And your headlines for today include
WWE Superstar Collapses During Match On Monday Night Raw! WWE’s Social Media Team
Jumped The Gun With Announcement Of Faction Coming To Raw! Name Of The
Faction Revealed! Is WWE And Shane McMahon Planning For More RAW Underground Matches?
Wrestler Knocks Out Fan At Walmart ! An Unexpected Challenge For Sasha Banks! How Chris Jericho
Was Responsible For A Fight Between Vince McMahon And Brock Lesnar At SummerSlam
Revealed! Released WWE Star Rips The Company For Being Lazy And Not Building New Stars! NXT
Superstars Reportedly Set For WWE SmackDown This Week And More!
We’re kicking off with news from RAW, as this week’s show was an ordeal for the company to film,
and now we know why.
Though the taping was supposed to begin at 1pm, the show was nowhere near ready by then, and
according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, the company only had two segments
confirmed when they arrived at the Performance Center.
Those two segments were Shane McMahon hosting RAW Underground, and a segment with
Ric Flair and Randy Orton, which will air on next week’s show.
Asides from those two segments, everything else that fans saw was wasn’t planned before the day
started, and one source said that WWE’s plan was to throw a bunch of stuff against the wall and see
what sticks.
Once again, the latest set of RAW tapings was a chaotic time, and while the company was still able to
film both this week’s show, as well as content for next week’s episode of the red brand, it won’t be
long until they have to start the process all over again.
One thing fans did see on this week’s show was a bizarre segment featuring RAW Tag Team
Champion Montez Ford, who was seemingly poisoned during the show.
During the show, two singles matches, pitting the Champions against their Summerslam
challengers took place, and during the first between Angelo Dawkins and Angel Garza, Ford collapsed
at ringside, causing Dawkins to be distracted, and turn back into a superkick and dropkick by Garza,
that got the Lethal Lothario the win.
Despite this, Ford was allowed to compete against Andrade, but collapsed in the ring, and it was
later revealed by Doctors that the RAW Tag Team Champion has been poisioned, something that
Ford’s wife Bianca Belair accused Zelina Vega of.
Ford didn’t even have the strength to post his daily ‘God is Good’ tweet on August 4th, and with
Belair saying that his business is also her business, we’ll have to see how this plays out on the
road to Summerslam.
More RAW news now, as it seemed the company jumped the gun on their latest plan.
Before the show had even aired, the Company’s website had teased a new stable, that according to
WWE themselves, would cause chaos and shake up the organisation’s structure.
Whilst fans did see a group of masked individuals, their actions weren’t exactly the anarchy WWE
had promised, as fans saw the lights flicker during the show, and some boxes were knocked over
backstage.
The group’s biggest moment came when they appeared to be throwing firebombs, but according to
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, the only reason WWE hyped the new faction on social media, is because
their debut was leaked online by Pro Wrestling Sheet, with WWE’s report using many of the same
phrases used in Ryan Satin’s leak.
In an update from WWE.com, the company confirmed that the so-called chaos from the show was
by a group named Retribution, and teased more from the stable next week.
Given that WWE also taped next week’s episode of RAW this past Monday, its likely that fans will see
more of the new stable next week, after their debut left a lot to be desired.
This week’s RAW also saw the debut of RAW Underground, a shoot-fight-esque style show hosted
by Shane McMahon, who has commented on social media.
On Twitter, the Best in the World said the segment was a lot of work, but hopes that everyone
enjoyed it, and he’s looking forward to week two.
It’s worth mentioning that RAW did see an increase in viewers during RAW Underground, and given
that the ratings have been struggling a lot lately, that’s something that those backstage
will have noticed.
It’s clear that RAW Underground will be back for next week’s RAW, which has already been filmed,
and we’ll have to see which Superstars step up in the shoot-fight-style arena.
Over to AEW now, and Darby Allin has hyped tonight’s World Title match with Jon Moxley in a rather
unique way.
In a video, Allin can be seen plugging the new AEW toy line at Walmart, though when one fan
asked if the 27-year-old is buying a toy World title because he’ll never win the real thing, Allin retorted
with a swift knock-out shot.
It looks like Allin is ready to take the real AEW World Championship from Jon Moxley on tonight’s
episode of Dynamite, and whilst MJF will challenge for the gold at All OUT on September 5th, time
will tell who the champ will be.
Back over to WWE next, as Sasha Banks’ recent success as both RAW Women’s and WWE Women’s
Tag Team Champion has caught a lot of attention, even from outside WWE.
On Twitter, former MMA fighter turned actress Gina Carrano said that she now wants to attend her
first WWE event, after seeing the Boss and the Queen of Spades on TV.
Banks didn’t wait long before replying in character, saying that she wants to whoop Carano’s ass,
and that the Deadpool star wouldn’t l ast in WWE, though she’s welcome to try.
Who knows if Carano will ever make her way to WWE, as the company has no shortage of fighters
turned Superstars, but if her name could bring in some wider interest to WWE, then it’ll certainly be
something that the company could consider.
Speaking of MMA fighters, one person who’s had great success in both the ring and the Octagon is
Brock Lesnar, who has sometimes let his anger get the better of him.
Fans will remember Lesnar legitimately cutting Randy Orton open at Summerslam 2016, an
incident that caused Chris Jericho and the Beast to have a confrontation backstage, and one
person who saw it all go down was Enzo Amore.
Speaking to Busted Open Radio, the former Cruiserweight Champion weighed in on what
happened, saying:
“There was a real fight that took place that day in the middle of the Garden. Why? Because when you
think of Randy and Chris Jericho in SummerSlam [2016], Randy bleeding out. They guys in the locker
room are not smart into the business. Jericho leaves that locker room furious. Gets into Gorilla and
flips out and causes a fight between Brock and Vince.
“Because he in his mind is protecting Randy and the business and he is thinking that Brock is taking
liberties on a guy. [No one] in the entire arena whether backstage, in the locker room, in gorilla, in
the arena, didn’t know what the just happened. Very confusing, because it was real.”
In the years since, WWE haven’t pulled off a spot as risky as having Lesnar bust open Orton the hard
way, as it’s clear that not everyone got the memo that this was planned in advance.
The only silver lining to all this is that this incident could have gone much worse at Summerslam
2016, and it’s lucky things didn’t escalate even further, even in the ring, or behind the curtain.
Back to the present now, as this week’s RAW got a lot of attention, but one person who wasn’t a fan
is former WWE Superstar Maria Kanellis.
Though this week did see a ratings increase, thanks to new shocking ideas like RAW Underground
and Retribution, Kanellis took to Twitter to say that the company doesn’t want to build any new
stars, and are only working to spike the ratings for a few weeks to keep investors and the Networks
happy.
The first-ever pregnant 24/7 Champion went on to say that the ratings will improve if the company
cares about the stories and Superstars, and urged WWE to stop the laziness.
When one fan argued that the first hour of this week’s show was about building stars, Kanellis said
that having this happen on one night doesn’t mean much, and asked the fan to talk to her about the
transition of these stars a year from now.
Maria does make some good points, and though it’s been reported that many people in the
company feel the same way as her, all the decisions for what goes out on TV ultimately rest with
Vince McMahon.
he former 24/7 Champion isn’t even the only former Superstar to think this way, as Ryback recently
took to a YouTube live stream to clam that McMahon is more worried about making money and less
concerned about building stars that can breakout like The Rock or Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Hopefully the ratings for RAW and SmackDown will improve when things get back to normal, but
when that time will be is anyone’s guess.
Over to SmackDown now, and after several changes were made backstage this week, fans can
expect to see two new faces on the Blue Brand.
According to a report from Fightful, this week’s show will see two call-ups from NXT, as they
reported:
We’ve learned that both Danny Burch and Killian Dain were set for the tapings, in conjunction with a
storyline with Baron Corbin, though we aren’t sure if that is still happening after the delays.
Recently, Corbin offered a King’s ransom to whoever takes out Matt Riddle, which caused Chad
Gable to attack the Original Bro last week, and it’s entirely possible that Burch and Dain will be after
the money as well.
The delays that Fightful are referring to is the recent change of plans for SmackDown, as WWE were
meant to film two episodes this Friday, but now that isn’t happening.
This wouldn’t be Dain’s first time on roster, as he was briefly called up as part of Sanity, only to be
sent back down to NXT, and fans should keep their eyes peeled for either Dain or Burch on this
Friday’s edition of SmackDown.
Over to NXT next, as though Dexter Lumis has qualified for the North American title ladder match at
NXT TakeOver 30, he may not make it to the show.
The NXT Injury report, which often uses kayfabe and very real injuries, is reporting that Lumis is
dealing with an ankle injury, which he suffered during his qualifying match, and given that this injury
is reportedly more serious than first considered, it looks like Lumis may not make it to TakeOver,
afterall.
And we’re ending today with news from Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner, as the former WCW World
Heavyweight Champion is opening up a brand new sports bar.
This won’t be Steiner’s first time running a business, as he also ran Shoney’s in Acworth, Georgia for
years, before the place had to close due to the ongoing global situation, and won’t be opening up
again.
When one fan tweeted at Freakzilla that they were sad about Shoney’s closing for good, adding that
they hope staff find work soon, Steiner revealed his plans to open a Sports Bar instead.
Fans will soon be able to enjoy a cold one whilst watching Sports at Steiner’s restaurant, and though
we don’t know much about the new place, hopefully the customers won’t be calculating the
bartender’s tips with Professor Steiner’s brand of Math.