WWE NXT Tour Dates Announced; Tommaso Ciampa Injury Update
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Category: WWE NXT
Bischoff on Wrestling Recap – Ed Nordholm Playing ‘Small Ball’, Opinion on Mahal’s Victory, Music Rights in WCW, More!
Bischoff is joined on today’s show by his co-host Nick Hausman.
Bischoff opens today’s show by discussing Ed Nordholm’s decision to divulge personal messages between himself and Matt Hardy to the wrestling media. This is a whole new level of small ball in Bischoff’s opinion, and it stinks of desperation. It’s a very amateur move, and by sending out this information Bischoff suggests that Nordholm is basically wearing a sign around his neck that says ‘mark’.
Bischoff believes that the harder IMPACT pushes back against The Hardys in this battle over the ‘Broken Universe, in the court of public opinion they will be found guilty. They’re bringing a lot of bad publicity to their brand by fighting this war, and they’d be much better served to just let it go.
He believes that this whole thing is probably one big running joke within WWE at the moment, because it’s incredibly stupid. The fact that Ed Nordholm and IMPACT tried to ‘sell’ WWE a gimmick is hilarious in Bischoff’s opinion, and there’s no way anyone at WWE’s head offices are taking this serious at all.
WWE Planning Huge SmackDown Live Episode
WWE has plans to make the June 13th SmackDown Live episode in New Orleans a major show because of WrestleMania 34 taking place there.
Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal was announced but it’s likely that the match will be changed or made into a dark match since they are now scheduled for the Money in the Bank event. Two other matches planned for the event include Kevin Owens vs. AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Dolph Ziggler.
Chris Jericho Says It’ll Be A Long Time Before He Returns to WWE
While speaking with AP News, Chris Jericho talked about his future with WWE and revealed that it will be a long time before he returns to WWE.
“WWE, it’s the brand name. I’m just a cog. An important part of it, people like it. But this is our band. People are here to see us. That to me, is a little more of a rush. It’s not under the auspices of another name. It’ll be a long time before I go back,” he said. “If I ever do go back, if I never go back, it’s fine. If I never wrestle another match, it wouldn’t bother me.”
It’s very interesting that Jericho questioned if he would be returning to WWE as he is being advertised for the upcoming WWE Live Event on June 30th and July 1st in Tokyo, Japan at the Ryogoku Kokugikan.
WWE Nixes Plans for Rusev’s Return
Plans for Rusev to return to WWE programming and go after the WWE Title have changed.
As seen on SmackDown Live a couple weeks back, WWE aired footage of Rusev saying he wanted a shot at the WWE Title at the Money in the Bank event. Rusev said he would be returning to SmackDown Live to confront Shane, which never happened and WWE hasn’t played up to that storyline at all on any of their programming.
With WWE announcing Randy Orton’s rematch for the WWE Title at the Money in the Bank event on SmackDown Live this week, it is now evident that plans have changed for Rusev and he will not be going after the Title on that show. We will keep you updated if we hear anything new regarding his return.
Jinder Mahal Finally Gets WWE Merchandise
WWE is now selling merchandise for new WWE Champion Jinder Mahal. WWE has started selling a new t-shirt for Mahal which you can check out at the link below:
Jinder Mahal “Modern Day Maharaja” Authentic T-Shirt
WWE Authentic Apparel – The Official Shirt of the WWE Superstars Classic Fit 100% cotton Screen printed in the USA
Backstage Update on Emma’s WWE Return
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Emma is expected to be cleared to return to action in June.
As previously noted, Emma suffered a shoulder injury at a WWE Live Event on May 7th in Liverpool, England while she was teaming with Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax to take on the team of Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Mickie James. Emma took a bad landing on her right shoulder after a double knee drop from Sasha on the turnbuckle. The match was stopped early as a result to the injury.
WWE NXT Spoilers – May 31st – June 21st, 2017
WWE will tape the May 31st to June 21st episodes of NXT at Full Sail University tonight. Here are the results from the show:
* Dark match: Jeet Rama defeats Chris Silvio.
May 31st
* Tyler Bate defeats Steve Cutler.
* Ciampa comes out on crutches. The crowd is chanting, “Why Ciampa, why?” Ciampa invites Gargano out to the ring because he feels he owes him an explanation. Thursday before Takeover Ciampa sustained an injury, it didn’t matter, he was still going to fight. But the people were thinking up dream partners for Gargano, it took 24 hours for Ciampa to become an afterthought to the fans. When Ciampa realized they lost he knew he was injured & going away for a long time, when he looked across at John it became clear. That if Ciampa went away Gargano would replace him, Ciampa won’t become an afterthought, and in that moment he made his choice. It is the fans fault and it is Gargano’s fault that DIY is done, if Ciampa has to go away then Gargano had to go away too. Takeover: Chicago was supposed to be DIY’s moment, but it ended up being Ciampa’s moment. Ciampa is irreplaceable, Gargano is irreplaceable, the fans are replaceable. When Ciampa returns he will be the most dangerous man in professional wrestling and everyone is on notice.
* Pete Dunne defeats Danny Burch. After the match Dunne cuts a promo. He says since January he had to watch some boy carry what was rightfully his. History will remember that WWE UK began with the crowning of “The Bruiserweight” Pete Dunne.
* Cezar Bononi defeats Cien Almas with a small package.
* Kassius Ohno & Roderick Strong vs. Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe. No Way Jose made his return to assist Ohno & Strong in beating Sanity.
* Dana Warrior is here to honor a local Orlando teacher for her charity work. “Thank You, Ruby” chants.
205 Live Continues to Perform Poorly
205 Live continues to perform poorly on the WWE Network.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the show failed to rank in the top 20 shows on the Network this week. The show actually ranked behind a three-month old episode of Ride Along. Halloween Havoc back in 1998 got more views than 205 Live did.
This isn’t a first time occurrence either, as the show rarely ranks in the top 10 despite airing live on the WWE Network and being built up on RAW the previous night.