E! will air the season two finale of Total Bellas tonight, with episode eight titled Bella-Mania.
The synopsis for the show reads, “On the Season Finale of Total Bellas, with what may be her last WrestleMania, Nikki goes against what the doctor ordered and gives the Bella Army the show of a lifetime, and in turn gets surprised from the love of her life, John Cena, with the question she’s been waiting to hear her entire life. Meanwhile, Brie and Bryan anxiously await the birth of their daughter, but when things don’t go according to plan they need to make an emergency decision.“
Smackdown got a nice bump in the ratings this week, finishing the night with 2,699,000 viewers, up 379,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. Curiosity from the Raw ending probably led to viewers to follow up on a possible fall-out. Smackdown was #2 in the top 50 cable chart among 18-49 demographic and #3 overall in viewers. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
ESPN today released three new video clips from the upcoming 30 for 30: Nature Boy documentary.
These teaser clips show Flair explaining the origin of the Wooooo! catch phrase, men living vicariously through him in the 80s, and his flamboyant in-ring career and lifestyle.
The 1 hour 17 minute documentary takes a look at the two-time WWE Hall of Famer from a young age to where he is today, with several of his peers and family members interviewed.
It is directed by Rory Karpf for ESPN Films and the doc premieres Tuesday, November 7 at 10PM EST on ESPN.
Wrestling-Online.com saw an advance press screener of the documentary and will have a review of it published here three days before the show airs.
Sports Illustrated is reporting that the reason Nia Jax vanished from WWE television is because she did not like the idea of losing clean to Sasha Banks at TLC when the plan was revealed to her.
Her walk-out was downplayed by WWE and one of her best friends, Alexa Bliss, who said that Jax needed a break from the rigorous WWE schedule and that she would be back sooner rather than later.
Sports Illustrated also adds that before Jax actually decided not to show up for work, she called her cousin, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and he advised her that if she is unhappy, she should just walk away.
Her planned match against Sasha Banks was changed to Banks vs Alicia Fox, a match which Sasha won. The next night on Raw, Fox won a match that made her captain of Team Raw for the Survivor Series.
Celeste Bonin, the artist formerly known as Kaitlyn in the WWE, posted a lengthy Instagram post revealing that it has been a year since she checked herself into a hospital for a medical drug detox.
Accompanied by a photo she took on that day she flew into LA where she wrote she was happy, Bonin admitted that she was anything but happy at the time. “Over the past few years I was in a terrible marriage, an addict and not true to myself. It took me so long to admit I had a problem… and then to admit how serious the problem was. I used to pretend to be and to live a certain way for social media. It’s everyone’s hi-light reel,” she wrote.
The former WWE Divas champion wrote that she started abusing alcohol to deal with the chemical imbalances, panic attacks, sadness and depression she was experiencing.
“I’m fortunate enough to have pulled myself out of it all and was able rebuild my life …but I can seriously empathize with anyone who is, has been, or has a tendency to be an addict,” she wrote.
Bonin closed her message by saying that people who are addicted shouldn’t be too proud to ask for help and it’s all about self awareness and humility.
You can read her full entry below.
If you feel that your addiction is having a negative impact on you and the lives of the people around you, then Contact representative of detox center to get the best addiction treatment for a healthier tomorrow.
Matt and Jeff Hardy will make an appearance at the Wizard World Comic Con Austin at the Austin Convention Center on Saturday, November 18.
The popular duo will greet fans, pose for photo ops and sign autographs from 3PM to 6PM. This is so far the first public appearance by Jeff Hardy since his surgery.
Photo ops with the Hardy Boyz will cost $75 and an additional $60 for autographs. A VIP package is also on sale for $335 and includes one photo op with the two and two personalized autographs along with a three-day entrance to the Comic Con, a WWE gift bag, and a bunch of other VIP perks.
Hey everybody! @TheMagnumDA here with the first edition of “Shootin’ Straight”. As many of you know, I am no longer the Raw Reporter for W-O as of last month. My new work schedule doesn’t exactly allow me to catch *all* of Raw…that said, I am still able to catch the last hour on a weekly basis. This gives me a chance to stay on top of all the storylines and matches that take place on the WWE’s flagship program. I asked Colin if I could take a moment to write an opinion piece on the ending of last night’s Raw, because it left me in a state of confusion. The last segment was a fascinating scene, but it was a scene that left me with many unanswered questions.
To those of you who didn’t catch the ending, here’s what happened: Kurt Angle came down to ringside to announce a 10-Man Survivor Series Main Event, featuring five of the biggest stars from Raw against five of the biggest stars from Smackdown Live. Before he could announce the Raw participants, Angle was interrupted by Shane McMahon’s theme music. Instead of coming down the aisle, McMahon led a coalition of Smackdown superstars through the crowd, before entering the ring and declaring to Angle that “Raw is under siege!” Angle, completely dumbfounded, left the ringside area and headed to the back. The Smackdown Live roster followed Angle backstage (at Shane’s command) and proceeded to destroy everything in their path.
They started by attacking the members of the Titus Brand. From there, they went on to destroy Goldust, Curt Hawkins, Heath Slater, and Rhyno. They continued their path of destruction in the men’s locker room, where Jason Jordan, the Hardy brothers, and Finn Balor were beaten to a pulp. After this, the Smackdown Live women laid out Sasha Banks, Bayley, Alicia Fox, and Mickie James in the backstage corridor area as the rest of the Smackdown roster cheered them on. Finally, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins attempted a sneak attack to fight off the Smackdown crew. After some initial success, the numbers game caught up to the brothers of the Shield. The entire Raw roster was decimated, and Angle was dragged back to the ring area by Rusev and Baron Corbin. There, Shane McMahon warned Kurt Angle that they would finish what they started at Survivor Series.
For those who did see the ending of Raw, it was a chaotic scene that immediately harkened back to the Nexus Invasion of June 2010. Backstage equipment was destroyed, cameramen were knocked down, and wrestlers were left lying in a crumpled heap. It was shocking and visceral, and Twitter immediately blew up after the closing moments of the show. Most people had positive things to say about the last segment, mainly because it was different from anything they’d seen on Raw in years. While I agree that it was a crazy way to end Raw, I was also incredibly confused by this turn of events. There were two main points I wanted to share.
Quick Heads-Up: If you don’t know what a “babyface” or a “heel” is, then proceed with caution.
BLURRING THE LINE
One thing that immediately stood out during Smackdown Live’s Invasion of Raw: The presence of Tye Dillinger, The New Day, Shinsuke Nakamura, Chad Gable, AJ Styles, and even Becky Lynch. As many of you are aware, these are the top babyfaces of Smackdown Live. To see them working over Finn Balor, the Hardys, and countless others alongside the likes of Baron Corbin, Rusev, and Dolph Ziggler (top heels) is nothing short of astonishing. Why?
Because an attack like this should create a new stable of heels, similar to the Nexus in 2010. Babyfaces don’t attack wrestlers 15-on-1 or 15-on-3. By its very nature, that’s a dastardly heel attack, reminiscent of the Four Horsemen back in the 1980’s. So why would honorable babyfaces like Dillinger, Lynch, and Gable agree to something like this? If they truly wanted to prove their dominance, they would defeat their Survivor Series opponents straight up. Mixing heels and faces worked during the “Bragging Rights” era (2009-2010) because the build-up would involve *only* the participants of the match.
When you have an ENTIRE ROSTER turn heel, your show has no moral compass (until Daniel Bryan steps in, which is likely going to happen tonight). By striking first, and striking in cowardly fashion, you’ve cannibalized the babyface roster. Who wants to buy a “Strong Style” t-shirt after seeing Nakamura stoop to such depths? Who wants to cheer for The New Day after watching them beat down the Hardy brothers like a pack of wild hyenas? From a business standpoint, you’re flushing money down the drain by turning everyone on your roster. The Superstars of Raw are the victims here; therefore they are the de facto babyfaces. Anything they do in retaliation will be justified; SmackDown Live’s initial attack was not.
CONQUERING THE CONQUEROR
Earlier in the evening, Raw’s Universal Champion Brock Lesnar accepted WWE Champion Jinder Mahal’s challenge to a “Champion vs. Champion” match at Survivor Series. This led to Paul Heyman cutting a promo that ran down the Smackdown brand. This, of course, was the impetus for the final dramatic segment on Raw.
But it begs the question: If you’re on Smackdown Live, wouldn’t Brock Lesnar be Public Enemy #1 to you? Why are you targeting geeks like Apollo Crews, Titus O’Neil, and Curt Hawkins?
Again, this plays up the “cowardly heels” talking point. Smackdown Live went after guys that are at the bottom of the totem pole. Going back to the Nexus…those eight men invaded by destroying John Cena and CM Punk, two of the top competitors in WWE at that time. THAT’S making a statement. When it takes 15 guys to beat up 50-year-olds like Goldust and Rhyno, you’re not making much of a statement at all.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
We don’t know what Raw’s reaction to this will be, but because SmackDown fired the first salvo, they will always be known as the instigators of this war for brand supremacy. While this has created new excitement amongst fans, it will be interesting to see if this has any long-term effects on the drawing power of SmackDown Live’s top talent. As we always say…let it play out and see where it goes. 🙂
Monday Night Raw with the fall-out from TLC did a total of 2,952,000 viewers, up 264,000 viewers from last week’s show.
Hour one started with 3,332,000 viewers, then dropped down to 2,969,000 for the second hour before dropping even further to 2,557,000 for the final hour which featured the Smackdown roster attacking everyone backstage.
Raw lost a whopping 775,000 viewers from hour one to hour three, which is probably a record. The show was #3, #5, and #6 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Nikki Bella and her pro dance partner Artem Chigvintsev survived week six of Dancing With The Stars, gaining 36 points – 9 points from each judge – for their Argentine tango dance to the song “Dernière danse” by Indila.
Team Smackdown is currently at 158 points overall, placing sixth in the chart with an average of 22.6 points. There are eight teams left participating. John Cena was also live at the show to support Nikki.
You can see Nikki and Artem’s week six performance video below.
WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley launched the Wrestlers For Puerto Rico eBay auctions last night, featuring several collectible wrestling items with 100% of money going to AmeriCares in their ongoing relief effort in Puerto Rico.
Items up for auction include ring-worn items from Charlotte, Christian, Edge, Lilian Garcia, Kevin Owens, Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins, and others as well as donated items from The Rock, Dixie Carter, Mick and Noelle Foley, Goldberg, Bret Hart, Alundra Blayze, and more.
The auctions will be open till October 30, 11:30PM EST. Worldwide shipping is available. You can check out all the items at http://ebay.to/2i26JbY.
Real Canadian Wrestling promoter Steven Ewaschuk told ProWrestlingSheet.com that Jeff Jarrett passed out from drinking in a locker room at their show this past Friday and then wanted to wrestle regardless of his condition.
Jarrett was supposed to wrestle the next day as well but fled the country after he told the promoter that he had issues at the border and was only allowed in by border patrol on the condition that he would “be back at the airport by 6am the next morning to handle everything.”
The promoter said that Jarrett showed up looking intoxicated and late for the show and then passed out. When intermission came, he was woken up to fulfill his photos obligations and then had a match to wrestle.
As Jarrett’s music played on for a while, JJ did not come out, and his opponent who was already in the ring got on the mic and told the fans that “Jeff was upstairs getting drunk.”
Eventually, the former TNA champion came out and wrestled. The footage provided by RCW shows Jarrett not in the best condition and certainly looking under the effect of something.
Jeff Jarrett told ProWrestlingSheet.com that he did not pass out in the locker room and called promoter Steven Ewaschuk an amateur.
In a 15-minute segment that closed Monday Night Raw, the Smackdown roster, including AJ Styles, Rusev, Shinsuke Nakamura, The New Day, Dolph Ziggler, Bobby Roode, Baron Corbin, and others destroyed the Raw locker room, firing the “first shots” as Michael Cole put it, for the Survivor Series.
Earlier in the broadcast, Shane McMahon appeared backstage with fellow Commissioner Kurt Angle and the two went back and forth about their brand supremacy. McMahon mentioned the words “under siege,” two words that became more clear once the final segment kicked off.
Coming down through the fans ala The Shield, the Smackdown roster marched to the locker room on orders of Shane McMahon and destroyed everyone in sight. Titus O’Neil, Apollo Crews, Jason Jordan, Goldust, Matt Hardy, Finn Balor, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Alicia Fox, and others received a brutal beat-down by the Superstars sporting the blue brand shirts.
It was a segment that brought memories of the invasion storyline featuring WWE vs WCW/ECW! You can see parts of the segment below.
WWE and SPORT TV, Portugal’s premier sports broadcaster, today announced a new multi-year agreement to broadcast WWE’s flagship programs Raw and SmackDown starting next Tuesday, October 31.
SPORT TV channel SPORT.TV5 will offer complete versions of Raw and SmackDown, with Raw airing at 7PM on Tuesdays and SmackDown airing at 7PM on Wednesdays. In addition, SPORT.TV+ will broadcast a one-hour edition of Raw at 6PM on Thursdays and a one-hour edition of SmackDown at 11AM on Saturdays. All programs will be available with Portuguese commentary. During premiere week, SPORT.TV5 will debut Raw and SmackDown at special times, with Raw airing at 4:30PM on Tuesday, October 31 and SmackDown airing at 5:30PM on Wednesday, November 1.
“SPORT TV is thrilled to welcome back WWE, now exclusively on our networks in Portugal,” said Nuno Ferreira, Director of SPORT TV. “We are certain that the partnership between these two renowned brands will be a success going forward.”
Michelle Wilson, WWE Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer, said, “SPORT TV shares our vision and passion for engaging and entertaining our fans. This partnership to televise WWE programming in Portugal allows us to expand our reach and deliver our unique blend of action-packed, family friendly entertainment to WWE fans throughout the country.”
The Survivor Series card took life last night on Raw as four matches were announced immediately as soon as the show kicked off by Raw General Manager Kurt Angle.
These four matches will pit four champions from Raw versus four champions from Smackdown. No title will be on the line so these will simply be one-on-one regular matches.
The matches are Raw Women’s champion Alexa Bliss vs Smackdown Women’s champion Natalya, Intercontinental champion The Miz vs United States champion Baron Corbin, Raw Tag Team champions Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose vs Smackdown Tag Team champions The Usos, and WWE champion Jinder Mahal vs Universal champion Brock Lesnar.
Two traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series elimination matches were also announced, one featuring the women and the other one the men.
Ryan Satin of ProWrestlingSheet.com is reporting that Roman Reigns is expected to be out of action and off television for a few more weeks and his planned return is for just before the Survivor Series.
Putting Reigns in the Survivor Series without him being part of any shows leading up to the pay-per-view with the possibility of still not being cleared to return in time might be a dangerous gamble, one that WWE might not even take, leaving Reigns out and possibly return for the fall-out from the show.
Bo Dallas and Bray Wyatt are the other two individuals along with Reigns who have contracted the virus while Raw ring announcer JoJo is also sidelined as a precaution. All the WWE Superstars and crew on the road received the proper vaccination after the virus outbreak although most of them are still within the time frame for the symptoms to come out.
WWE was revealed as a new investor in Cloud9, an American eSports organization, which fields teams in Rocket League, League of Legends, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and more.
ESPN.COM reports that WWE has joined the Beverly Hills Sports Council, Monumental Sports & Entertainment co-owner Raul Fernandez, Creative Artists Agency co-founder Michael Ovitz, venture capital firm Founders Fund and a joint investment from tech investors David Sacks and Bill Lee as the latest investors, who collectively pumped $25 million in Series A financing.
“We just looked around the space, looked at all the players and did our own evaluation of who we thought would be successful in the long term,” WWE Chief Strategy & Financial Officer George Barrios told ESPN. “We just thought that the Cloud9 team had developed lots of expertise and we’re just really, really impressed with Jack [Etienne, the Cloud9 CEO] and the rest of the staff; how professional they were, how organized and how much infrastructure they had built for a small organization. We thought they were on their way. We looked at a lot of players, and they were the ones we put in the top tier.”
Jeff Jarrett and Global Force Wrestling just got officially terminated by Anthem Sports and Entertainment.
“Impact Wrestling announced today that it has terminated its business relationship with Jeff Jarrett and Global Force Entertainment Inc., effective immediately,” a tweet said.
Jeff Jarrett took an indefinite leave of absence from his position as Chief Creative Officer on September 6. The reason given was that he would be tackling some personal matters however he would still be available as a consultant to Anthem as needed.
The company had been noticing behavioral issues over several weeks and that led Ed Nordholm to send Jarrett home.
Meanwhile, as promotion for Bound For Glory kicked off, the GFW name was evidently missing from promotional material and replaced just by Impact. In late June, Anthem announced that TNA would be rebranded as Global Force Wrestling after Jeff Jarrett agreed to sell the company. However, that deal was not finalized and things fell apart when Jeff Jarrett was sent home.
The company has ordered new title belts to replace the ones that they commissioned in late August bearing the GFW initials and logo.
Harry Smith, better known to fans as Davey Boy Smith Jr, wrote on Facebook today that his years trained as a grappler helped save a woman from committing suicide.
Smith described how he saw a woman hanging off a bridge in Calgary and he stopped to help. “She was crying and an emotional mess and threatening to jump if I got closer,” he wrote. As people on the ground tried to convince her not to do it, Smith went into action and grabbed the woman. “She started to slide,” he wrote. “Luckily my years of grappling and self defense I know how to grab her hard and how to pull her up from hanging off and jumping.”
Noting that she “wasn’t exactly small either,” Smith said that the woman told him she had a gun too and demanded that he let her go. He told her that he was an experienced grappler and there was no way she was going to get out of the hold.
Eventually police arrived and arrested the woman and she is currently receiving treatment.
“I’m glad I was at service to help somebody today and my years of grappling came into play.”
The Finn Balor vs AJ Styles match at last night’s TLC ended with the Too Sweet hand sign, in what many saw as a clear FU to The Young Bucks, who received a cease and desist letter from WWE a few weeks ago over their constant use of the gesture.
The Twitter-world was all up in arms over what happened and one individual wrote that Vince McMahon flew AJ Styles all the way from South America at the last minute to “throw a televised middle finger in the Young Bucks’ face.”
AJ Styles took note of the tweet and actually replied, explaining that Vince McMahon had nothing to do with the Too Sweet sign between him and Balor. “In fact, I say it was two men showing the world that we haven’t forgotten where we came from. Forever will we love our BC brothers,” Styles wrote.
Balor was short and sweet in his Twitter message, writing just, “TOO SWEET.” The Young Bucks did not address what happened publicly yet.
Both Superstars are former leaders of the Bullet Club faction.
Here are the results from last night’s TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs pay-per-view which took place from the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Sasha Banks defeated Alicia Fox in the Kickoff match; Asuka defeated Emma; Cedric Alexander and Rich Swann defeated Brian Kendrick and Jack Gallagher; Alexa Bliss defeated Mickie James to retain the Raw Women’s title; Enzo Amore defeated Kalisto to become the new WWE Cruiserweight champion; Finn Balor defeated AJ Styles; Jason Jordan defeated Elias; Kurt Angle, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins defeated The Miz, Sheamus, Cesaro, Braun Strowman, and Kane in a 5-on-3 handicap TLC match.
