Fomer Smackdown women’s champion, Naomi, has suffered a separated shoulder, cervical strain, and facial contusions as a result of her match last night. The storyline injury most likely means she will not be on Smackdown for a period.
During the 6-person match, Sarah Logan gave Naomi a slingshot into the steel steps.
Naomi is the 2nd recent babyface in her division to be taking a sabbatical. Becky Lynch was also recently injured by the Riott Squad to explain her absence while she films the Marine 6.
Our book isn’t about butts, but you should still buy it. It’s mostly about turning lemons into lemonade, lemon squares, lemon cough drops, lemon meringue pie, and a whole host of citrus products & shamelessly shilling & profiting off the sale of the aforementioned products. https://t.co/5QBp0ZMbvV
“A fun, full color book for fans of WWE’s The New Day trio with all the silliness, positivity, and tag team triumphs fans can get.
“A source of constant entertainment as duplicitous positive-energy evangelists.”
—Rolling Stone
“New Day—via hard work . . . a splash of comedy, and the power of positivity—are now the most made-for-TV act in WWE since the days of ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and The Rock.”
In January, Triple H called 205 Live a “work in progress” but it is unclear how long WWE will let the work progress if fans aren’t watching.
Then in April, it was reported that 205 Live’s ratings were quite low. In October, it was reported that ratings had increased after Enzo Amore debuted for the brand, however.
It has been over a year since Mickey Gall defeated CM Punk at UFC 203. Dana White said Punk should “probably not fight in the UFC again” after the bout but he has never officially released him from his contract.
During a media event for this weekend’s UFC 218, White revealed that Punk will be in town for the show and the two will be meeting.
"CM Punk is coming to Detroit and wants to talk to me. I love the guy. We'll see what he's doing." – Dana White
Punk’s team at Roufus Sport say they have been lobbying for Punk’s next fight since not long after the Mickey Gall bout.
While Punk is under a contract with UFC he is unable to fight for other promotions. If the UFC won’t offer him another fight, Punk could request a release from his contract.
Depending on the terms of his contract, the UFC might be required to offer him a fight within a certain time frame. Punk signed a multi-fight agreement with the promotion in late-2014.
Jennifer Hudson has dropped her restraining order on David Otunga and the courts have granted him custody of the couple’s son. The ruling is only part of a temporary agreement, however.
Hudson had filed a restraining order against David, which prevented him from seeing his son. She has now voluntarily withdrawn the order and the court has granted him custody for the time being. A permanent custody arrangement still needs to be determined, however.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoiSiy21434
David Otunga and Jennifer Hudson Split
Otunga is accusing Hudson of having an affair with one of her producers. Despite having been together nearly a decade, Otunga and Hudson never officially tied the knot. They will have to go through proceedings in regards to a permanent custody agreement and child support for their son, however.
Jennifer Hudson’s net worth is currently estimated at $20 million whereas Otunga’s net worth is estimated at half of that.
Translated into English the phrase means “they called me?” or “Someone’s calling me?”, something along those lines.
Senor Benjamin in the Broken Universe
Senor Benjamin’s role in the original “Broken” universe in Impact Wrestling was significant. After the Hardys left Impact, the family would later claim he was never paid for his services to the company. This became part of their claim that Impact did not own the rights to the Broken family gimmick.
Senor Benjamin also posted the following video 2 months ago, seemingly upset at Bray Wyatt:
Last night on Raw, Matt Hardy began showing signs of his “Broken” character after losing to Bray Wyatt. Hardy began chanting “Delete!” in his Broken character manner, alluding to the gimmick debuting in WWE.
Hardy originally filed for a trademark of the character in March but was denied. Earlier this month, however, he submitted new information based on his claim. According to PW Insider, he sent the United States Patents and Trademarks Office a poster of him as the Broken gimmick from CWF Mid-Atlantic show.
Speculation is that Anthem has had enough of battling the Hardys on this one and will most likely not challenge Hardy’s further claim.
Hardy has hired an Intellectual Property lawyer based out of Nashville, not far from last night’s Raw from Knoxville.
Bullet Club members Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks are looking to self-finance a show to take place in a 10,000 seat arena. Cody has mentioned headlining a show with 10,000 people as a personal goal of his since leaving WWE.
We can't comment officially until we confirm the location, but we are far enough in the process to say it's happening. In 2018. And we are swinging for the damn fences…
While independent wrestling is as hot as its ever been, they will have their work cut out for them to fill a 10,000 seat arena. Ring of Honor shows typically draw a few thousand fans depending on the building.
NJPW’s G1 special in the United States drew 2,300 fans, though some complained they should have run a larger building.
For Cody and the Young Bucks to be successful, they will have to eclipse recent independent wrestling attendance figures. If their show is built-up as a can’t miss spectacle that fans will travel to see, however, they might do exactly that.
Goldberg was also featured in the movie “American Satan” which released on October 13th this year. That film was produced via several artists who have worked on Rob Zombie films in the past.
He also has roles confirmed for “Holly, Jingles, and Clyde” as well as a movie called “Con Man”, both expected to be released in the coming months.
Aro Lucha has signed Rey Mysterio Jr. to headline their show from Nashville on December 10th. The promotion already announced earlier this month that Konnan will serve as Aro Lucha’s head writer.
Co-Founder of Aroluxe, former part-owners of TNA and current owners of Aro Lucha, Don Harris, had this to say about bringing Mysterio in.
“We’ve tried to bring our years of experience in the wrestling industry and tv production to the table, while also marrying that with some of the top talent in the lucha libre world. We’re excited to bring this roster to the fans and families that would not otherwise get a chance to see these stars outside of Mexico.”
Aro Lucha December 10th show lineup:
Rey Mysterio & Pentagon vs Rush & John Morrison
Jack Evans & Hurricane Helms & Maximo vs Garza Jr & La Mascara & Daga
MVP vs Sammy Guevara
Keyra & Lacey Lane vs Vanilla Vargas & Taya
Demus vs Mascarita Dorada
Willie Mack vs Mr. 450
Sienna, Laurel Van Ness, Madison Rayne, and Rosemary are all confirmed for the 6-Knockout tournament to determine a new champion. Impact Wrestling has now released the name of the 5th confirmed participant: KC Spinelli.
The 32-year-old Spinelli is an 8-year veteran out of Toronto, home of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. The most recent set of tapings was Spinelli’s first with Impact. She has also competed for the Smash Promotion in Toronto, Shimmer, and a host of other independent organizations.
Spinelli also represented Canada along with Taya Valkyrie and Allie at the AAA Lucha Libra World Cup last year.
WWE will be in Abu Dhabi, where Lewis will have his final race of the season, on December 7th and 8th. Originally, WWE was only to hold one event in the country but added a 2nd date after canceling their 2nd show in India.
Triple H vs. Roman Reigns has already been announced as the main event of the show on the 8th. The next night WWE will be in India where Triple H is scheduled to take on Jinder Mahal.
Since being released from his job on WWE’s creative team, former ROH and PWG tag-team champion, Jimmy Jacobs, has been keeping busy. The 33-year-old had been with WWE from 2015 until his release last month.
In addition to appearing at Impact Wrestling’s “Bound for Glory” PPV earlier this month, Jacobs has spent the last 3 weeks active on the independent circuit.
The winner of the main event and NEW IWA Midsouth World Champion, “The Zombie Princess” @JimmyJacobsX pic.twitter.com/GGCjDnZBee
Jacobs had his first post-WWE match for Combat Zone Wrestling on November 11th, a winning effort over Sami Callihan. He teamed up with Callihan, AR Fox, and Michael Elgin the next night in a loss to Team Pazuzu for the Beyond Professional promotion.
Last weekend, Jacobs made his debut for IWA Mid-South, dropping a DQ loss to Dale Patricks. Last night Jacobs shockingly defeated Aaron Williams to win the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight championship, a title rich in hardcore wrestling history. Former holders of the title include Ian Rotten, Axl Rotten, Bull Pain, Corporal Robinson, 2 Tuff Tony, and Mad Man Pondo.
This weekend Jacobs, along with Cody, will be wrestling for the A1 promotion in Hamilton, ON, Canada.
A report from LuchaBlog.com recently has detailed another strange story involving Alberto El Patron.
Alberto had scheduled a charity show this weekend but when fans arrived at the building a notice was posted saying the show had been canceled. The note left on the door is said to have resembled the note normally used by the Mexican government when a building is to be shut down.
Alberto is blaming corruption in Mexico as the reason for the cancellation and further stated he’d run the show in San Antonio. Lucha Blog, however, said there is a belief Alberto’s show was denied a permit for the venue due to a lack of security. The venue is normally used for theatre and music performances and not pro-wrestling.
Alberto delivered a speech outside the venue which you can view below:
Charity Show Suspended
Alberto and his team are hoping to announce a new date and venue for the show today.
A Google Translate version of a quote Alberto gave to the local media is as follows:
“We do not have a political or economic interest, because all my friends who are here,” Alberto said “who are standing here came without charge, just for the pleasure of helping children who are they were left homeless after that earthquake.
The Delegation says something different and they say something different, I cannot point fingers or know who is responsible, I only accuse the one that results from tonight.”
It was reported last month that Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens were kicked off WWE’s recent European tour. The reason for them being sent home was the pair not feeding for the New Day at the end of their Smackdown segment.
The most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted that the backstage heat on Kevin Owens is now gone but the same can’t be said for Zayn. Unfortunately, that was all the report said.
“It appears that all the controversy regarding Owens from when he and Zayn were sent home is gone, but the same isn’t the case of Zayn”. – Wrestling Observer (no further comment was made)
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn Backstage Heat
The Observer did not make further comment or provide any reasons for why Zayn might still have heat and not Owens.
Unfortunately, the update from the Observer creates more questions than it answers.
Carmella and Liv Morgan would have spent 2 years training with each other in NXT, so they will have history, we just don’t know what kind exactly. Carmella was in developmental from 2013 until being called up in 2016. Liv Morgan was in developmental from 2014 until debuting on Smackdown this week.
Carmella stating that Liv had her blocked on Twitter implies heat fans were never aware of which would indicate this as a shoot, though that could be exactly why it was said. Perhaps they really do have a beef over borrowed or stolen ring gear from their time in developmental or perhaps they are just working an angle.
They have never had a singles match against one another but tagged together on 3 occasions on NXT live tours. They also were on opposite 6-person teams for matches on the SummerSlam house show tour in August.
This Saturday, WWE returns to the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina for Starrcade. An official Starrcade event hasn’t been held since 2000. That show was main event’ed by Scott Steiner defending the WCW title against Sid Vicious.
Ric Flair has now been confirmed to be in attendance on Saturday, as will a host of other legendary stars. Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat and the Rock N Roll Express are also expected to be in attendance as will both Hardy brothers.
WWE Starrcade Lineup
With the final episode of Smackdown before the event completed, here is the updated card for Saturday:
WWE Championship Steel Cage Match
AJ Styles (c) vs. Jinder Mahal
SmackDown Women’s Championship Steel Cage Match
Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Natalya
SmackDown Tag Team Championship Fatal 4-Way Match
The Usos (c) vs. The New Day vs. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
United States Championship Match
Baron Corbin (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
2 Superstars who recently made their main roster debuts will face each other tonight on NXT.
Sonya Deville made her Raw debut on Monday along with Mandy Rose. Tonight, she will face Ruby Riot, who made her main roster debut last night on Smackdown.
Ruby Riot vs. Sonya Deville
Matches for tonight’s NXT were taped from the Toyota Center in Houston this weekend.
Neither Deville nor Riot qualified for the Fatal 4-Way match at Takeover to determine a new NXT women’s champion. They had each been in a triple threat qualifying match which was won by Ember Moon. Recent backstage segments on NXT have shown Deville blaming Riot for the results of that match. Their score gets settled tonight.
WWE has announced they will be running a 10-day UK tour in May, featuring episodes of both Raw and Smackdown.
The tour will run from May 9th to May 18th and will stop in London’s O2 Arena for both Raw and Smackdown on the 14th and 15th.
WWE May UK Tour
“Tickets for all shows are available starting Wednesday, 9 a.m. local time, at www.bookingsdirect.com. (For Dublin, Ireland, go to www.ticketmaster.ie.)
Wednesday, 9 May: Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth, England
For the 2nd time in 2 nights, 3 NXT call-ups made their mark in the women’s division. On Raw, Paige brought in Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville as back-up and now on Smackdown Ruby Riot, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan have done the same.
Here is some background info on Smackdown’s newest call-ups:
Ruby Riot:
Formerly known as Heidi Lovelace on the independents, Riot has been with WWE since January. The 26-year-old raced through the developmental system in under a year.
Real name Dori Prange, the Michigan native had been touring with independent promotions, such as Chikara, as recently as last December. She has also competed with Shine, Stardom, and Ohio Valley Wrestling (where she was trained).
In her final match for the popular Hamilton-based independent last December, Alpha-1, Riot delivered an emotional farewell speech.
Sarah Logan:
Real name, Sarah Bridges, Logan is better known to independent wrestling fans as “Crazy” Mary Dobson. She made a name for herself in all the top indies which feature female performers until being signed by WWE last fall.
Logan was signed a few months before Riot but rarely made appearances on NXT. She has wrestled a lot on NXT live events, usually losing to wrestlers featured more prominently on NXT’s programming.
In this summer’s Mae Young Classic, Logan was eliminated in the 1st round by Mia Yim. Riot and Logan had been teaming together on the most recent NXT live tour.
Liv Morgan:
Liv Morgan took a rather odd route to WWE…
Liv Morgan and Enzo Amore both worked for Hooters at one time. 2 years after he was signed to WWE in 2012, Enzo is said to have introduced Liv to Joe Defranco, who owns a gym in New Jersey and is close friends with Triple H.
Morgan, who had been a lifelong wrestling fan growing up, excelled at the gym and was signed to a WWE contract in 2014. Enzo and Liv were an item at one point, but Morgan indicated on social media earlier this year that she is single.
The 23-year old didn’t wrestle before being signed to WWE. Her first match was in 2015 and her tag-team partner was Charlotte Flair.
Bray Wyatt hasn’t won a match in WWE for over 2 months. That includes house show and dark match results. In total, Wyatt has dropped his last 18 matches straight. His last win was over Goldust in September on Raw.
It should also be noted that Wyatt hasn’t been on any of WWE’s live events in over a week, including Survivor Series and last night’s Raw. His last appearance for WWE was 8 days ago when he lost a single’s match to Jason Jordan on last week’s Raw. The following day he posted two ominous Tweets and has since gone silent on social media.
When a wrestler goes on a long losing streak and/or loses to someone considered to be lower ranked (i.e Jason Jordan) it can mean many things: upcoming gimmick change, heel/face turn, or Vince has soured on them, though this is strictly speculation.
There has also been no indication WWE will be picking the Sister Abigail storyline up again anytime soon. The rivalry between Wyatt and Balor seemed to end when their PPV match was canceled due to Wyatt’s viral infection last month.
Last night on Raw, Paige returned and brought some backup with her. Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose made their Raw debut and made it clear they are working with Paige.
Here is some background info on Paige’s new run-in buddies:
Sonya Deville:
Contrary to popular belief, 24-year-old Sonya Deville actually does have an MMA background. She has a 2-1 amateur MMA record and trained out of the Systems Training Center in Hawthorne, CA.
She also hosted the show “UFC AfterBuzz” show on AfterBuzz.tv which currently hosts Sean Waltman’s podcast.
Deville also has several acting credits to her name, including producing her own movie “the Honour” in 2013. The description of the movie is as follows:
“Christian Conservative Sarah discovers her daughter Judith is gay and in love with a Muslim Neighbor. Sarah will do anything to save the immoral soul of her daughter.”
Deville was discovered by WWE in 2015’s version of Tough Enough.
Mandy Rose:
Rose was also discovered in the 2015 edition of Tough Enough but her pre-WWE career was spent in the world of fitness modeling. This was also the route Rose’s idol, Trish Stratus, took to the WWE.
Earlier this year, a photo of Mandy Rose spread online which made many fans consider her Trish’s doppelganger. Even Trish commented the photo had her fooled:
Ha! I actually thought that was me! I was wondering when I wore that outfit lol. Wow @WWE_MandyRose ? https://t.co/hzhVFPOeQn
The 26-year-old’s real name is Amanda Saccomanno and she is from Westchester County, New York though she has relocated near the Performance Center in Orlando.
Rose and Deville actually tagged together in their first NXT match. It was a 6-person match and their other partner was Alexa Bliss, whom they beat up last night in the back.
Rose has two official tour victories for the World Bodybuilding Fitness and Fashion organization from events in 2014.
Neither Rose nor Deville competed on the independents before being signed to WWE.
