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And then there were half. Earlier this month, WWE announced the long awaited return of the King Of The Ring tournament. The tournament, which has been held intermittently since the end of the annual competition in 2002, offers an instant upgrade for anyone who wins it, making the tournament a rather important accomplishment on almost any resume. And now, we’re done with the first round.
After this week’s SmackDown Live, the first round of the King Of The Ring tournament has come to an end, leaving the field at eight instead of the sixteen that started. The quarterfinals will take place on next week’s Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live, the semifinals the week after that and the finals at Clash Of Champions. Here are the updated brackets:
Monday Night Raw Samoa Joe
Ricochet
Cedric Alexander
Baron Corbin
SmackDown Live Elias
Ali
Chad Gable
Andrade
There was some good action on Tuesday. Check out the two first round matches from SmackDown Live:
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From the purple crew. Clash Of Champions is coming up pretty soon and that means that WWE needs to get some more of the card together pretty fast. This week has already seen a few matches announced for the show, but with so many titles floating around WWE, there is almost always one more thing that needs to be set up. One of those was taken care of on Tuesday night.
On this week’s 205 Live, Humberto Carrillo defeated Oney Lorcan to become the new #1 contender to Drew Gulak’s Cruiserweight Championship. Lorcan has spent several weeks chasing the title but lost in his title shot against Gulak at Summerslam. Carrillo has also been positioned to get a shot at Gulak, though this will be his first title shot of any kind in WWE.
They beat each other up pretty well. Check out the match:
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Opinion: There were only two options to challenge Gulak and Carrillo was one of them. WWE has made him feel like a bigger deal over the last few weeks and as he an..

They worked so well together. Teams come and go all the time in wrestling and you never can tell when things are going to go south for what seems like a good pairing. Ever since the Rockers’ split back in 1991, WWE has seemed more fixated on destroying a team rather than having them last for a long time. Another team seemed to come to an end this week and it was rather sudden.
This week on SmackDown Live, Roman Reigns showed a video that seemed to show Erick Rowan helping in the forklift attack that almost took Reigns out. Rowan’s partner Daniel Bryan yelled at Rowan and slapped him in the face while calling Rowan a liar. This seemed to dissolve their partnership, while also announcing Rowan as at least one of Reigns’ attackers. Rowan and Bryan have been a team since January and held the SmackDown Tag Team Titles from May 7 until July 14 of this year.
So much for that. Check out the split and Reigns’ reaction:
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Opinion: This seems like some..

Isn’t that a little soon? Over the last few months, Bray Wyatt has been one of the most talked about performers in all of WWE. With the mixture of his Firefly Fun House and Fiend characters, it has been hard to look away from him, no matter what he does. The things he has been doing in the ring have been second to none and now there is a chance that he is going to be doing something big.
The Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California is advertising Wyatt as the challenger for the Universal Title, held by either Braun Strowman or Seth Rollins, at Hell In A Cell in the show’s namesake match on October 6. These advertisements are not always accurate, but there is a chance that Wyatt will be returning to the ring and receiving a title shot. Wyatt has wrestled one televised match in a year, when he defeated Finn Balor at Summerslam.
Get ready @WWE fans… “The Fiend” @WWEBrayWyatt challenges @WWERollins or @BraunStrowman to a #HIAC match!
Get your tickets now, and stay tuned ?
? » https:/..

You had to get this one on there. In September, WWE will be presenting its annual Clash Of Champions pay per view, which will be featured around all of the titles the company has to offer. That is quite a high number, as the company has gone a little bit title crazy. There will be a lot of titles on the line, but not very many of them have been set. One more has now been taken care of.
As announced on WWE.com, WWE Champion Kofi Kingston will defend his title against Randy Orton at Clash Of Champions. The match has been teased for a few weeks now, as Kingston vs. Orton went to a double countout at Summerslam. Since then, the two have continued their feud, with the New Day and the Revival getting involved. Clash Of Champions takes place on September 15.
The promos have been the best part. Check out Orton’s thoughts on Kingston:
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Opinion: This isn’t a surprise as the match was all but made over the last few weeks, but it is nice to have the ma..

The more plans change. We are less than three weeks away from Clash Of Champions and the card is starting to take some shape. The show is built around all of the titles that WWE has, which is quite a number indeed. All of the titles are only line throughout the show and that means champions need to be in action. One person currently holds two titles, but is that going to be the case at the show?
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Braun Strowman and Seth Rollins are likely to hold onto the Raw Tag Team Titles all the way until Clash Of Champions. The main selling point for the two of them has been both men wrestling twice in one night, meaning they are unlikely to drop the titles before the pay per view. Rollins and Strowman are scheduled to defend their titles against Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode before facing off for the Universal Title later that night.
The title match is a big deal. Check out how it was set up:
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Opinion: I can’t say..

It’s worthy of a mention. Wrestlers have a lot of things to do and that means they have to work on a schedule. There are all kinds of responsibilities that come with being a wrestler and some of those things are more important than others. One of the most important is to stay in shape, and one particular wrestler has gotten in such good shape that WWE has noticed.
According to PWInsider Elite by way of 411mania.com, WWE officials are very pleased with Tucker’s recent weight loss and efforts to get in better shape. There is no word on any potential heat on Tucker for his weight and fitness before he lost weight. Tucker and his partner Otis were in action on this week’s Monday Night Raw, making it to the finals of a Tag Team Turmoil match.
The team did well this week. Check out some of the Tag Team Turmoil match:
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Opinion: That’s the kind of thing that always deserves some praise as it takes some effort to lose weight as a wrestler, or for an..

Someone is behind this. Earlier this year, the WWE women’s division reached its pinnacle with a women’s match main eventing WrestleMania 35. Just a few years ago, the idea of something like that happening would have been impossible to fathom. The women’s division is still going strong and the return of Sasha Banks has made it better. Banks has a new attitude lately and that is the result of someone working with her on the character.
According to Wade Keller’s Post-Raw Show, Banks’ promo from this week’s Monday Night Raw and her character since returning have been heavily influenced by Paul Heyman. Since her return, Heyman has been a major part of Banks’ character and helped shape the entire thing. The story is meant to play off of Banks’ absence and unhappiness with the company over the summer in an effort to mix storyline and reality.
She has a reason. Check out Banks’ promo from this week’s Monday Night Raw:
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Opinion: Banks’ promo was not..

Everybody needs a break. Wrestling is a grueling sport with wrestlers spending a lot of time on the road every single week. With so many shows to perform on, it is rare for them to actually get any time off. That has been changing a bit in recent months with WWE allowing some couples a bit more time away from the ring. This was the case again this week and the absences were notable.
According to PWInsider.com, Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch were not at this week’s Monday Night Raw as the two were on vacation together. Rollins did appear in a pretaped backstage segment while Lynch was not on the show. Lynch tweeted about Sasha Banks’ promo during the show and did not seem to be impressed. Rollins and Lynch announced their engagement over the weekend.
Pity you can’t promo in emo memes and song lyrics too, huh?
— The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) August 27, 2019
Rollins and Lynch work together well. Check out a brawl involving the two of them earlier this year:
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You need a seal of approval. Monday Night Raw has been changing a lot as of late with Paul Heyman having taken over. The move means that he gets to run things how he sees fit on the show and that can cause some changes. Some new talent has been pushed in some different ways with new faces getting the spotlight. Two faces have been seen weekly, but won’t be in the ring anytime soon.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, the Street Profits have not yet wrestled on Monday Night Raw because WWE wants them to get over before being put in the ring. The problem is that if they wrestle, they will have to lose and therefore they will not seem as important to the fans. The idea is to treat them as something different than a regular NXT call up. There is no word on when the Street Profits will be getting in the ring.
The Profits were chatty last night. Check out them talking about the Tag Team Titles:
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Opinion: In a way this makes sense but in a way ..