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It was noted over the weekend that WWE decided to drop their Talking Smack show that airs Tuesday nights after 205 Live on the WWE Network.
Kevin Owens indicated on Twitter that there is no love lost in the decision to get rid of this show and and applauded WWE.
It should be noted that the show was not COMPLETELY dropped, as it will still air after SmackDown brand pay-per-view events.
While Dave Meltzer reported that Talking Smack was cancelled because of lower viewership, Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated is saying otherwise.
According to Barrasso, WWE canceled the weekly show because Vince McMahon was not pleased with the show and felt it wasn’t best for the company’s interests. Vince apparently made the decision last week while he was present for the show.
WWE issued the following statement on Friday regarding the cancellation of the show:
“We continuously review WWE Network’s programming line-up based on a variety of factors, including viewership and subscriber research. Talking Smack and Raw Talk will air following pay-per-view events, and Tuesday will continue to feature 205 Live.”
As seen on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, Daniel Bryan suspended James Ellsworth for 30 days and fined him $10,000 for his involvement in the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder matches. He also added that if he violates the terms, Carmella will be stripped of her MITB briefcase.
Carmella and Ellsworth both took to Twitter and made the following remarks in regards to the suspension:
As seen on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, WWE announced that John Cena would face Rusev in a flag match at the upcoming WWE Battleground event. Bryan Alvarez speculated on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Live that the reason WWE decided to have a flag match between the two was in case they decide to have Rusev win.
“The Flag match is essentially the professional wrestling version of capture the flag. For the match two flags are placed on opposite turnbuckles, each representing a specific wrestler or team of wrestlers, and the object of the match is to retrieve the opponent’s flag and raise it while defending the flag in the wrestler’s corner.”
According to the rules (seen above), the match will conclude when a specific wrestler retrieves the flag of their opponent. This means Cena doesn’t have to actually be pinned to lose the match. Historically, WWE normally has gimmick matches as a blow-off match in a feud or as an “out” for a screwy finish.
After Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown & 205 Live went off the air in Dayton, Ohio, Randy Orton was in action against WWE Champion Jinder Mahal. This match has been done several times over the past month and much like previous bouts it ended in DQ with interference from The Singh Brothers.
Before the match took place, The Singh Brothers cut a heel promo and announced that the match would be non-title. This promo was said to be pretty decent.
Taz gets right into his analysis of last night’s Money in the Bank PPV.
He thought the opening package before the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match was terrific. It did a wonderful job of paying tribute to women who paved the way for today’s performers, while also highlighting each woman who was participating in last night’s ladder match.
He thought all five women worked hard in the match, but in the end, Taz questions whether this match lived up to it’s ‘historic’ nature. Carmella’s victory is tainted by the fact that James Ellsworth physically climbed the ladder and unhooked the briefcase for her. Taz thinks it’s a shame that in the first ever Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match, a man was the one to retrieve the briefcase.
Taz thinks that WWE needs to address Carmella’s victory on this Tuesday’s episode of Smackdown Live and he truly believes that they will. He suggests that Shane McMahon should appear on RAW tonight to announce a Money in the Bank rematch for tomorrow night’s Smackdown Live. Having Shane appear on the opposing brand to make this announcement will make this feel like a very important moment, and Taz ultimately thinks that Carmella will lose this briefcase one way or another on Tuesday night.
In spite of all the controversy surrounding the finish, Taz thought that these five women earned a lot of people’s respect last night, and they raised the bar for all women entering a WWE ring moving forward.
As previously noted, John Cena will be making his return to weekly WWE programming on the July 4th episode of SmackDown Live and will be billed as a “free agent” moving forward. Dave Meltzer discussed Cena’s return on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio and speculated what his schedule could be like when he returns to the company.
While none of this is confirmed, Meltzer presented a scenario that could see Cena work only RAW and SmackDown televised events on Monday’s and Tuesday. He would not work WWE Live Events later in the week. This scenario would leave Cena plenty of time to fulfill his non-WWE commitments and Cena would still have a strong presence on WWE programming. Cena would of course work both pay-per-view events for the RAW and SmackDown Live brands each month. So basically, he would work Sunday-Tuesday and have Wednesday through Saturday off.
As many of you have seen recently. WWE is now doing picture-in-picture advertising on the SmackDown Live brand on Tuesday nights. This was apparently the USA Network’s idea as they plan on doing it for other shows. The idea is to keep the viewers from changing the channel during commercial breaks.
It’s worth pointing out that WWE is only doing the picture-in-picture advertising for the non-important matches and are still doing full-on commercials for their bigger matches. This past Tuesday on SmackDown they did normal commercial breaks for the AJ Styles vs. Dolph Ziggler match and other popular matches.
As previously noted, WWE will head to Full Sail University on July 13th and 14th to tape the Mae Young Classic. Here are some notes regarding the show, courtesy of PWInsider:
WWE has already locked in a number of talents for the tournament. There is expected to be around 32-women total.
The WWE Network will feature a preview special for the tournament on August 20th.
The first round of the tournament will be released on VOD the following week.
The second round of the tournament will release the week after that, which is the first week of September.
The finals of the live special are expected to air on Tuesday September 12th. SmackDown runs that night in Las Vegas and it’s being speculated that they could hold the finals there, instead of Orlando.
According to WWE, Hall of Famer Harley Race has broke both his legs in a fall this past week. Here is an excerpt from their report:
WWE Hall of Famer Harley Race has broken both legs after a fall in his home in Troy, Mo. on Tuesday, WWE.com has learned.
Race sustained a fracture to his right femur and suffered breaks in his left fibula and tibia, as well as a spiral break of his left ankle. The WWE Hall of Famer required emergency surgery to relieve the swelling in both legs late Tuesday night. He subsequently received four blood transfusions and underwent surgery on Friday to reset the fractures.
WWE wishes Harley Race the best on the road to recovery.
