The Authors of Pain defeated TM-61 to win the second-annual NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic at TakeOver: Toronto. They were joined by Triple H, Goldust and William Regal for the post-match celebration.
WWE Survivor Series 2016 airs live tonight from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada and will feature stars from both the RAW and SmackDown rosters doing battle with each other. As always, we will be providing live play-by-play coverage and discussion of the event.
Below is the final card for tonight’s Survivor Series:
– Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg
5-on-5 Elimination Match
– Team RAW (Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins) vs. Team SmackDown (Randy Orton, Shane McMahon, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles)
5-on-5 Women’s Elimination Match
– Team RAW (Sasha Banks, Alicia Fox, Nia Jax, Bayley, Charlotte Flair) vs. Team SmackDown (Nikki Bella, Carmella, Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Naomi)
10-on-10 Elimination Tag Team Match
– Team RAW (The New Day, Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows, Sheamus & Cesaro, Enzo Amore & Big Cass, The Shining Stars) vs. Team SmackDown (Heath Slater, Rhyno, Zack Ryder, Mojo Rawley, American Alpha, The Usos)
NXT Takeover: Toronto aired live on November 19th from the Air Canada Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
– Bobby Roode def. Tye Dillinger: Roode has a choir on the stage for his entrance. After some competitive back-and-forth action in the opening moments, Tye takes control of the match on the outside and hits a big back body drop on Roode onto the floor at ringside. Back in the ring, Tye hits a series of chops to the chest then mounts Roode in the corner for 10 punches. Roode comes back with some chops of his own and an elbow to the back of Tye’s head off the second rope. Roode hits a neckbreaker for a two count, then hits some knee drops on Dillinger. Dillinger comes back with a flying clothesline, then stomps a mud hole in Roode in the corner. Tye goes for a knee to the head, but Roode rolls outside. Tye chases him down, chops him on the chest, then throws Roode back in the ring. Back in the ring, Roode immediately hits a spinebuster for a two count. Roode takes Tye up to the top rope and hits a superplex for another two count. After a series of quick rollups, Tye hits a superkick for a two count on Roode. They exchange a series of punches and elbows in the middle of the ring until Tye drops him and locks Roode in the Sharpshooter. Roode reaches the ropes to get out, then throws Tye into the ring post and hits a DDT for the win.
– The Authors of Pain def. TM-61: Paul Ellering will be hanging above the ring in a shark cage. Back and forth action between the two teams early on, until the action goes outside. Thorne climbs a structure that’s supporting the cage, and somersaults off onto the heels at ringside. Back in the ring, Miller tags in and cleans house. He hits a suplex on each of the Authors of Pain, then a flying forearm on each one. The two members of TM-61 hit hurricanranas in tandem, sending each Author of Pain into each other head-first. Both members of TM-61 hit suicide dives onto Akam outside, then Ellering drops a chain into the ring for Rezar to use. Back in the ring, Miller blocks the chain shot, the Authors hit the Last Chapter for the win. After the match, Triple H, William Regal and Dustin Rhodes come out to present the Authors with the Dusty Rhodes Tag Tournament trophy.
– Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa def. The Revival: The NXT Tag Team Titles are on the line in this 2-out-of-3 falls match. The Revival is in control until Gargano gets the tag to Ciampa and they hit dropkicks in tandem on both Revival members. The Revival comes back with a double team leg drop on Ciampa for a two count. Gargano gets the tag and clears house with running chops, and a running bulldog/clothesline combo that drops both members of the Revival. Gargano springboards in from the apron for a spear, but Dash and Dawson catch him and counter into the Shatter Machine for the three count, and The Revival is up one fall. The Revival control the next few minutes of the match, until Gargano hits a flying kick into a tornado DDT on both Revival members. Ciampa gets the tag, but the referee didn’t see it and holds him back. The Revival hits the Heart Attack on Gargano for a two count. Gargano escapes a superplex attempt then gets the hot tag to Ciampa. Ciampa takes control of the match and hits a knee to the face of Dawson for a two count. Ciampa hits a cross body block on Dawson off the top for another two count, then hits a double superkick with Gargano on Dawson for the three count. The two teams are now tied at one fall each — the next pinfall wins. After some back and forth action, Gargano kicks Dawson in the head then hits a springboard tornado DDT for a near-fall. The Revival members team up to hit a European uppercut into a German suplex on Gargano for a two count. Dawson throws Ciampa into the ring post and Ciampa falls to the floor. Dash throws a tag title belt to Dawson, then behind the ref’s back Dawson uses the belt to block a kick from Gargano. Gargano is selling his leg, and Dawson puts him in the Figure Four. Gargano reaches the ropes to break the hold, then Dawson tags in Wilder. Wilder accidentally superkicks his own partner when Gargano ducks, and DIY hits a double team Codebreaker on Dawson. Dash breaks up the pin, which leads to a series of more near-fall pins until Gargano gets Dash in the Crippler Crossface. Ciampa gets Dawson in the armbar at the same time, and both members of the Revival tap out.
– Samoa Joe def. Shinsuke Nakamura The NXT Championship is on the line in this one. Joe and Nakamura trade kicks in the opening moments. Nakamura gets the upper hand and hits a knee drop on Joe before taking things to the outside. Nakamura hits a big boot on Joe that sends him over the barricade into the crowd. Back in the ring, Joe hit a running elbow in the corner followed up by an enziguri. Nakamura comes back with a series of knees, but Joe catches him in the corner and drops him with the Rock Bottom. Joe follows up with a kick to the chest and an elbow drop for a two count. Joe locks Nakamura in a half Boston Crab before throwing the Champion outside and following up with a suicide dive. Joe kicks Nakamura down on the floor at ringside before rolling him back in the ring. Nakamura comes back with a flying kick and a knees of knees. The Champion drops Joe with more kicks, then hits a flying elbow in the corner and a running knee for a two count. Joe comes back with a kick and a running senton, then gets Nakamura in an STF and a Crossface Crippler. Nakamura gets out, but Joe drops him again with a spinning powerslam. Nakamura climbs to the top rope, but Joe drops him with an enziguri. Nakamura answers with a kick of his own, then a knee to the face of the challenger. Nakamura goes back to the middle rope and hits a flying knee to the face. Joe goes for a German suplex, but Nakamura gets out and hits a German suplex of his own. Nakamura misses a running knee in the corner, and Joe starts working on the Champion’s left knee. Joe goes for the Muscle Buster but Nakamura gets out and hits a running knee to the face for a two count. Nakamura goes for another running knee, but Joe dodges it and gets the Champion in a sleeper hold. Nakamura gets out, but Joe hits a German suplex, a Full Nelson suplex, and a straight jacket suplex for a two count. Nakamura hits a running knee to the back of Joe’s head and Joe rolls to the outside. Nakamura goes for another running knee at ringside, but Joe blocks it with a kick to the groin that the referee didn’t see. Joe slams Nakamura onto the ring steps then rolls him back in the ring. Joe hits the Muscle Buster for the win to take back the NXT Championship.
– Somebody has created List-of-Jericho.com, so you can keep track of the stupid idiots who have made The List.
– Ahead of Sunday night’s big Survivor Series pay-per-view, John Cena says he misses WWE terribly. Cena is currently away filming season 2 of the American Grit reality competition series and wishes good luck to the men and women competing at the pay-per-view.
I miss @WWE terribly. Wishing all luck at #SurvivorSeries proud to be involved in a life changing opportunity. But damn I miss @WWEUniverse
James Ellsworth is officially a WWE Superstar. At Friday night’s Big Time Wrestling show from Altoona, PA, Ellsworth announced that he has signed a full-time contract with the promotion. He will no longer be taking independent bookings.
Ellsworth has a 3-2 record in WWE and is scheduled to be the “mascot” for Team SmackDown at Survivor Series.
In Scott Steiner’s latest Twitter rant, the former WCW World Champion took issue with the new WWE 2K17 video game. Steiner wasn’t happy about not being included in the game, while Goldberg was included.
“Goldberg is featured on #WWE’s new video game and somehow I’m not in the game,” Steiner wrote. “A handful of guys beat Goldberg, and Brock wasnt one of them, but I’m the only one not in the game. I would beat that bald headed bastard in the virtual world also.”
Steiner then took aim at Goldberg directly, saying that maybe Goldberg didn’t want Steiner in the game because he “couldn’t handle getting beat in two different worlds.”
Goldberg is featured on #WWE's new video game and somehow I'm not in the game
Steiner has written several notable Twitter rants in recent years — usually directed towards Hulk Hogan and WWE. Last April, TMZ reported that police were investigating Steiner over alleged threats against Hulk Hogan’s life.
Last night’s TNA Impact on POP TV averaged 336,000 viewers. This is up from last week’s 319,000. Impact ranked #114 on the cable top 150 chart this week after not making it last Thursday.
This week’s show featured Jeff Hardy and TNA World Champion Eddie Edwards taking on The DCC in the main event. Here are some video highlights:
– RAW General Manager Mick Foley is having second thoughts about putting the entire cruiserweight division on the line this Sunday at Survivor Series. Check out the latest Survivor Series Betting Odds to find out who is favored between Brian Kendrick & Kalisto and which brand is most likely to feature the division moving forward.
– Former WWE Superstar Wade Barrett (Stu Bennett) has some “bad news” — for vampires. He tweeted these photos from the set of his latest movie, Fanged Up.
Here's 'Victor' working on his lines in Kingston Prison, Portsmouth. I'm shooting with some awesome peeps on the set of #FangedUp. pic.twitter.com/H2fgYGzO31
Online betting site Bovada has updated their odds for Sunday’s Survivor Series pay-per-view. We’ll monitor the betting lines throughout the weekend to see if there are any late shifts when the ‘smart money’ comes in, but here’s what we’re looking at as of Friday afternoon:
– Bill Goldberg is the underdog (+210) in his return match against Brock Lesnar, who is a strong favorite at -320.
– Team RAW is a slight favorite (-150) to defeat Team SmackDown (+110) in the 5-on-5 traditional elimination match.
– In the 5-on-5 Women’s Elimination match, Team RAW is a slight favorite (-140) to defeat Team SmackDown.
– In the 10-on-10 Tag Team Elimination match, Team RAW is favored (-275) to defeat Team SmackDown (+180)
– Kalisto is a strong favorite (-400) to capture the Cruiserweight Championship from Brian Kendrick (+250) and bring the cruiserweight division to SmackDown.
– RAW Superstar Sami Zayn is a -330 favorite to capture the Intercontinental championship from The MIz (+215), who captured the gold earlier this week.
– As of this writing, the plan is for Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg to close the show at Survivor Series. Join us here on Sunday for our WWE Survivor Series Results & Live Coverage.
As noted earlier, it appears that James Ellsworth has signed a WWE contract, as he announced on Facebook that he is not taking any additional indie bookings after he works a Big Time Wrestling show this Friday night. It has not yet been reported one way or the other if The headbangers and/or The Spirit Squad (Ken “Kenny” Doane and Mike “Mikey” Mondo) have been signed as of yet.
As for Dawson and partner Dash Wilder, their role depends on whether or not WWE actually sees them as “developmental talent,” so to speak. The Revival is a signature act on NXT these days, and if you look at the other top level NXT stars, barely any of them are “developmental” signees, strictly speaking. The cards lately are dominated by names like Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe, Eric Young, Bobby Roode, DIY, Asuka, and others who were brought in to boost the brand and/or teach younger wrestlers, not get developed for the main roster.
WWE has put Braun Strowman in an interesting position heading into Survivor Series. In only a few weeks, he went from squashing unknown opponents to the big Team RAW vs. Team SmackDown match at Survivor Series, where he’ll tangle with the likes of AJ Styles, Randy Orton and his former leader, Bray Wyatt. The team elimination match is a chance to showcase Stroman’s size and agility against main-event caliber talent and it will be interesting to see how and if the big man is ultimately eliminated.
According to the latest Wrestling Observer, WWE officials are planning for Braun Strowman to enter into a feud with The Big Show on Raw after Survivor Series. The two have been working “Bodyslam Challenges” during WWE live events, so transitioning them into a feud will be easy to do. Of course, Big Show will put Strowman over, since he’s got several more years in front of him.
Other matches advertised for the post-Survivor Series RAW brand live events include:
Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns
Seth Rollins vs. Chris Jericho
New Day vs. Enzo & Cass vs. Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Anderson & Gallows
Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks
Sami Zayn vs. Rusev
R-Truth, Goldust, Sin Cara & Darren Young vs. Titus O’Neil, Curtis Axel & Shining Stars
James Ellsworth announced on Thursday morning that he is no longer accepting independent bookings. The news of Ellsworth wrapping up his independent dates is a sign that he’ll be working with WWE on a regular basis for the foreseeable future.
After winning a dark match prior to Tuesday’s SmackDown Live 900 taping, Ellsworth improved his WWE record to 3-2. He’ll will serve as the official mascot for Team SmackDown this Sunday at Survivor Series.
Now that WWE Survivor Series is in the books, Randy Orton will be taking time off to be with his wife and their new daughter, who is due on Tuesday, 11/22.
Last month it looked like he might miss the PPV, SmackDown would have been missing a lot of star power since John Cena is currently away taping the second season of American Grit for Fox. Orton isn’t scheduled back until the 11/29 SmackDown Live show from Columbia, SC, according to the Wrestling Observer.
About 30 hours from now I'll have a brand new baby girl. I'm blessed.
– WWE announced today that the 2017 Survivor Series PPV, which is the 30 year anniversary, will take place on 11/19 from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Tickets go on sale December 9th while travel packages go on sale December 6th. There will also be a NXT TakeOver event that Saturday night plus RAW and SmackDown the next week.
WWE executive vice president of special events, John Saboor commented to The Houston Chronicle, “There is amazing heritage and history in WWE’s relationship with Houston and all of Texas. We are excited to work with key stakeholders in Houston to positively leverage that important heritage and build a strong Survivor Series weekend and celebration.”
– WWE has announced a new multi-year TV deal with Germany’s SKY Deutschland to distribute WWE television pay-per-view events starting this Sunday with Survivor Series and WWE’s flagship RAW and SmackDown Live shows on SKY Sports beginning April 2017.
In a press release sent out today, Dr. Malte Probst, Senior Vice President Programming Operations & Transactional Business, SKY Deutschland said, “We are very happy about WWE coming back to Sky Deutschland. With this new long-term agreement with WWE, we can offer our customers many spectacular events, combining the best of sports with top entertainment. This mixture fits perfectly with Sky.”
“We are excited to once again partner with SKY to showcase WWE’s flagship programs Raw® and SmackDown® and our marquee pay-per-view events to our fans in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland,” said Ed Wells, WWE Executive Vice President, International. “This agreement illustrates the power and global growth of WWE, while creating another destination for our fans to enjoy our unique blend of thrilling, family-oriented entertainment.”
With this agreement, SKY plc now distributes Raw® and SmackDown® in three of its biggest markets – Germany, Italy, and the UK.
As we noted earlier in the week, WWE filmed an ECW special for the WWE Network backstage at Tuesday’s SmackDown 900 show from Wilkes-Barre, PA. Paul Heyman, The Dudley Boyz, Taz and Tommy Dreamer were involved, with Corey Graves hosting.
According to the Wrestling Observer, WWE specifically did not want Joey Styles involved, a sign that there is heat with him related to his departure from the company earlier this year. Styles was ousted for comments about “why WWE pushes Roman Reigns” during a web clip. WWE’s decision to avoid working with Joey Styles on the ECW project was prior to his Donald Trump joke at last weekend’s Evolve show, so that adds additional context to his standing with the company.
At one point Jim Ross was considered as the host for the ECW special, but ultimately they went with Graves. No word yet on when it will air. Bubba Ray Dudley tweeted on Wednesday evening:
Since returning to WWE in 2011, The Rock has appeared at each Wrestlemania over the past five years. He hasn’t wrestled a real match on the grandest stage of them all since Wrestlemania 29 in 2013, but he’s had three huge promos and interacted with many different personalities and added something to the show.
Next year, Wrestlemania 33 hails from Orlando, not far from Rock’s hometown of Miami. The latest ads for WrestleMania 33 feature both The Rockand there are reports going around he’ll be making more than just a cameo appearance at the event.
Wrestlemania 33 could present an interesting situation for The Rock in Orlando. It could be the perfect place for The People’s Champion to enter wrestling immortality and become a WWE Hall of Famer in during Wrestlemania weekend. As the highest paid movie star in the world, the sexiest man walking God’s green earthand a potential Presidential candidate, The Rock is on top of the world. A Hall of Fame induction sounds like a great way to involve The Rock in a meaningful way and honor not only his time in the business, but his willingness to give back and return to WWE when he certainly didn’t have to.
First and foremost, he may give the greatest induction speech in history. Not only that, but there are many people that could induct him into the WWE Hall of Fame. Stone Cold Steve Austin, Vince McMahon, Triple H, and others would add additional hype to the ceremony and make it must see.
For the past few years, Wrestlemania weekend has become a full four-day extravaganza. Traditionally, the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony took place on Saturday night, Wrestlemania on Sunday, and then Raw on Monday night. This year was the first time WWE had an NXT Takeover special on Friday night as well. Next year’s Wrestlemania 33 weekend from Orlando will see more changes to the four-day weekend.
The new schedule calls for the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony on Friday night, NXT Takeover on Saturday, and then Wrestlemania and Raw will go on as usual. There are many benefits to the new schedule, but the reasoning is said to be mostly for convenience. In previous years, NXT would be set up in a different arena. With the old schedule, the staff would have to set up NXT Takeover, take it down to set up the Hall of Fame, and then set up for Raw on Monday.
The new schedule means the staff will set up the Hall of Fame, take it down, and then set up for NXT, Raw, and SmackDown. It’ll be a much easier process for everyone involved for the grueling five-day schedule.
The New Day have been the WWE World Tag Team Champions for over four hundred and fifty days. They need roughly another forty days to break Demolition’s all time record, which they’ll do before the end of the year. After that, there isn’t anything left for them to accomplish aside from putting another tag team over.
Eventually, another team is going to dethrone The New Day and take the Raw World Tag Team titles away from them. The boost from that win is going to be a big deal for another team, but WWE has been delaying that moment until The New Day become the longest reigning tag team champions in WWE history.
According to a report from CageSideSeats, WWE officials have no plans to take the Raw Tag Team titles off The New Day anytime soon. They’re not planning on splitting up the trio, and it’s possible a split may not happen even after they lose the titles. That is leaving some confusion about what’s next for The New Day?
Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods all have the potential to break out as singles stars after the end of their stable. In particular, Kofi could springboard off the success of the stable into the WWE title picture, but it seems that WWE officials want to keep the trio going as long as the WWE Universe accepts them.
This Sunday, Brock Lesnar looks to avenge his WrestleMania XX loss to Bill Goldberg at Survivor Series. Goldberg revealed this week that he tweaked his shoulder on RAW and his body feels “horrible,” but you can expect this one to be a very physical encounter.
According to a report from CageSideSeats, Brock Lesnar is favored to get the victory over Goldberg, with a big sendoff for Goldberg planned for after the match. Lesnar going over makes the most sense, with Goldberg declaring Lesnar is “last” – a sign that his WWE return is a one-and-done. There’s huge equity in defeating Brock Lesnar and it makes little sense to cash in on a legend like Goldberg who is at the end of his road.
While Goldberg won’t pick up the win, you can guarantee he is being paid handsomely for this comeback and his wife and child will finally get to see him do what made him famous. A Hall of Fame induction is also likely at some point, a losing effort against Lesnar this Sunday will still be a big win for Goldberg.
Last night during the nine hundredth episode of SmackDown, The Undertaker made his long awaited return to WWE television. The impact he had in five minutes of television time is a testament to the level of respect the WWE Universe has for The Deadman, but it seems he’s only just started taking souls and digging holes.
It was reported earlier today that The Undertaker will be featured on SmackDown for the foreseeable future, which will lead him onto The Road to Wrestlemania. There has been a lot of speculation about what he will be doing at Wrestlemania 33 next year, but his opponent for next year’s Royal Rumble is just as interesting.
According to a rumor from CageSideSeats, the expectation is that Team SmackDown will lose on Sunday to Team Raw. The Undertaker warned SmackDown’s five men that they’d have to answer to him if they failed, so the plan is for someone to cost them the match and for that individual to be The Undertaker’s next feud.
It can be assumed that Randy Orton or AJ Styles will be responsible for costing SmackDown the match at Survivor Series. It’s been rumored for the past few days that we could be seeing Undertaker vs. Orton or John Cena at Wrestlemania, so the next high profile Undertaker match will most likely take place at the Royal Rumble when WWE looks to sell out the Alamo Dome.
Last night’s 900th episode of SmackDown drew 2.725 million viewers. This is up from last week’s taped show, which drew 1.921 million viewers on Election Night. The week before that drew 2.187 million viewers.
By comparison, this week’s RAW feturing Brock Lesnar and Goldberg drew 2.876 million viewers.
The show featured special appearances by Edge and The Undertaker, as well as the last build-up for Sunday’s WWE Survivor Series PPV. SmackDown was #7 for the night in viewership and #2 in the 18-49 demographic on cable.
Roman Reigns took to Twitter this week and responded to a fan who doesn’t like how he carries the WWE United States Championship. You can see their exchange below. Reigns responded and said it’s not about how you hold the title, it’s about how you defend it.
@WWERomanReigns Just watched RAW, and it seems disrespectful to me the way to carry a title belt like a book bag. Show more respect for it
Reigns also had an exchange with a fan who asked when he will be as phenomenal as WWE World Champion AJ Styles. As seen below, Reigns cited his two wins over Styles:
Chris Jericho recently appeared on The LAW podcast to discuss who created The List, working with Kevin Owens and more. The guys at Live Audio Wrestling sent in this transcript of what Jericho said about when his current WWE run will be ending.
“Like I said earlier, once again I have mentioned his name quite a bit but I have a very close working relationship with Vince McMahon and neither one of us expected this. Both of us would like to sit back and think we were the be all, end all wise oracles that predicted this. I will tell you this, my original plan when I came back last January was to stay until WrestleMania, four months. Then, it started going so good, I re-signed I think until July and then I re-signed until October and then I re-signed until November. Now it’s basically a month by month thing. I’ve got a certain time frame in mind but I can’t even say that because what was supposed to be four has already been ten because I am smart enough to know this.
I’ve been doing this for a long time and to have – like you said, this could be my best run, I still think my 2008 Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, Big Show might have been better but if it was, it’s not by far. This could be the best run I’ve ever had and at 45 years old, ten years ago, you would think that was old. Now, the Stones are still killing it at 74 years old so as long as physically I can go and still basically look the part, I don’t really put any limits on age or anything like that. I can still go out there and have the best match of the show on any given night and I’m working with guys that are 10-15 years younger that don’t feel that.
I love working with Owens and Rollins and Reigns and Sami Zayn and Dean Ambrose and AJ. Those guys are re-invigorating my love for the business because I have been through a lot of generations of the business. Also, keep this in mind, my generation of guys, as sad as it is to say this, my best friends have either passed away or retired so now I have this whole new group of guys who it starts with a little bit of hero worship, that’s great but now let’s get down to it, just start working and having some fun. These are like my best friends on the job right now, I love hanging out with the guys, they’re all really great guys and there’s no reason for me to stop because I’m doing something for the right reason because I love doing it and that’s why I do anything at this point. Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about any financial issues, I do something because I love it. It’s the same reason why I go back on the road with Fozzy, it’s because I love playing rock and roll and I love building my band and I love seeing how much the band has grown and the reactions we get, the tours we get with Kiss and Metallica and Avenged Sevenfold, Shinedown.
So, whatever I’m doing – the podcast, I love doing it, I love talking to people. I just finished writing my 4th book so anything I do, I’m putting 1000% effort into it, I believe in it and I enjoy doing it. Right now, in the WWE, I’m enjoying this run as much as I had anything in my entire career and I’m going to enjoy it as long as I can and continue to build it and continue to entertain for as long as I can in the WWE, for sure.”
– WWE Hall of Famer Edge will be on ESPN Sportscenter with Jonathan Coachman for tonight’s Off The Top Rope segment. Speaking of Edge, he finally granted James Ellsworth a Five Second Pose on last night’s episode of Talking Smack.
– Some fans may have noticed a clip of Brock Lesnar and Hulk Hogan facing off (from 2002) was added to the SmackDown Live intro. WWE continues to phase Hogan back onto company programming, paving the way for an eventual return by the Hall of Famer.
– WWE announced on Wednesday that Total Bellas has been picked up for a second season. The show will premiere on the E! network some time in 2017. The second season’s eight 1-hour episodes will give viewers exclusive access as WWE Superstars Nikki Bella and John Cena temporarily relocate to Phoenix to help Brie Bella and Daniel Bryan through their first pregnancy.
“We are excited to build on the success of the first season of Total Bellas by inviting viewers back for a second round of family fun with the Bellas and their fellas,” said Jeff Olde, EVP, Programming and Development, E!. “Nikki, Brie, John and Daniel all exude copious amounts of wit, talent and strength, but it’s their openness to be completely real that has resonated with viewers and we are delighted to share an intimate look at two of WWE’s most prominent couples.”