The new faction, “A New Day,” made their official WWE debut on Friday’s edition of SmackDown, as Xavier Woods, Big E. and Kofi Kingston defeated Curtis Axel, Heath Slater and Titus O’Neil in six man tag-team action.
After the show, Woods tweeted the following about the group finally making their television debut.
– According to one source, there’s a chance that the new faction, “A New Day,” which features Xavier Woods, Big E. and Kofi Kingston, may make their official debut at this Sunday’s WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view.
– In the latest edition of “WWE Inbox,” which you can see below, various WWE Superstars and WWE Divas discuss “The Icon” Sting.
We are just days away from the WWE’s latest pay-per-view, Survivor Series. At last year’s event, Randy Orton defended his championship against the Big Show in a highly criticized main event. This time around, it will be John Cena risking his job in an attempt to slay the Authority.
The shelf life of a WWE superstar can be short, so it’s always important for competitors to make the most of their time in the ring, especially at pay-per-views. Here is a look at the superstars who have progressed, regressed, or remained stagnant over the past year.
Progression:
Luke Harper
Harper has made tremendous strides over the past year. He and former partner Erick Rowan were destroyed by Daniel Bryan and CM Punk at last year’s Survivor Series. He walks into this year’s event as a surprise Intercontinental Champion, and is booked into the main event with Team Authority. Harper’s stock is definitely on the rise.
Ryback
It appears the company is once again fond of Ryback. The Big Guy was basically buried in the midcard after his feud with John Cena last year, including a quick defeat at the hands of Mark Henry last year at Survivor Series. He has been the focal point of WWE television over the past few weeks, so it will be interesting to see where they go from here. One can hope that this isn’t simply a stopgap measure until guys like Reigns and Lesnar get back on television.
Honorable Mention: Ambrose/Rollins
It’s difficult to talk about progression without mentioning the former Shield brothers. These two were destroyed last year in a match whose only purpose was to get Roman Reigns over as a singles competitor. (Dean Ambrose was eliminated 2 minutes into this match and Rollins eventually stepped aside so the Spear party could commence.) What difference a year makes, however. Rollins is the leader of Team Authority and arguably the star of the main event, while Ambrose has elevated himself and will attempt to solidify the midcard on Sunday.
As seen in recent ads for WrestleMania 31, the WWE Superstars that are most prominently featured in the majority of those ads are Daniel Bryan, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Roman Reigns, Mark Henry, Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose. Apparently the reason Henry is included among those guys is because the WWE advertising department were told to include an African-American in the main ads for the show.
Other ads for the show, such as those at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, where the show will take place next year, have Randy Orton and Bad News Barrett instead of Dean Ambrose and Daniel Bryan, and include Big E. as one of the big six.
WWE Superstars is being taped live right now in Liverpool, England. Below are spoiler results of the taping.
– Sin Cara def. Curtis Axel in the opening bout. The match lasted about five minutes. Oddly enough, Axel got a pretty strong reception from the crowd. In the end, Sin Cara picked up the “W” after hitting Axel with a Swanton for the pin.
– Big E. def. Heath Slater in the second match of the taping. Slater actually got a great reaction from the fans in Liverpool. Big E. was boo’d by the crowd, as he worked as a heel throughout the match. Slater got a mini-comeback spot near the end of the match, however when all was said and done, Big E. picked up the pinfall victory.
We are less than one week away from the WWE’s latest pay-per-view, Hell in a Cell. At last year’s event, Shawn Michaels betrayed Daniel Bryan in a championship match against Randy Orton.
A lot has changed over the past year, evidenced by the fact that Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose will be headlining half of the double main event. The shelf life of a WWE superstar can be short, so it’s always important for superstars to make the most of their time in the ring, especially at pay-per-views. Here is a look at the superstars who have progressed, regressed, or remained stagnant over the past year.
Progression:
1. Dean Ambrose
Nobody had made more progress since last year than Dean Ambrose. At last year’s event, Ambrose was an invisible US Champion and lost his undercard contest to Big E by countout.
This year, he will be headlining the event in a Hell in a Cell match with Seth Rollins. He continues to receive as much airtime as anyone on Raw each week and has been getting great reactions from the crowds. What a difference a year makes.
2. Seth Rollins
Although Dean Ambrose has progressed the most over the past year, his former partner Seth Rollins is a close second. Rollins will be joining Ambrose inside of a Hell in a Cell for half of the main event, and also holds the Money in the Bank briefcase.
Over the past year, Rollins has improved every aspect of his game. He is stronger on the mic, he developed a convincing and unique finisher, and has adopted a heel personality that has gotten over with the fans. Rollins is a star on the rise and without a doubt a future world champion.
– As noted earlier today, the faction consisting of Xavier Woods, Big E. and Kofi Kingston is rumored to be named “The Smart Athletic Friends,” however F4WOnline.com reports that the group will be called “Speed Force.” We also noted earlier today that each individual pairing among the three would have their own name, one of which was “Speed Force,” however the F4WOnline report claims that is the name of the trio as a whole.
– Below is this week’s “SmackDown Fallout” video, which features WWE Diva Natalya.
Xavier Woods has been referring to his stable with Kofi Kingston and Big E. as “The Smart Athletic Friends,” however it appears each tag-team combination of the group will have their own individual names. Woods and Kingston teamed up this weekend and the duo was called “Speed Force.”
As far as whether or not the group are heels, they worked last night’s live event as babyfaces against Los Matadores. They have worked as heels in the past, however lately they seem to be getting a try out as good guys.
– Goldberg’s debut on WCW Nitro was 17 years ago to the day this past Monday. As a result, Big E. and Xavier Woods paid tribute to him on the WWE App this week in a comedy segment, which you can check out at WWE.com.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently responded to a fan on Twitter who asked him if Sting should wrestle more than one match for WWE. JR replied by saying the following:
“@JuanDeMarco4: @JRsBBQ Do u think @Sting will do more than 1 match in Wwe???”
He could but I wouldn't. One match at WM31 is the deal
WWE RAW emanates from the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee with the fallout from Sunday night’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, who successfully retained his title in his rematch against John Cena on Sunday, is not advertised to be a part of the show. Also expected to be absent tonight are Chris Jericho and Roman Reigns.
Superstars that are advertised for tonight’s show include Dean Ambrose, The Wyatt Family, Randy Orton, John Cena, Seth Rollins, Triple H, Kane, Cesaro, Sheamus, Big E and The Usos.
In the case of Reigns, as noted above, he is not expected to appear, however he is included in the advertisements for the show. It’s worth noting that this is likely a case of advertisements that were released prior to his emergency surgery this weekend.
WWE is focusing on the following points in their “RAW Five-Point Preview” for tonight’s show.
– Who is next for Brock Lesnar?
– Will Dolph Ziggler look for retribution on The Miz tonight?
– What will Goldust and Stardust do next?
– Will Paige and Nikki Bella prey upon AJ Lee now that she’s the Divas Champion?
– Will Dean Ambrose strike at Seth Rollins once again?
– Batista recently made an appearance at the Chicago Wizard World convention to promote his new blockbuster movie, Guardians of the Galaxy. WWE Paul Heyman’s Heyman Hustle site has exclusive photos from the event.
– Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods are once again being paired together at WWE live events. After WWE seemed to pull the plug on the group that many fans are referring to as the ‘new’ Nation of Domination, Big E and Kofi (with Xavier Woods at ringside) teamed together to defeat NXT Tag Team Champions The Ascension. Big E and Kofi worked as heels.
Here’s a photo of them together after their match:
– NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte defeated Bayley in what was said to be an excellent main event at the NXT live event in Citrus Springs, Florida on Sunday night. The reason the NXT Divas were in the headline match of the evening was because several of NXT’s top talents were on the road with the main WWE roster this weekend.
NXT Champion Adrian Neville defeated fellow NXT performer Tyler Breeze at the WWE live event in Dayton, Ohio. Sami Zayn defeated Tyson Kidd and The Ascension lost to Big E. and Kofi Kingston at the WWE live event in Hampton, Virginia.
– Speaking of NXT, several new promos for NXT Takeover 2 have been added to the official NXT Instagram account. The two newest additions feature Sami Zayn and Sasha Banks talking about the upcoming live WWE Network special. You can check those out at Instagram.com/wwenxt.
The status of the new version of the “Nation Of Domination” faction in WWE, which consists of Big E., Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston has been a hot topic among fans this past week. One of the main reasons is due to the fact that the group has been used at recent WWE live events and in dark matches, both as babyfaces and heels.
Apparently the members of the group have been told by WWE that they will be used together in the future. As of right now, WWE is trying to figure out the best way to present the group and how they want to move forward with it in the future.
The following are highlights of a new interview with Washington Redskins star Adam Gettis:
On his former college teammate Big E’s strength: “Before he had his ACL injuries he was squatting 600 or 700 pounds, he was benching 600 or 700 pounds… he’s just a monster in the weight room.”
On Big E’s future in WWE: “I’m thinking if he can get back into the Intercontinental Championship look or get pushed for the U.S. Title or one of the belts, he can get put over on some guys and it’ll make him the man.”
On John Cena possibly suffering a concussion at the hands of Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam: “After that second suplex, you could just see it in his face. He started turning red and he was holding his neck and he just had that glazed look over his eyes. I just knew after that it wasn’t a good deal at all.”
On Brock Lesnar winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship: “I think it’s a great idea that he won. I went to Mick Foley’s (comedy show) and he said that the perfect person to go over on John Cena and win the championship was Brock Lesnar. And I agree with him totally. But the way he did it though, I thought it was awesome. Finally somebody just went out and dominated John Cena for the first time. I was happy to see it. I am a John Cena fan, but it was good for somebody else to go over on him as good as he did.”
Last night’s Raw was held in Portland, Oregon and featured a crowd packed with hipsters, a few memorable contests, and the nWo reunion that had been teased on social media all week leading into the event.
The show was the “go-home” edition of Raw and was the final build for Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view. As always, a few questions were answered, but many still remain. Here are five questions that need to be answered following Monday’s Raw.
5. Is Corporate Kane Back Permanently?
Kane was back in his suit and tie this week on Raw, having once again handed in his mask on last week’s episode. The Demon made a match between Roman Reigns and RybAxel before departing for the locker room.
My question is simple: Does Kane have anything left in the tank with his corporate character? It seems the company doesn’t know what to do with him, as he has shifted back and forth between demon and corporate Kane over the past few months. If Kane is going to become a permanent fixture in the Authority storyline, hopefully something worthwhile comes of it, because it otherwise simply results in a convoluted storyline.
4. Where Have the Usos Been?
The Usos were absent from Raw this past week (other than the announcers issuing an open challenge on their behalf for tonight’s Main Event), and with SummerSlam only a few days away, they are also noticeably absent from the pay-per-view card. There are rumors of a fatal four-way tag team contest being put together for the pre-show, but nothing has been confirmed thus far.
With the Usos having defeated basically every tag team on the roster and holding the titles for most of the year, I think it is time for the brothers to drop the titles. Nothing against the Usos, but they have fought everyone on the roster and their run is quickly becoming stale. It appeared the titles were going to be put on the Wyatt Family a few weeks back, but the Usos prevailed. Hopefully a title change can shake up an otherwise stagnant tag team division.
Kofi Kingston has been working as a baby face during the WWE tour of Australia, leading to some speculation that WWE may have dropped the potential new “Nation Of Domination” type faction.
Additionally, Big E. was flying solo on the latest edition of SmackDown in his loss to Rusev and has been tagging with Diego as a baby face at recent WWE live events.
WWE hasn’t made a mention of a faction with Big E., Kingston and Xavier Woods in over a week and according to some, the idea in general may have been dropped.
It looks like a match between The Usos and the team of Big E. and Kofi Kingston may take place at SummerSlam for the WWE Tag-Team Championships, as opposed to the previously reported idea of a fatal four-way match between four tag-teams for the titles.
Outside of that match and the other officially announced matches, as well as the rumored matches we have talked about here on the website over the past few days, it would seem that the lineup for this year’s SummerSlam is now finalized, perhaps with the potential addition of a “Kickoff Show” match or two.
Following Monday’s RAW, here is an updated look at the official WWE Battleground pay-per-view lineup:
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
– Kane vs. Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton vs. John Cena
Battle Royal for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
– Cesaro, Kofi Kingston, Damien Sandow, The Great Khali, Rob Van Dam, Dolph Ziggler, Big E., Ryback, Curtis Axel, Alberto Del RIo, Bo Dallas, Sheamus and Fandango
– Following Monday’s edition of WWE RAW in Montreal, here is the updated list of official participants confirmed for the Intercontinental Championship Battle Royal at the upcoming WWE Battleground pay-per-view: Cesaro, Kofi Kingston, Damien Sandow, The Great Khali, Rob Van Dam, Dolph Ziggler, Big E., Ryback, Curtis Axel, Alberto Del RIo, Bo Dallas, Sheamus and Fandango.
– The following is the Bret Hart and “Bret Sandhart” segment from Monday’s RAW:
Following Friday’s edition of WWE SmackDown, here is the updated list of official participants in the WWE Intercontinental Championship Battle Royal at the upcoming WWE Battleground pay-per-view:
– Cesaro
– Kofi Kingston
– Damien Sandow
– The Great Khali
– Rob Van Dam
– Dolph Ziggler
– Big E
– Ryback
– Curtis Axel
– Alberto Del Rio
– Bo Dallas
Below is the latest edition of “SmackDown Fallout,” which features WWE United States Champion Sheamus:
Today is the all-important day where Americans celebrate their independence by consuming large amounts of alcohol and grilled fare. No WWE superstar claims to have America’s best interests in mind more than Jack Swagger.
The so-called Real American, accompanied by his founding father Zeb Colter, has advocated an isolationist domestic policy that is free of illegal immigrants. Along the way, Swagger has made national headlines by entering into a feud with conservative radio host Glenn Beck.
It appeared that Swagger was in the midst of a massive push while bickering with Beck, having just defeated accomplished stars such as Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, and Daniel Bryan to earn a chance to compete against Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 29.
Swagger and Colter made national news in 2013 after attracting the attention of Glenn Beck.
Unfortunately for Swagger, he was arrested for DUI and possession of marijuana, ending what could have been a classic feud between a border-protecting nationalist and an immigrant Mexican. Del Rio defeated Swagger at WrestleMania and the Real American was quickly shifted out of the main event scene.
Since aligning himself with Zeb Colter, Swagger has always acted as a heel, often using cheap heat as a way to get his character over. However, it seems as if a face turn could be just around the corner.
In recent months, Rusev has been dominating the WWE roster, taking out superstars such as Big E, Kofi Kingston, and R-Truth. Much like Swagger, Rusev has also used cheap heat as a way to build his character, praising Vladimir Putin and Russia along the way.
Rusev was up to his usual antics this past week when the crowd actually started chanting for Jack Swagger. Colter and Swagger defended America by taking out Rusev and acting as faces for the first time since joining one another. Unsurprisingly, Colter cut an amazing promo on Rusev and Lana, perfectly setting up what could be an entertaining feud.
The following is the final card for tonight’s WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view:
Money In The Bank Ladder Match (WWE World Heavyweight Championship)
– John Cena vs. Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton vs. Cesaro vs. Kane vs. Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio
Money In The Bank Ladder Match (Briefcase For Title Shot Up To One Year)
– Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Jack Swagger vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Bad News Barrett*
WWE Tag-Team Championship
– The Usos (c) vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan
WWE Divas Championship
Paige (c) vs. Naomi
Divas Match (Special Guest Referee: Fandango)
– Summer Rae vs. Layla
Tag-Team Match
– Goldust & Stardust vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel
Singles Match
– Rusev vs. Big E.
* – Barrett suffered a separated shoulder during the SmackDown taping this past Tuesday, however WWE has yet to announce whether or not he has been pulled from his match.
Make sure to join us here later tonight for the absolute best live play-by-play results coverage of the fifth annual WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view!
The WWE’s brightest stars will attempt to cash in at this Sunday’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view. Two ladder matches will main event the program, with one being held to declare a new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. In addition, former champion Daniel Bryan will address the WWE Universe during the pre-show.
Here are my predictions for this Sunday’s event.
Summer Rae vs. Layla (Fandango Guest Referee)
I was never the biggest Fandango supporter, but I definitely thought he would be doing something bigger than referring a divas match a year ago. He has regressed over the past year and lost a lot of momentum. This will likely be the bathroom break match of the night, and Fandango will play a major role in the outcome, of course. Summer Rae will win this one by either rejoining Fandango or using him to influence the outcome of the contest before abandoning him.
Winner: Summer Rae by pinfall
Rusev vs. Big E
These guys performed well together at last month’s Payback, even though they were given less than four minutes total. They will hopefully get a little more time during this one, allowing both superstars to showcase their strengths.
I think Rusev will ultimately win this one, but Big E will also look strong during the match. Big E cut a passionate promo on last week’s Raw, so it appears the WWE wants to showcase him a bit more. Both guys will look good, but Rusev will force Big E to tap out in the end.
Winner: Rusev by submission
Stardust and Goldust vs. Ryback and Curtis Axel
The Rhodes Brothers storyline has been moving slowly over the past few months. It first looked as if the two brothers were going to feud with one another, with Cody searching for an adequate replacement because he felt Goldust deserved better.
He eventually rebranded himself as Stardust and the two have been on a winning streak ever since. They will continue to look strong on Sunday, picking up the win after Cody hits his Diamond Dust finisher on Curtis Axel.
Money in the Bank is only a few days away, and it appears that the card is all but set. There are two ladder matches scheduled so fans can enjoy double the fun. Leading into the event, most questions have been answers, but a few still remain. Here are five questions that need to be answered heading into Money in the Bank.
5. Should Big E Be Given More Time to Speak?
This past week on Raw, Big E cut a rather passionate promo on Rusev. During his Intercontinental Title run, Big E was never really given an opportunity to connect with fans, leading many, including myself, to believe that his run with the title was stale.
However, after seeing him on Raw last week, I think that he could be one of the top superstars if booked properly. Instead of writing Big E cookie cutter promos that bore the fans, he should be given more time to speak freely and be himself as he did on Raw. If he had been given this opportunity while he still held the title, he could still be holding the strap today.
4. Will Bad News Barrett Compete?
Bad News Barrett was unfortunately the one receiving the bad news this week after separating his shoulder during a SmackDown taping. It seems that Barrett cannot avoid the injury bug, as he has been known to go down to injury at the worst possible times.
There has been no official announcement regarding his status for this Sunday’s pay-per-view, but it seems as if he will have to sit out while his fellow competitors attempt to win at shot at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. One can only hope that he recovers quickly and gets back in the ring, especially considering how successful his latest push has been.