The final member of the female Team Raw for the Survivor Series will be decided on Monday on the go-home edition for the Survivor Series.
A triple threat match between Bayley, Dana Brooke, and Mickie James will be held with the winner joining Team Raw which so far has Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Naomi, Carmella, and Tamina.
That Smackdown team could change as well as Charlotte will take on Natalya for the Smackdown Women’s title on Tuesday and if Charlotte wins, she replaces Natalya in the match against Alexa Bliss.
Speaking to Tokyo Sports, IWGP United States champion Kenny Omega said that Vince McMahon gave his blessing to Chris Jericho to wrestle him at Wrestle Kingdom 12 this coming January.
“Although Jericho is not full-time, he still has a deal with WWE, so of course Vince is giving permission,” Omega said, adding that he doesn’t know if there are any other intentions behind his go-ahead.
Jericho will be wrestling in his first non-WWE match since he signed with the company back in 1999. His involvement at Wrestle Kingdom came to a surprise to pretty much everyone and Jericho has mastered the art of keeping a surprise even in this day and age where everything leaks on the Internet.
The January 4 match at the Tokyo Dome has garnered a lot of attention and publicity for New Japan Pro Wrestling. At this point, the match for the IWGP U.S. title is a one-time deal for Jericho.
The Ric Flair ESPN 30 for 30: Nature Boy documentary did a total of 1,831,000 viewers. The show was #1 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic with a 0.91 rating. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
James Ellsworth had one of the worst nights of his life…or the best one, depending on how you look at it as at the non-televised live event in Leeds, England last night, he was beaten up by seven female WWE Superstars!
Ellsworth ended up taking the finishing moves from Carmella, Natalya, Lana, Tamina, Naomi, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte and was thrown around like a rag doll in the ring. The funniest part came from Lynch, who instead of giving him the two middle fingers, gave him the two pinky fingers and then hit a Stone Cold Stunner.
Carmella turned on Ellsworth on Smackdown this past Tuesday after he lost his match against Becky Lynch. Carmella superkicked Ellsworth and left him laying. You can see the video of the women beating up on Ellsworth below.
Jeremy Borash announced during one of the Impact television shows being taped this week that this was the first time that Impact taped a show in Ottawa…but it certainly won’t be the last time.
For the past few years, the company has called Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida their home base for tapings. While that often resulted in a packed studio, Impact got no money from those tapings as members of the audience do not have to pay since they’re already in the park and anything in the park is covered by the entrance fee.
With now Impact offices relocating from Nashville to Toronto at the Anthem Sports & Entertainment headquarters, it only makes sense for the company to hold more tapings in Canada. The only problem will be some of the talent might not be able to get in the country if they have legal issues but now Impact can charge for tickets and actually make some money.
The reason why both Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were sent back home from the WWE European tour is because they did not go with the script on Smackdown and took matters in their own hands.
Ryan Satin of ProWrestlingSheet.com reports that following the match of Sami vs Kofi Kingston, the two were supposed to stay in the ring and get beat up by The New Day. After the match ended with Kingston pinning Zayn, Kevin Owens hit the ring and attacked Kofi. Rather than staying in the ring as planned, both Superstars then bolted and walked to the back.
Veering off the script did not go down well with those running the show backstage and the decision was taken to send them back home as a disciplinary measure.
Neither Owens nor Zayn has publicly spoken since the incident.
The Smackdown from Manchester which was headlined by the title-changing match between Jinder Mahal and AJ Styles drew a total of 2,603,000 viewers, up 484,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. The show was #3 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Multiple sources are reporting that Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were sent home from the WWE European tour as a disciplinary measure although it’s not clear why the two best friends were kicked out.
Both Superstars appeared on Smackdown last night in Manchester but this morning they got on a flight back to the United States. This is the second time that Owens missed part of a tour as last month he went home from the South American tour due to a family matter.
Every time WWE goes on a long tour there usually are one or two troublemakers so to speak that are sent packing due to something stupid that they have done and this time around it was no different. Both Owens and Zayn are considered to be two of the good guys backstage so being sent home as a disciplinary measure is raising a few eyebrows.
The Smackdown brand has until November 12 on tour so the duo will be missing five shows in total.
PWInsider.com is reporting that former two-time Impact X Division champion Rockstar Spud will be joining WWE as soon as the company processes all his U.S. visa paperwork and he is legally able to work in the United States.
The 34-year-old British star won the TNA British Bootcamp reality TV show which landed him a contract and a spot on the main roster, lasting a total of five years with the Nashville-based Impact Wrestling. The site adds that the plan is to add Spud to the 205 Live roster.
Spud, real name James Curtin, will be heading back to his home country while the sometimes long process for a visa is complete. When non-U.S. residents change jobs, they have to reapply for a visa with their new employer and cannot remain in the country until the process is complete.
Rockstar Spud left Impact Wrestling in mid-October after he requested his release.
Former WWE champion Jinder Mahal wrote on Instagram that the things he keeps hearing online only motivate him to get better, clarifying that he’s fine following his loss to AJ Styles last night.
“To my haters and wrestling ‘insiders’, this was NOT an experiment, I am NOT injured, I have NOT violated the Wellness policy. So keep throwing shade my way, it only motivates me,” Mahal wrote. Many have speculated that the sudden title change was a result of either an injury or a drug test failure.
Turning his attention to AJ Styles, Mahal said that Styles was the “better man for one night.” He said that for six months he held the WWE title, defended it countless times all over the world and one day he will raise the title again.
E! will air episode two of season seven of Total Divas tonight with an episode titled Dressed Like A Champ.
The synopsis for tonight’s show reads, “The ladies celebrate the success of their historic ladder match, but Lana’s performance suffers intense scrutiny. Meanwhile, Maryse’s fashion makeover triggers Alexa’s painful past, and Nattie, who hates babies, is tasked to babysit Brie’s newborn.”
With AJ Styles planned to be the fifth member of Team Smackdown for the Survivor Series, WWE had to go to plan B after Styles won the WWE title from Jinder Mahal last night on Smackdown.
Plan B isn’t half bad either as Shane McMahon announced on Twitter that John Cena will be the fifth and final member of the team. “Further proving #SDLive is the superior brand, I’m happy to announce @JohnCena will be the 5th member of Team Smackdown at #SurvivorSeries.” Cena was expected to be the referee between Jinder Mahal and Brock Lesnar and a leaked poster even showed Cena in the referee outfit standing in between both champions.
The match now has Shane McMahon, John Cena, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, and Shinsuke Nakamura taking on Kurt Angle, Jason Jordan, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, and Samoa Joe.
It started with a dig at Enzo Amore’s lack of popularity in England by Corey Graves during Raw on Monday night. “Enzo might be the only guy less-liked in England than Piers Morgan,” Graves said, referring to the former CNN host and journalist.
Morgan, who is an occasional wrestling fan, was quick to turn to Twitter where he has nearly six million followers to reply to Graves. “You’re the guy who couldn’t make it as a wrestler so turned to (bad..) commentary, right @WWEGraves?” Morgan tweeted.
The avid Twitter user caught some flack over his comment since Graves only “failed” as a wrestler because of concussions and was forced to change careers from in-ring to behind the mic. But Morgan did not care, and it seems Graves didn’t either.
“I’m sorry, I meant no disrespect. I had no idea who you were. I simply googled “most hated man in England,” Graves replied. “Welcome to relevance though!” Morgan was hated in the United States when he hosted his CNN show due to his hard push for gun control and to ban weapons. He often was the target of gun fanatics who didn’t want anyone to mess with their 2nd amendment. However, Morgan is also disliked by many in the United Kingdom but he usually takes it on the (big) chin!
“Mate, I have 5.8m more followers than you. When it comes to relevance, I’m John Cena & you’re Heath Slater,” Morgan fired back! Ouch! Enzo Amore also jumped to Morgan’s defense, saying, “From one journalist to an other, your facts are straight!”
The WWE United Kingdom title will be defended on November 18 before NXT Takeover: WarGames goes live on the WWE Network.
WWE announced that the current champion, Pete Dunne, will defend his gold against former NXT Tag Team title holder Johnny Gargano in a match that will be only for fans inside the Toyota Center in Houston.
The way the announcement was made sounds like that it will also not be part of the NXT tapings that will take place before. Every time there’s a Takeover, WWE tapes an episode of NXT which would air the week after. The announcement stated that only those who will be in attendance will have the “exclusive opportunity” to watch the title match.
Dunne won the UK title at NXT Takeover: Chicago in May and made his Raw debut this week in Manchester defeating Cruiserweight champion Enzo Amore in a non-title match.
It was a phenomenal Smackdown in Manchester for AJ Styles as one of the most popular Superstars in the WWE today got his hands on the WWE title for the second time in his still-short, but eventful WWE career.
WWE titles rarely swap hands on International tours, yet this week, two titles change hands when you also add the Raw Tag Team titles. However, the big prize, the WWE title, has never changed hands outside North America and while the title did change hands occasionally on Raw and Smackdown, it was the first time that such a change occurred across the Atlantic.
Styles used the Phenomenal Forearm to pin Mahal clean as the fans in Manchester went absolutely bananas, still in disbelief that the title swapped hands. “The phenomenal one is going beast hunting,” Corey Graves exclaimed.
Indeed he is. With the second title change in a week, the Survivor Series card took a different shape as now it will be AJ Styles who will take on Brock Lesnar in a champion vs champion non-title match. It’s one of those dream matches that we have never seen before, now a match that will take place on the WWE Network at the Survivor Series just 11 days away.
You can see AJ Styles winning the WWE title and the closing moments of the match against Jinder Mahal below.
The taped Monday Night Raw from Manchester did 2,841,000 viewers yesterday, down 13,000 viewers from last week’s show.
Hour one did 2,935,000 viewers, followed by 2,959,000 in the second hour, and then 2,630,000 in the third and final hour. The drop from hour one to hour three was less than the previous two weeks although still big at 305,000 viewers.
Raw was #4, #5, and #6 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
This article contains spoilers that should be avoided if you do not want to know what happened at the Smackdown tapings earlier today in Manchester, England. Smackdown airs on tape delay tonight on the USA Network in its usual time slot.
Smackdown got a new WWE champion tonight as AJ Styles defeated Jinder Mahal clean to become the new WWE champion.
Styles won with the flying forearm and pinned the champion to get his second WWE title in front of the Manchester crowd. Mahal then beat up The Singh Brothers after the match. This is the first time that the WWE title has changed hands on UK soil.
The match was made by Shane McMahon last week as a “punishment” for Mahal, raising eyebrows regarding the timing since Mahal was already promoted to be taking on Brock Lesnar at the Survivor Series.
You can see some photos from AJ’s win below, taken by W-O reader Liam Johnson and a video from Twitter user @soyaccino.
Former TNA King of the Mountain champion Bram has departed Impact Wrestling. The announcement came from Bram himself on Twitter.
“I’ve been granted my release from @IMPACTWRESTLING. Thank you to everyone from top to bottom and to you the fans for your support,” he wrote.
Bram, real name Thomas Latimer, started with TNA in April 2014, two years after he was released from his WWE deal. A year later, he was suspended from the company after he was arrested in Florida and charged with two felony counts of domestic battery by strangulation and false imprisonment of his girlfriend. All charges against him were eventually dropped two months later and he returned to TNA.
The 31-year-old won the KOTM title at Sacrifice in 2016, defeating Eric Young in a falls count anywhere match. He lost the title to Eli Drake a month later.
Bram was married to WWE’s Charlotte Flair although the two are now divorced. He was released from WWE in 2012 after he was charged with battery of a law enforcement officer and disorderly intoxication in Florida. He had previously been arrested in 2011 for driving under the influence.
WWE presented a custom made replica of the WWE title to the Manchester Arena staff and emergency services for their heroic efforts following the terrorist attack last May that occurred during the Ariana Grande concert.
23 people died after a gunman opened fire, also injuring several hundreds, and the body count would have been much greater if it wasn’t for the dedicated staff of the Manchester Arena.
WWE Superstars Matt Hardy, Titus O’Neil, Bayley, and Mickie James presented the custom title to James Allen, General Manager of the Manchester Arena who accepted the title on behalf of the entire staff. The title has two specially designed side plates, one for the Manchester Arena staff and one for Manchester’s Emergency Services.
“To the staff of the Manchester Arena and the incredible Emergency Services who put their lives before others to help, we thank you,” Hardy expressed to Allen and several staff members. “As a token of our respect and gratitude, we present you with this WWE Title, our way of recognizing true champions.”
O’Neil said that WWE has a fantastic and longstanding relationship with the Manchester Arena, dating back almost 20 years. “As we have done for two decades, as we will tonight and tomorrow night, and as we will into the future … we stand with you, and we stand with Manchester.”
Fans attending the live WWE event in Birmingham, England today will get to see WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle back in action.
The Raw General Manager announced on Twitter that he will be wrestling on his first WWE non-televised live event in 11 years. Birmingham is a special place for Angle as it was the city he chose to have his final TNA match in against Lashley in March 2016.
Angle did not specify who he will be wrestling against but it looks like he will be filling in for Triple H, who wrestled at five live events to make up for Roman Reigns missing. Triple H joined The Shield on all occasions except for his final stop in Lisbon where he wrestled Rusev.
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