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?
Roman Reigns addressed his fans from his hospital bed in a new online video. Reigns spoke about how he went from preparing to battle Seth Rollins at tonight’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view in Nashville, Tennessee, to dialing 9-1-1 for help and having emergency surgery to repair an incarcerated hernia.
Reigns said the following in the video, which you can view above.
“Yesterday I was here in Nashville promoting Night of Champions and my match against Seth Rollins. I was laying in bed and all of a sudden I felt a really sharp pain right below my belly button in my bladder region. Tried to gut it out but it just kept getting worse so I ended up calling 911. They sent an ambulance and once I got to the hospital, the doctor said I had a hernia and I needed to go into emergency surgery and here I am now.”
As things stand right now, Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins is 100 percent off of tonight’s Night Of Champions lineup. There is some talk within WWE, as we noted yesterday, of having Dean Ambrose make a surprise appearance at tonight’s pay-per-view to fill in for Reigns against Rollins, however that is purely speculation at this point.
Also as noted yesterday, Reigns will likely be out of action for up to six weeks. WWE is hoping to have him back in time for the Survivor Series pay-per-view, but even under the worst case scenario, he will be back in time for the Royal Rumble in January, meaning he will be able to work WrestleMania and that if WWE was planning on having Reigns be the guy to end Brock Lesnar’s dominant streak, they can continue on with that plan despite Reigns’ current situation.
Speaking of Reigns, he surfaced on Twitter today to thank fans for their support. He tweeted the following:
Thank you everyone for your kind words, support and prayers!! I'm hurting right now but it's great to know good people have my back!!
– BroBible.com has published a feature looking at “14 Wrestlers From Your Childhood That You Probably Don’t Know Are Dead.”
– With Chris Jericho finishing up with WWE at Sunday’s Night of Champions pay-per-view, he teased on this week’s Talk Is Jericho podcast that he may be back “sooner than you think.”
– As noted earlier, Roman Reigns underwent emergency hernia surgery this weekend and will be unable to compete against Seth Rollins at Night of Champions. According to Bryan Alvarez, there were two scripts being worked on for Night of Champions and one of them included Roman Reigns not wrestling. This was prior to him being rushed to the hospital.
It’s unknown who Reigns’ replacement will be against Seth Rollins, but Dean Ambrose is scheduled to return to WWE TV this week so he could fill in.
WWE.com has updated their story on Roman Reigns, with quotes from Dr. Chris Amann regarding his condition. The update from the official WWE website reads as follows:
“I was in contact with both Roman and the surgeon who performed the operation in Nashville today. Roman had developed acute abdominal pain in his hotel room last night after his match,” Dr. Amann told WWE.com. “This wasn’t related to a specific injury that occurred in the ring. Roman has had a pre-existing hernia for some time, which unfortunately had become acutely painful, which led to him going to the emergency room in Nashville. He was found to have a large hernia that was unable to be reduced, which means pushed back into the abdominal cavity. As a result, it was necessary to perform an emergent operation to open up the hernia sac and try and push it back into the abdominal cavity.”
“At the time of the surgery, surgeons found a loop of small intestine was caught in the hernia sac, which would account for the pain and discomfort that Roman was having earlier in the evening,” Dr. Amann explained. “The surgeons released the hernia sac so the intestine could be pushed back into the abdominal cavity. Once they were satisfied blood supply had returned to the intestine after releasing the hernia, they went ahead and completed the procedure. A mesh was placed over where the hernia had occurred to prevent future occurrences.”
Now that the surgery has gone well, the clear next thought was when will the WWE Universe be able to see the powerhouse back in action.
“Roman has been transferred to the recovery room and is doing quite well. The plan is to keep him overnight, give him IV antibiotics to prevent infection and make sure the intestinal function returns to normal before discharging him from the hospital. If everything goes well, that should be tomorrow,” Dr. Amann said. “Most of the time, the recovery time for something like this in terms of returning to physical activity is between four and six weeks. This was a pretty significant hernia, so it will probably be closer to six weeks.”
WWE.com also asked Dr. Amann to elaborate on how this hernia differs from sports hernias, which sports fans know often lands top athletes on the injured list.
“This is a completely different type of hernia than sports hernia,” Dr. Amann said. “A sports hernia usually refers to a tear in the lower abdominal wall that attaches to the ligaments. That type of tear is typically occurs from repeated activity or sports. Roman had what’s called an inguinal hernia. It can sometimes come from sports, but sometimes people are born with these. It is treated differently than a sports hernia.”
As noted earlier today, Roman Reigns has been rushed to the hospital in Nashville, Tennessee today to undergo emergency surgery.
WWE.com has updated their official statement, confirming that Reigns is off Sunday’s Night Of Champions pay-per-view, where he was scheduled to compete against Seth Rollins.
WWE wrote the following:
“WWE.com has learned that Roman Reigns has undergone emergency surgery for an incarcerated hernia. Reigns had been in Nashville to promote tomorrow’s Night of Champions pay-per-view. His recovery time will be evaluated by the local surgeon and WWE physician Dr. Chris Amann, but he will be unable to compete against Seth Rollins tomorrow night. Check back with WWE.com for further updates on Reigns’ condition.”
WWE.com broke the news today that Roman Reigns was rushed to a local hospital in Nashville, Tennesee to undergo emergency surgery.
The official WWE website wrote the following:
“WWE.com has learned Roman Reigns has been rushed to a Nashville, Tenn., hospital to undergo emergency surgery for an incarcerated hernia. Reigns had been in Nashville to promote tomorrow’s Night of Champions event. His recovery time will be evaluated by the local surgeon and WWE physician Dr. Chris Amann following today’s operation. Check back with WWE.com for updates on Reigns’ condition.”
Comment below to discuss this developing story. Could there be any upside to Reigns taking time off?
After WWE posted the “Next Generation” tease for this Monday’s RAW on Twitter on Friday, two of the top Superstars in the company, Roman Reigns and Cesaro, commented about it on Twitter. You can read their comments below.
The next generation kicks the door of the @WWEUniverse wide open. 9/22/2014. Be there!!!
Night of Champions is only a few days away. Even though the WWE has been serving up plates of garbage on Raw for weeks now, many still have high hopes for this pay-per-view, as every title in the company will be defended.
With that said, here are my predictions for this Sunday’s Night of Champions pay-per-view, which in case you haven’t heard, can be viewed on the WWE Network for only $9.99 (or $12.99 if you’re afraid of commitment).
Nikki Bella vs. Paige (WWE Divas Champion) vs. AJ Lee
I don’t expect it to be a terrible contest, as two of the three competitors are great workers and Nikki isn’t the worst Diva fans have ever seen. In the end, I believe Nikki will capture the title with help from her sister, reuniting the Bella Twins and putting an end to their horrible feud.
Winner: Nikki Bella by pinfall
Sheamus (United States Champion) vs. Cesaro
This should be one of the more exciting contests of the night, but I unfortunately don’t see it being given a ton of time. Although Cesaro will put up a hell of a fight, Sheamus will retain after hitting a Brogue Kick, possibly setting up a feud with Rusev for the United States Championship in the near future.
The following are highlights from the latest blog by WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:
On TNA’s future: “Heard the past few days that Impact Wrestling has more suitors to become TNA’s new Cable TV home in early 2015. That’s the good news but none of the cable networks are powerhouses but at least Impact has renewed interest from the cable world which is a good thing. I hope that for the Nashville based company’s sake that something positive works out for them. It’s obvious that major infrastructure changes will be in store for TNA but that’s not necessarily a bad thing as companies do that all the time. It actually might make the company more efficient and productive over the long haul.”
On Ric Flair’s surgeries: “Now sources are saying Ric Flair had an appendicitis attack and then the doctors found a hernia which both are considered minor surgeries but my take on that is that no surgery is ‘minor’ when a guy is 65 years old. Details are still unconfirmed but we hope that Flair heals quickly.”
On Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins: “Rollins vs. Reigns but the outcome was a head scratcher considering that the same two men will meet again this Sunday. To think that Reigns can’t ever lose, no matter the circumstances, to continue his build is dubious logic. In a nutshell I did not understand the outcome of Rollins vs. Reigns Monday night.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
We are one week away from the WWE’s next pay-per-view, Night of Champions. The card is essentially set and will feature a total of eight matches, with a rematch between John Cena and Brock Lesnar headlining the event.
With every title on the line, the card should provide fans with an exciting event that features a few surprises. Here are five potential Night of Champions shockers.
WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair is being advertised to appear at the WWE SmackDown television taping on Tuesday night in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Flair is in the local advertisements for the event as a special referee for a Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton match, which if it takes place, since advertising of special matches has been hit and miss lately, it will likely be a dark match.
As everyone knows by now, the Beast and the (former) Champ will once again square off in less than two weeks at Night of Champions. This contest will be John Cena’s championship rematch and figures to be the last time the two competitors will square off.
Since losing his title last month at SummerSlam, John Cena has been running through the roster, destroying everyone in his path while being booked as a threat to Lesnar. Along the way, he wiped out the entire Wyatt Family, took out Seth Rollins, and has vowed to kick Lesnar’s ass during their next meeting.
John Cena will hope to exact a bit of revenge in two weeks at Night of Champions.
It seems apparent that Cena will not be reunited with his precious championship belt. Instead, he is being booked very strong in an attempt to make things believable, but he could be hurting other members of the roster during the build (Bray Wyatt, in particular). It makes little sense to have Cena run through one of your top guys (especially one who was building momentum) like he’s a nobody when there are plenty of other guys that could have done the job.
Nonetheless, the build in this case is not as important as the aftermath. The consensus seems to be that Cena will not regain his title in a few weeks at Night of Champions. This leaves fans with one question: Who is next for Brock Lesnar?
The Beast Incarnate has expanded his deal to allow for the company to book its champion for more dates, but it remains to be seen who his next opponent will be. It’s likely that Lesnar will hold the title until WrestleMania to generate interest before passing it on to the next generation, leaving many pay-per-views between now and March.
As things stand right now, the only matches officially set for the September 21st WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view in Nashville, Tennessee are Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Sheamus vs. Cesaro for the WWE United States Championship and Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
According to reports, two additional matches that are all but confirmed are The Usos vs. Goldust and Stardust for the WWE Tag-Team Championships and Mark Henry vs. Rusev.
The plan right now for the WWE Divas Championship match on the card appears to be a four-way with Paige defending against AJ Lee, Nikki Bella and Brie Bella, as all four were linked together on all of WWE’s television shows this week.
Another match likely for the show, although it may not be a pay-per-view match, is Bo Dallas vs. Jack Swagger.
The key Superstars left without matches that are expected on the show are Chris Jericho (in his final match of his current run with WWE), Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns.
It appears WWE is going with a Reigns vs. Rollins match, so they may go with Jericho vs. Orton since the Jericho vs. Wyatt and Reigns vs. Orton matches are set for next week’s RAW to combat the season premiere of Monday Night Football. However, they could either way, with one final Jericho vs. Wyatt “blow-off” match, as well as another Reigns vs. Orton bout.
As noted in the past, the WWE Studios film “Lockdown,” which Dean Ambrose is off filming, is set to wrap up on the Saturday before Night Of Champions, so he could end up on the show if WWE chooses to go that route.
According to those within WWE, there are two main options as to how the company will book the finish of the main event at the Night Of Champions pay-per-view.
While at this point this is only speculation, one idea is for Brock Lesnar to defeat John Cena when someone screws Cena over, leaving Cena to then work with that person coming out of the show while Lesnar works with other Superstars until facing Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 31.
The other idea is for Cena to defeat Lesnar, while Seth Rollins loses to Roman Reigns, if they go that route with those two, and then have Rollins cash in his “Money In The Bank” briefcase on Cena.
– There was no dark match after the cameras stopped rolling at Monday’s edition of WWE RAW in Des Moines, Iowa. After the show was over, John Cena, Chris Jericho and Roman Reigns hung around in the ring and by the ringside area for a while taking pictures with fans and signing autographs.
– For trivia and statistic buffs out there, if Seth Rollins were to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion upon cashing in his “Money In The Bank” briefcase, he would be the first person in history from the state of Iowa to become WWE Champion.
– WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin tweeted the following during the RAW main event on Monday night, which featured Seth Rollins, Kane and Randy Orton vs. John Cena, Roman Reigns and Chris Jericho.
The WWE rolled through midwest tonight, as they set up shop in Des Moines, Iowa. This week’s card featured a total of eight matches, including a life changing six-man tag main event. It’s time to once again take the WWE to school, and I’ll be the one doling out the grades.
As always, matches will be graded based on usual factors such as workrate, in-ring psychology, move variety, crowd reaction, and overall impact on the storyline. Important in-ring promos will also be graded based on factors such as originality, believability, and importance. Without further ado, here is this week’s Raw report card.
Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel
Tonight’s show started with Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel, and featured a shitload of guests, including the Authority, John Cena, and Roman Reigns. There was some entertaining banter during the segment, including Triple H and Jericho hurling corny insults at one another as Jericho dissed Triple H’s pink tie, while the Game chose to attack Y2J’s scarf during a hilarious back and forth. Rollins was extremely over during the promo and got the biggest pop of the night in his home state. Cena threatening to sue the company was pretty lame, however, and held the promo back a bit. It was an overall decent segment, it set up the main event, and the crowd seemed to be into it.
Grade: B
Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro and the Miz
The first match of the night was a tag team match featuring the United States and Intercontinental Champions. The Miz showed up with his body double Damien Mizdow and a personal stylist, complete with chairs and makeup. Miz and Sandow were hilarious throughout the contest and the ending was solid. Ziggler and Cesaro also worked well together during the opening portion of the match, with Cesaro’s fall away slam into a pinning combination being one of the most impressive spots I’ve seen in a long time. Overall, it was an entertaining contest and was a good way to advance both feuds.
Two big matches were confirmed for next week’s edition of WWE RAW, which emanates from Baltimore, Maryland.
One of the matches scheduled for next week’s show is a steel cage match between Chris Jericho and Bray Wyatt.
Also announced for next week’s show, which like the cage match was announced on this Monday’s RAW, is a SummerSlam rematch between Roman Reigns and Randy Orton.
– The official WWE website has a new feature looking at the greatest title victories in history. Below is a tweet from the official WWE Twitter account promoting the piece:
WWE Hall Of Famer Adam “Edge” Copeland took a few questions from fans on his official Twitter account on Sunday night.
Edge noted that his favorite WWE Superstars are Dolph Ziggler, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose and also spoke about how he won’t be writing any “tell-all” books trashing WWE.
Below are some highlights.
Always @HEELZiggler and all three of the Shield guys “@timb0nic: @EdgeRatedR who is your favorite WWE superstar on the current roster?”
Tonight is the Labor Day edition of WWE RAW, which takes place live tonight at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
Confirmed thus far for tonight’s show is a “Highlight Reel” segment with Chris Jericho and special guest, Randy Orton.
Superstars advertised for tonight’s show in Des Moines include John Cena, Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, Kane, Seth Rollins and Triple H.
– What hard-hitting questions will Jericho have for Orton?
– How will Cena respond to Brock Lesnar?
– What is going on between AJ Lee and Paige?
– Will Reigns get his hands on Rollins?
– How will Brie Bella move past her sisters actions last week?
Make sure to join us here tonight for live WWE RAW results coverage.
The following are highlights of a new Miami Herald interview with Bad News Barrett:
On how he’s doing since the injury: “I’m great. I’m back in the gym lifting weights again. I’m working hard on my rehab to come back as soon as I can. I miss performing in front of the WWE Universe and traveling around the world seeing the fans all the time.”
On getting injured during a push: “…There is never really a good time to get injured. I felt like I was in the middle of a good run. I had some good matches, and people were enjoying what I was doing. Obviously, I also had the Intercontinental championship, which was huge in itself. There are elements of this happening that really did suck, but I want to be back and better than ever. I want to push forward. Eventually, I want to win the WWE world heavyweight championship.”
On if he change his in-ring brawler style? “I think with me and the injury, it was kind of an unfortunate situation. We can do that 100 more times, and it wouldn’t have happened. Sometimes you have this element of bad luck. It would be a struggle to go out and not give a 100 percent, especially when you have the loud crowd behind you and the adrenaline pumping. I would find it hard to step back and do things a little different. Maybe it’s something I need to look at with a bit more maturity. However, with this particular injury, I think it was just a case of bad luck.”
On Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns: “For me, he (Wyatt) is definitely one of the guys I would look at as the future. What a unique guy and amazingly talented in the ring. I think his character is just so unique within the world of WWE that you can’t help but to take notice. So he is a guy who I enjoy a lot. Another I like is Roman Reigns. He has the potential to be the next top, top guy, which only happens once in a generation. With this generation, he kind of has everything on paper to be that guy. Fingers crossed for his development. I think he has a great head on his shoulders. He is a great athlete and a good attitude. Everyone seems to like him in the locker room, which is pretty rare in itself. If he keeps developing the way he has, I can see him being the guy who is pulling the whole train along.”
– The official WWE website is currently running a poll asking fans who they feel will be the next WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The options are Dean Ambrose, John Cena, Roman Reigns, Dolph Ziggler, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton and Sheamus. With over 12,000 votes cast, Reigns is in a commanding lead with over 40 percent of the votes. After him are Cena and Ambrose, with the rest falling way behind in the vote.
– Sinn Bodhi posted the following update on Jake “The Snake” Roberts via Twitter:
With @JakeSnakeDDT at hospital, he's more worried about disappointing fans then getting better! We told him 2 shut up &beat this phnemonia!
There have been some rumors going around that claim Vince McMahon “isn’t on board” for a Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar main event at WrestleMania 31. As we noted in multiple reports over the past week or so, all indications point to the fact that Reigns will be the guy to finally end Lesnar’s streak of dominance at the Santa Clara-based event next year.
Apparently, some people are under the impression that Triple H is pushing for Reigns vs. Lesnar, while McMahon would rather secure The Rock for a big WrestleMania main event again and have Rock vs. Lesnar headline the show.
According to one source, whether or not that was the case at one point, McMahon and HHH are apparently both on the same page now, with Reigns vs. Lesnar being the current working plan for the main event of next year’s biggest event.