Heres your news for August 8th 2019 WWE NEWS - Sasha Banks Returns As Heel Roman Reigns Vs Daniel Bryan SummerSlam CANCELLED By Vince! 2 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:21,638 We're starting with some news from SmackDown Live this week, and it was good news in the ratings this
week for the blue brand.
According to Showbuzzdaily.com, this week's go home show for Summerslam averaged 2.08 million
viewers on the USA Network, up nine per cent from last week.
With this week's Monday Night RAW also seeing an increase of viewers, it's no surprise that SmackDown
was able to retain 84 per cent of RAW's audience, a stark contrast to the recent July 23rd show, which
only retained 69 per cent of the red brand's audience.
The August 6th episode finished seventh for the night in terms of total cable TV viewers, and took
top spot with the 18 to 49 demographic, hitting a 0.63 rating.
This impressive demographic rating was even able to beat the network TV programming on both FOX
and CBS, though the first hour of SmackDown came up short against ABC, and the entire show fell
behind NBC.
This week's show, which saw Roman Reigns finally get some answers on who attacked him, as well as
Shane McMahon turn the tables on Kevin Owens, only saw a 5 per cent decrease from the same week
in 2018, and though WWE would obviously want the number of viewers to increase, this 5 per cent drop
isn't as bad as other weeks, and this has been the third time over the past month that the year over year
decline has been reduced to single figures.
By comparrison, this week's Miz and Mrs, which followed Smack Down on the USA Network was the
third most watch show in the 18-49 demographic of its time, drawing a 0.39 rating.
The episode Heel No More, which documented the A-Lister's change to a babyface earlier this year,
drew 1.05 million viewers, the highest viewership of the show this season, and the third highest total
since August last year.
Hopefully WWE will be able to keep this momentum going after Summer slam, as it seems the months of
falling ratings may have finally come to an end.
Speaking of Summerslam, the August tradition is this Sunday and though the show has some
blockbuster matches announced, one encounter fans probably won't see will be Roman Reigns Vs.
Daniel Bryan.
According to rumors, the pair were supposed to face off at the Pay Per View, with the Yes Man being
revealed as the one responsible for the recent attacks backstage on the Big Dog.
According to the PW Insider though, there match won't be happening at the biggest party of the
summer, saying:
"The Summerslam card was to have featured Roman Reigns against Daniel Bryan, but the word making
the rounds at TV last night was that the bout will likely be dropped in order to let the current storyline
play out."
On this week's SmackDown Live, the blame for these incidents was seemingly placed on Rowan,
Bryan's protege and tag team partner, though Bryan himself said the former Wyatt family member
had nothing to do with last week's falling scaffolding, or this week's car accident.
Though Reigns won't be facing Bryan, or Rowan for that matter at the Pay Per View, the Big Dog
may still compete, as Wrestle Votes are reporting that the
former Universal Champion may face Buddy Murphy.
On this week's show, it was Murphy who said that Rowan was the one responsible for the attacks, and
though the match isn't set in stone, Wrestle Votes said a source told them that it remains a possibility.
Given how Vince McMahon has acted backstage recently, it's highly possible that the Boss could tear up
the script of Summerslam just hours before the show, something he reportedly did with this week's
episode of SmackDown Live.
Though we understand how busy the Boss is, with both WWE, the war with AEW and the upcoming XFL
season on his mind, it wouldn't hurt McMahon to take a chance to calm down, as his erratic behaviour
has left the biggest party of the Summer without Reigns or Bryan, two of the company's biggest
stars in recent years.
It seems now that Daniel Bryan won't be competing in Toronto this Sunday, and according to recent
reports, this isn't the only bit of bad news for the former WWE Champion this week.
On the July 16th edition of Smack Down Live, Bryan was set to make a quote "career altering
announcement" and though he tried to deliver it three times, left without saying a word.
Though fans have speculated on what Bryan's announcement could be, with some fans fearing a
possible re-retirement, it seems the WWE Universe will never get answers, as the angle has been
completely dropped, according to the PW Insider.
A report by the site says that there was no mention of the announcement backstage at SmackDown this
week, as it seems the storyline, whatever it was, isn't going to happen.
With both this and his match against Roman Reigns at Summerslam dropped, hopefully Bryan will
receive something good soon, as he continues to be one of the most entertaining aspects on the blue
brand since returning from his retirement last year.
Well we spoke earlier about how Vince McMahon is making some erratic decisions in WWE, and it
seems that this has been going on for a while now.
This week, former WWE writer Jimmy Jacobs sat down with Chris Van Vliet, and spoke
about the culture backstage inside the company.
Jacobs, who was famously fired after taking a picture with the Bullet Club, said that WWE didn't have a
healthy work environment, and that the place breeds discontentment. He said:
"There's like this one black cloud that hangs over the entire place and that's the crazy man (McMahon).
It just creates this environment where people aren't trying to do their best. It's just like 'what's the crazy
man not going to yell at me about?'
Jacobs clearly isn't a fan of the company he once worked for, and also spoke about the decision
to bring in the new Executive Directors Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff.
Though McMahon told investors that investors that the new Executive Directors would mean he
wouldn't be in the weeds, Jacobs said how the biggest problem is McMahon himself.
"He can bring in Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff and you know, whoever he wants — Bill Watts and
whatever bookers from the past… he could move all the pieces around, but as long as ‘this piece’ is on
the board the game’s gonna get played the same, man.”
Whilst the idea that Vince will actually act on these suggestions by Jacobs seems unlikely,
tearing up scripts mere hours before the show isn't going to help build a strong team dynamic and could
see more people backstage want out of the Sports Entertainment promotion, especially with spots at
AEW and other companies being available.
From one former WWE personality to another now, as it seems former Superstar Big Cass has finally got
his life back on track.
Cass, who was fired from the company last year had his contract terminated after he went off script to
attack a little person, and this started a downward spiral in the seven footer's life.
Fortunately, it seems that Cass has been able to overcome his recent substance abuse issues, and fans
couldn't help but notice his great shape this week, at a show for Cactus League Wrestling.
Now going by cazXL, the former WWE Superstar has lost a ton of weight and told fans about his return
to the ring, saying:
"To everybody out there in the world that doubted me and said I was fat, out of shape, and they wrote
me off and said I’d never be back in professional wrestling after a seizure nearly took my life in front of
1,500 people … I say this – I ain’t f**king dead yet!”
The seizure Cass is referring to happened in December last year as the former Superstar collapse
ring at a House of Hardcore show, shocking everyone.
It's great to see the Big Man finally get his life back on track, as Cass has admitted that he has suffered
from mental health and alcohol issues, two things the seven foot heavyweight has worked hard to
deal with.
Though fans may not see Cass back in a WWE ring after his firing in 2018, another Superstar who hasn't
been seen in many months is Sasha Banks, who continues to be one of the most discussed Superstars
this year, despite not being in the ring.
After taking a break following her WrestleMania 35 loss to the IIconics, the Boss has been enjoying her
break though it seems this time may be coming to an end.
According to Brad Shephard on the Oh You Didn't Know podcast, Banks is ready to get back to work,
though is easier said than done.
One major issue the WWE now faces is finding the right time for Banks to return, as after so long
away, the company needs to have something big to explain her absence.
Though Shephard said he has been given some speculation on what the company might do, he didn't
share any of these ideas with his listeners, as fans can only wonder what the company has planned.
In a backstage roster report though, Banks has been listed as a heel on the RAW roster, a stark change
from the position of the Boss earlier this year.
Since coming to the main roster as part of the Women's Revolution in 2015, Banks has spent almost all
that time as a babyface, and it seems embracing her heel roots from her time in NXT may be the breath
of fresh air the former Women's Tag Team Champion needs.
Though Banks and Bayley may have become the very first WWE Women's Tag Team Champions at
Elimination Chamber earlier this year, it seems that that huge win, and the titles themselves nearly
didn't happen.
Earlier this week, Tom Colohue said how a source told him that Vince McMahon didn't want the belts to
be created, but announced them as Santa Claus on the 2018 Christmas Eve edition of RAW due to the
pressure he was put under. He said:
"Vince didn’t want women’s tag titles. He was under a lot of pressure so he brought them in early
without thinking much about it. There was no plan. We still don’t know if there’s any plan.”
This report by Colohue definitely falls in line with what Bayley recently said about McMahon never
giving the new tag titles a chance, and though the new titles were made out to be a huge deal once they
arrived, that quickly diminished.
During the IIconics' reign as champions, the pair barely won any matches, only retaining
controversial circumstances in the few title defences they actually had.
Hopefully things will change with the new champions Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss, but given how the
Women's tag team gold has been treated this year, we wouldn't bet on it.
And we're ending today with some big news from the world of Video Games, as wrestling games
developer Yuke's will no longer be developing games for the WWE 2K series, ending a near 20 year
partnership.
Starting from 2k20, which is set to come out this October, the games will now solely be created by 2k's
in house studio, visual concepts.
In an interview given earlier this year, Yuke's senior vice president and Producer Hiromi Furuta
mentioned that though the company won't be making WWE games any more, they're not out of the
wrestling industry just yet. He said:
"We are trying to launch a new wrestling game. Of course we will
retain the WWE team, but we are also aware that our creators are beginning to lose sight
of their passion and confidence, and becoming focused only on completing assigned tasks
That’s not the direction Yuke’s wants to go in. So in order to compensate,
we’re going to start a new wrestling project."
What this new project from Yuke's is remains to be seen, but fans can get ready to play the new WWE
2K20 game, complete with Roman Reigns and Becky Lynch on the cover, when the game hits shelves on
October 22nd this year.
Well guys , that's the news for today Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below
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