AEW officials got some better news regarding the Dynamite ratings that have been plagued due to TNT’s coverage of the NBA Playoffs
The June 11th Friday Night edition of Dynamite did 487,000 viewers on TNT, according to Nielsen via Brandon Thurston of WrestleNomics. That is down from last week’s show that aired on the same night and timeslot, which pulled in 462,000 viewers.
The show did a 0.19 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic, which was the exact same as the show did a week prior. The June 4th episode marked the lowest audience in the history of the show.
The show did a 0.12 rating in the female 18-49 demo, 0.26 in male 18-49, 0.33 in persons 18-34, and a 0.35 in the male 18-34 demo.
AEW will continue to be preempted for NBA action for the rest of this month. This week’s show will air on Friday night before switching to a Saturday night slot on June 26th, which will be headlined by AEW World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega defending the title against Jungle Boy. That will be a live show from Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place.
Karrion Kross has always said that he welcomes all challengers and backed up what he says in his latest title defense as the NXT Champion.
He worked a fatal 5-way match against Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne, Kyle O’Reilly, and Adam Cole in the main event of WWE NXT TakeOver: In Your House event in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
The match saw Kross be booked strong throughout it. Dunne and Gargano sent Kross through the front door of the stage. Kross even broke out an F5 to Gargano for a near fall. There was a double submission spot with Dunne and O’Reilly. Kross won with his sleeper hold on O’Reilly.
Originally, Kross was supposed to defend the title against one person until Cole screwed up NXT General Manager William Regal’s storyline plans. A triple threat match between O\’Reilly, Dunne, and Gargano took place on the June 1st edition of NXT with the winner supposed to face Kross at TakeOver, but Cole attacked all three stars and it ended in a no contest. Later in the show, Kross told Regal that he wants to face everyone at TakeOver: In Your House and Regal agreed so he booked the match.
Kross won the NXT Championship from Finn Balor at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver. Since that time, he’s made one title defense and that also came against Balor.
WWE holds the fallout episode from this show of NXT on Tuesday.
Ember Moon was the latest challenger for Raquel Gonzalez\’s NXT Women\’s Championship.
The title match happened at the WWE NXT TakeOver: In Your House event in Orlando, Florida on Sunday night. The match saw the champion dominate most of it by using power moves and going for near falls. Things turned around when Moon hit a double knee strike off the top rope. Moon hit her finisher, but Dakota Kai put Raquel’s foot up to prevent the pinfall.
Shotzi Blackheart took care of Kai. Moon hit a DDT off the middle rope to the rampway at one point. Gonzalez hit her powerbomb finisher for the win.
On the June 1st edition of NXT, WWE announced the match. The previous week, Moon was forced to watch Gonzalez lay out her tag team partner Shotzi Blackheart after they worked a tag team match with the babyfaces going over.
Moon cut a promo last week about how she wasn\’t going to let what Gonzalez did to Blackheart slide. Moon brawled with Gonzalez until Moon was taken out thanks to an ambush by Kai.
This past week, Kai battled Moon in a singles match on NXT. Gonzalez won the NXT Women\’s Championship by defeating Io Shirai at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver this April, which marked the first time that she held the title.
Her first title defense came against Mercedes Martinez last month. Moon knows what it’s like to be a champion as she previously held the NXT Women\’s Championship from November 2017 to April 2018.
WWE raised the stakes for the feud between Cameron Grimes and LA Knight when they brought back the Million Dollar Championship.
The two wrestlers worked a ladder match at the WWE NXT TakeOver: In Your House event in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center to determine the new champion.
The match obviously saw them use the ladders as weapons throughout. They did a neck breaker spot on the ladders. Grimes sent Knight face-first into a ladder set up in the corner. Grimes hit a back drop to Knight onto the ladder. The finish saw Grimes at the top of the ladder in the ring, but Knight titled it and sent Grimes crashing onto a ladder on the ramp way.
Last week on NXT, the title made its return as part of this storyline because Grimes and Knight have each been vying for Ted DiBiase to choose them to be the wrestler to carry on his Million Dollar legacy.
WWE first introduced the title by DiBiase as an unofficial title in 1989 and it was most recently featured on WWE television in 2010 when Ted DiBiase Jr. held it.
The NXT North American Championship and NXT Tag Team Titles were on the line in a winners-take-all six-man tag match at the WWE NXT TakeOver: In Your House event.
NXT North American Champion Bronson Reed & NXT Tag Team Champions MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter) faced Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde). The stipulation to go along with this match was if Reed & MSK win, they\’ll retain their titles. However, should Legado del Fantasma win, Escobar will become the NXT North American Champion and Mendoza & Wilde will become the NXT Tag Team Champions.
The match started with the babyfaces getting the early advantage including some dives until the heels took over. At one point, Escobar grabbed the North American Title and Reed tackled him through the barricade. MSK and Reed went over with a double team finisher that resulted in Reed hitting a splash off the top rope for the win.
Reed became the North American Champion when he defeated Johnny Gargano in a steel cage match three weeks ago while on the flip side, MSK has been NXT Tag Team Champions since winning the titles at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver this April.
This feud started about two weeks ago when Legado del Fantasma confronted Reed and was about to attack him until MSK came out to make the save. A week later, Reed made the save for MSK when they worked a match against Mendoza & Wilde
This past week on NXT, MSK came out to back up Reed during a confrontation with Legado del Fantasma. Escobar threw out the challenge for such a match and the babyfaces accepted.
The card for tonight’s (Sunday, June 13, 2021) WWE NXT TakeOver: In Your House 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. It will likely be headlined by the Fatal Five Way Match for the NXT Title.
This show marks the third special for the yellow brand in 2021, 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: In Your House Card
WWE NXT Champion Karrion Kross vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Pete Dunne vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole – Fatal Five Way Match
WWE NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez vs. Ember Moon
LA Knight vs. Cameron Grimes – Million Dollar Title Ladder Match
Xia Li vs. Mercedes Martinez
NXT Tag Team Champions MSK and North American Champion Bronson Reed vs. Legado del Fantasma – Six-Man Tag Team Winners Take All Match
What are your thoughts on this card and the feuds that WWE is presenting to their fans? Sound off in the comment section.
The final betting odds have been released for the WWE NXT TakeOver: In Your House.
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, but none are expected to change hands. Some of the more notable odds include there not being a clear-cut winner in the Million Dollar Title Ladder Match between LA Knight and Cameron Grimes.
WWE NXT TakeOver: In Your House 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 (1/1) vs. Johnny Gargano (5/1) vs. Pete Dunne (6/1) vs. Kyle O’Reilly (4/1) vs. Adam Cole (11/4) – Fatal Five Way Match
WWE NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez -1000 vs. Ember Moon +550
LA Knight -140 vs. Cameron Grimes -140 – Million Dollar Title Ladder Match
Xia Li -950 vs. Mercedes Martinez +500
NXT Tag Team Champions MSK and North American Champion Bronson Reed -850 vs. Legado del Fantasma +450 – Six-Man Tag Team Winners Take All Match
It appears that Samoa Joe could be headed back to NXT, according to a new report based on what talent have heard.
Fightful Select reported today that talent and staff have heard NXT officials were interested in bringing back Joe, who was released back in April due to budget cuts, to work on the black and yellow brand.
It should be noted that there have been several wrestlers that people in the company have pushed to bring back. The word going around is the interest on NXT\’s side is for Joe to be back in a wrestling role.
Some talent in the company think this is going to happen, but only time will tell.
Joe originally worked in NXT back in 2015 where he had great success as a two-time NXT champion in addition to winning the 2015 NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. He was called up to the main roster in 2017 and ended up winning the WWE United States Title twice.
He was ultimately moved to the Raw announce team due to a history of concussions. He last worked a match in February 2020 on Raw when he teamed with The Viking Raiders and Kevin Owens for an eight-man tag team match against Seth Rollins, Buddy Murphy and AOP.
WWE has added a clause in the contracts they have with wrestlers.
Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that talent no longer under contract are not allowed to use their WWE character names when signing autographs.
Before this clause, WWE just prevented released wrestlers from using their character names at shows, and rightfully so as WWE owns the trademark rights to certain ring names.
With this new clause, released performers won\’t be able to capitalize on their persona under the ring name they went by WWE. As an example, Adam Scherr won’t be able to use the name “Braun Strowman” when he signs things at conventions or independent wrestling shows.
It should be noted that All Elite Wrestling doesn’t have this clause in their deals. As a result, wrestlers working there are able to sign things under the names they are using if they should depart from the promotion.
The big difference between WWE and AEW is WWE typically likes to come up with different ring names for talent so they can own the trademark rights to while AEW usually uses the names of the wrestlers that they’ve used before coming to the promotion.
Since April, WWE has released a lot of talent and employees as a way to save money. These talent cuts have happened on the main roster and in NXT.
Samoa Joe, Chelsea Green, and Mickie James were just some of the names released in April. Braun Strowman, Aleister Black, Lana, Ruby Riott, Buddy Murphy, and Santana Garrett were the names most recently cut from the main roster.
“The locker room has got to get on with it. I’ve been in the company for 12 years and it is part of the business. People come in and people go and you gotta get down with it. Every Monday you have to get there and perform.
I don’t think the morale is down, I think it is a lot better than what it used to be when I started. There is a lot more camaraderie and we have great lads, experienced lads and young lads working together during the pandemic with no fans. You talk to some of the legends and they will tell you that they would not adapt to perform in that ring. So I think it is a credit to everybody who has been working non-stop during the last 15 or 16 months and keeping the company going and people entertained during this situation.”
Sheamus recently broke his nose in a match on Monday Night Raw and had to get surgery to fix it. As it stands right now, he won’t be missing any lengthy time in the ring.
The June 8, 2021 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Oney Lorcan def. Austin Theory.
Isaiah \’Swerve\’ Scott (w/Hit Row) def. Killian Dain (w/Drake Maverick).
Mercedes Martinez def. an enhancement talent
Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) def. August Grey & Ikemen Jiro.
Ember Moon def. Dakota Kai due to interference from Raquel Gonzalez.
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Ted DiBiase’s Priceless Announcement
WWE had advertised that Ted DiBiase would make a “priceless” announcement concerning both Cameron Grimes and LA Knight.
The WWE Hall of Famer was in the ring and brought out Grimes and Knight. DiBiase told Knight and Grimes that they will be in a Ladder Match at Takeover this Sunday where the winner will become the new Million Dollar Champion.
A golden ladder was lowered down to the ring. Knight said he would do anything to prove that he is the right man for this role. Grimes said that he’s not a hillbilly, but is the man between the ropes inside of the ring. He said that he would take the million dollar legacy straight to the moon.
Killian Dain vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott was set up last week when an angle took place before last week’s show.
WWE uploaded a video where Drake Maverick got into a confrontation with Hit Row. Thus, Dain stepped in and told Scott that if he has a problem with Maverick, he has a problem with him too.
The Hit Row group formed on NXT last month that features Ashante \”Thee\” Adonis, and B-Fab. Top Dolla (AJ Francis) and B-Fab (Briana Brandy).
Last week, Hit Row cut a promo by stating that it\’s time for them to go after gold whether that’s the NXT Championship, NXT North American Championship, NXT Tag Team Titles, or NXT Cruiserweight Championship.
The match saw various instances of outside inference from Hit Row including Top Rolla taking out Maverick. Scott got the win with a dropkick in the corner.
Oney Lorcan vs. Austin Theory took place and was set up last week as they were with two of the wrestlers who will be taking part in the fatal five-way match for the NXT Championship at TakeOver: In Your House.
Last week after the Pete Dunne vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Kyle O’Reilly match was ended short thanks to outside inference from Adam Cole, there was a segment in the trainers\’ room. Both stars said their stablemate would’ve won the match if it wasn’t for Cole then their guy would’ve won the match and go onto challenge NXT Champion Karrion Kross. They got into a pushing match before being separated by officials.
The match opened the show and saw Lorcan work over the left leg of Theory. During the match, Gargano and Dunne got into a brawl at ringside. Lorcan won with his finisher.
Ember Moon vs. Dakota Kai in a singles match took place.
This was part of the final build to Moon challenging for Raquel Gonzalez\’s NXT Women\’s Championship at TakeOver: In Your House this Sunday.
Two weeks ago, Moon & Shotzi Blackheart defeated Gonzalez & Kai in a tag team match. However, after the match, the heels attacked the babyfaces. Last week, Moon made it clear that she wanted revenge and called out Gonzalez. They brawled with the segment ending thanks to an ambush by Kai on Moon Moon and beat her down.
The back and forth match ended in a DQ when Gonzalez attacked Moon. This was the main event of the show and a really fun match. The heels beat down Moon until Moon mounted a comeback and stood tall.
WWE had only announced that Grammy-nominated pop-rock and nu-metal artist Poppy would make her return to NXT as she appeared on the show. So what did she do?
WWE followed up on the angle done last week when Candice LeRae asked why they keep letting Poppy come back to NXT and questioned whether she wants to be the next Bad Bunny. Thus, LeRae told Poppy to grow up. On that same show, LeRae & Indi Hartwell defeated Zoey Stark & Zayda Ramier in a non-title match.
Poppy has appeared on NXT multiple times in the past and most recently performed at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver this April.
On the show, there was a backstage segment with Triple H, William Regal, Poppy and Dexter Lumis where Lumis and Poppy ended up hugging. As a result, when Heartwell walked in and saw this, she freaked out and left.
Poppy was there to announce the release of her new album that is now out.
Later in the show, LeRae called out Poppy for hurting Heartwell. Poppy said she doesn’t wrestle but knows someone who does. This led to Poppy bringing out the returning Io Shirai, who got into a brawl with LeRae.
Shirai laid out LeRae and cleared the ring to stand tall with Poppy to end the segment.
Shirai had been off TV after saying she was taking a break following the end of her title reign at the hands of Raquel Gonzalez in the main event of Night 1 of TakeOver: Stand & Deliver.
The final build for the TakeOver: In Your House Fatal 5 Way Match between NXT Champion Karrion Kross, Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Pete Dunne and Johnny Gargano was interesting.
At the end of the show, Kross did a promo about how everyone has the chance to be in the ring with him. He said that now is the chance to take him out and don’t wait.
After a commercial break, William Regal told Kross this wasn’t happening now. Kross said that Regal doesn’t run NXT and the show has been out of control for a long time. Kross told him that he is in his world. This led to all of the challengers coming out and doing promos except for Cole, who appeared on the big screen. They all talked about becoming champion.
A brawl broke out with Kross standing tall until Cole came out and hit him with superkicks to close the show.
Lio Rush dropped the surprising news of his retirement from pro wrestling on Tuesday night.
The former WWE star issued the following statement on his Instagram account to explain his decision:
“I have written and erased this post so many times purely out of not being able to wrap my head around this. The moment I went home in a sling, I kept saying to myself “this was like any other time I got a little bruise or strain and I will shrug it off and continue on my new journey”. Once the pain subsided and I started to feel just how uncomfortable it was to feel my arm hanging from my body, I sunk into an immediate and rapidly growing depression because I knew something was wrong…
Got the news that I’d be taking some time off due to this injury. Me thinking it would only affect my wrestling obligations, I still tried to go on about my days as I knew them. I realized just how much this would affect my everyday life. For anyone who knows me, you know that I work endlessly for me and my family. It became more and more frustrating everyday finding little things that I could no longer do. Like simply putting on a shirt and a much harder fact to deal with, not being able to pick up my newborn son…
Now here comes the part that kept me up every night since #DoubleOrNothing Knowing that I just made my surprise debut in one of the most exciting times in my career. That part sucked. But I’m grateful. Grateful for the opportunities that I’ve had this past year after my WWE release. So cool of #AEW still wanting to sign me despite separating my AC in the Casino Battle Royal. Which would have lead to me being the first person in history to be signed to two major wrestling organizations simultaneously. This is an unexpected turn down a road I would have and could have never saw coming…
But I’m looking at this as a blessing in disguise. Since the injury, it’s given me some time to think. Think about what I want in life. What I want for my wife and my kids, and what’s going to make me happy as far as my mental health is concerned. The timing of this injury has forced me to stop and re-evaluate and ultimately it’s resulted in making the decision to retire from professional wrestling…
Thank you to the fans who have fought it out with me for the past 7 years and the people in my corner. Thank you to all the promoters and friends that I’ve met along the way who believe in me and my vision. This has been a great ride, but it’s time to get off and do what truly makes me happy. Due to contractual obligations with NJPW, I will be making final appearances once I am healed. But for now, thank you all from the bottom of my heart and I’ll see you all soon.
Rush was released from WWE last year along with several other wrestlers due to budget cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic. He continued his career by working for MLW and had been wrestling for NJPW.
Rush made his promotional debut for AEW by being the mystery entrant in the Casino Battle Royale at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view event. Because NJPW has a working relationship with AEW, New Japan Pro Wrestling allowed Rush to work for All Elite Wrestling.
Rush also retweeted this graphic to promote his match on Friday\’s NJPW Strong.
WWE decided to have Ted DiBiase bring back the Million Dollar Title.
It was first noted on the Mat Men Pro Wrestling podcast that WWE had plans to bring back the Million Dollar Belt. This is during a time where the WWE Hall of Famer has been inserted into a storyline with Cameron Grimes and LA Knight.
The two stars have been in a conflict over who should have the honor of carrying on the Million Dollar legacy of DiBiase’s.
Grimes will battle LA Knight in a match at Sunday’s NXT TakeOver: In Your House in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
Tuesday’s episode of NXT had an advertisement of the WWE Legend making a “priceless” announcement and indeed he did as all three men were in the ring. He had a golden ladder lowered down to the ring. Grimes and Knight cut promos about each other about how they deserved to have the right to carry on the million dollar legacy.
This is where it was announced that the match between them would be a ladder bout. Grimes was confused as to what he would be reaching for when he climbed the ladder. Two security guards with bulletproof vests came out with a briefcase that had the gorgeous title belt inside of it. The winner of this match will become the Million Dollar Champion.
A new match has been announced for the upcoming WWE NXT TakeOver: In Your House.
The NXT North American and Tag Team Titles will be on the line in a six-man tag match pitting NXT Tag Team Champions MSK and North American Champion Bronson Reed vs. Legado del Fantasma.
The winning team will walk away with the titles. The two teams have been feuding for the last month on NXT TV.
WWE presents the NXT TakeOver: In Your House event on Sunday, June 13, 2021 in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center and will air on the WWE Network. Here is the updated card:
Updated WWE NXT TakeOver: In Your House Card
WWE NXT Champion Karrion Kross vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Pete Dunne vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole – Fatal Five Way Match
WWE NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez vs. Ember Moon
LA Knight vs. Cameron Grimes – Million Dollar Title Ladder Match
Xia Li vs. Mercedes Martinez
NXT Tag Team Champions MSK and North American Champion Bronson Reed vs. Legado del Fantasma – Six-Man Tag Team Winners Take All Match
What are your thoughts on this match being added to the card? Sound off in the comment section.
Aleister Black has given his first public comments about WWE releasing his wife, Zelina Vega, last year. Back in November, there were reports that Vega breached her WWE contract by creating \’OnlyFans\’ account and charging subscribers $30 per month for premium content.
Vega was also an active Twitch streamer and noncompliant with WWE\’s new policy that has talent hand over third-party accounts. Black was still with the company until he was released on June 2nd due to budget cuts.
Black spoke about Vega’s release during an appearance on Renee Paquette’s Oral Sessions podcast.
\”Two weeks before I came back and hit Big E, I sat down with Vince and he was like, \’Are you ready?\’ One week later, I\’m sitting in the gym and I see a name on the phone calling me. It was a distinct voice and this person also didn\’t understand why I was let go. It was a sense of relief. They let my wife go, under reasons that are questionable. Everything got sorted out and is fine, but they called me and said, \’We understand this is putting you in a tough spot.\’ Nope, this is my career, I spoke about it with her and this is business between you and her. Does Tom, her husband have an opinion on it? Sure. Does Aleister Black the professional? Nope. He\’s ready to go to work and create. She agreed,\” he said.
It was reported last month that Vega was at the WWE Performance Center with plans for her to return to the company. Neither Vega or WWE has confirmed the plans just yet.
Monday’s edition of WWE Raw averaged 1.640 million viewers with a 0.48 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic. This is up from last week’s 1.557 million viewers and the 0.44 rating.
Last week was the lowest viewed episode of Raw in 2021 thus far, which beat the previous record low back on March 29th with 1.701 million viewers. Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Monday Night Raw, courtesy of PWTorch:
The first hour did 1.667 million viewers
The second hour did 1.651 million viewers
The final hour of the show had just 1.602 million viewers
To compare, last week’s hourly viewership numbers were 1.536 million viewers in the first hour, 1.549 million viewers in the second hour, and the third hour had 1.586 million viewers.
This episode featured Bobby Lashley & Drew McIntyre took part in a contract signing to make their WWE Title match official at Hell in a Cell, Shayna Baszler went to Alexa Bliss’ playground, andRK-Bro (Randy Orton & Riddle), The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods), Mace & T-Bar, Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado), and The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar) in a five-team battle royal.
SmackDown Viewership
The episode drew an average of 1.800 million viewers in the overnight ratings, up from the previous week that did 1.755 million viewers. In the 18-49 demographic, it did a 0.50 rating, which was up from the 0.40 rating the week before.
The NWA is fresh off its latest pay-per-view event and is now looking ahead to the future.
Fightful Select reported the promotion has been working on and plans to announce an all-women’s pay-per-view.
The promotion confirmed the news on Tuesday’s Powerrr episode. It will take place on August 28th and Mickie James will be an executive producer for it. There will also be the 73rd Anniversary pay-per-view event the following day.
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.
?BREAKING NEWS?@Billy just announced that the @nwa is returning to St. Louis for 2? PPVs
?? August 28th will be an ALL WOMEN'S PPV with @MickieJames as the executive producer. ?? August 29th will have #NWA73 Anniversary PPV.#NWAPowerrr
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the promotion didn’t hold events for the majority of 2020 and allowed their talent to appear for other promotions such All Elite Wrestling to make up for dates.
The partnership saw the likes of Thunder Rosa and Serena Deeb work various matches for AEW. Rosa got the chance to headline an episode of AEW Dynamite and be featured on various AEW pay-per-view events. Deeb had also defended the NWA Women’s Championship in AEW including at the Double Or Nothing show against Riho.
This past weekend, the National Wrestling Alliance held their When Our Shadows Fall pay-per-view event where Deeb dropped the title to Kamille.
At this same show, it was revealed that former AEW and Impact wrestler Kylie Rae had signed with the NWA. This came after Rae had announced her retirement from the pro wrestling business.
WWE made some Hell in a Cell announcements on Monday’s episode of Raw.
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre will now take place inside of the Hell in a Cell structure. Also, as part of the contract, which was signed on Raw, if McIntyre loses this match then he won’t be able to challenge for the WWE Title as long as Lashley is champion.
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.
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. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks.
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 Bayley vs. Bianca Belair
Preemptions due to TNT’s coverage of the NBA Playoffs continue to plague AEW Dynamite’s ratings.
The June 4th Friday Night edition of Dynamite did 462,000 viewers on TNT, according to Nielsen via PWTorch. That is down 12.17% from last week’s show that aired on the same night and timeslot, which pulled in 526,000 viewers.
The show did a 0.19 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic, which was slightly down from the 0.20 rating the show did a week prior. As a result, this was the lowest audience in the history of the show.
For comparisons, let’s take a look back at other ratings from past episodes of Dynamite that aired on a different night instead of its traditional Wednesday night slot.
The episode that aired one year ago in the same week and went head-to-head against WWE NXT was up 36.7%. The Saturday Night Dynamite episode on August 22, 2020 drew 755,000 viewers with a 0.31 rating while the Thursday Night Dynamite episode on August 27, 2020 drew 813,000 viewers and a 0.29 rating.
This was the post-Double Or Nothing edition of Dynamite that featured the fallout from the show. AEW will continue to be preempted for NBA action for the rest of this month.
The NWA When Our Shadows Fall pay-per-view event is in the books and what a show it was.
The event took place on Sunday afternoon at the GPB Studios in Atlanta, Georgia and aired on FITE.tv.
In the main event, Nick Aldis successfully retained the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Title over Trevor Murdoch. Adlis went over via DQ when Murdoch used a steel chair.
Other top matches featured on this card include Serena Deeb defending the NWA World Women\’s Championship against Kamille and Aron Stevens and Kratos defending the Tag Team Titles against War Kings.
The biggest thing to note from this show was the title changee in the women’s division as Kamile went over to capture the title. The finish saw Kamille pin Deeb following a spear. This marked the first time that she has held the title.
Former WWE Superstar Andrade made his AEW debut on Friday\’s episode of AEW Dynamite. He is now known as Adrade El Idolo.
During a segment that saw Mark Henry speaking to Tony Schiavone in the ring, Vickie Guerrero interrupted and told Henry and Tony Schiavone to get out of the ring. She then introduced her new client, Andrade. He also cut a promo and vowed to be the new \’Face of AEW.\’
Andrade requested his release from WWE earlier this year, but at the time, the company didn’t want to give it to him. That changed days later and on the same night as the Fastlane pay-per-view event, WWE confirmed they\’d granted his release.
When he was let go, the belief was that he was under the standard 90-day non-compete clause as it would\’ve prevented him from working for a major promotion or sign with anyone until that clause was up, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, WWE surprisingly gave him the release without such a clause.
Andrade is scheduled to face Kenny Omega for the AAA Mega Championship at Triplemania in August.
Prior to joining WWE, he was a main eventer as La Sombra for years with CMLL where he held the World Title several times.
A new match has been announced for the upcoming WWE Hell in a Cell PPV.
On Friday’s episode of SmackDown, Bianca Belair issued a challenge to Bayley for another title match at the event. Bayley appeared on the big screen to accept it then filled the ThunderDome screens with her face as she continued to laugh.
This is a rematch from the WrestleMania Backlash pay-per-view that saw Belair retain her title over Bayley in her first title defense after winning it at WrestleMania 37 from Sasha Banks.
Updated WWE Hell In A Cell Card
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. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks.
Here is the updated card:
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre
WWE Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair vs. Bayley
Fans have been waiting to see Brock Lesnar back inside of the squared circle and so do WWE officials. His profile was recently added to the active roster page on WWE.com.
Andrew Zarian reported on the Mat Men podcast that WWE wants him back and he was mentioned early on in discussions for potential SummerSlam plans. As it stands right now, Zarian hasn’t been told that Lesnar is slated for a match at this event or even signed a new deal with WWE.
WWE does have notable plans for SummerSlam such as a big main event and a big celebrity guest host. WWE wants to do John Cena vs. WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns in the headliner and the rumored guest host is rapper Cardi B.
No matches have been confirmed for the SummerSlam card just yet. Lesnar’s name was mentioned on Monday’s Raw during a segment with WWE Champion Bobby Lashley, Kofi Kingston, and Drew McIntyre.
It should be noted that nothing has been confirmed for the SummerSlam card as of this writing. Lashley asked why they were talking about a person who doesn’t even work for WWE.
Lesnar hasn’t been seen on WWE TV since dropping the WWE Title to McIntyre in the main event of WrestleMania 36 Night Two last year. His contract expired last August.
The WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view is scheduled for Saturday, August 21.
Johnny Gargano is a strong believer in WWE NXT and will come to the defense of the brand when it comes to one debate. Many people consider NXT to not be on the same level as Raw or SmackDown as it serves as a developmental system to new talent who start in WWE whether that’s a veteran wrestler or someone who hasn’t ever worked a match before.
“I have been saying for years that NXT is a viable third brand for the WWE, and I very much so mean that,” asserted Gargano. “You got RAW, you got SmackDown, you got NXT. And anyone who says NXT is developmental, anyone who says NXT is less-than, you are wrong. You are wrong.
Watch our show on Tuesday night and look at the talent we have in the locker room. I will put our talent up against anyone. I think our locker room is loaded up and ready to rock n’ roll. And when you watch a TakeOver, especially a TakeOver with a live crowd, those TakeOver’s with live crowds and that atmosphere, nothing can touch them, it is so amazing. It is something I am really proud to be a part of.”
Gargano stated the best part of TakeOver events is not knowing which match will be the main event because there is so much main event level talent on the roster to the point that any match could fit that bill.
Gargano vs. NXT Champion Karrion Kross vs. Adam Cole vs. Kyle O\’Reilly vs. Pete Dunne in a fatal-5 way match will take place at the NXT TakeOver: In Your House special next Sunday.
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