Billed as “Sin City Smackdown Live,” next week’s broadcast is being built up around three title matches, probably a record for a single television broadcast.
The Tag Team titles will be on the line in a Sin City street fight as The Usos defend their belts against The New Day. The United States open challenge returns with AJ Styles taking on Tye Dillinger who hopes for a perfect 10 match! And a SummerSlam rematch will also take place as Naomi goes for the Women’s title against current champion Natalya.
And to top it all, Mr. McMahon is back for his first Smackdown appearance in years!
Total Bellas returns on E! tonight for the start of season 2 with an episode titled A Desert Dilemma.
The synopsis for the show tonight reads, “On the Season Premiere of Total Bellas, Nikki and John contemplate a decision that affects the entire family, while a pregnant Brie poses nude for the first time angering her husband, Bryan. The Bella’s brother, JJ, reveals a shocking secret.”
Total Bellas features Nikki and Brie, John Cena and Daniel Bryan along with the rest of the Bella clan. Season one averaged 640,000 viewers over six episodes.
Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated published a report today saying that Anthem is looking to offload GFW/Impact Wrestling as it has been “hemorrhaging” funds ever since they took over.
The report, backed by sources who are close to Anthem, says that with Jeff Jarrett out of his position, the company’s future is pretty much in the balance especially since Jarrett still technically owns the Global Force Wrestling name and intellectual property and the deal to sell to Anthem was never fully finalized.
Anthem Sports & Entertainment officially took over TNA from Dixie Carter on January 5 of this year with Ed Nordholm assuming the top role in the company. Carter retained just 5% of the company, 14 years after her family took over from the Jarretts.
In March, the TNA name was completely “deleted” and rebranded to just Impact Wrestling. A week after the announcement of the name change, Anthem started laying off employees and cutting back on original programming on the Fight Network to continue fund the wrestling operation.
At the end of June of this year, Anthem unveiled the news that Impact Wrestling would be rebranded again as Global Force Wrestling, with the flagship television show keeping its Impact name.
Perhaps Anthem’s biggest asset of the company is the tape library, so technically they could sell the whole tape library which dates back to 2002 and recoup some of their expenses.
Surprise, surprise! Former WWE Divas champion Nikki Bella was revealed as one of the new cast members of season 25 of the popular ABC show Dancing with the Stars.
Nikki will join celebrities and athletes such as former NBA star Derek Fisher, former paralympic swimmer Victoria Arlen, former NFL star Terrell Owens, Property Brothers’ Drew Scott, Pretty Little Liars alum Sasha Pieterse, Nick and Vanessa Lachey, and others. The WWE Superstar will be paired with pro Artem Chigvintsev.
She was already offered a spot on the show earlier but she turned down the offer to focus on her WWE career. She is the third WWE star that have been selected for the show following Stacy Keibler and Chris Jericho.
Dancing With the Stars returns to ABC on Monday, September 18, at 8PM ET.
It’s been five months since we have seen Vince McMahon on WWE television but the boss will be back next week on Smackdown live from Las Vegas.
McMahon’s last time on TV was on the night after WrestleMania when he appointed Kurt Angle as the new Raw General Manager, replacing Mick Foley. Vince will be on the show to advance the storyline between Shane McMahon and Kevin Owens after Owens threatened to sue WWE following an attack by Shane.
Shane was “indefinitely suspended” by Vince after the Chairman and CEO called Daniel Bryan to relay the news. The Smackdown Commissioner attacked Kevin Owens after Owens told him the McMahon family would have been better off if he did not survive that helicopter crash landing in New York a few months ago.
Things go from bad to worse over at Anthem and Impact as it was announced that Jeff Jarrett will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from his position at Global Force Wrestling to tackle personal matters.
“Effective immediately, Jeff Jarrett is taking an indefinite leave of absence from his position as Chief Creative Officer to focus on personal matters. Jeff will be available on a consultative basis as needed,” a statement from Anthem read.
The former TNA champion returned to the fold after Anthem took over the company from Dixie Carter and has been heavily involved in the day-to-day operations of the company. Earlier this year, he reached an agreement with Anthem to sell his Global Force Wrestling brand and Anthem rebranded TNA as GFW.
It was not revealed what these personal matters are. Jarrett also took a leave of absence when the whole story with Karen, who at the time was Kurt Angle’s wife, blew up. He returned several months later and TNA at the time turned the whole issue into a storyline.
The fall season is upon us but there is little change on Smackdown! Many of the same rivalries are continuing/will continue, particularly in the main-event picture for the WWE Championship. Both Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura have had championship matches with Jinder Mahal recently, and now the two are set to square off tonight to see who will face “The Modern-Day Maharaja” for the WWE Championship.
As well, Kevin Owens’ feud with Commissioner Shane McMahon goes on, as does Women’s Champion Natalya’s with Carmella and Naomi.
On another note, Smackdown! says “goodbye” to John “Bradshaw” Layfield has he has elected to leave his commentator’s position and work elsewhere in the WWE. He was a great commentator!
Smackdown! Live Television Report for September 5, 2017 – “Breaking Points”
Introduction Segment: Welcoming and Video Promos
Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton greet us and initiates Monday Night Raw/205 Live commentator Corey Graves to replace JBL
Randy Orton appears on screen and says he will through Shinsuke Nakamura tonight to meet WWE Champion Jinder Mahal for the title at Hell In A Cell; Shinsuke is seen warming up and says more/less the same, as well as that he respects Orton, and that he has a mission to the championship.
Match #1: Single – Carmella (with James Ellsworth) VS. ???
Before this begins, Kevin Owens walks out and says he will be the referee; before he can put the shirt on, Commissioner Shane McMahon dances out and denies Owens that job. He wants Kevin to put an end to faulting him for losing; they go-back-and-forth with bickering, with Owens insinuating Shane has always been taking risks in his career to get his father’s – Vince McMahon – attention. Kevin takes it too far when he mentions The Commissioner’s children, and Shane explodes with a fury of fists that spills them both over the announce table! It takes several referees, agents, and General Manager Daniel Bryan to break them apart.
Winner: No Contest due to No official start
Commercials.
Backstage Promo
Owens is being helped by referees when GM Bryan walks up and apologizes. Kevin isn’t having that, and instead declares he’s going to sue. Daniel tries to change his mind, and Owens then proclaims he’s going to “press charges.”
Match #2: Single – Carmella (with James Ellsworth) VS. Women’s champion Natalya
Prior to the contest, it is announced that Natalya will put her title on the line against Naomi on next week’s Smackdown! Live.
Natalya puts Carmella to the canvas with a side-headlock take-down, but Carmella turns Natalya around with an airplane-spin-headscissors! She goes into a wheelbarrow-snapmare and a dropkick, and then slaps Nattie a couple of times! Natalya hits back with a spinning-clothesline, sending her to recover with Ellsworth.
Commercials.
“Ms. Money In The Bank” has Nattie locked in a leg-scissors stretch, and then switches it into a guillotine! Natalya counters with a body slam, and then slingshots her into the corner! Carmella counters with an elbow and high-kick, but only gets two!
James throws the briefcase in the ring, which distracts Carmella as she doesn’t want to use it! Nattie takes advantage with a roll-up for the victory!
Winner via Pinfall: Women’s Champion Natalya
Post-match, Carmella verbally breaks up with Ellsworth!
Commissioner McMahon is shown contemplating what happened earlier with Kevin Owens.
Commercials.
Video Promo
A promotional video for WWE’s Connor’s Cure Foundation airs. This is truly and genuinely awesome, and very sentimental!
Arena Promo
Dolph Ziggler is out, but not with a new appearance. He takes a microphone on the stage and claims that we “have no appreciation for what I can do in that ring.” Dolph says “you don’t want me; you’d rather just have some ‘dumb gimmick.’” The lights go out and he walks away.
John Cena’s music plays, but out comes Ziggler, mocking him, and then the late-great “Macho Man” Randy Savage. He follows with Naomi’s entrance, and then finishes by putting the crowd down.
Commercials.
Match #3: Single – Aiden English VS. Sami Zayn
Sami starts with punches and a kick, and then backward-leaps over, and puts English into the corner. Zayn counters on the apron and runs the ropes, hitting Aiden with a clothesline. He soars off the top turnbuckle with a crossbody, but English ducks and then Oklahoma-rolls Sami for the 1 – 2 – 3!
Winner via Pinfall: Aiden English
Post-match, English sings about his win until Sami chases him up the ramp.
Office Promo
The New Day – Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Big E. – and Tag Team Champions The Usos – Jimmy and Jey – talk about their Tag Team championship bout on Smackdown! Live next week with General Manager Daniel Bryan The Usos say it will be a Street Fight! New Day try to hype Daniel, but he dismisses them. He then gets a call from someone who he calls “sir,” and tries to convince him that there’s another way, but that man won’t budge, so Bryan says “I’ll do it right now.”
Commercials.
Arena Promo
General Manager Daniel Bryan walks out with no music and pomp; he stoically asks Commissioner McMahon to join him. Bryan asks Shane what happened, and then reminds him of his own verbal exchange with The Miz on Talking Smackdown! last year. Daniel tells Shane how he held back from physically hurting Miz because Shane told him to.
They argue about what happened because of “the legal problems” and the other wrestlers’ jobs. Bryan has been asked by Chairman Vince McMahon to “indefinitely” suspend Shane as of this moment. Daniel leaves the ring, and so does McMahon after applause and cheers for Shane.
Commercials.
Backstage Promo
Rene Young interviews WWE Champion Jinder Mahal about his upcoming opponent – Nakamura or Orton. Mahal does not prefer either, as he has defeated them both. He wishes “the better man” to win, but says that man will “fall to the ‘Modern-Day Maharaja.’” He then talks to the Indian Nation in Punjabi.
Match #4: Single – Baron Corbin VS. Tye Dillinger
(Note: United States Champion A.J. Styles is on commentary.) Baron faces-off with A.J., which allows Tye to dive through the ropes and hammer away! He throws Corbin into the barricade and stomps! Baron kicks him off and goes back in; Dillinger follows and tosses Corbin back to the floor!
Commercials.
“The Lone Wolf” is now in control, hitting a harsh clothesline after sliding in and out of the ring. 1 – 2 – Tye kicks out! Baron points at Styles, but gets a jawbreaker from Dillinger! He punches Corbin, and then hits him with a flying-forearm! He stomps on the mat and then in the corner multiple times! Dillinger goes for his Tye-Breaker, but Baron boots him to the outside! Corbin tries a one-arm or chokeslam, but Tye reverses into a victory-roll for a near-fall! He hits Baron in the corner with punches, but Corbin slugs him on the other side of the referee and then slams him on the ring post. Baron finishes this with End of Days!
Winner via Pinfall: Baron Corbin
Post-match, Corbin and A.J. glare at each other.
Commercials.
Backstage Promo
United States champion A.J. Styles walks up to Dillinger and promises Tye a United States championship open challenge for next week’s Smackdown!
Video Promo
A montage of “Glorious” Bobby Roode’s career thus far plays.
Backstage Promo
James Ellsworth pleads with Carmella to take him back, promising to “keep my mouth shut.” Carmella puts up her hand, but agrees, as long as it’s done her way! She plants a big kiss on him and then slaps him!
Shinsuke Nakamura makes his entrance and is ready to wrestle Randy Orton, next!
Commercials.
Match #5: Single – Shinsuke Nakamura VS. Randy Orton
(Stipulation: #1 Contender’s Bout to the WWE Championship.)
Shinsuke waistlocks Randy to start, but Orton turns that into a wristlock, which Nakamura flips out. Shinsuke goes for a high spin-kick, but Randy ducks and tries the R.K.O.; Nakamura shoves him off and they stare-down!
Shinsuke and Orton lockup and Nakamura releases; Randy promptly grabs him into a draping-DDT position on the middle rope, but Shinsuke escapes and they stare again!
Commercials.
Randy is governing now with holds until Nakamura breaks out with strikes. Orton grabs Shinsuke in a draping-DDT position again, and attempts it on the floor, but Shinsuke shoves him away and into the announcer’s table. Randy counters and backdrops Nakamura onto the table! Orton wears down Shinsuke with a standing side-headlock until Nakamura knees and spin-kicks Randy!
“The Artist” is firing up with hard kicks! Orton catches one, but Shinsuke counters with his other foot! He runs in the corner with a splash and then a knee-to-the-gut! Randy gets out of a reverse exploder-suplex with a backbreaker. Nakamura counters on the apron but is cut off on the top turnbuckle, and then brought to the canvas with a super-plex! 1 – 2 – Shinsuke just gets his shoulder up! Nakamura grabs Orton’s leg and trips him up! He knees him hard and runs for the Kinsasha, but Randy reverses into a powerslam!
“The Viper” drives Shinsuke to the mat with his Draping-DDT and goes for the R.K.O., but Nakamura reverses into an amrbar and then triangle-choke! Orton powers out and slams him with an almost-powerbomb! Shinsuke reverses another R.K.O again with a knee-to-the-back and then hits the Kinsasha knee-strike-to-the-head! Nakamura covers for the hard-fought (and awesome match) victory!
Winner via Pinfall and #1 Contender to the WWE Championship at Hell In A Cell: Shinsuke Nakamura
Backstage Promo
GM Daniel runs up to Kevin Owens and says that “Shane’s been suspended; it’s done.” Owens replies, “Daniel, we’re just getting started buddy. Listen, next week I’m going to make Smackdown! Live my ‘personal playground,’ and your ‘personal nightmare.’” He boasts that no one can stop him; Bryan retorts that one man can – Mr. McMahon! He will be on Smackdown! Live next week!
We go back to Shinsuke Nakamura celebrating to close the show.
Braun Strowman used his personal Instagram account to thank The Big Show for their steel cage match on Raw last night.
“As if we didn’t turn the whole worlds eyes on us the first two times. We gave u a third one of a kinda never to be seen again fight,” Strowman said. “We are the last of a dying breed.”
On his @adamscherr99 Instagram, he thanked Big Show for bringing the fight to him every time they wrestle together. He wrote that Show pushes him to dig deeper and deeper and he always brings out 100% the monster out of him.
Strowman defeated The Big Show last night with the running power slam in the main event and then after the match was over, he power slammed Show through the cage.
The two share a great relationship backstage with Strowman calling Big Show his “wrestling dad.”
Two title matches were added to this month’s No Mercy pay-per-view, which takes place on September 24 from the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California.
The rematch between Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks has turned into a fatal 4-way match also featuring Nia Jax and Emma. The addition of Jax and Emma came after the duo defeated Banks and Bliss on Raw to earn a spot in the title match.
Also announced on Raw was the match for the Raw Tag Team titles. Once again it will be Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose taking on former champions Sheamus and Cesaro.
Bray Wyatt and Finn Balor will also have a SummerSlam rematch at No Mercy but this time there will be no Demon for Balor.
The Four Horsewomen of MMA and the Four Horsewomen of professional wrestling had a face-to-face outside Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, during the Mae Young Classic tapings which were taped in mid-July.
The video was only shown now, as part of the second batch of episodes released for the Mae Young Classic tournament. Ronda Rousey along with Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke attended both days of tapings to support their good friend Shayna Baszler. After one of Baszler’s matches, Charlotte, Becky, and Bayley taunted her from ringside as Rousey, Shafir, and Duke were on the opposite end of the aisle. Sasha Banks was not at the tapings as she was in Australia to do WWE promotional work at the time.
Then, as Rousey, Shafir, and Duke were outside giving an interview to WWE.COM, Charlotte, Becky, and Bayley walked up to them for a stare down. Rousey dropped her bag and said, “You name the time, you name the place.” As the three WWE Superstars walked away, Ronda added, “Oh not today? Alright. We’re waiting to hear from you!”
Rousey is currently doing pro wrestling training. You can see the video below.
For the first time ever, Monday Night Raw will be airing live on Christmas Day as well on New Year’s Day, taking away another holiday for the WWE Superstars and crew.
Usually there is a very small Christmas break with shows resuming on December 26. This year, Christmas and New Year’s fall on a Monday so it looks like it will be a regular weekend of shows for everyone involved.
The two holidays are usually big sporting days, with the NFL, the NBA, cricket, and soccer events held on either one or both days around the world.
Corey Graves is getting a bump in his résumé, and hopefully in his pay check too, as he was just announced as replacing John “Bradshaw” Layfield as the third man on the Smackdown commentary table.
Graves will be pulling double duty every week, also remaining on the Raw commentary team with Michael Cole and Booker T. He will join Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton starting with tomorrow’s edition of Smackdown.
Apart from doing Raw, Graves also did commentary for Main Event and 205 Live. He will stop doing those shows and NXT commentator Nigel McGuinness will now be traveling on both Mondays and Tuesdays to replace Graves on the two shows.
With his in-ring career cut short, Corey Graves transitioned to a commentary position, a position which Triple H offered to him after it was revealed that he would not be allowed to wrestle anymore. Graves has become one of the best on the microphone and many see him as the man who will eventually be the voice of the WWE down the road.
PWInisder.com is reporting that the reason that Baron Corbin’s push was scaled back was due to his untimely intervention during a locker room meeting involving WWE’s head of medical, Dr. Joseph Maroon.
According to the site, WWE Superstars were getting a lecture by Dr. Maroon who talked about CTE and downplayed the effect it had, quoting a recent study, on deceased NFL players. CTE can only be diagnosed postmortem.
Corbin, who is a former NFL player, wasn’t impressed and cut Dr. Maroon half-way, telling him his opinion and challenging his lecture. Corbin is part of a lawsuit against the NFL regarding head trauma. Maroon is often portrayed as pro-NFL in his medical field.
The situation did not go down well with WWE’s senior management and felt that Corbin should have had the discussion in private with Dr. Maroon instead of challenging him in front of the whole locker room.
After the meeting, WWE put the brakes on Corbin’s push, made him fail the Money in the Bank cash-in, and then losing very clean to John Cena a few days later in the opening match at SummerSlam.
Dr. Maroon is the Medical Director for WWE and his signature is required for anyone to be cleared to compete. While he is a board-certified clinical professor of neurological surgery and Vice Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, many are often opposed to his methods and judgment. He was also portrayed, not in the greatest light, in the recent Will Smith movie Concussion.
The Miz moved up to fourth place in the longest Intercontinental title reigns in WWE history, surpassing Tito Santana this past weekend and is now at 444 days.
If The Miz manages to beat Jeff Hardy tonight on Monday Night Raw and retains the title, he will then inch closer to The Honkey Tonk Man, who is third in the list at 454 days. It would take a couple of more months to get in second place and surpass Don Muraco who is at 541 total combined days.
This is the seventh title reign with the Intercontinental belt for The Miz.
The Mae Young Classic tournament returns today with four brand new episodes that will take the competition up to the semi finals.
Round two matches include Abbey Laith vs Rachel Evers; Princesa Sugehit vs Mercedes Martinez; Nicole Savoy vs Candice LeRae; Mia Yim vs Shayna Baszler; Kairi Sane vs Bianca Belair, Dakota Kai vs Rhea Ripley, Serena Deeb vs Piper Niven, and Lacey Evans vs. Toni Storm.
The quarter final and semi final matches are also part of these four episodes. The final match will take place on Tuesday, September 12 live on the WWE Network after Smackdown ends. The live broadcast will take place from Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Three of JBL’s broadcast colleagues used Twitter to thank the now former Smackdown commentator following his announcement that he would be leaving his position from the broadcast booth.
Tom Phillips, who leads the Smackdown commentary team, told JBL that he would be sorely missed on Tuesday nights. “Explore your passion to the fullest. Thank you for everything,” Phillips wrote.
Raw color commentator Corey Graves said the announcement makes him proud, yet it breaks his heart. “Congrats & mostly THANK YOU, for being a friend & all you’ve helped me with,” he said.
Meanwhile, Renee Young congratulated Layfield and told him that it’s “awesome” what he’s doing. She quickly put cold water on the possibility of replacing JBL on Smackdown, telling one fan that she wasn’t very good during that time in NXT as a commentator.
WWE has still not announced who will be taking JBL’s place as the third man on the Smackdown ringside commentary table.
Car maker giant Toyota is using John Cena’s WWE theme song in one of the newest commercials for the 2018 Toyota Camry.
The commercial is titled “Strut,” one of the many that Toyota has created for their new lineup. The popular theme song kicks off in the second second of the commercial and keeps playing until the end, 35 seconds in.
John Cena’s voice can be heard singing and there were no creative edits made. Cena himself was not part of the commercial. You can see the commercial which Toyota uploaded two days ago below.
Global Force Wrestling are trying to capitalize on the Rosemary/Sexy Star incident and will be addressing it this Thursday on Impact.
“This Thursday night we go back to Mexico and TripleMania for what everyone is talking about. Rosemary was in action and the situation exploded,” read the preview on YouTube.
The teaser shows a small part of the match and sit-down interview clips with Jeremy Borash, who says “I knew something was wrong,” and Jeff Jarrett, who admitted that the situation backstage “got tense.”
Quick cuts of stuff that happened backstage is also seen with Jarrett seemingly getting into a scuffle.
You can watch the teaser of the next episode of GFW Impact below.
Darren Young made his return to the ring last night at a non-televised live event in Wichita, Kansas at the Intrust Bank Arena.
Young has been out of action since mid-January when he suffered an elbow injury while wrestling Epico during a taping of Main Event. He underwent surgery in early February in Birmingham, Alabama at the the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center. Dr. Jeffrey Dugas performed the surgery.
Young was a surprise entrant in the #1 contenders battle royal match where the winner went on to face The Miz for the Intercontinental title later in the night. Young eliminated his former PTP tag team partner Titus O’Neil but Apollo Crews then threw Young over the top rope.
Sporting a “I ain’t dead yet motherf***ers” t-shirt, a very thin “Nature Boy” Ric Flair posted a video on his Twitter announcing that he’s “back.”
“Hey to all my fans out there, let it be known worldwide, the Nature Boy…wooooo…is back up and running looking as older as I can look,” Flair said. “I wanna thank all my fans out there thank you for all the love and support and I will see you in the very, very, very, very, very near future!”
The 21-second clip shows Flair the most frail he’s ever appeared on camera but the prognosis is good. Flair was on his death bed a few weeks ago and his fiancee Wendy Barlow said she witnessed a miracle during the past couple of weeks.
Flair was taken to an Atlanta hospital on August 12 and had to be put in a medically-induced coma as several of his organs shut down. He was put on dialysis and then underwent surgery to remove part of his bowel.
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