WEEKLY OVERVIEW – WWE (thru 7/17): Top stories of week, major show lineups, live event results, schedule of live events, noteworthy social media posts, more

By Zach Graham, PWTorch Contributor

Former champion reportedly returning to WWE

SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

The following is the latest in a new series of weekly in-depth articles exclusive to PWTorch which will help put in perspective major wrestling promotions with a weekly overview, looking at news and roster developments, results, future line-ups, social media activity, key interviews, plus a timely commentary at the end. We will be featuring similar features on other promotions each week and each will be updated weekly.


•Top Stories of the Week

  • Multiple championships changed hands at Extreme Rules on Sunday. Shinsuke Nakamura is the new Intercontinental Champion, The New Day are the Smackdown Tag Team Champions, A.J. Styles is the new United States Champion, and Brock Lesnar cashed in his MITB Contract to win the Universal Championship
  • WWE announced a return to Madison Square Garden for two consecutive nights of live television. WWE will be at MSG on September 9 & 10 for both Raw and Smackdown. This is the first time WWE has been at MSG for television since 2009
  • Braun Strowman announced on his Instagram page that he has signed a 4 year contract to stay with WWE.
  • Jeff Hardy was arrested on a Drunk in Public charge in Myrtle Beach, S.C. this week. Hardy has been out of action since having knee surgery a couple months ago. WWE released a statement which simply read “Jeff Hardy is responsible for his own personal actions.” Jeff paid his fine and according to TMZ the issue is considered closed at this time.

•WWE Weekly Event Results

WWE Live Event – Raw Roster (Augusta, Maine) 7/12/19

(1) Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins beat The Revival via Disqualification
(2) The Usos, Zack Ryder, & Curt Hawkins beat The Viking Raiders & The Revival
(3) No Way Jose defeated Mojo Rawley
(4) Titus O’Neil beat Mojo Rawley
(5) Braun Strowman beat Mojo Rawley
(6) Naomi & Dana Brooke defeated Tamina & Sarah Logan
(7) Ricochet (c) beat Cesaro to retain the United States Championship
(8) Cedric Alexander beat Robert Roode
(9) Lacey Evans defeated Natalya
(10) Seth Rollins (c) beat Baron Corbin in a Street Fight to retain the Universal Championship

SOURCE

WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster (Petersburg, Va.) 7/13/19

(1) Daniel Bryan & Rowan beat Heavy Machinery
(2) Ember Moon defeated Liv Morgan
(3) The Kabuki Warriors beat Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose
(4) The New Day beat Sami Zayn & Elias via Disqualification
(5) Bayley beat Nikki Cross
(6) Aleister Black defeated Andrade
(7) Finn Balor beat Ali & Shinsuke Nakamura

SOURCE

WWE Live Event – Raw Roster (Springfield, Mass.) 7/13/19

(1) Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins beat The Revival via Disqualification
(2) The Usos, Zack Ryder, & Curt Hawkins beat The Viking Raiders & The Revival
(3) No Way Jose defeated Mojo Rawley
(4) Titus O’Neil beat Mojo Rawley
(5) Braun Strowman beat Mojo Rawley
(6) Natalya defeated Dana Brooke & Naomi & Sarah Logan
(7) Ricochet (c) beat Cesaro to retain the United States Championship
(8) Cedric Alexander beat Robert Roode
(9) Becky Lynch (c) beat Lacey Evans to retain the Raw Women’s Championship
(10) Seth Rollins (c) beat Baron Corbin in a Street Fight to retain the Universal Championship

SOURCE

WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) 7/15/19

(1) Aleister Black beat Andrade
(2) Matt Hardy, Apollo Crews, & Chad Gable beat AOP & Bo Dallas
(3) Heavy Machinery defeated AOP
(4) Bayley (c) beat Liv Morgan, Ember Moon, & Mandy Rose to retain the Smackdown Women’s Championship
(5) Xavier Woods defeated Elias
(6) Ali beat Buddy Murphy
(7) Asuka (w/ Kairi Sane) beat Billie Kay (w/ Peyton Royce)
(8) Kofi Kingston (c) defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to retain the WWE Championship (Shinsuke’s IC Title was not on the line)

SOURCE

If you attend a live event, please send results to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!


•WWE TV Match Results

WWE Extreme Rules Results (Aired on WWE Network) 7/14/19

(1) Kickoff Show: Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Finn Balor to win the Intercontinental Championship
(2) Kickoff Show: Drew Gulak (c) beat Tony Nese to retain the Cruiserweight Championship
(3) Roman Reigns & Undertaker beat Shane McMahon & Drew McIntyre in a No Holds Barred match when Undertaker pinned Shane
(4) The Revival (c) defeated The Usos to retain the Raw Tag Team Championships
(5) Aleister Black beat Cesaro
(6) Bayley (c) defeated Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross in a Two-On-One Handicap match to retain the Smackdown Women’s Championship
(7) Braun Strowman beat Bobby Lashley in a Last Man Standing match
(8) The New Day (Xavier Woods & Big E) beat Daniel Bryan & Rowan and Heavy Machinery to win the Smackdown Tag Team Championships
(9) A.J. Styles (w/ Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson) defeated Ricochet to win the United States Championship
(10) Kevin Owens beat Dolph Ziggler
(11) Kofi Kingston (c) defeated Samoa Joe to retain the WWE Championship
(12) Seth Rollins (c) & Becky Lynch (c) beat Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans to retain the Universal & Raw Women’s Championships
(13) Brock Lesnar defeated Seth Rollins to win the Universal Championship after cashing in his MITB Contract

Monday Night Raw TV Results 7/15/19

(1) The Usos & Ricochet beat The Revival & Robert Roode in a Two Out of Three Falls match
(2) The Viking Raiders beat Vinnie Bruener & Jackson James
(3) Cedric Alexander defeated Drew McIntyre
(4) Samoa Joe beat Finn Balor
– After the match, Bray Wyatt appeared and hit Finn with a Sister Abigail before disappearing
(5) Zack Ryder defeated Mike Kanellis
(6) A.J. Styles, Karl Anderson, & Luke Gallows beat Lucha House Party
(7) Natalya beat Alexa Bliss, Naomi, & Carmella in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match to earn a Raw Women’s Championship match vs. Becky Lynch at SummerSlam
– Carmella eliminated by Bliss
– Naomi eliminated by Natalya
– Bliss eliminated by Natalya
(8) Seth Rollins wins the “Cross-Branded All-Star Ten-Man Battle Royal” to earn a Universal Championship match vs. Brock Lesnar at Summerslam
– Order of Eliminations: Cesaro, Bobby Lashley, Big E, Sami Zayn, Rey Mysterio, Baron Corbin, Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Randy Orton

24/7 Championship Update

    • R-Truth pinned Drake Maverick to win back the 24/7 Championship

Smackdown Live TV Results 7/16/19

(1) Aleister Black beat Cesaro
(2) Charlotte defeated Liv Morgan
(3) Bayley & Ember Moon beat Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville
(4) Samoa Joe, Elias, & Randy Orton beat The New Day when Orton pinned Kofi
(5) Kairi Sane & Asuka defeated The IIconics via Countout. IIconics retain the Women’s Tag Team Championships
(6) Apollo Crews beat Andrade (w/ Zelina Vega)
(7) Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler ends without a finish (maybe Ziggler won via Countout) after Shane McMahon attempted to interfere, but was hit with another Stunner by Owens who then ran off away from the parade of heels Shane brought with him to ringside.

205 Live Results (Aired on WWE Network) 7/16/19

(1) Akira Tozawa beat Samir Singh
(2) Mike Kanellis defeated Jackson James
(3) Chad Gable beat Jack Gallagher

WWE Main Event (Aired on Hulu and WWE Network) 7/17/19

(1) Dana Brooke beat Sarah Logan
(2) EC3 & Eric Young defeated No Way Jose & Titus O’Neil

Source: WKPWP Post-Raw On-Site Correspondent


•Upcoming Lineups for Stadium/PPV Events

WWE SummerSlam on August 11 from Toronto, Ontario, Canada

  • Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship
  • Becky Lynch (c) vs. Natalya for the Raw Women’s Championship
  • Bayley (c) vs. Ember Moon for the Smackdown Women’s Championship

•Upcoming Events

Fri. 7/19/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Santander Arena, Reading, Pa.
Sat. 7/20/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Columbus Civic Center, Columbus, Ga.
Sat. 7/20/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Wildwoods Convention Center, Wildwood, N.J.
Sun. 7/21/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Pensacola Bay Center, Pensacola, Fla.
Sun. 7/21/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Amway Center, Orlando, Fla.
Mon. 7/22/19 WWE Raw, Amalie Arena, Tampa, Fla.
Mon. 7/22/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Hertz Arena, Fort Meyers, Fla.
Tue. 7/23/19 WWE Smackdown, American Airlines Arena, Miami, Fla.
Fri. 7/26/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Four States Entertainment Center, Texarkana, Ark.
Sat. 7/27/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tenn.
Sat. 7/27/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Sun. 7/28/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Show Me Center, Cape Gigagdeua, Mo.
Sun. 7/28/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, JQH Arena, Springfield, Mo.
Mon. 7/29/19 WWE Raw, North Little Rock, Ark.
Mon. 7/29/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Memphis Navy Exchange, Memphis, Tenn.
Tue. 7/30/19 WWE Smackdown, FedEx Forum, Memphis, Tenn.
Fri. 8/2/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Sat. 8/3/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, E. A. Diddle Arena, Bowling Green, Ky.
Sat. 8/3/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Huntington Center, Toledo, Ohio
Sun. 8/4/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, David S. Palmer Arena, Danville, Ill.
Sun. 8/4/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Erie Insurance Arena, Erie, Pa.
Mon. 8/5/19 WWE Raw, PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Mon. 8/5/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Wings Event Center, Kalamazoo, Mich.
Tue. 8/6/19 WWE Live Event – Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Mich.
Sun. 8/11/19 WWE SummerSlam, ScotiaBank Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Mon. 8/12/19 WWE Raw, ScotiaBank Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tue. 8/13/19 WWE Smackdown, ScotiaBank Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Fri. 8/16/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Bismarck Event Center, Bismarck, N.D.
Sat. 8/17/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
Sat. 8/17/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Alerus Center, Grand Forks, N.D.
Sun. 8/18/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Chi Health Center, Omaha, Neb.
Sun. 8/18/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Fargodome, Fargo, N.D.
Mon. 8/19/19 WWE Raw, Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minn.
Tue. 8/20/19 WWE Smackdown, Denny Sanford Premier Center, Sioux Falls, S.D.
Fri. 8/23/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, CenturyLink Center, Bossier City, La.
Sat. 8/24/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Jockey Club Del Perú, Santiago, De Surco, Peru
Sat. 8/24/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Cajundome, Lafayette, La.
Sun. 8/25/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Coliseo Roberto Duran, Panama City, Panama
Sun. 8/25/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Mobile Civic Center, Mobile, Ala.
Mon. 8/26/19 WWE Raw, Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, La.
Tue. 8/27/19 WWE Smackdown, Raising Cane’s River Center, Baton Rouge, La.


•Latest TV Highlights

Monday Night Raw

  • Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman opened Raw to brag about his successful MITB cash in at Extreme Rules. Heyman bragged about his spoiler last week and during Extreme Rules that Brock would be cashing in. Heyman then said “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m the one that has all the stroke around here right now” referring to his new Executive Director position backstage. Heyman then said he was allowed to decide how Brock’s SummerSlam opponent was going to be decided and he announced the Battle Royal in the Main Event and the competitors. Throughout the night we heard from various wrestlers in that match and why they wanted to win. In the match, it came down to Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Randy Orton, and Seth Rollins. Randy hid on the outside after someone threw him through the middle rope and Seth believed he had won after eliminating Strowman, but Orton then appeared. After a minute or two of fighting, Seth would eliminate Orton. Brock and Heyman watched the whole match from the stage and after the match, Heyman sarcastically announced Seth as the winner. Brock grabbed the chair he had been sitting on and teased getting in the ring with Seth, but didn’t before Raw ended.
  • Natalya, Alexa Bliss, Carmella, and Naomi all faced off to try and earn a SummerSlam title shot vs. Becky Lynch. The crowd rejected this match pretty early on and it only got worse as this match was by far the longest of the night and featured wrestlers who a majority of the crowd didn’t feel deserved this position. Carmella was eliminated fairly quickly by Bliss, Naomi was eliminated about 15 minutes after Carmella was by Natalya, then shortly after Naomi’s elimination, Bliss was eliminated. Becky Lynch was at ringside watching the match and selling the End of Days from the night before at the hands of Baron Corbin. After the match, Natalya was interviewed mid-ring and started off talking about her journey the last year and that meeting Becky in her home country is a dream come true. Becky interrupted and warned Natalya that if she thinks she’s meeting her friend at SummerSlam, she’s in for a shock. Becky then said she does a lot better in war than she does in love. Natalya fired back “well, you must not be a very good lover then, bitch.” Natalya then turned up the intensity some more threatening Becky and the two faced off in the ring to end the segment.
  • Bray Wyatt makes his first in-ring appearance on Raw this week. After a rather quick Samoa Joe/Finn Balor match, Balor stood in the ring after thwarting a post-match attack by Joe. He stood in the ring soaking up the cheers when some odd noises began to play and the lights went out. When the lights came back on, Wyatt appeared wearing his “Fiend” clown mask and holding Balor in position for the Sister Abigail. He delivered the Sister Abigail to Balor and stood mid-ring as the noises continued and the segment ended.

Smackdown Live

  • Kofi Kingston may have had his SummerSlam opponent selected tonight, although nothing official as of yet. The New Day came out for a celebration since they now all hold championships. Big E challenged Daniel Bryan & Rowan to come out because he thought they’d want a rematch for the titles. They did come out and Bryan went to speak three separate times before deciding against it and the two left. After they left, Samoa Joe came out looking for Kofi. Joe told Kofi to take his henchman’s lead and put the title on the line against him right now. Elias interrupted saying Joe’s had a chance, now it’s his turn. Randy Orton then came out as well to throw his name into consideration. Elias (doing his best to be the new Teddy Long) thought they should just have a six-man tag team match since all of them can’t have title matches on the same night. The New Day mocked Elias asking him if he “wanted to make it a tag team match, playa (continuing the joke about Teddy Long).” New Day conferenced and agreed, but Orton said he’s good and turned to leave. Kofi said you’d think Orton would be ready to go at any time, but it seems as though “the Viper has gone a little limp.” This of course convinced Orton to do it and the match began. The match lasted a few minutes and the finish came when Randy Orton hit Kofi with the R.K.O. and scored the pinfall. Presumably this would put Orton into the Number One Contender position, but that hasn’t been made official.
  • Bayley teamed up with Ember Moon against Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. Last week WWE teased that Ember could find a partner of her choosing for this match and just before the match began, Bayley was introduced as her mystery partner. The match was short and uneventful, but the post-match interview was what made this interesting. Moon and Bayley were interviewed by Kayla Braxton in the ring. Kayla asked Bayley who her SummerSlam opponent would be. Bayley said she wanted to face someone worthy of an opportunity, someone with charisma, someone she’s never faced before, and someone who is dedicated to the championship should she lose. Bayley then turned and looked at Ember. Braxton asked Ember what do you say and she replied “Hell yeah.”
  • Shane McMahon opened Smackdown in the ring after a video aired of him barring Kevin Owens from the building earlier before Smackdown began. The entire Smackdown roster was on stage (like kids lined up in rows at a choir concert) for the “Town Hall.” Shane credited Owens for giving him this idea to host a Town Hall to allow people to speak up. He said he’d listen as long as they were respectful. Roman Reigns emerged from the back of the group to speak first. He said that nobody in the room respects Shane and as far as diplomacy goes “you can kiss my ass.” Shane said that wasn’t respectful and said he’d be fining Roman. Charlotte then sucked up to Shane, Liv Morgan interrupted her to bicker (which lead to a match between them, obviously). Buddy Murphy spoke for the first time on Smackdown saying Owen’s doesn’t need to fight his battles for him, then threatened Owens. Apollo then spoke; he was interrupted by Andrade (which, of course, led to another match being booked). Eventually Shane dismissed all the obedient school children and Cesaro stayed out to request a rematch with Aleister Black, which he would also get. Thankfully, Owens would sneak into the ring wearing a “WWE Crew” t-shirt to hide and hit Shane with a Stunner before fleeing through the crowd.

•WWE in the Media

  • Bayley and Charlotte were both on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia this week. I will provide a written summary of this podcast next week or you can listen to the podcast HERE.
  • Bayley was on Fair Game with Kristine Leahy this week. There was some controversy about this though. Most people may have heard about this by now, but at one point a clip from this interview was posted and had to be removed after Leahy grilled Bayley regarding the travel schedule and the means with which they travel. Leahy was shocked to learn that WWE wrestlers drive themselves instead of having a driver. After discovering this, she offered to help the wrestlers negotiate their next Collective Bargaining Agreement with WWE, except they don’t have that either! As independent contractors, they don’t have a union to have a CBA in place. Bayley was very uncomfortable in the spot considering she couldn’t just start trashing her employer and I thought she handled it well. The issue here is that this show is on Fox Sports 1! WWE’s new television partner just had a host of one of their shows openly complaining about how WWE handles talent and their travel then post the clip to Twitter from her own account before it was removed. If you’re interested in watching the rest of the video, HERE is a link.

•Listen to the latest Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-Show – Smackdown Post-Show

PWTorch editor Wade Keller is joined by Zack Heydorn from PWTorch.com to discuss WWE Smackdown with live callers and in response to emails including Orton-Kofi, Cesaro-Black rematch, Shane’s Town Hall, Truth in washing machine, and more.

-On Tune In Radio HERE
-On Apple Podcasts HERE
-Or search “Wade Keller” on your podcast app of choice


•WWE Social Media Highlights

Here is Braun’s announcement of his new contract with WWE. He used some interesting hashtags in here, like he learned how to do social media from Ronda Rousey or something. My personal favorite is “I Like Million Dollar Deals Where’s My Pen Biatch I’m Signing”

Sami Zayn was just a little bitter about Vince not tweeting him a Happy Birthday like he did to Brock Lesnar. It’s very interesting who Vince tweets happy birthday to and doesn’t. I remember he tweeted happy birthday to Titus O’Neil, but not Kevin Owens or Sami Zayn. Very interesting…

So, the original tweet appears to have been deleted, but a fan tweeted a picture of his dejected son at Ricochet (and a couple other wrestlers) to express disappointment that he didn’t appear at a house show this weekend like WWE promoted he would. Ricochet responded to apologize, but Randy Orton had a little fun with him.

https://twitter.com/KingRicochet/status/1150137800651620352

Is anyone else getting the vibe that Mickie James is teasing not coming back to WWE (or retiring) here? She tweeted this after having surgery this week.

https://twitter.com/MickieJames/status/1151093970136707072

Becky here with a not-so-PG tweet that got some serious traffic this week.

Matt Hardy posted a couple more videos this week. I really hope these go somewhere. These tweets are linked to a thread of all of his videos if you want to see them all.


•Closing Commentary

– WWE has to stop promising things and not delivering. It is such a spit in the face of fans for them to promote things and then they don’t happen. This week they teased Daniel Bryan making a “career altering” announcement on Smackdown, but he didn’t. He didn’t even talk! How many times are they going to do this before they start to realize it’s hurting their credibility and turning people away? There are no excuses to tease something week after week and never deliver. If they did it on occasion, it would be different. They do it twice a month or more, and people are starting to notice. I have friends who just watch casually if nothing else is on, and even they’ve noticed that they constantly tease things and rarely, if ever, deliver on what they tease. It’s just so insulting to fans. They must think teasing it will help draw ratings, but why tease it if you’re not going to do it? I just don’t understand. Imagine if other shows or sporting events did it and then didn’t deliver on whatever was promised. Hell, half the time WWE can’t even be bothered to acknowledge they mentioned it. I think back to the women’s matches last year I’ve complained about before. They were promoted, and on the night they were scheduled to happen, WWE didn’t even think to mention that they weren’t happening at all, let alone explain why they weren’t. The thought that it’s helping ratings is pretty laughable considering how low ratings are now, but if it did have any impact, I think fan disappointment can be seen in the first to third hour drop-off on Raw. Now, that’s pretty inconsistent, and saying it’s all fans who were promised something leaving in disappointment would be ridiculous, but I know people who tune out. They’re interested in whatever the tease is, and when it doesn’t happen in the first two hours with no signs it will happen in the final hour, they just give up and ask me if anything ever actually happened. Usually the answer is no.

Also, WWE needs to do a better job when they actually do deliver on these teases. Last week and this week we had the mystery partner gimmick. Last week Cedric Alexander snuck out as a janitor to help Roman (and still lose), then this week Ember Moon revealed her mystery partner that was teased for a week to be Bayley. There was almost no reaction to Bayley being revealed. It’s just not interesting to see the same people week after week. It wouldn’t have made much sense for Ember Moon to reveal an NXT call-up or something, but even someone who has been off of TV for a while could’ve gotten a decent pop compared to rolling out the champion we see twice every week. I feel like I complain about this a lot, and if I do, I’m sorry that I’m repetitive, but I just want WWE to care again. They’re a pro wrestling company embarrassed of being a pro wrestling company. The only reason they’ll start trying more is because AEW isn’t ashamed of being pro wrestling and people are drawn to it. I don’t want to be (and I’m not) embarrassed to be a pro wrestling fan. Being constantly let down is just exhausting, and I completely understand why people are just saying “forget it” when it comes to WWE. I’ll be honest: I’ve considered it myself. I’m not hate watching, although sometimes I feel like I am while writing this. I want WWE to be great, but that will never happen as long as they’re ashamed of what they are instead of embracing it and continue to prioritize corporate partners and sponsors as well as dollar signs over their dwindling fan base.


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