Originally Posted by CageSideSeats.com

Apparently, Vince McMahon was souring on Roman Reigns even before his Wellness violation. With that, there are others backstage lobbying his push should go to someone else - and Vince is listening.

One possible recipient could be AJ Styles, who a source says Vince has been telling people he wishes he’d signed ten years ago. AJ and Seth Rollins are viewed as frontrunners to headline each brand after the draft.

Originally Posted by Observer

In a surprise angle at the Paul Heyman "Inside the Ropes" talk show in London at York Hall, Heyman offered an Evolve contract to Will Ospreay.

Ospreay, who regularly works at the venue for Revolution Pro Wrestling, including on Sunday, and is their cruiserweight champion, had been announced as a special guest at the show. Heyman said he was offering the deal on behalf of Gabe Sapolsky.

It was also made clear this deal wouldn't affect Ospreay's current contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Originally Posted by Observer

For at least the moment, the WWE roster is closer to getting back at full strength.

Neville made his return to action on Tuesday in a dark match against Bo Dallas at the SmackDown tapings in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Originally Posted by Observer

While Brock Lesnar was the big winner, so was Vince McMahon. It was a risk, and a substantial one, to put one of his two biggest stars in that situation ... The win opened the door to bigger fights. The problem is the UFC heavyweight division is thin ...

Stipe Miocic vs. Alistair Overeem takes place on 9/10 for the championship. It becomes a question would they go with Lesnar for a title shot ahead of Cain Velasquez, who looked more impressive than Lesnar last night but wouldn't draw as much in the same position. UFC does book for business and Lesnar challenging would mean more money, but to give him a title match he and Vince McMahon would have to agree on several more matches.

Lesnar winning the UFC title would be remarkable. Lesnar himself said that he's got a lot he needs to work on but felt he did well on what he said was six weeks worth of training. Dana White told The Fight Network that the deal to get Lesnar was put together by meetings with both Lesnar's team as well as Vince McMahon and HHH. "Vince and I have had our ups and downs and Vince is a tough character to deal with. He's an animal. It's one of the things that I respect about him. I think he's loosened up a bit on the UFC."

Originally Posted by PWI

Brock Lesnar's performance at UFC was a big topic of conversation yesterday at Raw among the wrestlers. So was his UFC salary, which is said to be in the millions.

Originally Posted by Observer

Nikki Bella on Twitter wrote that her final CAT scan on her neck is in a few weeks. She's been teasing and hoping for a return.

Originally Posted by Observer

TNA will do doing an eight-man Bound for Glory playoff starting with the first Thursday show on 7/21. It'll be a tournament for the Bound for Glory title shot at the champion. Drew Galloway, Matt Hardy and Ethan Carter III will be in the tournament. That show is billed as a "supersize extended episode" meaning there will be an overrun.

Originally Posted by Observer

Revolution Pro Wrestling announced Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne for their August 12th show at York Hall in London. That means Ricochet will also be in the building the night that Will Ospreay faces Vader.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE Tag Team champions The New Day vs. The Wyatt Family in a six man tag has been officially added to the 7/24 WWE Battleground PPV.

WWE United States champion Rusev vs. Zack Ryder has been officially added to the 7/24 Battleground PPV.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE have applied to trademark "Solid Gold" for use as a new character name.

Originally Posted by PWI

The Boston Globe reported yesterday that as part of their defense against the lawsuit brought against them by Vito LoGrasso and Evan Singleton, WWE has filed for a subpeona on the research Dr. Bennet Omalu has on professional wrestlers when it comes to the diagnosis of CTE via post-mortem examination of their brains. The Globe article notes that WWE is specifically interested in the research that led to the announcement that Chris Benoit was suffering from CTE before he took the lives of his wife, son and himself over the course of a weekend in June 2007.

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 4831302)

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 4832973)

Originally Posted by Big Vic (Post 4833105)

@AJ Styles news.

AJ Styles is performing on the mic better than I have ever seen him perform.

Originally Posted by Dark One (Post 4833124)

he's hanging out with his buddies and just doing whatever's fun.

Originally Posted by Observer

One person close to the situation noted to us that some major names may have been juggled in recent weeks, without saying why, but for different reasons, questions about both Cena as the lead guy for Smackdown and Reigns as the lead guy for Raw, as originally planned, do come into play. A lot of reports are out regarding Vince McMahon’s feelings and such which may not be completely accurate, but he was very upset at Reigns about failing the drug test and it will probably play into the roster split decision making. Reigns will still be pushed as one of the top guys going forward, but whether he’ll be pushed as the top guy, particularly with the fans rejecting it so harshly, is something only he knows. And he is likely to change his mind many times.

Originally Posted by Observer

The original SummerSlam top SummerSlam matches were to be Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins for one world title which is most likely the WWE title, Cena vs. Styles for the other (perhaps called the world title since the word world was moved from the other title), Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton (not official until last week but was talked about some time back) and Charlotte vs. Banks for the women’s title. But much has happened since those plans were made. So Battleground is likely to have finishes designed to go directly into SummerSlam.

Originally Posted by Observer

After months of discussion about his impending free agency, Moose debuted on TNA television at last night’s Destination X edition of Impact.

Originally Posted by Observer

Though they were able to retain some of the audience boost provided by last week's Final Deletion-focused episode, TNA's rating for the Tuesday edition of Impact Wrestling fell on their first episode since earning their highest PopTV rating to date.

The promotion drew 358k viewers for the 7/12 Destination X-themed show, according to ShowBuzzDaily. That number is down from the 410k who watched the previous week’s Final Deletion, but it was up from the 322k who watched Impact the week prior to the Hardy vs. Hardy spectacle.

In total, Tuesday’s episode of Impact was the third highest-rated episode since they debuted on PopTV earlier this year.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE announced on Wednesday morning that in addition to the July 19th WWE draft episode, there will be pre- and post-shows for the event.

There will also be a companion show on WWE Network called WWE Draft Center Live during the airing of SmackDown to supplement the event. It will likely be a studio show breaking down that night’s draft picks. It is not known if any picks will be made on the Network.

The pre-show will air live at 7 PM EST leading up to SmackDown kicking off an hour later. That show will air for free on WWE's digital platforms in addition to the Network. After SmackDown concludes, WWE Network will also air a post-show looking at that night's draft.

Originally Posted by Observer

Amongst the highlights of Heyman's anecdotes/responses to fans questions were:

- Paul revealed that he had an opportunity to go to WWF in early 1992 when his WCW contract was expiring.

The offer pitched to him by WWF was to come in as Bobby Heenan's protege, billed as 'Executive Vice President of the Heenan Family'. After a run with Heenan, the idea pitched was Heyman would steal the 'Heenan Family' from him, turning it into the 'Heyman Family', turning Bobby Heenan babyface with Heenan retiring from managing to become an announcer. I'm not sure about these timelines as Heenan had already retired as a manager in summer 1991 to focus on announcing, but this is what Heyman said.

Heyman was planning on taking up the WWF offer when then-WCW boss Kip Allen Frey asked Heyman what it would take to get him to stay. Heyman replied, "Give me Turner Broadcasting employee status" and to Heyman's surprise, Frey obliged, resulting in Heyman staying in WCW.

- Paul mentioned how the 1992 War Games match in WCW (Sting's Squadron vs Dangerous Alliance) was his favourite match in his WCW career.

He told a very funny story about Madusa climbing the cage during the match and Rick Rude looking upwards at her. During the match, Paul asked Rude what he was doing, and Rude replied that he was trying to see if Madusa was wearing any panties.

- On Cesaro:

In response to a fan's question regarding which star today deserves a much bigger spot, without hesitation, Paul replied Cesaro and put him over huge. He said Cesaro connects with everyone expect the people in the WWE front office and he cannot understand why.

Other questions:

- He talked booking philosophies, specifically the 'Smackdown Six' in 2002/2003, and described in fascinating fashion how he sought to elevate wrestlers, then using the newly elevated main eventers to make other wrestlers. It was simple booking stuff that's bafflingly not done very often anymore. He also mentioned how 'shoot promos' should have a storyline connection, otherwise they become 'Russo territory' and are worthless.

- Interestingly, Paul said he and Lesnar approached Vince just before the Lesnar vs Punk match at Summerslam in August 2013 and suggested stretching out the Lesnar/Punk feud until Wrestlemania 30. Vince told them that wasn't what he had in mind, telling them that Undertaker would face Lesnar at the following years Wrestlemania 30 instead.

Originally Posted by Observer

April Mendez Brooks, better known as A.J. Lee, will have an autobiography called “Crazy is My Superpower: How I Triumphed Breaking Bones, Breaking Hearts and Breaking the Rules,” released on 4/4. The book will be independent of WWE, but the timing, in conjunction with WrestleMania season, is hardly coincidental

Originally Posted by Observer

John Cena signed a development deal to produce projects with Leftfield Entertainment. Leftfield currently produces some of reality television’s most popular shows.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE posted a video from the ESPYs teasing Big Show challenging Shaquille O'Neill to a match at WrestleMania.

BREAKING: Did @WWETheBigShow just challenge @NBA Legend @Shaq to a MATCH at @WWE @WrestleMania? #ESPYshttps://t.co/5hB3nadNJs
— WWE (@WWE) July 13, 2016

WWE teased the confrontation between the two last year during Wrestlemania 32's Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal with Shaq appearing as an unadvertised surprise. There was talk of doing the bout when Wrestlemania was held in Miami several years ago with Shaq even saying that it was going to happen publicly, until WWE responded with a statement that the match wasn't planned for Wrestlemania that year.

Originally Posted by Observer

With the WWE draft on the horizon, one of the still unresolved questions has been what the upcoming brand extension would mean for NXT.

But in an interview that appeared on ESPN.com on Thursday, WWE Chief Operating Officer Triple H (real name Paul Levesque) downplayed the effect that losing some of its top talent could have on the developmental territory-turned brand.

“It's funny that when people talk about it to me, some will say, 'Well, isn't that the downfall of NXT because when a superstar becomes big enough that he's immediately going to be taken away from you?' I feel that's the strength of the brand."

He further elaborated and said that NXT provides an opportunity for talent to showcase themselves to a segment of the audience before debuting on the main roster.

“Then, if you're following NXT, you're ahead of the curve when they come to Raw and SmackDown. You know everything about them and their backstories. It's like being a fan of the band before they hit it big.”

Levesque, described in the interview as the father of NXT, also raved about the unique talent that is Shinsuke Nakamura.

“Shinsuke brings something to the table that I haven't seen for a long time. He brings a level of charisma, a level of showmanship, that you don't see a lot of times with guys that have an aggressive style, with the striking and skill set, that he does.”

Originally Posted by Observer

Among those at the ESPY awards included Ric Flair (shown on camera during the monologue), Charlotte, The Miz, Maryse, Mark Henry, New Day, Nikki Bella, Stephanie McMahon, Rey Mysterio (in his mask) and Cryme Tyme. Cathy Kelly was brought to Los Angeles to film interviews. They did an angle where Big Show and Shaquille O'Neil teased a WrestleMania challenge. If they are ever going to do that match, and it's been teased for years, next year is the time with the show in Orlando. Miz and Maryse were walking around with their belts per order of management, but New Day didn't have to do so. Flair is friends with Cena and Charlotte went because Ric did. Big E often trains with Cena so they got the New Day in. Henry is close with Cena. Show was sent for the angle with Shaq, while Miz and Maryse live in Los Angeles.

Lost in the shuffle of all the news yesterday is how well John Cena did as the host of the ESPY awards. It was pretty clear watching it, with all the WWE references in the monologue, that this was an attempt to try and make pro wrestling acceptable to sports fans by joking about its lack of reality and its characters like Vince McMahon.

Originally Posted by Observer

TNA announced a deal on China's Youku platform to run Impact every Wednesday at 8 p.m..

Originally Posted by PWI

In keeping with their relationship with WWE and this Wednesday's Cruiserweight Classic debut on the WWE Network, EVOLVE will hold a number of Cruiserweight Classic Spotlight matches at their upcoming events, beginning with this Saturday in Queens featuring Zack Sabre Jr. vs. TJ Perkins and Johnny Gargano vs. Cedric Alexander.

Originally Posted by PWI

As PWInsider.com first reported last week, Randy Orton is at the WWE Performance Center this week getting back into ring shape and being medically cleared to return to the ring. Orton posted the following photo on Twitter showing the after-effects of his first day back inside the ring:

First day of getting back into 'ring shape'. #roperunningdrills pic.twitter.com/UBUC88TZJH
— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) July 14, 2016

Originally Posted by Observer

The opening night of the G-1 Climax tournament on 7/18 in Sapporo will be at 2 a.m. Eastern early Sunday morning or 11 p.m. Pacific time with both English and Japanese commentary on New Japan World. Besides all the undercard tag matches, there will be five A block matches, Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Tama Tonga vs. Togi Makabe, Hirooki Goto vs Bad Luck Fale, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Seiya Sanada and Kazuchika Okada vs. Naomichi Marufuji. That’s the only G-1 show of the next week as they have three days off and return for shows on 7/22 and 7/23 in Tokyo. All shows are live on New Japan World, although after the first day, none will be in English until the final three days

Originally Posted by Observer

Moose signed a two-year deal and debuted on the 7/12 TV show. It had been almost a sure thing this would happen ever since WWE backed off on signing him. TNA’s offer was above that of WWE or ROH. The final numbers we heard were $80,000 first year; $96,000 second year from one source involved with his talks and attempting to get him from anther promotion. TNA sources claim $75,000 and it’s a similar deal to the one the company has attempted but not yet signed with the Hardys, Ethan Carter III and Drew Galloway but does have with Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, Lashley and some others where TNA will try to recoup the money by having the rights to book him on a maximum 110 total dates per year with the remainder being indie dates. He retained his rights to book himself out of the contract with certain indie groups but TNA has the rights to book him with all others.

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding the Final Deletion production, it was mostly masterminded by Matt Hardy with Jeremy Borash and Billy Corgan having some input and Jeff Hardy coming up with a few ideas as well. Borash handled the production, editing and the direction of the segments. The rest of creative and Dixie Carter didn’t even know what they were doing but at least gave them the okay to do it. This was not meant as a blow-off but as a start of something new. Hopefully it doesn’t end up like the Angle/Samoa Joe shoot direction that got over so well, did a record buy rate for the company, and was then dropped cold and turned back into a normal pro wrestling program. Senor Benjamin isn’t actually Matt’s gardener, but he’s his father-in-law who they are now going to try and market. Everyone in wrestling ended up talking about it and it’s the first time TNA has had this kind of a buzz in a long time. The entire WWE creative team watched it together which led to the copy. It will also be replayed in longer form on the first Thursday night show and they will be doing an overrun that night

Originally Posted by ESPN

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has informed Brock Lesnar of a potential anti-doping violation stemming from an out-of-competition drug test administered June 28.

Lesnar, 39, returned to the Octagon for the first time since December 2011 to defeat Mark Hunt via decision. The pro wrestling star remains under contract with WWE and declined to say whether he would fight in a UFC match again.

The UFC announced Lesnar's potential violation on Friday. In a statement, the UFC said it was not informed of the potential violation until Thursday which explains why Lesnar was able to compete at UFC 200 on July 9 in Las Vegas.

Originally Posted by PWI

Former WWE star Cody Rhodes posted the following on Twitter, seemingly in response to some sort of letter he's received (obviously from WWE) about his usage of his ring name:

I own Rhodes

He was with me for my first breath and I was with him for his last

There's no piece of paper on Earth that takes my name away
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) July 15, 2016

Originally Posted by PWI

A number of independent wrestling promoters and wrestling convention promoters woke up to the sound of WWE's legal team this morning as we have heard of a number of promoters receiving cease and desist letters from WWE today.

WWE's letter informed the different promoters that they were utilizing WWE-owned photographs on advertising material on posters and/or online media to promote former WWE-contracted talents that are scheduled for upcoming independent dates.

Given how many promoters received cease and desists on the same day, it was obviously a strategy by WWE to hit everyone at once...and WWE is legally within their rights to do so as they would own any professional shots taken by their photographers.

Originally Posted by Observer

For Smackdown on Tuesday, the idea for the second screen experience is to get talent reactions and do interviews. Right now Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are not scheduled for Tuesday's show. Originally Lesnar was announced and advertised. He has been pulled from all advertising. They will be doing a ton of shooting all day for a potential WWE network backstage documentary.

Originally Posted by Observer

There is talk of bringing back more enhancement matches on television and using locals, both men and women in WWE. Not sure if it's for B show or A shows or how often, but the key is to have some experience and look in shape.

Originally Posted by Observer

Randy Orton said on Booker T's podcast this past week that he's expecting to be working with A.J. Styles after SummerSlam. There are cities this is being advertised in already. WWE is also planning on releasing an Orton DVD in November.

Originally Posted by PWI

The 7/14 edition of Smackdown, the last taped Thursday night show, 2,068,000 viewers, down from last week's 2,241,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by PWI

Scotty 2 Hotty is on the road with WWE NXT this weekend for their house shows. He was used as a guest Coach recently at the WWE Performance Center.

Stevie Richards is slated to be at the Performance Center next week, working as a Guest Coach.

Originally Posted by PWI

www.WWEDVDNews.com is reporting that a new Randy Orton DVD release will repace the planned OMG: ECW DVD that was slated to be released this November. I'm guessing the ECW DVD will instead be released in 2017.

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 4833828)

WWE sent out a new fan survey today, asking for feedback on possible benefits that could be added to WWE Network subscriptions. Here is what was in the email, courtesy of Pwinsider.com…

Downloads for offline viewing on mobile devices

Providing the ability to buy merchandise such as video games and WWE apparel before they are available to the public, travel package discounts.

The ability to vote for WWE Hall of Fame inductees.

Offering discounted subscription bundles. Examples given were one year for $99.99 or 6 Months for $49.99.

Offering a discount for Hulu Plus and/or a combined WWE Network/Hulu Plus plan, in order to allow fans to have access to Raw and Smackdown via Hulu Plus.

Providing one free month of the WWE Network after every 12 consecutive months of being a paid Network subscriber.

An ad free WWE.com.

Originally Posted by Impact! (Post 4834200)

and you just know they want Orton to counter the Phenominal F(ph)orearm into an RKO

Originally Posted by Observer

Even with the advertising of the announcement of both brands General Managers and a Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins title match, Raw last night did 3.13 million viewers, down a bit from the 3.17 million from last week.

The show was probably hurt by the Republican National Convention, as Fox News coverage pushed Raw down to ninth place on cable for the night when it's usually been third in recent weeks.

The third hour, with the Ambrose vs. Rollins match, dropped in virtually every demo and the hour fell under 3 million viewers. Since WWE title matches on Raw are rare, this was the clearest sign perhaps ever of the lack of value to the viewing audience of the WWE title ...

The three hours of Raw were:

8 p.m. 3.20 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.24 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.96 million viewers

Originally Posted by PWI

Multiple sources have confirmed that earlier today, there was a fight between Sin Cara and Simon Gotch of the Vaudevillains backstage at Smackdown in Worcester, MA at catering. While PWInsider.com has not yet learned what sparked the altercation, we have confirmed that it did indeed take place.

Originally Posted by Observer

In similar UFC drug test news, Brandon Howard got a statement from the New York State Athletic Commission that said that because the state doesn't license wrestlers individually, that even if Brock Lesnar was suspended in Nevada, which would be a suspension adhered to by all commissions that license participants in pro wrestling, he would not be suspended from pro wrestling in New York. They stated Lesnar is not a licensee, and only the promoter, the WWE, had a license. So Lesnar could only be stopped from wrestling based on the professional medical judgment of the examining physician, a decision of the WWE or if Lesnar himself decides not to participate. So his SummerSlam appearance is not in jeopardy with a Nevada suspension unless WWE makes that decision, and right now they haven't made that decision.

Originally Posted by Observer

2K announced a Collector's Edition of WWE 2K 17, which will be limited to 50,000 copies worldwide, an NXT game. WWE 2K17 NXT Edition will be available exclusively for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One for a suggested retail price of $99.99. The package will include the regular WWE 2K17 game, NXT enhancement pack with Shinsuke Nakamura, Nia Jax and Apollo Crews, lithographs designed by Rob Shamberger and autographed by Nakamura, a Demon Finn Balor collectible figure, Topps NXT TakeOver London Mat Relics cards and a Goldberg pack.

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding the story about WWE signing Kota Ibushi, multiple sources have stated that but WWE hasn't confirmed it. Mascara Dorada apparently signed on Thursday.

Originally Posted by Observer

Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that Ric Flair got engaged to longtime girlfriend Wendy Barlow (who was Fifi the Maid in WCW in the 90s). Flair bought her an engagement ring this past week.

Originally Posted by Observer

Heath Slater was busted open near the right eye at last night's house show in Bangor, ME. I believe that he bonked heads with Titus O'Neil in their singles match. Slater was bleeding so badly that the doctor stopped the match, which is very rare. Slater wasn't happy at all. He cut was so deep you could see the bone and needed 18 sutures to close it.

Originally Posted by Observer

There is a lot of talk about the Rush vs. L.A. Park match from Thursday night because they went into business for themselves at the end.

Originally Posted by Observer

PWG made several match announcements for their Battle of Los Angeles shows. Will Ospreay vs. Fenix, Matthew Riddle vs. Kyle O’Reilly, Dalton Castle vs. Jack Gallagher, and Chris Hero vs. Jushin Liger have been announced as tournament matches. And night two of the tournament will feature two big tag matches with Ospreay, Ricochet, & Matt Sydal vs. Adam Cole & The Young Bucks and Fenix & Pentagon Jr. vs. Chris Hero & Tommy End.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE’s seemingly never-ending battle with former performers over whether the company is culpable for concussions and other head injuries suffered by wrestlers working in their ring took a significant step forward on Monday.

Bloomberg first reported that a lawsuit was brought against WWE by dozens of wrestlers who used to work for the company, alleging that the organization did not "in any medically competent or meaningful manner" care for head injuries suffered by their performers.

WWE issued a statement about the allegations:

"This is another ridiculous attempt by the same attorney who has previously filed class action lawsuits against WWE, both of which have been dismissed. A federal judge has already found that this lawyer made patently false allegations about WWE, and this is more of the same. We’re confident this lawsuit will suffer the same fate as his prior attempts and be dismissed."

The attorney that they're referring to is Konstantine Kyros, who has led the legal charge against WWE over the matter.

Bloomberg lists Jimmy Snuka, Road Warrior Animal, and King Kong Bundy among those involved in the lawsuit. Just last month, Snuka was declared not mentally competent enough to stand trial in the 1983 death of Nancy Argentino.

Similar to the landmark lawsuit that was brought against the NFL, this suit also claims that WWE knowingly misled performers about the dangers of concussions and other head injuries.

It also goes beyond head injuries and questions the legality of WWE's system of using talent as independent contractors instead of employees.

This is not the first time WWE has been sued over similar matters, and as has been extensively covered in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, other lawsuits have not been particularly effective.

Earlier this year, WWE lawyers were successful in getting most complaints brought by Billy Jack Haynes, Vito LoGrosso, and others dismissed.

One of many reasons previous lawsuits were unsuccessful is, though wrestling may be inherently dangerous, they have failed to prove actual concrete and specific wrongdoing by WWE.

Originally Posted by PWI

The most recent lawsuit filed against WWE regarding concussions and this time, laying out allegations that by classifying wrestlers as independent contractors, the company prevented the talents from receiving proper medical and other protections, has gotten a ton of mainstream attention.

Originally Posted by PWI

TNA announced the following Bound for Glory Playoff matches for Thursday's Impact:

*EC3 vs. Eli Drake

*Bram vs. Drew Galloway.

Originally Posted by PWI

In speaking to a WWE source after Raw, we are told that WWE has not yet signed any new talents officially for the division but you can expect to hear that talents currently working the CWC will be offered full-time deals of some sort, given they can pass the WWE medical testing prior to signing. WWE has a number of the CWC talents in mind for those slots.

Originally Posted by Noid (Post 4835859)

Damn. Sin Cara and Simon Gotch aren't exactly in the position where they should be making trouble. Sin Cara beat up Sheamus once didn't he? I wonder who got the better of the other in their scuffle?

Originally Posted by Observer

The SmackDown draft show, the first of the now-weekly Tuesday live shows, did 3.17 million viewers, which would be the best SmackDown rating since it moved to the USA Network.

The rating was up from the 2.0 to 2.3 million that the show was doing on Tuesdays, but that was expected. The number was very slightly ahead of the 3.13 million viewers Raw did the night prior, but it figured to be since the show had been hyped for weeks and was considered the most important television show in months.

Originally Posted by Observer

Lesnar was originally slated to be the first pick. It’s not certain that was always the plan, but it was the plan last week, stemming from his win over Mark Hunt and the publicity it garnered. To get over the value of the title, Ambrose was scheduled as the second pick for Smackdown, followed by Rollins for Raw and then Cena for Smackdown.

Originally Posted by WWE

UPDATE: In addition to the commentary booth updates on Raw, SmackDown Live and more, WWE Hall of Famers Booker T and Jerry “The King” Lawler will bring their decades of experience in sports-entertainment to recurring Pre-Shows and Kickoffs as key analysts, among other names still to be announced. Stay with WWE.com for additional updates.

Originally Posted by ProWrestlingSheet

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Daniel Bryan agreed to return to WWE back in May … and the initial pitch called for SmackDown Live‘s new General Manager to come back much sooner.

Sources tell us the original suggested timeline called for Vince McMahon to announce the brand split and WWE Draft the night after Money in the Bank, as well as the return of Daniel Bryan.

We’re told he would have also announced that Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon would continue running the flagship show and Bryan would’ve butt heads with them leading to the draft.

No word on why the storyline was altered — or when Mick Foley was brought into the picture — but as usual, plans can change at the drop of a dime in WWE.

Originally Posted by Observer

It’s official. Cody Rhodes has signed to compete at ROH’s Final Battle PPV, Friday December 2. ROH Matchmaker Nigel McGuinness confirmed the signing of Rhodes for what promises to be the biggest event of 2016 in Ring of Honor.

Originally Posted by PWI

TNA announced that Matt Hardy vs. James Storm's Bound For Glory playoff match will air this Thursday on Impact.

Bound For Glory playoff matches already announced for Thursday:

EC3 vs. Eli Drake

Bram vs. Drew Galloway

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE NXT referee Shawn Bennett announced the following on Twitter:

So as of last night, my 3+ years w/ @WWENXT comes to a close. Extremely proud & humbled to join the #RAW brand of WWE in the coming weeks.
— Shawn Bennett (@BennettWWE) July 20, 2016

Originally Posted by PWI

Any news on Global Force Wrestling? Does it still exist? Seems like it had big hype then burned out.

They are still around but given their business model, they aren’t going make a mark on the landscape as they are presently constructed. In order to really make their mark, they need a good television deal and the money it brings in. Without that, it will be hard for them to be any more than what they are now.

Originally Posted by PWI

John Cena was the guest on Jonathan Coachman's weekly ESPN segment last night. When asked about Brock Lesnar's drug suspension, Cena said:

“Well, there was certainly a lot of hype. I was actually on SportsCenter hyping that fight myself. My thoughts were in Brock Lesnar’s corner, as he was put as the underdog in that fight, and he ended up doing well. Anytime something like that comes out, it certainly affects your perception of the event. There’s no way that people aren’t going to perceive Brock Lesnar differently, and when something like this happens, you set yourself a long, hard road ahead of you, and Brock’s got a long, hard road ahead of him.”

Originally Posted by PWI

Nikki Bella is slated to undergo an MRI this week to determine whether she will be cleared to return to the ring following neck surgery.

Originally Posted by PWI

Ryback took to Twitter yesterday, updating fans on when his WWE deal expires and when he will be returning to the ring:

Update for the good ones. One month left for nose before I resume wrestling/jiu jitsu/boxing regimen for return. Ear get cleared in 6 days
— The Big Guy (@Ryback22) July 19, 2016

For weights. Contract up August 8th or Oct 17th depending on certain circumstances. The future is going to be great! #FeedMeMore
— The Big Guy (@Ryback22) July 19, 2016

Originally Posted by PWI

There was a minor surprise in Mojo Rawley being called up. There were some in NXT earlier today that expected No Way Jose to get that slot instead. This puts Rawley and his Hype Bros partner Zack Ryder on the same brand.

Originally Posted by PWTorch

Last week in the U.K., Paul Heyman brought Will Ospreay on-stage during Heyman’s one-man show for a sales pitch to join WWNLive.

It turns out Ospreay has signed an exclusive U.S. deal with WWNLive to be part of the EVOLVE roster, PWTorch has learned. WWNLive is paying for the U.S. work visa for Ospreay, as well as international star Zack Sabre, Jr., making their deals exclusive to EVOLVE ...

Ospreay is expected to join the EVOLVE roster for sporadic dates when he is available with a busy international schedule. Ospreay will still be able to work U.S. indies, like PWG, per WWNLive’s booking arrangement.

Ospreay already has an exclusive international deal with New Japan, who are currently working with Ring of Honor. But, ROH is unable to use Ospreay as part of the ROH-NJPW relationship because of Ospreay’s deal with WWNLive.

Originally Posted by Observer

The word going around the locker room from multiple sources is that Reigns tested positive for Adderall, which is used to treat ADHD, but can also be used as a mile performance enhancer (and cognitive enhancer in other professions) as well as a party drug. This isn’t official given that WWE doesn’t release what a performer fails for, and the performers themselves are strongly encouraged not to publicly talk about it and just take their punishment. At this stage of the game, they really should reveal what the positive tests are for just to avoid the rampant speculation that comes out given the nature of coverage

Originally Posted by Observer

It was notable that unlike other wrestler/manager combinations, Lesnar was not listed with Paul Heyman. Heyman’s contract with WWE has expired and at this point the sides haven’t come to an agreement for a renewal, so he was never mentioned as coming to Raw with Lesnar.

Originally Posted by Observer

Jonathan Coachman on ESPN spoke in defense of WWE concerning the lawsuit filed by 53 former wrestlers, being very upset about it. In being upset, he claimed that he suffered 10 to 20 concussions between 2003 and 2008 while with WWE, including one on the first day of his training. He praised Vince McMahon and claimed, among other things, that Vince takes care of guys and pays them enough to live long after they are retired and all he asks is they come to WrestleMania and sign autographs once a year. He was furious at the suit, but inadvertently, by saying he had so many concussions that he never had evaluated, he probably did more harm than good. Plus, his claiming that Vince takes care of all the ex-wrestlers out of the goodness of his heart is ridiculous. Guys get royalties for merchandise sold or being in DVDs, and the amount varies greatly, but the idea he pays everyone's bills for a year and all they have to do is come to Mania once a year, and now they are suing him is such malarkey and that he said it on ESPN is really speaking without thinking.

Originally Posted by Observer

Nikki Bella tweeted on Thursday morning that she received good news from her latest visit to the doctor, indicating that she has possibly been cleared to return to competition. She also teased that her next stop was the WWE Performance Center, with a picture of its rings included in the tweet.

Bella has been out of action since late 2015 with a significant neck injury, and there were concerns that it could possibly be career-threatening ...

With the recent brand-extension, it’s still not entirely clear what will determine which roster Bella gets added to upon her return or if an additional title will eventually be added to the division.

Originally Posted by PWI

It was announced during the WWE panel at the San Diego Comic Con that there will soon be a real Booty-Os cereal that fans will be able to order to have for breakfast.

Originally Posted by PWI

The first names confirmed by PWInsider.com as returning to the WWE main roster post-Draft are former ECW and NWA champion Rhyno and Brian "Curt Hawkins" Myers.

The tentative plan is for the pair to be on the Smackdown brand, although until they debut on TV, that could always change.

Originally Posted by PWI

Former DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate champion Johnny Gargano is signing a full-time WWE NXT deal.

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding NXT, there will be another round of call-ups in the fall. As far as Bayley goes, there is a possibility she will be the mystery partner of Sasha Banks in the tag team match against Charlotte & Dana Brooke, even though Banks specifically said that it wouldn’t be her. If not, she is expected in around September.

Originally Posted by Observer

Cedric Alexander (Cederick Johnson), 26, Kota Ibushi, 34, Mascara Dorada, 27, and Akira Tozawa, 30, from the cruiserweight classic group are believed to have been offered contracts and are headed in. Yoshihiro Tajiri, 45, is also under consideration. Sources in Mexico confirm Dorada agreed to a deal on 7/15 although it is not confirmed when any of them will report. None of these names have signed contracts yet because there is all the background work and medicals that still need to be done, but all are in that process. What will be tough for Dorada is that he’s coming in speaking almost no English but he’s the kind of a guy who can get over pretty well on the NXT tour, as could Alexander since he comes in with ROH credibility.

Originally Posted by Observer

The original plans were for the G1 opening night to be broadcast in English, but it ended up being impossible for announcers Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino to get from Philadelphia to Sapporo after ROH’s tapings on 7/16 and arriving in time to do the show. They are scheduled back from 8/12 to 8/14 for the final three nights of the tour.

Originally Posted by Observer

Mini Drago announced he was quitting AAA citing not being happy with the way they were doing business, the same issues that Ludxor talked about and bad working conditions. He also said that unless you are part of the right cliques that there isn’t much for you. His brother, Mini Charly Manson, had quit in March. A lot of the undercard talent is looking at leaving and AAA is starting to use talent that will pretty much work almost free like Dave the Clown.

Originally Posted by Observer

Kurt Angle is not taking any new wrestling bookings this year, although is doing appearances. He’s also not taking anything right now in 2017, at this point because his management believes they are still expecting something to happen with WWE

Originally Posted by ProWrestlingSheet

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Jinder Mahal is being considered by WWE for a possible return.

According to multiple sources … Jinder has been talking with the company about coming back to help fill one of the new rosters, although it’s been a few weeks since the two sides last spoke.

Originally Posted by James Steele (Post 4836524)

I thought Haas retired awhile back.

Originally Posted by Observer

Following last Tuesday’s WWE Draft, the brand-extension promises to bring new beginnings for many in WWE.

And it will be a new beginning cosmetically too as new logos were revealed for both Raw and the newly revamped SmackDown Live on Friday afternoon.

The logos were unveiled by the general managers of each brand with Mick Foley tweeting the Raw logo and Daniel Bryan doing the same for SmackDown ...

The new logo for Raw:
http://i.imgur.com/XOSsDMy.jpg

And the new logo for SmackDown:
http://i.imgur.com/gKXGq8w.jpg

Originally Posted by Observer

In response to yesterday’s daily update, Jonathan Coachman tweeted, “for those who want to criticize I can't hear it over my 18 yrs of experience and friendship in and around the biz.”

This tweet came in response to yesterday's daily update lead story, written by Dave Meltzer, that criticized Coachmen for "speaking without thinking" about the realities of the compensation given to ex-wrestlers from Vince McMahon and WWE after they retire from the ring. Currently WWE is being sued by 53 former performers for compensation due to injuries suffered while working for WWE. Coachmen was speaking on ESPN in defense of WWE.

Originally Posted by PWI

With SummerSlam just 30 days away, it appears that WWE will NOT suspend Brock Lesnar for failing two USADA drug tests in conjunction with his fight against Mark Hunt at UFC 200 in time for Lesnar to return and work at the show. All week the word we were getting was that WWE would take no action against Lesnar, which I think is the wrong choice to make. I have said all along that I felt the best course of action was to suspend Brock right away so that he would be available to wrestle at SummerSlam against Randy Orton and if it later came out that the test was a false positive or if Brock failed for something that WWE didn’t test for, they could retract the suspension. Instead, by taking no action they open themselves up to a lot of uneasy questions and with the Investor Conference Call next Thursday and the build for SummerSlam meaning more media coverage of WWE, I would expect that they will be asked. I just hope WWE’s answer is not that Brock is not under the standard talent contract and thus is not subject to testing. I don’t think that answer will go over well if they choose to go in that direction and it would certainly then beg the follow up, “Who else in the company is not subject to testing?” If it comes out that he failed for clomiphene, as has been reported elsewhere, WWE could always suspend him then, but he would miss the show. Clomiphene is on the WWE Wellness list of banned substances.

Originally Posted by PWI

Following his backstage fight with Sin Cara this past Tuesday at the Smackdown taping in Worcester, MA, WWE star Simon Gotch of the Vaudevillians is not on the road as initially scheduled for this weekend's WWE live events. Gotch's partner Aiden English appeared on tonight's live event in Newark, NJ, losing to Apollo Crews in a singles bout, unaccompanied by Gotch.

Originally Posted by Observer

William Regal tweeted a story about Cruiserweight Classic competitor Kenneth Johnson overcoming a speech impediment to become a capable promo.

Originally Posted by Observer

Johnny Gargano will work his final show for EVOLVE on September 11th in Queens, NY. And his final independent match before becoming a full member of the NXT roster will be on September 23rd for hometown promotion AIW in Cleveland, OH. EVOLVE released a mini-doc about Gargano’s farewell yesterday.

Originally Posted by Observer

New Japan Pro Wrestling will run joint shows with Revolution Pro Wrestling in the United Kingdom on November 10th at York Hall in London and on November 11th at Walthamstow Assembly Hall in London.

Originally Posted by PWI

Variety reported that Dwayne Johnson's production company Seven Bucks Productions will be developing a TV series titled 'Muscle Beach' for the USA Network. The series will be set in a bodybuilding gym in Venice Beach during the 80's. Johnson will be Executive Producing. Brian Gewirtz will be a producer.

Originally Posted by Observer

Hideo Itami’s arm that he had the shoulder surgery on is a lot smaller than the other arm, which means he’s not fully recovered. He’s also not the same performer at this point, and is also down ten to 15 pounds

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE announced that The Usos vs. Breezango will be the kickoff match for Sunday's Battleground PPV.

Originally Posted by PWI

The return of Impact to Thursday evening was well received as the 7/21 edition of Impact did 362,000 viewers in it's new timeslot of 8 - 10 PM. The episode featured a replay at 1 AM Eastern, bringing in an additional 48,000 viewers. That means the episode had 410,000 viewers total, equal to the well received Final Deletion episode.

That was up from from the "Destination X" branded edition of Impact, which brought in 358,000 viewers for the final Tuesday show.

Originally Posted by Observer

The latest "New Era" beginning and very strong Raw show saw the audience increase to 3.33 million viewers, up seven percent from last week ...

The ratings usually increase the day after a PPV show and this would be in the usual range. The number was down from the 3.47 million viewers the day after Money in the Bank, the most recent PPV show, so the number in and of itself is not usually large for a day after PPV show ...

They are pushing a Raw vs. SmackDown ratings theme and it would be a huge surprise if the SmackDown rating this week came close to Raw number. If it does, that would indicate stronger curiosity toward the brand split. Any number stronger than 2.7 million tonight should be considered a success.

The three hours from last night were:

8 p.m. 3.41 million
9 p.m. 3.35 million
10 p.m. 3.25 million

Originally Posted by PWI

In a bonus match, Dean Ambrose and John Cena beat Seth Rollins and A.J. Styles to send the crowd home happy.

Originally Posted by Observer

After debuting at Battleground last night, WWE.com did an interview with Bayley where she said that the appearance was a one time thing and that she is still focused on regaining the NXT women’s championship. Bayley superfan Izzy’s live reaction to the debut was captured by her parents.

Originally Posted by Observer

Though the future of Brock Lesnar’s mixed martial arts career remains in doubt, he will officially not be facing any disciplinary action in professional wrestling.

In fact, Lesnar isn’t subject to WWE’s wellness policy. A WWE spokesperson confirmed to TMZ Sports that Lesnar’s part-time status means that he isn’t tested under the policy.

The WWE wellness policy requires that all talent “under contract to WWE who regularly perform in-ring services as a professional sports entertainer” undergo testing, but it doesn’t specify what constitutes regular performance.

Originally Posted by Observer

As was mentioned on Raw last night, WWE champion Dean Ambrose will be the next guest on the WWE Network’s Stone Cold Podcast with Steve Austin, airing immediately after the August 8th episode of Raw.

Originally Posted by Observer

Vince, Stephanie, and Shane McMahon have been confirmed as playable characters in the upcoming WWE 2K17 video game.

Originally Posted by Observer

Ring of Honor announced a star-studded main event for their August 27th Field of Honor show at MCU Park in Brooklyn with ROH champion Jay Lethal, Adam Cole, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tetsuya Naito going at it for the ROH title. As was noted yesterday, Lethal will defend his title against Cole on August 19th at Death Before Dishonor XIV to determine who will be champion heading into the Field of Honor match.

Originally Posted by Observer

Broken Matt Hardy may also soon be making an appearance on Jericho’s podcast after posting a picture with Jericho on Twitter today.

Originally Posted by Observer

There’s a video on youtube called “Paul Heyman Pops a Midget.” It’s video where Heyman was doing a QnA and a midget asks him a question about Doink and Dink. As the title implies, Heyman’s response earned a pop from the person.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE announced the following for the Raw and Smackdown preshows:

Can't get enough Raw and SmackDown Live in your life? Well, starting this Monday and Tuesday, both Raw and SmackDown Live will each have a brand-exclusive Pre-Show available on all digital platforms!

Led by WWE Hall of Famers Jerry "The King" Lawler, Booker T and Lita, the Raw and SmackDown Live Pre-Shows will provide expert analysis and highlight the main points of both brands every week at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.

Join in on the conversation and excitement as the Raw and SmackDown Live Pre-Shows get rolling every Monday and Tuesday!

Originally Posted by PWI

As Lucha Underground has ended it's second season on The El Rey Network, we've received emails asking about the future of the series.

It should be noted that an entire third season has already been filmed and completed, which brings the series up to 100 episodes. That's an important number as traditionally, that's the amount of episodes that syndicators look for when trying to license series internationally into different markets, because you are guaranteed a huge run of episodes. The third season will debut later this year on The El Rey Network.

As far as a fourth season, we are told there are plans to do one and the hope is to film sometime late Fall/early winter as long as logistics are worked out. One person told me they believed the series might begin filming again in November, but nothing is 100% confirmed in that regard.

Originally Posted by ProWrestlingSheet

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned that many of the wrestlers competing in the Cruiserweight Classic have been offered WWE contracts … but one big name couldn’t accept the deal quite yet.

Multiple sources tell us Zack Sabre Jr. was recently offered a contract. However, the young wrestler couldn’t sign it at this point in time due to a personal matter.

Good news though, we’ve learned he’s expected to take them up on the offer sometime next year.

Additionally, one well-placed source says contract offers have also been extended to TJ Perkins, Cedric Alexander, Noam Dar and Akira Tozawa. If all goes to plan, they’ll report for duty in September-October.

According to PWTorch, Kota Ibushi and Gran Metallik have inked deals as well. Ibushi has since done an interview though saying he hasn’t signed on the dotted line yet.

And lastly, tweets from Johnny Gargano and Tommasso Ciampa seem to suggest that both will soon be exclusive to WWE after finishing up their final indie appearances this summer.

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 4838801)

Originally Posted by Noid (Post 4839066)

Would love to see Randy Orton vs. Fandango, not going to lie.

Originally Posted by Cool King (Post 4839072)

Originally Posted by Observer

The first episode of SmackDown in the post-draft era failed to reach the viewership heights of last week’s draft edition, but was still well ahead of what the taped show had been doing on Thursdays.

The launch of the Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan led new era of SmackDown was watched by 2.73 million people on Tuesday night. That is down from the 3.17 million that watched last week's draft, but ahead of the 2.06 million who watched the last taped edition of the show.

Originally Posted by PWI

The three main events for the 8/21 WWE Summerslam PPV at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY are:

*WWE World champion Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler.

*Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton.

*Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins to crown the first WWE Universal champion.

It would appear John Cena vs. AJ Styles in some form will take place as well.

Originally Posted by Observer

Also returning to the WWE on the Smackdown brand is former WWE Intercontinental and Tag Team Champion Shelton Benjamin. Since his release in 2010, Benjamin has worked for ROH and New Japan along with various other promotions. No word on whether Shelton's momma has also been signed.

As mentioned yesterday, the Hype Bros tag team of Zach Ryder and Mojo Rawley are back together again, and in their first match back defeated the Vaudvillains. The match will air on Main Event.

Originally Posted by Observer

Ring of Honor announced a huge tag team title match for their August 19th Death Before Dishonor XIV pay-per-view with champions The Addiction defending against Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin as well as the Los Ingobernables de Japon team of Tetsuya Naito & Evil in a triple threat tag match.

Originally Posted by Observer

Cody Rhodes teased that we may be seeing him in New Japan Pro Wrestling soon.

Originally Posted by Observer

Ricochet will be making his return for EVOLVE on September 11th in Queens, NY.

Originally Posted by PWI

PWInsider.com can confirm that Jinder Mahal, last seen as part of 3MB several years ago, has signed a deal to return and will be featured on the Raw brand. We broke on 7/17 in the Elite section that Mahal was expected to return. We can also confirm that the former (and possibly future) Curt Hawkins, Brian Myers, will be returning to the Smackdown brand shortly.

There have been a number of other former talents who have been talked about internally and/or contacted about returning, including Melina, MVP, Carlito and Tommy Dreamer, although whether they will be returning remains to be seen. Another name that has been brought up has been Stevie Richards, who recently finished a stint as a Guest Coach at the WWE Performance Center.

Originally Posted by PWI

In the new lawsuit, Jimmy Snuka is claiming that his current diminished mental state is due largely to his time in WWE. From what I understand, his mental state is the reason why he cannot be tried for his murder charge. If the lawsuit is unsuccessful, and common sense seems to dictate it will be, doesn't that contradict Snuka's whole dementia defense in his murder case? What are the potential ramifications of this?

None. His mental status was determined in a Pennsylvania court room and is not subject to the civil lawsuit. They are entirely separate things.

Originally Posted by Observer

The key takeaways from the WWE financials are that the company took in $199 million in revenue for the WrestleMania quarter, an all time record. Profits for the quarter were only $800,000, but they had projected only breaking even so that wasn't a surprise. For the Mania quarter, they actually lost money in the network division (network, PPV) due to the costs of programming and WrestleMania costs. They spent $21.5 million on WrestleMania in total.

WWE also generated $21.5 million in revenue on WrestleMania. On 6/30, they had 1,511,000 network subscribers broken down as 1,130,000 in North America and 381,000 outside North America. They plan on adding more than 300 hours to the network between now and the end of the year. We'll have a lot more on WWE financials in the next issue.

Originally Posted by Observer

In the new Observer, in the article about Brock Lesnar, there was something we missed regarding the Wellness policy on the corporate web site which reads: "This policy, as it may be amended from time to time, is applicable to and binding upon all WWE Talent under contract to WWE who regularly perform in-ring services as a professional sports entertainer." It is not applicable to Lesnar because they classify that he doesn't regularly perform in-ring services as a professional sports entertainer.

Originally Posted by Observer

Based on what we were told, the Sin Cara-Gotch story was that Sin Cara flipped out and threw an unopened soda at Gotch's face and Gotch went down hard. Another report said it was a punch, but Gotch had a black eye when he was shown in background shots at the PPV, and was off the weekend house shows. No disciplinary action was announced. Sin Cara worked over the weekend. Three different performers and employees told us this week that Gotch has heat with some wrestlers (a few saying a lot of heat). Allegedly Gotch and Sin Cara had some issues in the past. We didn't get anyone to elaborate past that Gotch's mouth sometimes gets people mad at him.

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding the loss of the title on Monday night by Charlotte, it was a booking decision made to try to make the first new era Raw show big. The title change had been booked to take place at SummerSlam all along. Now a rematch is scheduled for SummerSlam. Last night on the show it was brought up that there was a story going around that it was because Charlotte was taking time off, but that isn't the case. In fact, her schedule over the next six weeks is pretty brutal.

Originally Posted by PWI

We are also told that the decision to switch the belt came from two distinct reasons. One, the creative team wanted to open the first Raw of the "New Era" with a big surprise by having Sasha Banks "accomplish her dream."

Second, we are also told that Vince McMahon felt that Charlotte's run as champion helped to establish the championship as legitimate. Now that there was a foundation for the Women's championship, the company is more open to switching the belt and using it to help fuel Raw storylines. McMahon is a huge fan of Charlotte's work and has been since he saw her wrestle Sasha Banks at the WWE NXT event several years ago in San Jose, CA, issuing an edict after her bout that night that she was to be featured more in WWE's Tapout promotional campaign.

We are told the decision was made to go with Banks because Triple H is a huge proponent of her work and since the two were already planned to face off at Summerslam, the title switch would add another dimension to their PPV bout.

Originally Posted by Observer

ZZ Loupe, Josh Woods and Tom Kingdon were released today from WWE developmental. Loupe was from the Tough Enough show. He had charisma, but didn't progress to their satisfaction. Woods was an MMA fighter and former college wrestling champion from University of Central Florida (the same college Tom Lawlor went to) and Kingdon was a tall bodybuilding champion who was signed about a year ago

Originally Posted by PWI

The El Rey Network announced the following:

El REY NETWORK’S ORIGINAL WRESTLING SERIES ‘LUCHA UNDERGROUND’ RETURNS FOR SEASON 3

ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 AT 8PM ET

Austin, TX – July 28, 2016 – “Lucha Underground,” El Rey Network’s exhilarating, lucha libre wrestling series from Emmy Award®-winning producer Mark Burnett, MGM, Robert Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures will return for an all-new 40 episode, third season on Wednesday, September 7 at 8PM ET, it was announced today.

Originally Posted by PWI

Cody Rhodes tweeted that he will be wrestling against Colt Cabana for Heavy on Wrestling on 9/1.

In a twitter Q & A, he was asked if he will be making any additional appearances for ROH besides Final Battle: "It's probably not a one time thing. . . Bay bay"

As for any additional EVOLVE appearances beyond next month, Rhodes said, "I hope. They were the first organization to seek me out. That's special to me."

Originally Posted by PWI

On last night's WWE NXT, it was officially announced that Samoa Joe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura will headline the 8/20 Takeover event. WWE NXT Women's champion Asuka vs. Bayley is also set for that show,

Originally Posted by PWI

Speaking of Summerslam, if you missed it, the show will start at 7 PM and be a four hour broadcast. Ticketmaster lists the show starting at 6 PM and advised ticketholders of an earlier start time, likely so fans are entering and seated in time for the beginning of the broadcast.

Originally Posted by Observer

The company now has a rule that they will not sign anyone under the age of 21. In the past, they've signed people younger than that. The story came out in Australia as Demi Bennett, 19, of Adelaide was contacted 18 months ago for the upcoming tryout camp in a few weeks in Melbourne. When she filled out a questionnaire, which naturally included her date of birth, officials pulled her from the camp and told her that they were not allowing anyone under 21 to try out, but told her once she turned 21 she will be given a tryout.

Originally Posted by Observer

Bound for Glory was moved from 9/11 to 10/2, and will be held at Universal in Orlando, as opposed to an arena. As noted, the date was moved when WWE decided to add PPVs and picked 9/11 as the date. Because of that, to save money and get all the tapings done before Bound for Glory, the August set of tapings has been extended. They will be taping from 8/11 to 8/17, which will be Impact, One Night Only and assorted other stuff. They'll tape on six of those seven days and have one day off the way things are scheduled now. They'll probably tape again starting around 10/3 with everyone in for Bound for Glory, and won't have to tape in September, as the original idea was to start taping on 9/11.

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding Del Rio, there has been talk from a few weeks back that he's got an out clause from his deal in September. TNA has had a lot of interest in him. He's making big money but they aren't doing anything with him and he can make big money working Mexico and Lucha Underground or Mexico and/or TNA and have a lesser schedule. He wouldn't be able to make the same money and when he was in India doing P.R. work for WWE he kind of put down TNA.

Originally Posted by Observer

Despite Finn Bálor making his main roster on Monday, he appears to be working the NXT house show loop this weekend in Texas. He was advertised for the shows long before he ever joined the Raw roster. Bálor worked the NXT show in San Antonio on Thursday night. On his official Twitter account, Bálor tweeted earlier in the week, “As for now, back to work! #NXTSanAntonio #NXTCorpusChristi #NXTHouston #BalorClub Is Here”.

Other NXT social media outlets had the message: “Finn Bálor may have been drafted to WWE Raw... but you can still see him LIVE with WWE NXT THIS FRIDAY, 7/29, in Corpus Christi!”

Originally Posted by Observer

In a big surprise, the TV show "American Grit" with John Cena will be returning for a second season. Cena, who returns as Executive Producer, will be out of action for several months filming the show. The show did bad ratings, usually the lowest rated network show on Thursdays and often doing only half of its lead-in, and sometimes falling under 2 million viewers which is terrible for a major network first run show in prime time. However, Cena got high marks on the show and right now people want to attach themselves to him as a star because of the feeling in Hollywood he's the guy following in the success of Dwayne Johnson.

Originally Posted by PWI

The 7/28 edition of Impact Wrestling garnered 350,000 viewers last night. That was down slightly from what the 7/21 edition of Impact did for the first episode on their new day and timeslot with Pop - 362,000 viewers.

However, it should be noted that last week's episode featured a replay at 1 AM Eastern, bringing in an additional 48,000 viewers. In total, last week had 410,000 viewers total. So, if you factor in the replay, it's a drop of 60,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer

Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that WWE has licensed a new Limp Bizkit song but didn't specify exactly what the song was or what it would be used for.

Originally Posted by Observer

After originally being scheduled for Newcastle-based NORTH Wrestling's July 30th show, Will Ospreay will miss the date because of a possible shoulder injury.

The 23-year-old British highflyer has quickly become one of the most highly regarded talents in the wrestling industry, but a demanding schedule and wrestling style has led to some health issues in the past.

Dave Meltzer chronicled Ospreay's injury history in the June 27th edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. In just his brief career, Ospreay has suffered "two slipped discs, seven concussions, a dodgy shoulder that is prone to separation, two fractured heels, and sciatica which leads to numbness in his foot."

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE Hall of Famer and the First Ever Intercontinental Champion Pat Patterson joined the “Multi-Time Award Winning” The Rack to discuss a wide range of topics ...

What he was trying to get across when writing the book:
“In the book I was trying to get across not so much the wrestling, it was about being gay and coming out and having such a hard time all of these years trying to hide, it is not fair. Over the years word got out obviously, but I wanted to come out. I wanted to say it.”

Creating the Royal Rumble:
“When I came up with the Royal Rumble, Vince (McMahon) thought it was a stupid idea. I said it's not, it's going to work, oh my god give me a break, he didn't want to do it. It is now one of our the best pay per views we have every year. It is fun and the talent likes it.”

On fighting to bring talents back to WWE:
“Vince and I would work very hard at getting talent back. Some of these guys would get fired over the years. They were talented, but they would do stupid things. One of them was Shawn Michaels and Vince (McMahon) didn't want to hear nothing about him, in fact he is dead, Shawn Michaels is not coming back. Once in a while I would bring up his name. Shawn Michaels never called saying Pat could you get me in, he never called, I just wanted to convince Vince and then Shawn Michaels back. Another one was Bret Hart and another was Daniel Bryan. I fought for them. I didn't tell them I did that for you, they found out on their own. I was fighting for these guys, everyone makes mistakes at one time or another, especially if you are talented. So most of these guys need advice, sometimes it goes in one ear and out the other and some of them get it.”

His thoughts on the Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels Iron Man Match:
“The Iron Man match was a No-No. Vince (McMahon) didn't want to do that at all. Forget it, two little guys for one hour, forget it, on a pay per view. I really convinced him. It took me a while but they did it. My god, it was so good. I was sitting in the audience, I wanted to feel the moment. I was actually crying because of how much I enjoyed that match. You don't think those two kids were happy after, oh my god, it is something I will never forget.”

On who he sees with the biggest potential on the WWE Roster:
“Dolph Ziggler. Without a doubt. I see it big time. He has come a long way this kid. My point of view is if you got guys like Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and all of these characters that are bigger than life, but those little guys, people love them. They are talented. That what makes feel that these can do nice things too.”

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE has purchased a stake in Flo Sports, which is the web site we wrote about several weeks ago that does live streaming of all the major events in sports like track, gymnastics, amateur wrestling, as well as doing MMA and they're pushed grappling shows as well as a monthly subscription service.

Originally Posted by Observer

Jinder Mahal is expected on Raw and Brian Myers (or Curt Hawkins as he'll probably go by) on Smackdown. MVP has been contacted but no word if he's signed. Teddy Long on a podcast said MVP and Benjamin were coming in, but MVP then contacted him and denied it. The thing is, while that may be the case, you are supposed to deny it until the company announces it. Stevie Richards is also expected back, but that isn't confirmed. The new deals are not for big money and are likely using experienced guys for names to put over the newer talent. One of the reasons several of the people contacted haven't signed is because of the money offer.

Originally Posted by Observer

More names offered contracts for the cruiserweight division, as expected, were Zack Sabre Jr., Noam Dar and T.J Perkins. That doesn't mean all are signed, only that the offers are out. The ones who sign will likely debut on Raw after the Cruiserweight tournament ends on television. I could see the 9/14 live tournament final being to create the cruiserweight title and that shortly and then they'd start them on Raw.

Originally Posted by Observer

For the second week of the brand extension period, Raw held up well last night, doing 3.30 million viewers, down from 3.33 million the week before ...

The pattern was different from usual, in that the first hour was the strongest instead of the second hour. There was the third hour fade. It wasn't as bad as in some weeks, but it was still 9 percent drop, with the final hour built around the return of Brock Lesnar ...

For the three hours, the numbers were:

8 p.m. 3.46 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.40 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.08 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that SmackDown will be adding its own women’s and tag team titles. Daniel Bryan did an interview with the Bear Hug it Out podcast, and confirmed Meltzer’s report that a women’s title will eventually be added to SmackDown.

Originally Posted by Observer

The judge in the Jimmy Snuka case has denied the District Attorney’s request to drop the charges, stemming from the 1983 death of Snuka’s girlfriend at the time. That means that Jimmy Snuka, at this point, is likely to stand trial for murder shortly.

Originally Posted by Observer

Though the newly revamped SmackDown Live may still only be two hours long, it will be receiving an extra hour of analysis on WWE Network.

WWE announced on Tuesday that WWE Talking Smack, a weekly SmackDown wrap-up show featuring analysis and interviews will be debuting on WWE Network tonight. That is in addition to the half hour pre-show that already airs on WWE Network before both Raw and SmackDown.

Talking Smack will air immediately following SmackDown at 10 p.m. EST.

Originally Posted by Observer

The Huffington Post has an article on TNA Knockout Jade, focusing on her overcoming domestic abuse. As a former victim of domestic violence, Jade is now an advocate of women’s rights championing the cause to end domestic battery. “We choose to get in the ring. We’re trained to keep ourselves and our opponents safe. But when someone brings it back home, that’s not wrestling anymore. That is not entertainment. That is just straight abuse.” Pass this article along if you know of anyone in a dangerous situation, female or male, child or adult. Violence in the home is not ok in any form.

Originally Posted by Observer

As expected, Gawker founder and partial owner Nick Denton has declared bankruptcy stemming from judge Pamela Campbell's ruling that he needed to start paying Hulk Hogan his share of the big verdict. Denton is in a legal vise as he may not be able to raise the $50 million to appeal the original verdict.

Originally Posted by Observer

After an absence earlier this year caused speculation about her employment with the company, Lilian Garcia will officially be leaving WWE to help take care of her ailing father ...

Garcia has been sporadically absent from shows this year to care for her father who is fighting two different types of cancer, and is now leaving her role in WWE so she can stay closer to home and have time to spend with him.

Originally Posted by Observer

Ring of Honor announced IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Dalton Castle in a non-title for Death Before Dishonor XIV on pay-per-view August 19th.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE applied to trademark "King of The Ring" as an event name on 7/28, so it could be returning again.

Originally Posted by PWI

Tony Nese, who made his WWE debut last week in an excellent showing on the Cruiserweight Classic, has signed a new deal with WWNLive.com, the parent company of EVOLVE, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

Originally Posted by Observer

A round of roster reveals have been made for WWE 2K17 with Aiden English & Simon Gotch of the Vaudevillains, Booker T, Brian Pillman, Brie & Nikki Bella, Chris Jericho, Diego & Fernando of Los Matadores, Erick Rowan, Heath Slater, Jey & Jimmy Uso, Jim Neidhart, Konnor & Viktor of the Ascension, Larry Zbyszko, R-Truth, and The Ultimate Warrior all being announced for the game.

Originally Posted by Observer

According to his wife Valerie, former WWE Champion and WWE Hall of Famer "Superstar” Billy Graham has been admitted to the Mayo Clinic due to some serious medical symptoms. Graham will undergo a procedure Wednesday morning to identify the cause of his medical issues.

Originally Posted by Observer

The ratings for the second week of SmackDown’s new era were mostly unchanged from last week’s first post-draft episode.

Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown was watched by 2.68 million people, which is slightly down from the 2.73 million who had watched last week.

Originally Posted by Observer

In attempt to clear up rumors about why her daughter has been missing from WWE events, Saraya Knight tweeted that Paige is dealing with an injury.

Originally Posted by Observer

In today’s WWN alerts, it was reported that Heath Slater’s storyline negotiations with EVOLVE are at an impasse with Slater facing Rhyno in an attempt to earn a spot on the SmackDown roster next week.

Originally Posted by PWI

For those who asked, Eva Marie's injury last night was indeed a storyline deal.

We noted last night that Paige was pulled from next week's WWE tour of Australia and New Zealand. We are told she is dealing with an injury.

Jimmy Uso is also out with an injury of some sort, hence Jey teaming with Zack Ryder last weekend.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE released the following ad for the Backlash PPV on September 11th.

#SDLive will have its FIRST exclusive PPV event on Sunday, September 11 with #WWEBacklash at 8e/5p on @WWENetwork! https://t.co/v8qITaECFR
— WWE (@WWE) August 3, 2016

Originally Posted by Frank Drebin (Post 4841775)

Seeing Rhyno in a suit with his hair pulled back not soaking wet in an honest attempt to look professional would be weird af

Originally Posted by Observer

Former WWE writer Kevin Eck has an interesting column talking about being in meetings where it was clear Vince McMahon did not see stardom in C.M. Punk and Daniel Bryan, and also noting that if it was up to him, he'd build the company around Kevin Owens.

Originally Posted by Observer

The 9/26 Raw show in Cincinnati is advertising Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins as the main event.

Originally Posted by Observer

Ring of Honor will be seeing another international star make an appearance on their roster, as Dragon Lee will make his debut for the company later this year.

Lee will compete for ROH at their September 30th All Star Extravaganza VIII pay-per-view in Lowell, MA. He will also compete on ROH's TV tapings the next night.

Originally Posted by Observer

Bret Hart talks Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins:

"If you watch wrestling, like I do. If you watch for the wrestling. There's so much talking. There's some twit back there with a pencil behind his ear writing down all these things for wrestlers to say. It all starts to sound the same," said Hart.

"There was a difference back in my time, where we all had to make up our own verbiage. So when you watch those interviews, a certain part of you comes out and that's what makes those characters so great.

"I've seen today, even in my own case for the bits and pieces I've done in wrestling, where they give you five pages of script to go out and interrupt somebody and say this or that, it might even be really small and pretty limited sort of dialogue but it's hard to do. Especially when they give it to you at 3:00 and then you start to memorize it, and you have it sort of memorized at 5:00 and they come up to you at 6:00 and it's all changed."

"I think that Cody Rhodes, if you watch wrestling like I do as a wrestling fan, he's to me one of those wrestlers that I would put in the category of 'Excellence of Execution'. Every move he does is safe and perfectly executed. There's a lot of wrestlers today a) their execution is lousy and they're not safe. You watch Seth Rollins who they've pushed as this huge mega, mega push. I watched him a few months ago, and you can watch it back on YouTube but he knees John Cena in the face. Just knees him in the face so hard, so recklessly, so dangerously, you can easily kill somebody with a knee like that in the face," said Hart.

"It's a testimony to John Cena that a) he finished the match and b) that he didn't get a shotgun and shoot Seth Rollins when he came through the curtain."

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE.com is running a poll for SummerSlam's 'Most Heated Rivalries'. The winning match will be the centerpiece for a new WWE Network collection debuting on August 15th. You can vote by clicking http://www.wwe.com/polls/summerslam-most-heated-rivalry.

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding last week's lead story, one correction is that in the Wellness policy on the corporate web site there is a sentence that can be construed as to cover why Lesnar wasn't being tested: "This policy, as it may be amended from time to time, is applicable and binding upon all WWE talent under contract to WWE who regularly perform in-ring services as a professional sports entertainer." The in-ring services is the loophole used for Vince and Stephanie McMahon, or even Paul Levesque when they were regulars but were not regularly doing matches in the ring. Regularly is the one for Undertaker, Rock or Lesnar, who don't work for the company regularly.

Originally Posted by Observer

Heyman reached a new deal with WWE this past week. The deal was always expected to be made, but WWE didn't do any mentions or advertise Heyman when he wasn't under contract. His deal expired shortly after WrestleMania and he'd been working on his own projects such as the speaking tour in England.

Originally Posted by Observer

The impression we have is MVP will not be coming in, although one person close to the situation said it's not a dead issue. He's also insisting he's not and pushing that he's still taking indie bookings. The word around wrestling is the offers have been low and a lot of the name stars contacted have felt they were too low to sign. We don't know if that's the case in this specific instance, only with others in the same boat. MVP was at the NXT show on 7/30 in Houston, and said he was there visiting friends.

Originally Posted by Observer

It's also mentioned that they may use him from time to time even if he isn't signed but "there was definitely talk among some in WWE that they didn't like how Sabre's style made things look "easy" and not combative."

Originally Posted by Observer

Ryan Reeves' (Ryback) contract with WWE expires on Monday and he wished them well on their future endeavors. Months ago, Reeves and Vince McMahon in negotiations it was made clear for a number of reasons that they weren't going to be able to come to terms, so McMahon decided to no longer use him and allow his contract to expire. Reeves is looking for bookings at bookthebigguy@yahoo.com. He's also going to do a nutritional supplement line and a motivational book among other projects. He's going to be publicly starting on everything this week.

Originally Posted by Observer

Tommy Dreamer confirmed he was offered a WWE contract and was at one point scheduled to be involved as a secret person drafted, but said he's got commitments to his own company (they didn't want him continuing the promotion) so couldn't sign the deal. He did say he was open to do dates with the company, but not sign a regular deal. He was on the Busted Open show this week and said he's not sure if it's the right decision, but he doesn't want to give up on his dream to run a company.

Originally Posted by ProWrestlingSheet

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned WWE doctors still haven’t officially cleared Nikki Bella to return … but her recent training sessions are a major step in the right direction.

Sources tell us all sides are being as careful as possible due to the severity of the injury Nikki is recovering from — and right now, doctors are monitoring how her neck reacts during training ...

We’re told the only thing Nikki can do at the moment is continue training at the Performance Center and hope the bone in her neck has fused properly so doctors can give her the green light.

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding the Banks title win over Charlotte, as noted, it was scheduled to happen at SummerSlam and that had been the plan for months. Actually the original plan was WrestleMania, but the feeling was that Lynch was getting over so well that she was added to the Mania match and the title change was moved to SummerSlam. The decision was made late to instead change it to Raw with the idea that they felt it was more important to make the first split-branded Raw a hot show. Almost none of the wrestlers knew until the match ended and the talent didn't know until very late in the game.

Originally Posted by Observer

After the Boston Globe articles accusing Chris Nowinski and his Concussion Legacy Foundation being soft on WWE after WWE became its major funding contributor, the timing probably wasn't the best of the Foundation pushing a raffle to win a trip to New York for SummerSlam weekend with two tickets for every event, plus meeting HHH and attending an exclusive breakfast session and VIP reception with the wrestlers. It's a fund raiser for the Foundation and they and WWE are partners.

Originally Posted by PWI

All time great Beautiful Bobby Eaton is missing. Eaton appeared yesterday at the Mid-Atlantic Legends Fanfest in Charlotte, NC but has not made it back home.

Eaton was last seen early this AM at the Atlanta airport. The belief is that Eaton, scheduled to fly home last night, missed his connecting flight and was at the airport this AM.

Attempts by his friends and family this AM to contact Eaton have, as of this writing, been unsuccessful.

Originally Posted by PWI

The 8/4 edition of Impact Wrestling garnered 317,000 viewers. That was down slightly from what the 7/28 edition of Impact, which brought in 350,000.

Originally Posted by Observer

Big Show confirmed a match with Shaquille O'Neal at WrestleMania in Orlando today when doing a promotional tour for the company in Shanghai, China, promoting the 9/10 house show.

Originally Posted by Observer

Loot Crate, a fan-based commerce and community platform and WWE announced WWE Slam Crate, a bimonthly mystery subscription to deliver products. Each crate will contain WWE apparel and other WWE collectibles that can't be found anywhere else. The first month's theme will be "The First" to celebrate various firsts in WWE history.

Originally Posted by PWI

Jake Roberts appeared on the Fox 5 news in Las Vegas, NV this morning. He was in studio promoting Super Toy Con which is at The Orleans this weekend. Jake said he actually hates snakes. He said he smoked pot one night and that gave him the idea to be Jake The Snake. He said he was listening to Monday Night Football and they mentioned Kenny The Snake Stabler, and that is where he got the idea for the gimmick. He didn’t take into account that he hated snakes. He was asked about wrestling Andre The Giant. He said he really didn’t fight him, he was just in the ring with him. He talked about how Andre would pull his hair and farted on him in matches

Originally Posted by drave (Post 4842664)

Ziggler NEEDS to go heal and just start kicking ass. Pulling heel tactics to win with dirty pins, the return of FOREIGN OBJECTS IN THE TIGHTS, etc.

He can pull it off.

Originally Posted by Observer

As it turned out, Raw got killed last night by the Olympics.

The show did 2.90 million viewers, which, with the exception of holiday shows, broke the 19-year record low of 2.95 million viewers set on November 23, 2015 ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.95 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.97 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.81 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

The second round of roster announcements were revealed for WWE 2K17 today, with The Rock, Daniel Bryan, Finn Balor, Triple H, and others joining the roster.

Originally Posted by Observer

One of professional wrestling's fastest rising stars will soon be making his debut for Ring of Honor.

At the end of a video update hosted by Kevin Kelly, it was revealed that Will Ospreay will debut for ROH on their tour of the United Kingdom later this year.

There was speculation that Ospreay would be exclusive to EVOLVE in the United States after Paul Heyman presented Ospreay with an EVOLVE contract on behalf of Gabe Sapolsky during Heyman's speaking series in the U.K. last month, but Dave Meltzer reported that nothing had been officially signed.

Ospreay is under contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling, and their relationship with ROH would seem to make them a natural fit for his U.S. home, but whether Ospreay will compete stateside for ROH remains to be seen.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE Champion Dean Ambrose appeared on the Stone Cold Podcast with Steve Austin last night on the WWE Network after Raw went off the air and had interesting comments about his match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 32 earlier this year.

Lesnar defeated Ambrose in convincing fashion at WWE's biggest event of the year, and Ambrose provided a glimpse into how the match was put together.

“It was pretty cool, you know? I went to the ring that night pretty pissed off, and then, as I walked to the ring, I had no idea what was gonna happen." Ambrose said. "Went out there with not much of a plan so to speak. I felt like I was pulling teeth to turn that match into something epic.”

After further prodding from Austin, Ambrose said, “Artistically, Brock didn’t want to do anything if you want me to be perfectly honest. Because you know, Brock’s gonna Brock. He’s all about Brock."

"I had a vision for that match to be the craziest thing imaginable, you know what I mean? And I was trying to pitch everything to everybody and had every idea. I put so much effort in and so much work in, and other people did too, and I was met with laziness.”

Originally Posted by Observer

SummerSlam will take place on August 21st at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. The updated card is:

• Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton
• Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE Universal Championship
• WWE Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler in a championship match
• John Cena vs. AJ Styles
• WWE Women's Champion Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte in a championship match
• United States Champion Rusev vs. Roman Reigns in a championship match
• Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs. Apollo Crews in a championship match
• WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston) vs. The Club (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) in a championship match
• Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens

Originally Posted by Observer

In advance of his scheduled UFC debut in September, FOX Sports will air a series documenting CM Punk’s transition from the squared circle to the Octagon starting next Monday.

The four-part series titled "Evolution of Punk" will conclude on September 10th. Director Rory Karpf, who has worked on several sports documentaries including editions of the ESPN 30 for 30 series, announced the premiere date via his Twitter account on Monday.

Originally Posted by Observer

SmackDown viewership on Tuesday night was down 8% from last week against strong competition from NBC's coverage of the Olympics. The drop wasn't as severe as it was for Monday Night Raw the previous night, despite 33 million people tuning in to coverage of the games.

SmackDown did 2,455,000 viewers for the two hour broadcast on USA Network. That's down from the 2,681,000 the previous week.

Originally Posted by PWI

CMLL in Mexico announced today that they have entered into an official working relationship with Ring of Honor. The promotion already worked with New Japan, as does ROH. Matt Taven was announced as heading to CMLL in the future.

Originally Posted by Observer

At today’s WWE live event in Auckland, NZ it was announced that NXT will soon hold shows in New Zealand and Australia with dates to be announced.

Originally Posted by PWI

The WWE Universal Title won't be the only new championship coming to the RAW brand over the next few months as a new WWE Cruiserweight Title has also been confirmed. No word yet on when the title will debut but PWInsider reports that it has been commissioned and confirmed by multiple sources. As we've noted, the cruiserweight division will be exclusive to the red brand. This has not been confirmed but it's possible we will see the new Cruiserweight Title debut at the live finale of the WWE Cruiserweight Classic on September 14th from Full Sail University.

Originally Posted by Observer

ESPN officially launched a WWE section on their website -- a major happening for the Worldwide Leader In Sports.

The section will include news, results, profiles, championship lineages, and rankings with the Cheap Heat podcast as one of their flagship pieces of content. They have launched Twitter and Facebook accounts as well ...

What is going to be interesting to see play out is how ESPN covers WWE. Will they take an approach of kayfabe and analysis? Play it straight? If a major injury happens, could that get in the pole position on ESPN’s home page? If so, imagine the reaction from traditional sports fans and media critics alike.

But in a March media column penned by SI’s Richard Deitsch, the media critic (and wrestling fan) pointed out why ESPN was so interested in providing WWE coverage: the numbers ...

They found that ESPN viewers are very interested in WWE content. For example: Last Monday’s WWE Raw, which airs on USA Network, was the most-talked about topic among SportsCenter’s nearly 26 million Twitter followers (The ESPN researchers look at hashtags and keywords). WWE content, in fact, drew three times as many as mentions as the second-most talked about topic that night​: LeBron James.

Jacobs said WWE Raw has been a top five talked-about topic over the last five weeks among SportsCenter followers on Twitter and a top 10 topic for 15 straight weeks

Originally Posted by Observer

As part of launch day content for ESPN.com's newly-created WWE dedicated section, Triple H (real name Paul Levesque) was interviewed by ESPN's KC Joyner about booking and wrestling psychology.

In the interview, WWE's Chief Operating Officer offered a results-oriented defense of WWE's booking and was critical of those who use the term 50/50 booking.

"When somebody goes, 'Well, you just can't get people over with 50/50 booking,' [I'll always say] 'Oh, I'm sorry, how's your territory coming? Because this one seems to be doing pretty good over here.' We just had the largest WrestleMania in history." Triple H said. "People talk a lot of smack about ratings and things, but they don't understand all of the dynamics of everything we do. They don't. They sit on the internet and they read one thing and they give their point of view."

On the topic of wins and losses, Triple H said that he doesn't keep track of them and those decisions are more of a feel thing.

"Sometimes you're beating a talent because you want to beat them and that's the sympathetic reaction you're trying to elicit. There are some talents that, when you beat them, they get more popular, but as soon as they start on a winning path, their popularity begins to wane... People want that underdog to strive to succeed and then get a little bit of success and then get knocked back off that perch and be the underdog again."

Originally Posted by Observer

After TNA teased that he had signed with the company yesterday, Damien Sandow (real name Aaron Haddad) made it official on Thursday in an interview with RollingStone.com.

"TNA just seemed like the perfect spot for me," Sandow said. "They are a growing company with a proven track record. I really believe that they have their finger on the pulse of what the audience wants, and they will gear their product towards that."

Sandow went on to say that he hadn't planned on signing with a company so soon, but he was impressed by his discussions with TNA management.

Originally Posted by NBC

WWE Plans to 'Integrate LGBT Characters' Into Programming

Through its partnership with GLAAD, an LGBT media advocacy organization, WWE is also prioritizing sensitivity in their writers' room.

"We've had GLAAD come in and speak to our entire writing team and give a whole tutorial on sensitivities, the right words, the wrong word [and] why those words matters," she explained. "I think that with their guidance and support, we will be able to portray that [LGBT storyline] appropriately."

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding Paige, there may be some nerve damage regarding her back and shoulder issues. I was told her neck issue is similar to what a lot of the guys have had that had serious problems where the problem has led to weakness in the right arm which was the first stage for some major issues with a lot of the guys.

Originally Posted by PWI

The updated lineup for the 8/20 WWE NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event at the Barclays Center features:

*WWE NXT champion Samoa Joe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura.

*WWE NXT Women's champion Asuka vs. Bayley.

*WWE NXT Tag Team champions The Revival vs. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa.

*No Way Jose vs. Austin Aries.

*Bobby Roode vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas.

*The debut of Ember Moon.

Originally Posted by PWI

Former WCW star Marcus "Buff" Bagwell filed a lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment in the United States District Court of Connecticut on 8/9, suing over what he claims is owed royalties from usage of material featuring his matches on the WWE Network.

Bagwell is alleging that he was under contract to WWE* from 1991 to 2001 by virtue of his contracts with World Championship Wrestling and WWE purchasing WCW in March of 2001. In the lawsuit, Bagwell notes that his WCW** deal expired four days after the then-WWF purchased the company. When he was signed by WWE to a new deal in June 2001, Bagwell was signed under the WCW brand*** and name for his new contract, which was executed by WWE's Ed Kaufman ...

Bagwell's lawsuit claims that the WWE deal "merged" with aspects of his former WCW contractual terms, specifically the 1998 WCW deal that expired in March 2001 ...

Therefore, Bagwell is arguing that WWF are bound by his June 2001 WWE contract in regard to payment of royalties for PPV events and home video material. The lawsuit noted the following language from the contract that WWE has allegedly ignored ...

The lawsuit claims that when WWE released Bagwell in August 2001, language from that agreement noted that WWE was buying out all of their obligations from the contract, with the exception of royalties that Bagwell would be owed going forward as determined by his contract.

The language in the release also noted that Bagwell could not bring legal action against WWE as long as they maintained the terms of his Release agreement. Bagwell is now suing because he alleges WWE has now allegedly breached the agreement by not paying him royalties. Bagwell submitted a first quarter 2016 Royalty Statement sent to him by WWE showing that he was owed no royalties despite the WCW material being featured in the WWE Network's VOD section.