Here’s your news for November 18, 2019
We're starting off with news from SmackDown today, as once the blue brand ended with Daniel Bryan
getting a Universal title shot at Survivor Series, fans in Philidelphia got a special treat.
After SmackDown and 205 Live had finished, fans got two dark matches, with the first seeing
Roman Reigns, who even got pyro during his dark match entrance, defeat King Corbin.
In the main event, Bryan battled his Survivor Series opponent Bray Wyatt in just
a taster of what's to come, and the WWE kept the red lighting during the match.
Following a brief battle, Wyatt defeated Bryan with a sister Abigail, and
this may just be a preview of what fans should expect on November 24th.
Just one week after Survivor Series, the WWE will host Starrcade
and the show's card has recently been switched up.
Despite earlier plans for Bray Wyatt to face The Miz at the show, it appears
that that match is off, and Dave Meltzer recently spoke on Wrestling
Observer Radio about who could challenge the Fiend.
One name that came to mind was WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, as Meltzer said on his radio show:
“Brock is stuck with Paul [Heyman] and because of Brock, Paul and Vince [McMahon] it is always
planned out in advance. We probably should be seeing hints of whatever [Lesnar’s direction] is pretty
soon. I’m still thinking it might be Bray Wyatt although they’re different brands
Maybe that’s out of the question, but maybe it’s not. Even if it is out of the question
today, it might not be out of the question in a month.”
“If ratings go down then what decisions will they make at that point? They’re building
Bray up for somebody. It certainly isn’t Daniel Bryan. It’s certainly not The Miz
I don’t think it’s Strowman. I guess it might be Roman. I mean it could be Roman Reigns
and Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania. I could absolutely see that.”
“Those could be the two. I’d say it’s Bray Wyatt against either Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar.”
As of this video, the plan is for The Fiend to defend his title against
Braun Strowman, though we'll see how long this plan lasts.
Wyatt and Strowman are no strangers to each other, as the Monster
Among Men was at one point the black sheep of the Wyatt family.
Of course, those days are long behind them, as the pair were split in the 2016 draft, with
Strowman becoming one of RAW's top stars shortly after, whilst Wyatt would
capture the WWE Championship inside the Elimination Chamber the following year.
Despite multiple chances at the Universal gold against the likes of Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins,
and Roman Reigns, Strowman has never won the coveted top title, so it'll be
interesting to see who leaves the steel cage as the Universal Champion on December 1st.
We're continuing with Smack Down coverage, as the show suffered
a significant drop in viewers on last week's show.
The November 15th episode brought in an average 2.35 million viewers during the show, with
2.45million in hour one, and 2.25 million in hour two, according to Showbuzz Daily.
For contrast, the November 8th episode, which was taped ahead of time, did much better,
bringing in 2.72 million for the first hour, and 2.51 for the second, averaging 2.615 million.
This most recent episode of Smack Down had plenty of matches and segments
announced ahead of time, but these didn't seem to make much difference.
One match that was announced ahead of time, was Nikki Cross taking on Bayley
Bayley for a chance to be on Team SmackDown at Survivor Series, and though the match
didn't end properly, Cross is officially on the team.
The news was broken via Twitter, and Cross will join Dana Brooke, Carmella, Lacey Evans
and Sasha Banks, to face both Team RAW and Team NXT next Sunday.
Speaking of Survivor Series, tonight's RAW will be the go- home edition of the
red show before the Pay Per View, and WWE are going all out with announcements.
Tonight, RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair will team once again
to face two currently unknown opponents, whilst Asuka will take on Natalya.
On last week's show, the Kabuki Warriors defeated Flair and Lynch to retain
retain the WWE Women's Tag Titles, thanks to the timely distraction of SmackDown
Women's Champion Bayley, and NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler.
Lynch, Bayley and Baszler will all face off at Survivor Series, so fans should expect
the three to come to blows again tonight, whilst the Kabuki Warriors Vs. Flair
and Lynch in a TLC match is being advertised for the December Pay Per View.
Ahead of facing Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship this Sunday, Rey Mysterio will make an
appearance at the TD Garden in Boston for RAW, and Seth Rollins will face Andrade
where the winner will take Rollins' place as captain of the Men's RAW team.
On the show, the Viking Raiders will defend their RAW Tag Titles against Curt Hawkins
and Zack Ryder, and whoever wins will go on to Survivor Series to face the
the New Day and the Undisputed Era in non-title action.
Needless to say, there's plenty of stars expected for RAW tonight,
but one fans shouldn't be expecting today, or possibly ever, is Oney Lorcan.
According to the PW Insider, Lorcan has requested his release
from WWE, though the company hasn't commented at this time.
The 33 year old from Boston signed with WWE in the fall of 2015, and in addition
to 205 Live, has worked in NXT, NXT UK and will even challenge for the Progress
tag team titles with former rival Danny Burch this weekend.
Though Burch recently changed his Twitter handle back to his previous ring name of Biff Busick
and linked his Pro Wrestling Tees Page.
Lorcan is just the latest in a long line of unhappy Superstars who have tried
to leave more publicly, including Sin Cara, Luke Harper and Mike Kanellis.
There are also rumors of Kairi Sane leaving once her contract expires in 2020
but for now, the Kabuki Warrior is here to stay.
According to separate reports, Vince McMahon and Triple H are actually planning to release a few
unhappy wrestlers who they feel do not add any value to WWE, in a U-Turn
of the previous plan to keep people in, to avoid them going to AEW.
This strategy will also help the company cut down costs and help them afford talent they dont want to
use, but of course, the ever- growing AEW may cause the Boss and his son in law to change their mind.
Back to RAW now, and whilst she may be appearing on tonight's show
Lana didn't have an easy trip this past week.
On Twitter, the Ravishing Russian blasted the Royal Dutch Airlines who she claims
lost her bags, describing them as the most idiotic airline the world has ever seen.
Saying that her clothes and luggage cost thousands of dollars, we don't know
whether she'll find her missing wardrobe, though it doesn't sound
like she'll be flying with Royal Dutch Airlines again.
We've got a big scoop about the Icon Sting next, as a report by WWE Network
News has stated that there will be a new documentary about the Stinger.
The new WWE Untold episode, titled 'Sting's Last Stand' will focus on the Icon's 30-year career,
culminating with his final match against Seth Rollins at Night of Champions 2015.
An unfortunate buckle bomb injury forced Sting to retire from the ring, and now fans will get the
whole story when Sting, Rollins and many other Superstars get interviewed
about his career, in the 9th installment of the Untold series.
From one veteran to another now, as Lance Storm is closing down his wrestling academy
to start work as a WWE producer, and Storm has said that he's very excited
but also realises there will be good and bad parts of his new venture.
Describing the switch as the biggest career/life change in the last 15 years, Storm admitted
that there's both good and bad to the job, but said he was excited about what lies ahead.
Responding, Rusev tweeted back saying "There is no bad in WWE", and whilst this
is a good company line by the Bulgarian Brute, Storm reminded Rusev
that there is currently a man in the company, sleeping with his wife.
It's safe to say that Rusev will need a lot of Aloe to come back from that burn
as Storm is already having fun in his new job.
We've got some Championship news next for you. as the company has continued its trend of creating
custom legend championships based around some of their biggest stars.
Recently, the company created an epic, though expensive Undertaker themed championship, and then
followed it up with a Shawn Michaels variant of the classic winged eagle title.
Now, Hulk Hogan is the latest legend to get his old piece of gold, and as you can see
in the photos, the title really caputres Hulkamania in its design.
Unlike the Deadman title, which will set you back over $800, the Hogan title
is practically a steal at $500, which is still a lot to drop on anything.
More news from the Hulkster next, as after decades of competing in the ring, and remaining a fixture of
wrestling pout of the squared circle, it'll come as no surprise that Hogan's body is pretty banged up.
Last week, the former World Champion underwent back surgery to fuse six levels together, and the
surgery was a success, as Hogan has already been returning to his normal life.
On Twitter, Hogan showed off some of the hardware that had been in his back before the surgery,
including a picture of various screws and bolts that were in place to hold him together.
Despite having arguably the most successful wrestling career of anyone ever, Hogan, like so many
wrestlers, has been left in a great deal of pain after retiring, so its good to see
he's doing well after the surgery which should help combat some of his pain.
More title news for you next as the WWE debuted their new Universal Championship last Friday on
SmackDown, and whilst the design is pretty much the same, the red leather has been
replaced with a blue one to represent the championship's new home.
Not to miss out on a buck, the company is already selling off replicas, which can be
pre-ordered on WWE Shop for $340, but won't be ready until December 9th.
Many fans had hoped Wyatt would have received a title more connected to his character, but the
fact that this title is already available probably means that this new design
had been ready for quite some time.
Perhaps The Fiend will get a custom title belt of his own eventually, but if you're
after the new Blue Universal title, WWE has already got you covered.
And we're finishing with some big news from WWE Backstage, as the company
confirmed last week that CM Punk is back to work with the show.
Both fans watching and the WWE personnel in the ring couldn't quite believe what was
happening when Cult of Personality played on last week's show, and it seems
the former WWE World Champion is here to stay.
Following his return, Backstage host Renee Young called out WWE for not tagging Punk in the social
media posts about his big surprise return, and this was obviously heard by WWE
because they made a point to mention Punk in further Tweets.
It'll be very interesting to see what Punk has to say about WWE, his departure and everything in
between, and we can't wait to see what analysis the Best in the World can bring to the table.