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Steve is the Founder of RingsideNews, AllWrestlingNews, and Wrestling dot News. He has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He first got into website development at the time and has been focusing on bringing his readers the best professional wrestling news at it’s highest quality.
One of our correspondents attended last night’s RAW in Wilkes-Barre and passed along the following live notes:
They Hardy Boys, Sasha Banks and Bayley were all advised for the show but did not appear. This didn’t sit well with some fans.
Tons of people walked out on the show after the Women’s match.
Someone was spotted sleeping during the show.
The boos for Roman Reigns when he came out were incredibly loud. Way louder than they appeared on television.
Overall he said the event was fun but three hours if way too long to sit through, especially if you have people falling asleep during the show.
Ryback is joined on today’s show by his co-host Pat Buck.
Ryback recalls one night during his program against The Authority, when after RAW went off air he was being attacked by everyone in the ring. This was the one time during his WWE run when he thought an opponent was going to take off his weightlifting belt and strap him with it, and he was terrified. Jamie Noble told him after the fact that they considered it but then changed their minds.
Ryback mentions that WWE teased an angle with him versus Triple H for a couple weeks, but eventually they dropped it. Triple H came up and later told him that there was never a plan for them to work with each other, which Ryback appreciated. However, he jokes that he would have liked to work with Triple H to prove to him that he could actually wrestle.
Ryback says that WWE talents don’t get paid to film Table for 3, and they’d often be told that they had to shoot an episode before a live television taping when they’re tired and busy. For this reason, nobody ever really wants to do it, but they suck it up and try to have a good time with each other.
Buck says he’d love to see a Table for 3 featuring Ryback, Triple H and CM Punk. Ryback says he’d love to do an episode with Daniel Bryan and Vince McMahon, because Bryan would be able to keep things civil if things got out of hand between him and McMahon.
During the mailbag segment on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer was asked about the rumors of Hideo Itami leaving WWE once his contract is up this year. Meltzer mentioned that he didn’t know for sure if Itami would leave, but he could see it happening. Meltzer explained that Itami has a lot of family in Japan and he could see him leaving WWE to head to New Japan.
As many of you are aware, Itami has had several injuries since coming to WWE several years ago. He seems to get hurt every time he builds any momentum on the NXT brand and it sets him back. Several of his peers that joined NXT around the time he did are already on the main roster doing big things while he is still trying to overcome the developmental system. It should be interesting to see how his career plays out in WWE with his contract nearing expiration this year.
As many of you noticed, Finn Balor was not used on this week’s episode of RAW. It’s believed that he was kept off television to sell the impact of the Fatal 5-Way match at Sunday’s Extreme Rules event. Balor did appear after RAW went off the air to make the save for Seth Rollins who was being attacked by Samoa Joe and Bray Wyatt.
WWE has already announced Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe for the WWE Universal Championship for the upcoming Great Balls of Fire event. Here are the rumored matches for the show coming out of Monday’s episode of RAW:
RAW Women’s Championship: Bayley defending against Nia Jax (possible stipulation to be added)
Intercontinental Championship: The Miz defending against Dean Ambrose
Bray Wyatt vs. Either Roman Reigns or Seth Rollins
Cruiserweight Championship: Neville vs. TJP
R-Truth vs. Goldust
We will keep you updated if we hear any other rumored matches for the July 9th event.
Welcome to another edition of SmackDown Live!
Tonight we have a bonafide first-time ever match-up between two huge stars: Kevin Owens and Shinsuke Nakamura! These two men are set to lock horns in the Money In The Bank ladder match in less than two weeks but tonight they get to inflict some damage and probably have a show stealer!
Also on tonight’s show, AJ Styles will face Dolph Ziggler once again – after losing last week in what was seemingly a botched finish. Dave Meltzer predicted this match would happen again tonight, in order to give AJ a win and some momentum back. The match last week was really starting to heat-up into a great affair but it ended abruptly when Ziggler superkicked AJ in the back of the head.
The New Day jumped right into the tag team title picture upon arriving on SmackDown last week. Xavier Woods, Big E, and Kofi Kingston challenged The Usos in their first appearance on the blue brand since coming over via the Superstar Shake-up. And now a SmackDown Tag Team Championship match awaits them at the Money in the Bank PPV. I expect to finally see The New Day in tag team action tonight, but will The Uso’s play fair?
The women’s Money In The Bank ladder match is also less than two weeks away, and it’s a match that has gotten a lot of people excited. However it does seemingly leave Naomi off of a PPV, having not defended her title in a while. This could really hurt the Champion as she looks to add credibility to her reign. Rumours suggest Lana might appear soon and challenge Naomi at Money in the Bank but I don’t see this happening – why would WWE promote Lana so heavily, only to have her lose her first match and fade away? Hopefully we find out tonight if Naomi will have a role at the PPV.
And then there’s Jinder Mahal and Randy Orton. The two didn’t meet physically last week, but Orton did give a good promo and Jinder appeared on the tron afterwards to annoy him. Expect things to really heat-up tonight between these two, as WWE need to add some fuel to the fire before long. That’s the preview for tonight’s show, let us know what you’re excited to see in the comments below, check out the free Ringside News app, and enjoy the show!
Here is the latest edition of my Q&A video series. You can submit questions for future videos on my Twitter page and make sure to use the hashtag #RoadToNoDQ1000.
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Triple H announced on Twitter that NXT “Takeover: Brooklyn III” will take place Saturday, August 19th at the Barclays Center during SummerSlam weekend.
NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn returns to Barclays Center on Aug. 19
For the third year in a row, Brooklyn, N.Y., will host NXT’s hottest event of the summer.
TakeOver: Brooklyn III comes to the Barclays Center Saturday, Aug. 19, one night before WWE SummerSlam emanates from the same building.
WWE COO Triple H made the announcement on Twitter:
Tickets for the WWE Network special event go on sale this Friday, June 9, at 10 a.m. ET, exclusively at NXTtickets.com.
NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn has played home to such historic showdowns as Finn Bálor vs. Kevin Owens, Bayley vs. Sasha Banks and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Samoa Joe in previous years. There’s no telling what huge matches will go down this August, but this much is certain: Takeover: Brooklyn III will have the entire WWE Universe buzzing!
Don’t miss out on witnessing the action live in person — secure your ticket this Friday.
After suffering three straight pay-per-view losses against Neville for Crusierweight Championship, Austin Aries may be turning heel soon.
Bryan Alvarez discussed Aries’ status on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Live and speculates that the company will turn Aries. Aries teased “serious life reflection” and “career reevaluation” after his loss on Twitter Sunday night after his loss. This could ben an indication that we will see something new with Aries moving forward.
