Current WWE World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins was injured last night during the main event match against Kane in the first stop of the European tour in Dublin, Ireland.
Rollins went for a sunset flip from the top rope which was supposed to turn into a powerbomb through a table but he landed badly on his feet, injuring his knee. Kane stayed put on the ropes and Rollins quickly went back up while holding the ropes and powerbombed him anyway, an amazing feat when you consider that he did so with one working knee while holding a 300lbs man on his shoulders.
After driving Kane through the table, Rollins went back down holding his knee. After the match, trainers had to help Rollins backstage. The severity of the injury is not known yet.
Smackdown’s days on SyFy are numbered as the move to USA Network will come sooner than many expected.
Smackdown will officially move to USA Network on Thursday, January 7, keeping the same time slot of 8PM EST. From the following week, Smackdown will serve as the lead-in for USA Network’s new show Colony.
The news of Smackdown moving to USA Network was announced back April by USA Network President Chris McCumber and Vince McMahon.
There were rumors that WWE might be taking Smackdown live once it moves to USA but those rumors did not end up being true.
This marks the fifth time that Smackdown has changed networks since its inception in 1999. It started on UPN, then moved to The CW, MyNetworkTV, SyFy, and now USA Network.
Tatanka is not the only person who signed a WWE Legends deal this week as WWE Hall of Famer “Superstar” Billy Graham also announced he signed a new deal.
The Graham story is actually quite interesting as he has pretty much bashed the company ever since he was released from his first deal back in 2007. Graham was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004 and then let go three years later. Since then, Graham spoke against WWE at every opportunity and even sold his Hall of Fame ring.
“I am thrilled to report to all of you that Triple H, via a telephone conversation, has offered to give me an official WWE Legends contract. I of course said yes, and thank you very much,” Graham wrote on his Facebook page. He added that he already signed it and mailed it back so he’s officially back in the WWE family, “proving that miracles still happen!”
Graham noted that he went to the Smackdown tapings in Phoenix last week and met with WWE’s Mark Carrano to go over any potential opportunities for him.
“Mark Carrano is a real class act and gentleman and was very encouraging on the future release of my WWE merchandise sometime after the first of the year, along with attending WrestleMania 32,” the former champion wrote.
“So, I want to thank Triple H and Mark Carrano for making this exciting event happen for me. I am officially back home in the family of the WWE where I belong!”
Monday Night Raw this week broke a new record, the lowest it has been in 18 years for a non-holiday show. The three hour broadcast did a total of 3,248,000 viewers and a 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demo. It was down 105,000 viewers from last week.
Hour one pulled 3,375,000 viewers, followed by 3,180,000 in the second hour, and then 3,189,000 in the third and final hour. (Ratings credit: TV By The Numbers)
After the launch of the WWE Network this past Monday, India got some even bigger news as WWE and Ten Sports today announced that WWE is coming to town for two shows this coming January. This marks the first time in 13 years that WWE will be visiting India.
Both events – to be held on January 15 and 16 – will be held in New Delhi at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, the largest indoor sports arena in India and the third-largest in Asia.
A limited number of tickets will be available through a pre-sale from today at 1PM IST through Saturday at 11:59PM IST. Remaining tickets will go on-sale beginning Tuesday, November 10 at Noon IST at www.in.bookmyshow.com.
“WWE is delighted to return to India to bring its fans energetic, larger-than-life, live entertainment,” said Gerrit Meier, WWE President, International. “Fans can expect to see the same non-stop action and family fun that they know and love from watching WWE programming, including WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown on Ten Sports Network.”
Rajesh Sethi, Ten Sports Network CEO, said that the company has been delivering WWE programming for more than a decade and they are excited to build on this partnership with WWE to bring live events to the fans.
WrestleMania 31 in Santa Clara earlier this year generated $139 million in economic impact for the Santa Clara and San Jose region according a press release issued today by WWE, Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthews and San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo.
The study, conducted by the Enigma Research Corporation, marks the second largest economic impact in WrestleMania history, and the fourth consecutive year that WrestleMania generated more than $100 million in economic impact for its host region.
WrestleMania 31 also generated approximately $23.2 million in federal, state and local taxes.
“On behalf of the beautiful city of Santa Clara, I sincerely thank all WWE fans that visited Levi’s Stadium for WrestleMania 31,” said Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthews. “The event exceeded our expectations, and we would absolutely welcome the opportunity to once again host WWE’s marquee event.”
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo thanked WWE for choosing Silicon Valley to host WrestleMania and for its contributions to the community, and for driving economic benefit in the region.
The crowd of 76,976 fans from all 50 states and 53 countries spent $22 million on hotels and accommodation and an additional $6.2 million in restaurants. 78 percent of fans that attended WrestleMania were from outside the greater Santa Clara/San Jose region and stayed an average of 3.3 nights.
WWE and Samsung are teaming up to offer 360-degree virtual reality content on the Samsung Milk VR service which is available on the Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition by Oculus.
Fans can access two WWE virtual reality videos via the WWE 360 channel on Samsung Milk VR with the first video providing fans with a completely new experience, including a 360-degree look at highlights from SummerSlam weekend and the second video showing fans a look at key moments from the match between Finn Balor and Kevin Owens at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn.
“We are excited to bring our fans closer to the action through an immersive 360-degree viewing experience on Samsung Milk VR,” said Michelle Wilson, WWE Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer. “We strive to deliver innovative ways for our fans to engage and this is our first step in bringing virtual reality content to the WWE Universe.”
WrestleMania 32 tickets went on pre-sale earlier today at 10AM EST on Ticketmaster.com, two days before the full general sale. The pre-sale will continue till 11PM EST tomorrow.
All kinds of tickets are available including the US $2,360 ringside seats which also come with a commemorative chair. There are several pre-sale codes floating including RAWVIP, DOTCOM, WWEAPP, HHHVIP and TICKET.
A selection of 55 official platinum seats are also available on Ticketmaster.com with a pair of tickets starting from $1,500 all the way to $10,000.
Daniel Bryan is currently in India doing promotional work for WWE and teased a big announcement for the company in the country tomorrow.
WWE launched the WWE Network in India yesterday for $9.99 with the same version of the Network like the United States and the majority of the rest of the world with the exception that the 12 pay-per-views of the first year will not be live, but airing the next day. Starting in 2017 all pay-per-views will then air live on the Network as part of the $9.99 deal.
Bryan is still not cleared to compete and is currently tasked doing appearances on behalf of WWE when necessary.
Randy Orton’s shoulder problems are worse than initially thought and the former WWE champion is expected to be out of action for up to six months.
“Randy has suffered from a dislocated shoulder. He’s had chronic problems with his shoulder, and a recent MRI that was done found he has a Bankart lesion in his shoulder, some stretched ligaments and a partially torn rotator cuff,” WWE physician Dr. Steve Daquino told WWE.com. “At this point it’s a matter of when he dislocates the shoulder again, and not if. Surgery seems imminent, and recovery time for such a surgery would be four to six months.”
Unfortunately for Orton, the four to six month period falls in between WrestleMania next year in Dallas, meaning that most likely Orton would not be part of probably the biggest WWE event to-date.
Randy has been part of every WrestleMania since his first one at WrestleMania XX.
Chris Chavis, better known to wrestling fans as Tatanka, announced that he has signed a WWE Legends contract.
Tatanka made the announcement on his Twitter, adding that he would be seeing everyone in Dallas, Texas, next year.
The Native American started his WWE career in 1992 and did the undefeated streak gimmick on television for nearly a year. In 1994 he turned heel and joined the Million Dollar Corporation fronted by Ted DiBiase. He returned to the WWE at the end of 2005 and spent another year there.
A Legends contract will enable WWE to sell his merchandise and use him in other WWE-related activities and appearances.
AdAge.com has an article how NBC Universal WWE are trying to bring in more advertisers for USA Network as Smackdown moves to the network in the beginning of 2016.
Tag teaming to woo advertisers to the WWE product, WWE and NBC Universal managed to bring in 37 new advertisers to start promoting their brands during both Raw and Smackdown.
WWE’s move to TVPG has certainly helped in bringing in new advertisers and Dan Loving, the Executive Vice President of Advertising Sales at NBC Universal said that they had to redefine what WWE is to both advertisers and consumers.
Neil Vendetti, Executive Vice President of Zenith, an ad buying company, said that brands didn’t feel comfortable spending money on WWE but NBC asked them to go back to their clients and re-evaluate the reasons.
“It does a good rating, has amazing staying power and is relevant with younger audiences,” he said, adding that the franchise is easier to sell now.
Previously, WWE and NBC Universal met with advertisers and struck deals separately but now both parties are meeting together to provide bigger integration across all properties.
WWE will kick off its twice-a-year European tour tomorrow that will take WWE Superstars and Divas to 7 different countries for 20 shows in 11 days.
The whole tour will start at the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland, and then there will be two shows on November 5, one at the The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland, and one at the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.
On November 6 there will be one show at The O2 Arena in London, England, and one show at the Palau Olimpic Badalona in Barcelona, Spain. On November 7 it’s one at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England, and one at the Barclaycard Center in Madrid, Spain.
Both crews will be in England on November 8 with one show at the Liverpool Echo Arena in Liverpool and the other at the Genting Arena in Birmingham. On November 9 there’s Raw tapings in Manchester and the following day it’s Smackdown tapings also in Manchester. The other half of the roster will travel to Belfast, Northern Ireland, on November 10 for a show at the SSE Arena.
On November 11, it’s one show at the Brighton Centre in Brighton, England, one one in Rome, Italy, at the Palalottomatica. Newcastle, England, gets its show on November 12 at the Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, while the other crew stays in Italy for a show on the same day at the Unipol Arena in Bologna.
Germany gets its turn on November 13 with one show at the Leipzig Arena in Leipzig, and one show at the Nottingham Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, England. The final two shows will happen on November 14 with one show in Stuttgart, Germany, at the Porsche Arena, and one in Minehead, England, at the Butlins Arena.
With Roman Reigns now the new #1 Contender to Seth Rollins’ WWE World Heavyweight Championship, the only two questions remain are when and how? When will they wrestle, and what type of match will it be?
The Wyatt’s have been on a mission to rid the WWE of “The Brothers Of Destruction,” Undertaker and Kane, and have been successful so far. They want to once again be “the new faces of fear,” what will they do tonight to continue their way?
Will the Tag-Team division heat up again and produce new challengers to The New Day? Since Team B.A.D. helped Paige in her match with Natalya last week on Smackdown!, does this mean the former “Diva Of Tomorrow” and new bad-girl is a new member of Beautiful and Dangerous?
All this and much more I’m sure will go down, so read on!
Monday Night Raw TV Report for November 2nd, 2015 – “Meeting Your Match”
Introduction Segment: Welcoming and Arena Promo
Michael Cole addresses us, then the music of Roman Reigns plays, who makes his way through the fans. The “superman” of WWE talks about being next in line to take on Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Title, which will happen at Survivor Series. (That answers question number one!) (Note: appropriately Roman gets a great amount of cheers while Seth receives mega-boos.) He does credit Rollins for being champion since WrestleMania, but also berates him for being a “brown noser” and “kissing The Authority’s ass.” (Same thing isn’t it?) He proclaims that he will defeat Rollins and “reign” as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
The current one interrupts, standing on stage. Seth Rollins denies Roman, saying that he will not lose to his former Shield partner. Much like Reigns, Rollins does also put over his opponent as a strong competitor for matching Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, until Rollins himself interjected and used his Money In The Bank briefcase to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. “When it comes to you and me, yeah you’re good, but you’re going to be second-best, always. And these people, they will only remember you as the guy who used to carry my bags.”
Roman threatens to start it up with Rollins right away, but The Authority stop it. They tease giving the fans the 1 – 1 encounter, but relinquish it, saying they will not make a huge match like that just for television. Instead, Triple H and Stephanie book a traditional Survivor Series Five-On-Five Tag-Team match, pitting Rollins and four teammates of his choosing against Roman Reigns and his four partners.
Later tonight, a Fatal-4-Way between Paige, Brie Bella, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch determines who will take on Charlotte for the Divas Championship at Survivor Series; and more with the Wyatt Family and their demolition of Undertaker and Kane. Up next, Dolph Ziggler is wrestling Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens!
Commercials.
Match #1: Single – Dolph Ziggler VS. Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens (Non-Title)
Owens kicks at Dolph’s left knee immediately and begins to work it over. Ziggler tries to comeback with a small headbutt, but is down again. He kicks Kevin off, but misses a splash, however rolls out of the way of Owens’ running senton and drives him to the canvas with the Leaping-DDT! The I.C. Champ falls to the floor, then Tyler Breeze and Summer Rae make their way down.
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During the break, Breeze and Rae’s entrance distracted Dolph, allowing Owens to capitalize. He has controlled the bout from then on and wears down Ziggler. Owens runs to Dolph in the corner, but Ziggler moves and clotheslines Kevin down. “The Show-Off” gets some momentum and trades roll-ups for near-falls. He hits a superkick but only gets two. Tyler is picturing himself, which averts Dolph’s attention, and lets Kevin to slam him with the Pop-Up Powebomb and cover for the victory!
Winner via Pinfall: Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens
Post-match, Tyler goes to picture himself with a laid-out Ziggler, but “The Show-Off” slaps back. Breeze drops him on the mat with the Beauty Shot spin-kick, then he and Summer pose over a prone Dolph and take a “selfie.”
Segment #2: Video Promo
A montage of 1987, the year Survivor Series started, is shown, of course featuring footage of the show itself as well as other moments in those 365 days.
Commercials.
Segment #3: Backstage Promo
Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens is walking through the halls when WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins walks up. He entices Owens about picturing the two wrestling at WrestleMania in a Title-for-Title match, which definitely pleases the I.C. Champ. Owens then agrees to be on Rollins’ team.
Segment #4: Video Promo and Backstage Promo
The events of Paige’s heel turn is recalled and Rene Young interviews Becky Lynch. She reminds Lynch that if she is victories, then it will be her taking on her friend Charlotte for the Divas championship at Survivor Series. Before Becky can respond, Brie walks in and puts her down, but Lynch fires back with disparaging comments about Nikki instead. Brie walks away and Lynch is happy.
Cesaro enters the arena for his match, next!
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Match #2: Single – Cesaro VS. The Miz
They lockup and Cesaro rolls out of a wrist-lock, kipping-up multiple times, then flipping Miz over into a wrist-lock of his own. They run at each other off the ropes, then Cesaro gets Miz mid-air and turns him around with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. He goes for repeated uppercuts in the corner, but Miz escapes to the outside then rams Cesaro into the barricade. He takes over for a bit, but is soon caught in a spine-buster and swung around 25times! Cesaro ties Miz up in The Sharpshooter, forcing him to tap-out!
Winner via Submission: Cesaro
Up next, The Wyatt Family will be out to make their latest statements.
Commercials.
Segment #5: Arena Promo
Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erik Rowan, and Braun Strowman stroll to the ring. Bray does all the talking, with the other three standing behind him. He declares himself to now have all the powers of the Undertaker and Kane, which are the “thunder,” “lighting,” and “forces of darkness.” Bray tells us that he will set our humanity on fire and have go to “hell.” Pyro blasts on stage at this point, then a video compilation of ‘Taker and Kane’s greatest hits is shown, from 1997 – 2012. It ends in a swirl, which appears to be “sucked into” Bray. He is kneeling and yells “follow the buzzards.”
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Match #3: Tag-Team – The Lucha Dragons (Sin Cara and Kalisto) VS. King Barrett and Sheamus
Sheamus and Kalisto start out, with Kalisto hitting Sheamus with fast moves. Sheamus hits back with a shoulder-block, then tags in Barrett who kicks Kalisto in the gut. He repeats the kick again in the corner, the suplexes him out of it. Cara is now in, and he and Kalisto double-team Barrett in the corner with a flipping-front-splash, but Barrett regains domination over Kalisto.
Commercials.
King is still governing the contest over Kalisto, until he makes the hot-tag to Cara, who flies all over Barrett and Sheamus. He goes tot the top turnbuckle but is distracted by Barrett, allowing Sheamus to push Sin down. Kalisto breaks up the subsequent pin attempt, but King continues the punishment. He rams into the barrier then clamps on a chinlock.
Barrett whips Cara in the corner then kicks him with a smack in the gut and switches with his Irish partner. “Mr. Money In The Bank” chucks Sin with a front-suplex. He whales away on Cara’s chest with the 10 Beats Of The Bowron, then lets Barrett knee him and hit a big boot. Wade goes for a suplex, but Cara reverses into a driving-DDT, and makes the hot-tag!
Kalisto is in a again and almost takes this, but Sheamus disrupts. Cara puts Sheamus to the floor, and Barrett boots Sin to the ground too. King winds up for the Bullhammer Elbow, but Kalisto turns around into his finisher to finish this one!
Winners via Pinfall: The Lucha Dragons
Segment #6: Locker Room Promo
Zeb Colter is shown texting in his scooter when Jack Swagger walks up. His former protégé wonders what is up with the partnership with United States Champion Alberto Del Rio, to which Colter tries to convince Swagger that he is trying to combine Mexico and America, as both have many prospects on the positive side. Jack seems to not entirely buy into it, and Del Rio walks up to warn Swagger to “stay away.”
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Match #4: Single – R-Truth VS. United States Champion Alberto Del Rio (with Zeb Colter) (Non-Title)
Truth gets some decent offense in, but Alberto is too strong and gets the 1 – 2 – 3 after a second-turnbuckle double-stomp!
Winner via Pinfall: United States Champion Alberto Del Rio (with Zeb Colter)
Segment #7: Video Promo
Another Survivor Series/year recap is shown, this one from 2005.
Commercials.
Segment #8: Backstage Promo
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins meets Tag-Team Champions The New Day, who want to be on Team Rollins. He reluctantly agrees, not wanting to be enticed with their usual antics.
Segment #9: Locker Room Promo
JoJo inquires Sasha Banks about the “we want Sasha” chants from the crowds, which she speculates puts a lot of “pressure” on her. Banks lives up to it, as she is “The Boss” and says that the rest of the Divas in the Fatal-4-Way will find out that she is “The Boss,” like Natalya did on Smackdown! She pokes fun at JoJo before walking off.
Becky Lynch makes her entrance for the Fatal-4-Way, next!
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Match #5: Fatal-4-Way To Determine The #1 Contender To The Divas Championship – Becky Lynch VS. Sasha Banks VS. Brie Bella VS. Paige
Brie and Becky go at it, then Brie and Sasha fight over the cover. Paige watches on, then is pounded on by Becky and put to the outside. Banks throws Brie into the corner then focuses on Lynch, who wiggles out of a slam and puts Sasha into a few pin positions for near-falls.
Brie is in her “mode,” then Paige and Becky brawl on the floor, with Paige throwing Lynch into the steel steps. Brie pushes Paige off the apron, but is dropped in the ring with Sasha’s springboard-double-knees.
Commercials.
Brie gives both Becky and Paige kicks-to-the-chest, then Sasha comes back in. A “Tower Of Doom” (double-suplex and powerbomb, all out of the corner) is orchestrated with Lynch powerbombing Paige and Brie as they double-suplexed Banks from the top rope!
Becky is up first and cleans house, but is soon taken down with the Bank Statement Submission. Paige breaks it up, then picks up the spot after giving Lynch the Ram-Paige DDT!
Winner via Pinfall and NEW #1 Contender To The Divas Championship: Paige
Post-match, Byron Saxton interviews her, but is quickly shot-down, as are the fans as well as Becky, Sasha, and Brie. She yells her signature “this is my house,” then dismisses Saxton.
Segment #9: Video Promo
2014 moments and Survivor Series is reviewed.
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Segment #10: Backstage Promo
Divas Champion Charlotte is questioned by Rene about Paige. Charlotte is happy that Paige will be the one meeting her at Survivor Series, so she can show her that just because she has a famous father and family, she did not get it easy. “She’s going to learn the hard way that I earned this!”
Tag-Team Champions The New Day make their entrance for the main-event. Prior, they tout Xavier’s return and many of their favorites that contain the word “survivor.” The Tag-Team bout is next!
Commercials.
Match #6: Ten-Man Elimination Tag-Team (Survivor Series Rules) – Tag-Team Champions The New Day (Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Big E.), Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins VS. Roman Reigns and ???
Since Roman has not revealed his partners until now. The first are The Usos! Roman’s family makes their long return in fine form with their traditional Samoan entrance; next is Ryback, and lastly (but very-predictably) is Dean Ambrose,
Jimmy and Xavier begin, with Jimmy giving Woods a quick superkick! He tags in his brother, who rockets off the top turnbuckle with a splash and gets the fast 1 – 2 – 3!
Woods is eliminated; Rollins’ Team 4, Reigns’ Team 5
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Jey is still in, but being quadruple-teamed in the corner with stomps. Owens locks on a grounding chinlock, then Kofi kicks at the Uso twin and wears him down. He climbs the turnbuckle, but is upper-cutted as he dove off. Jey tags in Jimmy, who is all over Kofi with a Samoan Drop. Both Usos soar over the top rope with a splash on Big E. and Kofi; Jimmy follows with a Frogsplash on Kofi and covers to take him out!
Kingston is eliminated; Rollins’ Team 3, Reigns’ Team 5
Big soon plants the Big Ending on Jey and eliminates him.
Jey is eliminated; Rollins’ Team 3, Reigns’ Team 4
Kevin follows up with the Pop-Up Powerbomb on Jimmy and sends him to the back.
Jimmy is eliminated; Rollins’ Team 3, Reigns’ Team 3
Reigns and Owens wrestle, then Rollins gets involved but is put on the floor with a clothesline and rocketing-dive by Ambrose! Big clotheslines Dean, then Ryback tackles Big E!, and Rollins distracts Reigns before he can hit the Superman Punch, and Kevin benefits with a superkick.
Commercials.
Rollins is now controlling Roman, almost abolishing him with a DDT! He deteriorates Reigns with a grounding chinlock, but Reigns battles back. Seth counters and continues to beat down Roman, then tags in Kevin. The I.C. Champ punches away after a senton and cover, then kicks at Reigns’ back.
Roman keeps on getting punished until he gets some motivation and hurls Rollins to the floor! He makes the hot-tag to Ryback, who is all over Big E, until he is clotheslined down too. This breaks down, leaving Ryback and Big E. in the ring; Ryback takes him out after a Shellshock!
Big E. is eliminated; Rollins’ Team 2; Reigns Team 3
Rollins quickly Pedigrees Ryback and gets him away!
Ryback is eliminated; Rollins’ Team 2; Reigns’ Team 2
Seth attempts a Pedigree on Ambrose, but “The Lunatic Fringe” backdrops him. He goes for the tag, but Rollins knocks Reigns off the apron. Dean is fired up, however, and dives off the top turnbuckle with an elbow! Rollins gets his shoulder up before three, then hits an Enziguri and mini-superkick, but is hammered on by Reigns! Kevin is back in, who works over Ambrose with Rollins for a while.
Seth Kevin keep double-teaming Ambrose until Rollins misses a top-rope knee and hits Owens instead! Dean tosses Seth to the floor and hits the Dirty Deeds DDT to Owens, eliminate
Owens is eliminated; Rollins’ Team 1; Reigns’ Team 2
The WWE World Heavyweight Champion is left with Reigns and Ambrose. He tries but the two-on-one is too much for him until he gets a chair and whacks Dean with it in the gut, dq-ing himself.
Rollins is eliminated; Rollins’ Team 0; Reigns’ Team 2
Winners via Disqualification: Roman Reigns, The Usos (Jimmy and Jey), Ryback, and Dean Ambrose
Post-match, Seth tries to attack again but Roman hits the Superman Punch, sending Rollins to run up the ramp. Reigns and Dean gather themselves as Rollins smirks and looks on from the stage to close the show.
End Of Raw.
Reporter’s Rumblings
This was another great Raw, both action-wise and general storyline-fluidity. Only a few minor dealings I have, but definitely a lot better than worse! Onto those particulars:
Excellence: matches between Ziggler/Owens, Cesaro/Miz (although, I do wish it was a bit longer), Dragons and Sheamus/Barrett, and Survivor Series. All were wrestled very well, even surprisingly the Dragons/Barrett/Sheamus bout, and told a great story. Again, Owens especially good at playing up his bad guy character during the match by yelling at the crowd and mocking his opponents.
Promos of Reigns, Rollins, Rollins recruiting, Zeb, Sasha, Paige, and Charlotte. I’m liking the relationship between Zeb and Del Rio, and it is very nice to see Roman getting the support of fans again; let’s hope they stay on his side for a long while!
Very happy to see Xavier back! While both Kofi and Big E have been awesome without him, Xavier does add so much more!
Tyler Breeze is going to be a major star! This should be a one-off match/feud with Ziggler, then he needs to continue to move on up.
Bray’s promo was epic and his delivery is getting more powerful week-by-week; I’m starting to re-think my side on if this was appropriate after he already lost to ‘Taker at Wrestlemania. I now think it is, as the 25th Anniversary of The Undertaker’s debut is bigger than WrestleMania this year, so why not have Bray take over “The Deadman” at this enormous event instead? The build is going well, so let’s wish it to stay that way. Again, I still want an Eight-Man, with The Wyatt Family taking on “Taker, Kane, Sting, and someone else.
The Uso’s return was again a true, nice surprise and it is great to have them back! They looked in great shape and will hopefully go on to have more superb bouts.
Liking the Survivor Series card so far, but am definitely hoping they add the Tag-Team Eliminations matches.
Bogus: while the Fatal-4-Way was wonderfully-wrestled, Nikki should’ve been in there instead. She has not had her official rematch yet, and she even won last week, so to me this should earn her the right to at least be in the match to see who faces Charlotte!
The only problem I had with Wyatt’s promo was the pyro at the end; it seemed more like opening-Raw pyro instead of “cryptic,” in which they should’ve used fire instead.
Wanted a Del Rio promo instead of R-Truth losing to him.
In general, loved this edition and hope they persist with most of this direction! Until Smackdown!, Be Excellent Wrestling-Online Readers and Fans!
The pre-sale for WrestleMania 32 kicks off on November 4 at 10AM EST with potentially up to 100,000 tickets up for sale by the time general public sale starts on Friday.
Three available codes so far for the pre-sale are RAWVIP, DOTCOM, WWEAPP, HHHVIP and TICKET. The pre-sale ends on November 5 at 10PM EST. More codes will be added as they become available. The Dallas Cowboys pre-sale for November 3 is COWBOYS.
There will be 13 different prices for the event – $35, $50, $75, $100, $125, $175, $200, $250, $300, $400, $850, $1,000, and $2,000. All prices quoted exclude the 18% tax and handling fee with the cheapest seat having an additional $17 fee and the highest priced ticket having an additional $370 fee. There will also be tickets for $18 which are rumored to be standing-room only.
During the pre-sale, fans can purchase up to 4 tickets while during general public sale you can get up to 8 tickets. Tickets go on sale to the general public on November 6 at 10AM EST. Tickets can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com.
Judge Kelly L. Banach who is presiding over the Jimmy Snuka court case issued a gag order on all participants from both sides after Chief Deputy District Attorney Charles Gallagher III requested it following statements he called “blasphemous” by Snuka’s defense team last month.
Gallagher also said that he was contacted by the NBC show Dateline to tape something for the case with defense attorney Robert Kirwan acknowledging that the Argentino family is working with the network for an episode.
The Judge said that she would not permit this case to be tried in the press and ordered everyone not to speak publicly about the case outside the courtroom. Proceedings will remain public.
The defense attorney is also pushing for an out-of-county jury due to the media attention the case got according to Sarah Cass of Lehigh Valley Live.
Snuka is suffering from stomach cancer and also from dementia and defense will try and present Snuka as not fit to stand trial. Another hearing is set for December.
In an interview with Chris Van Vliet of WSVN-TV in Miami, former WWE champion Dave Bautista spoke about what he wants to return to the WWE, clearly not closing down the door for a potential return.
Bautista, who was doing the interview to promote the James Bond Spectre movie, said that he did not enjoy his last WWE run as he wanted to be the heel but the creative team wanted him to be the face, leading to many conflicts backstage over the way his character was going.
He called himself the “worst babyface ever” but he’s a good heel as he knows how to be a heel. He told WWE from the start that he did not want to come in as a babyface but that wasn’t what the company had in their plans.
“I was just constantly butting heads with them creatively, which is something we talked about well beforehand and I was promised things that weren’t delivered to me,” he said, adding that when they tried to shove him down everybody’s throats, the fans “rebelled.”
When asked if he’d go back to WWE on his terms, Bautista said, “Oh yeah. I love WWE and I’ve proven I wouldn’t wrestle anywhere else. I feel like wrestling anywhere else is a step down.”
He said that while he’d love to go back, they’re very hard to deal with and right now his passion is acting. He said if the opportunity comes up and he’s okay with creative, he’ll go.
“I would do this in a heartbeat, without, I don’t want big money, I don’t want a limited schedule, if they would allow me to go back and just do house shows, I’d be all over it,” Bautista said much to the surprise of the interviewer. “You skip all the red tape, you don’t have to deal with creative, writers, all that bullshit. Just go back do your thing and my thing is wrestling.”
WWE Hall of Famer Alundra Blayze, who prefers to go by the name of Madusa, is having a online feud with former two time Divas champion Paige and the two have been going at it for quite a while.
In a message posted on her Instagram over the weekend, Madusa said that she knows what Paige “did” to Nattie and thinks that she “hates” the bond that she and Neidhart have since the night of the Hall of Fame.
“I know you have your eye on the real women’s championship. I still hold this title and I have never been beat,” Madusa told Paige. “Perhaps I’ve been warming up my German Suplex so I can drill your happy ass once and for all into the mat so you can learn a valuable lesson. You’re not fooling anybody with that backwards British accent, untrusting pinky shaking, freaky FAKE laugh saying you’re everyone’s friend again.”
Paige replied on her Twitter, telling Madusa that she’s more than welcome to step through the ropes and used the hashtag #IWontDumpMyChampionshipInTheTrash in reference to Madusa dumping the WWE Women’s title in the trash in an episode of Nitro.
Last month Madusa called the Divas roster over rated and said that half of them can’t wrestle and even mocked Paige for the “pipe bomb” that she did on Raw.
“Superfly” Jimmy Snuka was arraigned this morning in Lehigh County Court for the killing of his mistress Nancy Argentino, a case from 1983 which went cold until it was re-opened by the District Attorney following an investigative report in the Morning Call newspaper.
Snuka’s lawyers entered a plea of not guilty before Judge Kelly L. Banach.
A preliminary hearing set for last month was bypassed to fast track the case in front of a jury. The prosecution filed the motion to bypass and Snuka’s lawyers agreed.
The 72 year old former professional wrestler was charged on September 1 with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter after a grand jury determined he repeatedly assaulted Argentino in the former George Washington Motor Lodge in Whitehall Township, then left her in bed to die.
Snuka posted 10% of the $100,000 bail the day he was arrested after turning himself in. His ex-wife picked up the tab.
In a post on her Facebook, Lauryn McBride who is Jerry “The King” Lawler’s girlfriend, said that the two were involved in a car crash yesterday on their way home.
“A girl ran a red light and hit us totaling the car,” Lauryn wrote. “I think Jerry is superman…not a scratch or anything…he tried to cover me to save me from the airbag before it deployed.”
While Lawler is fine, his girlfriend ended up drawing the short end of the stick, with swelling on her face, and knee problems resulting in her wearing a brace and staying on crutches for a while.
