesome talent in my opinion and I’ve hated his main roster run so far. I hope a feud with Kevin Owens can bring out the best in Aleister.
Just as advertised, Keith Lee has moved on from WWE NXT and is now a member of the WWE RAW roster.
The former NXT Champion made his debut on Monday’s episode of Raw on the USA Network. He did so when he interrupted Randy Orton at the top of the second hour from Orlando, Florida at the Amway Center.
Orton had been talking about his feud with Drew McIntyre. Lee introduced himself to Orton. He challenged Orton to a match tonight. Orton questioned this decision and told him maybe later before walking out to the ring. WWE later confirmed the match booked for the show.
Lee has been officially ‘called up’ to the Raw brand and will be featured as a top babyface in the months head.
Lee’s last match came in the main event of the WWE NXT TakeOver: XXX event in Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University. This is where Lee put the championship on the line against Karrion Kross, who had been a rising contender heading into the match.
Lee dropped the title to Kross, who suffered a shoulder injury in the process. This officially wrapped up his time in NXT.
Just a day after making his return to WWE programming, Roman Reigns has his first match back booked.
On Monday evening, WWE confirmed that Reigns will battle Braun Strowman and newly crowned Universal Champion Bray Wyatt in a Triple Threat Match at the upcoming Payback pay-per-view event. It should be noted that WWE did mention that Wyatt would be portraying his Fiend character and not the FireFly Fun House version.
WWE wrote in a tweet on Twitter, “BREAKING: #TheBigDog @WWERomanReigns is BACK, and he’ll challenge #TheFiend @WWEBrayWyatt AND #TheMonster @BraunStrowman in a #TripleThreat Match for the #UniversalTitle THIS SUNDAY at #WWEPayback!”
This comes after Reigns returned after the main event of Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view event. Wyatt had beaten Strowman in a Falls Count Anywhere Match.
After the match, Reigns made a surprise appearance by not only spearing The Fiend but also Strowman in addition to whacking Strowman several times with a chair.
Reigns was supposed to challenge Goldberg for the WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 36 – Night 1. That all changed as Reigns had announced his decision to pull out of the contest.
Before SummerSlam, Reigns has not been mentioned on WWE TV since that March 27 episode.
WWE holds the Payback pay-per-view event on Sunday, August 30, 2020 in Orlando, Florida at the Amway Center.
With his WWE in-ring debut in the books, Pat McAfee has opened up about the experience.
The former NFL punter took on former NXT Champion Adam Cole in a singles match at this past Saturday’s NXT TakeOver: XXX event. Cole went over in the contest, but many fans praised McAfee for his performance.
McAfee spoke about the initial backlash that he received from WWE fans when the match was first booked.
“As soon as Mr. H made this a match at TakeOver, I saw a lot of people on the internet just start burying me. I was getting buried by people that I thought I was a part of their community. I follow all the dirt sheets. I follow all the big time people, because I am a wrestling fan.
And I’m just watching all these people just bury me. I’m like, ‘man, you guys have no idea!’ Honestly. Now, the cliche about punters and kickers is they’re not very athletic, obviously. And all that stuff. But I think if you just watch not even half of a game of my career, I’m a little bit different than I think a lot of people. I hoped that a lot of people got to see that. Although I wanted this thing to end quick, I think we had a hell of a show out there.”
It should be noted that McAfee stated that he’s unsure if he’ll wrestle again due to his schedule. There’s also been no word on whether WWE has plans to work with him again as an in-ring talent.
Following her “last hurrah” with WWE over SummerSlam weekend, Renee Young (aka Renee Paquette) published an article on the Players Tribune to thank WWE. In the column, Renee goes into detail about her time with the company and offers up thanks to several people. The first people Renee thanks in the column were Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and Triple H.
“A lot of ink has been spilled about the legend of Vince McMahon over the years, and I doubt that I can top any of it, so I won’t even try,” Renee wrote. “But what I’ll add is this — probably one of the best things you can say about a CEO: You always want his approval. I mean…… always, always, always. It’s like a miracle drug, getting Vince’s approval.”
After thanking Vince, Renee then turned her attention to Stephanie McMahon. Renee clearly has a lot of affection for Stephanie. She even referred to her as “warm and friendly.”
“Stephanie….. I mean, she is “women in WWE,” you know? But it goes so far beyond that. She’s just a boss, period. And I hate to use the term “boss lady” with Stephanie, because she’s a boss by any gender, but you really can’t say enough about the job she’s done in this male-dominated business. She’s so warm and friendly and inviting, but at the same time, you always know she’s taking care of her shit.”
Renee then spoke about working with Triple H in her column. She said that to her, Triple H represents the idea of progress in WWE.
“Hunter, to me — he represents this idea of progress in WWE. He’s always pushing talent in the direction of opportunity, and in the direction of something new. You see it first and foremost in his work with NXT, and just the way he’s built that brand into one of the most exciting things in wrestling right now.”
Renee also wrote paragraphs on people she worked with on the announce team. Additionally, Renee spoke about the women in WWE, Corey Graves, and some of the legends she worked with as well. Finally, she thanked the WWE Universe for their support.
She also noted that her favourite thing from her time in WWE was working with Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack.
“Thank you to Daniel Bryan and everyone involved with Talking Smack. Out of everything I did in WWE, that’s probably the single thing that I enjoyed the most.”
Jim Ross recently discussed the amount of heat CM Punk supposedly had backstage during his time in WWE. JR said that he disagrees with the sentiment that people backstage in WWE didn’t like Punk.
“All I got from anybody negative about CM Punk was that he was a different breed of cat, he can be a strange guy and that’s because he was not overly extroverted. So, in other words, he wasn’t fake,” Ross said.
“Because that was so contrary to the normal behavior of a top guy in any wrestling territory that I’ve ever been in, any of them, that he was just a different breed of cat and folks did not know how to deal with him. Simple as that, bad communication, and he didn’t have the support from the front office that he should have had.”
JR also addressed the rumor that Punk wanted the Shield to be Seth Rollins, Jon Moxley, and Chris Hero.
“Poor Chris Hero, who is a hell of a worker and a hell of a talent and a great guy, he basically got fat-shamed as well,” Ross said on Hero being left out of the group. “His work was amazing, one of my favorite guys to call matches for is Chris Hero. Solid citizen. The body, the DNA, was not good in the eyes of some, much like Punk’s.”
Shaquille O’Neal says he’d love to step inside an AEW ring and rough up Cody Rhodes.
WarnerMedia announced on Monday that it has entered into a multi-year sports and entertainment deal with Shaq that spans far beyond his role as an basketball analyst.
Shaq has been a key part of TurnerSports’ NBA coverage since 2011. As part of the new agreement with WarnerMedia, he will executive-produce projects for Bleacher Report, develop a new show for NBA TV, host a new podcast and be part of CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage. He also wants to wrestle Cody Rhodes for All Elite Wrestling.
Shaq called out Cody on Monday while discussing his new deal with Warner.
“I’d love to fight Cody,” told The Athletic. “Write it. Print it. Text it to him. Call AEW up and tell them.”
The 7-foot-1 star has been a huge pro wrestling fan since childhood. He’s made multiple in-ring appearances throughout the years. He was ringside for Hulk Hogan’s WCW debut against Ric Flair back in 1994. He’s attended multiple WWE shows over the years and even competed at WrestleMania 32 back in 2016.
Shaquille O’Neal played in the NBA for 19 season. He was an All-Star for 15 of those seasons and won 4 championships during his career. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.
Cody lost the AEW TNT Championship to Brodie Lee this past Saturday night on AEW Dynamite. It was a stunning defeat that saw Cody wheeled out in a stretcher. We should get an update on Cody’s condition this Thursday on Dynamite.
Arn Anderson was recently asked about Kamala on an episode of the Arn Show. James “Kamala” Harris passed away at the age of 70 recently. According to Double-A, Kamala was easy to work with and safe in the ring.
“My first booking in Louisiana for Bill Watts was against Kamala,” Anderson said on the show. “For about 5-minutes I was shown that it was his job to get over and me to get him over.”
Anderson continued to talk about how easy it was to work with Kamala in the ring.
“It was the safest, easiest money I ever got getting slaughtered,” Anderson continued. “He slaughtered me and you never forget your first house show in the business and that was against Kamala. I’ll never forget it and so sorry that he passed way too soon.”
“All of his stuff still looked good,” Anderson continued. “That big chop looked like it cut you in half. His stuff looked good but he was very safe. (He) never dropped anybody on their head bad. He was just a great character and he had full control of that gimmick and he got that gimmick over everywhere he went, he drew money.”
WWE Hall of Famer and co-host of Busted Open Radio Mark Henry recently discussed WWE Superstar Ricochet on the show.
Henry and host Dave LaGreca were covering Pat McAfee and his recent promo work in NXT. Mark Henry was complimentary of McAfee’s work, saying “he’s glib, he knows who he is.” The World’s Strongest Man would then move on to talk about the RAW Superstar Ricochet; saying that he needs to be more forceful in how he approaches his on-screen character.
Mark Henry on Ricochet
“I don’t find this offensive, but I don’t want my guy [Ricochet] to get angry” Mark Henry began on the podcast. I told Ricochet, last time I saw him, ‘why would you allow somebody to tell you who you are?’
Mark Henry would then discuss the idea of WWE talent being given more leeway with their promo and character work. “YOU go out and dictate what the narrative is about you, how you want to be portrayed. Everybody knows that Ricochet is awesome. There’s probably not 10 people better than him as a pro wrestler.”
“But the difference between Ricochet and Pat McAfee” Mark Henry would continue, “is Pat McAfee knows who he is. And he don’t give a damn if you don’t like it. He don’t give a damn. Ricochet needs to get some [of that]. ‘I don’t give a damn what you think. This is who I am. This is what I am.’
Henry would finish by re-iterating that he is a massive Ricochet fan, but he wants him to move on to the next level with his character work. “Then we’ll have a different Ricochet, because I’m on the Ricochet bandwagon. I want him to get fired up sometimes to where it pisses people off. Sometimes you got to break a few eggs and make an omelette.”
Do you agree with Mark Henry? Let us know in the comments
WWE debuted the Thunderdome last Friday on Smackdown. Orlando’s Amway Center has been transformed into a new set complete with LED boards featuring images of fans watching the show. According to comments made on Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE had a production team giving instructions to virtual fans throughout the show.
“The basic gist is the Thunderdome is WCW, those Orlando tapings, same city even, from Disney World from the mid-90s where they would hold up signs that say ‘cheer’ ‘boo’ and all this,” said Dave Meltzer. “What they do is there is a coordinator, fan coordinator, on a headset and all the people can hear him. And he says like ‘everyone put your thumb down’ and that’s why when I watch on the screen and you see all the fans at the same time put their thumb down, it’s like this is so fake.”
“No one does this in real life as a real crowd, in synchronized,” he continued.
He would continue to say that there would be points throughout the show where the coordinator would tell fans to clap, give a thumbs down, or make similar gestures.
“Most of the time the people just sit there and don’t do anything and it’s all the pumped in crowd noise but every now and then you would have something where everybody would boo or everybody would cheer but it wasn’t the whole match, it would just be in certain spots. What it would be is when the coordinators says ‘everybody cheer,’ ‘everybody boo,’ if there was a chant, that’s what they would tell them to do.”
“In some ways this is better for (WWE) because they can control the fans, which they could never do before,” Meltzer continued.
On Saturday’s edition of Dynamite, NWA Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa appeared in a backstage interview. She challenged AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida and the match has been made official for All Out on September 5th.
Thunder Rosa’s appearance on Dynamite has some fans wondering what the relationship is between her and AEW. According to a report from the Wrestling Observer, the deal for Thunder Rosa to wrestle on the AEW PPV was struck between Tony Khan and NWA owner Billy Corgan.
Unlike with recent AEW signee, Ricky Starks, Rosa is not leaving the NWA and has not signed with AEW. Rosa is still with the NWA and the NWA Women’s title is expected to be apart of the weekly NWA internet PPVs scheduled to begin next month.
“The deal with Thunder Rosa, the NWA women’s champion, challenging Hikaru Shida for the AEW title on the 9/5 PPV was a deal that Tony Khan worked out with Billy Corgan, so it’s not an indication of anything more and the NWA is still targeting a weekly iPPV schedule with FITE TV,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
The NWA has announced a partnership with the United Wrestling Network. They will present weekly PPVs on Tuesday nights beginning September 15th.
Dominik Mysterio had his first official pro-wrestling match last night at SummerSlam. The 23-year-old was defeated by Seth Rollins. In a WWE social media exclusive interview, Dominik talked about how he wished Eddie Guerrero was still alive to have seen his debut match.
“I wish Eddie was here, that would have been something else too man. I wish he was here to see this, I think it would have been cool to see his reaction to me debuting 15 years later from him and my Dad having a match for me.”
Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio’s SummerSlam 2005 match carried the stipulation that the winner gained custody of Dominik. In storyline, Eddie was actually revealed as Dominik’s biological father.
“I saw his relationship with my Dad and they were best friends. Every time WWE would have house shows in San Diego, he would stay at our house and he didn’t like to because I guess it was something personal to him and staying in other people’s homes, their own privacy, and stuff. But my Mom forced him, that’s the Mexican in her, she’s like ‘no, no, no, you have to come to my house.'”
“I remember waking up in the morning and having breakfast burritos with them. He always treated me so well with all the stuff that we did and our angle. I think it would have just been cool to have him here,” Dominik continued.
Renee Young took to social media early Monday morning to formally address her departure from WWE after 8 years.
News broke last week that the veteran broadcaster had given notice to the company earlier this month. She agreed to work through SummerSlam weekend, but is now officially done with the company.
In a lengthy statement posted to Instagram, Young thanked WWE for the experience of a lifetime. WWE provided her opportunities of a lifetime, to grow, make history and achieve her wildest dreams. She made friendships that will last a lifetime and met the love of her life and husband, reigning AEW World Champion Jon Moxley.
She now plans to “roll the dice” and begin the next chapter of her career. One of her projects will include anchoring a new show on FOX Sports.
“This November would mark 8 years in WWE. 8 years!!” she wrote. “An opportunity of a lifetime with a global company to learn, grow, make history and do things beyond my wildest dreams before I left Toronto for this adventure,” Young wrote. “I made friends, family- literally family- I met my husband here (what a fucking dreamboat) and people that will be a part of my life forever. I did things I couldn’t have even imagined or dreamt up. From backstage interviews, a reality show, Talking Smack, being the first woman to be a part of a WWE broadcast in Saudi Arabia, being the first woman to sit at the commentary desk full time on Monday Night Raw, calling Wrestlemania, anchoring a brand new show with Fox Sports (which you guys will still be able to catch me on!)”
Renee acknowledged how hard the job with WWE has been. She noted that the “incredible run” has changed her life, but now it’s time to “roll the dice again” and see what’s next.
“I’ve been so lucky. But it’s also been a lot of my hard work, drive and passion that’s landed me in these amazing spots,” she wrote. “I’ve had such an incredible run with WWE. It’s changed my life. But that all leads me to now. What’s next? Do I stay satisfied with what I’ve done? Or do I go in pursuit of new barriers and goals in mind? I always choose the latter. I have no idea what that means or looks like, but it’s time for me to go. Time to roll the dice again and shake things up. Time to light that fire again and forge on. Time to say bye to Renee Young and reconnect with Renee Paquette and remember why I started this journey to begin with. And as the ride slows down- as the world slows down, I see it as my opportunity to make a move.”
Renee wrapped her statement by thanking WWE and all of her fans. She noted that she is excited for her future.
“So I just wanted to say thanks to WWE and to the all the fans that have been so damn cool to me over the years,” she wrote. “And send a crap ton of love to all of my people. I’m excited for the future! Thanks for everything [red heart emoji]”
Stay tuned for updates on what Renee has planned for her future. She will be releasing her first cookbook some time in the near future.
RAW announcer Samoa Joe is set to lend his vocal talents to Rocksteady Studios’ next game. He will star in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League as fan-favorite King Shark.
Following the reveal trailer’s debut from this weekend’s DC FanDome event, Samoa Joe took to Twitter to share the footage. He accompanied the video with the caption, “That Shark tho… #KTJL.” The trailer can be viewed at the bottom of this article.
The game will feature Suicide Squad members Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, and Samoa Joe’s King Shark. Rocksteady Studios has previously developed the beloved Batman Arkham series of games. These include Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, and Batman: Arkham Knight.
In Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, gamers will be able to play the game solo or by teaming up for a co-op experience. As the title and trailer suggests, the core narrative revolves around the Suicide Squad’s attempts to kill the Justice League.
Prior to a suspension following a WWE wellness policy violation, Samoa Joe had been appearing in on-screen physical altercations, suggesting an in-ring return was imminent. His violation saw him suspended from WWE for 30 days. He returned to his commentary role on the 4/27 episode of Monday Night RAW, replacing Jerry “The King” Lawler.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC in 2022.
The Usos have opened up about whether they or WWE ever wanted to split them up as a tag team. The twins—who have been teaming for over a decade—broached the subject during an interview with D-Von Dudley on his podcast, Table Talk.
“Honestly, I don’t think they’ve ever approached us with that,” Jimmy Uso said. “We’ve never thought about it. I’ve told [Jey] that we can be the only tag team in history that never splits up. They’ve never came to us about splitting up, and we still feel like we have a lot to do as a tag team. We still feel like we’re rocking the tag team division. We still love tag team wrestling. It’s fun when you have two cats in there killing it, but with tag teams, you have four! You just doubled the fun.”
Jimmy Uso explained how, if the team were to split up, he would love to feud with his brother, Jey. The Usos compared their hypothetical feud to the ones that took place between Bret Hart and Owen Hart as well as the Hardy Boyz.
Pointing to these rivalries, he added how it was clear the brothers were “beating the hell out of each other.” Jimmy noted how he’s confident he and Jey would also commit to the physicality of a brother vs. brother feud. He believes they would have done the same because of how they love and trust each other.
The Hair vs Hair stipulation originally scheduled for the Mandy Rose vs Sonya Deville match at SummerSlam was removed on Smackdown last week. Deville said she wanted to up the stakes and a “Loser Leaves WWE” stipulation was added to the match instead.
According to a report from Wrestling Observer Radio, Deville’s lawyers noted it probably was not a good idea for her to appear in court with a recently shaved head.
“The reason they switched the stipulation from the hair vs hair to the loser leaves town was because her lawyer basically said that with this thing going on it’s probably not a good idea to cut your hair, get your head shaved, for court,” said Dave Meltzer.
The report continued to speculate what might be next for Deville after losing the match.
“Maybe because of the case she’s going to take some time off,” Meltzer continued. “I know there’s other projects she was looking at doing. Obviously, she’s going to be back at some point. I wonder if anyone really believes she’s really gone because they never adhere to their stips.”
Rose defeated Deville at SummerSlam. According to the stipulation, Deville must now leave the company.
Last week’s Friday Night SmackDown saw the debut of WWE’s ThunderDome concept brought to life. In a recent interview with Fox Sports, Stephanie McMahon opened up about ThunderDome and the importance of hosting virtual fans.
Stephanie stressed how the WWE Universe’s experience is going to be vastly different thanks to ThunderDome. She explained how the concept has been explored to get WWE back to providing the “spectacle” its fans enjoy.
“Not only are we now going back to arena setting … but now we are going to the Amway Center, which is where we have our residency. It allows us the opportunity to have state of the art production with pyro, with drones … And we’re going to have 1,000 people. We’re going to mix the audio, so we will have audio from the fans that are virtual and also mix in some crowd audio from previous events because we want it to feel as alive as possible and really we’re just getting back to the spectacle that is WWE.”
Stephanie McMahon On Virtual Fan Experience
Regarding the virtual fan experience, Stephanie McMahon shared how she believes it will help Superstars with their performance going forward.
“My hats go off to our talent and the fact that they’ve been performing without that live interaction. I mean, our fans are part of our show. They are our secret sauce. And we have really been missing them, so it’s exciting to get them back.”
She pointed to how this ThunderDome experience will provide a sense of “real time feedback” that WWE Superstars “crave” when competing in the ring. Stephanie acknowledged how the setup is a “very different way to be involved,” adding how the WWE Universe is an integral part of the show.
Prior to facing off against WWE Champion Drew McIntyre during last night’s SummerSlam pay-per-view, Randy Orton expressed his interest in eventually feuding with “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt.
Speaking with Sportskeeda Wrestling’s Riju Dasgupta, Orton discussed his interest in feuding with Wyatt. He stressed how “[…] if The Fiend has a bone to pick with anybody, it’s the Legend Killer.”
“I think the potential would be there for it to be a good feud. The Fiend is a character that’s really hard to figure out because I know, at first, he was supposed to be comparable to the devil and a bad guy through and through, obviously. But times have changed, and I think a lot of people really enjoy the Undertaker-like magic that The Fiend brought to the table.”
Randy Orton On Bray Wyatt’s Storytelling Skills
Randy Orton pointed to how the two have previously clashed at WrestleMania 33. At that time, Orton defeated Wyatt to claim the WWE Championship. He believes this gives them ample history to set up a new rivalry without ignoring their past. He confessed how he tends to perform best with a “certain type of character, certain type of WWE superstar.”
According to Orton, Wyatt doesn’t really fit that mold. However, Wyatt’s ability to convey a story makes Orton believe they could create something special with a renewed rivalry.
“[…] I think with his ability to tell a story and his ability to portray the characters he’s come up with so well, I think that it’s something that we would have to do in the future. Hopefully The Fiend is around for a long time yet to come, and he’s the new Undertaker, so I don’t see how we’d miss each other if that is the case.”
Former World Champion AJ Styles returned for his Twitch Stream recently to talk with fans and he discussed a number of things including the story behind his ring name and more.
The Phenomenal One first talked about his early career and how his stint with WCW came to be. Though he said that he is glad that WWE did not pick him up when the company took over WCW because he was not ready.
Styles finally made it into WWE in 2016 and the former World Champion debuted with a new theme song which has since become synonym with his name. However, he revealed that the song was originally made for James Storm:
“As far as entrance music goes, when I first started with WWE, I got in contact with our guy and he goes, ‘Hey, tell me kind of what you like, what you don’t like.’ And I was like, ‘Dude, I’m kind of a rap guy.’
I just told him a bit of what I liked” said AJ Styles “And that’s what they came up with – the music that I have, which is awesome, but, truth be told, it was made for James Storm when he was doing NXT.”
After leaving TNA in early 2015, James Storm made a couple of appearances for WWE and he was offered a development contract with the company.
Though the former TNA Champion chose not to sign with the promotion and he returned to Impact Wrestling in January 2016, around the same time when AJ Styles made his WWE debut.
Chris Jericho had a memorable feud with Shawn Michaels in 2008. The two WWE veterans feuded for months and had multiple extreme matches during the time. However, Y2J talked about this feud on the latest episode of his Saturday Night Special stream and revealed that the original plans for their rivalry were different.
Jericho was asked about the favorite matches of his long career and he decided to respond by revealing his favorite matches in different companies. The first match he talked about was his bout with Shawn Michaels at No Mercy 2008 and the former World Champion revealed that originally it was only supposed to be a one night thing:
“In WWE, probably my favorite is still Jericho vs. Shawn for the World Title in the ladder match. It was in 2009 maybe, 2008 or 2009, and the reason why is – and I’ve said it before, but Shawn vs. Jericho, the famous feud that went for basically 7 or 8 months, was just supposed to be a one-night thing.
Because Shawn and I had nothing else to do as far as nobody else to work with, I thought, ‘Why don’t we try and make this longer, and see how long we can make this go?’ That’s what we did, and it turned into this one night only feud, throwaway thing, to the hottest angle possibly ever.”
Chris Jericho later also revealed his favorite matches in other companies. He called his bout with Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 14 the favorite match of his NJPW run and said that in AEW, his favorite match is probably the AEW title match between him and Jon Moxley because of the whole storyline behind it.
WWE has confirmed via a press release that former NXT Champion Aleister Black will be returning to Raw as a guest on the KO Show this Monday Night.
His return was set up during the SummerSlam PPV where Kevin Owens did guest commentary and invited the former champion to his talk show during the upcoming episode of Raw.
Black has been out of action since the July 27 episode of the Red Branded Show where he was attacked by Seth Rollins and then taken out by Murphy. There is no word on what the company is planning for Black but it’s possible that he rekindles his feud with Rollins and his disciples.
The SummerSlam PPV saw Asuka challenging for not one but two titles on the same night as she faced both the Raw Women’s Champion Bayley and SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks in separate matches.
While Bayley managed to retain her title during the show, Asuka managed to beat Banks and win the SmackDown Women’s title after locking the Boss in Asuka lock and making her tap.
A WWE announcer tried to talk to Sasha Banks backstage after her title loss at the PPV event but the former champion was not ready to give a reaction as seen in the video below:
WWE had announced a Hair vs. Hair match between former Fire And Desire partners Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose for the SummerSlam PPV.
However, the company changed the bout to a Loser Leaves WWE match a few days before the PPV, making things much more interesting.
The match then saw Mandy Rose picking up the victory over the former MMA star. She pinned Deville after hitting a big Facebuster and then covering her for the pin after a big knee strike to her opponent’s face.
Sonya Deville reacted to the loss in this Loser Leaves WWE match at the PPV on Twitter and the former NXT star wrote ‘…. goodbye’ in a tweet.
On the other hand, Rose took on her own twitter account to mock her former partner, saying that maybe Sonya should have thought this one through:
There is no word on the plans for Sonya Deville after this loss. Speculation is that she could take some time off from WWE due to the attempted kidnapping last week because the match stipulation was changed after the incident.
There is also a belief that she could return to WWE programming during the planned drafts in October but whether or not it actually happens will be revealed in future.
WWE announced during the SummerSlam PPV tonight that former NXT Champion Keith Lee will be making his official main roster debut on tomorrow’s episode of Monday Night Raw.
The company released a video teaser for the arrival of the ‘limitless’ NXT star and they also released an official statement on their website after the announcement at the show.
Keith Lee dropped the NXT title to Karrion Kross at the NXT Takeover: XXX event last night and when asked about his future, Triple H had said that it was part of a long story.
Now this announcement suggests that him dropping the NXT title so soon was a thoughtful decision from WWE and they might have big plans for the former champion on the main roster.
Though this won’t be Lee’s first appearance on the main roster. He has previously made his presence felt during the build-up for the traditional Survivor Series match last year and he had a moment at the Royal Rumble event as well.
There is no word yet on what Lee will be doing at the show and it will be interesting to see who ends up being the first feud of the heavyweight star in the main roster.
