The September 1 episode of TNA Impact on POP did 351,000 viewers, down from last week’s 373,000 number. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Lashley’s next MMA opponent set for October 21 fight
Current TNA champion Bobby Lashley will be returning to mixed martial arts on October 21 for Bellator at an event held in Memphis, Tennessee.
Lashley’s MMA record currently stands at 14-2 and he is currently on a 7-fight winning streak. His last MMA fight was against James Thompson at Bellator 145 in November 2015, a fight he won via TKO. Thompson is the one who gave Lashley his second loss on his record back in 2012 via a unanimous decision.
His opponent will be Josh Appelt, a 33-year-old who has a 12-5 MMA record. He is on a 2-fight winning streak, and last fought in January 2016.
New X Division and Knockout champions crowned on Impact
Two new champions were crowned on last night’s episode of Impact on POP TV.
The first title change came in the X Division when DJ Z defeated Trevor Lee, Andrew Everett, Mandrews, Braxton Sutter, and Rockstar Spud in an Ultimate X match. This is DJ Z’s second reign with the X Division title after winning it for the first time in July 2012. The X Division title was vacated during the August 18 edition of Impact by Bobby Lashley.
Maria Kanellis won the Knockouts title in the second title change, defeating Allie. Allie won the title on the August 25 episode of Impact, defeating Jade, Madison Rayne and Marti Bell in a five-way match. Kanellis won the title after instructing Allie to just lay down and allow her to get the pin.
NXT Takeover: Toronto announced for November 19
The next NXT Takeover will be held in Toronto, Canada the day before the Survivor Series. The announcement was made by Triple H today on Twitter.
NXT Takeover: Toronto drops on November 19 at the Air Canada Centre, the same place where Survivor Series is being held. Just like the SummerSlam weekend where WWE booked the Barclays Center for three straight nights, the company is doing the same with the ACC as Raw is also being held at the same location the night following Survivor Series.
Tickets for NXT Takeover: Toronto will go on sale Friday, September 23 at 10AM EST at Ticketmaster.ca. The originally scheduled NXT live events in Toronto on September 22, St. Catharines on September 23, and Kitchener on September 24 have been canceled. Refunds are available at all points of purchase. A special pre-sale code for NXT Takeover at Air Canada Centre will be made available to fans that purchased tickets to original NXT live events.
WWE launches new campaign benefiting Connor’s Cure
WWE announced a new campaign titled “Get the Gear, Give the Gear” in benefit of Connor’s Cure to help find a cure for pediatric cancer, where fans, beginning Monday, September 5 through the end of the month, can purchase bracelets and bandanas with 100 percent of net proceeds benefiting Connor’s Cure to support pediatric cancer research.
WWE will utilize its global assets including WWE Network and TV broadcasts, live events, PSAs, digital and social media to generate awareness and encourage fans to get involved. Throughout the month, the WWE announcer table, entrance ramp, ring skirts and ring posts will go gold to promote the fight against pediatric cancer. Additionally, WWE Superstars will visit pediatric cancer patients at hospitals across the country.
“WWE is extremely proud to expand our support of Connor’s Cure around Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month,” said Stephanie McMahon, WWE Chief Brand Officer. “The continued effort to raise awareness and funds in the fight against pediatric cancer is important to help find a cure for this devastating disease. We are grateful to the WWE Superstars, fans, The V Foundation and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for their continued support.”
“The V Foundation is excited to recognize Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month with such a fantastic and motivated partner,” said Susan Braun, CEO of The V Foundation. “We are both driven to end this disease, and working as a team to meet that goal means success can come more quickly.”
All funds raised through Connor’s Cure will be distributed through the V Foundation’s grant making process. In addition, WWE will donate a Connor’s Cure bracelet or bandana to a child battling pediatric cancer for every item purchased. Fans will also be able to give a donation during checkout on WWEShop.com and can use the Connor’s Cure bracelet filter on their Facebook and Twitter profiles to show their support.
To date, Connor’s Cure has raised more than $1 million and assisted more than 100 families around the world.
CM Punk says he will win his first UFC fight via TKO
During a conference call with the press to promote UFC 203 on pay-per-view, former WWE champion CM Punk said that he definitely sees himself winning his first-ever professional mixed martial arts fight, probably via a TKO. At UFC 203, Punk will be facing Mickey Gall who has a 2-0 MMA record. This is also his first fight in the UFC.
When Punk was asked if it matters what wrestling fans think about his upcoming fight considering the star power from WWE brought him there, Punk said no, it doesn’t really matter and there are people who want to see him win and there are people who want to see him fail. Stealing a page from “his old job,” Punk said win or lose, it doesn’t matter as long as fans cheer or boo really loud.
Punk’s previous work on the mic was brought up and one reporter noticed the lack of promos from Punk to promote this pay-per-view. Punk said he doesn’t need “weird verbal pissing contests” as drama is not needed for this fight.
One caller asked what Punk thought of Conor McGregor going off on the WWE roster a few weeks ago and the reaction it sparked from those within the wrestling business. “I don’t care,” Punk bluntly said. “The amount of people who responded to him makes me think they were told to respond to him,” he added, saying that there’s a grey area and you gotta wonder if it’s a work. “A lot of feelings were hurt though, I can tell you that much,” he said.
Will his popular WWE theme song Cult of Personality be his walkout song? “You will have to find out when you purchase UFC 203 live on pay-per-view!”
UFC 203 will take place on September 10 from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, the same arena where Punk quit the WWE on January 27, 2014 the day after the Royal Rumble.
Rusev and Lana in Bulgaria for second wedding ceremony
The United States champion Rusev and his wife Lana are currently in Bulgaria as they prepare to get married for the second time in three months.
The traditional Bulgarian wedding will be held at the Bachkovo Monastery in Plovdiv, the second largest monastery in Bulgaria. The duo got married on July 29 in Malibu, California in front of E! cameras which were filming for the upcoming season of Total Divas. Several members of the cast, including the Bella Twins, were present for the ceremony.
Both of them were not present on Raw this past Monday and will not be at Raw next Monday either. After their wedding in July there was no time off for the newlyweds and went straight back to work.
Eva Marie goes all black everything!
The all red everything Eva Marie has gone….all black everything!
Eva Marie, who’s serving a 30-day suspension for failing to turn in papers in time for use a banned drug under the WWE Wellness Program, has uploaded several pictures on her Instagram where her red hair is gone.
“Change is good, because when you change you grow. Just figured I’d go black, should I keep it?” she asked her 3.3 million followers. Prior to joining WWE, Eva Marie had black hair and the whole red dye was tackled during one of the early episodes of season one of Total Divas. She was told to go dye her hair blond but defied instructions and instead went back to work with bright red.
Prior to her suspension, Eva Marie was involved in a weekly segment where she comes out to wrestle but then something stupid happens, preventing her from wrestling. Her latest “episode” with the wardrobe malfunction got over 6.3 million views on WWE’s YouTube account! She was supposed to wrestle at SummerSlam in a six-women tag match but was replaced by the returning Nikki Bella due to her suspension.
Daniel Bryan joins The Coach on ESPN to discuss life in and out of WWE and The Miz
Daniel Bryan was the special guest on WWE’s Off The Top Rope on ESPN SportsCenter yesterday night with Jonathan Coachman to discuss the confrontation with The Miz and life in and away from WWE.
Coachman started the show by showing a replay of The Miz getting in Bryan’s face last week on WWE Network’s Talking Smack and then asked how much of that did he know it was coming at him. “Very little,” Bryan replied, saying that he knew they were going to banter back and forth and both know how to get on each others nerves. Bryan said that The Miz knows he doesn’t like the way he wrestles and The Miz fired back by calling him on out on something that’s very personal to him.
“He knows that I’m constantly having these feelings that if WWE doesn’t want to let me wrestle, I go to the indies,” Bryan added, saying that he does think sometimes that he’s a coward for not carrying on.
Despite being a “work,” Bryan said he thought about punching The Miz in the face. “Part of me just wanted to punch him in the face but I figured that probably it wasn’t such a smart idea on live TV,” he said.
When Coach asked how the two will go forward, Bryan replied that it will be interesting to see. “I’m not sure. I think they’re gonna keep us away from each other a little bit because they know how intense that can be between the two of us. We have to stay away from each other especially now that Smackdown is live,” he said. Bryan admitted that The Miz is a very hard worker and has a huge amount of respect for him and after he walked off he cut a passionate promo.
The discussion then turned to life away from the WWE. Bryan said they were six hard months and jokingly said that E! filmed all his depressions for the Total Bellas show. He said it’s great to be back around friends and the action but it’s extremely hard to watch matches at ringside when the whole arena is going “Yes! Yes! Yes!” and he’s just sitting on a chair. He often complains to his wife afterward and threatens to quit but Brie puts him in his place.
Asked how he’s feeling and if he will ever eventually return to the ring, Bryan said that 9 out of 10 days he says he will and he tries to keep convincing people that he’s okay…including himself. “The concussion issue is very subjective,” he said, adding that he was cleared by a lot of specialists, and then was stopped by one test, arguing that that particular test should not have stopped him from returning after doing further research. Bryan told Coachman that he feels 100%.
Bryan said that it was “brutal” to have all the cameras for Total Divas and Total Bellas following him, especially the filming for Total Bellas which involved him and Brie moving to Florida to live with John Cena and Nikki for four weeks!
You can watch the interview below.
ESPN host draws the wrath of wrestling fans over Kevin Owen’s son video
Amin Elhassan of ESPN drew the wrath of wrestling fans yesterday when he made fun of a video uploaded by Kevin Owen’s wife showing their son Owen in disbelief over his father’s WWE Universal title win this past Monday on Raw.
Elhassan re-tweeted the video which For The Win posted and added, “Until someone told him it was scripted.” The often-sensitive Internet wrestling community got together and pretty much went to war against Elhassan, who traded funny insults and comments towards those who flooded him on Twitter.
Elhassan’s comment drew the attention of several co-workers and those in the wrestling business as well. Matt Hardy called Elhassan an “obsolete mule” who gets annoyed when kids get excited for Santa Claus during Christmas time. “The MAGIC is real, Owen,” he said.
Fellow colleague Jonathan Coachman told Elhassan on Twitter that he really thought he were better and that he can’t appreciate real emotion. Coach said that when people pass such remarks, they never do it to his face at work and this is how they get attention. ESPN was criticized a lot for covering WWE on television and website. Michelle Beadle, also from ESPN and a huge wrestling fan, asked Elhassan if they need to fight, adding an animated GIF of Roman Reigns doing the DX “suck it” crotch gesture.
You can watch the video in question below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJvwkfihzZN/
Smackdown rating for 08/30/2016
It was a good week for WWE ratings-wise as Smackdown pulled in 2,835,000 viewers yesterday, the highest since the July 19 Draft episode. Taking that special episode out, it’s the highest of the year so far on USA Network. It was the top rated show on cable in the 18-49 demographic and second overall in terms of viewership. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Two more join the G.L.O.W. Netflix series cast
Two more have joined Netflix’s G.L.O.W. series, a 10-episode comedy inspired by the real story of the 1980s female wrestling league which tells the fictionalized story of Ruth, played by Alison Brie, an out-of-work actress who finds one last chance to live her dreams in the form of a weekly series about female wrestlers.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Marc Maron and Betty Gilpin has signed up for the series. Maron will play Sam Sylvia, a washed-up Hollywood director who has a very complicated history with women and now must lead 14 of them on the journey to wrestling stardom. Gilpin will portray Debbie Eagan, a former soap star who left show business to have a baby, only to be sucked back in when her picture-perfect life is not what it seems.
The series was picked up by Netflix at the end of May.
Daniel Bryan says The Miz was right last week on Talking Smack
Speaking on Talking Smack after the live Smackdown, Daniel Bryan admitted that The Miz was right last week and that’s why he walked off the show.
“The biggest thing was…he was right…like if I had the guts…i feel like I’m healthy…if I had the guts I’d quit and go to the indies,” Bryan said, then jokingly mentioned that he wouldn’t do bingo halls, but more like the Tokyo Dome.
The Smackdown General Manager said that The Miz knows how to press the right buttons and WWE is not letting them be on camera together anymore. Originally, Daniel Bryan was advertised to be addressing The Miz on the show however the only mention that was made by him was during the cold open, where Shane McMahon told him not to provoke any talent.
“Brie and I are trying to have kids, and all that kind of stuff,” Bryan told Renee Young when listing reasons why he can’t go back to the ring.
Animal goes over the Road Warriors legacy on podcast
Chris Bernes, former W-O columnist, and his partner Mike “Loki” Smith, interviewed WWE Hall of Famer and former tag team champion Joe Laurinaitis, better known as Road Warrior Animal, in episode 72 of their weekly podcast The Loki and Jabroni Show.
The 47-minute interview encapsulated the first 8 years of the Road Warriors legacy, from Starrcade 86 to SummerSlam 91, and touching on the WWF return in 1997. Laurinaitis also recounts stories on WWE creative, his coaching ideas for today’s talents, and a few tidbits we never knew.
The show can be subscribed free on iTunes, Podomatic, PodcastAddict, yarn.fm, and the Loki and Jabroni YouTube channel. You can listen to this episode of the podcast here.
Smackdown Tag Team titles tournament semi-finals set
The semi-finals of the Smackdown Tag Team title tournament were set last night with two more teams advancing.
The Hype Bros defeated The Vaudevillains in the first match while Heath Slater and Rhyno defeated the returning Headbangers in the other quarter-final. The two have joined American Alpha, who defeated Breezango, and The Usos, who defeated The Ascension, last week.
The semi-final matches now involve American Alpha vs The Usos and Hype Bros vs Heath Slater and Rhyno. The final of the tournament will be held at Backlash on September 11, the first Smackdown-only PPV event which is exclusively on the WWE Network.
Alberto Del Rio done from WWE
Alberto Del Rio, for all intents and purposes, is done with the WWE and will not be returning following his 30-day suspension.
The former WWE champion’s contract was running out in October and he has a clause where he can simply walk out and it’s believed that he will be doing just that once his suspension is up. The out clause in his contract does not have a long no-compete clause so he could find different work almost immediately.
WWE already removed Del Rio from all upcoming live events. He received his first Wellness Program violation on August 18 along with his girlfriend Paige.
Del Rio returned to the WWE in October of last year as the surprise opponent of John Cena, beating him for the United States title at the Hell In A Cell pay-per-view. From that point onwards, his career went down quickly, first being associated with Zeb Colter and then with the League of Nations.
Smackdown Live TV report for 08/30/2016
Tuesday Night Smackdown! Live TV Report for August 30th, 2016
Introduction Segment: Video and Office Promo
Intercontinental Champion The Miz, Maryse, and General Manager Daniel Bryan’s confrontation from last week’s Talking Smack! is replayed. Commissioner Shane McMahon and GM Bryan are watching in their office; Shane concurs with Daniel’s opinions on Miz, but says he cannot get that involved with the wrestlers. Bryan concedes but calls out McMahon’s statement as “ironic” since Shane is involved with Brock Lesnar.
Segment #2: Video Promo and Arena Promo
The regular Smackdown! Live video plays and we are in the American Airlines Arena of Dallas, Texas! Intercontinental Champion The Miz, along with Maryse, storms his way to the ring.
Miz fires off on Bryan and the fans for picking him/other wrestlers that actually get beat up and hit, over him who has a strategy to not get injured. He rants on the fans’ choice of “indie darlings” that spend twelve years before making it to the WWE; Miz puts himself over as the guy that is called upon for almost anything now, publicity-wise, that WWE needs.
Dolph Ziggler interrupts and agrees with Miz at first; however he informs “The Awesome One” that the people “see right through you.” He accuses Miz of just wanting “to be famous,” unlike the other wrestlers that have a true passion for wrestling. He begs Miz to prove that he’s “not a coward,” by just plain fighting him.
Dolph takes his shirt off and Miz gets ready, but backs away twice. Ziggler calls him “a soft, safe, coward.” Miz is infuriated and charges at the ring, but Maryse holds him back.
Later tonight, WWE World Champion Dean Ambrose faces “The Lone Wolf” Baron Corbin; Bray Wyatt has a prophecy for Randy Orton; and up next, The Hype Bros meet The Vaudevillians in the Tag-Team Championship Tournament!
Commercials.
Match #1: Tag-Team – The Hype Bros (Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley) VS. The Vaudevillians (Aiden English and Simon Gotch)
(Stipulation: Tag-Team Championship Tournament, First Round)
Ryder and English begin, and Zack is on top early. He elbows Aiden in the corner a few times and goes for the Broski Boot, but Simon pulls English out of the way. The Vaudevillians take advantage, as Aiden punishes Zack’s left arm. Simon is tagged in and clamps on a hammerlock (thanks, Mauro!) with push-ups!
Mojo gets the hot-tag and cleans house on Gotch and English; he hits a couple of splashes on Aiden in t corner and plants him with a Fireman’s Carry slam but Simon breaks up the subsequent pin attempt. Rawley clotheslines English hard and switches with Zack; they give Aiden their Hype-Ryder double-team, and Zack covers for the victory!
Winners via Pinfall and ADVANCING: The Hype Bros
Post-match, Ryder and Rawley are interviewed about their win. They declare that they will be the ones to be the first Smackdown! Live Tag-Team Champions. “We don’t get hyped; we stay hyped!”
Segment #3: Backstage Promo
A.J. Styles, dressed in John Cena’s “Never Give Up” headband, is introducing himself to agents; he walks into Apollo Crews, but can’t remember him. Crews reassures him, and A.J. makes fun of Apollo spelling out.
Ads.
Segment #4: Arena Promo
A.J. Styles is out and proclaims himself “The Face That Runs The Place.” He warns WWE World Champion Dean Ambrose that he will be the holding the WWE World Championship after Backlash, where the two square off. Apollo Crews interjects and says that he asked General Manager Daniel for, and got, a match with Styles, right now!
Match #2: Single – A.J. Styles VS. Apollo Crews
A.J. slugs away to start, but Apollo kicks back and hits a big dropkick. He pulls Styles out of the ring and slams him off the apron. He promotes to the announcers as we take five.
Commercials.
Crews is still controlling, hitting a splash in the corner and then a moonsault from the apron onto the floor! he brings A.J. back in the ring, but “The Phenomenal One” slides out of a powerbomb attempt and hits a flying forearm. A.J. soars off the middle turnbuckle with a crossbody, but Apollo catches him into a fall-away slam! 1 – 2 – Styles gets his shoulder up!
Crews runs in the corner, but A.J. moves and jawbreaks Apollo with the top rope. He follows with The Phenomenal Forearm and takes this!
Winner via Pinfall: A.J. Styles
Ads.
Segment #5: Video Promo
Rene Young is in West Virginia with Heath Slater and Rhyno; she is looking to get a better perspective of him at his home. Slater has Rene meet his wife, and then she asks him about his numerous … over the last few week, like getting beat up by Brock Lesnar and hit hard by Randy Orton. He puts a happy spin on each, and answers for Rhyno when she inquirers why “The Man-Beast” joined “The One Man Band.” Heath states that winning the Tag-Team Championships will mean being able to live in a
Commercials.
Segment #6: Arena Promo
Bray Wyatt makes his entrance to the ring and sits in his rocking chair. “I don’t fear snakes. I don’t fear monsters. I fear no man, because I am fear. When I think about the legend of Randy Orton, I don’t think of him as being some kind of mythological serpent; I think of him about just being a man. A man that has venom running through his veins and that excites me. You’re sick, Randy; you’re sick. You’re sick, but that’s what I like about you. And if you really do have voices inside of your head, Randy, and they’re telling you what to do, Randy, then I pray that those voices are telling to ‘run.’ Run, Randy, run.”
“The Viper” saunters out now. “Actually Bray, the voices in my head, the voices in my head are saying ‘who in the hell does this guy think he is?’” Orton declares himself “damaged” and gives Wyatt his focus. Bray is happy to see this side of Randy and threatens, “you are know longer ‘the predator’ in this situation. You are damaged; you are weak. I am ‘the predator’ now.” Wyatt warns Orton “at Backlash, I am going to cut the serpent’s head off.”
Randy accepts, and even wants to go at it now! He runs to the ring, but Wyatt’s video plays and we go to the next match screen, featuring the women.
Ads.
Match #3: Tag-Team – Natalya and Alexa Bliss VS. Naomi and Becky Lynch
(Note: Nikki Bella is on commentary.) Natalya and Naomi start off, and Natalya bounces Naomi off the ropes with a sit-down drop. Naomi gets the upperhand quickly, and we go to a break.
Commercials.
Natalya has Naomi locked in a front-facelock, and then knocks Lynch off of the apron. Nattie tags in Alexa, and they double-slam Naomi. Bliss chokes Naomi on the middle rope with her foot, and then stomps on the back of her head repeatedly. Naomi tries a comeback, but Alexa turns it back around quickly. She rips at Naomi’s head, but then Naomi double-stomps Bliss in the chest.
Naomi tags in Becky, who clears the ring of Natalya, and then goes to work on Alexa. She is slung over the ropes but lands on the apron and rockets off the top turnbuckle with a front-dropkick. She covers but Nattie breaks it. on the outside, Carmella brawls with Nikki by the commentator’s table, and shoves her into the corner of the barricade.
In the ring, Lynch is caught off-guard by this, and Alexa rolls her up for the 1 – 2 – 3!
Winners via Pinfall: Natalya and Alexa Bliss
Up next, Heath Slater and Rhyno take on the returning Headbangers in the Tag-Title Tournament!
Ads.
Match #4: Tag-Team – The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) VS. Rhyno and Heath Slater
(Stipulation: Tag-Team Championship Tournament, First Round)
Mosh and Slater start, with Heath headlocking Mosh. He runs off the ropes with a shoulder-tackle, but Mosh hits back with a crossbody from the turnbuckles to Slater on the apron! Thrasher is in and gives Heath a clothesline and a big backdrop. Both Thrasher and Mosh double-flapjack Slater, but Heath kicks out of the following pin!
Mosh slings Slater into the turnbuckle and then knocks Rhyno down – busting him open in the process – and then The Headbangers drive Heath with a powerbomb/top-rope legddrop combo. Rhyno just stops the pin, and then tows Heath to their corner and orders for the tag. He runs in and Gores (Spears) Thrasher and covers for the victory!
Winners and ADVANCING: Rhyno and Heath Slater
Commercials.
Segment #7: Arena Promo
A new guy, Gary “The Milkman,” wants some competition. He gets Kane, who promptly chokeslams and walks away.
Match #5: Single – Baron Corbin VS. WWE World Champion Dean Ambrose (Non-Title)
They lockup and Dean turns Baron into a standing side-headlock. Corbin hits back with a shoulder-block, and hammers away with fists. Baron runs Dean off of the ropes, but the WWE World Champion hits back with fury-punches, and then clotheslines him on the floor form the apron! He drags Corbin to the announcer’s table and slams his head off of it, and then jawbreaks Baron in the ring with the top rope. Ambrose follows with a front-dropkick out of the corner, but Baron counters a corner-bulldog by hurling him into the opposite turnbuckle. He mount-punches and then tosses Dean to the floor.
Ads.
Corbin is still governing, but Ambrose breaks out of a submission and goes for his patented rope-clothesline, but Baron reverses into a choke-sweeping-slam! 1 – 2 – Ambrose lifts his shoulder! “The Lone Wolf” continues to stretch Dean’s arm and face with an arm/chinlock, and then knees away. Ambrose whips Baron into the corner, but Corbin slides through and back into the ring, however Dean counters with tilt-a-whirl neckbreaker!
Baron hits back with a big clothesline, but Ambrose hits back with a punch. Ambrose hits the Lunatic Lariat off the middle rope, and then climbs the turnbuckle but is stopped. They both battle on the turnbuckle and Dean gets the better; he sends Corbin to the outside and follows with a dive-through-the-ropes!
Baron puts Ambrose back into the barrier and then stares at him. A.J. walks over and orders Corbin to keep on, but Baron gets in A.J.’s face. Ambrose runs into both of them and then dives off the top turnbuckle with an elbow! 1 – 2 – Corbin just raises his shoulder!
A.J. hops the apron and takes Dean’s attention, allowing Baron to roll him up, but Ambrose still kicks out! Dean is pushed into A.J., but ducks and Styles hits Corbin with a kick, causing referee Charles Robinson to call for the bell!
Winner via Disqualification: Baron Corbin
Post-match, Ambrose lays out Corbin and then crotches A.J. on the top rope as he went for his Phenomenal Forearm! Dean shakes Styles’ hand and takes his WWE World Championship with him to close the show.
End of Smackdown! Live
Raw rating for 08/29/2016
Monday Night Raw this week pulled in 3,413,000 viewers, up 98,000 viewers from the post-SummerSlam broadcast. This has been the best number Raw has done since the June 20 episode.
Hour one did 3,392,000 viewers, followed by 3,438,000 in the second hour, and then slightly down to 3,409,000 in the third and final hour for the crowning of the new champion. While the third hour lost viewers from the second hour, from hour one to hour three, Raw gained 17,000 viewers. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Finn Balor congratulates the new WWE Universal champion
Before Raw started, Kevin Owens vowed to teach a 7’ tall monster that height is irrelevant, show an architect that his vision is all wrong, and destroy an empire. After the show was over, the new WWE Universal champion had just two words for everyone.
“I win.”
Former champion Finn Balor was quick to congratulate the new champion. “We have been through it all together. I’ve no doubt we will go through it all again,” Balor posted on Twitter, along with a photo of the two together sitting on a bench looking away from each other.
Instead of his typical heel-ish replies, Owens replied saying, “I look forward to it,” adding a photo of the two doing the Too Sweet hand gesture backstage with Owens holding the NXT title.
The two Superstars went to battle in the indies as well as on NXT and it looks like when Balor is back, his old arch nemesis will be there waiting, possibly still holding the Universal title.
Congrats to @FightOwensFight
We have been through it all together.
I've no doubt we will go through it all again pic.twitter.com/I7P7wqgFHy— Finn Bálor (@FinnBalor) August 30, 2016
https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight/status/770571016544350208
Daniel Bryan to address The Miz on tonight’s Smackdown
The explosive confrontation between The Miz and Daniel Bryan from last week’s Talking Smack will continue tonight on Smackdown Live as General Manager Daniel Bryan will be addressing The Miz on the show.
Last week, The Miz unloaded on Bryan during the show hosted by Renee Young, and told the former WWE champion to quit and go back to the bingo hall to his indie buddies. The whole argument started when Bryan told The Miz that he wrestles like a coward and like someone who is afraid to get hit.
The comment did not go down well with the Intercontinental champion. “I’m here each and every week and you sit there and call me a coward?” The Miz said, as he then stood up and got in Bryan’s face. “A coward? Let me tell you about a guy who tells the fans that he loves that he will be back…he promises them…but you didn’t Daniel, didn’t you. But I’m the coward?”
Bryan eventually walked off the set as The Miz ripped on him some more, instructing the WWE cameraman to keep the camera on him while he talks.