– As confirmed during RAW last night, in a non-title match, Becky Lynch will take on Divas Champion Nikki Bella in singles competition on SmackDown.
– During last night’s main event on RAW (shown above), John Cena broke his nose after taking a knee to the face from Seth Rollins who was challenging him for the United States title.
After RAW went off the air, Joey Styles posted the following photo of Cena and his broken nose, linking to various others which can be seen on the WWE website at this link:
– WWE is scheduled to release their “Beast In The East” WWE Network special from Japan on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom and Australia on October 5th. In addition to the matches that aired on the WWE Network live special, the DVD will also feature the dark matches, which included Cesaro vs. Diego and The New Day vs. The Lucha Dragons.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair is scheduled to make an appearance for Top Rope Promotions at their Summer Showdown 2015 event on July 31st. For more information, visit Facebook.com/TopRopePromotions.
– John Laurinaitis posted the following photo on social media that features Irish WWE performers Becky Lynch, Sheamus and Fit Finlay.
Tammy ‘Sunny’ Sytch has been among the most outspoken individuals in the professional wrestling industry and she furthered that reputation Monday night by offering her controversial opinion on the three newest members of WWE’s Divas roster, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and Charlotte.
While watching Monday Night Raw, she posted the following on her personal Facebook account:
The WWE Hall of Famer garnered a mixed response from her Facebook friends, with those defending the trio touting their wrestling skills. Sytch said in response to those people:
“you guys dont get what a diva should be.”
“ive never been a fan of womens wrestling.. leave it to the men.. and my opinion of how someone looks is my opinion… as if no one has ever judged me??”
Sytch, however, was complementary of one WWE Diva.
– The official result of the Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WWE Battleground last night is a “No Contest,” according to WWE.com. As seen during the show last night, the Lesnar-Rollins match ended when The Undertaker returned and attacked Lesnar.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross will review WWE Battleground on his “Ross Report” podcast this week with The Fight Network’s John Pollock. The show will be available tomorrow night at PodcastOne.com.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair took the following photo backstage at WWE Battleground last night with his daughter Charlotte, as well as Paige and Becky Lynch.
WWE reportedly went back-and-forth in recent weeks over how to bring the group of NXT Divas to the main roster, as well as which Divas to use, so much so that arguments broke out between various members of the creative team.
At one point, there was an idea to bring the NXT Divas to the main roster and have them replace the current WWE Divas division, outside of a couple of Divas that could keep up, as well as those needed because of Total Divas.
Stephanie McMahon was always scheduled to be involved and that fact was never debated, however there was some discussion as to whether or not she should take credit for bringing the Divas in on television, as it is seen as a babyface move.
Originally, there was talk of calling up four NXT Divas — Sasha Banks, Charlotte Becky Lynch and Bayley, and at times, they were thinking about bringing only two NXT Divas to the main roster — either Charlotte and Banks or Charlotte and Lynch.
The belief is that both Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are invested in this angle and are fully in support of it, so it likely won’t be one of those WWE angles that is quickly forgotten about in a matter of a few weeks.
The Monday, July 13, 2015, WWE Battleground “go-home” edition of WWE RAW averaged 3.531 million viewers for the show that featured the main roster debut of Sasha Banks, Charlotte and Becky Lynch, as well as the final angles heading into this Sunday’s pay-per-view.
Despite the big NXT Divas storyline debut and final angles before Sunday’s big event, RAW was down this week in viewership, as last week’s show averaged 3.647 million viewers.
The hourly viewership breakdown for this week’s edition of WWE RAW is as follows:
Hour One: 3.432 million viewers
Hour Two: 3.514 million viewers
Hour Three: 3.647 million viewers
– Former NXT Diva Becky Lynch posted the following on Twitter regarding her main roster debut on Monday’s WWE Battleground “go-home” edition of WWE RAW in Atlanta, Georgia.
– John Cena and Michael Strahan shared some raps during Cena’s appearance on “Live! With Kelly & Michael” this morning, which you can check out above.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley noted on Facebook that he cried when Sasha Banks, Charlotte and Becky Lynch debuted on the main roster on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW. Foley wrote the following:
“I actually shed tears of happiness while watching the women on ?#RAW?! The first non-death related, non-Green Mile, non-Tori Amos induced tears I’ve shed since I was 14. Truly one of my all-time favorite ??WWE? moments!”
On Monday’s WWE Battleground “go-home” edition of RAW, Stephanie McMahon announced a revolution of women’s wrestling in WWE.
Stephanie brought up the success of women in sports these days and went on to bring Becky Lynch, Charlotte and Sasha Banks to the main roster.
The storyline appears to be three groups of six, as Team Bella consists of The Bella Twins and Alicia Fox, while Becky Lynch, Charlotte and Paige were grouped together, and the trio of Naomi, Tamina and Sasha Banks were paired together.
– NXT Diva Becky Lynch is out of action for a few weeks due to a hip flexor injury that she suffered during her NXT Takeover match with Sasha Banks. Lynch had continued to work through the injury, however she is now taking some time off to recover.
– WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella is currently working with a partially separated shoulder. There is currently no word as to whether or not the injury is something that will eventually require her to take time off or not.
WWE is currently discussing the possibility of bringing in additional part-time talent, such as Samoa Joe and Rhyno, for their NXT brand.
Internally, WWE is looking at their plans for 2016 lately and the feeling is most of their current top stars in NXT, such as Finn Balor, Sami Zayn, Hideo Itami, Tyler Breeze, Sasha Banks, Charlotte and Becky Lynch, by all rights should be on the main roster by then, meaning they will need to replace those top spots on NXT shows.
WWE is looking to secure enough high-profile independent talent to fill what is expected to be several open top spots to carry a full NXT card, which will be tough to do if the aforementioned talent move up to the main roster and the current trainees aren’t ready to move up within the developmental system.
According to one source, this is the reason that WWE has been negotiating with Evolve about a “feeder system” or a “farm league” system that would include merchandise deals and other business agreements that would help them avoid the situation they recently found themselves in with Kevin Owens’ recent Ring Of Honor merchandise.
– WWE has announced that NXT Diva Becky Lynch will be returning to action on this week’s edition of NXT television on the WWE Network. Lynch last worked at the NXT Takeover: Unstoppable special, losing to NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks.
– Legendary pro wrestling personality Jim Cornette is the guest on the latest edition of Roddy Piper’s “Piper’s Pit” podcast. You can download the show right now at PodcastOne.com.
– As noted earlier today, WWE touted the fact that they have surpassed the half a billion follower mark on social media. WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has commented on the milestone, as you can see in the following tweet he posted earlier today.
Although the word going around earlier this week was that Sasha Banks was not injured, the talk now is that she suffered either an arm or shoulder injury.
Banks was scheduled to work a match during the fourth episode of Thursday’s NXT television tapings, but she ended up leaving to go to the hospital when her fiancee’ — Sarath Ton, working as Mikaze — was knocked unconscious during a tag-team match.
It’s not currently clear whether or not Banks went into her match at NXT Takeover against Becky Lynch with the injury, or how serious it was if she did.
NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Bayley and Becky Lynch spoke to WWE.com this week about their efforts to change the face of women’s wrestling.
Dubbed the “Four Horsewomen of NXT,” each of them talked about what they’re doing to ensure WWE has no choice but to #GiveDivasAChance.
Charlotte said it’s hard to be the “hardest worker in the room” in the NXT Women’s division, because everybody is the hardest worker in the room. She raved about Triple H’s decision to hire (the recently promoted) Sara Del Rey and said she gets goosebumps thinking about how lucky she is to have so many talented women to work with.
Bayley said Triple H has been incredibly supportive of them, showing a lot of interest in each individual. Triple H has solidified their mission to revolutionize women’s wrestling.
Becky Lynch said she stopped watching wrestling many years ago because it didn’t seem like women had a chance to be featured in a meaningful way. She said she walked around the WWE Performance Center and did not see any women’s wrestlers featured on the WWE PPV poster banners there. She knows that in five years, when she walks around the performance center, she’s going to see Bayley, Sasha and Charlotte on those banners. “Hopefully I’ll see myself, too, but I know I’m going to see them, and it’s not just because they’re good for girls. They’re just good. Just really good, and we’re just changing.”
Sasha Banks said that when she was working the indies, people wouldn’t care about women’s matches. Now, people come up to her and tell her she had the best match on the show. Male wrestlers come up to her and admit they are going to have a hard time following her match, which is an amazing feeling.
– Actor Stephen Amell of “Arrow” fame noted on social media that he will be in attendance for tonight’s Elimination Chamber “go-home” edition of WWE RAW, the final RAW ever at the famous Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
– WWE has pulled Hideo Itami and Becky Lynch t-shirts from their WWE Shop website. The Lynch shirts in particular read “Lass Kicker,” which caused some negative feedback on social media, and was likely part of the reason they were pulled.
– R-Truth is featured on the latest edition of WWE’s “Canvas 2 Canvas” web show. You can check that out below.
– There’s no word yet if NXT Champion Kevin Owens will be appearing on Monday’s “go-home” edition of RAW to promote his match with John Cena on next Sunday’s WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. WWE is, however, teasing that Cena will address what happened with Owens last week for the first time on Monday’s RAW. Additionally, Cena will hold yet another “U.S. Open Challenge” on RAW.
– WWE performers Sheamus and Becky Lynch posted the following comments on social media about Ireland becoming the first nation to approve same-sex marriage.
– Samoa Joe made his NXT in-ring debut at Thursday night’s tapings and was featured prominently on the shows that will air through June 17th. The 4-episode taping culminates with Joe facing off against NXT Champion Kevin Owens in a non-title match.
For complete NXT TV spoilers for the next four weeks, click here.
It’s also worth noting that Samoa Joe’s new WWEShop.com t-shirt is currently sold out.
Joe will be wrestling this weekend for Absolute Intense Wrestling this Sunday (5/24) in Cleveland, Ohio against Johnny Gargano.
AIW promoter John Thorne jokingly tweeted that he might reach out to CM Punk about replacing Joe on the show. Punk responded asking what the offer was, but obviously they were just messing around.
– Despite successfully defending her NXT Women’s Championship against Becky Lynch at the NXT Takeover: Unstoppable special on Wednesday, Sasha Banks did not work last night’s NXT TV tapings. There is currently no word yet as to why she didn’t work the show.
– Mick Foley and his son were in attendance for the NXT TV tapings last night. They were also in attendance at the “Unstoppable” show on Wednesday night.
– Stephanie McMahon is scheduled to be at NXT Takeover: “Unstoppable” tonight.
– Ahead of tonight’s NXT special, WWE has released new t-shirts for Hideo Itami, Enzo Amore and Big Cass and Becky Lynch, which says “Lass Licker.”
– Real-life WWE couple Stardust (Cody Rhodes) and ring announcer Eden recently bought a house together in Texas and noted that they plan to move into the home this week.
– On social media, WWE Diva Paige praised third generation wrestler Tessa Blanchard, daughter of WWE Hall Of Famer Tully Blanchard. Paige tweeted the following:
WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley is hyping up the upcoming NXT Women’s Championship match between Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch at the upcoming NXT Takeover live special on the WWE Network.
In his latest official Facebook blog, Foley touched on the Banks-Lynch showdown.
“I’m going out on a limb here and predicting ?#?BeckyLynch? and Sasha Banks will have a ?#?MatchOfTheYear? type of contest on May 20 at ?#?NXTTakeover?. (No pressure at all ladies.),” said Foley. “I just get the feeling that both women are at the right place, at the right time, with the right combination of skills, character, and in-ring chemistry to pull it off.
“One of my GREAT regrets is that I didn’t make it to the WWE NXT show in ?#?SanJose? during ?#?Mania? week, for what I heard was a sure fire contender for Match of the Year with Sasha and Ms Charlotte.”
Foley concluded, “No doubt about it, 2015 is shaping up to be a great year for ?#?WomensWrestling?”
– WWE.com has issued a poll asking fans which NXT Diva should move to the main roster following AJ Lee’s retirement. The options are Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Bayley, Alex Bliss, Becky Lynch and Carmella. Charlotte is currently leading the poll with 41% of the vote.
After feuding on social media over the weekend, Titus O’Neil has been teasing a match between The Prime Time Players and The New Day for tonight’s edition of WWE RAW, which emanates from Austin, Texas.
For those who missed it, here’s a segment from last week’s SmackDown that features The Prime Time Players making fun of The New Day.
– Former WWE performer Vickie Guerrero announced that she has been selected to represent the class of 2015 at Herzing University at the 50th Anniversary Alumni Gala. “All expense paid weekend in Tampa and I will be giving my testimony on my life story,” wrote Guerrero on Facebook. “I am blessed and grateful to be recognized among my classmates!”
– In the following videos, NXT Diva Becky Lynch talks with The Miami Herald’s Jim Varsallone about her time in WWE thus far.
The following are results of the NXT TakeOver: Rival special, which aired live on the WWE Network on Wednesday, February 11, 2015.
– Hideo Itami def. Tyler Breeze in an excellent opening match. This was a solid match to kick off the special. The crowd was hot for it throughout. In the end, Itami picked up the “W” with a running kick to the face.
– Baron Corbin def. Bull Dempsey in a No DQ match. Dempsey dominated a lot of the action throughout the majority of the match, however in the end, Corbin hit his End Of Days finisher for the 1-2-3.
– Wesley Blake & Buddy Murphy def. The Lucha Dragons to retain the NXT Tag-Team Championships. This was a solid tag-team match with a ton of fast-paced, high-flying spots. In the end, Blake hit a top rope frog splash on Sin Cara for the pinfall victory.
– Finn Balor def. Adrian Neville to become the new number one contender to the NXT Championship. Balor did his elaborate entrance, which as usual, received a big reaction from the crowd. Neville dominated a lot of the action throughout, including multiple believable near falls, however in the end, Falor hit a giant double foot stomp off the top rope to score the win.
– As noted recently, Randy Orton has been advertised locally to return at several of the past WWE television tapings, but was held back due to creative decisions made by the company. Orton is being advertised for the February 16th edition of RAW in Orlando, which is the Fast Lane “go-home” edition of the show. With Orton scheduled to return in time for a program at WrestleMania 31, one would assume that if he doesn’t return on the 2/16 RAW show, he will be returning either at the pay-per-view itself, or at RAW the following night.
– The following matches were taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida for tonight’s edition of NXT on the WWE Network:
– Emma vs. Carmella
– Adrian Neville vs. Baron Corbin (Semifinals of the No. 1 Contender’s Tournament)
– Bayley vs. Becky Lynch
– Hideo Itami vs. Finn Bálor (Semifinals of the No. 1 Contender Tournament)
– Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville vs. Kevin Owens and Tyson Kidd
Check out the official video promo for tonight’s NXT show below.
The WWE’s next generation was back in class last night, meaning it’s time to grade their performances. Matches will be graded based on usual factors such as workrate, in-ring psychology, crowd involvement, and overall impact on the storyline. Important promos will also be graded based on entertainment value, believability, and originality.
Without further ado, here is this week’s NXT Report Card.
Tyson Kidd vs. Finn Balor
This week’s show kicked off in a big way, as two of the most talented athletes in NXT locked up. Balor came out firing, going for the diving double foot stomp just seconds into the match.
Kidd eventually took control and slowed the match to a methodical pace, at one point driving Balor through the barricade into about the third row. Balor eventually turned it around after hitting the move Alex Riley so eloquently described as a “floating, spinning neckbreaker of some kind.”
After delivering a kick to the head and hitting a somersault over the top rope to the floor, Balor dominated the rest of the contest (aside from a minor Kidd offensive), eventually picking up the victory after hitting a diving double foot stomp.
Result: Finn Balor wins via pinfall
Analysis: Most importantly, I think it’s awesome that Tyson’s gimmick is basically a guy who loves cats and Beats headphones. With that said, these two worked very well together. The action was fast paced for the most part, and it was nice to see Balor get the win. He definitely needed the win more, and as much as I love seeing Balor and Itami together, I’m hoping he starts his solo career in the near future.
