The card for tonight\’s (Saturday, August 21, 2021) WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view event has been finalized.
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. John Cena is expected to be the main event of this event that takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada at Allegiant Stadium that will air on Peacock. There will be over 40,000 fans in attendance.
Also featured on the card include Bobby Lashley vs. Goldberg, WWE Raw Women’s Champion Nikki A.S.H vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley, and more.
As a reminder, we will be providing live play-by-play coverage of this special on Sunday evening starting at 7 PM EST. Here is the final card for the show:
Final WWE SummerSlam Card
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. John Cena – (If Reigns Doesn’t Win, He Leaves WWE)
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Goldberg
WWE Raw Women’s Champion Nikki A.S.H vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos vs. Rey and Dominik Mysterio
Seth Rollins vs. Edge
WWE United States Champion Sheamus vs. Damien Priest
Drew McIntyre vs. Jinder Mahal
Eva Marie vs. Alexa Bliss
WWE Raw Tag Team Champions AJ Styles and Omos vs. Randy Orton and Matt Riddle
CM Punk finally made his return to pro wrestling and did it on Friday’s episode of AEW Rampage from Chicago, IL at the Allstate Arena.
The fans went nuts, he dove into the crowd and hugged several of his friends at ringside. He cut a promo about how he didn’t know what he was going to say until he felt the crowd. He said he has a lot to say and he will get to that later. He said that he couldn\’t stay in the same place that got him sick in the first place.
Punk said that he felt before like he had to leave. He said in August 2005 he felt like he had to leave ROH and it boiled down to him finding a place where he found a play to make a name for themselves and then leave.
He said in 2005, he left pro wrestling, but in August 2021, he’s back. Punk said he’s back for himself and the fans because there’s a lot of talent he wishes he could’ve been around. He said he’s back to work with young talent and there are a few scores to settle. He called out Darby Allin and said that he’s good. Punk said that he’s here to help Allin so he challenged Allin at All Out.
On July 21st, news first broke that the former WWE Champion has been in talks to make a return to pro wrestling as an in-ring performer with AEW being the leading candidate.
There had been a lot of speculation as to when Punk could make his promotional debut, but it was always favored to be in Chicago as that’s his hometown. There are three dates in the first week of September in the city – Dynamite, Rampage, and All Out. However, when AEW announced this special episode of Rampage, many fans knew this was the date for his arrival.
YouTube star Logan Paul is advertised to make his first WWE appearance since WrestleMania.
During Friday’s episode of SmackDown, WWE confirmed that Paul will be John Morrison\’s guest for a \”Moist TV\” talk show segment on Monday\’s episode of Raw. This segment was first introduced on this past Monday’s Raw and also featured The Miz.
Earlier this year, Paul made his WWE television debut during the build to WrestleMania 37 where he was ringside for Kevin Owens\’ match against Sami Zayn. Following the bout, Owens laid Paul out with a stunner
This past June, Paul faced Floyd Mayweather in a boxing exhibition where he went the full eight rounds with the boxing legend and didn’t get knocked out like many had hoped or predicted.
Paul\’s brother, Jake Paul, will face former UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley in a boxing match on Sunday, August 29th.
WWE holds this Monday\’s Raw at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California, which will be the post-SummerSlam episode of the show.
Based on recent television, it appears The Miz and Morrison will be feuding with The New Day\’s Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods going forward. Both teams don\’t have matches at SummerSlam.
The final betting odds have been released for the WWE NXT TakeOver 36.
The card for the show that takes place this Sunday appears to be finalized as only 5 matches have been announced. It’s possible that a sixth match is added whether that be on the main card or pre-show.
So far, three normal NXT titles are on the line with two of them expected to change hands. Some of the more notable odds include Cameron Grimes being favored to win the Million Dollar Title from LA Knight.
WWE NXT TakeOver 36 Odds
As a reminder, we will be providing coverage of the show this Sunday. The favorites to win are listed as – while the underdogs are listed with +. Here are the final betting odds, courtesy of BetOnline:
WWE NXT Champion Karrion Kross +200 vs. Samoa Joe -300
WWE NXT UK Champion WALTER +125 vs. Ilja Dragunov -175
WWE NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez -250 vs. Dakota Kai +175
Kyle O’Reilly -270 vs. Adam Cole +180 – 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 +125 vs. Cameron Grimes -120 – If Grimes Loses, Ted Dibiase Becomes Knight’s New Butler
In-Dex (Indi Hartwell & Dexter Lumis) def. Robert Stone & Jessi Kamea.
Carmelo Hayes def. Duke Hudson
NXT Tag Team Champions MSK def. Imperium
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Interview Segment
An interview with NXT Women\’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai took place to further build their match at TakeOver 36 this Sunday.
Raquel stated that she knew Kai would turn on her just like she did on Tegan Knox. She congratulated Kai for getting a title shot before reminding her of her accomplishments and she is a superstar. Raquel vowed that Kai wouldn’t be the person to take the title from her. Kai said that she kicked Raquel’s face off and taught her everything she knows.
Kai said that she is the person to make her and will be the person who beats her to become champion. Kai said Raquel can call her whatever names she wants, but in five days, she will call her champion.
Mixed Tag Team Match
Dexter Lumis and Indi Hartwell vs. Robert Stone and Jessie Kamea in a mixed tag team match took place.
The match saw Lumis throw some strikes before Franky Monet got involved and was tossed from ringside. We then got a commercial break. Lumis continues to dominate Stone although Stone did a nice outside dive. The ladies worked until Indie and Lumis locked in double headlock chokes for the win.
Post-match, Indie proposed to Lumis, who accepted.
Two weeks ago, Lumis lost a Love Her or Lose Her match to Johnny Gargano but Lumis and Hartwell still got together. Last week\’s NXT featured an angle where they went on their first date. Kamea, Stone, and Franky Monet watched Hartwell and Lumis\’ date where Monet called the date pathetic in a video that was posted on social media. Kamea said she would mess up Hartwell if she ever had a shot at her.
NXT Tag Team Champions MSK defended the title against Imperium.
MSK won the NXT Tag Team titles at April\’s TakeOver: Stand & Deliver. Three weeks ago, a video from Imperium cut off an interview with MSK. Barthel & Aichner called MSK two immature champions with a meaningless title reign.
This was the last match on the card and what a fun match it was. Towards the end, NXT UK Champion WALTER came out to watch on. MSK went over to retain.
Post-match, Ilja Dragunov came out to attack WALTER, but failed. After WALTER took out MSK, IIja tried to mount a comeback, but was cut down.
Samoa Joe and NXT Champion Karrion Kross faced off in the ring ahead of their title match at NXT TakeOver 36.
So what happened? Joe came out for a promo about how this is one more time for him to verbally tear him down, but it’s pointless. He said he’s not a man here tonight to hurt Kross’ feelings, but here to hurt him. Joe told Kross to get out here. Kross did just that and without Scarlett. Kross said this isn’t about them, but the future of the brand.
Kross said Joe won’t take a year off and win the title back in his first match. He brought out security to protect Joe from him. Kross said he’s gonna drop Joe and do it real fast. Joe attacked him and they brawled with Joe hitting an outside dive to Kross and the security guards. Kross sent Joe into the steel steps then Joe sent him through the barricade. They went through a second barricade. This closed the show.
Carmelo Hayes vs. Duke Hudson in the NXT Breakout Tournament semi-finals was booked. Hayes went over with a leg drop off the top rope.
Hayes will face Odyssey Jones in the finals. WWE has announced when the finals will be taking place as it will be next week. The winner of the Breakout Tournament will receive a shot at the NXT title of their choosing.
Jones, real name Omari Palmer, is a former college football player for Syracuse University, who signed with WWE in 2019.
Hudson, formerly known as Elliot Sexton, also signed with WWE in 2019. He had been using his real name Brendan Vink when he teamed with Shane Thorne on both Raw and NXT.
Hit Row Brawls
Hit Row came out to the ring for a promo. They talked about Santos Escobar’s action as he pulled out the grill of Isaish Scott. Scott was about to talk trash, but Escobar appeared on the big screen in the parking lot. Santos said that he would give the grill back, but he doesn’t trust the group.
He told Scott to come out to the parking lot alone and they can handle it themselves. Scott told Hit Row to stay in the ring and walked to the backstage area. Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde jumped Scott, which led to the rest of Hit Row making the save. A brawl broke out. Scott took his grill back and Hit Row walked away.
Monday’s edition of WWE Raw averaged 1.857 million viewers with a 0.55 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic. This is up from last week’s 1.790 million viewers and the 0.49 rating.
Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Raw, courtesy of Showbuzzdaily.com:
Hour 1: 1.912 million, 0.55 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 2: 1.864 million, 0.55 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 3: 1.796 million, 0.55 in the 18-49 Demo
This was the go-home edition for SummerSlam for Raw, which historically increases ratings for the program.
Raw was the top cable program for the night as they beat Tucker Carlson Tonight with 0.55 to 0.41 in the 18-49 demo. This was the second-highest audience since May 3rd and second-best 18-49 number since April 19th.
Raw did an average of 0.40 in females 18-49 demo, 0.70 in males 18-49, 0.33 in adults 18-34, 0.22 in females 12-34, 0.38 in males 12-34, 0.70 in adults 25-54, and 0.90 in adults 50+.
This episode featured WWE Champion Bobby Lashley and Goldberg in a face-to-face segment, Drew McIntyre vs. Veer & Shanky in a handicap match, Randy Orton vs. Omos, AJ Styles vs. Riddle, Rhea Ripley vs. Nikki ASH, Damian Priest vs. The Miz, Charlotte Flair & Nia Jax vs. Nikki ASH & Rhea Ripley, Karrion Kross vs. Jeff Hardy, and more.
SmackDown Viewership
The episode drew an average of 2.499 million viewers in the overnight ratings, up from the previous week that did 2.047 million viewers, but that was due to an incorrect configuration. In the 18-49 demographic, it did a 0.58 rating, which was down from the 0.61 ratings the week before. The final ratings were 2.084 million viewers, down from last week’s 2.169 million viewers.
WWE recently announced over 30 new live events that included house shows, TV events, and pay-per-view shows for the rest of 2021. The company has even started early discussions about the early 2022 schedule of shows.
WWE has already confirmed that they will hold a pay-per-view event on January 1, 2022. Fightful Select reported the front runner to host the Royal Rumble next year, which is St. Louis, Missouri.
As of a month ago, those in WWE were under the impression that this city would be the end game, and until the venue and city are officially announced, it isn\’t a guarantee. Some in WWE have speculated that WWE could end up hosting this show in Seattle, which had been considered, but that’s not confirmed.
WWE did confirm today that this year’s Survivor Series will take place in Brooklyn, NY this November then a soon-to-be-announced themed PPV, likely TLC, is set for December.
Per the report, there has been significant internal discussion about next year’s Royal Rumble could actually happen in early February for the first time in history. WWE has always held the show in January with it kicking off the road to WrestleMania.
WWE presents the SummerSlam pay-per-view event on Saturday, August 21 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada at Allegiant Stadium.
After waiting a few weeks, fans are just days away from the heavily speculated AEW debut of CM Punk on Friday\’s episode of Rampage.
Punk seems to be having fun teasing the fans on social media as he dropped an “All Elite” reference during commentary at the CFFC fight over the weekend and then posted a cryptic message on his Instagram Stories.
The post had the numbers: 05, 11, 21. Fans quickly picked up on how the first two numbers are from Punk’s hottest years in the wrestling business. It also references the three times he signed a full-time wrestling contract.
2005 would’ve marked Punk’s time in ROH while the second number was when he re-signed with WWE and had a huge run that summer that included his famous pipebomb promo. Obviously, 2021 would be the year when he signed with AEW.
It was reported several weeks ago that Punk had been in talks about an in-ring return with AEW being the most likely landing spot. It was all but confirmed when they announced a special edition of Rampage on August 20th from Chicago, Illinois at the United Center, which sold out right away.
AEW loaded up the first episode of Rampage on TNT with three title matches including Kenny Omega defending the Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Title against Christian Cage.
The title bout, which was booked after Cage challenged Omega to it on this past Wednesday’s Dynamite, kicked off the episode from Pittsburgh, PA at the Petersen Events Center. The match saw Cage the majority of the offense before going back and forth down the stretch.
At one point, Omega hit a powerbomb then the V-Trigger for a near fall. Cage hit the Kill Switch on a chair while the referee was distracted by Don Callis for the win.
This comes before Cage challenges Omega for the AEW World Heavyweight Title at the All Out pay-per-view event on Sunday, September 5, 2021 from Chicago, Illinois at Now Arena.
Heading into this match, Omega’s reign surpassed 108 days after beating Rich Swann back in April at the Rebellion pay-per-view event.
Omega was supposed to defend the Impact Wrestling World Title against Brian Myers at the Emergence special at Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee next Friday on Impact Plus.
This episode of Rampage also featured Miro vs. Fuego Del Sol for the TNT Championship and Dr. Britt Baker, DMD vs. Red Velvet for the AEW Women’s World Championship.
A new match has been announced for the upcoming WWE SummerSlam PPV.
During Friday’s episode of SmackDown, WWE confirmed that Drew McIntyre vs. Jinder Mahal in a singles match will take place at this show.
The former 3MB partners have been feuding for several weeks now. McIntyre defeated Mahal in singles action on the July 5th edition of Monday Night Raw. Mahal cost McIntyre his chance to win the Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder match last month.
Also, McIntyre has picked up a 2-on-1 Handicap Match win over Veer and Shanky.
WWE presents the SummerSlam pay-per-view event on Saturday, August 21 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada at Allegiant Stadium that will air on Peacock. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming week. Here is the updated card:
Updated WWE SummerSlam Card
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. John Cena
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Goldberg
WWE Raw Women’s Champion Nikki A.S.H vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos vs. Rey and Dominik Mysterio
Seth Rollins vs. Edge
WWE United States Champion Sheamus vs. Damien Priest
WWE decided to do a title change on Friday’s episode of SmackDown as Shinsuke Nakamura became the new Intercontinental Champion.
He did so when he beat Apollo Crews in the opening match on the show that was broadcasted live on FOX from Tulsa, OK at the BOK Center. Both Rick Boogs and General Azzez were thrown out from ringside due to outside inference in the match that was back and forth.
Nakamura was able to score the win and become WWE Intercontinental Champion for the second time in his career when he hit Crews with an Exploder Suplex and then followed up with the Kinshasa.
Crews beat Big E in a Nigerian Drum Match at the WWE WrestleMania 37 pay-per-view event on April 11, 2021. Nakamura won the title for the first time during the Summer of 2019 when he won it at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view by beating Finn Balor.
It’s possible that WWE books a rematch between these two stars at the SummerSlam pay-per-view event on Saturday, August 21 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada at Allegiant Stadium.
Just months after being released by WWE due to budget cuts, Samoa Joe didn’t just get signed back, but also to put him back in the ring at a time where some fans questioned whether he would ever be cleared to wrestle again inside of a WWE ring.
Joe spoke with Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT to talk about his return and during it, he noted that WWE did have talks about moving him back from the main roster to NXT a few years ago, but it was nixed.
“I just think a decision was made on one-end, but this tenure and position in NXT I currently have now was kind of talked about two or three years ago. It was a matter of when we were going to get the opportunity to make the transition and there really wasn’t an opportunity because I was so busy with Raw and SmackDown. So it’s not like they were going to pull me from there and move me to NXT at the time.”
Joe was moved from an active in-ring performer to being an announcer after he suffered a concussion in early 2020 during a Raw commercial shoot for the USA Network.
He’ll challenge Karrion Kross for the NXT Title at TakeOver 36 next Sunday.
The NWA revealed the full card for its 73 event. NWA President Billy Corgan took to YouTube on Friday to share the lineup.
NWA World\’s Heavyweight champion Nick Aldis vs. Trevor Murdoch will main event the show. Murdoch cashed in his Champion Series Title Shot to get the bout.
Also on the card is NWA National Champion Chris Adonis facing a returning National Champion in James Storm, NWA Tag Champions Aron Stevens and Kratos vs. AAA\’s Mecha World and Bestia 666: La Rebelion, and Mickie James taking on Kylie Rae.
This will mark the in-ring debut of James, who was released this year by WWE due to budget cuts and will produce NWA EMPOWERRR.
NWA 73 is scheduled for August 29 at The Chase Park Plaza in St. Louis, MO and will air on FITE TV.
NWA 73 Card
NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis vs. Trevor Murdoch
NWA National Champion Chris 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 Champion 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, Odinson, & Parrow
Competitors to be announced for a 12-Man Battle Royal to determine NWA National Title number one contender
All Elite Wrestling has announced the likely main event for their upcoming All Out pay-per-view event, which will see Kenny Omega defend the World Heavyweight Title against Christian Cage.
The promotion confirmed the match booking in the opening segment of Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite Omega as AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks made their way to the ring for a six-man tag team match.
Just a few weeks into Cage’s tenure in AEW, he had several run-ins with Omega including one of their segments that ended with Christian holding the AEW World Title. Up to this point, the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion has worked nine matches under the AEW banner including a win over The Blade at the Homecoming show.
The AEW All Out pay-per-view event will take place on Sunday, September 5, 2021 from Chicago, Illinois at Now Arena.
The event is expected to begin at 8 p.m. ET and stream live on the Bleacher Report platform in the United States and FITE in International markets. All Elite Wrestling will be announcing more matches in the coming weeks.
August 11th Men’s Rankings
AEW World Champion Kenny Omega (6-0 in 2021, 48-12 overall)
AEW TNT Champion Miro (10-0 in 2021, 17-1 overall)
The August 10, 2021 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Dakota Kai def. Sarray.
LA Knight def. Andre Chase.
Odyssey Jones def. Trey Baxter
Boa def. Drake Maverick.
Ilja Dragunov def. Pete Dunne
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Face-To-Face Segment
Face-to-face segment with Adam Cole and Kyle O\’Reilly took place. The segment was mediated by NXT general manager William Regal.
Cole and O\’Reilly have a 1-1 record against each other since the Undisputed Era broke up as O\’Reilly defeated Cole in an unsanctioned match at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver this April. On the flip side, Cole defeated O\’Reilly at NXT Great American Bash last month.
Two weeks ago, Cole defeated Bronson Reed in the main event. Post-match, O\’Reilly attacked Cole with a steel chair and suplexed him onto the steel steps. Just last week, WWE stated Cole wasn\’t currently medically cleared to compete due to the attack.
Their match at TakeOver 36 will be a best 2 out of 3 falls match. Kyle picked a normal singles match while Cole picked a street fight and if it goes to a third fall then Regal will pick the stipulation, which would be a steel cage.
Cole knocked Kyle for thinking that he’s as good as him and at TakeOver, Cole vowed to prove Kyle wrong. Kyle brought up beating Cole at Stand and Deliver. The segment ended with security holding back Kyle and Cole.
WWE had advertised that NXT Women\’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez would break her silence on this show about Kai and she did just that. It was right after the opening match.
Two weeks ago, Kai turned against Gonzalez and laid her out with a kick. Last week, Kai explained her actions in a video package as she took credit for giving Gonzalez her start in NXT and said Gonzalez was selfish for going after the NXT Women\’s Championship because she felt it was her time for that opportunity.
Gonzalez stated that Kai wanted the belt then she would get her chance and vowed to rip Kai apart.
Dakota Kai vs. Sarray
Ember Moon vs. Sarray in a singles match was supposed to take place. However, Dakota Kai ended up taking Moon’s place in the match as WWE announced just hours before the show that Moon was not medically cleared.
This kicked off the show. Kai dominated the majority of the match. Kai won the match with a big boot in about 12 minutes. Sarray looked good and kept strong for her first loss.
Ilja Dragunov made an appearance on this show to further hype his upcoming title match with NXT UK Champion WALTER at the NXT TakeOver 36 event.
He cut a promo about how the fans will witness chaos and rage. He said an unbeatable reign will come down as he becomes NXT UK Champion. Pete Dunne came out and said that Ilja owes him a thank you for what he did as NXT UK. Pete said that without him, NXT UK wouldn’t be known and Ilja would have no opportunity at TakeOver 36.
Ilja said he’s not here because of Pete and brought up Dunne never beating WALTER. Ilja challenged him to a match. Dunne accepted it. This was the main event.
This was a really fun match that was hard hitting. WALTER came out to the ring and watched on. Pete with the Bitter End for the win. Post-match, WALTER tried to attack Ilja, but Ilja fought back and stood tall in the ring.
The semifinals of the NXT Breakout Tournament started on this show as Odyssey Jones took on Trey Baxter. Jones went over in a short match.
As a result of the win, he will advance to face either Duke Hudson or Carmelo Hayes in the finals.
In the first round of the tournament, Jones defeated Andre Chase while Baxter defeated Joe Gacy. When it’s all said and done, the winner of the Breakout Tournament will receive a future shot at the NXT title of their choosing.
LA Knight quickly beat Andre Chase. Post-match, Ted Debiase came out to the ring while Cameron Grimes stood in the middle of Knight and the WWE Hall of Famer.
Ted had just returned last week to offer Grimes some advice after Knight turned on Grimes in their tag team match. Ted stated Grimes can be whatever he wants to be and to follow his heart. Ted thought it would be a good idea for Knight to put the title on the line again. Knight said at TakeOver 36 he will wrestle Grimes for a third time with the Million Dollar Title on the line and if Knight wins then Ted will become his new butler. Ted said that he is a gambling man and his money is on Grimes so he accepted.
Two new matches have been announced for the upcoming WWE NXT TakeOver 36.
On Tuesday’s episode of NXT, the promotion confirmed the matches. First up, is WWE Million Dollar Champion LA Knight vs. Cameron Grimes. The stipulation to go along with this match since it’s their third encounter in which Knight has won both matches before is if Grimes loses then Ted Dibiase will become Knight’s new butler.
The other match is Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole. They had a segment on the show where it was revealed the bout will be a Best 2 Out Of 3 Falls Match. The first fall is a singles match while the second fall is a Street Fight and if it goes the distance then the third fall will be a Steel Cage match.
WWE presents the NXT TakeOver 36 event on Sunday, August 22, 2021 in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center and will air on Peacock. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks. Here is the updated card:
Updated 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
The betting odds for most of the matches that will take place at the WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view event have been released.
The card for the show that takes place next Saturday from Las Vegas, Nevada at Allegiant Stadium is still being finalized. So far, seven matches have been announced for the show.
Roman Reigns is a favorite to retain the Universal Title over John Cena while Bobby Lashley is favored to retain his WWE Title against Goldberg. Edge is also favored to beat Seth Rollins in their first-ever singles match together. They\’ve shared the ring while working the past two Royal Rumble matches.
There are no titles favored to change hands. The favorites to win are listed as – while the underdogs are listed with +. Odds call for all three titles to change. Here are the betting odds, courtesy of Bet Online:
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns -500 vs. John Cena +300
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley -600 vs. Goldberg +350
WWE Raw Women’s Champion Nikki A.S.H -125 vs. Charlotte Flair +150 vs. Rhea Ripley +250
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair -200 vs. Sasha Banks +150
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos -400 vs. Rey and Dominik Mysterio +250
Monday’s edition of WWE Raw averaged 1.790 million viewers with a 0.49 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic. This is down from last week’s 1.821 million viewers and the 0.51 rating. Just four weeks back in front of live fans, this episode of Raw had its lowest viewership so far in the post-ThunderDome era.
Here’s the rest of the viewership breakdown for Monday Night Raw, courtesy of Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics:
Raw was expected to be up at least a little as it was the first show to not go up the Olympics, which it had been over the last two weeks. There was no strong competition at least on broadcast television.
This episode featured Drew McIntyre vs. Baron Corbin, Karrion Kross vs. Jeff Hardy, Alexa Bliss vs. Dewdrop, Sheamus vs. Ricochet, Damian Priest vs. John Morrison, Nikki ASH vs. Rhea Ripley, and Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles.
Next week will be the go-home edition of Raw for the SummerSlam pay-per-view event.
SmackDown Viewership
The episode drew an average of 2.047 million viewers in the overnight ratings, up from the previous week that did 1.909 million viewers. In the 18-49 demographic, it did a 0.61 rating, which was up from the 0.57 rating the week before. The final ratings were 2.169 million viewers, up from last week’s 2.043 million viewers.
A new match has been announced for the upcoming WWE SummerSlam PPV.
On Monday’s episode of Raw, WWE confirmed that United States Champion Sheamus will defend the title against Damien Priest at this show.
The two have been feuding over the past few weeks. After Priest had beaten John Morrison in a singles match, Priest cut a promo about how he was tired of Sheamus’ actions and challenged him to a title match at this show.
WWE presents the SummerSlam pay-per-view event on Saturday, August 21 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada at Allegiant Stadium that will air on Peacock. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks. Here is the updated card:
Updated WWE SummerSlam Card
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. John Cena
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Goldberg
WWE Raw Women’s Champion Nikki A.S.H vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos vs. Rey and Dominik Mysterio
Seth Rollins vs. Edge
WWE United States Champion Sheamus vs. Damien Priest
Fightful reported some more backstage details on Wyatt’s time in WWE before he was released. The former Universal Champion had been off TV following a loss to Randy Orton at WrestleMania 37.
There had been some rumors about his mental health while he was away. Per the report, his absence following WrestleMania had nothing to do with what was called \”falsely reported mental health issues.\” Also, Wyatt is healthy and able to wrestle.
While away from WWE, he was working on adding creative elements to his character. His return was supposed to be on the August 9th edition of WWE Raw.
Wyatt also had family engagements already scheduled for May and June. There were tentative plans in order for Wyatt\’s WWE return, but then the decision was made to let him go.
Wyatt is under a 90-day non-compete clause so he won\’t be available to sign with another promotion until three months from now.
WWE is hoping to book one of the biggest matches in recent history at either WrestleMania 38 or WrestleMania 39 between The Rock and Roman Reigns. It’s been reported that WWE has plans for The Rock to appear at the Survivor Series pay-per-view in November to set up the match for the Universal Title.
Paul Heyman talked about the possibility of such a match in an interview with ITRWrestling.com. Heyman started off by asking who doesn’t want to main event WrestleMania against Reigns and if they say they don’t then they’re lying.
Heyman put over Reigns as the most dominant WrestleMania main eventer in history. He said Rock is just one of many people who are clamoring to step into the ring with Reigns at any time and especially at WrestleMania.
Heyman wouldn’t comment on whether The Rock is a member of the table, but would rather leave that up for Reigns.
\”That is not a subject Roman Reigns wishes to address publicly at this time, either in The Rock’s favor or to The Rock’s detriment, because The Rock may not be welcome at our table. Roman Reigns will let you know when it’s appropriate for Roman Reigns to let you know.
If The Rock steps into the ring with Roman Reigns at any time, let alone at WrestleMania, that will be The Rock’s farewell, whether The Rock wants it to be or not.”
Reigns also has another big match already lined up as he’ll defend the WWE Universal Title against John Cena at next Saturday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view event.
A new match has been announced for the upcoming WWE NXT TakeOver 36.
On Monday, WWE confirmed WWE NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez will make her next title defense against Dakota Kai.
The company has already confirmed that Gonzalez will respond to Kai on this Tuesday\’s episode of NXT. This program started when Kai turned against Gonzalez on NXT two weeks ago. Just last week, Kai explained that she attacked her former best friend due to her being selfish and taking the spotlight after winning the NXT Women\’s Championship when it should have been Kai\’s opportunity.
WWE presents the NXT TakeOver 36 event on Sunday, August 22, 2021 in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center and will air on Peacock. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks as typically, there are 5 to 6 matches featured on the main card of this show.
WWE had been considering moving the show to Las Vegas, Nevada as SummerSlam takes place there the night before. However, the company decided to stick with the original location.
Updated 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
Edge vs. Seth Rollins is the latest match to be announced for the upcoming WWE SummerSlam PPV.
After a few weeks of tension and them getting physical, the match was booked on Friday’s episode of SmackDown. Last week, Rollins ambushed Edge on the stage. This week saw Edge do a promo about The Architect. Rollins interrupted by doing a backstage segment to taunt The Rated R Superstar.
Edge ended up challenging Rollins for SummerSlam. At first, Rollins said he would have to think it over because he’s got a lot going on right now, but Edge talked some trash to the point where Rollins ended up accepting the SummerSlam challenge.
WWE presents the SummerSlam pay-per-view event on Saturday, August 21 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada at Allegiant Stadium that will air on Peacock. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks.
Updated WWE SummerSlam Card
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. John Cena
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Goldberg
WWE Raw Women’s Champion Nikki A.S.H vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos vs. Rey and Dominik Mysterio
WWE has made more talent cuts and this time it hit the NXT brand hard.
On Friday, Fightful and PWInsider reported the following names that were released by the company:
Bronson Reed
Bobby Fish
Mercedes Martinez
Leon Ruff
Tyler Rust
Jake Atlas
Ari Sterling
Kona Reeves
Zechariah Smith
Asher Hale
Giant Zanjeer
Stephon Smith
This is the latest round of cuts. Because these are NXT stars, they will have 30-day non-compete clauses instead of the 90-day non-compete clauses that main roster talent are under.
Several of these newer wrestlers such as Hale had just moved to Florida to start training at the WWE Performance Center:
— Anthony Henry- A Workhorseman (@Antnyhenry) August 4, 2021
Reed is the biggest name from these cuts as he signed with WWE in 2019 and won the North American title earlier this year where he held it for a month.
Reed reacted to the news by writing on Twitter, \”Just got released by WWE. This monster is back on the loose … you don\’t know WHAT you\’ve just done.\” He tagged AEW, Ring of Honor, Impact and New Japan in the tweet.
Fish, a former NXT Tag Team Champion, found success with the Undisputed Era faction that included Adam Cole, Kyle O\’Reilly and Roderick Strong. The group broke up earlier this year. In fact, Fish just lost a match to Strong on Tuesday’s NXT that was taped two weeks ago.
In April, WWE cut Samoa Joe, Iiconics, Mickie James, Chelsea Green and others while in June, both main roster and NXT/205 Live talents were let go included Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, Ruby Riott, Fandango, Lana, Tyler Breeze, Tony Nese and others.
Last Saturday, Bray Wyatt was released and Ric Flair got out of his contract earlier this week.
WWE held dark matches before Friday’s episode of SmackDown in Tampa, FL at the Amalie Arena, which involved a few different NXT stars.
Dakota Kai took on fellow NXT star Aliyah and went over. There have been rumors of Kai being called up to the main roster.
This marked the first time Kai has appeared on the main roster. Another dark match at this event saw Austin Theory, who has also competed in dark matches in recent weeks, lost to Raw star Keith Lee via pinfall.
WWE has booked several NXT stars in dark matches since they returned to live crowds last month.
Scarlett, Xia Li, Bronson Reed, Odyssey Jones, and Xyon Quinn have all wrestled in dark matches. Reed has appeared on WWE Main Event. Former WWE Tag Team Champion Davey Boy Smith Jr, who has recently re-signed with WWE, also has worked a dark match, but has yet to return on TV.
Shotzi, Nox, Karrion Kross, and Toni Storm all wrestled in dark matches as well before making their debuts on the main roster. Kross was sent to Raw and Shotzi, Nox, and Storm appearing on SmackDown.
More NXT stars could be brought up to the main roster when the Draft takes place.
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