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As previously noted, Jim Ross will be one of the announcers for the upcoming women’s tournament that will be taped on July 13 and 14th. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Lita is being considered to join J.R. on the commentating booth.
While the show is being taped in July, there is no official announcement yet on when WWE plans to air the shows on the WWE Network. We will keep you updated.
As seen on WWE programming lately, WWE has been doing a lot of multi-person matches. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that “booking is slow” and that’s the reason the viewers are being stuck with these types of matches.
While WWE has things planned out for the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view event, the company doesn’t have many creative ideas for storylines until then. These multi-person matches are essentially being done as a way to fill up time.
Taz opens today’s show speaking about last night’s episode of Smackdown Live.
He says that he liked last night’s show, but he has a few criticisms as well. He says that Nakamura should have came out to the ring first in the opening segment of the night. Having Nakamura do his full entrance while all the other performers were standing in the ring felt incredibly long and awkward to Taz.
He understands that WWE wanted Nakamura to come out last because they’re building him as the biggest star. However, having him come out last put heels like Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler in a bad situation, because Taz expected those guys to just attack Nakamura while he was finishing his entrance in the middle of the ring.
Taz also points out that it was strange for Shane McMahon (a babyface authority figure) to give Kevin Owens (a heel) his way, after Owens complained about not being an entrant in the Money in the Bank ladder match. If Shane was a heel authority figure that would have made sense, but heels are supposed to complain, and it’s strange when babyfaces succumb to heel demands.
Taz says A.J. Styles should win the Money in the Bank ladder match in his opinion, because Styles is a top babyface who can surprise the Champion at any moment and have a terrific match. Styles is also good on the mic and can back up his briefcase win with believable promos.
While speaking to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Sean “X-Pac” Walman revealed that Val Venis almost became one of the members of D-Generation X if former WWE creative writer Vince Russo had his way. Waltman revealed that the members of the group were totally against the idea, so it never happened.
“Russo wanted to put Val Venis in DX, but we said no. We stuck to our guns because he wasn’t right for DX.
Also during the interview, Waltman compared The Bullet Club, which is led by Kenny Omega, and how it operates very similar to how the Wolpac did in WCW.
“We all had our role, we were all very happy in that role, and no one wanted the other’s role,” said Waltman. “They’re the same way. Why tinker with the recipe when it is just right?”
Russo welcomes Shawn Hernandez to the show.
Russo says he doesn’t understand what happened with Hernandez during his most recent run with TNA, but there’s no denying that LAX is not the same without Hernandez. Hernandez informs that there was a contract situation between Lucha Underground and TNA that has left him in a world of trouble and legal problems. Unfortunately, he’s not at liberty to discuss any of the details at this moment.
Russo says that there’s no doubt in his mind that Dixie Carter had a crush on Hernandez during their time working together in TNA. Hernandez says that in 2007 and 2008 Carter started to communicate and converse with him more regularly, but in 2009 after he broke his neck things got really strange.
Carter flew him to Nashville and had $2000 worth of clothes laid out for him to try on. She told Hernandez that they were going to do a photoshoot and the photos would be utilized for an upcoming push when he returned from injury. Hernandez tried on all the different clothes and took the pictures, but those shots were never used on TNA programming. Russo laughs and says there’s no doubt Carter had an obsession with Hernandez.
Coming out of Monday’s episode of RAW, Dave Meltzer mentioned on Wrestling Observer Radio that the company is setting up a mix tag match that feature Alicia Fox and Noam Dar vs. Sasha Banks and a male partner.
Meltzer indicated that Banks’ partner will probably be Cedric Alexander, as Alexander has history with Noam Dar and Alicia Fox prior to his injury. With Alexander scheduled to return from injury on this week’s episode of 205 Live, it’s very possible that they set up the match as early as tonight.
In regards to the RAW Women’s Championship, Banks isn’t expected to be put back in the title picture anytime soon. Right now they are doing a program between Alexa Bliss and Bayley.
