WWE has taken some creative license with the ring name of recent NXT call-up Ruby Riot. As of this week, the tattooed grappler is now going by the name “Ruby Riott” – that’s Riott with an extra T.
WWE also changed the spelling for her new “Riott Squad” faction, which includes Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan.
Back on April 4th, WWE submitted a trademark application for the name Ruby Riot. The application status is listed as “RESPONDED STILL UNRESOLVED.”
Accoring to Trademarkia.com, that means, “The Trademark Office has amended your trademark application as per your request or that of your attorney, however more information is needed and response is required.”
WWE has until the end of December to respond to the open issue, but it appears they have moved on with their own variation of ‘Ruby Riott.’
For more details on the trademark filing, visit Trademarkia.com.
– It looks like the upcoming WWE Clash of Champions pay-per-view may see WWE United States Champion Baron Corbin defend against Bobby Roode. Tonight’s WWE SmackDown saw Roode issue a challenge to Corbin but Corbin turned him down. Below is video from that segment:
– Tonight’s SmackDown also saw WWE Champion AJ Styles defeat The Singh Brothers in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match, despite a pre-match attack from Jinder Mahal. Styles tweeted the following after the match and commented on his upcoming match with Jinder at WWE Clash of Champions:
Tried beating me 3 on 1… Couldn’t do it 2 on 1…. …And at #WWEClash you will NEVER beat me 1 on 1. #Phenomenal#SDLive
– Ruby Riot revealed on tonight’s SmackDown that her stable with Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan will be called The Riott Squad. The trio later defeated Naomi and SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair after Natalya walked out on her partners. As seen below, Naomi was stretchered out after being double teamed by Liv and Logan.
One of the most exciting things coming out of WWE Programming this week was the surprise debut of five female NXT Stars on both Raw and SmackDown Live.
According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, it was Vince McMahon’s call to bring these five women to the main roster because the Boss felt that the Women’s Division on both the shows had gone stale.
McMahon made the decision shortly after Mae Young Classic wrapped up so we can say that their arrival was well planned and it wasn’t a last minute call.
Many believe that their debut is part of a long-term plan leading to a Women’s Royal Rumble match. While a Women’s Rumble could still take place, the site notes that currently, they haven’t heard anything about it.
For those who don’t know, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville made their debut on Raw, led by a returning Paige this week and similarly Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan and Ruby Riot made their debut on SmackDown Live.
– As seen on SmackDown Live last night Ruby Riot, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan made their surprise main roster debut. They first attacked Naomi and Becky Lynch in a backstage segment and later interfered in the Women’s Championship match between Charlotte and Natalya as well.
After the show, several stars reacted to these events on Twitter. Below are some of the reactions from the stars involved in the incident:
Ruby Tuesday I mean @RubyRiotWWE @YaOnlyLivvOnce @sarahloganwwe I hope you can take a beating as good as you give 1 pay back is a mutha #feeltheglow#sdlive
I’m all about making an impression. I know you want everyone to chant your name… But anyone who thinks a sneak attack from BEHIND is going to get you to the FRONT of the division will bow down soon enough. #Respect#SDLive
– As noted before, WWE announced that Jinder Mahal will be facing Triple H at the upcoming Live Event in India on December 9th. Below is a video Mahal posted on Twitter, hyping his upcoming bout with the Game:
2 Superstars who recently made their main roster debuts will face each other tonight on NXT.
Sonya Deville made her Raw debut on Monday along with Mandy Rose. Tonight, she will face Ruby Riot, who made her main roster debut last night on Smackdown.
Ruby Riot vs. Sonya Deville
Matches for tonight’s NXT were taped from the Toyota Center in Houston this weekend.
Neither Deville nor Riot qualified for the Fatal 4-Way match at Takeover to determine a new NXT women’s champion. They had each been in a triple threat qualifying match which was won by Ember Moon. Recent backstage segments on NXT have shown Deville blaming Riot for the results of that match. Their score gets settled tonight.
For the 2nd time in 2 nights, 3 NXT call-ups made their mark in the women’s division. On Raw, Paige brought in Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville as back-up and now on Smackdown Ruby Riot, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan have done the same.
Here is some background info on Smackdown’s newest call-ups:
Ruby Riot:
Formerly known as Heidi Lovelace on the independents, Riot has been with WWE since January. The 26-year-old raced through the developmental system in under a year.
Real name Dori Prange, the Michigan native had been touring with independent promotions, such as Chikara, as recently as last December. She has also competed with Shine, Stardom, and Ohio Valley Wrestling (where she was trained).
In her final match for the popular Hamilton-based independent last December, Alpha-1, Riot delivered an emotional farewell speech.
Sarah Logan:
Real name, Sarah Bridges, Logan is better known to independent wrestling fans as “Crazy” Mary Dobson. She made a name for herself in all the top indies which feature female performers until being signed by WWE last fall.
Logan was signed a few months before Riot but rarely made appearances on NXT. She has wrestled a lot on NXT live events, usually losing to wrestlers featured more prominently on NXT’s programming.
In this summer’s Mae Young Classic, Logan was eliminated in the 1st round by Mia Yim. Riot and Logan had been teaming together on the most recent NXT live tour.
Liv Morgan:
Liv Morgan took a rather odd route to WWE…
Liv Morgan and Enzo Amore both worked for Hooters at one time. 2 years after he was signed to WWE in 2012, Enzo is said to have introduced Liv to Joe Defranco, who owns a gym in New Jersey and is close friends with Triple H.
Morgan, who had been a lifelong wrestling fan growing up, excelled at the gym and was signed to a WWE contract in 2014. Enzo and Liv were an item at one point, but Morgan indicated on social media earlier this year that she is single.
The 23-year old didn’t wrestle before being signed to WWE. Her first match was in 2015 and her tag-team partner was Charlotte Flair.
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown saw the main roster debuts of Ruby Riot, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan from WWE NXT.
The debuts happened during a backstage segment that saw Naomi getting her makeup done. Ruby appeared first and introduced her two friends to Naomi, Liv and Sarah. They then triple teamed Naomi and beat her down. Becky Lynch tried to make the save for Naomi but she was also destroyed and left laying.
This was similar to the angle done on last night’s RAW, which saw Paige return to TV by bringing Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose up from NXT. They took out Sasha Banks, Bayley, Mickie James and RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss.
The following WWE NXT TV matches were taped tonight at the Toyota Center in Houston before “Takeover: WarGames” hit the air. These will air on NXT TV next Wednesday.
* Ruby Riot defeated Sonya Deville
* WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne retained over Johnny Gargano in a really good match
Ruby Riot recently spoke with the folks at The Miami Herald for an interview. Below are some of the highlights.
How the pro wrestling business helped her embrace herself:
“Instead of really shunning my weird oddities, professional wrestling embraced my quirkiness. And really helped me embrace myself and stay true to myself and accept myself and really bring out even more of these oddities that people seem to embrace. It has really helped me with my confidence and really made me the woman who I am today.”
The origins of her ring name:
“The name Ruby Riot was very much inspired by my punk rock background. There is a song by Rancid that is inspired by a Ruby name. Riot, obviously, when you think of punk rockers, mosh pits, riots, everything like that.”
If she feels her unique look played a part in her getting to WWE:
“I would like to think so. There isn’t another female superstar on the roster who looks anything like me, that moves like me, and I think that definitely helps me in the long run.
I would like to think that will help me with the NXT Universe as well, because of something new and fresh and exciting and not in the mold of the norm of what they’ve seen prior to this.”
Check out the complete Ruby Riot interview at MiamiHerald.com.
NXT this week came from Full Sail University. The featured match was between Drew McIntyre and Killian Dain, with the winner moving on to meet Bobby Roode at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III.
There was also an important match in the women’s division last night, as Ember Moon took on Ruby Riot.
NXT July 19th 2017 Full Sail University
1. Ruby Riot vs. Ember Moon
Asuka resorted to under-handed, dirty tactics to beat Ember Moon in their title match, leading Moon to believe she deserves a rematch.
Ruby Riot on the other hand, has never been given a singles match for the NXT women’s championship, so she believes she should be the next to challenge Asuka. Hence, the two met here.
The match was fairly even, with Riot getting a couple of near-falls.
In the end however, Ember Moon hit the Eclipse, picked up the win, and will move on to meet Asuka next month.
Winner: Ember Moon
A backstage clip is shown of Hideo Itami confronting Kassius Ohno about having requested a match against him next week. Itami kicked a garbage can, spoke in Japanese, and left the room.
A vignette for the “Street Profits” aired.
2. Oney Lorcan vs. Danny Burch
These two guys beat each other up. Burch’s nose even got busted open.
Lorcan got the tapout victory with a rolling single-leg crab. Mauro mentioned that Lorcan was trained by Lance Storm, who used the same move as a finish up until he started using the Sharpshooter.
After the match, Burch challenged Lorcan to one more match. His offer was accepted.
Winner: Oney Lorcan via submission
3. No Way Jose vs. Cezar Bononi
No highlights were posted for this match.
No Way Jose picked up the win here with a pop-up punch to the face.
This was pretty much a squash match.
After the match, Andrade “Cien” Almas hit the ring (w/Thea Trinidad) and beat up Bononi.
This caused No Way Jose to make the save and drive Almas out of the ring.
Jose and Almas jawed at each other a bit as the segment ended.
Winner: No Way Jose
4. NXT Championship #1 Contenders Match
Drew McIntyre vs. Killian Dain (SAnitY)
Mauro mentioned on commentary that the reason they are being given this opportunity is because they are both undefeated.
Dain had the early advantage in the match, using mainly power moves and clubbing blows until Drew made a comeback.
McIntyre hit a move Mauro referred to as a “Finlay Drop” after Fit Finlay.
Dain hit a fisherman suplex from the 2nd rope.
McIntyre hit a double-arm DDT, which I’m pretty sure was his finisher in his previous stint with WWE. Dain kicked out at 1 however.
Finally the end of the match came when McIntyre hit his Claymore kick, only for Dain to get right back up, then Drew hit him with another and pinned him.
McIntyre will now meet Bobby Roode at Takeover: Brooklyn.
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.
The main event of this week’s NXT was a women’s championship 3-way elimination match. Asuka would once again defend her title against Ruby Riot and Nikki Cross.
NXT June 14th 2017 Full Sail University
1. Drew McIntyre vs. Rob Ryzin
No highlights of this match were posted.
This was a showcase match for Drew.
McIntyre wins a quick bout, finishing him off with a Yakuza kick.
Winner: Drew McIntyre
2. Authors of Pain vs. Anthony Dominguez & William Freyday
Only Akam wrestled for AOP in this match. Rezar just stayed on the outside and talked with Paul Ellering.
Akam finished off the local talent, and his partner finally came into the ring after the match to deliver the Super Collider.
They cut a promo about how Heavy Machinery were foolish to challenge them.
This brought out Heavy Machinery and the 2 teams stared each other down for a moment.
Paul Ellering got in between the four of them and ordered his team to back away.
Winners: Authors of Pain
3. The Velveteen Dream vs. Raul Mendoza
The Velveteen Dream does not appear to be going by Patrick Clark anymore.
He wins clean here with a very Macho Man-esque flying elbow drop.
4. NXT Women’s Championship Match 3-Way Elimination Match Asuka (c) vs. Ruby Riot vs. Nikki Cross (Sanity)
Cross picked up the first pin by eliminating Riot with a corkscrew neck breaker while Riot was draped on the top rope.
Asuka and Cross then just started to have a wild brawl.
They brawled to the back and the ref waved the match off.
In the final move of the brawl Cross hit Asuka with a cross body that took both of them through a table.
NXT Superstar Bianca Blair faced off against Ruby Riot and used her incredibly long pony tail to her advantage. During the match, Blair whipped her hair at Ruby Riot’s face and struck her hard. The crowd in attendance popped for the move and started chanting “holy sh**!”. You can check out the hair whip in the video below.
Finn Balor has been taking Enzo Amore on a tour of Ireland during WWE’s overseas tour. Balor brought Enzo to a local pub and Enzo even stayed at Balor’s home in Bray. Enzo uploaded a bunch of photos and videos on Instagram and Snapchat of the two hanging out in Ireland.