Mickie James made an announcement on Wednesday in a video that she posted on Instagram, which is that she will be competing at the NWA’s 73rd Anniversary show.
The pay-per-view event takes place on August 29th in St. Louis Missouri. She noted that she wants fans to let NWA President Billy Corgan know who they want her to wrestle.
“On August 29 is NWA 73, the Anniversary Show. And so on the Anniversary Show, I am announcing that I am going to wrestle at NWA 73, and I’m looking for an opponent. And so I want you to tell Billy who you want to see me wrestle. Who wants to wrestle me at NWA 73? That is the big question.”
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CQbv9fPHIl4/
James was released from WWE along with Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, Samoa Joe, and several more performers in April. James’ husband, Nick Aldis, is the NWA World Heavyweight Champion.
The former WWE star made her promotional debut earlier this month on an episode of Powerrr. This episode also had the announcement of the first all-women’s NWA pay-per-view now entitled, Empowerrr, which takes place the night before the 73rd Anniversary show.
James will be producing the all-women’s PPV event.
WWE NXT is looking to emphasize the Cruiserweight division and the title more on their programming going forward.
Fightful Select reported the news today. It was said that this plan has been one WWE officials have been working on for a long time. It was noted NXT officials have been high on Kushida ever since he came in, as has the roster around him.
The report stated fans should expect NXT to integrate more storyline, some bigger names, and angles into the Cruiserweight division, especially this Summer.
Back on the April 13th episode of NXT, Kushida beat Santos Escobar to win the title after the then-champion had issued an open challenge. The two later worked a few different matches before the feud ended.
Since that time, Kushida has kept doing the open challenges and wrestled various new WWE signees such as Carmelo Hayes, formerly known as Christian Casanova.
NXT Cruiserweight Champion Kushida is slated to wrestle Kyle O\’Reilly in a non-title match on this week’s episode of NXT. Originally, General Manager William Regal said that O\’Reilly and Adam Cole would pick each other\’s opponent on this show, but it was Kushida who challenged O\’Reilly to this match. Cole vs. O\’Reilly has been booked for the Great American Bash special on July 6th.
WWE held several qualifying matches to determine participants for this year’s men’s and women’s Money in the Bank ladder matches.
On Monday’s episode of Raw, Ricochet battled AJ Styles, Randy Orton faced John Morrison, and Riddle took on Drew McIntyre in men\’s Money in the Bank qualifying matches.
On the flip side, Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross reunited to take on Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler and Asuka & Naomi face Eva Marie and \”her partner\” (Piper Niven, now listed as Doudrop) with the winning teams qualifying for the women\’s Money in the Bank match.
The outcomes resulted in Ricochet, Morrison & Riddle being added to the men’s ladder match while Asuka, Naomi, Cross & Bliss are now in the women’s ladder match. WWE will likely do something similar with SmackDown talent this Friday night.
The opening saw a segment that led to Kofi Kingston challenging Bobby Lashley for the WWE Title at this upcoming show and the champion accepted it. Lashley had been feuding with Drew McIntyre, but that feud ended at Sunday’s Hell in a Cell show.
Also, Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair will meet once again for the Raw Women’s Championship after Ripley retained the title via DQ at the Hell in a Cell PPV.
WWE presents the Money in the Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday, July 18, 2021 from Fort Worth, Texas at Dickies Arena that will air on Peacock.
WWE decided to change up Nikki Cross’s gimmick as she is now sporting a superhero character.
On Monday’s episode of Raw, Alexa Bliss & Cross reunited to take on Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler with the winning team qualifying for the Women\’s Money in the Bank match.
Before the match, WWE had Cross do a promo about how she’s been inspired by her big wins on Raw as of late over the likes of Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair so she decided to wrestle with a superhero mask over her eyes and a new costume.
Many fans picked up on how this is similar to the Mighty Molly gimmick from the early 2000s as Molly Holly also had a similar in-ring pose and mannerisms. It’s been reported that the WWE Hall of Famer has been working as a producer backstage for the company.
Bliss and Cross went over in the match. Also on this show, Asuka & Naomi beat Eva Marie and Doudrop to also qualify for the match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday, July 18, 2021 from Fort Worth, Texas at Dickies Arena.
AEW ended its Friday Night Dynamite run on a high note with its ratings.
The June 18th edition of Dynamite did 552,000 viewers on TNT, according to Nielsen via PWTorch. That is up from last week’s show that aired on the same night and timeslot, which pulled in 487,000 viewers.
The show did a 0.20 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic, which was up from last week’s 0.19 rating.
This was the biggest total audience Dynamite has had on its Friday run since starting on May 28 and that show was watched by 526,000 viewers total and 263,000 in 18-49. The June 18th show did its best viewership of the year in the Friday timeslot.
AEW will continue to be preempted for NBA action for one more week as this week’s show will air on Saturday night, which will be headlined by AEW World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega defending the title against Jungle Boy. Hangman Page vs. Powerhouse Hobbs in a singles match has also been announced for this episode.
That will be a live show from Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place. The June 30th episode will be back on Wednesday and moving forward will be back in its time slot.
Just days after being backstage at Friday’s WWE SmackDown event, the company brought in NXT Champion Karrion Kross, Scarlett, and North American Champion Bronson Reed for Monday’s Raw.
PWinsider.com not only reported that the stars are backstage, but they will be working matches on this week’s episode of WWE Main Event that will air on Hulu and on the WWE Network for fans outside of the United States.
This appears to be the latest move for them transitioning from NXT to the main roster. It’s been reported that Kross and Reed worked matches at Friday’s SmackDown as a way for WWE officials to get a better look at them.
Although Kross wrestled Dolph Ziggler while Reed faced off with Bobby Roode at SmackDown, the matches were taped for future evaluation and WWE has no plans to air them for fans.
In Kross’ situation, the belief since he signed with WWE NXT was that he is being fast-tracked to the main roster because of his size and look.
It is interesting that WWE would have them appear on Main Event, a show that has a much lower fanbase and viewership numbers than Raw, NXT, or SmackDown, before making their actual main roster debuts.
It’s possible that WWE holds off on bringing them up to the main roster until late August or early September when the Draft takes place.
The trilogy match between Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre with the WWE Title on the line took place at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event.
The match saw them use various weapons such as the cell, steel steps, kendo sticks, tables, and a cane. At one point, McIntyre hit a powerslam to Lashley on the steps. Lashley used the steps several times to smash McIntyre into the cell. Lashley tossed McIntyre into the referee and this led to McIntyre hitting a DDT.
Another referee came out as McIntyre hit the Claymore Kick, but in the pin attempt, MVP pulled out the referee. MVP distracted McIntyre and Lashley rolled him up for the win. As a result, McIntyre can\’t challenge for the WWE Title again as long as Lashley is champion.
McIntyre earned his third match with Lashley on the May 31st edition of WWE Raw when he defeated Kofi Kingston in a number one contender\’s match in the main event. McIntyre went over with his finisher, Claymore Kick, as Kingston was coming off the top rope.
That match had a stipulation where Lashley would have been suspended without pay for 90 days if he or MVP interfered or even came out to ringside during the match.
Lashley became the champion when he won it from The Miz back in March. Their first match came back at WrestleMania 37 where Lashley defeated McIntyre to retain the WWE Championship. One month later at WrestleMania Backlash, Lashley retained by defeating Braun Strowman and McIntyre in a triple threat match. WWE kept McIntyre strong as Lashley pinned Strowman to get the win.
Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair took place with the Raw Women’s Title on the line in Ripley’s latest title defense.
The match happend at the WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view event in Tampa, Florida at Yuengling Center on Peacock. The match saw Flair dominate and use some old school tactics such as hitting natural selection for 2 while using the rope as leverage. The match ended short when Ripley got herself DQ’d when she hit Flair with a piece of the announce table.
Ripley attacked Flair after the match and Flair told her that she was learning. Thus, a rematch at Money in the Bank is coming.
WWE confirmed this bout after Flair had beaten Asuka on the May 24th edition of Raw. This came after Ripley retained her Raw Women\’s Championship by defeating Asuka and Charlotte in a triple threat match when Ripley pinned Asuka to win.
Flair had been pitching for a one-on-one title match with Ripley to WWE authority figures Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville. This is where Deville told Flair that if she beat Asuka then she would get the title match and that’s what happened.
WWE then did some Beat the Clock challenges to further hype this match. They both wrestled Nikki Cross in these matches.
Bianca Belair once again put her WWE SmackDown Women’s Title on the line against Bianca Belair.
It happened at the WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view event in Tampa, Florida at Yuengling Center on Peacock. The match saw them slowly start to use the cell.
At one point, Bayley turned the tide by biting the arm of Belair. Bayley hit a flip powerbomb into the cell. Belair won with the KOD on a ladder to retain.
WWE set up this latest match after an angle on SmackDown where Belair was unhappy about Bayley laughing in her face so she challenged her to a match on the June 4th edition. Bayley accepted Belair\’s challenge and then laughed at Belair again while in a room that was a shrine to herself.
Belair defeated Sasha Banks at WrestleMania 37 this April to win the SmackDown Women\’s Championship. Instead of going back to that feud, she went into a program with Bayley. Belair went over in their first match at WrestleMania Backlash last month.
During the match, Bayley tried to use Belair\’s braid, but Belair was able to use the braid to help her pin Bayley.
The card for tonight\’s (Sunday, June 20, 2021) WWE Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event has been finalized.
The company hasn’t officially announced the main event of this event that takes place in Tampa, Florida at Yuengling Center that will air on the Peacock but it will most likely be WWE Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre in a Hell in a Cell Match.
The important stipulation to go along with this bout is if McIntyre oses, he can\’t challenge Lashley for the title again. According to the latest betting odds, there are no titles expected to change hands at this show.
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 Hell In A Cell Card
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre – Hell in a Cell Match (if Drew loses, he can\’t challenge Lashley for the title again)
WWE Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair vs. Bayley – Hell in a Cell Match
Roman Reigns made his latest defense of the WWE Universal Title against Rey Mysterio on Friday’s episode of SmackDown in Tampa, Florida at Yuengling Center instead of the WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view event.
The match had moments where Mysterio had offense. He worked as a smart babyface by using his quickness and various weapons to get an advantage as he operated a fire extinguisher and put a chair around the neck of Reigns then tossed him into the cell.
Aside from select moments, it was all Reigns, who at one point sent Rey flying from the ring into the cell. Reigns won with his guillotine finisher.
On the June 11th edition of SmackDown, Mysterio called out Reigns after the previous weeks’ edition where Reigns attacked Rey and his son, Dominik. Reigns came out as Mysterio called him a “rat bastard” for what he had done. Mysterio then challenged “The Big Dog” to the match. In an impressive move, Reigns hit a powerbomb to Dominik to the floor on the outside.
It’s been reported that WWE wants to do a Reigns vs. John Cena match at this year’s SummerSlam pay-per-view event, but they\’ve yet to announce the match nor even advertise Cena for an upcoming show.
WWE has announced a new match while also moving one title match inside of the cell structure at the Hell in a Cell PPV.
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair vs. Bayley will now take place inside of the Hell in a Cell structure. This comes after WWE needing a second title match to take place in the cell once Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. Rey Mysterio was moved from the PPV event to Friday’s episode of Smackdown.
Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro in a singles match has also been added to the show. Rollins confirmed their match for Sunday during a segment on SmackDown. This is a rematch as Cesaro defeated Rollins at WrestleMania 37 Night 1 and then again on the Throwback SmackDown show on May 7th.
WWE presents the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event on Sunday, June 20, 2021 from Tampa, Florida at Yuengling Center that will air on Peacock.
Updated WWE Hell In A Cell Card
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre – Hell in a Cell Match (if Drew loses, he can\’t challenge Lashley for the title again)
WWE Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair vs. Bayley – Hell in a Cell Match
Becky Lynch was at the WWE Performance Center earlier this week. She\’s been out of action since late last year and gave birth to a healthy baby girl back in December.
Lynch looked to be great shape when she visited the facility on Thursday, according to a report by Fightful. She was not seen training, but did watch some of the other trainees practice in the ring.
Following her visit to the Performance Center, Becky Lynch visited Friday\’s SmackDown tapings. Several NXT performers were also at SmackDown. NXT Champion Karrion Kross (with Scarlett) and North American Champion Bronson Reed worked dark matches at the show.
With WWE looking to have \”all hands are on deck\” for SummerSlam in August, Becky Lynch back would be another big attraction to ensure they sell out the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Lynch hasn’t been seen on WWE TV since last May. Shortly after winning the Raw Women\’s Championship at WrestleMania 36, she announced her pregnancy on Raw and surrendered the title. Lynch awarded the title to Asuka, who had a dominant 2020 as the champion and feuded with various stars.
Becky Lynch gave birth to a daughter, Roux, in December 2020. Since giving birth, the countdown clock has been ticking for the top WWE star to make her return. Perhaps, this summer will be that time. She teased appearing at this year\’s WrestleMania 37, but that never came to pass.
WWE returns to live event touring on July 16th for an episode of SmackDown in Houston, Texas.
Rey Mysterio vs. Roman Reigns in a Hell in a Cell match for the Universal Title at Sunday’s pay-per-view event was moved to Friday’s episode of SmackDown.
Andrew Zarian from the Mat Men podcast said that USA Network is not happy about FOX getting the Hell in a Cell match.
“I can tell you for a fact that USA Network is very unhappy that the Hell in a Cell match is happening on SmackDown. I’m not gonna say they are fuming but they are very unhappy about it.”
Since WWE inked a big-money deal with FOX for the SmackDown TV rights, it’s been changed to the brand being listed as the “A” show while Raw is the “B” show.
It should be noted that NBCUniversal is the parent company of the USA Network. Thus, with the match being moved dates, FOX picks up a big match that will likely help boost ratings while Peacock, which is the streaming service of NBCUniversal, loses it.
It’s no secret that WWE ratings are down and with these networks paying big money to air the weekly programs of WWE’s, there’s pressure to have more themed WWE shows in the future to help get ratings back to where they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.
WWE had three interesting NXT stars backstage at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida for Friday Night SmackDown and that was NXT North American Champion Bronson Reed, WWE NXT Champion Karrion Kross, and Scarlett.
Originally, it wasn’t known as to why they were there, but Pwinsider.com later reported the reason they were backstage was so WWE could see them compete in a dark match.
It was added that there have been talks in the last week of Kross and Scarlett being moved from NXT to the main roster.
Reed became the North American Champion when he defeated Johnny Gargano in a steel cage match a month ago. At the WWE NXT TakeOver: In Your House event this past weekend, the NXT North American Championship and NXT Tag Team Titles were on the line in a winner-take-all six-man tag match when Reed and MSK successfully retained the titles against Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde).
At this same show, Kross successfully defended the NXT Championship in a Fatal Five-Way Match Kross successfully defended the NXT Championship in a Fatal Five-Way Match.
Kross won the NXT Championship from Finn Balor at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver.
WWE has started sending out advertisements for upcoming shows ahead of their resuming live event touring on July 16th.
Bray Wyatt is locally advertised for the August 9th Raw TV event from the Amway Center in Orlando, according to Sean Ross Sapp. It’s possible the Wyatt is advertised for shows before or after this date. Either way, it appears he will be returning to TV around this time.
He hasn’t been seen on TV since losing to Randy Orton at WrestleMania 37. Just last week it was reported Wyatt was purposely being kept off WWE TV for an unknown reason.
Also, the company now has WWE Hall of Famer Edge booked for more dates on the summer tour ahead of the SummerSlam pay-per-view on August 21. Edge is expected to work the show.
The WWE Hall of Famer has been advertised for the July 16th edition of SmackDown from the Toyota Center in Houston for the last few weeks.
Edge is now booked for SmackDown shows on July 16 at the Toyota Center in Houston, July 30 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, August 6 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, August 20 at the Phoenix Suns Arena in Phoenix, August 27 at the Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, and September 3 at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville.
Finally, he’s also advertised for the house show on Saturday, August 14 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.
The betting odds for most of the matches that will take place at the WWE Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event have been released.
The card for the show that takes place this Sunday (June 20, 2021) from Tampa, Florida at Yuengling Center is close to being finalized as only six matches have been announced with WWE expected to likely confirm a pre-show contest and perhaps more matches on SmackDown this Friday.
Roman Reigns is a major favorite to retain the Universal Title over Rey Mysterio while Bobby Lashley is favored to retain his WWE Title in the Hell in a Cell match against Drew McIntyre. Should McIntyre lose this match, he can’t challenge for the title again as long as Lashley is champion.
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:
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley -350 vs. Drew McIntyre +225 – Hell in a Cell Match (if Drew loses, he can\’t challenge Lashley for the title again)
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns -3000 vs. Rey Mysterio +850
WWE Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley -400 vs. Charlotte Flair +250
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair -2500 vs. Bayley +750
WWE did an angle at the end of Sunday’s NXT TakeOver: In Your House special where NXT General Manager William Regal said it’s time for a change before walking away.
This week’s show opened with Regal coming out and saying that he’s been with NXT since the start from working as an announcer. He said he’s watched everyone develop and the product grow. Regal was clearly emotional and crying. He said that he has given everything he can and doesn’t think he can do that anymore.
Karrion Kross came out and said that they always knew this day would come, but wanted to see it for himself. He mocked Regal for crying and called him pathetic. Kross said that he told Regal that he lost control.
Samoa Joe came out to the ring and said that Regal wanted to speak with him. Regal said that Joe is the right man to become the new GM. Joe declined and said that Regal has large shoes to fill. Joe said that Regal deserves the respect from everyone and he will ensure that happens. Regal said Joe can’t be a competitor and lay a hand on anyone unless provoked. Joe accepted the offer. Thus, Joe is Regal’s new enforcer.
LA Knight’s Million Dollar Championship Coronation
Ted DiBiase presented LA Knight’s Million Dollar Championship Coronation.
This came after Knight beat Cameron Grimes at NXT TakeOver: In Your House in a ladder match to win the title.
This segment saw DiBiase show a video package to further hype Knight. LA came out for a promo where he talked about how much he respects Ted and is so thankful to carry the Million Dollar legacy. He said that all the pain he went through was worth it.
Ted gave him the title and they both started laughing with pyro going off. Knight said that now it’s time to drop the dead weight he doesn’t need and punched him. Knight told him that he is the only Million Dollar Champion. Knight put the boots to him before Cameron Grimes ran out to make the save.
Io Shirai returned to address the fans after making her return last week.
Shirai made her return to NXT TV after Poppy was called out by Candice LeRae and she brought out Shirai to beat down LeRae.
Shirai cut a promo about how she’s back and her next target is…LeRae walked out. She said that Io picked the wrong time to screw with her. Indie Heartwell attacked her from behind. Io fought back, but the numbers game was just too much. Zoey Starks eventually came out to even the odds and the babyfaces stood tall in the ring to close the show.
NXT Cruiserweight Champion Kushida defended the title in an Open Challenge, which was answered by Trey Baxton.
WWE aired a video package to hype Baxter’s arrival. This is the former Blake Christian. The fun back and forth match ended when Kushida hit his finisher. It was revealed after the match that Kushida would face Kyle O’Reilly next week.
Kushida has issued these open challenges since winning the title and has beaten the likes of Oney Lorcan and Carmelo Hayes.
Kushida won the title after accepting an open challenge that was issued by then-champion Santos Escobar back on April 13. They worked a rematch, which was a two out of three falls match, back on May 11th.
Tomasso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher faced The Grizzled Young Veterans in a Tornado Tag Team Match.
The match saw them put on a strong style type of match with the heels mostly dominating. Ciampa hit a powerslam on the announce table. Ciampa and Thatcher hit their double team submission hold for the win.
We can only think about @NXTCiampa's surgically repaired neck. This match is BRUTAL. #WWENXT @JamesDrake_GYT @ZackGibson01 pic.twitter.com/MZYhCQO9rU
Last week on NXT, The Grizzled Young Veterans were in action against August Grey & Ikemen Jiro. During it, Ciampa and Thatcher came out to watch and tried to distract the rival team, but they still won the contest.
Post-match, The Grizzled Young Veterans said that they’re focus on getting a title shot, but Ciampa said they won’t get it until they go through them.
The Grizzled Young Veterans were in action on NXT tonight, facing August Grey & Ikemen Jiro. During the match, Ciampa and Thatcher came out to ringside and watched on from steel chairs. The Grizzled Young Veterans were momentarily distracted but still got the win. This led to this match getting booked.
Their first match took place last month where Ciampa and Thatcher went over. Three weeks ago, The Grizzled Young Veterans cost Ciampa and Thatcher their match against Legado del Fantasma\’s Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde.
The first match has been confirmed for the Great American Bash edition of NXT.
Adam Cole will face Kyle O’Reilly once more at this show. On Wednesday’s episode, they were shown in a backstage brawl which was broken up by Samoa Joe, who is William Regal’s new enforcer. Regal said that the match was official, but it will be a singles match.
Karrion Kross defended the NXT Title against Cole, O’Reilly, Johnny Gargano, and Pete Dunne in a fatal 5-way match at Sunday’s NXT TakeOver: In Your House.
O’Reilly and Cole have been locked in a feud since Cole turned on his former Undisputed Era friend. They previously worked an unsanctioned match at the NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver special.
NXT\’s Great American Bash takes place Tuesday, July 6 on the USA Network starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
WWE brought back this theme last year and it marked the first time that WWE had done so since an episode of SmackDown that took place in 2012. Last year’s show took place over the course of two weeks.
The first night was headlined by Io Shirai defeating Sasha Banks while the next week, Keith Lee defeated Adam Cole in a title vs. title match where the NXT Championship and NXT North American Championship were both on the line.
Monday’s edition of WWE Raw averaged 1.742 million viewers with a 0.49 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic, according to Brandon Thurston of WrestleNomics. This is up from last week’s 1.640 million viewers and the 0.48 rating.
This was the go-home edition of Raw for Sunday’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event that will feature the top match from the red brand of WWE Champion Bobby Lashley defending against Drew McIntyre with the stipulation that if McIntyre loses then he can’t challenge for the title again as long as Lashley is champion.
There\’s no word yet on the hourly viewership numbers, but we will update the post when they become available.
Last week’s hourly viewership numbers were 1.667 million viewers in the first hour, 1.651 million viewers in the second hour, and the third hour had 1.602 million viewers.
This episode featured RK-Bro (Randy Orton & Riddle) vs. The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods), Drew McIntyre vs. AJ Styles, Eva Marie’s return, and more.
SmackDown Viewership
The episode drew an average of 1.853 million viewers in the overnight ratings, up from the previous week that did 1.800 million viewers. In the 18-49 demographic, it did a 0.40 rating, which was down from the 0.50 rating the week before. The final ratings were 1.944 million viewers, up from last week’s 1.883 million viewers.
Samoa Joe is back on WWE TV as part of his return to NXT.
It happened on Tuesday’s episode when it was revealed that William Regal had declared that he can’t give anymore of himself to the brand and was about to say that there needed to be a change. NXT champion Karrion Kross came out to mock him and wanted to hear Regal say that he was right that he lost control. This led to Samoa Joe coming out and declining the offer to replace him as the GM.
Regal said Joe can’t be a competitor and can\’t lay a hand on anyone unless provoked, but Joe can be his enforcer. Joe accepted the offer and Regal is still the GM.
At the NXT TakeOver: In Your House special, Regal hinted that there would be a change coming and so it did. There had been rumblings among NXT talent and staff that WWE was interested in bringing Joe back after the company released him from his contract back in April due to budget cuts.
He was last seen as part of the commentary team at WrestleMania and had been in that role for over a year. He 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.
It was recently reported that Triple H wanted to get Joe back as soon as possible because he wasn’t happy that WWE released him. He’s been a supporter of Joe for years and would rather see him in NXT instead of being in a different promotion.
In 2015, Triple H was the person who initially brought Joe to WWE for NXT. During his stint on the brand, he became an NXT Champion and was the top star for the promotion until he was called up to the main roster in 2017.
Moose is sticking around in Impact Wrestling. It was first reported by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer that Moose had signed a new contract. Now, Fightful has details about the deal.
The new contract is for two years, and will carry Moose into the Summer of 2023. His original deal was slated to expire in June. It was said the deal has a significant improvement over his last deal, though there’s no word yet on the financial terms.
It was noted that Moose figures into Impact\’s plans in a major way. He did have interest from other promotions in signing him, but it’s unclear which promotions wanted Moose.
Moose reacted to the original report about signing a contract last month on Twitter by writing, “Not True,” then following up with another tweet that stated, “Plz get your news from me and me only.”
Impact Wrestling nor Moose have publicly announced that he’s re-signed with the promotion.
Moose lost to Impact World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega in the main event of the Against All Odds special this past Saturday night that was taped one week prior at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida.
Eva Marie is back in WWE as she returned to television on Monday’s episode of RAW.
It happened when she was supposed to wrestle Naomi in a singles match. However, Piper Niven worked the match on behalf of Marie and went over in a complete squash match. Marie announced that she had won the match.
For whatever reason, Niven wasn’t given a name or even acknowledged by the announcers for her work in NXT UK.
This was expected as it was announced last week that Marie would appear on this show. WWE had been airing vignettes to hype her return. The two sides came to terms the week of September 20, 2020.
Marie started her first stint with WWE in 2013 where she was part of the first season of Total Divas. She started training with Brian Kendrick and worked as an in-ring competition in 2015. After a run in NXT, she was called up to the main roster.
However, things went south when she was suspended for a violation of the WWE Wellness Policy in 2016. Her last match came in July 2016 at a live event against Becky Lynch.
She never returned to action and later departed from the company. Since then, she has worked as a model and actress.
Since leaving WWE, she had stated in various interviews that she had unfinished business with the company. As a result, she previously expressed an interest in returning to WWE.
Andrade El Idolo won\’t be at the Federacion Wrestling debut show on June 19th.
The former WWE star known as Andrade took to Twitter to announce he won\’t be appearing at the event as he stated, \”A good arrangement was not reached with the new company.\”
He was scheduled to team with RUSH, Bestia Del Ring, and a surprise partner against Matt Taven, PJ Black, and The Briscoe Brothers (Mark & Jay Briscoe) at the event.
RUSH as well as Kenny King, Dragon Lee, and Bestia Del Ring have also announced that they’re off the show due to \”logistical issues.\”
Para toda la gente de la Ciudad de México quiero informarles que este sábado 19 de junio, NO ME PRESENTARÉ en dicho evento, no se llego a un buen arreglo con esta nueva empresa. Espero y nos veamos pronto les deseo un buen inicio de semana ?????? pic.twitter.com/M6FW9U676S
— “EL IDOLO” ANDRADE (@AndradeElIdolo) June 14, 2021
Andrade recently signed with All Elite Wrestling. He’s slated to do an interview segment with Jim Ross on Friday’s episode of Dynamite.
At an RGR Lucha Libre show in Los Angeles over the weekend, Andrade teamed up with V.I.P. and Piloto Suicida to face El Hijo del Santo, Rey Leon, and Misterioso. His next match will be when he faces fellow WWE star Alberto Del Rio on July 31.
He’s slated to challenge AEW World Champion Kenny Omega for his AAA Mega Championship at TripleMania XXIX in August.
An interesting person was spotted at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, FL and that’s Salina de la Renta.
Fightful Select reported today that Renta was training at WWE’s training facility. However, it was stated that it’s unknown whether that consisted of in-ring, workouts, tryouts or promo class.”
The belief is WWE will or has offered her a contract as the company has shown interest in her in the past.
Dave Meltzer pointed out in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that she was closing her merchandise store at the end of the summer.
Meltzer wrote, “often that would mean someone has struck a deal with a promotion that won’t allow them to merchandise independently, but we’ve had no verification of her going to WWE.”
Renta is best known for her time in Major League Wrestling. Her contract with the promotion expired recently. She has been open about her options in the wrestling business as she publicly announced her departure from MLW.
She was the first female analyst to be on MLW Fusion’s Spanish announce team and served as an Executive Producer for an episode. Renta went as far as polling her followers on Twitter about which promotion she should join next.
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