With Smackdown moving to Tuesday nights, TNA had to pack and leave and a find a new night for Impact as the last time they went head to head with WWE it did not end up good for them.
Tonight, Impact returns on Thursday nights starting at a new time slot of 8PM EST. Since the show made its debut, it went from Saturday to Thursday to Monday to Thursday to Friday to Tuesday and now back to Thursday.
The move was announced a few weeks ago by TNA President Dixie Carter on Twitter.
In a short message on Twitter, Nikki Bella said that she got “good news from the doc,” and then posted a photo of the WWE Performance Center as her “next stop.”
Nikki had her last scan on her neck yesterday, six months after undergoing surgery, to see if the doctors would clear her to return to the ring. Her tweet suggests that she got the green light and now it’s back to train to dust off the ring rust.
The former WWE Divas champion was not part of the WWE Draft so she could eventually pop up on any brand once she’s cleared by WWE.
Her good friend and Total Divas cast mate Natalia also posted a photo of the two together writing, “Celebrating with @thenikkibella after her good news.” She also said that she’s proud of her for staying strong throughout the whole ordeal.
The first live Smackdown on USA Network on a new night drew 3,170,000 viewers, up 1 million viewers from last week’s show thanks to the curiosity stemming from the WWE Draft.
In terms of competition, Smackdown beat Raw in the ratings this week by almost 40,000 viewers. It will be a very difficult job to pull in that number every week for Smackdown but that’s what WWE is aiming for. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Variety is reporting that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his Seven Bucks Productions are developing a series for USA Network titled Muscle Beach.
The synopsis for the one hour long scripted drama says that it is set in a legendary bodybuilding gym in ’80s Venice Beach where a colorful tribe of lost souls struggle to reinvent themselves by bench-pressing their way to a bigger, better American dream, no matter what the cost. Legal steroid alternatives do work. In this guide to muscle building stacks, I’ll tell you why they work, and how you can power it all up by creating supplement stacks for mass, cutting, strength, and improving levels of testosterone and growth hormones. Individually these legal anabolic supplements really can work. But I’m telling you now, the power is in creating legal steroid stacks, that put together create powerful workout supplement stacks that can take your exercise routine up to the next level without resorting to using anabolic steroids or even SARMs. Look let’s be upfront here and say that legal steroid alternatives definitely work. But they aren’t as powerful as banned anabolic steroids, for obvious reasons. What they do is blend together safe and natural ingredients to recreate the potency as much as possible. For me, they produced about 70% of the results, which is incredible really. Visit https://ceasar-boston.org/ for the Muscle Building Stacks That Work *No Steroids*. No injections, no side effects, but you will have to do hard work. So, before I tell you about the top five Best workout supplement stacks using steroid alternatives, I just want to really emphasize that you have to work hard in the gym alongside a brilliant diet and that horrible cardio work. If you’re looking to strip fat then this cutting stack is definitely the one for you. It’s also one of the best supplement stacks for mass as well, because it not only preserves lean muscle gains, but can actually improve them. Put together, you’re cutting fat, and at the very least protecting your gains but also potentially improving them. Core strength is at the heart of everything you do with bodybuilding. If you’re not strong enough you can’t push yourself, you can’t progress, and you just will set yourself up to fail and give up. This fantastic strength stack is one of the best workout supplement stacks you can get your hands on if you want to improve your density both in bone and muscle. If you want to be a powerlifter, or at least give a powerlifter a run for their money at the gym, if you want to be one of the last guys out there, if you want to get looks as you power on while others start to struggle, then this is the stack for you. If you’re looking to boost your anabolic hormone levels then this is definitely the stack to go for. You’ll get a boost in testosterone level, two key growth hormones, and it’s also blended with workout supplements for cutting fat and muscle building supplement for the stack as well. Muscle building stacks can really help you to take things up to next level. You can’t get to where others are getting unless you take something on top of what you’re doing naturally, I learnt that hard lesson a while back. On top of the supplements you do also get a very comprehensive workout guide. It will talk you through everything you need to do to push your routines up the next level. But more than that it will help you with your diet and your regime away from the gym as well. You’ll have to hit the gym three times a week, for at least two hours. You’ll have to do cardio work between sessions, you’ll have to cut out fat, sugar, and empty carbs. I’m telling you that in just eight weeks, using these workout supplement stacks as an instructor, you will definitely transform your body.
The script is penned by Jeremiah Friedman and Nick Palmer, who will also serve as executive producers. Other executive producers will include Johnson himself, his manager and ex-wife Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, Brian Gewirtz, along with Beau Flynn and Wendy Jacobson of FlynnPictureCo.
Universal Cable Production’s Dawn Olmstead, Kate Fenske and Garrett Kimble will oversee the project for the studio.
With no place left on any of the Raw or Smackdown commentary team, two WWE Hall of Famers were left hanging.
Jerry “The King” Lawler lost his Smackdown color commentary job while Booker T has been off commentary for a while. Both WWE legends will retain their WWE job however as WWE.COM announced that the two will be having recurring roles on Pre and Kickoff shows as key analysts with other names still to be announced.
The Superstars and Main Event shows will both be anchored by Tom Phillips and Corey Graves will be joining him for Superstars while David Otunga will be his Main Event partner.
Another WWE Superstar who was not drafted even though he was part of the list is Social Outcast member Heath Slater.
Former WWE champion John Cena was on ESPN SportsCenter’s weekly WWE segment last night hosted by Jonathan Coachman and was asked about the recent news of Brock Lesnar testing positive for his UFC 200 fight against Mark Hunt.
Cena said that Lesnar has a “long, hard road ahead of him” after disappointing a lot of people and the same people will be seeing Brock Lesnar differently now. He added that he rooted for Lesnar and was the underdog in the fight and ended up doing well. “Anytime something like that comes out, it certainly affects your perception of the event,” Cena said.
John Cena also discussed NXT and the brand extension, saying they never had a roster like this before. “These guys keep me young,” Cena said of the NXT Superstars who provide the competition. He also talked about his upcoming Battleground match, teaming up with Enzo and Big Cass and had nice words about the tag team who would be accompanying him to the ring.
Six NXT Superstars will be saying goodbye to the WWE Performance Center and Orlando and hello to long travel days and life on the main roster.
One of the biggest pops of the night came when Mick Foley announced the name of Finn Balor who was drafted to Raw. Balor has been part of NXT since 2014 and had his last NXT televised match against Shinsuke Nakamura. He was draft pick #5.
Joining Smackdown will be the tag team of Chad Gable and Jason Jordan, better known as American Alpha. The two have been teaming up since July 2015 and won the NXT Tag Team titles at NXT Takeover: Dallas. They were draft pick #22.
The first female picked from NXT is Nia Jax, a member of the Anoaʻi family and The Rock’s cousin. Jax has been signed to WWE since 2014 and made her NXT TV debut in May 2015. She was Raw’s draft pick #25.
Alexa Bliss was the second female from NXT but she will be joining the Smackdown brand as draft pick #47. The 24 year old has been with WWE since 2013 and made her in-ring TV debut in May 2014.
Zack Ryder’s NXT tag team partner Mojo Rawley was drafted to Smackdown. The former American football player has been signed to a WWE deal since 2012 and made his NXT debut in 2013. He was draft pick #57.
The third and final female from NXT picked by Smackdown was Carmella. Signed in 2013, she made her NXT debut in September 2014 and joined Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy. She is the real-life girlfriend of Colin Cassidy, who was drafted to Raw. She was the last overall draft pick #59.
With all the roster now split, Smackdown has 31 WWE Superstars while Raw has 41 and the WWE Champion and Intercontinental champion are both Smackdown residents. The WWE Women’s champion is on the Raw brand along with the United States and Tag Team champions as well.
Even though it was not expected, the commentary team for both shows were shuffled as well. Doing Raw commentary from next week are Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, and Corey Graves who gets the promotion. Smackdown will be led by Mauro Ranallo and helped by JBL, who moves from Raw, and David Otunga.
Long time WWE commentator and Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler has been left out from both shows which raises questions about his future in the company.
WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump managed to clinch the Republican presidential nomination yesterday at the Republican National Convention 13 months after he set out to do the impossible.
Getting rid of his 16 rivals one by one, Trump looked like he took out a page from the WWE promo books as he toured the country giving interviews which raised some eyebrows due to the content and delivery. His introduction and appearance on Monday at the RNC in Cleveland, Ohio, was nothing short of a WWE Superstar entrance and the Internet immediately started creating memes of his entrance set to The Undertaker’s theme song.
Trump was inducted into the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2013 with Vince McMahon doing the honors for him. That year the show was held at Madison Square Garden in New York, his home state, but the New York – and International – crowd was pretty vicious to him, booing him every time he spoke.
The former reality TV host has been a long time friend of the McMahon family and he hosted WrestleMania IV and WrestleMania V at the Trump Plaza in 1988 and 1989. He was involved in one of the most high-profile matches at a WrestleMania where he and Vince McMahon put their hair on the line as Bobby Lashley and Umaga fought for them. Umaga eventually lost and McMahon ended up getting his hair shaved by Trump, Lashley, and Austin who was the referee. Austin then delivered the Stunner to Trump. In 2009 WWE also pulled a big stunt by “selling” Raw to Trump in 2009. The whole thing was part of a storyline which investors did not “get” and it had to be scrapped.
The McMahons are also big donors for Trump.
Just when you thought it can’t get any worse, Brock Lesnar’s has been shattered as he has recently failed his second drug test, this time an in-competition test administered by the USADA on July 9, the day of his fight against Mark Hunt at UFC 200.
“The UFC organization was notified today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has informed Brock Lesnar that his in-competition sample collection from July 9, 2016, at UFC 200, has tested positive for the same substance as his previously announced out-of-competition collection on June 28, 2016.”
The LA Times is reporting that the substance that Lesnar popped for was clomiphene. Clomiphene is a PED and it enhances performance. It can increase testosterone by 50%. Jon Jones was also busted for the same drug and one day after Jones was pulled from the show, Lesnar called him “unprofessional” for what he did.
With a second failed test, it’s highly unlikely that Lesnar will step back in the Octagon as a 2 year ban hangs over his head.
Lesnar’s case still hasn’t gone in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission which will also announce a further ban.
Tuesday Night Smackdown! TV Report for July 19th, 2016 – “Two Sides To Every Sport!”
Introduction Segment: Welcoming and Arena Promo
We open right away in the arena and all who are in charge – Daniel Bryan, Shane McMahon for Smackdown; and Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon for Raw – are on the stage. Mauro Ranallo and Michael Cole greet us, and the first pick of the Draft is going to happen now!
Stephanie and Mick start first with …
Seth Rollins!
McMahon also predicts that Seth will win back the WWE Championship in a rematch tonight!
Bryan and Shane’s #1 pick is ….
WWE Champion Dean Ambrose!
Foley now chooses Women’s Champion Charlotte as Raw’s #2 pick! Daniel and McMahon follow with “’The Phenomenal’ A.J. Styles!”
For #3, Mick picks an NXT Wrestler …
“The Demon” Finn Balor!
John Cena’s music plays and he walks out. He will be in action against a Club Member who all walk out! Enzo Amore and Big Cass back up Cena.
Match #1: Single – John Cena (with Enzo Amore and Big Cass) VS. Luke Gallows (with The Club members A.J. Styles and Karl Anderson)
Gallows gets the better quickly before we go to break.
Commercials.
Luke is still controlling, but John makes a comeback with a shoulder-tackle and 5-Knuckle-Shuffle Fistdrop! John tries an Attitude Adjustment but Gallows wiggles out and kicks him hard! Enzo and Cass and The Club face-off on, and Cena suddenly drops Gallows with The A.A. for the victory!
Winner via Pinfall: John Cena (with Enzo Amore and Big Cass)
The commentator’s put over tonight’s WWE Championship bout, and later a Champion VS. Challenger Match!
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Segment #2: Arena Promo
The Commissioners and General Managers are back … Mick picks Roman Reigns for Raw; Shane picks John Cena for Smackdown!; Stephanie chooses Brock Lesnar; Bryan takes Randy Orton; and McMahon-Levesque selects Tag-Team Champions The New Day as a trio!
Match #2: Tag-Team – Zack Ryder and Darren Young (with Bob Backlund) VS. Intercontinental Champion The Miz (with Maryse) and United States Champion Rusev (with Lana)
Darren hits an atomic drop on Miz and scoop-slams him, then tags in Ryder, who double knees Miz out of the corner but is yanked from the turnbuckle! Miz wears Young down with a grounding front-face and kicks, then switches with Rusev.
The U.S. Champ tries a move, but Zack counters and tags in Darren, who works over Miz until Rusev re-enters! Rusev tosses Zack but “Long Island Iced-Z” lands on Miz with a RoughRyder Leg Lariat! Ryder and Rusev go to the outside, and Darren uses Bob’s Crossface-Chicken Wing hold on Miz, making the I.C. Champ give-in!
Winners via Submission: Zack Ryder and Darren Young
Later tonight, Sasha Banks will wrestle Women’s Champion Charlotte and Dana Brooke, and up next, Tag-Team Champion/New Day member Xavier Woods faces Wyatt Family leader Bray Wyatt!
Commercials.
Match #3: Single – Tag-Team Champion/New Day member Xavier Woods (with Tag-Team Champions/New Day members Kofi Kingston and Big E.) VS. Wyatt Family leader Bray Wyatt (with Wyatt Family members Erik Rowan and Braun Strowman)
Bray get sin Xavier’s head to begin by hanging upside down from the corner and dropping to his knees. Woods approaches him slowly as Wyatt glares, placing his hand on Woods’ shoulders. Xavier does hit him, but Bray quickly dominates with punches and kicks. He tears at Xavier’s chin, and then slams him down with one arm!
Bray runs with a senton-splash on the canvas, but as Wyatt focuses on Kofi and Big, Xavier hits back quickly, but is just as quick put to the mat with Sister Abigail for the 1 – 2 – 3!
Winner via Pinfall: Bray Wyatt (with Wyatt Family members Erik Rowan and Braun Strowman)
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Match #4: Single – Kane VS. Kevin Owens
(Note: Foley, The McMahons, and Bryan are on the stage, and Kevin complains to them about not being drafted yet.) Before he even gets to the ring, Owens is ambushed by Sami Zayn! The two former friends brawl in the ring, with Kevin throwing Zayn into Kane; “The Big Red Machine” also Chokeslams Owens and then lights off his pyro from the ring posts!
Winner: None due to No Official Start
Segment #3: Arena Promo
Stephanie now elects Sami Zayn to Raw; Shane takes Bray Wyatt for Smackdown!; Foley selects “The Boss” Sasha Banks on Raw; Daniel accepts Becky Lynch to SD!; and Mick picks “Y2J” Chris Jericho for Raw!
Segment #4: Video Promo
WWE Champion Dean Ambrose talks about being the #1 Selection for Smackdown! He declares that he will remain WWE Champion after Battleground, and is excited for being on Smackdown! Tuesday nights.
Commercials.
Still available for The Draft are Kevin Owens, Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler, The Uso,
Match #5: Two-On-One – Dana Brooke and Women’s Champion Charlotte
Sasha ducks a clothesline from Dana and knocks Charlotte from the apron to the floor! banks forearms Dana, and then dives from the apron onto Charlotte with a double-knee senton! Brooke hits back with a running clothesline and takes over in the ring, working on her shoulders and back with a surfboard-stretch!
Sasha gets out of it and almost gains some momentum, but is dropped out of a Backstabber. She hits at Charlotte again, but the Women’s Champ jumps off the apron to avoid. Banks gets her Banks Statement Submission on Dana, but Charlotte slides in and plants Sasha with her Natural Selection Finisher!
Winners via Pinfall: Dana Brooke and Women’s Champion Charlotte
Segment #5: Arena Promo
Foley chooses United States Rusev and Lana as a deal while Daniel begrudgingly takes Intercontinental Champion The Miz and Maryse together. Stephanie singles out Kevin Owens; and Shane accepts Baron Corbin. Mick then picks Enzo Amore and Big Cass!
Up next, Cesaro and Chris Jericho go at it!
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Match #6: Single – Cesaro VS. Chris Jericho
Jericho punches, but Cesaro uppercuts and clotheslines back! Cesaro somersaults from the apron and chucks Jericho into the corner of the barricade and follows with a running-uppercut! Back in the ring, Jericho reverses into a victory-roll but only gets two! He tries his Walls of Jericho, but Cesaro twirls out of it. Chris takes over for a bit, and knocks Cesaro on the top turnbuckle. He gives Cesaro a Frankensteiner from the top turnbuckle for a near-fall!
Cesaro starts a comeback with furry-uppercuts in the corner, but Jericho boots him out of the opposite one! “Y2J” goes for the Lionsault, but Cesaro counters with a Russian Legsweep from the middle rope! Cesaro swings Jericho around but can’t tie him up in the Sharpshooter; Chris counters a springboard move and drives Cesaro with the Codebreaker to complete this!
Winner via Pinfall: Chris Jericho
Commercials.
As we return, Becky Lynch and Natalya fight around the ring, with numerous referees trying to separate them!
Segment #6: Arena Promo
For Raw, Gallows and Anderson go there! Bryan decides to bring American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordon) to Smackdown from NXT; Raw takes The Big Show; Smackdown! wants Dolph Ziggler; and Raw carries over Nia Jax from NXT!
Segment #7: Video Promo
Seth Rollins for Raw is thrilled to be the #1 Overall Pick! He also says “I am going to walk out of Smackdown! Live the WWE Champion;” and wonders if Roman Reigns will be in full-focus at Battleground. Rollins proclaims that “I was always ‘The Man,’” in The Shield.
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Segment #8: Arena Promo
The last picks for the night are revealed! Raw gets Neville, Smackdown! takes Natalya, Raw has Cesaro, Smackdown! fetches Alberto Del Rio, and Raw concludes with Sheamus.
Match #7: Single for the WWE Championship – Seth Rollins (Challenger) VS. Dean Ambrose (Champion)
After formal introductions, Rollins takes apart Dean before referee Mike Chioda even rings the bell!
Commercials.
Referee Chioda confirms with Ambrose, and he then signals for the bell! The bout is officially underway, and Seth continues to punish the WWE Champion. He boots Dean on the middle rope, and then drops a knee on him inside the ring. Rollins whips Ambrose into the turnbuckle and hits him with a backbreaker for two! “The Architect” squeezes Dean’s head with a grounding rear-chinloch, and the two battle on the outside. Rollins throws Dean into the corner of the barricade, but is backdropped into the timekeeper’s section! Ambrose follows with a leap from the announcer’s table, but Seth moves and Ambrose hits the barrier gut-first! In the ring, Seth covers but Ambrose raises his shoulder!
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Rollins is still in control, running at Dean in the corner with a couple of forearms. He goes for another run, but “The Lunatic Fringe” hits a hard clothesline to counter! Dean rolls up Seth for two, and slams him again for another two, and then climbs the turnbuckle! Dean dives, but is kicked and given powerbomb into the turnbuckles! Rollins follows with a frogsplash, but Ambrose rolls out of the way! Dean rolls up Seth, but the challenger kicks out!
Rollins runs Dean into the corner, and then pokes him in the eye. He goes for The Pedigree, but Dean reverses with a backdrop and rockets through the ropes with a forward-dive! The WWE Champ ascends the turnbuckle and jumps off with a diving-elbow to the floor!
Ambrose goes back to the top turnbuckle, but is met with a superplex, but Dean reverses a Falcon-Arrow attempt into his Dirty Deeds DDT! Ambrose covers to receive the victory!
Winner via Pinfall and STILL WWE Champion: Dean Ambrose
Post-match, Commissioner Shane and G.M. Daniel charge down to celebrate with their #1 Pick! The announcer’s promote this Sunday’s Battleground Pay-Per-View, as Ambrose holds his WWE Championship on the turnbuckles and high above to close the show.
End of Smackdown!
Reporter’s Rumblings
I liked Smackdown! a lot more this week, but that is probably because Raw felt like a “one-off,” as Smackdown! was heavily built for The Draft. Onto the analysis and my Battleground Picks:
Excellence: matches from Jericho/Owens/Zayn/Cesaro (Raw), the Twelve-Man Tag (Raw), and Ambrose/Rollins (both Raw and Smackdown!)
Promos by Shane/Foley/Bryan (Raw and Smackdown!), Rollins (Raw), Ambrose (Raw), and Cena/Enzo/Cass/New Day/Club (Raw),
So happy to see the continuation of Becky and Natalya; I through they had dropped them since they did not appear last week. The brawl tonight was great build for what should be a fierce match this Sunday!
Did not like the finish to Raw for the main-event, but understand it so they can bring more interest for Smackdown!; however, glad there was a solid conclusion to the WWE Championship bout.
Foley and Bryan are great picks; they both have great chemistry with each other and their Commissioners, respectively! Foley, in particular, was a true surprise – I did not even think of him, but his explanation on Raw for becoming GM made sense, so good storytelling!
Glad Darren Young and Bob Backlund are getting love from the fans. Rollins’ promo from Raw was one of his best and really hyped up the Triple-Threat for Sunday! Every little thing Kevin Owens does, on the mike and in the ring, is gold and meaningful; keep going this way!
Bogus: Don’t like Stephanie overselling her competitive side; just seems too put on/forced. How does Cesaro not have a match at Battleground and why has he been in non-“on-the-line” matches recently? Hopefully the draft fixes this for him. Cena/Gallows should’ve gone just a bit longer.
Overall, the draft was great, but I think the last pick should’ve been much bigger/more significant than Sheamus. I was expecting Shinsuke Nakamura from NXT to go to Raw, and if he still does, then I think the old/new Bullet Club will be formed with Balor, Shinsuke, and Gallows and Anderson.
Battleground Picks: Cena/Enzo/Cass to win over The Club; Young to win the Intercontinental Championship; Rusev to retain the U.S. Title over Zack Ryder; Lynch and Natalya in a No-Contest to continue through SummerSlam; Sasha Banks has Bayley or Paige as her partner and pins Charlotte, earning a Women’s Title Match at SummerSlam; The Wyatt Family win over The New Day to remain strong, since they are split. (Shown on the WWE Network, Braun is drafted to Raw.) Rollins wins the WWE Championship and moves onto a different feud for SummerSlam while Ambrose and Reigns go at it for the August Pay-Per-View.
I am away next week, so I won’t be writing about Raw and Smackdown until Aug. 1. Through then, Be Excellent Wrestling-Online Fans!
WWE split up the brand again this evening with the first WWE Draft being held since 2011. Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon along with Raw General Manager Mick Foley picked individuals for the red brand while Smackdown Commissioner Shane McMahon and Smackdown General Manager Daniel Bryan picked for the blue brand.
The rules were: Raw gets the first overall pick; For every two Smackdown picks, Raw gets three due to Raw being a longer show; Tag teams count as one pick unless a Commissioner/General Manager specifically only wants one member of the team; And picks from NXT limited to just six in total.
Here is the full list of who was drafted to where:
[mks_col]
[mks_one_half]
Monday Night Raw
Seth Rollins (#1)
Charlotte (#3)
Finn Balor (#5)
Roman Reigns (#6)
Brock Lesnar (#8)
The New Day (#10)
Sami Zayn (#11)
Sasha Banks (#13)
Chris Jericho (#15)
Rusev w/Lana (#16)
Kevin Owens (#18)
Enzo & Cass (#20)
Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (#21)
Big Show (#23)
Nia Jax (#25)
Neville (#26)
Cesaro (#28)
Sheamus (#30)
Golden Truth (#31)
Titus O’Neil (#33)
Paige (#35)
Darren Young (#36)
Sin Cara (#38)
Jack Swagger (#40)
The Dudley Boyz (#42)
Summer Rae (#44)
Mark Henry (#46)
Braun Strowman (#48)
Bo Dallas (#50)
Shining Stars (#52)
Alicia Fox (#54)
Dana Brooke (#56)
Curtis Axel (#58)
[/mks_one_half]
[mks_one_half]
Smackdown
Dean Ambrose (#2)
AJ Styles (#4)
John Cena (#7)
Randy Orton (#9)
Bray Wyatt (#11)
Becky Lynch (#13)
The Miz w/Maryse (#17)
Baron Corbin (#19)
American Alpha (#22)
Dolph Ziggler (#24)
Natalya (#27)
Alberto del Rio (#29)
The Usos (#32)
Kane (#34)
Kalisto (#37)
Naomi (#39)
The Ascension (#41)
Zack Ryder (#43)
Apollo Crews (#45)
Alexa Bliss (#47)
Breezango (#49)
Eva Marie (#51)
The Vaudevillains (#53)
Erick Rowan (#55)
Mojo Rawley (#57)
Carmella (#59)
[/mks_one_half]
[/mks_col]
The final Raw with the full roster and the reveal of the General Managers drew just 3,133,000, one of the lowest non-holiday numbers the show has done over the past two decades. It was down 37,000 viewers from last week’s show.
Hour one started with 3,204,000 viewers, followed by 3,236,000 in the second hour and then a drop to 2,960,000 viewers in the third and final hour. From hour two to hour three Raw lost over quarter of a million viewers and the WWE title match in the main event did not do anything to move the viewers.
Raw’s biggest competition was the Republican National Convention and the news broadcasts covering it. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
To celebrate the WWE Draft, WWE Shop is running a promotion using the code DRAFT to save 20% on replica championship titles, 25% off tank tops and 30% off t-shirts. The deal is only available for today and tomorrow and it ends at 11:59PM EST on July 20.
A bunch of merchandise from WWE Legends, Cruiserweight Classic, Brock Lesnar, Sasha Banks, John Cena, Enzo and Big Cass, Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, and many others are part of this mega sale.
To order go to http://w-o.it/wweshopcom and apply the code DRAFT before you check-out.
Smackdown tonight will have a WWE title match to make up for the controversial finish from last night’s Raw which saw Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose pinning each other.
After the main event match finished, Stephanie McMahon announced that Seth Rollins was the new WWE champion as Shane, Mick Foley, and Daniel Bryan argued between each other on the outcome of the match. Rollins grabbed the belt and headed back as the show faded to black. The re-match was then made during a WWE.COM exclusive video as Steph and Shane argued backstage on who won the match.
The WWE Draft will obviously be the main focus on tonight’s broadcast and the WWE Network will continue airing the Draft for another hour immediately after Smackdown airs as more WWE Superstars get assigned to each brand.
The season 2 premiere of Dwayne Johnson’s Ballers was not as a big hit as the first episode of the first season as on Sunday night the show did 1,585,000 viewers on HBO. Last season the premiere did 2,160,000 viewers however the show declined in viewers throughout the whole season and the final was seen by 1,400,000 viewers. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
WWE was hit with a massive lawsuit involving over 50 former WWE Superstars, some of which are part of the WWE Hall of Fame. It was filed Monday in federal court in New Haven, Connecticut.
The lawsuit was spearheaded by Konstantine Kyros, an attorney who has been on a war path against the McMahons and WWE for a few years now and has been aggressively collecting names to add to his class action lawsuit. It has the title of Laurinaitis v. World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.
The lawsuit states that the company “placed corporate gain over its wrestlers’ health, safety and financial security, choosing to leave the plaintiffs severely injured and with no recourse to treat their damaged minds and bodies.” The lawsuit also says that WWE knew of the great risk of diseases such as CTE which can result in suicide, drug abuse and violent behavior but did nothing to warn, educate or provide treatment to them.
WWE, upon learning of the lawsuit, said that they’re confident the judge will throw this one out of the window. “This is another ridiculous attempt by the same attorney who has previously filed class action lawsuits against WWE, both of which have been dismissed,” a statement read. “A federal judge has already found that this lawyer made patently false allegations about WWE, and this is more of the same.”
Interesting names in the lawsuit are Joe Laurinaitis, the man known as Road Warrior Animal who is the brother of WWE executive John Laurinaitis, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, who was just announced as not fit to stand trial in the murder of his mistress, and fellow Hall of Famer Paul Orndorff, who had a cameo appearance at WrestleMania XXX.
The full list of former Superstars suing includes Joe Laurinaitis (Road Warrior Animal), Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka (through his wife Carole Snuka), Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff, Salvador Guerrero III and IV (Chavo Guerrero Sr. and Jr.), Bryan Clark (Adam Bomb), Anthony Norris (Ahmed Johnson), James Harris (Kamala), Dave and Earl Hebner, Chris Pallies (King Kong Bundy), Ken Patera, Terry Brunk (Sabu), Barry Darrow (Demolition Smash / Repo Man), Bill Eadie (Demolition Ax), Jim Brunzell, Susan Green, Angelo Mosca, James Manley (Jim Powers), Mike Enos (Blake Beverly), Bruce Reed (Butch Reed), Carli Moore-Begnaud (Jazz), Sylvain Grenier, Omar Mijares (Omar Atlas), Don Leo Heaton (Don Leo Jonathan), Troy Martin (Shane Douglas), Marc Copani (Muhammad Hassan), Mark Canterbury (Henry O. Godwin), Victoria Otis (Princess Victoria), Judy Hardee (Judy Martin), Mark Jindrak, Brian Knighton (Axl Rotten), Marty Jannetty, Jon Heidenreich, Terry Szopinski (The Warlord), Sione Valhi (The Barbarian), Larry Oliver (Rip Oliver), Bobbi Billard, Timothy Smith (Timothy Well), Tracy Smothers, Mike Halac (Mantaur), Rick Jones (Black Bart), Ken Johnson (Slick), George Gray (One Man Gang / Akeem), Ferrin Jesse Barr (Jimmy Jack Funk), Lou Marconi, Rod Price, Don Driggers, Rodney Begnaud (Rodney Mack), Ronald Heard (Ron Bass), and Boris Zhukov.
The 9th WWE Draft will take place tonight on Smackdown, five years after the last one took place in 2011.
WWE started its draft concept back in 2002 after the company bought WCW and ECW and the invasion pretty much failed. To create competition, the brand was split into two separate tours. The following year there was no draft and the next one was set in 2004. In 2005 a month-long draft took place which saw John Cena moving Raw and Batista moving to Smackdown, switching the two champions.
There was no draft in 2006 and with the re-introduction of ECW, in 2007, 2008, and 2009 it was Raw vs Smackdown vs ECW competing for WWE Superstars.
In 2010 it was back to Raw vs Smackdown after ECW was canceled. The last draft took place in April 2011 with inter-promotional matches determining who gets a pick depending on the winners.
The brand extension ended in the Summer of 2011 after it was announced that Raw Superstars would be appearing on Smackdown and vice-versa moving forward. It will be interesting to see how many years this new brand extension will last!
Smackdown will be moving nights starting tonight as the show transitions to a live broadcast every Tuesday on USA Network.
While there have been live specials of Smackdown, the show has never been live every week and always taped on Tuesdays with an airing on Thursday or Friday night.
In theory, the move to live should help the company in its ratings as there will be no spoilers on the Internet. Smackdown has averaged 2.3 million viewers since moving to USA Network in early January and there has been a drop of 700,000 viewers from the first episode to last week.
Tonight’s episode should bring in good numbers considering the whole roster will be there and the draft being held as well. The real test starts from next week when the show starts with its limited roster.
Raw is getting a little bit of the Attitude Era as Mick Foley was announced as the new Raw General Manager last night by Stephanie McMahon.
This is not the first time that Foley was put in charge of Raw. Foley was WWF Commissioner between June and December 2000 and then from October to November 2001. In 2002 he was Raw General Manager for two weeks in December.
Foley has not worked full time for WWE since 2008 where he was serving as the color commentator for Smackdown. He returned in 2012 and was then inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013. In between those years he worked for TNA.
The former champ has been vocal against WWE’s storylines lately and regularly posts on Facebook his opinions. His son now also works for WWE as a creative writer assistant.
