Following Tuesday’s SmackDown Live and 205 Live tapings, WWE Champion Daniel Bryan defended his title against AJ Styles in a dark match. Bryan wound up retaining his title over “The Phenomenal One” via disqualification. However, after the match, Bryan cut a heel promo on the Alabama crowd.
Bryan poked fun at their college football team for losing the National Championship game to Clemson in a blowout. Styles then came back and attacked Bryan before celebrating with a young fan. He then did an impersonation of WWE Hall Of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Styles asked the crowd if they want to see him hit Bryan with a Phenomenal Forearm, then give him a “Hell Yeah.”
After the crowd chanted “Hell Yeah” Styles hit Bryan with the elbow. He then mimicked Austin’s beer drinking celebration with water bottles.
Check out the video of AJ Styles paying homage to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin:
John Cena wrestled WWE Champion, Daniel Bryan, last night at a WWE house show in Unionville. Cena replaced a sick AJ Styles, who is said to be suffering from some type of cold or flu bug.
The following Twitter user posted some videos of the steel cage match between Bryan and Cena.
Here are the results from last night’s house show in Unionville:
Mustafa Ali defeated The Miz
R-Truth and Carmella defeated Andrade Almas and Zelina Vega
Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and Shelton Benjamin defeated The Colons and Aiden English
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson defeated “Sanity” Eric Young and Killian Dain
Rey Mysterio defeated Randy Orton
Smackdown Tag Team Championships
Sheamus and Cesaro defeated The Usos and “New Day” Kofi Kingston and Big E
Jeff Hardy defeated Samoa Joe
WWE Championship Steel Cage
Daniel Bryan (c) defeated John Cena
John Cena To Miss 2019 Royal Rumble
John Cena may be back but he’s not going to be participating on WWE programming much. We reported yesterday that Cena’s upcoming schedule does not include the Royal Rumble:
12/26: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
12/27: Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, NY
12/28: Royals Farms Arena, Baltimore, MD
12/29: PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, PA
12/30: Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL
1/4: Columbus Civic Center, Columbus, GA
1/5: Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, Tallahassee, FL
We noted before how the former WWE Champion AJ Styles missed a SmackDown brand Live Event on December 26th and The Miz and Mustafa Ali replaced Styles in his scheduled bout against Daniel Bryan.
Styles didn’t appear on last night’s Live Event from Uniondale, New York and this time, John Cena replaced the Phenomenal One and wrestled the WWE Champion Daniel Bryan in a steel cage match.
AJ has reportedly been dealing with flu which has caused some other stars to miss events in recent times as well though currently there is no news on how long he will stay out of action.
Zack Ryder On Not Being Used
While his year started with a feud on SmackDown Live, Zack Ryder has not been featured much on WWE Programming since then and he haven’t been part of any match on Raw since being drafted to the show back in April.
The former Intercontinental Champion took on his twitter to comment on this as the year-end approaches and said that he is still here and always ready for a match:
I haven’t had 1 match on Monday Night Raw in 2018 yet. 1 more Raw left…#AlwayzReady#StillHere
So far there is no news of WWE’s announcement of freshening things up affecting Zack’s status but with Royal Rumble approaching it’s possible that we may see him return to TV to announce his entry in coming weeks.
Some fans believed that former WWE Champion AJ Styles would emerge as Baron Corbin’s opponent for the WWE’s house show in Madison Square Garden last night. However, that wasn’t the case. The reason for the speculation was because Styles was abruptly removed from SmackDown’s live event the same day in Chicago.
The Chicago crowd was told that Styles would not be appearing due to an illness. He was scheduled to face Daniel Bryan in a Steel Cage match for the WWE Championship. Instead, The Miz and Mustafa Ali were added to the match in Styles’ place. Fans were reportedly very into the bout, which saw Bryan retain his title when it was all said and done.
Styles is still advertised for tonight’s live event in Uniondale, New York, but if he’s still sick, that could change.
WWE Fans Leave Live Event At Intermission (Photo)
Speaking of last night’s SmackDown live event in Chicago, it turns out some fans missed the main event of the night during intermission. Many fans began to leave after Bryan defended his title over Ali and Miz.
They didn’t realize Asuka was main eventing with a title defense against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. WWE did not announce the main event ahead of time, thus the likely reason for the confusion. The following is a fan photo of the Chicago crowd leaving the arena after Bryan’s WWE Title defense:
Former WWE Champion AJ Styles had a great year with feuds with several WWE stars including Samoa Joe. In this storyline, WWE went in a different direction as they used his wife and daughter in this program that started at the SummerSlam pay-per-view event.
Styles was recently interviewed by Wrestlezone’s Kevin Kellam to talk about several topics including his feud with Joe over the summer with the WWE Title on the line.
He brought up how this is all his family has ever known that he does when it comes to his job and quite used to it, and used to what goes on. He continued by stating this is entertainment so it’s not a big deal to them and they couldn’t care less about their Dad being a pro wrestler.
“The challenges aren’t the storylines, the challenges are not being there when they need you the most.” He brought up how they get older, their bodies are changing, there’s school stuff and having those sit-downs with them. Thus, Styles wants to make sure that he’s kind of Dad to take the time to make sure that they know that he loves them, and they can come to him with anything.
AJ Styles recently had an interview with WrestleZone, and during the talk, the former WWE Champion talked about a number of things including his recent feuds and more.
While talking about his recent rivalry with Samoa Joe and how Joe brought up his family during contest, Styles revealed that his family is quite used to it.
AJ said that they know it’s a form of entertainment and according to him while others think his kids might be going to school and bragging about him being a pro wrestler, they actually don’t care much about it.
When the hosts started talking about everything Styles has achieved in WWE so far, the former Champion said that he feels like there’s one more level to reach before he can consider himself a WWE Superstar:
“I feel like there’s one more level that I need to reach before I really feel like this ‘WWE Superstar’ and that’s really made a difference in this business. I’m not sure how I’m going to get there, but I’m going to continue to work hard and see what happens next.”
Apart from this AJ Styles also talked about how the real challenge is not being with his family during important moments and more. You can check out his full interview here.
Just when everybody thought AJ Styles might be moving down the card for a while after losing the WWE Championship, he might have become part of the biggest storyline heading into the WrestleMania season.
We noted before how the main event of this week’s episode of SmackDown Live saw Rusev defeating Shinsuke Nakamura to become the new United States Champion.
However, this wasn’t the end of the show. The closing moments of the Christmas special episode of SmackDown Live saw AJ Styles meeting with Vince McMahon backstage.
Mr. McMahon asked Styles who he is and the former TNA Star explained that he is a 2 Time WWE Champion and SmackDown Live is the ‘House that AJ Styles built’.
The Boss then questioned Styles’ position asking if The Blue Branded Show is his house then why is Daniel Bryan holding the WWE Championship and competing at the show and not him.
McMahon then encouraged AJ to channel his inner animal and the final moments of the segment saw Vince McMahon slapping the former Champion. Styles replied to this with a punch of his own.
You can check out the full segment that took place on the pre-taped special of SmackDown Live in the video below:
WWE has accumulated a roster with some of the most talented professional wrestlers in the world. There are endless possible “dream matches” that WWE could make, and a lot of them involve former WWE Champion AJ Styles. “The Phenomenal One” is coming off a WWE Title loss to Daniel Bryan a few weeks ago. He failed to regain the title this past weekend at the Tables Ladders and Chairs (TLC) pay-per-view (PPV).
Styles is one of the greatest in-ring performers the industry has ever seen. He has shared the ring with the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura, John Cena, Bryan, Samoa Joe, and so many more. However, there are plenty of up-and-coming talents on the NXT roster that would make for an interesting match-up with Styles as well. Recently, Styles was interviewed by WrestleZone to talk about possible matches with NXT stars.
When asked what NXT call-ups interest him, Styles named EC3 as one of the names that stands out:
“I’ve never been in the ring with EC3 before, so that will be fun to see a match with him. But, there are several that are coming up through NXT shortly, and there’s a number of them that I could have amazing matches with.”
What do you think of a possible match between Styles and EC3?
It is being reported that three WWE Superstars’ contracts will be expiring in 2019. AJ Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows all joined WWE back in 2016 and their contracts are allegedly set to finish mid way through next year.
As we’ve previously reported AJ Styles has been looking to work a reduced schedule. The in-ring veteran has been one of the linchpins of the Smackdown Live brand over the past few years and it is very likely that WWE will bend over backwards to keep the ‘Phenomenal One’ in the United States. PWInsider have claimed that Styles’ contract is set to expire in April 2019.
Gallows and Anderson have seen a very different side of WWE’s creative. The former Bullet Club members are reportedly contracted until September in 2019, there are currently no concrete plans in place to re-sign the tag team.
We also reported earlier this year that NJPW were interested in bringing back Gallows, Anderson and Shinsuke Nakamura. Whilst it is always difficult to judge if they are happy to re-sign with WWE the tag team could demand a high price to return to Japan. With New Japan possibly set to lose the Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes to an as yet unconfirmed ‘All Elite’ promotion NJPW could use the starpower.
Daniel Bryan wasn’t on Smackdown last night. Former WWE Champion AJ Styles remarked that perhaps Bryan has been watching Raw and was hoping to have a schedule which more closely resembles that of the Universal Champion’s. Styles also mentioned that Bryan was not on the WWE live event schedule this weekend either.
Bryan responded to Styles’ comments earlier today on Twitter:
“The old Daniel Bryan wrestled 227 matches in a calendar year, much more than AJ has ever done in his career. Shortly thereafter he needed neck surgery. The New Daniel Bryan is above that sort of masochism.”
Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles at TLC
Styles mentioned on Smackdown last night that he was not medically cleared to compete at Survivor Series or on Smackdown last week due to injuries suffered during Bryan’s post-match attack. Not long after losing the WWE Championship, however, Styles posted the following to Twitter:
The thing about being a real Champion, a reigning, DEFENDING champion is that any day someone can beat you. But holding the title is more than just wins and losses, it’s about who you are as a man. Daniel showed us that last night. And the receipt is coming. #SDLivepic.twitter.com/m99WvL1JpJ
“The thing about being a real Champion, a reigning, DEFENDING champion is that any day someone can beat you. But holding the title is more than just wins and losses, it’s about who you are as a man. Daniel showed us that last night. And the receipt is coming. #SDLive”
AJ Styles vs Daniel Bryan Head-To-Head Stats
Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles have met in single’s action 8 times, 3 in WWE, 3 in ROH, 1 in PWG, and once for IWA Mid-South. Outside of WWE, Styles leads the series 3-2. In WWE, they are tied at 1-1-1.
Tonight’s episode of Smackdown will take place inside the Target Center in Minneapolis, MN. Smackdown Women’s Champion, Becky Lynch, has been confirmed to appear on the show.
Only 3 segments have been announced for tonight’s episode. Although traditionally Smackdown announces more matches and segments ahead of time than Raw, that has not been the case in recent weeks.
Edit: New Day vs The Bar in a non-title match has now also been announced for tonight.
Smackdown 11/27 Preview
Becky Lynch Returns to Smackdown
The most reaction-garnering Superstar on the roster returns to Smackdown tonight. Although she is still not cleared to compete, Lynch has evidently been cleared to travel, which is a good sign.
The last time Lynch was in a WWE ring she was hugging Charlotte Flair and picking her as her Survivor Series replacement. Since then, quite a bit has taken place on social media. It will be interesting to hear what Lynch might have to say regarding Rousey, Flair, and/or Nia tonight.
AJ Styles Responds To Daniel Bryan
Last week on Smackdown, Daniel Bryan delivered a promo explaining his actions from the week prior. Bryan won the WWE Championship after kicking AJ in the groin 2 weeks ago today. He said his dreams took over for him and that’s why he did what he did. Tonight, former champion AJ Styles will address both Bryan and the WWE Universe.
Jeff Hardy Celebrates 20-Years in WWE
Jeff Hardy and his brother Matt debuted in WWE in 1998. Tonight, Jeff Hardy celebrates the 20-year anniversary of the Hardyz in WWE. Such celebrations rarely take place on WWE programming without incident, however.
WWE has confirmed when former WWE Champion AJ Styles will make his return to the blue brand. He’s set to be featured in a segment on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live in Minneapolis, MN at the Target Center on the USA Network where he’ll address current WWE Champion Daniel Bryan’s actions.
Styles has not been seen in two weeks on television after losing the title to Bryan, who turned heel by hitting a low blow to win the title. WWE has already announced that Styles will challenge Bryan for the WWE Title at the TLC pay-per-view event that takes place on Sunday, December 16th, 2018 in San Jose, California at the SAP Center.
Total Bellas Season Four Premiere Date
PWInsider.com is reporting that the fourth season of Total Bellas will debut on Sunday 1/20/19. Back in August, it was revealed that Total Bellas had been renewed for a fourth season by the E! Network. It should be noted that Nikki and Brie Bella also serve as Executive Producers of E!’s Total Bellas.
Earlier this month, a new teaser trailer for the return of WWE’s Total Bellas had been released that features Nikki Bella going on a date with Peter Kraus from The Bachelorette. You can see that here.
There has been much speculation over what the future holds for AJ Styles when his WWE contract expires next year. With New Japan Pro Wrestling potentially interested in him, and alternatives such as All Elite Wrestling coming into play, the Phenomenal One has a number of choices before him.
Turns out that not even AJ Styles is sure of what the future will hold for himself.
Speaking candidly, Styles opened up during the filming of the WWE Network’s latest episode to their 365 series. The show followed and documented a year of AJ’s life with the company.
When asked what was left for him to accomplish or achieve, he replied with:
“What’s left for me? I don’t really know,” he confessed. “I always will find something new and I’m not sure what that new is quite yet, but at the same time, I’ve been doing this for 19 years and at what point do I go and call it quits? I don’t know what that is, but I can tell you I’m very proud of the year that I had.”
Styles is at an interesting point in his WWE career having just lost the belt to Daniel Bryan prior to Survivor Series. This loss broke the impressive streak he was accruing. Having asked for a pared-back schedule akin to Randy Orton’s, it will be interesting to see if the WWE grant him his requests and, if not, how Styles will respond.
What do you think of AJ’s response? More importantly, where would you like him to end up?
AJ Styles has proven himself a consistently popular superstar ever since his phenomenal debut during the 2016 Royal Rumble. He has had a plethora of main event matches and some fantastic feuds during his time within the WWE, breaking records and rubbing shoulders with the greats along the way.
With supposed renewed interest from NJPW in bringing back a number of superstars that signed with the WWE, and AJ Styles’ contract due for renegotiation come April 2019, it’s fair to speculate over where the Phenomenal One will end up once his initial WWE contract has expired, especially as he just recently dropped the belt to Daniel Bryan, ending an impressive streak as WWE Champion.
Commenting on the subject recently was Mike Johnson, who addressed Styles’ current status with the WWE.
He observed that “[…] traditionally when someone’s deal is coming due they’re not really featured in a major way in a pay-per-view. Although there are exceptions to that,” he admitted. “Jeff Hardy being against CM Punk a few years ago and things of that nature, and Punk against John Cena where Punk could have left, so there are exceptions to the rule. It’s not a hard-rule.”
“But one would think WWE will start to downplay him a little bit if they don’t lock him into a longer-term deal. Those discussions are on-going now so we’ll see what happens.”
With real alternatives beginning to rear their head, it would be interesting to see where a number of these talents, including AJ, decide to call home in the future.
What do you think? Would you prefer AJ Styles to stay in the WWE? Maybe go back to New Japan, or potentially even All Elite Wrestling?
A new match has been announced for the upcoming WWE TLC PPV. As seen on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live in Los Angeles, CA at the Staples Center on the USA Network, it was revealed that Daniel Bryan would make his first title defense as WWE Champion against AJ Styles at TLC. As of this writing, WWE has yet to announce a stipulation for this match.
WWE presents the TLC pay-per-view event on Sunday, December 16th, 2018 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks. Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental Championship is expected to headline TLC. Here is the updated card:
Updated WWE TLC Card
WWE Title Champion Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles
WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose
TLC Match: Baron Corbin vs. Braun Strowman – If Strowman wins, he’ll for the Universal Title at the Royal Rumble & Corbin loses all authority or if Corbin wins then he’s the permanent RAW GM.
WWE RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey vs. Nia Jax
Mixed Match Challenge Finals
What are your thoughts on this match being added to the card? Sound off in the comment section.
Former WWE Champion AJ Styles had an impressive ongoing streak before Sunday’s (November 18, 2018) Survivor Series pay-per-view event in Los Angeles, California at the Staples Center on the WWE Network. However, it’s now no longer in place as it has been snapped.
Originally, Styles was supposed to face WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series in a champion vs. champion match. This changed once Styles lost the title to Daniel Bryan in the main event of last week’s episode of SmackDown Live in St. Louis, MO at the Enterprise Center.
Cageside Seats has been tracking an interesting stat. That was Styles wrestling at the most consecutive PPV events on the WWE roster. The rules of this stat were for a star to wrestle on the main card of PPV events while Evolution and the events in Saudi Arabia were not counted if the talent didn’t compete. Thus, Styles had wrestled at 34 straight PPV events that he has been eligible for. Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins currently sits at 18 straight events which is second among the roster.
WWE has yet to announce when Styles will get his rematch for the WWE Title against Bryan. It could come as early as the next pay-per-view event for the company. WWE presents the TLC pay-per-view event on Sunday, December 16th, 2018 in Los Angeles, California at the Staples Center that will air on the WWE Network.
Posted November 20th, 2018 in News. Tagged: AJ Styles.
AJ Styles is believed to be negotiating a new deal with WWE. According to a report from Fightful, Styles is looking for a reduced schedule on a new 3-year deal.
Styles is said to have pushed for his losing of the WWE title recently as a result of the amount of time being champion was causing him to be on the road. The deal he is looking for is said to be similar to Randy Orton’s, where he would work television but a limited amount of house shows.
There have been rumors as of late that NJPW has sent feelers to WWE talent about possibly jumping ship. Styles could potentially be someone NJPW is interested in bringing back. Speculation is NJPW reached out to Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, and Shinsuke Nakamura, who all also signed 3-year deals with NJPW in 2016 at the same time as Styles did.
AJ Styles WWE Negotiations
Styles first signed with WWE in 2016, following a negotiation session with NJPW, WWE, and the former management of TNA Wrestling. Before he left NJPW, he was kicked out of Bullet Club and lost at Wrestle Kingdom to Shinsuke Nakamura.
He debuted in WWE at the Royal Rumble in 2016. Styles would win his first WWE Championship that September. He defeated Dean Ambrose for the belt at Backlash that year. Style’s first run as WWE Champion lasted until the Royall Rumble when he lost the belt to John Cena. It would take him over 10 months to win the title back, defeating Jinder Mahal in Manchester in November of 2017.
As noted, Daniel Bryan is the new WWE Champion as he beat AJ Styles to win the title on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live in St. Louis, MO at the Enterprise Center on the USA Network. The former WWE Champion took to his official Twitter account where he gave a statement on losing the title in the headliner of the Survivor Series go-home episode for the blue brand. In the post, he promised that he would get payback on Bryan due to the post-match heel turn attack that took place.
Styles wrote, “The thing about being a real Champion, a reigning, DEFENDING champion is that any day someone can beat you. But holding the title is more than just wins and losses, it’s about who you are as a man. Daniel showed us that last night. And the receipt is coming. #SDLive.”
The thing about being a real Champion, a reigning, DEFENDING champion is that any day someone can beat you. But holding the title is more than just wins and losses, it’s about who you are as a man. Daniel showed us that last night. And the receipt is coming. #SDLivepic.twitter.com/m99WvL1JpJ
WWE announced on Wednesday that the scheduled WrestleMania 35 On-Sale Party this Thursday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey has been canceled due to weather and there will be no make-up date.
The company had already announced a series of matches that were supposed to take place at this party including XT UK Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley vs. Kacy Catanzaro, Matt Riddle vs. Kassius Ohno plus Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder vs. The Singh Brothers. Other stars advertised to appear including Mojo Rawley, Apollo Crews, Sami Zayn, Alicia Fox, Big Show, WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Hart and SmackDown General Manager Paige
Last night’s episode of WWE SmackDown Live certainly brought a ton of surprises. After Becky Lynch’s injury, Charlotte Flair will now face Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series this weekend. Also, we have a new WWE Champion, and a new opponent for Brock Lesnar on Sunday. AJ Styles opened up SmackDown Live last night to cut a promo about his match with Lesnar.
Paul Heyman came out to interrupt Styles, instigating a match between Styles and Bryan later on that night. With the WWE Title on the line, Bryan turned heel and hit Styles with a low blow after the referee was knocked down. He then hit a flying knee for the WWE Title victory. The title change was obviously a huge surprise to fans.
Now, Bryan will face Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series this weekend due to the Champion vs. Champion format of the show. After SmackDown Live, however, Styles didn’t work his scheduled Mixed Match Challenge match on Facebook Watch. He was set to team up with Charlotte Flair against The Miz and Asuka.
Instead, Styles was replaced by Jeff Hardy, who teamed with Flair to defeat Miz and Asuka. There’s no news as to why Styles missed his MMC match, however, it’s likely in regards to the storyline after losing the WWE Title.
What do you think about Styles not working the MMC after losing the WWE Title?
WWE’s streaming service, WWE Network, is slated to air a new episode of WWE 365 that is scheduled to premiere after Survivor Series goes off the air on Sunday. The one-hour special will focus on WWE Champion AJ Styles, who is set to take on Universal Champion Brock Lesnar in a champion vs. champion match at the show in Los Angeles, California at the Staples Center. Here is the synopsis:
“Relive AJ Styles’ historic year as WWE Champion both in and out of the ring, and witness The Phenomenal One as you’ve never seen him before!”
Nikki Bella On Date Featured In Total Bellas Teaser
A new teaser trailer for the return of WWE’s Total Bellas has been released that features Nikki Bella going on a date with Peter Kraus from The Bachelorette. Back in August, it was revealed that Total Bellas had been renewed for a fourth season by the E! Network.
It should be noted that Nikki and Brie Bella also serve as Executive Producers of E!’s Total Bellas. There’s still no word yet on when the fourth season will air but likely to be in the first quarter of 2019. You can watch the trailer here:
WWE taped this week’s episode of SmackDown Live earlier today in Manchester, England at the Manchester Arena. After the tapings, there was a dark match that saw WWE Champion AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan defeat Randy Orton and The Miz in a tag team match. Styles didn’t appear on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live.
The finish of the dark match saw Bryan block the RKO before Styles hit Orton with a Phenomenal Forearm, which later led to Styles submitting The Miz with the Calf Crusher to end the match. After the match, Styles took the microphone to cut a promo about how he won the WWE Title from Jinder Mahal in the city last year, which he called a moment in his career that he will never forget. He greeted with the fans at ringside to wrap up the show.
Interesting AOP Stat
The Authors of Pain became the new RAW Tag Team Champions after beating Seth Rollins in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match. An interesting stat has emerged about the Authors of Pain.
The tag team made history as they are the first former NXT Tag Champions (as a unit) to win the RAW Tag Team Championships. If you recall, American Alpha made similar history when they won the NXT Tag Team Titles as well as the SmackDown Tag Team Titles. Thanks to Will Henderson for that stat.
WWE is back in Manchester tonight for Smackdown, 205 Live, and the Mixed Match Challenge. Only Smackdown will air today, however. No matches have been confirmed as of this writing, but several segments have been.
Shane McMahon and Paige Respond to Survivor Series Match-Ups
Last night on Raw, Constable Corbin announced that he would captain the Raw team at Survivor Series. Corbin won’t compete in the match but he did add Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, and Braun Strowman to the team. Tonight, expect Shane McMahon and Paige to likely announce a few participants for the Smackdown team.
Becky Lynch’s Message To Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey cut a promo on Becky Lynch last night on Raw. In two weeks, Lynch and Rousey will go one-on-one in a match which could easily (and arguably should) close the show even with Brock Lesnar vs AJ Styles on the card.
Becky Lynch will offer up her rebuttal to Rousey’s promo tonight.
Shane McMahon’s WWE World Cup Victory And Team Smackdown At Survivor Series
So, Shane McMahon is the best in the world. McMahon replaced the Miz in the finals of the WWE World Cup at Crown Jewel. He had also said if anyone from Smackdown loses in the finals they would be fired. Perhaps that means the Miz will be fired but that’s only speculation.
Tonight, Shane will let the WWE Universe know more about how his win in the World Cup will impact Smackdown moving forward.
AJ Styles Reacts To Rematch With Brock Lesnar
AJ Styles will face Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series in two weeks. It’s a rematch from last year when Styles won the title just days before the event. In fact, Styles defeated Jinder Mahal in Manchester (tonight’s host) for the title around this time last year.
Tonight, Styles will have a message for the man who re-gained the Universal Championship at Crown Jewel.
Brock Lesnar is once again the WWE Universal champion. What was originally expected to be a triple threat match, Lesnar ended up in a one-on-one showdown with Bruan Strowman to determine a new champion after Roman Reigns was forced to surrender the belt following the revelation that his battle with leukemia was happening again after going into remission several years ago.
With Reigns out of the match, the WWE moved forward with a singles contest between Lesnar and Strowman.
All signs seemed to point towards Strowman finally ascending to the top of the WWE Raw roster with Lesnar expected to return to the UFC in early 2019 to compete for the heavyweight championship.
That plan may still very well happen but for now Lesnar is champion again after a very short match with Strowman on Friday.
In a carbon copy to many of Lesnar’s most dominant victories in WWE, he landed several ‘F-5’s on Strowman including one where he tossed the behemoth outside the ring. Finally, Lesnar landed one final F-5 that put Strowman down and out.
Lesnar was crowned WWE Universal champion and then just a few moments later his next match was officially announced.
At WWE Survivor Series on Sunday, Nov. 18, Lesnar will return to the ring to face current WWE heavyweight champion A.J. Styles from Smackdown Live.
Obviously, Lesnar is sticking around WWE longer than anyone expected with his plans to return to the UFC in 2019. There’s still plenty of time for the title to change hands before Lesnar would return to the Octagon.
There are also rumors that Lesnar may make a surprise appearance at UFC 230 in New York on Saturday night where Cormier defends his heavyweight title against Derrick Lewis in the main event but nothing has been confirmed as of yet.
The Phenomenal One, AJ Styles, has joined a rare, exclusive club. This club is filled with a very specific type of Superstar and features a litany of WWE Hall Of Famers, so the Georgia native couldn’t be in better company.
As of yesterday, November 1st, AJ Styles reached a new milestone by maintaining his championship status for 359 days. This has seen him officially place amongst the Top 10 longest reigning champions in WWE history, as documented by WWE.com.
Having won the belt back in November 2017 against Jinder Mahal during a SmackDown LIVE event in Manchester, England, AJ has been able to fend off all comers and challengers for the championship, solidifying his place in the main event and firmly establishing SmackDown as the “House That AJ Styles Built.”
Styles is scheduled to defend his WWE Championship at today’s Crown Jewel event, emanating from Saudi Arabia, in a matchup against Samoa Joe. If successful, this will see him continue to climb the ranks as his days as champion continue to accumulate.
All of that could change, however, in just a few short hours, especially if Samoa Joe gets his way.
AJ Styles, You Just Made The List
Here are the Top 10 Longest-Reigning WWE Champions of all time:
10. AJ Styles (360 days, at time of writing, and counting)
A new match has been announced for the upcoming WWE Crown Jewel PPV. As seen on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live in Atlanta, GA at the State Farm Arena on the USA Network, AJ Styles successfully retained the WWE Title over Daniel Bryan in the opening match.
This contest was supposed to happen at Crown Jewel but due to Bryan refusing to go to the country, WWE booked this match on SmackDown instead. After the match, Samoa Joe attacked both Bryan and Styles. It was later announced that Joe would challenge Styles for the WWE Title at Crown Jewel.
WWE presents the Crown Jewel pay-per-view event on November 2nd, 2018 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the King Saud University Stadium and will air on the WWE Network. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming days. Here is the updated card:
Updated WWE Crown Jewel Card
Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman – Vacant WWE Universal Title Match
WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe
Triple H & Shawn Michaels vs. Kane & The Undertaker
World Cup Tournament – Seth Rollins vs. Bobby Lashley & Kurt Angle vs. Dolph Ziggler (RAW Side) Jeff Hardy vs. The Miz & Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton (SmackDown Side)
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bar vs. The New Day
What are your thoughts on this match being added to the card? Sound off in the comment section.