Here are the results from last night’s WWE Network special from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York.
Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler defeated Rusev and Sheamus; Neville defeated Stardust; Team Bella defeated Team PCB; Kevin Owens defeated Chris Jericho to retain the Intercontinental title; The Dudley Boyz defeated The New Day via DQ so New Day retained the Tag Team titles; Brock Lesnar defeated The Big show; John Cena defeated Seth Rollins in a steel cage match to retain the United States title.
There were over 19,000 fans inside Madison Square Garden for this televised house show. Rich Brennan, Byron Saxton, and JBL took care of the live commentary while Eden Stiles did the ring announcing.
TNA referee will be getting inducted in the TNA Hall of Fame tonight during the non-televised live event in Salem, Virginia.
With this induction, Hebner will become the first referee to enter a professional wrestling Hall of Fame and his 27 year career certainly deserves the honor. TNA Senior Producer Billy Corgran will induct Earl while Jeremy Borash will be emceeing the event.
A video of his induction will air tomorrow during the Bound For Glory pay-per-view. Hebner becomes the second man inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame this year following Jeff Jarrett a few months ago. Hebner joins Sting, Kurt Angle, Jarrett, and Team 3D in the TNA Hall of Fame.
The second Hell In A Cell match at the HIAC pay-per-view was made official by WWE.COM yesterday as Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt will take their feud up a notch by wrestling inside the steel structure.
The two have been feuding since the Money In The Bank pay-per-view as Wyatt prevented Reigns from grabbing the briefcase for a shot at the WWE World Heavyweight title and have basically worked together since July, inserting others in the program such as Dean Ambrose, Luke Harper, Chris Jericho, and the introduction of Braun Strowman.
The other Hell In A Cell match will be the main event with The Undertaker taking on Brock Lesnar to most likely close the chapter on this particular feud. The last time these two wrestled inside a HIAC, Lesnar came out victorious and retained the WWE title back in 2002.
The WWE 24 series on the WWE Network returns Monday night after Raw with a special look at the making of NXT Takeover: Brooklyn. WWE did three 24 specials and then stopped the series despite its rave reviews. The previous three specials were about WrestleMania XXX, Booker T, and Roman Reigns and his journey to WrestleMania 31.
A new Table For 3 episode will also air next week featuring a discussion between Dean Ambrose, Cesaro, and Kevin Owens, three of the most loved WWE Superstars by the Internet wrestling community. This episode airs on Wednesday night.
Also WWE announced that NXT Takeover: Respect will be extended by 30 minutes, with a total running time of two and a half hours.
We are pleased to announce that WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross will be our special guest at The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, during WrestleMania 32 weekend and will be doing an exclusive live show for Wrestling-Online.com readers and guests on Saturday, April 2, starting at 9:30AM.
The show, to be held at the Maple Conference Room in the lobby level of The Ritz-Carlton hotel, will include a Q&A session as well as one-on-one photo and autograph opportunities. The event is limited to 50 people only to make this an intimate, exclusive event. Jim Ross will also be giving away freebies to everyone in attendance.
If you are a guest at The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, and used our promo code to book your stay, you can input your booking number as a coupon to receive $5 off for each ticket you purchase. Tickets are $50 for non-guests. Tickets are now available online at http://store.wrestling-online.com/.
Tickets are also available for the round trip bus charter from The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, to AT&T Stadium on WrestleMania Sunday.
The WWE Network will air a live special event from Madison Square Garden tonight starting at 8PM EST which will be headlined by former WWE World Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar.
The full card has not been announced yet but matches which are known so far include Brock Lesnar vs Big Show, John Cena vs Seth Rollins for the United States title in a steel cage, Rnady Orton vs Sheamus, Kevin Owens vs Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental title, Dolph Ziggler vs Rusev, and The New Day vs Dudley Boyz for the Tag Team titles. Others listed as appearing are Kane, Mark Henry, Stardust, Bella Twins and more.
This is the second house show that the WWE is broadcasting live on the WWE Network following the huge success of the live event from Tokyo, Japan, on the 4th of July.
Eva Marie is getting a lot of heat online as her match yesterday against Carmella during the NXT live event in Nashville ended up after she botched a move, knocking out her opponent with a kick to the head.
The referee threw the X hand sign as soon as the match went for the finish and photos taken during the incident show two referees and a WWE doctor attending to Carmella. Eva Marie had the kind of heat that screams “get out of the ring” rather than heel heat as her popularity with the WWE fans continues to diminish.
The “All Red Everything” Diva is often referred by fans as the “All Botch Everything” due to her inability to wrestle. Fans on the balcony held up a sign that read, “If Eva Marie is here we riot,” and Eva went up on the ropes and posed in front of the section that was holding the sign. She is being trained by Brian Kendrick in Los Angeles, California.
WWE’s NXT brand is in Nashville today for a non-televised live event at the War Memorial Auditorium, the first time that NXT has gone to the state of Tennessee.
The show is not sold out yet however very few limited tickets remain to see all the favorite NXT Superstars and Divas including Finn Balor, Bayley, Samoa Joe, Tyler Breeze, Enzo Amore, Cass, Carmella, and others.
Speaking of NXT champion Finn Balor, he uploaded a photo on his Twitter account today doing the DX crotch chop right in front of the TNA head office with the TNA sign on top of him. The only thing that accompanied the photo was, “#NXTNashville.” Somehow that photo managed to remain up and was not told to pull it down since WWE does not even acknowledge TNA. You can check it out below.
Thursday Night Smackdown TV Report for October 1st, 2015 – “(Beaten) Six-Ways From Thursday”
Introduction Segment: Video Promo and Arena Promo
Monday Night Raw is recapped, featuring Kane’s evaluation and the subsequent assault by WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, along with “The Demon’s” return and decimation of Rollins.
Rich Brennan welcomes us to Albany and the WWE World Heavyweight Champion’s music plays immediately. Seth Rollins protests Kane still being the Director Of Operations when he knows well enough that “The Demon” is Kane. He demands that “The Big Red Monster” come out and acknowledge this.
Kane obliges, in his corporate attire and hopping out on crutches. Seth accuses him of having a split personality and tells him that he needs “psychiatric help.” Kane reverses the allegation and says that since Rollins has been having a few bad days himself, then he will team up with a happy-go-lucky Tag-Team Champions The New Day in a Six-Man Tag to go against The Dudley Boyz and “The Demon” himself. Rollins will only take the match if Kane agrees to be at ringside; the Director Of Operations joyfully agrees!
Team Bella make their entrance and will be wrestling next!
Commercials.
Match #1: Six-Diva Tag-Team – Team Bella (Brie and Nikki Bella, and Alicia Fox) VS. Team B.AD.. (Sasha Banks, Naomi, and Tamina)
Prior to the bout, Team B.A.D. cut a promo about the whole debate on who began the Divas Revolution.
Brie and Sasha begin with shoves back-and-forth. Brie slaps Banks, then Sasha sweeps her up and punches away. She rams her head into the turnbuckle, but Brie reverses and does the same, then sweeps the leg. She also kicks away, much like her husband Daniel Bryan, but is caught in a roll-up for two! Sasha puts Brie in the corner, and her and Naomi double-team with a rear-end splash.
Tamina is tagged in and double-clotheslines Brie and Alicia, then Nikki comes in and faces off with Tamina. She uses her power with a clothesline and a Samoan Drop, then climbs the turnbuckle. Alicia and Brie pull Nikki out of the ring, but Naomi and Sasha hit Brie and Alicia to the floor.
Ads.
Nikki and Naomi are wrestling, when this breaks down quickly. On the outside, Nikki puts Naomi back in the ring and wears her down with a grounding reverse chinlock. Alicia now does the same, with a surfboard stretch, but Naomi battles out. Both give each other a clothesline and crawl for the hot-tags. It’s Sasha and Nikki, both going at it. Sasha manages to lock Nikki in the Bank Statement, forcing her to tap!
Winners via Submission: Team B.A.D.
Commercials.
Segment #2: Backstage Promo
Rollins is walking when he is met by a clapping New Day. The Tag-Team Champions try to convince the WWE World Heavyweight Champion that clapping is great and will be better for him. He tries it and it actually works, so all four clap their way off screen. Kane appears and also seems happy.
Segment #3: Backstage Promo
Jojo greets Divas Champion Charlotte and Becky Lynch. They take a look back at their match from Raw, where Paige joined them and then left. They wonder what has happened since the Divas Revolution started in the summer. Paige then walks in; Becky and Charlotte tell her she needs to make a decision on who’s team she is on. They walk away, and Paige turns around into Natalya. She warns Paige that Paige not better “disrespect” her anymore.
Ads.
Match #2: Single for the Intercontinental Championship – Ryback (Challenger) VS. Kevin Owens (Champion)
Kevin rolls to the floor and Ryback follows, but Owens gets back in the ring and hammers away. Ryback catches him off the ropes with a scoop-slam, then suplexes him and holds him up for a few seconds. The challenger repeatedly shoulder-rams the I.C. Champ in the corner, but Owens counters. He runs off the ropes but is put to the mat with a Lou Thesz press. Ryback runs at Kevin in the corner, but Owens moves and Ryback hits the ring post shoulder-first; Owens takes advantage.
Commercials.
Kevin is still in control, elbowing Ryback, then senton-splashing him on the canvas. He works him over for a bit, then they both slug away. Owens whips Ryback into the corner and mocks his catchphrase “feed me more;” this allows Ryback to comeback with a flurry. Owens hits back with a kick square-to-the-face, but only gets two! Ryback counters with a spinebuster and gears up for the Meathook Clothesline! He picks him up for the Shellshock, but Owens holds onto the ropes and both go to the outside. They give each other a clothesline and the referee starts the count. Ryback gets back in the ring, and Owens just about does, but second-guesses and decides to stay out, forcing himself to be counted out to keep his I.C. Title
Winner via Count-Out: Ryback
Post-match, Ryback does not take kindly to Kevin’s methods, and drops him with a Shellshock in the ring.
Ads.
Segment #4: Video Promo
The Big Show and Brock Lesnar’s rivalry is re-aired.
Match #3: Six-Man Tag-Team – The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara) and Neville VS. The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) and Stardust
Viktor and Cara are first, with Viktor taking Sin down with a wasitlock slam. He goes to powerbomb Cara, but is reversed into a hurricanrana. Stardust is tagged in and Cara flies over him too, then switches with Neville and they double-team him. Both teams end up on the outside and face-off.
Commercials.
Neville is in the ring with Viktor, but is slammed down hard from the second turnbuckle. Stardust and The Ascension pick apart Neville until Kalisto is tagged in. He counters a reverse-suplex by Stardust into a DDT for a near-fall! Cara soars through the ropes on The Ascension. Konnor tags in but is put to the mat with Kalisto’s flip-over reverse DDT for the 1 – 2 – 3!
Winners via Pinfall: The Lucha Dragons and Neville
The announcer’s recap Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns’ match from Monday, and Wyatt will be out next to talk about Reigns.
Ads.
Segment #5: Arena Promo
The Wyatt Family strolls to the ring. Bray recounts Monday’s battle with Roman and concludes “anyone but you.” Reigns answers, walking through the crowd and facing off with Bray in the ring. Braun and Luke surround Reigns, but all Roman does is say three words: “Hell In A Cell!” He walks off and glares back at the trio.
Commercials.
Match #4: Six-Man Tag-Team – Tag-Team Champions The New Day (Kofi Kingston, and Big E.) (with Tag-Team Champion New Day partner Xavier Woods) and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins VS. The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) and “The Demon” Kane
(Note: Director Of Operations Kane is sitting at ringside.) Kofi and D-Von start, then Kofi quickly tags in Big E. D-Von is cornered quickly and triple-teamed. New Day and Rollins control this bout for a bit.
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Seth and New Day are still dominating until Rollins decides to dive through the ropes and hits Kane. A ringside attendant rushes over and helps Kane to the back. Rollins follows and orders Kane to get back in the chair by the table, but Kane looks back and smiles wickedly then continues to backstage.
The Dudleys make a comeback and shortly after, “Demon” Kane appears! He goes after Rollins, but the WWE World Heavyweight Champion escapes through the fans. Back in the squared circle, Kofi gets 3-D’ed and covers by Bubba Ray for the victory!
Winners via Pinfall: The Dudley Boyz and “The Demon” Kane
Post-match, “Demon” goes after everyone and puts all the other wrestlers except Rollins to the mat with a big boot, Chokeslams, and a Tombstone. He holds the WWE World Heavyweight Title high again and sets his corner pyro off, while Seth looks on from the ramp and yells “that’s my title” to close the show.
End Of Smackdown!
Reporter’s Rumblings
This was a pretty-good Smackdown! Lots of great wrestling, and some decent promos/setups. Onto the analysis:
Excellence: all the matches – loved the action and they were well-put together for the most part. Promos by Rollins/Kane/New Day/Bray/Roman. The whole segment with The Wyatt Family and Reigns was very well-done and suspenseful; they played it out very well, and I actually thought that Roman was going to shake Bray’s hand and/or join The Family.
Kevin Owens doing the little things in matches that add so much more – yelling at/mocking Ryback, calling him names, and deciding to get counted out to save his title and not care about winning a match. This shows how seasoned and smart he is to tell a story in the ring.
Loving the story between Rollins and Kane(s). They are telling it very well, and my Dad brought up the idea of doing a Triple-Threat at Hell In The Cell with Rollins and Kane(s). Same with anything The New Day is involved with – they can do everything right!
Bogus: while I did like the in-ring wrestling, I thought there were too many Six-Person tags; I would’ve liked more singles instead.
Again, the match itself was good with the Divas, but I felt their interview with Jojo fell a little flat.
All-in-all, I enjoyed Smackdown! again this week. Let’s hope they keep it up next week! Until Raw, Be Excellent Wrestling-Online Readers and Fans!
The WWE United States champion John Cena has been taken off from several live events as he will be spending time away from the ring due to personal reasons according to the Wrestling Observer.
It seems like that Cena will be gone from the night after Hell In A Cell and for the full month of November and will also be missing the big money-making European tour and the Survivor Series. The Observer adds that for the time being, Cena is listed for the December shows but that could obviously change.
Cena is one of the hardest-working individuals in WWE and his schedule is pretty crazy with appearances and other WWE-related activities besides his regular live event appearances. He last took some extended time off in August 2013 when he had to undergo shoulder surgery. He was scheduled to be out from four to six months however in typical Cena fashion he returned just two months later.
A hearing in the Hulk Hogan sex tape lawsuit against Gawker was held today in Pinellas County Court in St Petersburg, Florida presided by Judge Pamela Campbell.
Much of the hearing centered around if the tape, which was filmed without Hogan’s permission, should be released to the public or remain sealed as well as the findings of the FBI investigation which are also sealed. The judge ruled that the tape should remain sealed and not released to the public and is accessible only to the attorneys of both sides.
Hogan showed up in court dressed up in all black and was smiling and checking his phone throughout the proceeding that started at 9AM. Another hearing is now set for October 28. You can see a video report on this story CBS 10 News below.
Former WWE Diva Eve Torres gave birth to her first child earlier this week according to a post on Instagram by her husband Rener Gracie.
Eve and Rener welcomed a baby boy who they have named Raeven, although Gracie wrote that it will be pronounced Haven but they modified it to honor the Gracie family “R” tradition and also include his mother’s name, Eve.
This is the couple’s first baby and they have been married since April 2014. Eve last appeared on WWE television during the 20th Anniversary of Monday Night Raw back in January 2013.
WWE Diva Natalya and Hall of Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat will be representing WWE at the upcoming Wizard World Comic Con Fort Lauderdale this weekend.
Natalya will be at the event tomorrow and will pose for photos at 6PM and will then sign autographs and do a Q&A session starting at 8PM.
Ricky Steamboat will appear on Saturday with photos starting at Noon, autographs at 12:45PM and then a Q&A session at 2:30PM.
WWE is once again going pink for the month of October as they continue their partnership with Susan G. Komen to raise awareness about breast cancer.
As part of this year’s “Rise Above Cancer” campaign, WWE will donate to Komen 20 percent of the retail sales price of all co-branded merchandise sold on WWEShop.com and at WWE live events. Fans can also donate $1, $5 or $10 to Komen upon checkout from WWEShop.com.
To support Komen’s mission, WWE will utilize all its assets including WWE Network and TV broadcasts, live events, public service announcements, digital and social media to generate awareness and encourage fans to get involved.
Throughout the month, the WWE announcer table, entrance ramp and ring skirts will be co-branded and the middle ring rope turned pink to promote the fight against breast cancer.
“We are so grateful for our partnership with WWE,” said Christina Alford, SVP of development for Susan G. Komen. “Their ‘Rise Above Cancer’ campaign reaches women in communities across the country, bringing awareness and helping us fund lifesaving research, and support to families living with breast cancer who need our help today.”
WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon said, “WWE remains deeply committed to this movement, as we utilize our global platforms to raise awareness and funds for a disease that impacts so many people around the world.”
The partnership launched in 2012 and has generated more than $1.5 million for Komen to date.
Dwayne Johnson has landed a major sponsorship as Ford Motor Company announced that it has hired the former WWE champion and Hollywood movie star as their Spokesman of Service.
Johnson has filmed a commercial which will start running on October 12 as part of a crew of technicians called The Specialists at Ford. It’s a multi-year deal for Johnson and he will be splashed across all platforms in an advertising campaign.
“His genuine appreciation of the brand makes the alignment of Ford service and Dwayne Johnson a great partnership,” Ford said in a statement.
In a post on his Instagram, Johnson said that he currently owns three Ford trucks and bought his first Ford when he was 15 years old and said he’s been a “Ford man ever since.”
Newest NXT Diva Asuka will be making her in-ring debut for the company at next week’s NXT Takeover: Respect, live from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
The Japanese sensation will be wrestling Dana Brooke, who will be in her second Takeover match herself after she was in a tag match at the Unstoppable event.
Asuka, who wrestled in Japan as Kana, first appeared at ringside at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, and then was announced as the newest arrival to WWE’s most popular brand right now.
The main event for this Sunday’s Bound For Glory pay-per-view has now been changed to a three-way match for the TNA title.
The change came as a result of the tag team main event of yesterday’s Impact where Drew Galloway and Matt Hardy took on TNA champion Ethan Carter III and Tyrus with the stipulation that if Galloway and Hardy win, Hardy would be added to the main event at Bound For Glory.
The two were successful so now EC3 will defend his TNA title against Grew Galloway and Matt Hardy with Jeff Hardy as the special guest referee.
The season 4 finale of Total Divas which was titled Return of the Ex did a total of 1,158,000 viewers and a 0.5 rating in the 18-49 demo.
The 13th and final episode of the season had an increase of 363,000 viewers over last week’s episode. It’s probably the only good news ratings-wise that WWE got over the past few days.
The new season of Total Divas has already started filming with Tough Enough’s Amanda reportedly joining the crew replacing Trinity Fatu. (Ratings credit: TV By The Numbers)
Perhaps feeling the heat from the decline in ratings, WWE has added Brock Lesnar to the next Monday Night Raw which will take place at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Lesnar was not originally supposed to appear on Raw and his only Raw appearance before the Hell In A Cell pay-per-view was on October 19. He will also tape a live show of the Stone Cold Podcast that night after the show is over on the WWE Network.
The former WWE World Heavyweight champion returns to the ring this Saturday at Madison Square Garden as he takes on his old rival The Big Show in a special televised house show on the WWE Network.
Wrestling-Online.com is teaming up with a leading bus charter in Dallas to provide transportation to the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The bus will leave at 4PM sharp and will drop us off inside the AT&T Stadium parking lot. It will stay parked there for the whole duration of WrestleMania and will then depart AT&T Stadium back to Dallas at 10:30PM. The bus departs from 2121 McKinney Avenue, in front of The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas. Drop off will be in the same location.
Those who booked a room at The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas using our promo code, please send us your confirmation number and you’ll get a $10 per person off from the price. Regular price is $35 for a roundtrip journey, so $25 for those who are in our block at The Ritz-Carlton.
We only have 50 seats available and will be sold on first come first served basis. Go to http://store.wrestling-online.com to book your seat now. Payment is via PayPal.
