WWE is slated to hold its upcoming Queen Of The Ring tournament and a new trademark filing has seemingly confirmed the name of it.
The company filed for the phrase “Queens Crown Tournament” with The United States Patent and Trademark Office last week. The description notes that it’s for entertainment services.
WWE is returning to Saudi Arabia on October 21st for its next pay-per-view event in the country that will be called Crown Jewel, which has been used for past shows.
WWE has plans to present the King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring tournament starting on the October 8th edition of SmackDown and continuing on the October 11th episode of Raw.
“Being that I’m already The Queen, if it was to happen, I believe whoever wins it has to face me, since I am The Queen of Queens, right?” asked Charlotte. “Like I don’t think I have to be in it. I already have the title. I think they should have the opportunity to face me if they win.”
It’s been reported that only talent from Raw and SmackDown will be part of both tournaments, so it’s very likely that no talent from NXT will participate. As always, anything in WWE can change.
Monday’s edition of WWE Raw averaged 1.907 million viewers with a 0.54 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic. This is down from last week’s 2.067 million viewers and the 0.64 rating.
Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Raw, courtesy of Showbuzzdaily.com:
Hour 1: 1.955 million, 0.56 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 2: 1.936 million, 0.57 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 3: 1.830 million, 0.50 in the 18-49 Demo
This show was expected to drop from last week’s Raw, which was the fallout edition for SummerSlam, and set the second biggest viewership number the show has done thus far this year, only behind the January 4th edition.
This episode featured Rhea Ripley vs. Shayna Baszler, The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar) vs. Jinder Mahal & Veer, United States Champion Damian Priest vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus, Nia Jax vs. Charlotte Flair, Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro (Randy Orton & Riddle) vs. Bobby Lashley & MVP, and more.
SmackDown Viewership
The episode drew an average of 2.874 million viewers in the overnight ratings, up from the previous week that did 2.237 million viewers. In the 18-49 demographic, it did a 0.59 rating, which was up from the 0.57 rating the week before.
The final ratings were 2.250 million viewers, up from last week’s 2.102 million viewers.
Monday’s WWE Raw TV event was described as a “crazy” day backstage that saw some changes made to the original plans of the show.
WWE had been advertising Bobby Lashley vs. Sheamus in a non-title match, but Vince McMahon scrapped plans for that match and instead, booked RKO Bro defending the Raw Tag Team Championships against Lashley and MVP.
Also, Damian Priest was scheduled to defend the United States Championship against Drew McIntyre in the first match on Raw after issuing an open challenge. However, that was changed to Priest defending in a Triple Threat Match against Sheamus and McIntyre.
All of these changes were made official during the opening segment of the show on the USA Network from Oklahoma City, OK at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Pwinsider.com reported that a lot of things were switched around including where certain segments aired. Plans changing in WWE isn’t anything new, but it’s been quite some time since so many matches advertised in advance had been changed the day of the show.
As previously noted, the John Morrison vs. The Miz match that had also been advertised didn\’t take place as scheduled and was pulled from the Raw preview article published on WWE\’s website.
The NWA presents two pay-per-view events this weekend – EmPowerrr and 73 – from the Chase Park Plaza in St. Louis, MO.
EmPowerrr takes place on Saturday while 73 goes down on Sunday. The shows will begin at 7:00 pm ET.
National Wrestling Alliance will present its first-ever all-women’s show with the Inaugural NWA Women’s Invitational Cup as its main event. The headliner for 73 will be NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis vs. Trevor Murdoch.
The pay-per-view events can be purchased with the price tag of $39.99 via the FITE app. The shows will begin at 7:00 pm ET. Here is the final card.
NWA EmPowerrr Card
Main Event: The Inaugural NWA Women’s Invitational Cup – Lady Frost (begins at #1), Tootie Lynn, Chelsea Green, Jamie Senegal, Debbie Malenko, Bianca Carelli, Jennacide, Thunder Kitty, Masha Slamovich, Kiera Hogan (The winner of the ten-woman Gauntlet will challenge the NWA World Women’s Champion the next night at NWA 73)
NWA World Women’s Champion Kamille vs. Leyla Hirsch
Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. Melina
The FreeBabes (Miranda Gordy, Hollyhood Haley J, Jazzy Yang) vs. KiLynn King and Red Velvet – NWA World Women’s Tag Team Titles Tournament
Hell on Heels (Renee Michelle, Sahara 7) vs. The Hex (Allysin Kay, Marti Belle) – NWA World Women’s Tag Team Titles Tournament
The Hex or Hell on Heels vs. Red Velvet and KiLynn King or The Freebabes – NWA World Women’s Tag Team Titles Tournament Finals
NWA’s Kylie Ray vs. AAA’s Chika Tormenta vs. AEW’s Diamante
Paola Mayfield vs. Kenzie Paige
Skye Blue vs. Christi Jaynes
NWA 73 Card
NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis vs. Trevor Murdoch
NWA National ChampionChris Adonis vs. James Storm
NWA Tag Team Champions Aron Stevens & Kratos vs. La Rebelion (Mecha Wolf & Bestia 666)
Mickie James vs. Kylie Rae
NWA Women\’s Championship: Kamille or Leyla Hirsch vs. NWA Invitational Winner at Empowerrr
Thom Latimer vs. Crimson vs. Tim Storm
Tyrus, Masked Man, & Jordan Clearwater vs. Da Pope, Odison, & Parrow
12-Man Battle Royal to determine NWA National Title number one contender: Competitors TBA
All Elite Wrestling has announced new matches for their upcoming All Out pay-per-view event.
On Friday’s episode of Rampage, The Lucha Bros (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix) defeated Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) in the AEW World Tag Team Championship Eliminator Tournament finals.
As a result, The Lucha Bros will challenge The Young Bucks for the AEW World Tag Team Titles in a Steel Cage match at All Out.
The AEW All Out pay-per-view event will take place on Sunday, September 5, 2021 from Chicago, Illinois at Now Arena. All Elite Wrestling will be announcing more matches in the coming days. Here is the updated card:
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega vs. Christian Cage
CM Punk vs. Darby Allin
Andrade El Idolo vs. PAC
Paul Wight vs. QT Marshall
Chris Jericho vs. MJF (If Jericho loses, he can never wrestle in AEW again)
Jon Moxley vs. Satoshi Kojima
AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker vs. Kris Statlander
AEW Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks vs. Lucha Bros
TNT Champion Miro vs. Eddie Kingston
AEW Women’s Battle Royal: Julia Hart, Big Swole, The Bunny, Thunder Rosa, Red Velvet, Tay Conti, Penelope Ford, Diamante, and Nyla Rose
WWE is rebranding the image of NXT and it all starts with a new logo. Wale sent out a video on Twitter this evening of the logo, which was retweeted by the official WWE account, essentially confirming that this is it.
WWE is making various changes to the brand from its production, look, and talent. WWE is moving away from scouting independent talent. They also will be signing and pushing younger and taller wrestlers instead of doing this with older and smaller wrestlers.
Even this past Tuesday night on TV, the pace of the matches was much slower. WWE President Nick Khan confirmed the changes last week while doing an interview with Ariel Helwani.
“We’re doing a complete revamp on NXT, led by Triple H, Paul Levesque, who’s really one of the architects of the original NXT. What we found, it’s probably why we did the tryout yesterday, what we want to make sure is easy for folks who want to be WWE superstars is figuring out how to become WWE superstars. If you think of the life of an elevated athlete throughout their career, the opportunity to go play somewhere has always been easy, being able to play somewhere is not.
“In terms of an NXT rebrand, look for it in the upcoming weeks, it’s going to have a whole new look, it’s going to have a whole new feel, and we believe because of a lot of the ‘indie wrestlers’ if you will, have come through our system, and are in our system with SmackDown and RAW now. We don’t want to keep doing that same thing, we want to look elsewhere for great young talent.”
WWE taped two weeks\’ worth of television this past week in order for the CWC to be revamped with the new look. WWE will show off the changes on the next live episode of NXT that airs on September 14th.
The August 24, 2021 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Ridge Holland defeated Timothy Thatcher.
Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter defeated Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin.
Kay Lee Ray defeated Valentina Feroz.
Carmelo Hayes defeated Odyssey Jones.
Xyon Quinn defeated Boa.
Legado del Fantasma defeated Hit Row.
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Let\’s Celebrate
Ted DiBiase and Cameron Grimes started the show with a celebration for Grimes’ victory at TakeOver 36 over LA Knight.
DiBiase said that quitters never win while winners never quit. He said that Grimes became the Million Dollar Man. Grimes said that when Ted first showed up, he drove him next. Ted said he did that as a test.
Grimes said he was lacking something before Ted showed up and he realized there was no way of letting Ted become Knight’s butler when he was doing those things. Grimes said they took care of Knight together. Grimes asked where he goes from here. Ted said it’s time to go to the moon. Money started flying out of blowers.
New NXT Champion Samoa Joe entered the ring for a promo where he talked about his big win over Karrion Kross and wondered who his first challenger would be.
He said his knowledge tells him there is a land of savages and there is no time to celebrate. He said the tension in the air can be felt and the stares are more bolder. He asked who is willing to step up.
Pete Dunne, LA Knight, and Kyle O’Reilly came out. They all pitched why they should get the title.
Ridge Holland attacked O’Reilly. Ciampa came out to attack Dunne and Holland with Joe and Ciampa staring down Dunne and Holland.
Odyssey Jones vs. Carmelo Hayes in the finals of the 2021 NXT Breakout Tournament took place.
Carmelo Hayes went over in the contest to win the tournament. This was a really fun match with Hayes just edging him out with a roll up.
Hayes said that Jones is no joke and wouldn’t say who he would challenge with this opportunity.
Jones defeated Andre Chase in the first round of the Breakout Tournament while Hayes defeated Josh Briggs. Moving along, Hayes advanced to the finals by defeating Duke Hudson. On the flip side, Jones got his spot in the finals by defeating Trey Baxter
Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Raul Mendoza, Joaquin Wilde) vs. Hit Row (Ashante “Thee” Adonis, “Top Dolla” AJ Francis, NXT North American Champion Isaiah “Swerve” Scott) in an six-man tag team match was booked.
The match was the main event of the show. Elektra Lopez came out and attacked B-Fab with a weapon. She also distracted Scott, which allowed Santos to roll up Scott for the win.
These two factions have been feuding for several weeks including last week where they had a parking lot brawl with Hit Row standing tall as a way to get revenge for Santos stealing the grill of Scott two weeks ago.
Monday’s edition of WWE Raw averaged 2.067million viewers with a 0.64 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic. This is up from last week’s 1.857 million viewers and the 0.55 rating.
Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Raw, courtesy of Showbuzzdaily.com:
Hour 1: 2.152 million, 0.65 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 2: 2.094 million, 0.67 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 3: 1.956 million, 0.60 in the 18-49 Demo
This was the fallout edition for SummerSlam for Raw, which historically increased ratings for the program. This episode of Raw was the second biggest viewership number that Raw has done thus far this year, only being behind the January 4th edition. Here’s the rest of the viewership breakdown for Monday Night Raw:
M18-49: 540,000
F18-49: 287,000
P18-34: 291,000
M18-34: 170,000
F18-34: 120,000
P35-49: 536,000
M35-49: 369,000
F35-49: 167,000
non-P18-49: 1.241 million
This episode featured Logan Paul appearing on Moist TV, Nikki A.S.H. & Rhea Ripley vs. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler, Damian Priest & Drew McIntyre vs. Bobby Lashley & Sheamus, Karrion Kross vs. Ricochet, Xavier Woods vs. The Miz, and Riddle vs. AJ Styles.
SmackDown Viewership
The episode drew an average of 2.237 million viewers in the overnight ratings, down from the previous week that did 2.499 million viewers. In the 18-49 demographic, it did a 0.57 rating, which was down from the 0.58 rating the week before. The final ratings were 2.102 million viewers, up from last week’s 2.084 million viewers.
Karrion Kross showed off his new look for a match on Monday’s episode of Raw when he took on Ricochet.
He was wearing a mask for his entrance and also had an outfit. He beat Ricochet in a singles match from San Diego, CA at the Pechanga Arena on the USA Network.
After 50-50 booking with the likes of Jeff Hardy and Keith Lee, perhaps Kross is getting a push once again with Vince McMahon behind him. There was no sign of Scarlett as she has not been seen on WWE TV in several weeks.
Kross finished up with WWE NXT on Sunday night when he lost the NXT Championship to Samoa Joe at TakeOver 36 Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center. Kross won the title back from Finn Balor at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver – Night 2 this past April.
Kross made his pro wrestling debut in 2010 and later made a name for himself while working for Global Force Wrestling, Lucha Underground and Impact Wrestling. He departed from Impact in late 2019. He ended up in WWE in early 2020.
Reactions to Karrion Kross\’ New Look
Karrion Kross\’ new look was met with a \”mixed reaction\” on social media.
There has been a lot of criticism among fans regarding Becky Lynch turning heel. WWE tried to turn her heel in 2018 at SummerSlam following a match with Charlotte Flair, but that was rejected by the fans and she was turned into a mega babyface.
Lynch returned at SummerSlam to beat Bianca Belair in less than 30 seconds to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Dave Meltzer reported today that the heel turn was something Lynch requested and WWE officials signed off on the decision.
The booking decision was odd for fans to understand as Belair had been built up for months as a top star. Even Nikki Bella expressed unhappiness over the way Belair was booked.
Original plans called for Lynch to return to WWE TV in a few weeks as she hadn\’t been seen on television in over a year due to her pregnancy. However, WWE had to change course once Sasha Banks was not cleared for in-ring action to challenge Belair for the strap at SummerSlam.
This was after Banks not only missed live events the weekend before, but she wasn’t backstage at SmackDown or SummerSlam. The fallout from Lynch’s return and title change at SummerSlam will take place on this Friday’s SmackDown.
WWE NXT TakeOver 36 aired live on Peacock from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Ridge Holland def. Trey Baxter
WWE NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez def. Dakota Kai
Ilja Dragunov def. WALTER to win NXT UK Title
Kyle O’Reilly def. Adam Cole
Samoa Joe def. WALTER to win NXT Title
Here are the takeaways from the show:
Karrion Kross vs. Samoa Joe
WWE NXT Champion Karrion Kross vs. Samoa Joe headlined the show.
The match saw Joe start off hot with then Kross dominating. Joe with a sleeper on Kross, but Kross got out of it and went for the Kross Jacket, but Joe got out of that. Joe with the muscle buster for the win and a new era has begun.
Joe is now the first-ever three-time NXT Champion.
Many expected for Joe to go over in his first match in NXT in several years and his first match since being put on the shelf due to a severe concussion. Joe was favored heading into the match to dethrone Kross, who had beaten all challengers up to this point only for him to do jobs to the likes of Jeff Hardy and Keith Lee on the main roster. It appears Kross will be moving on from NXT for good and making his tenure on Raw full-time.
WWE NXT UK Champion WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov was one of the top matches and highly anticipated encounters of the year.
As expected, these guys started throwing chops right out of the gate. WALTER also hit a nasty powerbomb on the apron. IIja was bleeding from his eyebrow. Ilja made his comeback with a series of chops then a power suplex. WALTER went to the top rope and Ilja hit a superplex for good measure then a drop kick. WALTER with a series of powerbombs then a splash off the top rope for 2.
Leading up to this bout, WALTER had beaten down Dragunov on several occasions. However, Dragunov was cutting pretty good promos to further build up the underdog story.
In fact, Dragunov was the favorite to win the title here despite WALTER’s lengthy title reign.
WWE NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez vs. Dakota Kai took place after months of slowly building to it.
After a strong start by the champion with a series of power moves, Kai fought out of the corner and caught her with a big boot. Kai caught her in an armbar, but Gonzalez tossed her into the corner a few times. Gonzalez launched her onto the top rope that sent Kai crashing to the ramp. Back in the ring, Kai hit a back stabber. Gonzalez hit her finisher off the middle rope for the win.
Post-match, Kay Lee Ray came out to the stage and had a staredown with Raquel.
Kai had been the manager of Raquel for several months and was portrayed as her best friend who would do jobs when WWE didn’t want to pin the champion. That all changed when Kai turned heel by attacking her former friend in a double character switch and turned Raquel into a babyface.
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole in a Best 2 Out Of 3 Falls Match took place. The 1st fall was a singles match, the 2nd fall was a Street Fight and the 3rd falls was a Steel Cage Match.
Cole went for a panama sunrise, but O’Reilly blocked it and covered him for the first fall. Onto the street fight. O’Reilly hit a drop kick off the apron to Cole, who had a trash can on his head. Cole won the second fall when he tossed Kyle off the top rope onto standing chairs then hit the last shot. Cole came off the top rope to hit the panama sunrise for a near fall. Cole brought out handcuffs and locked Kyle to the cage. Kyle caught a kick and locked in a knee bar for the win.
These two guys have been feuding for months and really, the booking of it had been in reverse by starting out with a gimmick match only to work a normal match. The fact that WWE booked them in various bouts in one night, but perhaps, they could’ve gone in a different direction considering Cole’s unknown status with the company. Whether he leaves WWE or re-signs and goes to the main roster, maybe a loser leaves NXT match would’ve been better despite it being predictable.
WWE Million Dollar Champion LA Knight vs. Cameron Grimes was booked with the stipulation that if Grimes loses, then Ted Dibiase becomes Knight’s new butler.
The match saw Grimes start off strong. They brawled at ringside where the WWE Hall of Famer helped out Grimes a bit. The tide turned when Knight knocked him off the apron. Knight beat him down for a few minutes until he missed a spring board moonsault. This is when Grimes started to make a comeback. Knight hit a reversed suplex off the top rope for a near fall. Dibiase punched Knight then put him in the Million Dollar Dream at ringside when the referee wasn’t looking. The finish came when Grimes hit Knight with the double footstomp.
Hopefully, this will be the end of this feud as they’ve worked several times and it being one-sided in the favor of Knight. However, since Knight did lose the title, he does deserve a rematch. Time will tell.
The highly anticipated first-ever match between Samoa Joe and Karrion Kross for the NXT Title took place in the main event of the WWE NXT TakeOver 36 event.
The match was a strong showing for both men with them getting plenty of offense. Joe looked like he hadn’t missed a beat inside of the ring. Joe with the muscle buster for the win and to become the NXT Champion.
Joe was favored to win the championship considering Kross made his main roster debut last despite some questionable booking after losing to Jeff Hardy. Kross is slated to be on the Raw roster going forward, but without Scarlett.
Joe hadn\’t wrestled since February 2020 due to concussion issues. He was working as a commentator for the Raw brand until he was released by WWE this past April. Fast forward to June, Joe returned as an on-screen authority figure for NXT and also worked in the talent scouting department in NXT.
Joe was supposed to keep order for NXT General Manager William Regal, but when Kross choked out Joe after retaining his title over Johnny Gargano then attacked Regal the following week, that was enough to make Joe snap and demand to be allowed to wrestle again.
Joe wanted Regal to sign a contract to have him back as an active in-ring performer in NXT and sign a contract for the match at TakeOver. Regal agreed to what Joe was offering and made the match official.
Kross won the title back from Finn Balor at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver – Night 2 this past April.
A rematch of one of 2020\’s best matches took place with WWE NXT UK Champion WALTER defending the strap against Ilja Dragunov at Saturday’s (August 22, 2021) WWE NXT TakeOver 36 event in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center on the Peacock.
The match was stiff and hard-hitting just as expected. The chops sounded like gunshots. WALTER dominated early until Ilja made his comeback. Not only did IIja win, but he did it with a sleeper.
Their first match saw WALTER defeat Dragunov on NXT UK last October to retain the NXT United Kingdom Championship, which was highly praised. Since then, in storyline, Dragunov has struggled with temper issues, but managed to get it under control.
In June, Dragunov defeated Rampage Brown and Joe Coffey in a triple threat match on NXT UK to be set up as the next challenger for WALTER\’s Title. Post-match, WALTER came to the ring and attacked Dragunov.
The match was supposed to take place on the Thursday, July 22 episode of NXT UK, but since WALTER suffered an injury, it got delayed to this show.
WALTER had been the NXT United Kingdom Champion since winning the strap from Pete Dunne at NXT TakeOver: New York in 2019.
After weeks of building to it, WWE NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez vs. Dakota Kai finally took place at Sunday’s (August 22, 2021) WWE NXT TakeOver 36 event in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center on the Peacock.
The match was second on the card with both girls shining. Kai took a nasty bump from the top rope to the rampway. Gonzalez hit her finisher off the middle rope for the win.
It all started when Kai turned against Gonzalez by laying her out with a kick in late July. Kai later explained her actions when she called Gonzalez selfish for going after the NXT Women\’s Championship when it should have been Kai\’s opportunity. She also didn’t appreciate Gonzalez taking the spotlight from her.
At TakeOver: Stand & Deliver this April, Gonzalez won the NXT Women\’s Championship by defeating Io Shirai. Since that time, Gonzalez had successful title defenses against Mercedes Martinez, Ember Moon, and Xia Li.
WWE holds the fallout episode from this show of NXT on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see if WWE continues this feud or goes in a different direction. Either way, they put on one heck of a match that delivered.
LA Knight vs. Cameron Grimes had their third match at the WWE NXT TakeOver 36 event in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
The bout had the WWE Million Dollar Championship on the line with the stipulation that if Grimes lost then Ted Ted Dibiase would become Knight’s new butler.
This opened the show. It was a fast-paced bout that resulted in Grimes hitting Knight with the double foot stomp. Near the end, the WWE Hall of Famer even got in some shots on Knight.
Grimes had been Knight\’s butler in storyline since he lost to Knight for the title at NXT Great American Bash last month. Their first match took place t NXT TakeOver: In Your House this June where Grimes was unsuccessful in challenging for the Million Dollar Championship while battling Knight in a ladder match.
After TakeOver: In Your House, Knight turned against DiBiase and attacked him. Two weeks ago, Knight walked out on Grimes during a tag team match against The Grizzled Young Veterans, which led to DiBiase to come out and try to tell Grimes to get out of being Knight\’s butler.
Last week, Knight defeated Andre Chase and following the match, DiBiase challenged Knight to give Grimes another shot at the title, but the only way Knight would agree is if DiBiase agreed to his stipulation.
The card for tonight’s (Sunday, August 22, 2021) WWE NXT TakeOver 36 event has been finalized.
The company has yet to officially announce the main event of this event that takes place in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center and will air on Peacock. There is speculation that this special will be headlined by
This show marks the special for the yellow brand in 2019, which features a stacked lineup. There are a total of five matches booked for this show with four of them being championship matches.
As a reminder, we will be providing live play-by-play coverage of this special later tonight. Here’s the final card:
WWE NXT TakeOver 36 Card
WWE NXT Champion Karrion Kross vs. Samoa Joe
WWE NXT UK Champion WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov
WWE NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez vs. Dakota Kai
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole – Best 2 Out Of 3 Falls Match (1st Fall is a Singles Match, 2nd Fall is a Street Fight and the 3rd Fall is a Steel Cage Match)
WWE Million Dollar Champion LA Knight vs. Cameron Grimes – If Grimes Loses, Ted Dibiase Becomes Knight’s New Butler
Trey Baxter vs. Ridge Holland – Pre-Show
What are your thoughts on this card and the feuds that WWE is presenting to their fans? Sound off in the comment section.
Brock Lesnar finally made his WWE return after being away for over a year.
It happened at the SummerSlam pay-per-view event on Saturday night from Las Vegas, Nevada at Allegiant Stadium after Roman Reigns had successfully retained the WWE Universal Title over John Cena in the main event.
Lesnar, with a beard and new hairstyle, walked down to the ring as fans went nuts. He had a staredown with Reigns, who backed down and went to the backstage area with Paul Heyman at his side.
Lesnar was last seen when he lost the WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 36. Lesnar’s contract with WWE expired last August when the two sides didn’t come to terms on a new deal. This led to Lesnar’s merchandise being removed from the WWE Shop.
Back in June, it was originally reported WWE had plans in place for him and was hopeful his return could be imminent. That didn\’t happen.
WWE didn’t have plans to book Lesnar against WWE Champion Bobby Lashley at this year’s SummerSlam pay-per-view event on Saturday, August 21 from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada despite speculation and that ended up happening.
WWE booked one of if not the biggest match possible for the main event of SummerSlam as John Cena challenged Roman Reigns for the Universal Title.
The match had a slow start with a lot of mind games going on. Reigns beat Cena down for the majority of the match with Cena getting small parts of offense in. Cena with an AA for a near fall. Cena with the STF, but Reigns got to the bottom rope. Cena later hit an AA through the announce table.
Cena with an AA off the middle rope for a near fall. Reigns hit the spear for the win. Post-match, Brock Lesnar made his return.
Before this feud, Cena hadn’t been on WWE television since WrestleMania 36 where he took part in the Firefly Fun House match against Bray Wyatt. It was a trip down memory lane for Cena.
It wasn’t a normal match, but rather a series of segments where he went through all of his old gimmicks. The finish saw Wyatt hit Sister Abigail to Cena then choked him out with the Mandible Claw to end the match.
Cena has continued his Hollywood career while being away from WWE. He started serving as the host of TBS’ Wipeout series, filmed the second Suicide Squad movie, the Peacemaker series, and starred in the most recent Fast & Furious movie, F9.
Cena made his return at the WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view event in Fort Worth, Texas at Dickies Arena where he told Reigns that he couldn’t see him. After weeks of Reigns declining Cena’s challenge for a match, “The Big Dog” finally granted it.
WWE didn’t give the fans Brock Lesnar, but they did bring back Goldberg to challenge Bobby Lashley for the WWE Title in one of the top matches at SummerSlam.
The match, which took place in the co-main event of the show that was held from Las Vegas, Nevada at Allegiant Stadium on Peacock, was short as expected. Goldberg sold his knee throughout the match and that played a factor in the finish. In the end, Goldberg couldn’t stand so the referee called for the bell. After the match, Lashley hit Goldberg with a chair. Goldberg’s son tried to make the save, but he got put into the full nelson.
Goldberg made his return on the July 19th episode of WWE Raw to tell Lashley that he was next. While Lashley was ready to go, MVP wasn’t ready to give in just yet. That later changed and the match was booked.
Many fans thought Lesnar would be the right person to face Lashley at this show, but it’s been reported that WWE wanted to save Lesnar’s return for a WrestleMania match with Roman Reigns.
Nikki A.S.H vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley for the Raw Women’s Title in a triple threat match was booked at the WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view event in Las Vegas, Nevada at Allegiant Stadium.
In the match, Flair had a strong showing. She hit an outside dive off the top rope. Nikki looked like she could put it away with a DDT to Ripley, but Ripley rolled to the floor. The finish came down to when Nikki missed a crossbody and Flair locked in the Figure Eight for the win.
This marks Charlotte Flair\’s 6th reign as Raw Women\’s Champion. She\’s also a 5-time SmackDown Women\’s Champion, a 2-time NXT Women\’s Champion and was the final WWE Divas Champion.
WWE posted this video of Charlotte Flair reacting to her win at SummerSlam:
Raw Women\’s Championship
Since Ripley beat Asuka to win the title in April at WrestleMania, she has been feuding with Charlotte Flair. Flair’s previous reign lasted just one day after beating Ripley for it at Money in the Bank.
Nikki A.S.H. became Raw Women\’s Champion by cashing in her Money in the Bank briefcase on Charlotte. She won the briefcase in the women\’s Money in the Bank ladder match in July.
The following night, Ripley and Flair faced off in a rematch on Raw, but Charlotte intentionally got herself disqualified. Post-match, Ripley hit Riptide on Charlotte outside of the ring, which allowed Nikki to cash in her briefcase. She hit a top rope crossbody on Charlotte, and pinned her to win the Raw Women\’s Championship.
What are your thoughts on Charlotte Flair winning the Raw Women’s Title? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.
The rematch of the WrestleMania 37 night one main event between Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair for the SmackDown Women’s Title didn’t take place at SummerSlam. However, fans did get to see Becky Lynch make her return at SummerSlam in Las Vegas, Nevada at Allegiant Stadium.
WWE announced that Sasha Banks was not cleared to compete. She was replaced by Carmella, who just lost to Belair on Friday’s SmackDown. Belair cut a promo about how eventually she will get Banks and until then, she would beat Carmella. This led to Becky Lynch returning.
WWE posted this video of Becky Lynch reacting to her surprise return at SummerSlam:
There had been conflicting reports about the status of Banks vs. Belair for over the last week as both stars missed last weekend’s house shows for an unknown reason. It was reported that both stars were cleared for SummerSlam, but Banks wasn’t featured on Friday’s SmackDown.
Lynch had been away from WWE due to her being pregnant with her first child last year. She vacated the title. There had been reports that WWE could add a Bayley talk segment to WrestleMania 37 as it had been discussed when an idea of Lynch driving a big truck was brought up for her return.
It was later reported that the reason Lynch didn’t return at WrestleMania was due to her not being ready at the time.
The Mysterios got their SmackDown Tag Team Title rematch at Saturday’s (August 21, 2021) WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view event.
Rey & Dominik Mysterio challenged The Usos for the straps in Las Vegas, Nevada at Allegiant Stadium on Peacock. The match featured the heels dominating after a quick start from the challengers. Dominik sold for a few minutes until his father go the hot tag. The finish saw The Usos hit double superkicks to Rey then a splash by Jey for the win.
This came after The Usos won the SmackDown Tag Team Titles by defeating The Mysterios on the pre-show last month in Fort Worth, Texas at Dickies Arena.
The finish of that match saw Jimmy rolling up Rey while Jey used his feet to give his brother extra leverage. Two weeks later, Jey did the same thing to help Jimmy defeat Dominik in a singles match. The following week, The Mysterios then returned the favor when Dominik helped Rey defeat Jimmy.
The Mysterio’s won the titles from Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode back in May at the WWE WrestleMania Backlash pay-per-view event, which marked the first time that a father and son had held the straps together in WWE.
Time will tell whether WWE continues this feud or goes into a different direction heading into the Extreme Rules pay-per-view event in September.
What are your thoughts on The Usos retaining the SmackDown Tag Team Titles? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.
Sheamus put the WWE United States Championship on the line when he faced off with Damian Priest at the WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view event in Las Vegas, Nevada at Allegiant Stadium.
Priest with an outside dive and he landed bad on his hip. He clearly was in pain, which is not great considering he had a back injury earlier this year. Priest with the heel kick then hit his finisher for the win.
WWE set up this match on the August 9th edition of Raw when Sheamus accepted a challenge from Priest. Last month, Priest was set up as the next challenger for the title when he defeated Sheamus in a non-title match.
On the August 9th Raw, Sheamus and Priest both picked up wins as Sheamus defeated Ricochet in a non-title match, while Priest defeated John Morrison. Heading into the match, Sheamus vowed to put Priest in his place.
Sheamus has been United States Champion since winning the title from Riddle at WrestleMania 37 this April.
Time will tell whether WWE continues this feud or goes into a different direction heading into the Extreme Rules pay-per-view event in September.
AJ Styles and Omos put the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships on the line in a match against Randy Orton and Matt Riddle at the SummerSlam pay-per-view event
The match opened the show. The finish saw Styles get out of a roll up and Orton hit the RKO for the win. Thus, we have new champions.
Orton had been off TV for several weeks before making his return on the August 9th edition of WWE Raw. It was reported that the reason he had been off TV was due to him being placed on the disabled/inactive list, but there were no issues between Orton and the company.
Before his hiatus, the future WWE Hall of Famer was last seen in action on the June 21st episode of Raw where he lost to John Morrison in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. He was later advertised for the last chance qualifying match, but Riddle ended up replacing him in the match.
It was said that WWE did have creative plans for Orton and Riddle through SummerSlam, but “the unforeseen circumstances of Orton’s absence required an audible be called.” Once Orton returned, he was put into the feud with Styles and Omos.
What are your thoughts on Randy Orton and Matt Riddle winning the Raw Tag Team Titles? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.
Bryan Danielson and CM Punk are not the only ex-WWE stars expected in AEW in the near future as Bray Wyatt is headed to the promotion.
During the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported Bray Wyatt is expected to sign with the company. The former WWE Champion is still bound by a non-compete, so he can’t legally sign anything with AEW just yet.
Meltzer noted that pen hasn’t been put to paper, but the expectation is strong. Wyatt was released by WWE on July 31 due to budget cuts after being out of action since WrestleMania 37 where he lost to Randy Orton thanks to Alexa Bliss.
The former Universal Champion had been expected to make his return to in-ring action in WWE and WWE even had plans for him to return this month to the point where he was being advertised for shows. However, a decision was made to let him go.
It’s been reported that Wyatt is healthy and cleared to wrestle. The issues that kept him out of the ring for months had nothing to do with mental health.
Although there’s no word on creative plans for Wyatt, there’s a lot of speculation that he could be the one to take over The Dark Order as he was very good friends with the late great Brodie Lee.
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