Former NXT and Impact Wrestling star Ivelisse has made several sporadic appearances for AEW in recent times and now she has officially confirmed her signing with the promotion.
The female star recently had a virtual Q&A session with Pro Wrestling Junkies where she talked about things like rumours of having a backstage altercation with Thuder Rosa and more.
When a fan asked her about her status with AEW, Ivelisse confirmed for the first time that she has signed with the promotion and explained that it was a very emotional moment for her:
“Actually, since you asked – I haven’t been able to officially confirm anywhere yet, but I can confirm right now– and I asked if it was okay – that I am indeed signed to AEW,
Honestly, when that moment came, it was very emotional for me.” said Ivelisse, “Through the last couple of years have been really tough for me for so many reasons. Number one, the Lucha Underground thing and being kept through our contracts and all of that.”
The former WWE star also talked about her experience at All Elite Wrestling being much better than the ‘traumatizing experience’ she has had while dealing with past promotions.
She admitted that she struggled with anxiety while competing at Lucha Underground and Ivelisse claimed that she was in complete awe of how much better her experience was at AEW.
Bruce Prichard was part of the backstage WWE crew for over two decades and he was involved in the planning of many big angles and matches that took place over the years of his employment.
On the latest episode of his Something To Wrestle With podcast, Prichard revealed one such WrestleMania match they had planned involving the late great Eddie Guerrero which couldn’t take place.
Prichard revealed that the idea of a dream match between Guerrero and the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels was being kicked around for WrestleMania 22:
“It was kicked around as a possibility because they never worked together, and that was, at least in my head, a dream match,” said Prichard. “That was one of those that I definitely would love to have seen.”
However, the talks of a match between the two legends never came to fruition because Eddie Guerrero, unfortunately, passed away due to heart failure in November 2005, six months prior to the big event.
The changed direction for Shawn Michaels then saw the former DX member competing against the WWE chairman Vince McMahon in a No Holds Barred match at the show. Michaels won this bout after delivering a diving elbow drop from the top of a ladder to McMahon, followed by the Sweet Chin Music.
The WWE Draft 2020 began with last week’s episode of SmackDown and it concluded with this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw.
Both the nights saw some pretty big changes to the WWE rosters including the likes of Seth Rollins & Rey Mysterio moving to SmackDown and Braun Strowman & The Fiend moving to Raw.
There were several names which were left undrafted as well and people like Andrade have become free agents and they are free to sign with the brand of their choosing.
Overall, the Drafts have created interesting opportunities for new feuds and we will have to see how WWE utilises the refreshed rosters. Below you can check out the updated rosters for Raw and SmackDown after the night two of Draft:
WWE Draft Results
Superstars drafted to Raw:
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre
Raw Women’s Champion Asuka
Raw Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods
The Hurt Business Including the US Champion Bobbly Lashley
24/7 Champion R Truth
AJ Styles
Naomi
Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler
Ricochet
Mandy Rose
The Miz & John Morrison
Dana Brooke
Angel Garza
Humberto Carrillo
Tucker
Drew Gulak
Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado
“The Fiend” Bray Wyatt
Randy Orton
Charlotte Flair
Braun Strowman
Matt Riddle
Jeff Hardy
Retribution
Keith Lee
Alexa Bliss
Elias
Lacey Evans
Sheamus
Nikki Cross
Dabba-Kato
Titus O’Neil
Peyton Royce
Akira Tozawa
Lana
Riddick Moss
Arturo Ruas
Superstars drafted to SmackDown
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Street Profits
Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn
Seth Rollins
Sasha Banks
Bianca Belair
Jey Uso
Dominick & Rey Mysterio
Big E
Otis
Murphy
Kalisto
Shorty G
Daniel Bryan
Kevin Owens
Lars Sullivan
King Corbin
Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro
Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode
Apollo Crews
Carmella
Aleister Black
Natalya
Riott Squad
You can check out the list of free agents after the night two of drafts which includes several former champions from NXT and more here.
WWE had announced a number of segments for this week’s episode of Raw and one of them included Mustafa Ali addressing the WWE Universe after being revealed as the leader of Retribution.
However, the segment never took place during the broadcast of the episode and fans were left wondering about the group as they did not make an appearance anywhere else in the show either.
Though the new stable was mentioned during the show and they were drafted to Raw as a group. They were chosen as the first picks during the third round.
Mustafa Ali apparently reacted to this change in schedule on Twitter and the Retribution leader made a tweet during the third hour of the show.
There is no word yet on why the company nixed the announced Retribution segments but the last time WWE unexpectedly removed mentions of the group on their programming, it was because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the company.
Now it would be interesting to see if the group returns to WWE TV next week and if the nixed segment takes place during the upcoming episode of Raw.
Update: WWE revealed some additional draft picks over the night. They announced that Erik of the Viking Raiders has been picked up by Raw while Billie Kay, Zelina Vega, and Tamina Snuka have all been drafted to SmackDown.
The WWE drafts continued on night two of the event during this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw and supplement draft picks were made on the Raw Talk following the show as well.
However, even after this, a number of high profile names have been left undrafted and per the rules, they have now become free agents and they are free to sign with the brand of their choosing..
The names which have become free agents after not being drafted include Andrade, Billie Kay, Erik, Tamina Snuka, Zelina Vega, Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado, Mickie James.
Out of these 8, the most interesting names to have not been picked up during the TV drafts have to be of Andrade and the former IIconics member Billie Kay.
There were reports of Paul Heyman being high on both Aleister Black and Andrade before he was removed from the position of Executive Director of Raw and this change made people curious about the future of both the stars.
While WWE looks to have plans for Aleister Black who has recently turned heel, the fact that the former NXT and US Champion Andrade was not even drafted is making fans worried.
Similarly, it was said that Vince McMahon was a fan of Peyton Royce and after the break up of IIconics and latest drafts, the future does not look very bright for Billie Kay and we will have to see if the company has any plans for her.
The Clash Of Champions PPV saw Sami Zayn winning a brutal Intercontinental Championship ladder match in a pretty unique fashion, which became one of the talking points coming out of the show.
The former NXT champion was competing against AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy in the bout and he actually handcuffed both his opponents before going on to win the match.
During his recent interview with Metro UK, Zayn was asked if the brilliant finish was the idea of Sami himself or any other competitor of the bout and he revealed that it was Jamie Noble who came up with the spot:
“I wish I could take all the credit for that [ending], but actually Jamie Noble’s a real genius, he doesn’t get the credit he deserves.”
Sami then went on to praise the match saying that he is really proud of it and he explained that it was a great match because it had a little bit of everything:
“I think it was a really good match, and I’m really proud of it, it had what I like about wrestling, which is a little bit of everything. There was a lot of character work; there was a lot of just good in ring action, some spectacular stunts, and some dramatic storytelling.
That’s the cocktail I like about pro wrestling. I like when many different elements come together, and that’s what I feel like that match was, for me.”
Apart from this, Sami Zayn also talked about the match between Roman Reigns and Jey Uso at the same PPV and more. You can check out his full interview at this link.
The recent NXT return of Wade Barrett as a commentator has made fans wonder about a possible in-ring return for the former wrestler and the WWE star himself has not declined the possibility.
During his recent interview with DigitalSpy, the former Nexus leader talked about a number of things and revealed the match which can tempt him to return to the squared circle.
Barrett first mentioned how he never won the WWE championship during his original run with the company. He then talked about the current champion Drew McIntyre holding the title and claimed that the opportunity to take the belt off McIntyre could tempt him to return for a match or two:
“The only thing I didn’t achieve in WWE that I always wanted to achieve was to become the WWE Champion, and that title is now held by an old friend of mine, Drew McIntyre. So taking him on for that title is something that certainly might tempt me back for a match or two.”
Though while continuing, the former champion expressed that even if he makes a comeback, his return wouldn’t be for a long run and according to Wade Barrett, if he returned, then he would be chasing the sunset of his career:
“In truth, if I was to come back as a full-time in-ring guy, I really would be chasing the sunset of my career. I don’t think there’s that many more years left in me,”
Apart from this, Wade Barrett talked about things like his love for music, the possibility of a UK PPV and more. You can check out his full interview at this link.
Night one of the WWE Draft saw a number of big stars including the likes of Seth Rollins and the New Day switching brands and latest reports suggest that we can see some more major changes at Monday’s Raw.
Dave Meltzer talked about the draft on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio and revealed that the plans call for the Raw tag team champions Street Profits to be drafted to SmackDown.
Since the company has already drafted the SmackDown tag team champions Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston to Raw, this would lead to the two teams replacing their titles with each other.
Another star who was originally slated to change brands was the former Universal Champion Braun Strowman and while not confirmed, this could be announced during the night two of the WWE draft.
Since the Raw women’s champion Asuka is staying on her home brand, it’s expected that the SmackDown women’s champion Bayley will be staying on the Blue Brand as well but it’s something that is not confirmed.
The night two of the WWE draft will be taking place on this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw. You can check out the current standing WWE rosters of Raw and SmackDown at this link.
Dominik Mysterio made an impressive debut at the SummerSlam event and since then he has gone on to wrestle several more matches including a tag match where he got to team with his father, Rey Mysterio.
However, the match which people think will draw big money is a fight between the two family members and during a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, the young star talked about this possibility.
Dominik was asked if he will be willing to step in the ring with his father at some point in future. Replying to it, the WWE star said that it won’t happen anytime soon but he’ll be open to the idea:
“Yes, most definitely. I think that’ll be — that’s still a long time from now, but I remember all the spankings he gave me as a kid. So, I’m sure our match will come,”
Mysterio also addressed a concern fans have about the age of his father and when asked how close Rey is to retiring, Dominik claimed that he doesn’t feel like the wrestling legend is going to call it quits anytime soon:
“I don’t think he’s been close to retiring yet. He’s always felt really good. His left knee has been through multiple surgeries, and other than that, he’s still going.
And I always ask him because he’ll jump in the ring with me and train, and I’ll ask him, ‘Hey, how are you feeling? You’re feeling good?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, I feel great’. I don’t think he’s going to call quits anytime soon.”
Dominik Mysterio also talked about a number of other things like Rey Mysterio’s match with Fit Finlay at Cyber Sunday 2017, his dream matches and more.
James Storm was one of the stars who helped build TNA and he spent almost 15 years in the promotion in his two stints before leaving the company in 2017.
During a recent interview with Lucha Libre Online, the former TNA star talked about a number of things and he also detailed the reasons behind his departure from the promotion.
Storm first claimed that he left because he just wanted to do something different and he went on to explain that the ownership problems of the company were also a contributing factor to his decision:
“I had been there for 15 years and, I don’t know, I just kind of wanted to do something different, I still love Impact; I still wish nothing but the best for Impact Wrestling, but it was my time to step away from Impact.
“At that time, I didn’t know really who was running the company, you had Dixie, you had the Harris brothers, then you had Anthem out of Canada, then you had Billy Corgan,” said James Storm, “So it was just like, okay, I don’t know who my boss is.”
The Cowboy also revealed during the interview that he wanted to leave a year before his deal was up because he felt that the company was not utilising him while he had a lot left to give.
James Storm has joined NWA after leaving Impact Wrestling where he has won a few titles and is the current NWA world tag team champion with Eli Drake.
Brodie Lee has had a successful stint in AEW so far which includes leading his own group filled with many talented stars in the Dark Order and a run with the TNT title as well.
However, during a recent interview with AEW Unrestricted podcast, the former WWE star talked about his title run and revealed that he wasn’t originally going to win the belt.
The Dark Order leader claimed that the original plans did not call for him to have a run with the belt and Brodie Lee explained why he tries not to know too much about the plans for his future:
“I believe that the original plan was for me to not become TNT Champion, I’m kind of not privy to the ins and outs, the nuts and bolts of it all, probably because I don’t want to be.
Because if I get a thought in my head, I become quickly married to it, and then if something changes, I go insane. So, I try not to know too much about what’s supposed to happen and kind of just live in the moment.”
While the former WWE star did not reveal the reason for the change in plans, it was likely influenced by the fact that Cody had to take time off to film the STARZ Heels series with Stephen Amell.
Apart from this, Brodie Lee also talked about the original plans for his debut being altered due to the coronavirus pandemic, leading the Dark Order and more.
WWE has announced a number of interesting matches and segments for this week’s special draft edition of Monday Night Raw including a cross-brand battle royal and more.
The first night of the WWE draft on SmackDown this past week saw Seth Rollins being drafted to SmackDown for the first time since the return of brand extension in 2016.
After this, the company has announced that the former Universal Champion will be making one final appearance for the Red Brand to say goodbye this Monday.
WWE has also announced a dual-branded Battle Royal which will see the female wrestlers from Raw and SmackDown competing for an opportunity to challenge Asuka for her Raw Women’s Championship.
The other segments and matches which have been announced for the episode include a no disqualifications match between Kevin Owens and Aleister Black after Black ambushed Owens last week and a segment featuring Mustafa Ali speaking to the WWE Universe after he was revealed as the leader of Retribution.
All this will be in addition to the night two of WWE drafts which will determine the future of many big stars and former world champions such as Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan and ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt.
Mickie James hasn’t been seen on WWE programming in recent weeks and the female star recently revealed the reason behind her absence.
The former women’s champion revealed in a recent video on her YouTube channel GAW TV that she actually broke her nose during a match.
Though thankfully James confirmed that the damage was not severe. She claimed that it was more like a curve where she couldn’t breathe out of one side of her nose and revealed that she will only be out of action for a couple of weeks:
“So, [I] legit broke my nose in a match, and now I can’t wrestle for a couple of weeks, unfortunately that sucks. It wasn’t severe.
It wasn’t like my nose was blasted across my face. It was more like a curve and I can’t breathe out the one side and I’ll be honest, I thought it was gonna be a lot more painful, to get it fixed.”
Mickie James had a championship match against Asuka on the September 14 episode of Raw which apparently ended earlier than planned because the referee thought that James was legitimately injured.
She then lost a #1 contenders match for the Raw Women’s Championship to Zelina Vega during the September 21 episode of the show and the wrestling veteran hasn’t been seen on WWE programming ever since.
While the confirmation from James that she won’t be out of action for long is good news, we still don’t know the exact date for her return and it would be interesting to see if she is involved in the upcoming WWE draft.
The nWo is one of the most impactful factions in the history of the wrestling business and even to this day, people discuss the possibility of a modern-day version of the group.
Kevin Nash, who was one of the original three members of the group was recently interviewed on The Hashtag show where he talked about many different things.
During the interview, the former WWE star was asked which current female star he would want in the early version of nWo and the former champion took the name of ‘The Boss’ Sasha Banks:
“Gotta be Sasha … I thought her match at SummerSlam that she lost; I thought the psychology was amazing at the end.” said Kevin Nash “I mean, there was some thought put into it. There were several times she had her in the, ‘Is she gonna tap, no she doesn’t tap.’
And they just worked it back and forth. And I thought, ‘I’m not seeing that anywhere else.’ I mean, I’m seeing it here, I’m seeing it in her match. And she’s, you know, she’s very attractive. I mean, that goes without saying. But she has that swag, you know. She’s the total package.”
Nash also explained the importance of a wrestler’s theme music saying that it’s the first thing that gets a reaction from the crowd when you are having a match.
Which current female star from WWE do you think would be the right fit for nWo? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below
Ken Shamrock made some headlines recently when he publically asked The Rock to deliver a greeting for his Impact Wrestling Hall Of Fame induction and received a reply from the great one.
The MMA legend recently had an interview with Busted Open Radio where he talked about a number of things and also explained why he wanted The Rock to be a part of his induction.
Shamrock recalled his feud with the People’s Champion and his Nation Of Domination faction in 1998. The former WWE star explained that the feud helped him tremendously in his pro wrestling career:
“I’ll never forget the things that he did for me, and the times that we spent together were special because it really did help me in my pro wrestling career, and I know he’ll tell you the same thing with me and the things that we did because that shot him up into stardom, and it wasn’t because of me.
It was because of what we were able to do together and be able to give ourselves a chance to be able to step away and do greater things at other places, but that was a start for me and for him, and he was a big part of that. So, I thought it was fitting for him to be a part of that induction because I believe that’s where it started – was with him.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Shamrock who is in both the UFC and Impact Wrestling Hall Of Fame said that you shouldn’t get in the Hall Of Fame of any industry unless you have contributed to it at a high level and you are respected by the fans of the community.
Ken Shamrock’s Hall Of Fame induction was announced earlier this year and he was inducted into the Impact Wrestling Hall Of Fame in February.
Finn Balor defended his NXT Championship against Kyle O’Reilly in a gruesome match at the NXT Takeover: 31 event where the title holder managed to retain his championship.
Though the champion did not come unhurt out of the bout and WWE announced that he suffered a broken jaw during the fight. However, latest reports suggest that his injury is not as serious as it’s being reported.
Dave Meltzer talked about Balor on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio. While he revealed that the reports of Finn’s injury are not inaccurate, the wrestling journalist noted that it was “made to be worse than it is.”
There is still no word on how long the current champion will stay out of action but the typical recovery time from a broken jaw is around 6 weeks.
Finn Balor made his return to NXT during the October 2nd episode of the show back in 2019 and he confronted the NXT Champion at the time, Adam Cole, during his return.
He went on to have feuds with the likes of Matt Riddle, Damian Priest and Johnny Gargano in the coming months before finally winning the NXT title back during the NXT: Super Tuesday II event last month.
So far WWE has not announced a time table for his return, but with reports of his injury not being as serious, it doesn’t look likely that Balor will stay out of action for very long. it would be interesting to see who challenges him for the title next when he comes back.
Zack Ryder finally got a WrestleMania moment after being with WWE for more than a decade when he won the Intercontinental Championship in a ladder match during the WrestleMania 32 event.
However, the former WWE star did not have a very long reign with the title and fans were not very happy with the fact that the company actually took the belt off him the next night on Raw in a match with the Miz.
Though while talking about his short reign during a recent session with Pro Wrestling Junkies, Ryder claimed that losing the title actually made the moment because it fitted his underdog character:
“I think losing the next night made the moment, I wish I could have lost it that same night. Why have the title for two weeks or two months? Unless I’m going to go undefeated for two years or something, just take it off me. That’s just the Zack Ryder character – the underdog that finally gets it and then it gets taken away.”
Zack Ryder continued by saying that the loss made his win special because nobody thought that he was going to win in the first place and people resented the fact that he lost it so soon.
Apart from this, the former WWE star also talked about things like his recent AEW stint and he revealed that he has actually made a list of AEW stars he wants to face. You can check out his comments on the matter at this link.
Reports came out earlier today that Samantha Tavel, a.k.a. Candy Cartwright has filed a civil lawsuit against Matt Riddle, WWE, and former Evolve owner Gabe Sapolsky.
The news was first reported by the Chicago Sun Times and court documents that have surfaced online suggest that Tavel is seeking $10 million dollars per defendant for actual damages, damages from emotional distress, punitive damages, attorney’s fees, and costs.
WWE has now responded to these reports about a lawsuit. The company released a short statement claiming that they have not been served yet but they will defend themselves if they do get served:
“WWE has not been served with a lawsuit by Ms. Tavel. However, if served, we will vigorously defend ourselves and contest it.”
For those who don’t know, Samantha Tavel accused Matt Riddle of sexual assaults during the “#SpeakingOut” movement earlier this year.
The female star claims that Riddle committed a series of assaults against her from 2017 through January 2020 and the first incident of assault took place in a parking lot following an Evolve show in April 2017.
This new lawsuit comes after Matt Riddle had withdrawn his petition for a restraining order against Cartwright and filed a civil lawsuit of his own back in mid-September.
Matt Riddle has so far not reacted to this new lawsuit from his accuser but we will keep you posted on any updates in the situation.
Ever since AEW came into existence and even before they had produced their first show as a company, people have been talking about a potential relationship between them and NJPW.
However, so far there has been no indication of the same and while officials have maintained the never say never attitude, there hasn’t really been any solid development that could suggest a future partnership between the two.
The rumours picked up once again after the Japanese promotion was referenced a number of times during this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite including a cameo from Hiroshi Tanahashi.
However, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer killed the rumours recently and replying to a tweet about the references, he revealed that the Tanahashi appearance was Chris Jericho’s doing:
Not necessarily, that was Jericho's doing. He loves Tanahashi. Ultimo Dragon was on as well. https://t.co/SDgsNULf2r
This week’s Dynamite saw Chris Jericho celebrating the 30-year anniversary of his pro wrestling debut. The episode included multiple video messages from various wrestlers congratulating Y2J, including one from the NJPW star.
Though this wasn’t the only NJPW reference on the show. A video package hyping the match between Jon Moxley and Lance Archer featured footage from their previous encounter at the Japanese promotion and Excalibur name-dropped the company on commentary as well.
While the two companies do not have a working relationship at the moment, the recent departure of NJPW CEO Harold Meij has given a new life to the rumours and it would be interesting to see if this change turns out to be a positive development for a future relationship between the two promotions.
Chris Jericho has seen his fair share of bad matches in his three-decades-long wrestling career but the worst match he has ever seen is fairly new.
The former world champion appeared on Busted Open Radio ahead of the 30-year celebration of his debut on this week’s episode of Dynamite and talked about things like why he decided to join AEW and more.
During the interview, he was asked about the worst match he has ever seen and Jericho claimed that it was the Crown Jewel match between The Brothers Of Destruction and DX:
“The worst match I ever saw, and here’s your clickbait, was Saudi Arabia, Triple H and Shawn Michaels vs. Kane and The Undertaker. It was such a stupid idea in booking, it should have never happened.
It should’ve been Shawn and Hunter vs. Roman and Seth, and Taker and Kane vs… I don’t know; give me two names of guys. Cesaro and Kevin Owens, whatever you want.” said Chris Jericho, “That’s exciting.””But it’s like, ‘Oh we’ll just go out there and wing it brother,’ that doesn’t work anymore. That old school mentality doesn’t work.”
The match Chris Jericho is talking about took place in Saudi Arabia during the Crown Jewel 2018 event. The PPV saw Shawn Michaels coming out of retirement for one more match.
The whole event had been controversial in the wake of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The match was also criticised by the fans for its poor execution, which was largerly attributed to the old age of the participants.
The death of Chris Benoit and his family is one of the most tragic incidents in the history of the wrestling business and a lot of things surrounding the case remain a mystery to this day. One of the biggest points of investigation is how the former world champion was feeling in his final days and if the people around him noted any significant difference in his behaviour before he took his own life.
Former WWE star Elijah Burke who was the final person to wrestle Benoit before his tragic demise was asked the same question during his recent interview with The Wrestling Epicenter. Replying to the question, Burke, who wrestled the former champion during an ECW episode on June 19, 2007, said that everything seemed normal to him:
“No, not at all. One thing Chris was big on, and hindsight is 20/20 on this if I could say, ‘Oh, that kind of makes sense’ is just the fact that he said, ‘Talk to me out there. I might forget.’ So, after everything that happened, when it came back that he had like the brain of an 80-year-old with Alzheimer, that was like, ‘Hmm, that is interesting,’
In this business, I was always taught that we should communicate in rings. So, I didn’t think anything of it. That could have been a sign.” said Burke, “Chris Benoit asking me to talk to him? But other than that, there was nothing that could have tipped me or anyone else off to the extent of the degeneration of his brain per the results of his test.”
The recent episodes of the Dark Side of the Ring series documenting the final days of Chris Benoit have brought the topic of his death back in the discussion. During the interview, Elijah Burke was asked if he was approached for the episodes centred on Benoit and he revealed that he was not contacted. You can check out the full interview of Elijah Burke here.
Former WWE broadcaster Renee Young will be returning to the company for the first time since SummerSlam for a special appearance next week.
WWE and Fox Network announced earlier today that they will be celebrating the season two of SmackDown on Fox during the upcoming episode of the show on October 16.
The episode will feature a special kick off pre-show and the company has announced that Young will be returning to host the pre-show alongside WWE Hall Of Famer Booker T.
The celebration also includes a special on the “Best WWE Moments of 2020” which is scheduled to air on this Sunday, October 11 alongside the other NFL programming on Fox.
Renee Young ended her 8 year long stint with WWE earlier this year after her husband Jon Moxley also left the company following the expiry of his contract last year in May.
Robert Roode made his return to WWE programming after almost 7 months of absence during the September 28th episode of Raw where he answered the open challenge issued by the WWE Champion Drew McIntyre.
While the former champion was unsuccessful in his quest to win the title, a lot of people have been wondering what’s next for the former NXT star.
With the WWE draft looming around, people have been wondering if we can see Roode changing brands. During his recent interview with ComicBook.com, Robert talked about the possibility of moving back to NXT, saying that he will try to be the guy on whichever brand he ends up in:
“Wherever the job takes me, I’m going to be there and I’m going to do everything I can to be a guy that the brand can lean on, and to be in the mix, and to take every opportunity that is given to me and make the best of it.
So whether that’s on Raw, whether that’s on SmackDown,” said Robert Roode “Or whether that’s on NXT, I’m going to do everything I can to stand out and to work my way towards being a champion again.”
While WWE has not confirmed the participation of NXT in this year’s edition of WWE drafts, there have been a lot of rumours of the Black and Yellow brand being represented in the process.
Though if Robert Roode does end up moving back to NXT, he won’t be the first main roster guy to do so as we have seen people like Finn Balor returning to the brand in recent times.
The WWE draft this year will begin with the October 9th episode of SmackDown and it’s expected to conclude with the following episode of Raw on October 12th.
WWE has been teasing the break up for the team of Andrade and Angel Garza for a while now and latest reports suggest that we may have already seen the last of the two together.
WWE officials have made the decision to split the duo and they are not expected to be seen together after Garza returns to action, per a report at Pwinsider.
For those who don’t know, Angel Garza suffered a torn quad during his tag team match at the Clash Of Champions PPV. He had teamed up with Andrade to challenge the Street Profits for the Raw tag team titles at the show.
However, the injury caused this match for the Raw tag team championships to be cut short and it helped the champions in retaining their title at the PPV.
While WWE has not provided any update on his status, the high flying star himself revealed on his YouTube channel that he is not expected to stay out of action for long and he should be back in the ring within a few weeks.
This is not a big surprise as WWE has been teasing the break up of this tag team for a while and just recently their manager Zelina Vega also left the group to focus on her own singles career.
Now with the drafts set to begin on this week’s episode of SmackDown, the big question is if we are going see the two getting drafted to different brands as well, to effectively end their pairing.
Kurt Angle had revealed in previous interviews that WWE had offered him a role as the manager for the Ultimate Bro Matt Riddle but he turned down the proposal from the company.
The Olympic Gold Medallist had not revealed the reason behind his refusal at the time but during a recent interview with Pwinsider, the former champion finally opened up about the situation.
Angle explained that there were mainly two reasons why he did not take the offer from WWE. The first being the supplement company he has started and the second was the amount he was being offered:
“Two reasons – one was my company I started needed my attention 100%, especially with the virus thing and I had to just be there for the company and the other thing was the money, it just…it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t going to manage somebody for the amount of money they wanted to give me.”
Though while he declined the offer for a longer role, Kurt Angle still made an appearance to hype Riddle and he was actually the one who announced the main roster call up of the former UFC star on SmackDown.
Apart from this, Kurt Angle talked about things like his start in wrestling, why he refused the initial offer from WWE, and more. You can check out his full interview at this link.