United Flight 447 from Denver to Los Angeles, which Money in the Bank winner Sheamus was flying in, made an emergency landing after a reported loss of cabin pressure during the flight.
Several customers fell ill and then the crew deployed oxygen masks and diverted the plane to Grand Junction Regional Airport in Mesa County. Sheamus posted a photo wearing the oxygen mask writing, “Emergency landing in Colorado on a @united flight. Not many brave lads when the masks drop from overhead.”
After landing, Sheamus noted that a few people were unwell but they’re all safe and sound. “Held on tight to that #mitb briefcase,” he joked. Money In The Bank winners have to carry the briefcase through the airport and are told not to check it in with other luggage.
Eventually the United crew took care of the passengers offering them Dominos pizza and Diet Coke! Despite the problems, Sheamus still had a sense of humor. “How did they know my last meal preference?“ he wrote on Twitter.
This week’s Total Divas, which was episode 3 of season 4 dipped below the 1 million viewer mark again, getting only 995,000 viewers for the episode titled Eat Your Heart Out.
This was slightly down from last week’s just-over 1,000,000 viewers and only surpassed the premiere episode by a couple of thousand viewers. The show did 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demo. (Ratings credit: TV By The Numbers)
Steve Austin’s show Broken Skull Challenge has a new challenge to tackle – getting all the staff back on board after they walked out demanding an IATSE contract. The Motion Picture Editor’s Guild and IATSE are putting up a picket line outside the Laurel Canyon Boulevard offices of series producer 51 Minds Entertainment.
“All members, prospective members, and other post-production professionals are instructed to refrain from rendering service to this production for the duration of the work stoppage,” said the Editors Guild today. The crew members are seeking health and pension benefits and other measures of a union contract according to Deadline Hollywood.
The show was filming season 3 after two successful seasons aired on CMT. Austin has not commented publicly on the walk out so far. A few months ago he claimed that he turned down the offer to host Tough Enough because he had already committed to filming season 3 of Broken Skull Challenge and filming dates conflicted.
WWE has announced that Dasha Fuentes has joined the NXT broadcast team and will be conducting backstage interviews during the shows on the WWE Network.
Fuentes, a native of Orlando, has been part of the WWE Performance Center since May of 2014 and joined to become a WWE Diva. A knee injury last Summer sidelined her but WWE took care of her and after returning, WWE officials asked her to join the NXT broadcast team.
“With my pageant background, it just felt right,” she told WWE.COM. “I felt very comfortable and confident doing that. I love the live hosting aspect and getting to know our fans,” she said. “I get to be the bridge between the Superstars and the [NXT] fans. It’s the best of both worlds.”
WWE has added a meet & greet session with former WCW champion Sting during the SummerSlam weekend, with pre-sale starting in a few days.
Ticketmaster.com has a listing for this meet & greet, listing tickets at $125 each plus additional taxes and fees. The event will happen at the 40/40 Club in Barclays Center starting at 1PM and ticket includes one 8×10 autographed glossy photo of Sting and one photo op with Sting taken by a professional photographer.
Pre-sale for those who bought the SummerSlam travel package will kick off on July 27 while other pre-sales will start on July 30. Tickets go on sale to the general public on August 1.
You can check out the entry on Ticketmaster.com here.
The Washington Post is reporting that CM Punk tried to get a judge to throw out the $1 million libel lawsuit filed against him by WWE ringside doctor Chris Amann, but Cook County Circuit Court judge denied Punk’s and his co-defendant’s motions to dismiss the case and instead moved it forward, according to court documents.
The lawsuit was filed following the podcast on Colt Cabana with Punk that “broke the Internet” where Punk slammed WWE’s medical team, especially Chris Amann, over his injuries and lack of care. Cabana is named in the lawsuit as well.
Punk claims that for a cyst he had in his back, Dr. Amann prescribed him Z-Pak, an antibiotic to treat infections. The former WWE champion said he only got diagnosed with the real problem when he went to a different doctor who said that he was suffering from an MRSA staph infection.
The lawsuit was filed in February of this year with Amann claiming that he never treated Punk for a cyst on his back and that he has always followed WWE’s concussion protocol.
Punk and Cabana now have until August 24 to file a response to Amann’s complaint. They will be asked to admit or deny the allegations, or say that they lack sufficient knowledge to answer.
TNA Wrestling announced that this year’s Bound For Glory pay-per-view will take place from the Cabarrus Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, on October 4.
Tickets for Bound for Glory go on sale next Friday, July 31, and are available through the Cabarrus Arena box office, all Ticketmaster locations, online at www.ticketmaster.com or by phone at 800-745-3000.
“North Carolina is wrestling country, and Hardy country, and we are thrilled to bring TNA’s biggest event of the year, Bound for Glory, to Charlotte,” said TNA President Dixie Carter. “In addition to veterans who are among the most accomplished in the history of our business, we also have the most talented roster of dynamic talent in professional wrestling today who are bound for glory.”
Bound for Glory VIP and travel packages are available now on ShopTNA.com, including the all-new Main Event Experience.
ESPN has a 7 minute feature about WWE United States champion John Cena granting 7 year old KJ his wish at a recent Monday Night Raw in Washington, DC.
KJ has kidney problems and from the very first start, doctors told his mom that she should have made an abortion. With dialysis and more than a year on the waiting list for another kidney, KJ finally got the transplant.
KJ is a big WWE fan and his wish was to meet John Cena. When his mother took him to the theater thinking he was going to see a movie, Triple H was the only one sitting there, waiting for KJ to come in. Triple H then introduced a special video just for KJ which was John Cena inviting him to Raw.
“We have the same wish, you wanna hang out with me and I wanna hang out with you,” Cena said, as Triple H then handed over the tickets.
KJ and his family were transported via limo to the Verizon Center where Stephanie McMahon greeted them. Cena then took over for the tour as he introduced Cesaro, King Barrett, Big Show, Luke Harper and others. Then he took him out in the arena to practice his entrance along with the replica U.S. title that he received earlier from Cena himself.
During the show Cena introduced KJ to the rest of the Verizon Center, taking him in the ring and announcing that the champ is here!
Wow! That’s the only word I can use to describe episode 5 of WWE’s Tough Enough. Coming into this week’s episode, we all knew that we could expect some of this season’s favorites to be in jeopardy, purely because all of the bland and obnoxious competitors have all been booted. But never did I expect the shocker of the elimination we received tonight!
Weeeellllll… It’s the Big Show!
The Big Show makes his presence felt at the top of the show, in full wrestling gear, promising that the male competitors are going to get an up-close lesson of what it feels like to be tough enough. As we cut to the barracks for the obligatory reaction period after last week’s show, there are very few tears shed at the elimination of Gabi Castrovinci. Instead, new alliances seemed to be formed with the sudden bonding of Sara Lee and Chelsea and further divide between the barracks’ other bombshells, GiGi and Amanda. Patrick continues his recent trend of cockiness, asking Tanner “how it feels to be in the bottom three,” which prompts ZZ to step in and question what’s going on with his friend. He asks Patrick to dial it back a bit and compares Patrick’s recent personality shift to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the peanut butter.
Yes, it was as ludicrous a metaphor as it sounds!
The Humility Challenge Obstacle Course
This week’s challenge took the competitors out to an obstacle course complete with hurdles, tire flips, rope climbs, and more. After running through rules of the challenge, the coaches welcome their special guest judge – Natalya. Oddly enough, Natalya is introduced and escorted in with two police cars. We come to find out that some of the officers are going to run the challenge alongside the competitors for some extra motivation.
Tanner resurrects the dominant competitor we saw in Week 1 when he absolutely demolishes everyone else in the entire competition. I don’t think a single competitor was more than halfway through the course when Tanner crossed the finish line, which led us to some entertaining trash talk directed towards Patrick.
Sara Lee surprisingly dominated the girls through almost the entire course, until reaching the rope climb. Her struggles climbing the rope ended up giving GiGi enough time to catch up and ultimately win her 5th challenge. It’s a shame, because it was a win that Sara Lee desperately needed after barely surviving the previous week.
Virtually all of the competitors, aside from Tanner, struggled during the rope climb portion. After seeing his fellow housemates struggling, Tanner actually ran back over and started offering advice and encouragement to the others – including Patrick! It was an incredible sign of respect from a guy who was pegged early in the season as the most arrogant of the bunch.
By the end of the challenge, Amanda had to quit on the rope climb, ZZ quit on only the second obstacle (a platform climb), and newcomer Chelsea actually fell off the rope climb and banged her ankle up pretty bad. The coaches commend Tanner for his sportsmanship and use it as a lesson to Patrick, saying that if he doesn’t drop his ego in this business, doors might just get slammed shut on him.
The Fallout Unravels
Back in the barracks, ZZ breaks down in tears over his poor performance earlier in the day. Mada, Tanner, and Josh all comfort ZZ and try to bring light to the positives of his effort so far. Patrick, on the other hand, decides he’s seen enough. He verbally rips into ZZ, calling him out on his complete lack of improvement over the past five weeks and goes so far as to mention that the only reason he’s even still in the competition is because of the fan’s vote. We get the quote that littered the commercials all week, when Patrick says “it’d be a kick in my balls if I lose to you.”
In the doctor’s office, we come to find out that Chelsea’s ankle is sprained and that she’s not advised to put pressure on it for at least a month. Considering the competition only has 5 weeks remaining, she makes it clear she’s going to try and hide the injury and fight on.
The Humility Wrestling Challenge
The second challenge of the week is another in-ring challenge, where the contestants will basically run through a series of moves with one another. The focus on the challenge is not so much on the perfect execution but on the entertainment value each competitor brings while executing the move. The caveat is that the winner would get to make the loser do 50 squats while they berate the loser the entire time.
GiGi decides to spill the beans about Chelsea’s injury to the coaches, saying she doesn’t feel safe and doesn’t want to be put at risk being in the ring with Chelsea. She puts on a horrid display of sympathy, fake crying to pretend she really feels for Chelsea’s misfortune. It was a fairly low blow by GiGi, who expressed earlier that she wasn’t thrilled at Sara’s new alignment with her.
We did get to see quite a bit of the challenge, in which each of the participating competitors looked a lot more polished than I had expected. Ultimately, the judges declared Mada and GiGi the winners, also noting that Mada has been the most improved since the start of the competition.
A Shocking Elimination
Just before we head to the stage for eliminations, there’s a scuffle between Sara Lee and GiGi back in the barracks. Sara gets in GiGi’s face over telling the coaches about Chelsea and pinning it on Sara (which was true). Amanda jumps in to side with GiGi, which lights a fire under Sara’s ass even more. It was quite a massive shift in character from the Sara Lee we’ve seen these first five weeks.
Back in the studio, The Big Show lines up the five remaining male competitors and has them remove their shirts so that they can take a big chop. In the words of Ron Simmons – DAMN! I’m sure glad I wasn’t one of those guys.
The judges then submit their picks for the bottom three:
Daniel Bryan selects ZZ on account of his lack of improvement
Paige selects Patrick, on account of his attitude and asking “what it felt like to be bottom 3”
Hulk Hogan goes on about how he wants to pick Chelsea but isn’t because of her injury. He surprises the entire audience when he selects Josh, which actually even gets a big “What!?” out of Paige
The voting was turned over to the fans and in arguably the biggest shocker of the season – Patrick Clark, Jr. was voted off of Tough Enough.
It’s worth noting that ZZ had merely 3% less votes than the overall winner, Josh.
Assorted Musings
This episode is exactly what I hate about the way the voting works for this season’s Tough Enough and exactly what I feared about ZZ. The judges voted Patrick and Josh into the bottom three merely to make a point to them to start stepping their game up more. As a result, the most well-rounded competitor and probably the favorite to win ends up going home because of the fans’ love affair with ZZ. But so as long as the fans continue to vote for the winner, ZZ will continue to march through the competition, despite how terrible he’s doing in all of the physical challenges.
During Tough Talk, The Miz absolutely RIPPED the judges apart for cutting Patrick. He went on to say how Patrick is the standout in the ring, is one of the top guys physically, and is leagues beyond the rest of the cast on the mic — all points the judges agreed with. Paige tried to defend her decision to nominate him for elimination, stating that he was getting too egotistical, to which The Miz said that he’s always been that way.
Interestingly enough, Daniel Bryan took a bit of a shot at the format of the show, saying that “this” was the problem with the way folks were voted off. It doesn’t really matter how good you are in the ring or physically, as the fans are just going to vote for the guy they like the best. He and Paige both agreed that the reason they didn’t use their save this week (which they both nearly did) was because then the fans were going to just send the other person standing next to ZZ home. It was nearly universally agreed that ZZ didn’t belong there at this stage of the game, because he wasn’t stepping up.
There was a lot of support for Patrick both from his fellow cast members and from the judges, who all seemed convinced that he has a future in the business. Just before the show went off the air, The Miz gave another short monologue to Patrick, telling him that he was once in the same position because of his attitude and that if he calls in favors with every person he met during this experience and keeps at it, he’ll no doubt be in the company in short time.
So what do you think? Should Patrick’s cockiness really have been deciding factor in him going home? Will ZZ up his game and show some significant improve within the next week? Will it even matter if he does?
Tweet your thoughts to @suggafnshane on Twitter with the hashtag #WrestlingOnline!
Raw ratings went up a bit this week following the return of the Undertaker although on average the show failed the hit the 4 million mark. The three hour broadcast did an average of 3,804,000 viewers, up around 273,000 from last week.
Hour one did 3,840,000 viewers, and then it went up to 4,030,000 in the second hour, but then took an almost half a million viewer hit to end the third hour with 3,542,000 viewers.
The second hour was the highest rated since June 15 which was the last time Raw did over 4 million viewers on average. Prior to that date you have to go back to April 20 for the last time Raw did over 4 million. (Ratings credit: TV By The Numbers)
PWInsider.com is reporting that TNA informed a majority of their talent roster that their guaranteed contracts will be gone and instead they will be paid on per-appearance basis.
The removal of the current guaranteed income – regardless if used or not – means that talent will be making less money as TNA still paid per appearance on top of the guaranteed deal.
The company will keep its main talent such as their champion and other major names with the same deals but others who are not lucky enough will be getting a little more per appearance to somewhat compensate for the loss of the guaranteed income according to PWInsider.
It’s likely that those who will take the new deal still can’t appear on other television shows although they would be able to take other bookings for shows that are not televised.
The main event for SummerSlam has been set and this time it’s not the WWE World Heavyweight title taking center stage, but rather a WrestleMania rematch – The Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar.
The match was made official last night on Raw after the two had a pretty amazing pull-apart segment that started in the ring and ended backstage with cops “arresting” Brock Lesnar. The entire locker room – minus a few – emptied to keep the two monsters apart, providing a nice visual for fans in the arena and those watching at home on TV.
Taker said he was back because while streaks are made to be broken, he was sick and tired of hearing Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman tell everyone over and over again about beating the streak.
The two wrestled each other quite a few including a couple of times in 2002 and 2003 on pay-per-view but their WrestleMania XXX match is the one that stands out the most for obvious reasons.
Right after Tough Enough on USA Network ends, Total Divas starts episode three of season four titled Eat Your Heart Out on E!
The synopsis for tonight’s show reads, “Peace talk between Nikki and Eva end very badly; Nattie takes a risk on stage; Paige is brought to tears during her first WrestleMania; and Brie and Bryan receive the results of their fertility testing.”
Since moving to Tuesday from Sunday, the show suffered an average loss of around 200,000 viewers so far.
The Undertaker’s return to Raw last night is not only a one-time deal but it’s something that’s going to continue throughout the Summer and even Fall.
WWE today added the Undertaker as appearing at the upcoming tour of Mexico in October, with three live events scheduled on October 16, 17, and 18. All three events are non-televised and the Undertaker has not appeared at a non-televised live event in many, many years.
The three events are at the Coliseo Yucatan in Merida, at the Arena Ciudad De Mexico in Mexico City, and at the Arena Monterrey in Monterrey.
Daniel Bryan’s book, titled Yes!: My Improbable Journey to the Main Event of WrestleMania, was released today in bookstores nationwide and online.
Published by St. Martin’s Press in hardcover format, the book is Bryan’s behind-the-scenes story from his beginnings as a child wanting to wrestle to his ten years circling the globe on the independent circuit and his remarkable climb to the upper ranks of WWE culminating with the WWE World Heavyweight title win at WrestleMania XXX.
The book contains 320 pages and is sold for $17.76 in hardcover on Amazon or $10.91 for the Kindle version. It’s selling for $12.99 on Apple’s iBooks store.
Both the Big Show and Natalya will be appearing on Tough Enough tonight, the fifth episode of season six which is titled Swallow Your Pride, It’s Good for You.
Tough Enough received its lowest rating of the season last week so far with just 977,000 viewers tuning in on the USA Network broadcast which saw the elimination of Gabi Castrovinci.
Tough Talk will follow Tough Enough on the WWE Network starting at 9PM with The Miz hosting.
Last night at Battleground, there was a major return and a major reunion; both will have an immediate affect on Raw tonight as well as the next month-and-a-bit, at least! I won’t spoil for anybody who wants to be surprised reading this report, so I will just start recapping.
Monday Night Raw TV Report for July 20th, 2015
Introduction Segment: Video Promo
The ending events of Battleground are re-aired in a montage.
Segment #2: Arena Promo
Gong! The most-feared music plays and The Undertaker eerily walks to the ring. “I stand here tonight a relentless, remorseless, cold-blooded, vengeful, grim reaper,” he opens. “Streaks are made to be broken; that is the painful truth. But Lesnar, you had to continuously, week after week, month after month, remind everyone of your greatest accomplishment. And now, I say, ‘enough.’ You have taken what was once was smouldering ashes and turned it into a raging inferno. Last night was my true resurrection. You see, Lesnar, you can’t kill what won’t die. Unleashed forces will now set our careers towards new destinies; and I will challenge your mortality. I will conquer what has yet to be conquered. And in the end, just like all living things, be it man, or beast, you will rest…in…peace.”
Segment #3: Office Promo
Triple H and Stephanie are gushing over the comeback of The Undertaker. They make it official that “The Deadman” will take on Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, and then HHH says he will tell Heyman and Lesnar not to show up as they don’t want anything to ruin it.
Later tonight, United States Champion John Cena, Cesaro, and Randy Orton will face Kevin Owens, Rusev, and Sheamus in Six-Man action; and up next, Charlotte wrestles Brie Bella!
Commercials.
Match #1: Single – Charlotte (with Paige and Becky Lynch) VS. Brie Bella (with Divas Champion Nikki Bella and Alicia Fox)
(Team B.A.D. [NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks, Naomi, and Tamina] are on commentary.) Elbow/collar tie-up begins, with Brie taking Charlotte down with a side headlock. Charlotte works out of it but gets a shoulder-block off the ropes. Brie pie-faces Charlotte, but is given a shoulder block in return. She leaps over the ropes with a plancha, but all of Team Bella moves and Charlotte lands on the mat.
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Charlotte tries to scoop-slam Brie, but Bella wiggles out and repeatedly kicks Charlotte then plants her to the canvas. 1 – 2 – Charlotte gets her shoulder up! She rolls up Brie for a near-fall, and then rams her back-first into the corner; Brie fires back with a missile dropkick off the turnbuckle for a close one!
Charlotte catches Brie off a kick, then chops her repeatedly and fiercely! After knocking Team Bella off the apron, Charlotte spears Brie and clutches on the Figure-8 (Figure-4 with bridge), forcing Brie to tap-out!
Winner via Submission: Charlotte (with Paige and Becky Lynch)
Also announced for tonight is Luke Harper, who reunited again with Bray Wyatt, going against Roman Reigns!
Segment #4: Office Promo
Triple H is on the phone with Paul Heyman, arguing with him about the situation with The Undertaker and is ordering Lesnar to not appear on Raw tonight. During this, The Miz had walked in and tried to get HHH’s attention. He complains about The Big Show knocking him out at Battleground, which is the least of Triple H’s problems, so he books Miz to fight Show tonight.
Commercials.
Match #2: Tag-Team – Los Matadores (Fernando and Diego) (with El Torito) VS. Tag-Team Champions The Prime Time Players (Titus O’Neil and Darren Young)
Young and a Matadore start, with both one-upping the other. The Matadores take control for a bit over Darren, particularly with a double-Russian Legsweep for two! Young counters a run with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex then gets the hot-tag to Titus!
Titus cleans the ring of the Matadores, until The New Day walk to the stage. They cut a promo that distracts Titus and gives this one to Los Matadores after a Backstabber!
Winners via Pinfall: Los Matadores (with El Torito)
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Match #3: Single – The Miz VS. The Big Show
Miz tries to escape early, but Show picks him up from the floor and tosses him over the ropes back into the ring! Big totally dominates and dives off the second turnbuckle with an elbow drop for the finish!
Winner via Pinfall: The Big Show
Post-match, Show cuts a promo declaring his chase for Intercontinental Champion Ryback and desire to get the title.
Segment #5: Backstage Promo
Triple H and Stephanie spot Paul Heyman backstage and remind him of giving Lesnar a break. Heyman assures them Brock is not in attendance, and only wants to give everyone Lesnar’s answer about SummerSlam. The Authority agree, but don’t entirely believe him, so they look to security and the boys.
Commercials.
Segment #6: Backstage Promo
The Authority are speaking with bunch of the male wrestlers about needing their help in “protecting” SummerSlam.
Segment #7: Arena Promo
Paul Heyman is in the ring and reviews why Brock Lesnar is not the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. It is not because the champion, Seth Rollins, beat him fair-and-square; it is because of the interference of The Undertaker.
“And since The Undertaker wants to make this personal, allow me. My client, Brock Lesnar, conquered your undefeated streak at WrestleMania!’ “You can sell your soul to the devil, but your ass belongs to Brock Lesnar!” The bell tolls again and The Undertaker appears in the squared circle when the lights come back on! Heyman is terrified until Brock Lesnar charges out!
“The Deadman” and “The Beast” engage in an enormous punch-up around the arena until wrestlers and security are able to split them! Undertaker has the greatest look of “I’m going to kill you” in his eyes.
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Segment #8: Backstage
As Brock Lesnar is walking seemingly guarded by a group of male wrestlers, The Undertaker rushes him and the melee continues! Following a good few minutes of fighting, the two rivals are broken up again and Brock is lead away in restraints by police.
Commercials.
Segment #9: Office Promo
Triple H and Stephanie are talking about Lesnar and ‘Taker when WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins walks in. he tells them he’s going to the ring later to tell everyone his thoughts on Brock and Undertaker.
Segment #10: Video Promo
“I am never alone. My family stands by my side, because they know I am more than ‘just a man.’” Bray Wyatt threatens that the fans will “burn” for being on Roman Reigns’ side. Luke Harper is behind him and says that it will continue “brick by brick.”
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Match #4: Single – Luke Harper (with Bray Wyatt) VS. Roman Reigns
Prior to the bout starting, Dean Ambrose walks out and stands in Reigns’ corner. Lockup between the two, in which neither gain an advantage. Roman slugs Luke with right hands to the corner, then a 10-punch against the turnbuckle. He clotheslines Harper, but Luke hits back with a chop to Reigns’ neck.
Harper is quickly put to the outside, then they measure each other up again. Another lockup ensues, but Roman gets the upper-hand, literately, this time. Harper boots Reigns out of the corner a bit later, but his suplex attempt is reversed into one by Roman.
Commercials.
Luke now has Reigns in a grounding headlock, then works over his left arm with hits. He hurls Roman to the floor harshly, but he rolls back in the ring at nine. Reigns’ left arm appears to be hurt, as he pounds away with his right. He manages to t-bone/back suplex Harper, but is tortured more when Luke slams the injured arm into the ring post.
They slug back-and-forth, then Harper misses a running boot and tumbles to the mat below. Back in the ring, Roman is fired up with right arms and clotheslines, including a leaping forearm! He blocks a kick, then Samoan Drops him! He wants to hit Luke with the Drive-By front-dropkick, but Bray blocks his way. (Yes, that rhymes, on purpose!) Both Harper and Wyatt are set up on the apron, so Reigns hits them both with the Dive-By! When Roman and Luke get back in the ring, Wyatt pulls Reigns out, causing a dq.
Winner via Disqualification: Roman Reigns
Post-match, Wyatt and Harper go at it with Ambrose and Reigns; Dean and Roman stand tall in the ring as Luke and Bray retreat to the back.
Up next, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins will be out.
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Segment #11: Arena Promo
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins has a smile on his face that you can’t surgically remove, and gloats over himself still being champion. Rollins lists Lesnar’s accomplishments, but doesn’t care about him. “I am the WWE World Heavyweight Champion and the most under-appreciated champion in the history of the WWE!” Seth berates the fans for still not giving their approval to him despite all he has done to become champion and still has to do as champion. “Keeping this around my waist is what matters because I am the ‘be all and end all’ of champions in this industry.”
Feeling he was “robbed” at Battleground, Rollins asks ring announcer Lillian Garcia to enter and officially announce that he is still WWE World Heavyweight Champion; she obliges. United States Champion John Cena interrupts. He talks about both of them being crowned champions on the same night (at Wrestlemania XXXI), but the different paths they have taken since. Cena has defended his title almost week-after-week while Rollins has slithered away from his challengers and used nefarious means to keep his championship.
Seth retorts that Cena puts his championship against just about anyone, while Rollins defends his against those who “earn it.” He insinuates that Cena only puts his title on the line because he wants to pander to the audience even though a majority dislike him.
Rollins goes to walk away, but Cena calls him out again. “I’m right here, the champ is right here,” he bellows. And judging by these people, who do matter by the way, it’s not the title that makes the man, but the man that makes the title.”
Both men take off their shirts and glare at each other, but once again, Seth doesn’t have any of Cena and backs up the aisle with his WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Commercials.
Match #5: Tag-Team – Paige and Becky Lynch (with Charlotte) VS. Team B.A.D. (NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks and Naomi) (with Lana)
(Team Bella are on commentary.) Becky and Sasha begin with an elbow/collar tie-up, then Becky gives Sasha a couple armdrags into an armbar. Sasha tags in Naomi, who is taken down by Lynch and given legdrops. Paige is in and fall-away slams Naomi; Sasha and Becky wrestle shortly after with Becky kicking Banks in the corner, but Sasha capitalizes on a distraction from Naomi and trips up Lynch. She mount-punches Lynch.
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Banks and Naomi are completely controlling Becky until she fights back, kicking Sasha off and making the tag to Paige! “The Diva Of Tomorrow” is all over Naomi, locking her in the P.T.O. until Banks breaks it up. Tamina tries to get involved but is knocked off the apron by Paige, but Naomi puts Paige down. Sasha is tagged in and turns Paige into the Bank Statement hold for the victory!
Winners via Submission: Team B.A.D. (NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks and Naomi, with Tamina)
Commercials.
Segment #12: Backstage Promo
Rene Young is with Lana, who tells us that Dolph Ziggler is recovering at home from his attack by Rusev two weeks ago on Raw. Lana then looks stunned, as Summer Rae walks in, dressed almost like her. Rusev also joins, kissing Summer to make Lana jealous. Summer then slaps Lana and walks off.
Cesaro and Randy Orton make their entrances for the Six-Man main-event, next!
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Match #6: Six-Man Tag-Team – Cesaro, Randy Orton, and United States Champion John Cena VS. Kevin Owens, Rusev, and Sheamus (with Summer Rae)
Cena and Kevin appear to start, but Owens tags in Rusev before touching Cena. Rusev is dropped with a shoulder tackle, but then slams Cena down. Owens is now in and punches and kicks away at John. He goes for the Pop-Up Powerbomb, but Cena leaps over and traps Kevin in the S.T.F. Owens gets out of it and DDT’s Cena, but misses the Cannonball Splash in the corner! Both men crawl to their corners and tag in Cesaro and Sheamus, respectively. Cesaro crossbodies Sheamus from the turnbuckle, and goes for the Cesaro Swing but is kicked down by Rusev.
Commercials.
Sheamus is now wearing down Cesaro with a grounding chinlock, but Cesaro struggles out of it and turns it into a suplex! Owens back in, but Cesaro gains an advantage over him. Sheamus is in again, and then Cesaro and Owens a bit later. Sheamus comes in and argues with Owens, claiming he hit him. Sheamus shoves Owens to the mat and walks away with his briefcase. Owens gets mad at Rusev, who was pushed to the floor. He slaps his chest and calls him an “idiot,” then kicks him and walks away, leaving Rusev in a 3-on-1 situation.
Lana now marches to the ring and catfights with Summer Rae; this turned Rusev’s attention, who is then Attitude Adjusted, Swung, and R.K.O.’ed. Orton covers to receive the 1 – 2 – 3!
Winners via Pinfall: Cesaro, Randy Orton, and United States Champion John Cena
Cena, Orton, and Cesaro celebrate to close the show.
End Of Raw.
Reporter’s Rumblings – By Moe Tapp
Coming off a pretty-good Pay-Per-View, unfortunately, this was just an okay Raw. It started out very hot, but ended backwards – more on that below.
Excellence: promos by Undertaker, The Big Show, Paul Heyman, Bray Wyatt/Luke Harper, Seth Rollins, Lana, and John Cena. All had the passion and/or were very believable (especially ‘Taker, Show, Heyman, and Cena).
I quite enjoyed the commentary provided by the women in both matches; I must admit, I thought it would be kind of bland, but they really have stepped up their mike work too! Of course, the matches themselves were superb!
Glad to see The Wyatt Family back together; they split apart for no reason and shouldn’t have ever been. Hopefully Erik Rowan is going to be healed soon and they can be in full-force again! Also, I’m liking the potential Ambrose/Reigns VS. Wyatt Family at SummerSlam too!
The clash between Undertaker and Lesnar was epic and I’m greatly looking forward to their match at SummerSlam, however…
Bogus: it should’ve concluded Raw! This would’ve been a tremendous and suspenseful last segment, much like the Nexus/NXT invasion in June 2010. I think opening the show with ‘Taker was great, but they should’ve saved it from Heyman’s speech onward until the end; that would’ve been a fantastic completion!
I’m not entirely sure yet on what looks to be a Cena/Rollins match at SummerSlam for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. They had a great promo, which did sell me a little, but still, since Cena is the U.S. Champion, he should be focused there and not on the WWE Title picture. I would prefer him to have that title match at SummerSlam, in a Fatal-4-Way with Rusev, Owens, and Cesaro, like the last few weeks had been teasing. I also didn’t like the Six-Man being the final match; as written above, it should’ve been switched around with the ‘Taker/Lesnar scuffle.
While great matches, I still hold by my statements from last week that the new “Divas Revolution” should’ve been held off until next week. With them wrestling twice tonight and once last night at Battleground, I fear they’re going to run through all the matches/combinations before SummerSlam, and that would leave no intrigue or anticipation on some matchups we have not seen yet.
Where were Adrian Neville and Stardust? They’re tied one-a-piece in their feud, so I feel like they were missing a great opportunity for the rubber match tonight.
All-in-all, this was a subpar episode, which is not good twenty-four hours after a decently-hot PPV. Hopefully they turn it around again in the next two weeks. I am away next week, so there will be no Raw Report, until August 3rd. As always, Be Excellent Wrestling-Online Readers and Wrestling Fans!
The rumored plan for former WCW champion Sting at SummerSlam involves a tag team match according to several reports.
The Bray Wyatt vs Roman Reigns storyline is set to continue and with Luke Harper yesterday interfering in the match to help Wyatt win, Sting is being penned to even the odds, tag teaming with Roman Reigns to take on Wyatt and Harper at SummerSlam.
There were other rumors that suggested that the original plan was a reunion of the Wyatt Family taking on Sting, Reigns, and Ambrose, but with Erick Rowan injured that has been scrapped.
Sting has not been seen on WWE television since losing to Triple H at WrestleMania 31 however he remains under a WWE deal, a deal which has very few appearances.
Two days ago WWE Diva Lana posted a photo on a plane while sporting zero make up, a photo which received both positive and a lot of negative comments as well.
“Yes I have pimples and #nomakeup I love myself on my non perfect days as well,” Lana wrote on her Instagram.
Responding to the haters, Lana did a short video which she also posted on her Instagram. “There are people who think I’m ugly without makeup,” she said, before pretending to cry. “Obviously #jk #insecurepeople #smh, and, shut up!” Classic.
Her response video generated twice the amount of comments from her photo, up to over 1,300 comments by the time this went to print.
You can see her video response below. Her original photo post can be seen here.
