We’re starting off today with SmackDown Live news and things don’t look good for the blue brand, WWE News - Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman To Change WWE SummerSlam 2019 Plans Young Bucks on CM Punk
as the show suffered some of it’s lowest viewing figures ever.
This week’s show received the fourth lowest ratings since SmackDown moved to
Tuesday nights back in July 2016, with just 1.85 million homes tuning in.
Going up against the MLB All-Star Games on FOX, it was clear the wrestling show was going to suffer
because of this, and SmackDown was down two percent from last week’s figures, and a staggering
twenty-one per cent from Monday Night RAW’s audience the night before.
Not only did SmackDown go up against the All-Star Game, which did over 8 million viewers, but the
show also aired against NBC’s America’s Got Talent, which averaged over 9.8 million.
If there is a silver lining to this week’s poor figures, it’s that Tuesday night was seemingly a weak
night for cable TV viewership as a whole, as despite SmackDown nearly reaching a record low, it was
still the seventh highest show in overall viewership, boasting a 0.53 rating for the 18-49
demographic, second only to Bravo’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Compared to the same timed show from last year, this week’s event saw over a 15 per cent drop in
viewers, as the 2018 show did a much more comfortable 2.18 million, compared to this week’s 1.85.
Over the past few months, only one edition of SmackDown, the June 4th edition that saw Goldberg
and The Undertaker face off before their Super Showdown bout,
average over 2 million viewers, so it’s clear something needs to be changed.
Fortunately, that change may be coming in the form of Eric Bischoff, the new Executive Director of
SmackDown Live, who alongside Paul Heyman on RAW, will apparently not be held
to any old standards under their new roles.
According to Wrestle Votes, both Heyman and Bischoff will have major influence when they take
over the shows later this month, meaning that all potential plans
for Summer slam could be changed.
We have to give WWE credit on this one, as it’s great that Vince McMahon isn’t going to force any
agendas on the new Directors, though with that said, it’ll still be the Chairman
of the board who has the final say on things.
Having Heyman and Bischoff have a blank slate for their creative team definitely seems to be a step
in the right direction, as if the report is true, it seems that this Sunday’s Extreme Rules pay per view
will be the very last pay per view, fully constructed by Vince McMahon.
Speaking of Extreme Rules, the show certainly has a lot of intrigue, but perhaps no match has got the
fans talking quite like the upcoming tag team main event, with Shane McMahon
and Drew McIntyre facing off against the unlikely tag team of Roman Reigns and The Undertaker.
WWE certainly are going to the extreme, pardon the pun, to gets fans hyped for the epic encounter,
and that includes releasing some merch for the match.
Though Reigns and the Deadman may only be working one match together, that hasn’t stopped the
company from creating a shirt celebrating the tag team, even giving them
the name of the Graveyard Dogs.
WWE went all out on this piece with original artwork of satanic dogs near some graves, showcasing
both former World Champions in a design that must have taken quite some time to make.
What some fans have noticed is what’s not on the shirt, as despite this piece of merch hyping up the
match at Extreme Rules, there is no mention of the pay per view, the date or the show, or it’s
location anywhere on the shirt, leading some to speculate that this won’t be the only
time the two former champions team up.
While we can’t say that this shirt guarentees the Big Dog and the Phenom will be victorious, it should
be noted that Shane and McIntyre have been teaming for months and have yet to receive any joint
merch, so you shouldn’t probably bet against the Dead man and the Big Dog on this one.
Back to SmackDown now, and though the show didn’t do well in the ratings, one aspect of the Blue
brand definitely stood out for all the right reasons.
This week on the show, Owens continued his new babyface push, representing the fans who have
grown sick and tired of seeing Shane McMahon in all the major feuds on SmackDown
as well as Monday Night RAW.
During the show, the Prizefighter got into a parking lot brawl with Dolph Ziggler, before cutting an
incredible worked shoot promo on the so called Best in the World
The plan behind all of this is to faze Shane off of TV and out of the major feuds, as WWE and Shane
himself realise there’s too much of him on WWE Programming, and if it was up to him
he wouldn’t be on the shows as much as he is.
After his promo which included naming underutilised stars like Aasuka, Kairi Sane, Buddy Murphy
and Ali, Owens dropped the Prodigal Son with a stunner, which may seem familiar to older fans.
According to Dave Meltzer who spoke on Wrestling Observer Radio, the plan is to turn the Canadian
into an Austin-esque babyface, sticking it to the Man much like the Rattlesnake
did during the Attitude Era.
Time will tell whether this plan works, but it should be noted that Austin is friends with Owens, and
has given the former Universal Champion his blessing to use the move.
UFC news now and though the fight between Brock Lesnar and Daniel Cormier isn’t going to happen
in the Octagon, it seems that a match between the pair in WWE seems to be a posilibility.
Appearing at the recent ESPY awards, Cormier was his usual jovial self during the red carpet run, and
joked that he might just have to fight Lesnar in the squared circle after the UFC fight couldn’t happen.
““I was hoping to fight Brock Lesnar, but he didn’t. These guys took him from me. Maybe I’ll follow
him over there. We gotta do it in WWE.”
A rumoured match between the two all stems from UFC 226 in July last year, where, after
after capturing the Heavyweight title, Cormier invited Lesnar into the Octagon,
and the pair had a physical altercation.
Brock, a former UFC Heavyweight Champion in his own right, teased a return to the cage for the
fight, but that was easier said than done, as his one-night return at UFC 200 in 2016 led to him
being put on a doping watchlist.
In May this year, UFC owner Dana White said that the Money in the Bank holder said he was retired
from UFC, though we’ll just have to wait and see whether Cormier follows the Beast Incarnate to the WWE.
Back to the Executive Director of SmackDown Live now, and though some people have said there is a
lot of negativity towards Eric Bischoff since his return, that seemingly isn’t the case
Earlier this month, Dave Meltzer said how WWE didn’t want to hire Bischoff, presumably because of his
past with WCW, though new reports are suggesting otherwise.
According to Brad Shepard who commented in a tweet, there isn’t any real negativity towards Easy-E
in WWE, though his hiring did come as a shock to many in the company.
To be fair, Bischoff didn’t exactly make friends with WWE during the Monday Night Wars,
doing everything he could to stick it to McMahon, and only stopped giving away the results
to RAW after his plan backfired spectacularly.
Bischoff hasn’t even settled in to his new home in Stamford just yet, as he’s in the process of moving
his life to WWE’s offices, and has even said he won’t be in attendance
for this Sunday’s Extreme Rules pay per view.
Once Bischoff is settled in though, expect big changes to be made on the blue brand, as there’s no
shortage of Superstars who could be due for a huge push under the WCW magnate.
One Superstar who seems to be doing well for himself right now is Drake Maverick, as the British
superstar continues his reign as 24/7 Champion, despite everyone’s best attempts to catch him.
This week on RAW and SmackDown Live, Maverick was once again able to avoid losing the gold,
though wasn’t quite as smart when he got home.
In what is frankly a genius move, Maverick hid the title in his fridge, the last place any possible
opponents would look for the gold, and would’ve probably gotten away with this too, if he hadn’t
posted a picture of the gold in the fridge on Instagram.
Posting the pic online probably wasn’t the smartest decision the former Rockstar Spud has made,
but we have to give props to Drake for having such a clean fridge, and though he could lose the title
at any moment, it’s safe to say he won’t be getting any food poisoning at home.
We’re going old school now as we here at Slat Rock Wrestling would live to send our congratulations
to Muhammad Hassan, the former controversial WWE Superstar, who recently received a promotion
in the Fulton City School District.
Hassan, who now works under real name Mark Copani, was one of WWE’ most envelope pushing
characters during the Ruthless Aggression era, criticising the treatment of law-abiding Arab
American citizens in the wake of 9/11.
Hanging up his boots over a decade ago, Copani started working in an assistant principalship
capacity at G. Ray Bodley High School in 2015, and recently took the reins as
Fulton Junior High School’s principal.
Speaking to the Oswego County News, Copani said how he could see what was lacking in schools
today, and hoped to change it, saying:
““I’m eager to get started with my faculty and staff so we can work together to prepare junior high
students for the transition to the high school, which ultimately will help prepare students for life after school.”
Though he may be the Principal, that doesn’t mean Copani has left wrestling behind entirely, as last
year, after 13 years away, the former WWE Superstar did return to the ring, meaning that every student
at Fulton Junior High should be careful, or they may just end up in their Principal’s Camel Clutch.
Back to WWE now, and fans in the Stamford may have noticed something unusual this week
as the WWE’s logo was attached to a new building.
This new location, found at 677 Washington Boulevard, will be the new Global Headquarters
for the company, replacing the long-standing Titan Towers.
In March, WWE co-president George Barrios commented on the move, saying:
“One of the most important elements necessary to execute WWE’s long-term growth strategy is
world-class talent collaborating seamlessly to create compelling content. Our workplace initiative will
be the foundation to meet these objectives and underpins our ability to deliver long-term value.”
Though Titan Towers has been synonymous with WWE for decades, it seems this move couldn’t
come soon enough as according to sources behind the scenes, the old building simply didn’t have
what the company now needs.
The new building will be fitted with state of the art technology in comparison to Titan Towers, and
due to the size of the new place, will be able to hold every aspect of the company under one roof,
stark contrast from the current building, which has certain divisions housed in different buildings near the tower.
In fact, the new building is so big that one sources noted that WWE could fit multiple Performance
Centers in their new home, if they opted to go in that direction.
We’re ending with AEW news now, and though the company has said it wants to be it’s own thing
and create the next generation of wrestlers, that hasn’t stopped folks asking about if the new
promotion will be the home of CM Punk.
Punk, who walked out of WWE at the 2014 Royal Rumble has stayed away from wrestling, and
though it was speculated that he made a return under a mask earlier this year, has instead spent the
past five years focussing on other projects.
When asked if the Best in the World would come to AEW, Executive Vice President Nick Jackson said
how the company would love to have him, but it seems Punk just doesn’t want to.
Nick also said how his brother Matt, also an Executive VP for the promotion talks to Punk all the time
about returning, but it seems the timing isn’t right.
Matt Jackson himself said he gets why Punk would be hesitant to return, saying:
“Professional wrestling is the most demanding thing in the world. You can’t just find yourself back in
it one day and be like ‘okay, I guess I’m doing this again.’ You really have to want to do it and that’s up to him.”
Whether Punk ever enters a wrestling ring again remains to be seen, and though the former WWE
Champion would be an epic asset to any company, we feel pretty safe in saying don’t expect him in
the McMahon promotion any time soon.
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