Posts Tagged ‘WWE Speed’

Corey Graves Misses WWE Speed After Social Media Outburst

Corey Graves has been a crucial voice on WWE programming for years, but his future with the promotion continues to remain uncertain. This week, Graves took to X to share his frustrations with his current position in WWE, and has now missed multiple events.

Graves was missing from the latest episode of WWE Speed, which saw Chad Gable facing NXT star Charlie Dempsey. Though Graves has been the sole voice of the X-exclusive show since its launch last year, Blake Howard filled in as the play-by-play commentator for the match. His absence comes after he missed this week’s WWE NXT, a show that Graves had previously stated he’d be a part of.

Graves posted on X on Tuesday, January 14, that he’d spent years working hard only to be told “you’re not famous enough for your own job.” Though the Savior of Misbehavior didn’t name names, many saw this line as a dig at Joe Tessitore and Pat McAfee, both of whom are established names in broadcasting outside WWE. McAfee was brought back as a Raw commentator last week while Tessitore has replaced Graves on SmackDown. Graves has since deleted his post.

WWE has yet to give a public update on Graves’ standing with the company but fans are eager to learn what the future looks like for him and if a return to the main roster is viable. Stay tuned to SEScoops for the latest on Corey Graves and his journey in WWE.

Posted January 15th, 2025 in WWE. Tagged: , .

Zelina Vega Injured, Out of WWE Speed Women’s Title Tournament

Zelina Vega is out of action for the time being, halting the LWO star’s quest for the WWE Speed Women’s Championship. During the latest episode of WWE’s X-exclusive program, Vega was scheduled to face Natalya. However, B-Fab stepped in as a replacement, taking on the Canadian veteran instead.

Corey Graves explained on commentary that B-Fab replaced Vega due to an injury. The match ended with Natalya defeating B-Fab with just 22 seconds remaining, advancing her to the next round of the tournament to determine Candice LeRae’s next challenger.

This marks a significant setback for the 34-year-old Vega, who celebrated her birthday earlier this week. She last competed for a championship on July 1, when she challenged Liv Morgan for the Women’s World Championship on WWE Raw. While Vega has yet to claim singles championship gold in WWE, she held the Women’s Tag Team Championship alongside Carmella from November 2021 to April 2022.

WWE has not yet provided details on Vega’s injury or a timeline for her return, leaving fans eager for updates on the popular Superstar. Stay tuned to SEScoops for the latest news on Zelina Vega and her status in the WWE Speed Women’s Title Tournament.

Posted December 27th, 2024 in WWE. Tagged: , , .

Spoiler: Andrade Loses WWE Speed Championship Before SmackDown

A new WWE Speed Champion has been crowned at Friday’s WWE taping from Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ending the reign of Andrade.

WWE taped the latest episode of WWE Speed before Friday’s SmackDown. It saw the current champion defending his title against Dragon Lee.

The LWO member would end up winning the bout, ending Andrade’s Championship reign at 152 days and earning his second singles title in WWE:

Andrade had defeated the inaugural WWE Speed Champion Ricochet to win the title back in June. The One and Only held the belt for 42 days before dropping it to the Mexican star and exiting the company.

WWE Speed Title matches generally air on Fridays before PPVs so it’s likely that we will see this title change ahead of the Survivor Series: WarGames event on November 30.

This wasn’t the only notable moment of the night. The SmackDown broadcast also saw the return of Shinsuke Nakamura who had been absent from WWE programming since April.

Nakamura attacked US Champion LA Knight after his successful title defense against Humberto. This suggests that Shinsuke will be going after the title in the coming times.

WWE also revealed the brackets for the announced tournament to crown the new Women’s US Champion on the show. You can check it out here.

Posted November 15th, 2024 in WWE. Tagged: , .

Spoilers: Inaugural WWE Women’s Speed Champion Crowned

WWE began a tournament to crown the new Speed Women’s Champion last month and now the name that becomes the inaugural champion has been revealed.

The company taped the finals of the Speed Women’s tournament alongside this week’s episode of SmackDown from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

They first taped the Semifinal match between Kairi Sane and Candice LeRae in which the latter picked up the victory and made her way into the finals for the match against IYO SKY.

The former member of The Way faction was able to defeat SKY as well and she was crowned the first-ever Women’s Speed Champion:

WWE Speed On X

The concept of WWE Speed was introduced back in April this year in partnership with X. The program airing on the social media platform sees stars from all three brands competing against each other in matches that have a 5-minute time limit.

The inaugural Speed champion was determined with a tournament that ran from April 3 to May 3. Former WWE star Ricochet was crowned the inaugural champion on the men’s side after he defeated Johnny Gargano in the finals.

The Women’s Speed championship was first announced by Triple H in early August. A tournament featuring names such as Naomi, Lyra Valkyria, Blair Davenport, Piper Niven and more began on September 4.

The speed title is the first singles championship for Candice LeRae in WWE. The only other championship she has held in the company is the NXT Women’s Tag Team title with Indi Hartwell.

Posted October 4th, 2024 in WWE. Tagged: , .

WWE Speed: Women’s Title Brackets Revealed, First Match Takes Place

WWE’s hunt for the first-ever WWE Speed Women’s Champion got underway after this week’s episode of SmackDown from Washington, D.C. The title was announced earlier this month and comes after Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque confirmed that women’s matches were coming to the X-exclusive program.

The Tournament Begins

The first-ever WWE Speed Women’s Champion will be decided in a tournament. This week, fans got their first look at the Superstars who have the chance to etch their name in the history books.

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Fans at this week’s SmackDown didn’t have to wait long to see WWE Speed women’s division matches. During a dark match, Lyra Valkyria took on IYO SKY. The tournament will begin airing on X on September 4.

WWE Speed consists of three-minute matches meaning Superstars have to waste no time in order to score a victory over their opponent. Matches for the Men’s WWE Speed Championship are granted a five-minute limit. Ricochet was the first WWE Speed Champion but he has since lost the gold to current champion (and longest reigning champion) Andrade.

WWE’s Fastest Matches

Three minutes may not seem like a lot of time, but there are some matches that more than fit this time limit. On the September 4, 2000, episode of Raw, Chris Jericho and Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler defeated Tazz and Mideon, with Lawler getting the roll-up over Tazz and his team winning in three seconds. 

Aliyah scored a 3.17-second win over Natalya during a January 2022, edition of SmackDown. WWE would lean heavily into the win, with the now former Superstar receiving an ‘Aliyah 3:17’ shirt to celebrate her victory. Aliyah was released from WWE in 2023 though, so don’t expect her to be racking up wins on WWE Speed.

Posted August 24th, 2024 in WWE. Tagged: , , .

WWE Speed Women’s Title Announced, Tournament To Start Next Month

The women of WWE will have a new championship to compete for soon with the impending introduction of the WWE Speed Women’s Championship. A tournament will kick off on the September 4, edition of the Twitter/X exclusive show, which will premiere at the usual time of 12 PM ET/9 AM PT.

In May, WWE CCO Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque shared that there were plans for women’s matches on episodes of WWE Speed. After the Game shared plans for women’s matches on WWE Speed, Piper Niven poked fun at the women of the company being granted only a handful of minutes for their matches.

WWE Speed sees Superstars compete in matches with a three-minute time limit, ensuring there’s no wasted time in these high-octane bouts. Title matches are given a five-minute time limit. Ricochet was the first WWE Speed Champion though he would lose the title to Andrade shortly after. The title is not present on WWE TV tapings and is exclusive to Twitter/X.

WWE’s Fastest Matches

Three minutes may not seem like a lot of time, but there are some matches that more than fit this time limit. On the September 4, 2000, episode of Raw, Chris Jericho and Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler defeated Tazz and Mideon, with Lawler getting the roll-up over Tazz and his team winning in three seconds. 

Aliyah scored a 3.17-second win over Natalya during a January 2022, edition of SmackDown. WWE would lean heavily into the win, with the now former Superstar receiving an ‘Aliyah 3:17’ shirt to celebrate her victory.

Posted August 10th, 2024 in WWE. Tagged: .

Ricochet Explains Why The WWE Speed Title Isn’t Defended On Television

If you’re curious as to why we haven’t seen Ricochet defend his WWE Speed Championship on WWE RAW or SmackDown, there’s a good reason why.

In a now deleted post, a user on X appeared to inquire about why we haven’t seen any Speed matches go down on television and the champ laid out the reason. He didn’t say X was the reason outright, but that was clearly what the WWE Superstar was indicating.

“Because a specific company paid a specific amount of money to have a specific show and title, EXCLUSIVELY be shown on their specific platform.”

The Speed series resides exclusively on X and requires that the wrestler gets a victory within three minutes. Triple H also confirmed that there will be Speed matches in the women’s division.

Competing in the inaugural tournament was Ricochet, Axiom, Cedric Alexander, Angel Garza, Bronson Reed, Dragon Lee, Johnny Gargano and JD McDonagh. The finals came down to Gargano and Ricochet and there it was discovered that Speed title matches can last up to five minutes instead of three. 

Ricochet got the pinfall victory in four minutes and 21 seconds. The match took place in Cincinatti, OH and is recognized at starting on May 3, although the bout was taped on April 26.

The Speed Champion may have his own new rivalry starting off against Bron Breakker. Breakker went on a rampage in his RAW debut and actually targeted Ricochet in his attack, spearing him backstage while the champ was having a conversation with Ilja Dragunov. 

Posted May 25th, 2024 in WWE. Tagged: , .

Ricochet Celebrates WWE Speed Title Win After Becoming First-Ever Champion

Monday Night Raw’s Ricochet will go down in the WWE history books as the first-ever WWE Speed Champion following his win in the tournament finals. 

The One & Only defeated Johnny Gargano in the tournament finals in a match that was given a five-minute time limit, far longer than the standard three-minute limit for WWE Speed matches. Ricochet defeated Dragon Lee in the first round of the eight-man tournament and JD McDonagh in the semi-finals to make it to his showdown with Gargano. 

On Twitter, WWE CCO Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque congratulated Ricochet and praised the new champion as somebody who defines the term ‘Speed.’

Backstage, Ricochet spoke about how it’s been some time since he’s held a championship. The One & Only added that he is set to be the front-runner of WWE Speed and is ready to take on all challengers in matches of any length. 

This is the latest accolade for Ricochet who is no stranger to holding championship gold. The 35-year-old Superstar is a former United States, Intercontinental, and North American Champion, the only Superstar in history to hold all three mid-card titles. 

More on WWE Speed

WWE Speed is the promotion’s new social media project and will be broadcast exclusively on Twitter/X. The show features Corey Graves as the sole commentator, another first in the promotion’s history as WWE has always favored two or three-man teams. Early tapings included Kevin Patrick before his release in January 2024. 

So far, the only matches aired have been tournament matches and all have featured male Superstars. That’ll change soon enough though as Triple H recently confirmed that WWE Speed will also include women’s division matches. At this time, it’s not been confirmed when the next tapings of WWE Speed matches will take place. 

Posted May 3rd, 2024 in WWE. Tagged: , , .

WWE Speed Will Feature Women’s Division Matches, Triple H Confirms

WWE Speed, the promotion’s new show featuring high-octane action, will feature women’s matches, CCO Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque has confirmed. 

WWE Speed was announced in February 2024 and sees three-minute matches, ensuring a fast-paced style between competitors. A tournament is currently underway to crown the first WWE Speed Champion and the show is expected to launch on Twitter/X in full this Spring. 

So far, matches for WWE Speed have solely featured male talent. That will change soon enough according to Levesque. During an appearance on X Spaces alongside Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, Levesque confirmed that the show will feature women competing in Speed matches.

There’s no word yet on whether a championship will be created for the women competing on WWE Speed. This revelation will come as good news to Piper Niven who following the announcement of WWE Speed, poked fun at women often being granted only a handful of minutes for their matches. 

What’s to Come for WWE Speed? 

The tournament finals for the WWE Speed Championship will see Ricochet and Johnny Gargano face off on the May 3, episode. Ricochet advanced to the finals with wins over Dragon Lee and JD McDonagh while Gargano bested Angel and Bronson Reed to get to the title match. 

The new show could be a fantastic opportunity for talent who don’t typically get given attention on TV to build support from fans. This can especially be the case for the women of WWE as with only a select amount of opportunities on TV, several talented Superstars are often left on the sidelines. No women’s matches have been announced for WWE Speed yet but expect more news to come in the coming weeks. 

Posted May 1st, 2024 in WWE. Tagged: , , .

WWE Speed on X: Results & Videos From The First 2 Matches

Two Superstars have taken one step closer to being crowned the first-ever WWE Speed Champion with the launch of the new venture on Twitter/X.

The very first match in the history of WWE Speed was fittingly between two of the promotion’s fastest Superstars: Ricochet and the LWO’s Dragon Lee. The match was understandably action-packed. With just three seconds left on the clock, Ricochet got the pin-fall victory after hitting the Recoil.

WWE Speed: Ricochet vs. Dragon Lee

WWE Speed: Bronson Reed vs. Cedric Alexander

The second-ever WWE Speed match saw a battle of styles as the colossal ‘Big’ Bronson Reed faced the athletic Cedric Alexander. Reed advanced to the next round of the tournament with 1:09 remaining on the clock. 

What is WWE Speed?

WWE Speed is a new limited social media series, with original matches premiering exclusively on X.  A tournament has been set up with Superstars competing in three-minute matches to advance. The winner will be awarded the prestigious and coveted WWE Speed Championship:

WWE has dabbled in the world of social media-exclusive matches in the past. The company hosted two seasons of Mixed Match Challenge in 2018, won by Team Awe-ska (The Miz & Asuka) and The Fabulous Truth (Carmella and R-Truth.)

WWE Speed matches were first filmed at the December 15, 2023, episode of WWE SmackDown. While Corey Graves and Kevin Patrick recorded commentary at the time, only Graves could be heard during these matches as Patrick was released from WWE in January 2024. 

Due to the matches recorded in December, we can confirm that Axiom’s tag-team partner Nathan Frazer is also going to be a part of WWE Speed. 

The next WWE Speed match will take place next week and see The Judgment Day’s JD McDonagh take on WWE NXT’s Axiom. 

Posted April 3rd, 2024 in Results, WWE. Tagged: .

WWE Speed: Superstars React Ahead of Tournament to Crown Inaugural Champion

The announcement that WWE Speed will feature its own champion has certainly gotten the Superstars of WWE talking. 

WWE Speed was announced earlier this year and will stream exclusively on Twitter/X starting on April 3. This week, it was announced that the show will feature its own championship. The first champion will be crowned via a tournament though no names have been confirmed as of this time. 

WWE Superstars React

The prospect of a new championship and becoming the inaugural WWE Speed Champion has proven to be enticing to the WWE roster. On Twitter, Noam Dar said there’s not much he can’t finish in the WWE Speed three-minute time limit. 

Nathan Frazer said that his name being associated with the WWE Speed Championship just makes sense. 

Cedric Alexander is ready to use his agility to his advantage as part of WWE Speed.

WWE Speed: Changes Made 

WWE Speed will feature three-minute matches, meaning there’ll be no time for Superstars to waste in their pursuit of victory. There’s no word yet on what the new WWE Speed Championship will look like. 

Matches for the new show were first filmed at the December 16, 2023, edition of WWE SmackDown. Corey Graves, who appeared in this week’s WWE Speed announcement video, was on commentary for these matches, as was Kevin Patrick. It’ll be interesting to see if the commentary is changed given Kevin Patrick’s release 

Originally, the matches were given a five-minute time limit, but the video announcement this week said matches will last three minutes at max. It’s unclear if the matches filmed in December will be edited to fit the time limit. 

Posted March 28th, 2024 in WWE. Tagged: , , , .

WWE Speed Will Introduce New Championship for Superstars

WWE has three working brands right now, but they are about to add another show to their weekly lineup. That new show will also come with another championship.

The new WWE Speed show will make its debut on Twitter/X on April 3. The new innovative show format will also come with a new championship.

WWE Speed’s New Title

WWE commentator Corey Graves provided a few new details about WWE Speed. The new show will exclusively premiere on Twitter/X on April 3.

WWE Speed will introduce three-minute matches, showcasing wrestlers in intense competition, aiming for a new prize. Graves seemed excited to explain the format of the new show, as each match will be like a finish, to further up the intensity. With only three minutes per match, each Superstar must enter every contest like they are looking to close things quickly.

Additionally, it was confirmed that WWE will introduce a new WWE Speed Championship. Fans will see the first-ever champion crowned through a unique tournament format on the upcoming show.

WWE did not reveal what their new Speed Championship will look like.

WWE and Social Media Shows

Some fans are getting WWE Mixed Match Challenge vibes from the new WWE Speed show, and they have a reason to feel this way. Much like how the mixed tag team show was exclusively on Facebook, the new WWE Speed show is being produced through a deal with Twitter/X.

These are not the only digital programs that WWE has going. WWE The Bump still airs every Wednesday, with interviews and recaps from the week. Some older fans may also remember WWE’s original venture into the digital space with Byte This that streamed through their website from 1997 to 2006.

SEScoops will have more on this story as additional information is available. 

Posted March 27th, 2024 in WWE. Tagged: , .

WWE Speed Confirmed: New Show Coming to Twitter/X In Spring 2024

WWE Speed, a new show featuring high-speed matches, is coming to Twitter this year, the company has confirmed. 

During the WWE WrestleMania 40 Kick-Off event, Michael Cole announced that WWE and Twitter have partnered up to launch WWE Speed. The matches will have a five-minute time limit, meaning that Superstars will have to give it their all to score a win in the allotted time limit. WWE Speed will be distributed exclusively on Twitter. 

WWE Speed

Before the December 15, 2023, SmackDown began broadcasting, the fans in attendance were treated to the introduction of the WWE Speed Match. The taping saw ‘Big’ Bronson Reed facing NXT Superstar Nathan Frazer in the first match. Later on, Cedric Alexander faced NXT’s Axiom.

Corey Graves and Kevin Patrick were on commentary, and the matches were filmed as if they’d be broadcast. Given Kevin Patrick’s release from WWE though, it’s unclear if WWE will dub over the commentary with a more current announce team. 

WWE’s Fastest Matches

Five Minutes may not seem like a lot of time, but there are some matches that more than fit this time limit. On the September 4, 2000, episode of Raw, Chris Jericho and Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler defeated Tazz and Mideon, with Lawler getting the roll-up over Tazz and his team winning in three seconds. 

More recently, Aliyah scored a 3.17-second win over Natalya during a January 2022, edition of SmackDown. WWE would lean heavily into the win, with the now former Superstar receiving an ‘Aliyah 3:17’ shirt to celebrate her victory.

Posted February 8th, 2024 in News, WWE. Tagged: .

WWE Speed matches to be featured on a new social media show

Fans will be seeing the WWE Speed match feature on its own social media show if the promotion goes ahead with current plans. 

Before the December 15, episode of SmackDown, WWE introduced the Speed Match. The match sees a five-minute time limit, meaning Superstars must work quickly to secure the win. SmackDown saw two ‘Speed Matches’ with ‘Big’ Bronson Reed facing NXT Superstar Nathan Frazer in the first. Later on, Cedric Alexander faced NXT’s Axiom.

Plans for the WWE Speed Match

Corey Graves and Kevin Patrick were on commentary for the WWE Speed matches, and the matches were filmed as if they’d be broadcast. Fightful Select was told by sources that the current plan is for the show to run on social media platforms if it is launched. 

Many at the SmackDown taping were surprised by the match and had no idea the matches were happening until shortly before the show. So far, no new Speed matches have been filmed since the initial matches earlier this month. 

Another Potential Change?

WWE is introducing the Speed Match, but may have made a massive change to wrestling staple the ‘Steel Cage Match’. At WWE NXT Deadline, Roxanne Perez faced Kiana James in a cage match. 

It was mentioned during the show that the match could be won only via pinfall or submission, removing the traditional rule of escaping the structure for victory. It’s currently unclear if this was a one-off change for this match or if this is how Steel Cage matches will go moving forward.

Posted December 24th, 2023 in News, WWE. Tagged: .