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Sami Zayn interrupts Gunther, asks for World Heavyweight title shot

By
Colin Vassallo
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It looks like Gunther has his next opponent for the World Heavyweight title after Sami Zayn interrupted his in-ring promo last night on Raw.

Earlier in the broadcast, CM Punk was gunning for Gunther’s title but he was once again attacked by Drew McIntyre, who laid him out and even forced the stretcher job.

With Punk out of the way, Zayn answered the call and came out to a thunderous pop from the Denver crowd.

Zayn is the last – and only – person to defeat Gunther on the main roster when he beat him for the Intercontinental title at WrestleMania earlier this year. The Canadian told Gunther that he wants the WWE World Heavyweight title and Gunther shot it down quick.

“I see the fire in your eyes. So if you really want a shot at this, if you really want this more than anything else, my answer…is no,” Gunther said, before smiling, dropping the mic, and exiting the ring.

Zayn wasn’t happy so he asked Gunther why he’s backing down from this fight when he never backed down from a fight his entire life. He reminder Gunther that he is the only guy who beat him inside a WWE ring.

“You can run, you can hide for as long as you want, but Gunther, make no mistake, I’m coming for you and I will be a World Heavyweight champion,” a fired-up Zayn said.

Joe Tessitore after Raw commentary debut: “This was an awesome night”

By
Colin Vassallo
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It was a good night for new WWE announcer Joe Tessitore who managed to get through his first three hours of WWE action without any hiccups and a lot of praise from fans online.

Tessitore was interviewed at ringside after Raw went off the air by Jackie Redmond, and said that he feels “alive” when there is the passion and the intensity he felt during the show.

“You want to live in the red in life. That’s what this is. Raw. Live in the red. This was an awesome night,” Tessitore told Redmond.

The life-long wrestling fan admitted that he wasn’t “great” in his debut but he was that passionate fan who in eighth grade, he skipped school to go meet Big John Studd.

Reaction online has been mostly positive, which is a change since wrestling fans tend to react very cold to new commentators who are not brought up in the industry. His distinctive voice has given Raw a more sports-like feel.

Tessitore will continue doing commentary for ESPN and ABC during the college football season and will also remain as the lead boxing announcer for ESPN.

Dragunov and Strowman advance in IC title fatal four-way contender’s match

By
Colin Vassallo
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Ilja Dragunov and Braun Strowman both won their qualifying matches to enter the Intercontinental title number one contender’s fatal four-way match last night on Raw.

Dragunov defeated Dragon Lee and Dominik Mysterio in the first triple threat match, with the former NXT champion getting the win after he hit the Torpedo Moscow finisher on Lee.

Later in the broadcast, Braun Strowman, who replaced Bronson Reed who is out with COVID-19, defeated Sheamus and Ludwig Kaiser, with Strowman winning after delivering the powerslam finish on Kaiser.

The two now join Jey Uso and Pete Dunne in the fatal four-way match which will take place on next week’s Raw. The winner will take on the Intercontinental champion Bron Breakker at a later date.

Odyssey Jones seemingly gone from WWE

By
Colin Vassallo
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Odyssey Jones, who was reintroduced to the WWE audience a couple of weeks ago and put in a story with The New Day, is seemingly gone from the company effective immediately.

Jones’ profile on WWE.COM is no longer there although a search for his name still brings up photos and videos from the last few Raw shows.

His name was not brought up on Raw and there was no mention of anything remotely associated with him during The New Day segment, suggesting that he is completely out.

WWE has not issued any statement or confirmed reports of his release, but there are rumors that a story might come out in public over the next few days that will explain why he was eventually let go.

The 30-year-old spent over a year away from WWE TV and was drafted to Raw both in 2023 and 2024 and was never used until he came to the help of The New Day on the August 5 episode of Raw.

Last Raw before Monday Night Football returns tonight live from Denver

By
Colin Vassallo
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Raw

Tonight’s Raw is the last one before Monday Night Football kicks off on ESPN again which means there will be likely an exodus of viewers for the next several months.

The post-Bash In Berlin broadcast already has several matches announced, including two Intercontinental title #1 contender matches featuring Dominik Mysterio vs Ilja Dragunov vs Dragon Lee in the first match and Sheamus vs Ludwig Kaiser vs an opponent yet to be named in the second match. Also, former WWE Women’s Tag Team champions Unholy Union battle Damage CTRL, Zelina Vega vs Shayna Baszler, and The Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile take on Otis, Tozawa, and Maxxine Dupri in a mixed tag team match.

Plus, brand new WWE Women’s Tag Team champions Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill will have their title celebration.

Bronson Reed tests positive for COVID-19, pulled from Raw

By
Colin Vassallo
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Bronson Reed has been taken out of tonight’s Raw after he tested positive for COVID-19.

The announcement was made by Raw General Manager Adam Pearce in a video posted on WWE’s social media properties.

Reed was supposed to be in a triple threat match against Sheamus and Ludwig Kaiser to determine the last spot in the Intercontinental title number one contenders fatal four-way match.

The match will happen regardless but another opponent will be announced later tonight.

Asuka signs new long-term deal with WWE

By
Colin Vassallo
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Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com is reporting that former champion Asuka has signed a new, multi-year deal with WWE.

Asuka has been out of action since May and underwent knee surgery since then. Her last match was at the Backlash premium live event where she and Kairi Sane lost the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles to Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill.

The Empress of Tomorrow has been signed to a WWE deal since 2015, starting her undefeated run in NXT and then moving on to the main roster in October 2017.

Now part of Damage CTRL, the Japanese star is a former three-time WWE Raw Women’s champion, one-time Smackdown Women’s champion, one time NXT Women’s champion, and four-time WWE Women’s Tag Team champion as well as the 2018 Royal Rumble winner and the 2020 Money In The Bank winner.

ESPN’s Joe Tessitore takes over Raw commentary from tonight

By
Colin Vassallo
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Raw

There will be a new voice on WWE Raw tonight, live from the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, as ESPN’s Joe Tessitore will kick off his WWE broadcast career alongside with Wade Barrett.

The 53-year-old from New York is a sportscaster for both ABC and ESPN and is the lead for boxing events on ESPN, announces college football on ESPN and ABC, and also did play-by-play for Monday Night Football in the past. He is also a life-long wrestling fan.

WWE announced that Tessitore signed with them in July. He will keep doing Raw until January 2025 when he then switches to Smackdown as Michael Cole and Pat McAfee take over for the Netflix move.

He was introduced to the WWE audience during the SummerSlam pre-show by Michael Cole.

Rick Starks addresses rumors of turning down AEW creative pitches: “Just stop”

By
Colin Vassallo
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Ricky Starks, who for the past few months have come under scrutiny after rumors surfaced that he turned down several different creative pitches to return to AEW television, addressed the situation with a message on X.

A few months ago, both the Wrestling Observer and Fightful wrote that Starks was slated to start a program with Big Bill, his former tag team partner. But the feud never took off and the idea was for Bill to turn on Starks, with Starks getting the blame for shooting it down.

“Enough is enough,” Starks wrote on X replying to a random comment about him. “Usually I don’t even speak on this but it’s tired I never turned down anything, EVER. Just stop.”

Starks has not appeared on AEW TV since the March 30 episode of Collision. He was at WrestleMania a few days later to see his good friend Cody Rhodes win the WWE title from Roman Reigns but was not shown on WWE TV.

The belief is that Starks is moving to WWE once his AEW contract is up, even though AEW President Tony Khan recently said that he would love to get Starks involved on AEW television again.

Ethan Page to defend NXT title on The CW premiere episode

By
Colin Vassallo
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The NXT on CW premiere will have a main event featuring an NXT title defense with champion Ethan Page putting his gold on the line again.

His opponent has not been named but WWE has just less than a month to figure that out. Page successfully defended his title last night against Joe Hendry with Trick Williams as the special guest referee.

The October 1 premiere episode on The CW will take place from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, and the broadcast will also feature CM Punk. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.com with the cheapest tickets at $30. Over 5,000 tickets have already been sold.

Giulia makes NXT debut at No Mercy

By
Colin Vassallo
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Former STARDOM champion Giulia arrived in NXT last night and made her debut at No Mercy.

After Roxanne Perez successfully defended her NXT Women’s title against Jaida Parker and she was celebrating, the lights went out and the Japanese star walked out to a big ovation from the crowd.

Giulia soaked in the atmosphere and then stepped in the ring for a face off with the champion, who held the title pretty close but then lifted it up over her shoulder as a towering Giulia stared at her.

“No doubt @giulia0221g is an absolute star with a bright future in @WWE. What a time to be part of #WWENXT’s Women’s division,” wrote WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H on X.

Shawn Michaels also posted a photo with Giulia and NXT GM Ava, writing, “Believe the hype.”

The 30-year-old left Japan and Marigold last week to officially start her WWE career.

NXT No Mercy 2024 results

By
Colin Vassallo
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Here are the results from last night’s NXT No Mercy 2024 which took place from the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado.

Axiom and Nathan Frazer defeated Andre Chase and Ridge Holland to become the new NXT Tag Team champions; Zachary Wentz defeated Wes Lee; Kelani Jordan defeated Wendy Choo to retain the NXT Women’s North American title; Oba Femi defeated Tony D’Angelo to retain the NXT North American title; Roxanne Perez defeated Jaida Parker to retain the NXT Women’s title; Ethan Page defeated Joe Hendry to retain the NXT title with Trick Williams as the special guest referee.

Bad Blood 2024 to start an hour earlier at 6PM ET

By
Colin Vassallo
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The Bad Blood premium live event next month will have an even earlier start time as advertising for the show lists a 6PM ET start instead of 7PM ET.

The change, according to PWInsider.com, is because UFC 307 is also happening on the same day on October 5 and will start its pay-per-view portion at 10PM ET. TKO did not want the two events clashing with each other so WWE’s show was moved an hour back.

Bad Blood will take place from the almost sold-out State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia and will mark the first Bad Blood event since 2004. It will be held on the same day that the first Bad Blood was held in 1997, an event many fans remember for the Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker Hell In A Cell match and the arrival of Kane.

No Mercy 2024 live on Peacock and WWE Network tonight

By
Colin Vassallo
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Live tonight from the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, WWE presents NXT No Mercy streaming on Peacock and WWE Network. The full card is as follows:

Ethan Page vs Joe Hendry for the NXT title with Trick Williams as the special guest referee; Roxanne Perez vs Jaida Parker for the NXT Women’s title; Oba Femi vs Tony D’Angelo for the NXT North American title; Kelani Jordan vs Wendy Choo for the NXT Women’s North American title; Andre Chase and Ridge Holland vs Nathan Frazer and Axiom for the NXT Tag Team titles; Wes Lee vs Zachary Wentz.

NXT No Mercy will start at 7PM ET and the pre-show will kick off 30 minutes prior. The pre-show airs free on WWE’s social media properties as well as Peacock and WWE Network.

Lisa Marie Varon signs WWE Legends deal

By
Colin Vassallo
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Lisa Marie Varon, better known to WWE fans as Victoria, revealed that she signed a WWE Legends deal, which sometimes is also referred to as WWE Nostalgic contract by the talent.

The 53-year-old California native said that she’s honored and excited that WWE reached out to her about it.

“It’s a true honor to be part of the WWE Universe again. This doesn’t mean I will be hopping back into the ring,” she said, although she added the “never say never quote.

The deal will allow her to be involved and featured in upcoming video games, merchandise, and other stuff that WWE does with their Legends, including pay-per-appearance deals and an upfront sum for signing.

“Big thank you to WWE and all my fans and supporters, I hope you are excited about this as I am,” she concluded.

Varon worked for WWE for nine years between 2000 and 2009 and then moved to TNA Wrestling for a few more years after that. She’s a former two-time WWE Women’s champion.

Nikki Garcia photographed without wedding ring on flight to Las Vegas

By
Colin Vassallo
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A casual-looking Nikki Garcia boarded a private plane to Las Vegas yesterday where she will be hosting the Netflix live event special of Chestnut vs Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef.

TMZ paparazzi were on hand for Nikki’s first public appearance since the arrest of her husband Artem Chigvintsev and the photos revealed that Garcia has dumped her wedding ring.

The Dancing With The Stars pro was arrested on Thursday morning in Napa, California and charged with felony corporal injury to spouse or cohabitant. Nikki was confirmed the be the victim of the case. He was released on a $25,000 bail a few hours later.

The two have been married since 2022 and have a baby boy, Matteo, together. TMZ, speaking to sources close to the couple, said that they had a very volatile relationship for years before Thursday’s climax.

NXT stars Arianna Grace and Karmen Petrovic appear at TNA tapings

By
Colin Vassallo
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NXT stars Arianna Grace and Karmen Petrovic both appeared at the Saturday TNA Impact television tapings held in Louisville, Kentucky.

The tapings followed the Emergence TNA+ event which took place on Friday night where another NXT star, Riley Osborne, took part in the Ultimate X match.

Earlier in the week, Rosemary made an unannounced appearance on NXT television and lost to Kelani Jordan and tonight, TNA’s Zachary Wentz and Joe Hendry will be wrestling at No Mercy.

The relationship between NXT and TNA seems like it will be continuing for weeks and perhaps months to come with wrestlers from both brands crossing over.

WWE Raw to premiere on Netflix on January 6, 2025

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE confirmed yesterday during the post-Bash In Berlin press conference that Raw will officially start on Netflix in the United States and other International countries on Monday, January 6, 2025.

The date was expected, but was not officially announced prior to yesterday.

The last WWE Raw on USA Network will be held on December 30, 2024. Originally, Raw was supposed to end its association with USA in the beginning of October but with the Netflix deal starting in January, WWE had to take a pay cut to remain on USA for those three months.

Smackdown is also moving to USA Network on September 13 so for the next three months, both Raw and Smackdown will be on the same network. NXT moves to The CW on October 1.

AEW World title match confirmed for All Out 2024

By
Colin Vassallo
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A couple of more matches were announced for All Out last night during Collision, with the card now standing with six matches, four of which are for a title.

The main event was confirmed with AEW World champion Bryan Danielson making his first defense against TNT champion Jack Perry. Every match for Danielson is now like a retirement one as he said he will call it quits once he loses the title.

The other match announced is for the TBS title where champion Mercedes Mone defends her gold against Hikaru Shida. Shida became the number one contender last night when she beat Thunder Rosa, Queen Aminata, and Serena Deeb in a four-way match in the main event of Collision.

Shida already wrestled Mone a couple of weeks ago on Dynamite and lost.

Cody Rhodes faces the press in Triple H’s absence at the Bash In Berlin media scrum

By
Colin Vassallo
-

Triple H did not do the post-Bash In Berlin press conference last night and was substituted by the current Undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes, dusting off his old EVP rank to face the media with the business-side of things.

Cody said that the reason that Triple H was not there was because he left Germany earlier to make it in time to see off his oldest daughter go to college. That got a round of applause from people in the room.

Berlin broke another WWE record last night, with the premium live event becoming the highest-grossing WWE arena event in the history of the company. That record was broken twice before in 2024 alone, first in Lyon for Backlash and then in Glasgow for Clash at the Castle, continuing a trend of rising ticket prices across the globe wherever WWE goes.

Rhodes also had to endure further more Vince McMahon-related questions as it has become the norm at the press conferences.

Asked why the locker room is quiet about the sexual abuse and trafficking allegations against their former boss, Rhodes said everyone’s focus is to have great stories and great matches. He said it’s not an attempt for anyone to be silent, but they’re there to do their job.

Asked again if he believed McMahon’s accuser Janel Grant, Rhodes replied, “Again, I don’t know enough about the information to give you a good enough answer there. I’m sorry.”

The champion was also asked if he will be watching the Netflix docuseries on McMahon. Rhodes said that he’s currently busy watching a Game of Thrones re-watch but he will eventually see it at some point, noting that WWE had nothing to do with the documentary.

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