Two more matches have been announced for SummerSlam this Saturday, making this pay-per-view a 10-match card.
The Raw Tag Team titles will be on the line as expected with champions AJ Styles and Omos defending against the RK-Bro team of Randy Orton and Riddle. Orton and Riddle overcame their differences last night on Raw and reunited during the broadcast.
The second match announced was Alexa Bliss taking on Eva Marie. The feud, which has been going on for weeks, escalated yesterday when Eva ordered Doudrop to go kidnap Alexa’s doll Lilly. Unfortunately for Eva, super powers prevented that from happening and it required two hard slaps to Doudrop’s face to get her back to reality.
One or two of the matches on the card will be probably moved to the Kick Off show.
The premiere episode of AEW Rampage last Friday night did 740,000 viewers on TNT, a great number for a 10PM time slot. The show had a 0.31 rating in the 18-49 demo, landing the show in the third place on the cable chart for the night.
The show is expected to do even bigger numbers this week with The First Dance episode featuring the return of CM Punk. Television viewers will probably dwindle down a little bit after that though as Rampage will not be live and the show will not be as stacked as the first two episodes. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
The next WWE 24 episode will be so big it will be split in two, just like the event it will cover.
The WWE 24: WrestleMania 37 will be airing on two nights, part one covering night one of the show this coming Saturday and then on Sunday part two will cover night two of WrestleMania.
WrestleMania 37, which took place from the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, was the first one to feature fans in the stands in over a year. It got off to a rough start too as after the show kicked off, pouring rain put a hold on the show for around 20 minutes.
These will be the third and fourth episodes of WWE 24 this year following the ones featuring Big E and The Miz.
WWE 24: WrestleMania 37 will be available to stream on Peacock in the United States and on the WWE Network everywhere else.
Goldin, the leading marketplace for trading cards, collectibles and memorabilia, and WWE have partnered to offer a billion dollar bill featuring and signed by Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman & CEO, and a 1-of-1 “Billionaire Bucks” t-shirt through Goldin’s Card & Memorabilia Auction that opens today.
Fans can also bid for a chance to win a tour through WWE’s warehouse with Triple H as their guide to see one-of-a-kind pieces, including iconic match-worn gear, championship title belts and rings from legendary events. A lucky fan will also be able to win two tickets and a behind-the-scenes experience at WrestleMania featuring a meet-and-greet with The Undertaker.
The autographed billion-dollar bill and “Billionaire Bucks” t-shirt were created specifically for this auction. An additional unsigned bill and “Billionaire Bucks” t-shirt will be available for auction in-venue at SummerSlam in Las Vegas this Saturday, August 21.
“We are honored to be working with WWE for our first-ever auction featuring fan experiences,” said Ross Hoffman, CEO of Goldin. “WWE has built a brand that is constantly innovating and providing the best to their fans, and we could not be more proud to help provide a new way to engage with their passionate fans. And what better way to do so than to offer experiences with storied WWE Legends Triple H and The Undertaker!”
“Goldin is a clear industry leader, and we believe this is an incredible opportunity to give fans a chance to own a unique piece of SummerSlam history,” said Scott Zanghellini, WWE Senior Vice President, Revenue Strategy & Development.
In addition to the one-of-a-kind experiences, the auction will also feature 7 WWE SummerSlam memorabilia items, such as:
The Barb Wire Baseball Bat Ric Flair used in his victory against Mick Foley in the “I Quit” match at SummerSlam 2006 (LOT 23)
The shears Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and Hulk Hogan used in their 1989 match victory against “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Zeus (LOT 24)
The Night Stick Big Boss Man used in his match against Koko B. Ware at SummerSlam 1988 (LOT 25)
The Money in the Bank Briefcase Randy Orton cashed in on Daniel Bryan to become WWE Champion at SummerSlam 2013 (LOT 26)
The Arena Banner used at SummerSlam from 1992-1997 (LOT 27)
The Ring Skirt used at SummerSlam from 1989-1997 (LOT 28)
The Ring Skirt used at SummerSlam in 1998 (LOT 29)
WWE today announced the live events dates and locations from October till the end of 2021, with 33 shows across the United States.
The Survivor Series in November will be on November 21 and will take place live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. This year will be the 25th anniversary from the debut of The Rock so it will be interesting to see if there’s a tie-in to the show. Raw the following day will also take place from the Brooklyn Center.
The December pay-per-view, still untitled, will happen on December 12 from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois.
There is no mention of the Saudi Arabia show which is tentatively scheduled for October 21, which is a Thursday. The October 22 Smackdown which would be the following day is from the INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas.
The full list of events is as follows:
Friday, October 1: SmackDown- Smoothie King Center in New Orleans
Saturday, October 2: Supershow – Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Sunday, October 3: Supershow – Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.
Monday, October 4: Raw – Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
Friday, October 15: SmackDown – Toyota Arena in Ontario, Calif.
Saturday, October 16: Supershow – Rio Rancho Events Center in Rio Rancho, N.M.
Sunday, October 17: Supershow – Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas
Monday, October 18: Raw – Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif.
Friday, October 22: SmackDown – INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan.
Monday, October 25: Raw – Toyota Center in Houston
Friday, October 29: SmackDown – Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes Barre, Pa.
Monday, November 1: Raw – Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, R.I.
Monday, November 8: Raw – KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
Friday, November 12: SmackDown – Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va.
Monday, November 15: Raw – Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis
Friday, November 19: SmackDown – XL Center in Hartford, Conn.
Saturday, November 20: Supershow – War Memorial Arena in Syracuse, N.Y.
Sunday, November 21: Survivor Series – Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Monday, November 22: Raw – Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Saturday, November 27: Supershow – Berglund Center Coliseum in Roanoke, Va,
Sunday, November 28: Supershow – Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, W. Va.
Monday, November 29: Raw – Brand New UBS Arena at Belmont Park (Long Island, N.Y.)
Saturday, December 4: Supershow – Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg, Texas
Sunday, December 5: Supershow – American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas
Monday, December 6: Raw – FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn.
Friday, December 10: SmackDown – Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland
Saturday, December 11: SuperShow – Dow Events Center in Saginaw, Mich.
Sunday, December 12: WWE PPV – Allstate Arena in Chicago
Monday, December 13: Raw – Resch Center in Green Bay, Wis.
Friday, December 17: SmackDown – Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
Saturday, December 18: Supershow – BMO Harris Bank Center in Rockford, Ill.
Sunday, December 19: Supershow – Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa
Friday, December 31: SmackDown – Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C.
Tickets for San Juan and Houston are currently on sale and all events through October 22 go on sale this Friday, August 20 at 10AM local time. Additional on-sale dates will be announced in the coming weeks.
Several industry insiders are reporting that NXT will be doing bulk tapings for their shows following NXT Takeover 36 this Sunday in a move to cut costs on production.
NXT has been mostly live every week since making its debut on USA Network in late 2019 but there have been occasions where shows were taped ahead of time. The last tapings were a few weeks ago when the show went head-to-head with the Olympics and aired on Syfy rather than USA.
It’s unclear if these upcoming set of tapings will be permanent moving forward or just temporary but with the show no longer having Dynamite as competition, there could be an inkling moving towards to tapings now.
13 stars from NXT were cut two weeks ago and the rumors are that the brand will be undergoing major changes moving forward to go back to its developmental roots rather than a third brand.
WWE has a multi-year deal with USA Network to broadcast NXT every week and that is unlikely to change considering the network pays millions to WWE for the show.
In what could be bad news coming up, both Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair missed their second non-televised live event in a row last night.
After missing the Charlotte show due to “unforeseen circumstances,” both the champ and the challenger were absent from the Columbia show as well yesterday, with a similar line delivered to the audience to explain their absence.
The two are set to go one-on-one this Saturday at the SummerSlam pay-per-view for the Smackdown Women’s title in one of the top matches of the broadcast.
Obviously, in this COVID-19 era it’s easy to assume certain things but we have no information whatsoever as to what has prevented both Superstars to miss the weekend live event.
There will be no New Year’s Eve celebrations for WWE Superstars this year as the Smackdown on December 31 will be live from the Spectrum Center from Charlotte, North Carolina on FOX.
The announcement was made yesterday during the non-televised live event in the same location and the news was given by Kaci Jones of the local FOX affiliate FOX 46.
It will be a busy weekend for everyone in the company as just 24 hours after this live Smackdown, there will be a pay-per-view on New Year’s Day, the first one in WWE history. This Saturday pay-per-view, still untitled, will air live from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Spectrum Center yesterday saw almost 8,000 fans turn up for this house show but unfortunately fans couldn’t see Bianca Belair or Sasha Banks, who were not on the show due to “unforeseen circumstances.” This was a SuperShow, featuring stars from both Raw and Smackdown.
When Sammy Guevara presented his good friend Fuego Del Sol with an AEW contract this past Friday on Rampage, the young 25-year-old had no idea that it was going to happen.
Fuego was on the card wrestling Miro with the stipulation that if he beats Miro, not only will he win the TNT title but also an AEW contract. Miro had a very decisive win and after the match was over, Tony Khan made a cameo, handed Guevara a clipboard, and The Inner Circle member then surprised Fuego with the news in the middle of the ring.
“That was a complete shoot,” Khan said. “Fuego had no idea that was going to happen. Sammy was the only person I told, and Fuego was legitimately surprised to receive the contract he’s been dreaming of and chasing.”
The Oklahoma native has been wrestling regularly on Dark for over a year, losing the absolute majority of his matches.
The current Impact Knockouts champion Deonna Purrazzo added another title to her collection last night after she won the AAA Reina de Reinas title during the Triplemania XXIX event in Mexico City.
Purrazzo took on Faby Apache in a title vs title match and the Impact champ came out victorious after Apache submitted to an armbar.
The 27-year-old’s next title defense will come on Saturday, August 28 at the NWA all-women pay-per-view Empower where she will take on former WWE Divas champion Melina for the Knockouts title.
With this win, two of AAA’s main titles are now being carried by wrestlers contracted to different promotions. Kenny Omega retained his AAA Mega title against Andrade yesterday as well.
The sport of professional wrestling will get some more exposure over the next several weeks as the premiere of the drama series Heels from Starz is set for tonight, Sunday, August 15 at 9PM ET.
Heels, starring Arrow’s Stephen Amell and Vikings’ Alexander Ludwig in the leading roles, is a story about two brothers trying to live up to their father’s legacy in an independent promotion called Duffy Wrestling League set in a small Georgia community. As it’s often the case, it’s not all nice and dandy between the two brothers and their differences in the ring spill to their lives outside the ring.
Amell plays Jack Spade, the heel in DWL and the man who run things. Ludwig plays Ace, the babyface of the promotion and the one set for the next big push. Outside the ring, the two brothers are also completely different: Jack works for an auto shop to provide for his wife and son apart from running DWL while Ace has a more challenging road with a lot of demons and problems.
Joining Amell and Ludwig are Mary McCormack as Willie Day, Jack’s business partner and the one who runs logistics at DWL; Alison Luff as Staci Spade who plays Jack’s wife; Kelli Berglund as Crystal Tyler, Ace’s young valet; Allen Maldonado as Rooster Robbins, a wrestler in DWL; James Harrison as Apocalypse, a veteran wrestler in DWL; Robby Ramos as Diego Cottonmouth, a wrestler in DWL; Trey Tucker as Bobby Pin, an up-and-comer wrestler in DWL; and Chris Bauer as Wild Bill Hancock, a former professional wrestler and scout.
Eight, one-hour episodes will make up season one with each episode named after a wrestling term: Episode 1 is Kayfabe, episode 2 is Dusty Finish, episode 3 is Cheap Heat, episode 4 is Cutting Promos, episode 5 is Swerve, Episode 6 is House Show, episode 7 is The Big Bad Fish Man, and episode 8 is Double Turn.
There will be a couple of notable well-known wrestlers who make an appearance as well on Heels, including CM Punk, who is featured in one of the episodes and also wrestles.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, AEW President Tony Khan said that next week’s Rampage live from Chicago will be a “historic wrestling television event.”
Titled The First Dance, next week’s Rampage will feature the debut of former WWE champion CM Punk, his first involvement with a major promotion since he quit WWE in early 2014.
Khan said that with the first show in the can, they built a foundation for what’s coming next week and the anticipation for next week is obviously high.
“This show belongs to the wrestling fans. Now is the time for more AEW on TNT and TBS. There is only more excitement to come in the weeks ahead. I’ve looked forward to this day for so long, and this was a great debut for Rampage,” Khan said. “It’s a totally different format for us, and next week will be a very atypical episode of Rampage. I’m so excited for what is ahead next week. We’re going to give people very special wrestling television.”
Meanwhile, in a separate interview with TV Insider promoting the Heels television series, CM Punk said that professional wrestling needs a good kick in the d*ck at the moment and “I think we are about there!”
Punk said that there are people who are stirring the pot and causing trouble…in a good way.
“It’s a fun world. There is nothing like it. Pro wrestling gets crapped on by a number of people. But when it’s done on a high level and it’s really good, there is nothing better,” Punk said, who has since softened his stance on wrestling from several years ago.
“Nature Boy” Ric Flair made a surprise appearance at last night’s Triplemania XXIX event at the Mexico City Arena in Mexico City, aligning himself with Andrade El Idolo.
Andrade, who was supposed to be accompanied by Konnan for his match against Kenny Omega for the AAA Mega title, told Konnan that he does not need his services as there was someone else more important than him.
And it was Flair who came out with Andrade, but the former NXT champion came up short in his quest to take the title off of Omega, who won the match after a One Winged Angel delivered on the title. Flair even got physical in the ring, chopping Omega and Konnan and then locked the Figure 4 on Konnan.
This was Flair’s first non-WWE appearance in several years and it was possible after WWE released him earlier this month. It is strongly believed that the two-time WWE Hall of Famer will be going to All Elite Wrestling very soon.
It looks like WWE will be holding both King and Queen of the Ring tournaments come October. The news was originally broken by Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men podcast.
The Queen of the Ring, which was rumored several weeks ago, will be a first for the company. The finals for both the King and Queen of the Ring tournament are expected to take place at the next big WWE event in Saudi Arabia, penciled for October 21 as things stand.
WWE last held a King of the Ring tournament in 2019, with Baron Corbin beating Chad Gable in the final. Corbin recently lost the crown to Shinsuke Nakamura.
There have been a total of 21 King of the Ring tournaments in WWE, dating back to 1985. The event was a yearly affair every June from 1993 to 2002.
Smackdown had a big day in ratings yesterday, drawing 2,498,000 viewers in the overnight rating, up a whopping 452,000 viewers from last week’s overnight. Last week’s show ended with 2,169,000 viewers when the final number came in on Monday.
Smackdown started very strong with 2,575,000 viewers and then had 2,422,000 viewers in the second hour. The show did 0.6 in the 18-49 demographics, beating everything else on network television. This was the most-watched Smackdown since the December 25, 2020 episode which aired following an NFL game. (Ratings credit: SpoilerTV.com)
AEW announced the signing of two wrestlers yesterday, Fuego del Sol and Jamie Hayter.
Fuego del Sol had to win his match against TNT champion Miro to earn a contract but the champ quickly crushed his dreams…until Sammy Guevara appeared after the match with a lifeline.
AEW President Tony Khan made a quick cameo on the show and handed Guevara a clipboard. Guevara then told Fuego that Khan offered him this opportunity because they’re friends and handed him a brand new AEW contract anyway.
British star Jamie Hayter made her return to AEW last night on Rampage and joined forces with the AEW Women’s champ. Hayter, who wrestled in the UK and also for Stardom in Japan, appeared several times on AEW in 2019 but COVID-19 didn’t help things in 2020.
Following the conclusion of Rampage, AEW announced on social media that Hayter has signed a deal with AEW as well.
Following his Impact World title win, Impact Wrestling announced that Christian Cage will be returning to the Impact Zone next week for the newest set of television tapings.
Impact will be taping shows from August 15 to August 17 at the Skyway Studios and the new champion will be there on Monday, August 16.
Each taping will have two shows, taping from 3PM to 6PM and from 7PM to 10PM. Tickets to all shows are now available at http://impac.tw/AugTV.
This will be the first time that Christian will be at Impact in nearly 10 years.
A new Intercontinental champion was crowned last night on Smackdown as Shinsuke Nakamura beat Apollo Crews to start his second reign with the title.
Nakamura captured the title clean with a perfectly executed Kinshasa on Crews, covering him for the three-count much to the enjoyment of the crowd.
During the match, both Rick Boogs and Commander Azeez were sent to the back by the referee for trying to interfere. Boogs started playing his guitar on the apron when Apollo was going on the top rope and the ref ejected him and while this was going on, Azeez tried to sneak from behind to attack Nakamura but the referee caught him and sent him packing too for a big pop from the crowd.
Crews had been Intercontinental champion since WrestleMania 37 when he defeated Big E in a Nigerian drum fight. Prior to this win, Nakamura was the IC champion for nearly six months starting in July of 2019.
Impact Wrestling on AXS TV this week drew 122,000 viewers, up 19,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. The show drew 0.04 in the 18-49 demo, same as last week. This was the most-watched Impact since June 10. (Ratings credit: Wrestlenomics)
Christian Cage defeated Kenny Omega in the first match of Rampage last night and became the new Impact World champion, taking two belts off Kenny Omega’s shoulders.
Cage managed to defeat Omega with his Kill Switch finishing move which was executed on a steel chair, originally intended for Omega to use on Cage.
The former World Heavyweight champion will now be defending the title next week against Brian Myers at the Emergence Impact Plus streaming-only event airing on Friday, August 20.
Omega had been Impact World champion since the Rebellion pay-per-view in April of this year after beating Rich Swann. Cage, who won the title twice during his original stint, becomes the second consecutive non-Impact Wrestling contracted star to hold the Impact title.
Cage also has another shot at Omega, this time for the AEW World title, at the upcoming All Out pay-per-view.
