AXS TV and Impact Wrestling announced the Wrestle Week line up leading up to Bound For Glory on pay-per-view on October 18 live from Las Vegas.
Wrestle Week kicks off on Monday, October 18 with the return of Bad A$$ Movies With The Good Brothers who present Road House at 9PM ET.
On Thursday, October 21, AXS TV will air Slammiversary 2021 at 3PM ET and then BTI: Before the Impact at 7PM ET leading to a new episode of Impact Wrestling at 8PM ET. At 10PM ET, a new Impact In 60: Christian Cage premieres.
The action continues on Saturday with This Is Bound For Glory at 9PM ET, followed by a 30-minute Countdown to Glory live from Vegas at 9:30PM ET and then Bound For Glory live on pay-per-view starting two hours later than usual at 10PM ET.
When Tyson Fury was celebrating his victory over Deontay Wilder in their 2020 rematch, he probably didn’t expect to be gearing up for a third fight with the American some 18 months later. But that is the situation he finds himself in, with Wilder having insisted that the third fight stipulated in the pair’s contract be honoured.
Fury had been eyeing up a mammoth showdown with Anthony Joshua, but that has had to be put on hold, and might not happen at all due to the fact that Joshua lost his world heavyweight titles to Oleksandr Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last month. It’s been a strange time for the heavyweight division, and while Fury was left disappointed that Joshua lost his crown, he has a real chance to prove against Wilder that he is second to none in heavyweight boxing at the moment.
“Did I watch the fight? Yes I did. Was I absolutely wounded that he won? Yes I was,” Fury said in the aftermath of the Joshua v Usyk fight. “The only thing I’m bothered about is beating Deontay Wilder, and that’s the most dangerous heavyweight out there. In my opinion, Wilder beats Joshua, Usyk, all the rest of the division, comfortable – but he cannot beat me.”
Fury has every reason to be confident heading into the trilogy fight. The Fury v Wilder odds place him as the odds-on favourite to emerge triumphant, and it’s clear that it’s going to take a huge performance from the American to exact revenge on his British heavyweight rival. The second fight between the pair saw Fury dominate, and whilst Wilder will point to the facial injuries he sustained as a reason for his under-performance, the reality was that Fury simply had his number throughout the contest.
With Joshua’s loss to Usyk, he has now suffered defeat on two separate occasions in the last couple of years. That is not the kind of form you expect from an elite heavyweight fighter, one once regarded as the best Britain has seen for years and there is a very real possibility that Joshua’s powers are beginning to wane. On top of that, the nature of Wilder’s defeat to Fury back in February 2020 suggested that he has some serious weaknesses as well. In the end, the only fighter yet to suffer a setback of any note in the ring is Fury.
You could argue that if Fury defeats Wilder, it won’t really prove much. He has already shown he has the capability to do damage to the American, and in many ways the trilogy fight is merely one last chance for Wilder to get some personal revenge. That brings its own pressure for Fury, but you wouldn’t expect him to waver when the going gets tough. He lives for occasions like this.
Should he come out on top, as the boxing betting tips suggest he will, then Fury will stand alone as the best heavyweight in the world at the moment — if he isn’t already. He has a great opportunity to prove his quality once and for all, and send the doubters packing.
Night two of the WWE draft continues tonight on Monday Night Raw with the remaining members of the WWE roster eligible to be drafted.
Last Friday night on Smackdown, Roman Reigns and Big E were the first draft picks with both champions staying on their respective brands.
Notable moves include Raw Women’s champion Charlotte Flair moving to Smackdown along with Drew McIntyre and NXT’s Hit Row. Raw got Bianca Belair from the blue brand as well as Edge, and Rey Mysterio along with his son Dominik among those who moved.
With Flair moving to Smackdown it will be interesting what happens with Becky Lynch who is the Smackdown Women’s champion. Lynch will be eligible to be drafted tonight along with the likes of Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley, Intercontinental champion Shinsuke Nakamura, U.S. champion Damian Priest, and many others.
While not all the moves will happen on Raw, there will be other changes which will be announced during Raw Talk.
The September 30 episode of Impact on AXS TV drew 115,000 viewers, down 2,000 viewers from the previous episode. The show did 0.03 in the 18-49 demo, same as last time, and was #142 on the top 150 cable chart. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Ticket sales for the AEW Full Gear pay-per-view in Minneapolis, Minnesota, had a great first few days, with the promotion selling well over 8,000 tickets.
The Target Center is already sold out of the floor and the 100 Level seats, with the remaining tickets all available in the 200 Level sections.
Tickets went on sale this past Friday and the pre-sale earlier in the week. The majority of the tickets were moved during the pre-sale.
The Target Center seats over 20,000 fans in a basketball setting and around 14,000 in a wrestling set-up. While AEW will not be using the full capacity, more seats will be added depending on demand.
Appearing on Ariane Andrew’s Sippin’ The Tea podcast along with her twin sister, Brie Bella, Nikki did not have good news about her future when it comes to a return to the ring.
The twins have been saying that they’re targeting for another run in 2022 and take the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles but now it seems like Nikki cannot get back in the ring.
She said she’d love to wrestle in front of her son, “but because he is my everything, I have to listen to the doctors. And as of now, they’ve put me on the retired bench for life,” Nikki said.
The former Divas champ added that for her to get cleared, she’ll have to undergo many different scans, x-rays, and tests, “and that would be unlikely, that will be years down the road.”
Nikki last wrestled at the Evolution all-women’s pay-per-view in October 2018, losing in the main event to Ronda Rousey.
More WWE Superstars switched brands in the WWE Draft, with their announcement coming on social media.
Moving – or staying – on Monday Night Raw are 24/7 champion Reggie, Akira Tozawa, Chad Gable and Otis, Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez, Doudrop, John Morrison, T-BAR, Nia Jax, R-Truth, and Zelina Vega.
Moving to the blue brand are NXT’s Aliyah, Drew Gulak, Mace, Mansoor, Mustafa Ali, and Toni Storm.
Since Raw is three hours and Smackdown is only two, Raw will get more overall picks due to its bigger roster.
Sportsnet in Canada announced that with the relaunch of SN NOW, the WWE Network is now available as a stand-alone product for the first time since its launch.
Available for $14.99 a month or $24.99 with SN NOW Standard, WWE fans now have multiple ways to access premium WWE content. The WWE Network is also part of the SN NOW Premium package at no additional cost.
Previously, the WWE Network in Canada was only available through local television providers as a linear TV channel without the availability of an application and required a subscription to a cable or satellite package.
SN NOW is currently available on desktop or laptop through a web browser, as well as smartphones, tablets, Apple TV, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung TV, Ignite TV and Google Chromecast by downloading the Sportsnet app.
The first night of the WWE Draft on Smackdown drew an average of 2,115,000 viewers in the overnights, up just 28,000 viewers from last week’s overnight number. Last week’s final number ended up being 2,135,000 viewers.
The first hour of Smackdown started with 2,167,000 viewers and then dropped to 2,063,000 viewers in the second hour. Smackdown drew 0.55 in the 18-49 demo, topping the night despite season premieres of SWAT, Magnum PI, and Blue Bloods which usually all draw better numbers. (Ratings credit: SpoilerTV.com)
WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella will be joining Simon Cowell and X Games gold medalist Travis Pastrana as the judges of the new America’s Got Talent: Extreme series.
The news was reported by Deadline yesterday who also said that Terry Crews will be hosting.
The series is set to launch midseason on NBC and is produced by Syco Entertainment and Fremantle. America’s Got Talent: Extreme will “showcase the most outrageous and jaw-dropping daredevil acts where each week extreme contestants will go head-to-head in the most wild, wacky and craziest stunts to vie for the ultimate title.”
Six of the seven participants of the upcoming Casino Ladder match on Dynamite’s two-year anniversary show next week were announced by AEW President Tony Khan last night on Rampage.
Those in the match will be former champ Jon Moxley, Andrade El Idolo, Lance Archer, PAC, Orange Cassidy, and Matt Hardy. The Joker, the seventh and final participant, will not be revealed until the match.
The winner of this ladder match will be receiving a title shot against whoever the AEW World champion will be at the time.
This will be the second Casino Ladder match after the first one from the 2020 Double or Nothing pay-per-view which Brian Cage won.
The first set of Superstars were drafted on Smackdown last night, with both Raw and Smackdown getting eight picks each.
Moving or staying on Smackdown are Universal champion Roman Reigns, Raw Women’s champion Charlotte Flair, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss, NXT’s Hit Row including Isiah “Swerve” Scott, Top Dolla, Ashante Adonis, and B-Fab, Naomi, and Jeff Hardy.
Joining the red brand will be WWE champion Big E, Bianca Belair, Raw Tag Team champions Randy Orton and Riddle, Edge, WWE Women’s Tag Team champions Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H., Keith Lee, Rey and Domenik Mysterio, and NXT’s Austin Theory.
The draft continues this Monday on Raw. The official change of rosters won’t happen until the October 22 Smackdown.
WWE has announced a major match for the Smackdown Women’s title that will take place at the upcoming Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.
Smackdown Women’s champion Becky Lynch will be defending her title against Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks in a triple threat match in what will be the first-ever women’s triple threat match in Saudi under the WWE banner.
It is believed that more than one women’s match will be taking place at Crown Jewel and that would also be a first since the past two shows only included one women’s match each.
Reacting to the match on Twitter, the champ wrote, “I didn’t agree to this shit!”
This is Becky’s, Bianca’s, and Sasha’s first trip to Saudi for WWE. Previously Natalya and Lacey Evans wrestled at Crown Jewel 2019 and Bayley wrestled Naomi at Super ShowDown in February 2020.
The 2021 WWE Draft will kick off tonight on Friday Night Smackdown on FOX and will continue this coming Monday on Raw on USA Network.
Everyone is eligible to be drafted, including champions, and this year, stars from NXT will also be drafted to either Raw or Smackdown but there will be no one going the other way round.
The last Draft was held in October 2020 with Drew McIntyre being the #1 pick for Raw and Roman Reigns the #1 pick for Smackdown during night one while Bray Wyatt was #1 pick for Raw and Bayley the #1 pick for Smackdown on night two.
Not all WWE Superstars will be up to be swapped tonight, with only half the roster being in play on Smackdown and the other half to be drafted Monday on Raw. And changes to the roster will take effect on Friday, October 22, which is the night after Crown Jewel.
The only thing announced for tonight’s broadcast is the return of Edge who is looking to wrap his feud up with Seth Rollins once and for all.
The first episode of Rhodes to the Top which aired yesterday on TNT following Dynamite drew 422,000 viewers. The show did 0.17 in the 18-49 demo and ranked #16 on the cable chart. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Tonight on Rampage, AEW President Tony Khan will announce the participants of the Casino Ladder Match which will take place next week on Dynamite.
The match will be part of the 2-year anniversary broadcast live from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the winner of the ladder match will be getting an AEW World title match in the future.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio, Khan said the first three participants will be announced after the first match and another three will be announced towards the end of the broadcast. The final participant, The Joker, will be kept a secret until the match next week.
This is the first Casino Ladder Match since the one from the 2020 Double or Nothing pay-per-view.
Impact Wrestling is introducing a brand new championship titled the Impact Digital Media Championship.
Unveiled yesterday during Impact, the Digital Media title will be defended on the Impact Plus events as well as on Impact’s social media properties.
A single-elimination tournament will determine the first champion, with the final match being held at the upcoming Bound For Glory pay-per-view later this month.
The tournament will kick off on October 5 with two matches a week streaming on Impact Plus and the Impact Ultimate Insider YouTube channel.
Judging from the video promoting the tournament, this looks like it will be an intergender title although Impact has not confirmed that yet.
WWE today announced the hiring of sports broadcaster Jackie Redmond as their newest member of the WWE broadcast team.
The 34-year-old Canadian will be the new co-host of Raw Talk and Talking Smack, joining Matt Camp from The Bump.
“As someone who grew up on Stone Cold Stunners and Rock Bottoms, I cannot even begin to explain how excited I am to join WWE,” said Redmond. “There is nothing quite like the WWE Universe and I am so grateful for the opportunity to engage with the most passionate and dedicated fans in sports entertainment every week on Raw Talk and Talking Smack.”
Redmond has been a sportscaster for over 10 years and currently serves as a host and reporter covering hockey for both the NHL Network and Turner Sports. She previously spent six years as an anchor for Rogers Sportsnet in Canada, covering all sports as a reporter and hosting a variety of studio programs, including Sportsnet Central and WWE Aftermath.
She began her career after winning the Gillette DRAFTED 3: The Search for Canada’s Next Sportscaster on theScore Television Network in 2011, becoming the only female winner in the show’s five-year history.
