It now appears unlikely that Bayley will challenge Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women’s Championship at SummerSlam after suffering an injury to her right shoulder during a match against Nia Jax on Raw on Monday.
On Friday, Cathy Kelley reported in this video that the extent of her injury has not been determined due to swelling in and around the injured area. A conclusive diagnosis will be made on Monday at Raw in Toronto.
In WWE.com’s preview for Raw, an indication is given that Bayley won’t be wrestling at SummerSlam, or anytime soon for that matter.
Regarding the situation, WWE.com wrote, “Based on what we have seen, it doesn’t seem likely that The Huggable One will be getting back into the ring anytime soon.”
WWE.com also notes, “If Bayley is unable to compete at SummerSlam, who will challenge the so-called “Goddess of WWE” for her coveted championship? Hopefully, details will emerge on Raw.”
25-year old Alexa Bliss celebrated her 1 year main roster anniversary on July 19th, having been drafted from NXT to Smackdown on that day last year. In that time she has already become a 3x women’s champion (2x Smackdown, 1x Raw).
It has been an eventful rookie year for Bliss. She sat down with local Houston media outlet, “Great Day Houston”, recently to speak about her career thus far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_epseAf3MKE
Alexa Bliss Interview Highlights
Why she loves wrestling:
“It’s such an amazing sport, I watched it growing up and it was never really something I knew I could get into, but once I got the opportunity I knew I had to get on it and I knew I had to try for it. I told my mom, I said, ‘Mom I’m going to try out for WWE.’ Her response was, ‘The heck you are!’ She was like ‘You’re are not doing that!’ So I had to try out without her knowing but know she’s like the biggest supporter and so proud of me.”
Being on Total Divas:
“It’s a lot of fun I’m just starting to get into it. They filmed us all in Japan which was really cool, we got to dress up in all these really cool character outfits and it was a lot of fun. It’s really cool, except like, I myself am a very private person and I’m not as mean as I appear to be. But its been a lot of fun and its been really cool to see how everything works. I just feel bad cause sometimes they as me ‘What are you doing this week?’ And I’m like ‘I’m sitting at home with my dogs watching Netflix, what are you doing?'”
Advice to those wishing to get into the business:
“I would say wrestling gives you confidence, it gives you strength, it helps you learn discipline, and to know that you have to love the process and respect the process, and if you just keep going you can accomplish anything.”
On needing the Championship re-sized:
“This is the RAW Women’s Championship. What’s funny is – this is a little backstage information – the championship had to be shortened for me because it was so big on me, they actually had to take off size to let it fit me. But that’s why I’m ‘Five Feet Of Fury.'”
Translations courtesy of WrestlingInc, Interview via Great Day Houston
Mark Henry, Ron Simmons and The Godfather appeared on “Table For 3” last night following last night’s episode of WWE RAW. Henry discussed his future in WWE and stated that his in-ring time is coming to an end and he will transition to a behind-the-scenes employee once that time comes in a few months. Henry said that he wanted to help WWE with their new talents once his in-ring career is over. You can check out a clip from the newest episode of “Table For 3” in the video below.
Jerry Lawler was asked by a fan on Twitter if he still works with WWE. Lawler responded that of course he does and will be hosting the pre-show panel at WWE Battleground this Sunday. Lawler will also be appearing on Talking Smack following the PPV.
Rumor on RAW Women’s Championship match for WWE SummerSlam
There were rumors that there would be a Fatal 4-Way for the RAW Women’s Championship at next month’s SummerSlam PPV. Dave Meltzer recently noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that those plans have been changed. The latest rumor is that Alexa Bliss will be defending her title against Nia Jax at SummerSlam. Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax have been portrayed as friends on recent episodes of RAW.
– In the video below, check out Monday Night RAW General Manager Kurt Angle arrive for tonight’s episode of RAW in which he is set to reveal a big secret that has had WWE fans scratching their heads for the past few weeks. Angle is set to make a ‘big announcement’ alongside a loved one tonight, that could possibly taint his Hall Of Fame career:
– As we’ve previously reported, the WWE has cancelled Talking Smack as a weekly program on the WWE Network. The news has seemed to sadden a lot within the WWE Universe, however, former United States Champion Kevin Owens is not one of those sympathizers. “KO” took to Twitter to express his approval for the WWE’s move to no longer give Renee Young and SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan’s ‘nonsense’ a platform:
– After a recent house show win alongside partner and friend Nia Jax, RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss took to Instagram to celebrate her and Jax’s victory. In the post “Little Miss Bliss” used the hashtag ‘#TeamRude’ making some WWE fans wonder if a tag team between the pair is on the horizon:
Kurt Angle on CM Punk returning to wrestling in the future
RAW GM Kurt Angle answered a few questions on his Facebook page a couple of days ago. A fan asked Angle about CM Punk’s MMA future and a possible return to professional wrestling. Angle responded with the following:
“I hope he comes back. I think his MMA career is over. He needs to go back to what he does best!”
Randy Orton returning to SmackDown on Tuesday
WWE Superstar Randy Orton has not been seen on SmackDown since July 4th because he was filming the new WWE Studios movie “Changeland”. Orton will make his return to SmackDown this week in the final episode before WWE Battleground. Orton will face Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship in a Punjabi Prison match at the PPV.
Sasha Banks pokes fun at Alexa Bliss on Instagram
WWE posted a photo of Alexa Bliss on their Instagram account earlier today that stated that “#LittleMissBliss always has something up her sleeve”. Sasha Banks left this comment on the photo, “Yeah Paige’s jacket pfpfpfp”.
Alexa Bliss appeared on the Sam Roberts wrestling podcast recently and speak on the epic year she has had on the main roster. Bliss was drafted to Smackdown from NXT last year during the brand-extension draft, where she surprised many by winning the women’s championship.
After being drafted to Raw in the Superstar shakeup, Bliss won the Raw women’s championship, this time by defeating Bayley.
Alexa Bliss on Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast
On how she handled the “What” chants:
“They said, ‘what, what, what’ so loud and so many times that I legit got hot and I was like, ‘I swear to God, if you say, ‘what’ one more time,’ and that wasn’t the best way to handle it. So after that, I was like, ‘okay, I need to think of other ways to shut that down’ because that didn’t work and it made me legit really mad. And I was like, ‘okay, if they’re going to try to fit it in, I’m not going to let them fit it in and if they’re really trying to, I’m just going to turn it around on them.’ So one of them was, ‘Alexa Bliss is the best say, ‘what” and then, one of them, I was talking about Bayley in the kendo stick-on-a-pole-match, and they were like, ‘what?’ and I was like, ‘I know, right?'”
On the “This is Your Life” Segment:
“Going into it, I don’t know – I didn’t really have any opinion on it whether it would be bad or good. I was just really excited to have fun with it and throw the little dolls and trophies off the table and just kind of make fun of Bayley in the best way I could.”
“When the crowd started chanting, like, ‘boring’ and stuff like that, I remember playing with the people’s names, just kind of, like, I called Mrs. Flapper, Flaps McGaps and stuff like that. And I was just trying to lighten the mood a little bit and I was like messing with the other actors.” Bliss added, “when it’s slowly dying, you’ve got to try to pick it up in any way that you can, so I was like, ‘do you know what? If this is going to go down, I’m going to have fun with it while it’s going down.’ While it was deemed the worst segment in RAW history, I feel like it could have gone a lot worse, okay? Okay? It wasn’t that bad!”
On D-Von’s Advice For Going Through a Table:
“For the tables match, we did ask D-Von Dudley if he had any suggestions or any ideas of how we can even do this because I told him, ‘I haven’t even been through a table!’ Like, ‘how do I go through a table?’ And he was like, ‘just breathe out.’ And I was like, ‘oh, okay.'”
As we previously reported, WWE RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax were added to the WWE Total Divas reality show on E! network to replace the recently departed Eva Marie. It was also confirmed that Renee Young would not be returning to the show either, leaving another spot open on the cast sheet.
Rumor has it that SmackDown Live star and the now-former Ms. Money In The Bank, Carmella, could be the one to fill that void. Monday Night RAW Superstar Maryse recently posted a picture on Instagram while filming Total Divas, and Carmella was in the photo alongside her, sparking speculation that “The Princess Of Statin Island” could be on her way to E!:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVqTWaPgBRE/
It is possible that Carmella, who is currently in a relationship with Monday Night RAW Superstar Big Cass, could only be making a brief appearance on the show, or she could be joining full-time. We’ll keep you updated…
John Cena has been all over the place promoting the second season of American Grit on Fox. His latest stop was at Vanity Fair, where he filmed a video answering questions from random New Yorkers. Cena had fun with the interview and answered most of the questions in humorous fashion.
Q: What is your biggest fear?
A: I think it is the battle that we all fight, time. I love to be active and physical and I think one of these days it is going to catch up with me. But judging by the advances in modern medicine, I figure that I am going to live to be at least 350.
Q: Where do you go to find your peace?
A: I go to the bathroom and I look down to make sure it still there. An occasionally, I go to the bedroom, when me and the gal are doing stuff like that. It’s never failed me yet, it is always there.
Q: What is your perfect date night?
A: Romantic date night, take her out to dinner, get a bottle of wine, have a great conversation and hopefully get lucky. And by get lucky, I mean being able to get a solid 8 hours of sleep.
Q: Would you ever take your clothes off for a role?
A: I have already done that. I wore a sock, not on my foot. So uh, that happened. Good talk.
You can check out the entire interview in the video below.
Emma warns Alexa Bliss
On Monday’s episode of RAW, Sasha Banks was scheduled to face Nia Jax in a match. RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss came out right before the match started and joined commentary. Emma then confronted Alexa Bliss at the announce table. On last week’s episode of RAW, Alexa Bliss was in a 6-woman tag match and Emma and Nia Jax were her teammates. Alexa Bliss walked away from the ring in the middle of the match and left Nia and Emma behind. Emma now apparently has her sights set on the RAW Women’s Championship. Emma sent out the following tweet about Alexa Bliss:
The smartest thing you could have done was run away from me like a little coward! ? I still have plans for that championship though! #WWE ? pic.twitter.com/emH6zPKVmR
WWE has released a series of videos of female Superstars from RAW and NXT discussing the first-ever women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match Sunday at the PPV. Alexa Bliss and Bayley predicted Carmella as the winner of the match. Ember Moon and Sasha Banks predicted Tamina to win the match on Sunday. Ruby Riot predicted that Becky Lynch will be the Superstar that grabs the briefcase. You can check out the full interviews about the ladder match in the videos below.
A few weeks ago on Monday Night RAW, RAW Women’s Champ Alexa Bliss hosted a “This Is Your Life” segment for her Extreme Rules opponent, Bayley. The segment was truly awful and was very poorly received by professional wrestling fans. On a recent edition of the WWE Network exclusive program Bring It To The Table, WWE commentators Corey Graves and JBL laid into the segment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8_d4lQUsjU
JBL:
“If it was better it would of sucked. It would have to improve to be horrible, that was how bad it sucked. Remember the first ‘This is Your Life’ with The Rock and Mick Foley, that was terrible, but you just had two incredible superstars so that was fantastic and they drew a heck of a rating, but I think it fails in comparison to the Harvey Wippleman and Howard Finkel Tuxedo Match. I think that was one of the worst of all-time. What was worse was probably the JR and Michael Cole Rap Battle where JR forgot all of his lines.”
Corey Graves:
“We are talking specifically about the worst Raw segments ever, thank God we are not talking about WCW and Viagra on a Pole and Judy Bagwell on a Forklift Match, that Russo guy, he was a treat, right? JR brought in Razor Ramon and Diesel, of course not Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, Razor Ramon and Diesel. Fake Razor, classic moment, nobody could tell the difference, right? There’s Diesel—he looks familiar.”
JBL:
“If you watch ‘Legends’ with JBL that the WWE Network cancelled, I’m furious about that—but that segment got the real Razor and the real Diesel huge pay raises because WCW actually thought they were going to go back to WWE on Monday Night Raw. The worst segment in the history of television, not just Monday Night Raw, but television. It was in Philadelphia of all places, sports capital of the freaking world. It was me, Trish Stratus and JBL against Jackie Gayda & Christopher Nowinski. Trish actually mentioned this in her Hall of Fame speech and she looked at me and laughed. That was the worst segment in the history of television.”
Impact Wrestling recently held tapings in Mumbai, India. Alberto El Patron was celebrating in the crowd and was shoved to the ground when the crowd became too aggressive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZrRrBqysa8
WWE held a live event in Trenton, New Jersey on June 2nd, 2017. Bayley, Mickie James & Sasha Banks defeated Alexa Bliss, Alicia Fox & Nia Jax. During the match, Mickie James landed several kip ups in a row. Alexa Bliss then tried to do a kip up of her own and failed. Bliss then threw a tantrum as the crowd laughed at her.
Alexa Bliss has gotten the best of Bayley on the past few episodes of RAW. Tomorrow night, Bliss is set to defend her RAW Women’s Championship against Bayley in a Kendo Stick On A Pole match at Extreme Rules. Alexa Bliss recently spoke to The Baltimore Sun and here are some highlights from the interview:
How she is different from Bayley:
“Oh yeah, we are polar opposites. Bayley is huggable and likes to dole out high fives. I could care less if anyone likes me. I don’t want to touch people, come on. That just makes our rivalry just that much better because we are such opposites that the feud clicks. In the ring, I just find a lot of joy in taking everything that she has away. If she goes to high five someone, I’m going to hit her after she high fives them. It’s just a lot of fun, and makes the feud that much better.”
On Bayley being the underdog even though she is bigger:
“Here’s the thing with that, Bayley does a great job of doing what she does. She has her strengths. Obviously she is the ultimate underdog, and I don’t think that my size has an impact on that. I feel like I have a big enough attitude to be 6 feet tall. I think that helps a lot. I just have to make sure that my attitude is big enough to keep it so that nobody likes me. And Bayley knows what she’s doing; she wouldn’t be in the position that she’s in if she didn’t know what she was doing and wasn’t such an amazing underdog.”
Whether she has been in a Kendo Stick On A Pole match and if she is prepared:
No, I have never. I am quite nervous about it actually. I have hit Bayley with that thing so many times and I have a feeling that she really wants to get me back for that. I’m actually kind of nervous about trying to reach the thing. It’s a race to see who can get to it first. I don’t know if you know this, but I’m 5 feet tall. I don’t know if I can reach all the way up there to grab that stick. Do I let Bayley grab it first and then take it away from her? I don’t know. That’s what my main concern is, what if I climb up there and then just can’t reach it? I’m hoping that doesn’t happen, but if it does, I’ll have to do whatever it takes to get it down.
Monday Night RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss is set to defend her strap against Bayley at this weekend’s (Sun. June 4, 2017) WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view (PPV) event, in a Kendo Stick-On-A-Pole Match. “Little Miss Bliss” recently did an interview with The Weekender ahead of her collision with Bayley, and you can check those highlights out here:
How fans react to her being a heel:
“It’s so much easier to get people to hate you than to like you, and I kind of like to play with that a little bit. Not caring what the fans think and just kind of wanting them to hate me, even though I do kind of care what they think; it’s just so fun to portray this mean person, just to see how people react to it. It’s a lot of fun.”
Rey Mysterio having an influence on her outfits:
“Rey Mysterio used to have different outfits as well, and I used to watch Rey growing up; and I thought he was awesome because he had lucha style, which I liked because I was a gymnast. The fact he used to dress up as all kinds of different characters is where I got the idea to do that myself.”
This past Monday on RAW, Alexa Bliss delivered an angle that wasn’t received well by the WWE Universe as she attempted to host a “This Is Your Life” segment for Bayley.
The angle featured some people from Bayley’s past, such as her ex-boyfriend and former best friend who ended up making out in the end. The crowd wasn’t really into it and the WWE was so ashamed with the segment that virtually all references to the segment were removed from their YouTube page, with the exception of Bliss’ attack on Bayley following the event:
WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler took to his podcast, Dinner With The King, to comment on the angle and stated that the WWE needs to “move on” from it:
“Sometimes things happen that just don’t turn out like you envision it. I’m sure that’s exactly what happened there. Here’s the other thing: it’s live T.V. That’s a double-edged sword, believe me. When something doesn’t turn out the way you planned it, there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s there. It was live and everybody saw it. That was just one of those cases. You just gotta move on.”
Lawler also referenced what RAW commentator Booker T said during the ordeal, as his fellow Hall Of Famer said it was “hard to watch”:
“You know what, that could have well have been a Vince [McMahon] line. I’m not sure, because I wasn’t there. But either way, that was the right thing to say. It was probably conveying the thoughts of everybody watching it.”
As we previously noted, WWE RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss recently joined fellow WWE Superstar Chris Jericho’s podcast, Talk Is Jericho, to talk about her journey through the business of professional wrestling.
Bliss commented on going from a ‘bubbly’ baby face to the slick and sly heel she plays today on Monday nights (quotes via WrestleZone):
“It’s a lot of fun. Like when I first found out that I was going to be a heel I had really bad anxiety because the character I portrayed before that was very bubbly, very Princess, completely not relatable whatsoever, so when they told me I was going to turn heel I had very bad anxiety because I don’t know how to be mean and make someone hate me so I had anxiety over it. We would have heat drills inside the Performance Center and I would just stop and start crying. In heat drills, you practice being mean to somebody. You grab your opponent, put some heat on him, say something mean and just keep going. It’s a really cool drill, but I would just have really bad anxiety, but then once I got used to it it just became so much more fun.”
She also spoke on what it was like to go from the WWE’s developmental system in NXT to the main roster, comparing the transition to that of going from high school to college:
“It’s like going from High School to College, for sure. It was really cool because it was kind of that moment when you realize what all that hard work over the years went into in developmental and just having that larger crowd was amazing. Adapting to the travel and the people; I loved having the girls on SmackDown. They were all so welcoming and I wouldn’t be where I am without them.”
Bliss then talked about growing up a wrestling fan and telling the story of how one DX crotch chop to her mom banned her from ever watching the Attitude Era again – at her house at least:
“I absolutely was a wrestling fan. My whole family—big wrestling fans. I watched it since I was 6 I think, about 6. My cousins and I had a blow-up pool that didn’t have water in it, so we pretended to be the Hardys and Lita, so we were jumping in in the pool and acting like we were wrestling. We watched Raw every Monday, we had Pizza and my family watched it. I wasn’t allowed to watch the Attitude Era because my mom told me to clean my room once and I was like, I have two words for you, so I put my arms up to do the ‘Suck It’ and she was like, you’re grounded, and I was like, that’s not how it goes. So I wasn’t allowed to watch the Attitude Era, but my mom would let me watch it anyways at my grandma’s.”
If you’d like to listen to the full interview you could check it out at this link.
RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss was a recent guest on Chris Jericho’s Talk is Jericho podcast, which you can listen to at PodcastOne.com. Bliss spoke about a wide variety of topics, including growing up a wrestling fan and developing into one of the top women’s wrestlers in the world.
Alexa Bliss is one of the best talkers in WWE, but it wasn’t always this way. When asked about her first few interactions with Vince McMahon, Bliss said that Vince had some input about how she came across during promos.
“One of my first promos, I was told that I am way too expressive in my face because I am a naturally an expressive person and he’s like: ‘you gotta bring it down, you gotta calm down a little bit’”
She told another Vince story from her early days on the main roster. One day at television, she was backstage coloring her hair extensions. Vince walked by and Bliss told him that she was embarrassed to be painting her hair in front of him. Vince’s replied, “Oh it’s fine, does mine need any?”
For more on Alexa Bliss’ road to the top of WWE, check out this video of Alexa’s parents talking about her emotional story of overcoming an eating disorder and becoming a WWE champion.
WWE held a live event last night in Rome, Italy. Sasha Banks, Bayley and Mickie James defeated Nia Jax, Emma and Alexa Bliss. After the match ended, Sasha Banks tried to steal Alexa Bliss’ Raw Women’s Championship but the referee got in her way. Alexa then grabbed her title and angrily walked away.
WWE’s “Bring It To The Table” is once again making it’s return to the WWE Network. PWInsider reports that the debate show will return following Monday’s episode of RAW. The first episode of “Bring It To The Table” featured Paul Heyman. However, it appears that he is not returning to the series and the panel is now Peter Rosenberg, JBL and Corey Graves.
WWE’s Superstar Shake-up was a few weeks ago and a bunch of talent switched brands. The change has certainly benefited some Superstars as they have been able to hit the reset button and were given new opportunities. For other Superstars, the brand switch has either done nothing for them or made matters even worse. Below is the list of every Superstar that switched brands after WWE’s Superstar Shake-Up and what they have done on their new show so far.
From SmackDown to RAW:
Bray Wyatt: Bray Wyatt was having a hell of a run on SmackDown until everything fell off the rails. He captured the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber, only to lose it rather quickly to Randy Orton at Wrestlemania 33. It took years for WWE to put a title on Bray Wyatt. They pulled the plug on his title run really quick and he is now feuding with Finn Balor on RAW. The change of brands may help Wyatt in the long run, but right now it is hard to take Wyatt seriously after the match at Wrestlemania 33 and the terrible House of Horrors match at WWE Payback.
The Miz & Maryse: The Miz had an excellent run on SmackDown. He was the Intercontinental Champion and had a terrific feud with Dolph Ziggler. There is no reason that he shouldn’t be able to continue that success on RAW as he is currently the #1 contender for the IC Title. The only down side of Miz joining RAW is that he will no longer be a guest on Talking Smack. His insane rants towards Renee Young and Daniel Bryan will be missed.
Dean Ambrose: Ambrose is currently the Intercontinental Champion, but absolutely needed a fresh start. Even though he is continuing his feud with The Miz from SmackDown, Ambrose was already more entertaining on this past week’s RAW than he was for the last month on SmackDown. Time will tell if Ambrose will grow stale again, but for now he has benefited from the Superstar Shake-Up.
Alexa Bliss: Alexa Bliss was terrific on SmackDown and has carried that over to RAW. She is the best female talent on RAW when it comes to promos. She also has great in-ring ability and always gets a reaction from the crowd. Alexa Bliss has already become RAW Women’s Champion and is the first female Superstar to hold both the Smackdown and RAW Women’s Championships.
Apollo Crews: Shockingly, Apollo Crews has actually benefited from the Superstar Shake-Up. It is hard to believe that becoming a part of the “Titus Brand” is an upgrade, but it actually is. Crews was doing absolutely nothing on SmackDown. At the very least, Crews is becoming a weekly part of RAW. Crews struggles with promos, so the idea of having Titus O’Neil manage him actually helps him.
Kalisto: Kalisto went from getting beatdown by Dolph Ziggler on SmackDown to getting destroyed by Braun Strowman on RAW. To be fair, Kalisto actually did defeat Strowman in a Dumpster Match, he also happened to get stuffed in the dumpster and shoved of the entrance ramp after the match.
Heath Slater, Rhyno & Curt Hawkins: Heath Slater and Rhyno were the first SmackDown Tag Team Champions. After losing the titles, they faded away into obscurity. Since joining RAW, they have essentially done nothing besides backstage segments. Tune in on Monday nights to see if Rhyno is eating cheese and crackers. Curt Hawkins was getting his ass kicked on SmackDown and the exact same thing is happening on RAW. I guess that is an improvement for Hawkins given that more people watch RAW.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGDC-DtppTY
From RAW to SmackDown:
Kevin Owens: Kevin Owens was the Universal Champion for a long time on RAW. However, it wasn’t the best version of Kevin Owens. He relied on Chris Jericho to win matches and consistently looked weak. Once Owens dropped the Universal Championship to Goldberg, he actually became more entertaining. Things really picked up when he turned on Jericho at the Festival of Friendship. Since joining SmackDown, Owens has been declaring himself the “Face of America”. He is back to being ruthless in the ring, while also showing off his impressive promo skills. I think the Superstar Shake-Up has benefited Kevin Owens. The United States Championship may be less important than the Universal Championship, but Owens is much more entertaining in his current role.
The Colons: Formerly The Shining Stars, The Colons have absolutely benefited from the Superstar Shake-Up. Even though SmackDown barely features their tag team division, The Shining Stars was just an awful gimmick and anything would be an upgrade from that.
Sami Zayn: Everyone was hoping for Sami Zayn to join SmackDown while he was on RAW. He was seemingly always coming up short on RAW and SmackDown felt like the perfect show for him. Zayn is gifted in the ring and people believed that he would shine on SmackDown. Unfortunately, that has not been the case at all so far. Zayn’s move to SmackDown has made no difference at all in how he is booked. He is back to losing matches and wrestling people much bigger than him. The Superstar Shake-Up has done nothing for Zayn so far as he seems to be stuck in the same role.
Charlotte Flair: Charlotte Flair is probably the best female wrestler on WWE’s roster. Her athleticism is insane and she can put on a terrific match with anyone. However, Charlotte’s character got old on RAW. Her promos eventually sounded robotic and the WWE Universe was starting to get tired of it. Since joining SmackDown, Charlotte has gone from a heel to a fan favorite. The crowd erupted when she made her way to the ring after being attacked backstage on this past week’s episode of SmackDown.
Jinder Mahal: Without a doubt, Jinder Mahal has been the Superstar that has benefited the most from the Superstar Shake-Up. It didn’t look like that would be the case after his SmackDown debut where he lost to Mojo Rawley. Mahal also took a beer to the face courtesy of Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski. Mahal went on to win a Six-Pack Challenge to become the #1 contender for Randy Orton’s WWE Championship. He even stole Orton’s title and beat him down at WWE Payback. Mahal had an unsuccessful run with WWE and was released from the company. He made his WWE return last year and it looked like it was going to be more of the same. That clearly is not the case and he now has the chance to make a major name for himself heading into his WWE Championship match at WWE Backlash.
New Day, Rusev & Lana: New Day have yet to make their SmackDown debut due to Kofi Kingston being injured. New Day has been boring to me for a long time, hopefully the change of brands brings something fresh to their act. Rusev also hasn’t been on SmackDown yet as he is out with an injury. However, he has demanded a title shot at Money in the Bank. Time will tell if he gets his wish. Finally, Lana hasn’t made her SmackDown debut yet but she will be introducing a new gimmick as seen in the video below.
Discussion: Now that we are a few weeks into it, what are your thoughts on the Superstar Shake-Up so far? Which Superstar do you think has benefited from it the most?
One night after losing the Raw women’s championship in her hometown, Bayley will team up with Sasha Banks to take on Nia Jax, the newly crowned champion, Alexa Bliss.
The match was announced earlier today by a guy Chris Jericho thinks is Tom Phillips:
Raw’s women’s division grew deeper after the Superstar Shakeup. It now consists of: Alexa Bliss (c), Bayley, Sasha Banks, Nia Jax, Mickie James, Emma, Dana Brooke and Alicia Fox. On the roster but currently inactive: Summer Rae, Paige (might not return).
Despite the increased roster size, the division still only had 1 match on the PPV last night.
Tonight’s episode of Raw takes place inside the Golden 1 Centre in Sacramento, California.
Alexa Bliss made history at last night’s WWE Payback pay-per-view when she defeated hometown star Bayley for the RAW Women’s Championship. Bliss is now the first to hold both the SmackDown Women’s Championship (twice) and the RAW Women’s Championship.
It’s an impressive feat for Bliss, who was one of seven NXT Superstars drafted to the main roster last July. Of that group, a strong case could be made that Bliss has had the most success in WWE.
After her heartbreaking loss at Payback, Bayley was interviewed backstage and said it doesn’t matter that she dropped the title in front of her hometown crowd. The symbol of her long journey and her hard work now sits around the waist of Alexa Bliss, whom Bayley says has no respect for anybody. With a dejected tone, Bayley admitted, “I’m not happy and it sucks.”
Here’s a look at Alexa Bliss’ first photo shoot with the RAW Women’s Championship.
On the heels of her historic title win, Alexa Bliss will be Chris Jericho’s guest next week on the Talk is Jericho podcast.
Alexa Bliss recently did a Q&A with the Courier Journal and discussed a number of topics. Alexa Bliss became SmackDown Women’s Champion twice during her time on SmackDown. She has since moved on to WWE RAW after WWE’s Superstar Shake-Up. Here are some highlights from the Bliss interview with Courier Journal:
If the SmackDown Women’s Division is underrated:
“Sometimes SmackDown could be overlooked as Raw is branded as the flagship show, but both of our divisions are solid. Neither of our divisions have a weak link. We all step up our game and we all show time and time again why we are all part of the women’s revolution that’s going on right now. We are all taking the game, changing it and keeping it going.”
How women’s matches have improved in recent years:
“The competition is getting more and more because we all want to keep this revolution going. We’re making history time and time again. We’re main-eventing matches and having historic matches. I had the first ever (women’s singles competition) tables match for the title at TLC (pay-per-view). We’ve had our women in Hell in a Cell and steel-cage matches for the title. These things that haven’t been done before with women and we’re doing them and doing them well. … Our fans have been so behind this women’s revolution and so supportive. We haven’t really had any negative feedback from our fans about our women getting more opportunities, and I think that helps so much.”
The Smackdown Women’s Championship Match being moved to the main card at Wrestlemania 33:
“When we saw the Give SmackDown Women A Chance (#GiveSDWomenAChance) trending on Twitter, we thought it was so awesome. We were happy being on the pre-show; that’s fine because it’s still Wrestlemania. But the fact that our fans demanded something and were given it and for us to be moved to the main card, that was incredible. It just shows how much of an impact our fans have.”
You can check out the entire interview by clicking here.
Sasha Banks came down to the ring and introduced Bayley. Bayley joined Sasha in the ring and thanked the WWE Universe for believing in her. Sasha congratulated Bayley on achieving her Wrestlemania moment but claimed that moment was over. Sasha was about to challenge Bayley for her Raw Women’s Championship but Alexa Bliss interrupted. Alexa Bliss came down to the ring and received a great reaction from the crowd.
Bliss called Sasha Banks and Bayley pathetic and the crowd cheered. Alexa Bliss announced that she was now on Raw and that she is going to take over the Raw Women’s division. Mickie James then joined the party and announced that she was also joining the Raw roster. Mickie James warned Alexa Bliss that her nightmare has just begun on Monday Night Raw. Nia Jax then attacked Mickie James from behind. Nia then beatdown everyone else and raised the Raw Women’s Championship above her head.
Check back here on SEScoops and join our Raw live discussion to find out the other WWE Superstars that are changing brands during the Superstar Shake-Up.
– With WrestleMania weekend and NXT Takeover: Orlando fast approaching, the Wrestling Observer reported this week that Shinsuke Nakamura is getting called up to the main roster “very shortly” and will most likely be joining the RAW brand. Nakamura is scheduled to face Bobby Roode for the NXT Championship at Takeover, so Roode’s title reign is most likely safe for the foreseeable. Earlier this week WWE announced that NXT is returning to the UK in June and Nakamura was conspicuously absent from the tour’s promotional artwork.
– During last month’s WWE investor conference call, WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon acknowledged that the reported attendance for WrestleMania 32 (101,763) was not all paid fans, but the total number of people in the building. While that number is still overinflated, Brandon Howard of Fightful.com reached out to the Arlington police department and uncovered that there were actually 80,709 fans who went through the turnstiles at AT&T Stadium that day.
– WWE producer Brian “Road Dogg” James has addressed the rumor going around that WWE officials are not entirely happy with Alexa Bliss’ ring work as of late. James shot down the notion and stated that Bliss is adored by everyone in WWE.
hell no! She is adored by EVERYONE. She's a star dude and everyone knows it. This is what's wrong w/the internet lol #bull?
AJ Styles attacked Smackdown Commissioner Shane McMahon last night on Smackdown and slammed his head through a car window. Smackdown GM Daniel Bryan then “fired” AJ Styles shortly after that. Smackdown went off the air with Shane McMahon stating that Styles now has an opponent for Wrestlemania 33. Today, the WWE has removed Styles from their active roster on their website and placed him in the Alumni roster. Styles clearly isn’t actually fired but it appears that Smackdown will be continuing with the storyline that Styles is off the Smackdown roster, even after Shane McMahon challenged him to a match last night.
Carmella and Mickie James were on Talking Smack last night and were interrupted by Natalya and Becky Lynch. Natalya declared herself the leader of the Women’s division on Smackdown and nobody bought it. Alexa Bliss then showed up and blamed Daniel Bryan for causing all of this chaos. Daniel Bryan announced last week that Alexa Bliss will be defending her Smackdown Women’s Championship against “every available woman on the Smackdown roster” at Wrestlemania 33.
Alexa Bliss is now a two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion after defeating Becky Lynch for the vacant championship on last night’s SmackDown.
The show opened with Daniel Bryan forcing Naomi to relinquish the championship due to the injury she apparently suffered in the win over Bliss at Elimination Chamber two weeks ago. Bryan then made Bliss vs. Becky and that match saw Bliss get the win with a cheap shot.
It should be noted that Naomi did wrestle at a WWE house show the night after Elimination Chamber.
