On Sunday evening Finn Balor provided fans with another update on his “rollercoaster” week. Seven days after he sustained an injury that will keep him out of action until early 2017, Balor admits he was overcome with a feeling of inadequacy after being forced to surrender the Universal Championship.

We’ve been hearing the extent of Balor’s injuries were worse than originally expected. Balor revealed that in addition to a “180 degree” labrum tear, he also had a torn bicep and pectoral tendon, cartilage damage and a fracture to the glenoid neck socket. The procedure that was supposed to take one hour took four.

Here’s the full message via @FinnBalor:

“What a rollercoaster week. I woke up the morning of Summerslam with nothing but positivity & feeling physically better than ever. The moment I got injured I knew it was serious, it was an instinctive reaction to pull on my wrist, I entered survival mode. When the bell rang, I had won, I was the Champion, but I was reluctant to celebrate as I already knew in my heart what awaited at Raw. Disappointed yes, but I was CHAMPION and I was not missing an opportunity to fulfill my duty and appear on @GMA Monday morning.

After hours of scans & despite some hope, the worst was confirmed at 5pm Monday. I would need surgery ASAP & relinquish the title on Raw. The most difficult part of relinquishing the title was when I came back through the curtain and I was over come by a feeling of inadequacy. Despite every emotion I had felt the previous 24 hours… I was still the CHAMPION. That gave me strength. Now I was not….

Tuesday at 3am I traveled to Birmingham Alabama. Dr.Dugas prepped me for surgery as a photo of Seth Rollins watched over us. What was supposed to be a 1hr surgery turned into 4hr, as once I was opened up ,the Dr found a lot more to the injury the the scans showed.

180* labrum tear, torn bicep and pectoral tendon,Cartilage damage & Fracture to the glenoid neck socket (I have it in a jar on my dresser).

Wednesday morning at 5am I awake after the surgery groggy and sore. The gravity of the situation began to set in. Rehab will start at 9am.”

He also tweeted this photo:

Thursday 5am fly back to Orlando, check-in with Performance Center medical staff & we begin planning The Comeback pic.twitter.com/luZNst9Xhe

— Finn Bálor (@FinnBalor) August 28, 2016

– The Dudley Boyz’s first post-WWE appearance has been announced. Once again competing as Team 3D, pro wrestling’s most decorated tag team of all time are booked for Insane Championship Wrestling’s Fear & Loathing IX event on November 20th from Glasgow, Scotland.

https://twitter.com/InsaneChampWres/status/769995210847875072

– The first episode of Ryback’s new podcast “Conversation with The Big Guy” drops on Monday. The former WWE Superstar says he will use the platform to explain why he left the company. The Big Guy also announced that he’ll be appearing at Revolution Pro’s October 30th event from Hampshire, England.

pic.twitter.com/PMP1quHBvl

— RYBACK (@Ryback) August 28, 2016

– WWE.com has published a video looking the vintage RAW opening from 1995 which featured Superstars wrestling on the roof of WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.

– Seth Rollins is embracing the fact that he put Finn Balor out of action for 6 months. Last week, WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart spoke out once again about Rollins injuring his opponents, claiming somebody could get killed if he doesn’t protect his opponents better.

Ahead of tomorrow night’s Fatal 4 Way match to crown a new Universal Champion, Rollins tweeted:

Haven't ya heard? "Dangerous" is my middle name, but "next Universal Champ" works just as well. #raw

— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) August 28, 2016

– Maryse continues to taunt SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan on social media. In a reference to The Miz asking Bryan why he doesn’t leave WWE and wrestle in a bingo hall if he wants to get back in the ring so badly, Maryse tweeted:

It's waiting for you. pic.twitter.com/zwogUF9biX

— Maryse Mizanin (@MaryseMizanin) August 28, 2016

We are saddened to report WWE Hall of Famer Harry Fujiwar, best known to fans around the world as Mr. Fuji, has passed away. He was 82 years old.

Fuji’s career in the wrestling industry spanned more than three decades. He competed in the ring from 1964-1985 and held over a dozen championships in promotions across the world. He would later work as a manager, with his clients including George The Animal Steele, Don Muraco, Demolition, The Powers of Pain, The Orient Express and Yokozuna.

Aside from his sorta-racist “devious Japanese man” gimmick (he was from Honolulu, Hawaii), Mr. Fuji was perhaps best known for throwing salt into the eyes of his clients’ opponents.

Mr Fuji was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame back in 2007.

RIP Mr. Fuji

#RIPMrFuji pic.twitter.com/DucrcjG6yj

— Old Wrestling Pics (@OldWrestlingPic) August 28, 2016

https://twitter.com/oldwrestlingpic/status/769977335231737860

Finn Balor is at the beginning of a long road to recovery. Balor underwent surgery last week to repair a torn labrum sustained at SummerSlam. The former Universal Champion will be chronicling his journey back to the ring and displays sheer exhaustion in the first installment.

Balor said the surgery was a lot more complicated than was first anticipated. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Dugas is shown explaining the severity of the tear and there’s also footage of Balor doing his first day of physical rehabilitation. Now that the procedure is behind him, he’s trying to wrap his mind around what’s ahead for him. Not only will the rehab be grueling, but he’s also going to miss being out of the ring for so long.

A 6-month recovery time would keep him out of action until late February, so even a big return at the Royal Rumble would require him to get back a month ahead of schedule.

• Find Out Who Finn Balor Was Going to Feud With After SummerSlam Before He Got Injured

Attitude Era tag team The Headbangers are returning to WWE this coming week.

Former WWE tag team champions Mosh and Thrasher broke the news on Friday night that they will be appearing on SmackDown Live this coming Tuesday. With the announcement that the blue brand is holding an 8-team tournament to crown new SmackDown tag team champions, it looks like the metal loving veterans are getting in on the action.

The full tag team tournament field has not yet been announced, but first round matches have seen American Alpha defeating Breezango and The Usos advancing after defeating The Ascension. As per Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon’s orders, the unlikely team of Heath Slater and Rhyno will face “a team still to be named” on this week’s show.

The Headbangers made their WWE debuts back in 1997 and captured gold during their rookie year. Thrasher would later hold the Hardcore championship, while Mosh portrayed the short-lived Beaver Cleavage character before teaming with D’Lo Brown as part of the Lowdown tag team. This will be their first WWE appearances in 15 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPF8wgH_OqQ

The 8/25 TNA Impact episode drew 373,000 viewers, up from last week’s 355,000 viewers.

Impact ranked #100 on the cable top 150 this week, down from last week’s #83.

This week’s show featured EC3 vs. Drew Galloway with Aron Rex as special referee.

Ric Flair had a conversation with former WWE and TNA Champion Kurt Angle on the latest edition of his podcast. One topic of discussion was now-former WWE star Cody Rhodes, who has a match on Saturday against the Olympic gold medalist that Flair says will be the biggest match of Cody’s career. Angle indicated that he felt WWE should have pushed Cody to the main event level and says he’s a valuable talent.

“[Cody] is so talented, I picked him out a long time ago. There are times when you really need to push somebody hard. I didn’t realize how entertaining outside of wrestling he could be until he did Stardust,” Angle said. “I don’t know if Stardust was the right character for him, I was just impressed that he could do it.”

Flair indicated that he expects to see Rhodes back in WWE in a year or two, and echoed Angle’s sentiments that the Stardust character took a lot of talent to pull off.

Angle also talked about his former TNA colleague AJ Styles arriving in WWE, saying that Styles is a “one of a kind” talent and compared him to Shawn Michaels. Flair put over Styles’ interview skills, and says he’s improved since The Nature Boy saw him back in TNA. Angle said that Styles reminds him of Flair in the sense that he does most of the work in the ring and makes it easy for his opponents.

“He has it all,” Kurt said of AJ. “Psychology, technique, he knows when to fire up, he knows when to sell. The kid is just phenomenal at what he does. […] With AJ I just can’t believe it took him this long to get to WWE.”

Angle ended the interview on a complimentary note towards The Nature Boy: “Make no mistake about it, Ric Flair is a real badass.” Flair predicted that Kurt will be a future WWE Hall of Famer, despite any issues he had in the past with company management.

You can listen to the entire podcast here.

@newwrestling1 NYC
Saturday August 27th@CodyRhodes vs @RealKurtAngle https://t.co/5aGu55t6yu”

— Kurt Angle (@RealKurtAngle) August 25, 2016

UFC President Dana White was a guest on the latest edition of Ric Flair’s podcast, and spoke about his relationship with Vince McMahon. White talked about how much he respects McMahon’s work ethic, and revealed what his two best experiences with Vince were.

“I’ve been working, or trying to work with Vince for years. It was obviously very difficult, Vince is a maniac,” White said. “He’s a f**king competitor, man. That’s what he is. If you look at what Vince McMahon has accomplished in all of his years, and to still be on top, still doing it, the guy’s got enough money, he’s in it because he loves it. He’s in it because he’s passionate about it.”

He added that dealing with Vince in the past has been “very difficult,” but in the last several years it’s been “much better.” White said that him allowing Ronda Rousey to take part in WrestleMania and McMahon allowing Lesnar to take part in UFC 200 were his best experiences dealing with the WWE Chairman.

“[Vince] is a f**king maniac, he’s an animal,” White continued. “He’s a competitor, he wants to win, and you know, that’s his nature, and I respect it.”

White said he currently has no plans to work with more pro wrestlers, but that every time he meets a WWE star they get along well. You can listen to the entire podcast here.

One of Mick Foley’s most infamous on-screen opponents and partners was Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Foley gave some insight on his relationship with the wrestler-turned-movie star.

“What’s funny is our daughters keep in better touch than we do. Like I’ll hear my daughter say, ‘The Rock’s going to be on Raw today,’ and it’s a complete secret. ‘His daughter just texted me.’ I get a message from him every once in awhile,” Foley said.

Foley also revealed that he was in attendance at the 13th birthday party of the mother of The Rock’s child. When he first met Johnson’s girlfriend as an adult he didn’t recognize her, but she explained their history to him.

Foley officially retired from in-ring action in 2012, but feels his influence still holds some weight in WWE. The former World Champion is known for voicing his opinions on his Facebook page, and knows that some of those things were shown to WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.

“I think Mr. McMahon was only shown the negative things I wrote,” Foley said. “I don’t think they showed him the other 92.5 percent of nice things I was saying. He knew I was critical but it was always constructive criticism, and when I came on board, Stephanie and I agreed that as the big proponents of the women’s wrestling evolution that we needed to draft the women very high for Raw, so we drafted Charlotte second and then Sasha Banks sixth. We are really excited about the women’s division. Moving forward, it’s going to get bigger and better.”

Foley also talks about his daughter’s pro wrestling aspirations and more in his Rolling Stone interview, which you can read in it’s entirety here.

• Mick Foley: “We Need A Women’s Pipebomb”

– NXT tag team champions The Revival will be Steve Austin’s guest on next Tuesday’s Steve Austin Show podcast.

– WWE.com has published a new batch of screenshots from the upcoming WWE 2K17 video game. WWE 2K17 hits stores October 11th for PS4/PS3 and XB1/XB360.

– With all the talk of Seth Rollins’ running powerbomb being dangerous, this .GIF has been going around of Rollins performing the move to Daniel Bryan back in ROH.

https://twitter.com/WrestlinGifs/status/768881299662770181

– WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels was in attendance for Thursday night’s NXT tapings from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. You can check out complete spoilers from the tapings here. Former NXT Champion Samoa Joe

Fortunate to receive words tonight that will resonate with me for a long time. Much respect to @ShawnMichaels for those words & giving back

— Samoa Joe (@SamoaJoe) August 26, 2016

– As noted, the first RAW branded pay-per-view since the brand extension last month will be WWE Clash of Champions, which takes place on Sunday, September 25th. You can check out the official poster for the pay-per-view below:

#WWE Clash of Champions promotional artwork pic.twitter.com/TYyoS1DrsQ

— FightFans.co.uk (@fightfans_co_uk) August 26, 2016

It sounds like Alberto Del Rio may be gone from WWE for a longer period than just his 30-day suspension.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Del Rio has an out clause in his contract that allows him to leave during his suspension, and that he plans on doing just that. Del Rio is currently serving a 30-day suspension for a Wellness Policy violation, and is also reportedly dealing with a custody battle and divorce.

His girlfriend Paige is also suspended, but wouldn’t be able to leave with Del Rio as her contract doesn’t expire until April of 2019. Earlier in August it was reported that Paige had “significant” issues with WWE management, and that some company insiders were “worried” about her future there.

Del Rio was released by WWE back in 2013 after slapping an employee who made a racist joke. He returned in October of 2015, and received his suspension for a Wellness Policy violation on August 18th.

Taz feels that Finn Balor’s injury at WWE SummeSlam shouldn’t be entirely blamed on Seth Rollins. On The Taz Show on CBS Radio earlier this week, the former ECW Heavyweight Champion explained why he feels Rollins is not as reckless as Bret Hart says he is.

Taz explained that wrestlers don’t get pushed by WWE if they’re dangerous or “douchebags” in the ring. He feels that Rollins is one of the best workers in the current era of wrestling, and that if Balor didn’t feel comfortable with the move it wouldn’t have taken place. Taz says that if a performer isn’t comfortable taking a move, it isn’t happening on TV.

“You don’t become as successful as Seth Rollins by being a douchebag,” Taz said of Rollins position in WWE. “Seth Rollins is not going to do something to someone that they’re not comfortable with.”

He explained that Vince is a “huge stickler” for safety, but also wants a very physical style of performance. Taz says this is a fine line that WWE stars learn to walk.

Taz also brought up Rollins breaking John Cena’s nose last year, a move that also drew criticism from Bret Hart. Taz theorized that Cena very likely asked Rollins to “bring it” and be physical during their match to make it look good. Taz stressed that you “have to be physically tough” to be in the wrestling business.

Balor suffered a shoulder injury at SummerSlam 2016 after being powerbombed into the fan barricade by Rollins.

– EC3 defeated Drew Galloway on this week’s Impact Wrestling to earn a shot against TNA Champion Bobby Lashley at Bound For Glory. Bound For Glory takes place on Sunday, October 2nd from Orlando, Florida.

– Allie won the TNA Knockouts Championship on this week’s show. Here’s video of Allie reacting to the title win, gushing that “never in a million years thought it was going to happen!” She is also asked what Maria Kanellis would think her win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=409HfbnUbcg

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross’ latest blog focuses on The Miz’s promo on Daniel Bryan from this week’s Talking Smack. Many have called the promo one of the best of The Miz’s career and JR echoes that sentiment. In an era where such a large majority of promos are over-scripted, The Miz knocked it out of the park by expressing himself from the heart instead of delivering a memorized monologue.

“Few wrestlers in today’s marketplace are truly accomplished in being able to have a quick turnaround upon once receiving their promo copy, memorizing it, and then being able to deliver the copy in a real, authentic manner when it counts and that’s on live, TV,” he said.

“All promotions should consider putting more confidence in their own talents to let them create a large portion of their own promos but with the help of a producer who also realizes that less is truly more when it comes to the heavily scripting of promos and inadvertently producing the personality out of these verbal adventures.”

He commended The Miz for kicking some “verbal ass” and hopes there’s more to come from the reigning Intercontinental champion. He also made the distinction that it wasn’t The Miz yelling that made his promo so good. It’s always about authenticity and passion – and the Miz delivered both in spades.

“Final note on cutting promos is to do all that you can to be yourself and not ‘work’ the audience as it relates to one’s delivery and sincerity,” he said.

Head over to JRsBarBQ.com to read the full blog and don’t forget to check out The Ross Report podcast at Podcastone.com.

WWE Cruiserweight Classic competitor Zack Sabre Jr. recently spoke with ESPN.com about Daniel Bryan’s influence on his career and the possibility of joining NXT full-time.

Sabre had the chance to wrestle Daniel Bryan back in 2008 in front of about 80 people at a pub in Coventry, England. It was one of the early highlights in the wrestling business. “People started to take notice of me more when I wrestled him. But also, when you’re in ring with someone so natural who understands professional wrestling so well like Daniel Bryan, you can’t help but have some of that rub off on you,” Sabre said.

When he was still new to the sport, Daniel Bryan was somebody he really looked u to. Now, he works with Bryan in the Cruiserweight Classic and picks his brain for advise on how to improve his act.

As one of the standout CWC competitors, Sabre would be a great candidate for NXT or even the RAW brand’s new cruiserweight division. When asked if he sees himself in WWE, ZSJ said the prospect is “definitely appealing.”

“What NXT has become, I could definitely see myself in that environment,” he said. “I would benefit from it. But I do have a personal journey as a professional wrestler that I want to travel.”

“There are a lot of things I want to achieve. There are still some bits and pieces that I’ve got on coming up. I’m very happy doing what I’m doing now. I have other aspirations, so we’ll just see what happens.”

Other topics discussed include working with Kurt Angle and his goals in the business.

On Thursday night WWE taped the next 3 episodes of NXT television from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. The following are complete results sent in by Andrew Twiss:

-Daria Berenato def. Billie Kay in a dark match.

Week 1 (Airing 8/31)

– Tye Dillinger def. Buddy Murphy.

– Tommaso Ciampa is being interviewed backstage when he’s confronted by The Revival. The Revival beat him down on the way to the ring. They continue the beat down of Ciampa, before stopping to cut a short promo talking about how Gargano and Ciampa had to face reality. The Revival then laid Ciampa out with the Shatter Machine.

– Steve Cutler def. Kenneth Crawford

– No Way Jose def. Angelo Dawkins.

Scoop #9: No Way Jose came into the crowd to dance pic.twitter.com/jZyvEPslJe

— Jacob Cohen (@MrJacobCohen) August 25, 2016

– Liv Morgan def. Aliyah

-Shinsuke Nakamura cut a promo saying this is the Era of Strong Style. He came to NXT to face the best competition and he’s defeated Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, and Samoa Joe.

– Asuka def. Danielle Kamela in 9 seconds.

Scoop #14: Asuka defeats a Talent in about 10 seconds pic.twitter.com/26gVQPri35

— Jacob Cohen (@MrJacobCohen) August 25, 2016

Week 2 (Airing 9/7)

– TM61 def. Ariya Daivari and Tony Nese

– Ember Moon def. Leah Von

– Shinsuke Nakamura def  Steve Cutler. Samoa Joe was on commentary.

Nakamura wins. Joe stomps away from commentary. #NXTFSLive pic.twitter.com/uVgFrhy3dd

— FanSided WWE (@FanSided_WWE) August 26, 2016

– Austin Aries def. Andrade Cien Almas.

Scoop #21: Austin Aries vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas pic.twitter.com/ltT7BxDa1X

— Jacob Cohen (@MrJacobCohen) August 26, 2016

– Oney Lorcan def. Tino Sabbatelli  (Likely dark match)

Week 3 (Airing 9/14)

– Samoa Joe comes out for a promo. He says he’s a man who can admit his mistakes. He destroyed friends and enemies in his quest for the NXT Title. He asks for Nakamura to come out. Joe says he means everything he said and asks for a rematch  Nakamura agrees. As Nakamura leaves, Joe attacks Nakamura and lays him out. Nakamura is stretchered out.

Samoa Joe out for a promo. #NXTFSLive #8andathirdpercent pic.twitter.com/CpLtKmD2gM

— FanSided WWE (@FanSided_WWE) August 26, 2016

– Liv Morgan def. Raechel Ellering (using a different last name). After the match, Morgan cuts a promo about wanting a shot at the Women’s Championship and challenges Asuka.

– Hideo Itami def. Drew Gulak

Scoop #35: Hideo Itami vs. Drew Gulak pic.twitter.com/xWpcXhK2HY

— Jacob Cohen (@MrJacobCohen) August 26, 2016

– The Authors of Pain won a squash

– Bobby Roode def. No Way Jose

Scoop #38: Bobby Roode has a spinning platform for his entrance pic.twitter.com/0rS1sSZw6C

— Jacob Cohen (@MrJacobCohen) August 26, 2016

– Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is officially the highest paid actor in the world. According to Forbes, The Rock will make a staggering $64.5 million this year. He more than doubled his 2015 earnings to knock Robert Downey Jr. out of the top spot this year.

– The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels in attendance for tonight’s NXT TV tapings from Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL. HBK has been working as a coach at the WWE Performance Center in recent weeks. This will be Shinsuke Nakamura’s first shows as NXT champion and it will be interesting to see who the next challenger is to Asuka’s NXT Women’s championship. Check back later tonight for complete results from the tapings.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJi8-Gahk_R/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQRz_K9-Ux8

While WWE won’t medically clear him to wrestle, Daniel Bryan may be able to make big bucks wrestling elsewhere. In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported on Daniel Bryan’s current contract status with WWE.

Now that Bryan is back to work for the company as the SmackDown General Manager, time on his contract is ticking, which means at some point he’ll be able to leve and work elsewhere. It’s very likely that Bryan would be paid more to wrestle main events for a company like NJPW than he would for his GM role on SmackDown. If he were to leave the company, he would also take home more money from his merchandise than the small percentage he gets from his official WWE merch.

Different doctors have reportedly given Bryan different answers as to whether he could wrestle again. Bryan is currently 35 years old, and most wrestlers compete well into their 40’s. Bryan announced his retirement in February after undergoing concussion testing.

Discussion: The Miz challenged Daniel Bryan to return to the ring on this week’s episode of Talking Smack. Do you want to see him Bryan in action? Discuss your thoughts below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn-8CAbsNmY

Current IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada was backstage at SummerSlam in Brooklyn, NY on Sunday. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE has wanted to sign Okada for some time.

Okada is currently under contract to New Japan Pro Wrestling, and is in New York for this weekend’s Ring Of Honor show. Okada signed a one-year contract extension with NJPW in December of 2015. After losing AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura to WWE, NJPW is reportedly looking to offer Okada a new five-year ¥200 million contract.

Okada made his debut back in 2004 after being trained by Ultimo Dragon. He appeared on TNA television back in 2011 under the name Okato, where he worked with Samoa Joe.

More information is coming out regarding Chris Jericho and Brock Lesnar’s backstage altercation from SummerSlam. While Lesnar was still in the ring and Randy Orton was laying in a pool of blood, Jericho wanted to know if what transpired was exactly how it was supposed to go down. Jericho asked Michael Hayes if Lesnar ‘went into business for himself’ and Hayes gave him an answer that implied Lesnar might have gone farther than he was supposed to.

When Brock came through the curtain, Jericho got in his face and wanted to know what the hell happened out there. Brock essentially told him to screw off. They got in each others faces and started shoving each other. Brock allegedly kissed Jericho on the forehead and said something along the lines of, “Either kiss me or hit me.” Triple H first tried breaking things up and Vince McMahon wound up getting involved and putting an end to it.

The following night at RAW, people were talking about what a badass Jericho was for stepping up to Lesnar and there wasn’t any heat on him over the incident.

Randy Orton reportedly did not know the finish to his match at SummerSlam until he showed up at the arena that night. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Brock Lesnar’s legitimate elbow strikes to Orton’s head and the TKO finish were done in an effort to make fans believe Lesnar went off-script.

Meltzer says the original plan was always for Lesnar to perform the majority of the offense in the match, and for the former UFC Heavyweight Champion to be crowned the winner. Randy Orton wasn’t told until he arrived at the Barlcays Center that night that he would be getting cut open the hard way by an elbow.

Orton was reportedly told that Lesnar knows how to graze him with an elbow and draw blood without seriously hurting him. The elbow ended up being more than a graze, and Orton required ten staples to close the cut. Orton stayed down acting like he was knocked out, which was in the script.

Medical personnel and the referee acted confused because while they knew Lesnar was going over, they weren’t filled in on the details of the elbow “graze.”

According to Meltzer, Orton was told to do it by the company and didn’t complain publicly, but didn’t seem thrilled by it and won’t be doing that kind of favor again.

New information is coming out regarding the impact Roman Reigns’ wellness policy had on the entire landscape of WWE. It’s actually pretty staggering how much changed. Here’s what was planned, courtesy of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

Prior to Roman Reigns’ suspension, the WWE Championship was going to be on RAW and the Universal Championship would have been the SmackDown title. Reigns and Rollins would have battled for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam and Finn Balor was scheduled to face Chris Jericho.

Finn Balor wound up as the first Universal Champion, but the original plan was for AJ Styles to hold that distinction. Based on what transpired, it appears Dean Ambrose winning the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank was somewhat of an ‘audible.’

With Ambrose defending the title against AJ Styles at Backlash, and Styles’ big title win derailed due to the fallout from Reigns’ suspension, there seems to be a good chance The Phenomenal One will be wearing gold in the near future.

Roman Reigns is still a favorite of management and has a bright future ahead. However, the extent to which his infraction forced WWE to change booking plans gives some insight into why he’s now working a mid-card feud and was not part of the top matches at SummerSlam.

I apologize to my family, friends and fans for my mistake in violating WWE’s wellness policy. No excuses. I own it.

— Roman Reigns (@WWERomanReigns) June 21, 2016

Finn Balor undergoing shoulder surgery didn’t just knock him out of action for the remainder of the year. It also derailed a Universal title feud that would have been the focal point of RAW over the next several months.

Prior to Finn Balor’s injury, the plan was for him to defend the Universal Championship at Clash of Champions on September 25th. That match would have ended in a DQ/no-contest and set up Balor vs. Owens vs. Chris Jericho in a Triple Threat at Hell in a Cell on 10/30.

There’s been no word yet on who WWE has penciled in to win the Fatal 4 Way for the Universal Championship next week but it’s worth noting that Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins were originally scheduled to be away from the title picture for a few months. However, Finn Balor’s injury has forced WWE to change things up and they used this opportunity to elevate KevinOwens and Big Cass.

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Discussion: Who do you think will leave Monday’s RAW as the new WWE Universal Champion?

After joining the main roster full-time on Monday’s RAW, Bayley has written an emotional message about her official departure from NXT. It was a three and a half year run that culminated with a seven month run as NXT Women’s Champion.

Becoming a WWE Superstar was a life long dream for Bayley, but “graduating” from NXT is bittersweet. Bayley was front and center as NXT transformed into the global phenomenon that it is today.

“NXT is my life, it’s everything I am, everything I’ve ever wanted in wrestling,” she said. “The roster, the coaches, our bosses, our fans. All of it is everything I’ve ever wanted. I couldn’t have dreamt up a better journey, and I couldn’t have asked for better support and love that all of you have embraced me with.”

As she embarks on a new journey, here’s the full statement:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJgJDYQge9e/?taken-by=itsmebayley