Backstage Update on the Mae Young Classic

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.

New Match Announced for Money in the Bank

WWE announced on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live that Naomi will defend her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Lana at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view. Here is the updated card for the show:

WWE Championship
Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal

SmackDown Women’s Championship
Lana vs. Naomi

Money in the Bank Ladder Match
AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin vs. Sami Zayn vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Nakamura vs. Kevin Owens

Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Tamina vs. Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya vs. Carmella

SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The New Day vs. The Usos

Money in the Bank will take place on June 18, 2017 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. As always, we will be providing live play-by-play coverage of the event.

WWE 205 Live Results – 6 June 2017

Welcome to the fastest hour on television, 205 Live!

Two nights ago at WWE Extreme Rules Neville battled Austin Aries in a submission match and retained his Cruiserweight Championship. That marked the third time Neville bested Aries and the end of their series. Last night on Raw, TJP asked Neville to hold his end of the bargain and give him a title shot. Neville spoke to Kurt Angle about it, then attacked TJP before telling him he had his shot.

So, on tonight’s show, TJP gets a shot at Neville’s Cruiserweight Championship in what is sure to be a great match and take up the majority of the program. We may also hear from Austin Aries, who is in need of a new direction after losing again.

Also on tonight’s show, will Akira Tozawa join The Titus Brand? And is the drama between Rich Swann and Noam Dar really finished.

The Ross Report Recap w/ John Pollock – Extreme Rules Analysis, Delivering on ‘Extreme’ Expectations, Ross to Call Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar?…

Ross opens today’s show by speaking about the fact that wrestling commentary teams continue to  document the length of every Title reign. He can only assume that the higher-ups in each promotion want to have those stats discussed, but it’s starting to bother Ross because he doesn’t think it’s a necessary talking point.

He says that he was pleased to see Samoa Joe emerge victorious form the Fatal 5-way match at Extreme Rules, because he thinks a match between Joe and Brock Lesnar is a real money maker. He can’t wait to see  how WWE decides to book this program because if it’s done correctly, Ross thinks this can be a massive success for Joe, Lesnar and WWE as a whole.

Ross thought that all five men in that Fatal 5-way match came out of it stronger than they went into it. All five competitors had their chance to shine and none of them were really sacrificed to highlight another. He gives each man credit for carrying their weight Sunday night and delivering a terrific match.

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Extreme Rules Review, Heels Get Heat & Go Over, Retiring Undertaker in 2002? More!

Russo is joined on today’s show by his co-host Jeff Lane.

Russo says that he’s absolutely sick of the millennials in this world, who are completely stuck up and can’t take a joke. During the Alexa Bliss/Bayley match on Sunday night, Russo tweeted out joking that he’d let Bliss hit him with that pole. For the next few hours he was shelled with backlash online. He says that these people just take the fun out of life, and the world is going to be a scary place when these people have to run it in 10-20 years time.

Speaking about the Intercontinental match between The Miz and Dean Ambrose, Russo thought these two guys did a poor job of making the match feel realistic. Most fans look right past these subtleties, but there were a couple occasions during the match where one of them stood still and let the other attack them when it was obvious they could have moved (Daniel Bryan kick spot for example).

He says that with the rise of MMA and legitimate fights, it’s almost as if wrestling has gone the opposite direction and has become less believable. Russo also says that the finish of this match was poorly executed, with the referee taking an awfully long time before making a decision to disqualify Ambrose. This allowed Miz to attack Ambrose from behind and pick up the pin-fall win.

Check Out the 2017 Money in the Bank Poster

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.

Conversation with the Big Guy Recap – Filming ‘Table for 3’, Favourite Theme Songs, Why is Nakamura Talking? More!

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.