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
- Roman Reigns announced on Monday night that he is stepping away from wrestling for the foreseeable future. He said that his leukemia has returned after 11 years and at this time he needs to be with his family and focus on beating leukemia again. He relinquished the Universal Championship as well making the match at Crown Jewel Braun Strowman vs Brock Lesnar for the vacant Universal Championship
- The WWE formally welcomed seven new roster members to the WWE Performance Center last Thursday. Matt Riddle, Mia Yim, Chelsea Green, Humberto Carrillo, Luis Martinez (formerly known as Punishment Martinez in Ring of Honor), Daniel Vidot, and Jordan Omogbehin were all announced in the article. SOURCE
- Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose win the Raw Tag Team Championships, but Ambrose turned on Rollins immediately after the match, it’s unclear what will happen with the championships at this point.
· WWE Weekly Event Results
WWE Live Event – Raw Roster (Bangor, Maine) 10/19/2018
(1) Finn Balor defeated Baron Corbin
(2) Baron Corbin defeated Finn Balor after restarting the match as a No Disqualification Match and hitting him with a chair
(3) Sasha Banks, Bayley, & Dana Brooke beat Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, & Alicia Fo
(4) Elias beat No Way Jose
(5) Ronda Rousey & Nia Jax defeated Alexa Bliss & Mickie James
(6) Chad Gable beat Jinder Mahal
(7) The B-Team defeated The Revival
(8) Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose beat Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre
Source: PWTorch.com
WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster (Hartford, Conn.) 10/20/2018
(1) Rey Mysterio & Jeff Hardy defeated Randy Orton & Andrade Cien Almas
(2) Asuka & Carmella beat The IIconics
(3) Sheamus & Cesaro defeated The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston)
(4) Braun Strowman defeated Dolph Ziggler
(5) Becky Lynch beat Charlotte to retain the Smackdown Women’s Championship
(6) Rusev (w/ Lana) defeated Aiden English
(7) Ronda Rousey & Nia Jax beat Alexa Bliss & Mickie James
(8) AJ Styles defeated Daniel Bryan and Shinsuke Nakamura in a Triple Threat match to retain the WWE Championship
Source: eWrestlingNews.com
WWE Live Event – Supershow (Boston, Mass.) 10/21/2018
(1) Jeff Hardy defeated Andrade Cien Almas
(2) Finn Balor beat Bobby Lashley (w/ Lio Rush) via disqualification
(3) Rusev (w/ Lana) beat Aiden English
(4) Baron Corbin, Jinder Mahal, The Revival, & Elias defeated No Way Jose, The B-Team, Tyler Breeze, & Chad Gable
(5) Charlotte defeated Becky Lynch via disqualification
(6) Charlotte, Carmella, & Asuka defeated Becky Lynch & The IIconics
(7) Sasha Banks, Bayley, & Dana Brooke beat Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, & Alicia Fox
(8) The Bar defeated The New Day to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Championships
(9) Ronda Rousey & Nia Jax beat Mickie James & Tamina
(10) AJ Styles defeated Daniel Bryan and Shinsuke Nakamura in a Triple Threat match to retain the WWE Championship
Source: Fightful.com Report
WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster (White Plains, N.Y.) 10/22/2018
(1) Jeff Hardy defeated Andrade Cien Almas. After the match Randy Orton hit Jeff Hardy with an RKO
(2) Carmella & Asuka defeated The IIconics
(3) Rusev beat Aiden English
(4) Becky Lynch beat Charlotte to retain the Smackdown Women’s Championship
(5) The Bar retained the Smackdown Tag Team Championships vs The New Day
(6) Daniel Bryan beat The Miz
(7) AJ Styles defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to retain the WWE Championship
Source: PWTorch.com
If you attend a live event, please send results to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!
•WWE TV Match Results
Monday Night Raw TV Results 10/22/2018
(1) Finn Balor defeated Bobby Lashley (w/ Lio Rush)
(2) Ruby Riott (w/ Sarah Logan & Liv Morgan) beat Sasha Banks (w/ Bayley & Natalya)
(3) Elias defeated Apollo Crews
(4) Ember Moon pinned Tamina in a fatal four way match which also included Dana Brooke and Nia Jax
(5) Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins defeated Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler to win the Raw Tag Team Championships
Smackdown Live TV Results 10/23/2018
(1) Kofi Kingston (w/ Big E & Xavier Woods) vs Big Show (w/ Sheamus & Cesaro) ended in no contest after everyone on the outside began brawling in the ring
(2) The Usos defeated AJ Styles & Daniel Bryan
(3) Rusev (w/ Lana) beat Aiden English
(4) Rey Mysterio defeated The Miz
(5) Randy Orton beat Jeff Hardy
WWE Mixed Match Challenge Results (Aired on Facebook Watch) 10/23/2018
(1) Team B’ N’ B’ (Finn Balor & Bayley) defeated Team Pawz (Bobby Roode & Natalya) when Finn Balor pinned Bobby Roode
(2) Awe-ska (The Miz & Asuka) defeated Day One Glow (Jimmy Uso & Naomi) when The Miz pinned Jimmy Uso
Updated Mixed Match Challenge Standings
Raw Standings
· Monster Eclipse (Braun Strowman & Ember Moon) 2-0
· Country Dominance (Bobby Lashley & Mickie James) 2-0
· B’ N’ B’ (Finn Balor & Bayley) 2-1
· Mahalicia (Jinder Mahal & Alicia Fox) 0-2
· Team Pawz (Bobby Roode & Natalya) 0-3
Smackdown Standings
· Awe-ska (The Miz & Asuka) 3-0
· Fenominal Flaire (AJ Styles & Charlotte) 2-0
· Day One Glow (Jimmy Uso & Naomi) 1-2
· Ravishing Rusev Day (Rusev & Lana) 0-2
· The Fabulous Truth (R-Truth & Carmella) 0-2
**The team from Raw and Smackdown with the best record will compete at WWE T.L.C. on 12/16/18 to determine the winner of the Mixed Match Challenge.
205 Live Results (Aired on WWE Network) 10/24/2018
(1) Mike Kanellis defeated Lince Dorado
(2) Mustafa Ali defeated Hideo Itami in a falls count anywhere match after hitting a 450 Splash off the top rope and onto Hideo Itami laying on a table set up at ringside
Mustafa Ali will face Tony Nese next Wednesday to determine the number one contender for the Cruiserweight Championship
Mae Young Classic Results (Aired on WWE Network) 10/24/2018
(1) Toni Storm defeated Meiko Satamura
(2) Io Shirai defeated Rhea Ripley
Main Event Results (Aired on WWE Network and Hulu) 10/25/2018
(1) Zack Ryder defeated Jinder Mahal
· Upcoming Lineups for Stadium/PPV Events
WWE Evolution on Oct. 28 from Long Island, N.Y.
(1) Rhonda Rousey (c) vs. Nikki Bella for the Raw Women’s Championship
(2) Becky Lynch (c) v. Charlotte Flair for the Smackdown Women’s Championship in a Last Woman Standing Match
(3) Alexa Bliss & Mickie James vs Trish Stratus & Lita
(4) Kairi Sane (c) vs Shayna Baszler for NXT Women’s Championship
(5) Mae Young Classic Finals: Io Shirai vs. Toni Storm
(6) Sasha Banks, Bayley, & Natalya vs The Riott Squad
(7) Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Isla Dawn for the NXT UK Women’s Championship
(8) WWE Evolution Battle Royal (winner will receive future championship opportunity): Tamina, Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, Ember Moon, Alicia Fox, Nia Jax, Dana Brooke, Asuka, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Carmella, Lana, Naomi, Zelina Vega, Torrie Wilson, Ivory, Molly Holly, Kelly Kelly, Maria Kanellis, Alundra Blayze, and Michelle McCool
WWE Crown Jewel on Nov. 2nd from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
(1) Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar for the vacant Universal Championship
(2) AJ Styles (c) vs. Daniel Bryan for WWE Championship
(3) WWE World Cup Tournament: John Cena, Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, Seth Rollins, Rey Mysterio, The Miz
· The Miz mentioned on Smackdown that he would win the Smackdown side of the World Cup bracket. To this point no brackets have been shown and there has been no confirmation of any kind that this will be the format.
· If this is the format it will be Cena, Angle, Ziggler, and Rollins on the Raw side and Hardy, Orton, Mysterio, and The Miz on the Smackdown side of the bracket
(4) Degeneration X vs. The Brothers of Destruction
(5) The Bar (c) vs. The New Day for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships
· Upcoming Events
Sat. 10/27/18 WWE Live Supershow, The Corbin Arena, Corbin, Ky. (No female talents listed due to Evolution PPV on 10/28)
Sun. 10/28/18 WWE Evolution, Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, N.Y.
Sun. 10/28/18 WWE Live Supershow, U.S. Cellular Center, Asheville, N.C. (No female talents listed due to Evolution PPV)
Mon. 10/29/18 WWE Raw, Spectrum Center, Charlotte, N.C.
Mon. 10/29/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Macon Centreplex Coliseum, Macon, Ga.
Tue. 10/30/18 WWE Smackdown, Philips Arena, Atlanta, Ga.
Fri. 11/2/18 WWE Crown Jewel, King Saud University Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Sat. 11/3/18 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Wizink Center, Madrid, Spain
Sat. 11/3/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham, England
Sun. 11/4/18 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, Spain
Sun. 11/4/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, BHGE Arena, Aberdeen, Scotland
Mon. 11/5/18 WWE Raw, Manchester Arena, Manchester England
Mon. 11/5/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Arena Birmingham, Birmingham, England
Tue. 11/6/18 WWE Smackdown, Manchester Arena, Manchester, England
Tue. 11/6/18 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, First Direct Arena, Leeds, England
Wed. 11/7/18 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany
Wed. 11/7/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham, England
Thu. 11/8/18 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany
Thu. 11/8/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, The SSE Arena, Wembley, London, England
Fri. 11/9/18 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Unipol Arena, Bologna, Italy
Fri. 11/9/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Brighton Center, Brighton, England
Sat. 11/10/18 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Palalottomatica, Rome, Italy
Sat. 11/10/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Butlins Arena, Minehead, England
Sun. 11/11/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, The SSE Hydro, Glasgow, Scotland
Mon. 11/12/18 WWE Raw, Sprint Center, Kansas City, Mo.
Tue. 11/13/18 WWE Smackdown, Enterprise Center, St. Louis, Mo.
Sun. 11/18/18 WWE Survivor Series, Staples Center, Los Angeles, Calif.
Mon. 11/19/18 WWE Raw, Staples Center, Los Angeles, Calif.
Tue. 11/20/18 WWE Smackdown, Staples Center, Los Angeles, Calif.
Sat. 11/24/18 WWE Starrcade, U.S. Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio
Sun. 11/25/18 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Grossinger Motors Arena, Bloomington, Ill.
Sun. 11/25/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Alliant Energy Center, Madison, Wis.
Mon. 11/26/18 WWE Raw, Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wis.
Mon. 11/26/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, US Cellular Center, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Tue. 11/27/18 WWE Smackdown, Target Center, Minneapolis, Minn.
Sat. 12/1/18 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Arena Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
Sun. 12/2/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, College Park Center, Arlington, Texas
Mon. 12/3/18 WWE Raw, Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
Tue. 12/4/18 WWE Smackdown, Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas
Wed. 12/5/18 WWE Live Event –Raw Roster, Movistar Arena, Santiago, Chile
Thu. 12/6/18 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Luna Park Stadium, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Fri. 12/7/18 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Luna Park Stadium, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sat. 12/8/18 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Antel Arena, Montevideo, Uruguay
Sat. 12/8/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Bell MTS Place, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Sun. 12/9/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Stampede Corral, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Mon. 12/10/18 WWE Raw, Valley View Casino Center, San Diego, Calif
Mon. 12/10/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Citizens Business Bank Arena, Ontario, Calif.
Tue. 12/11/18 WWE Smackdown, Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nev.
Fri. 12/14/18 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tenn.
Sat. 12/15/18 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Rabobank Arena, Bakersfield, Calif.
Sat. 12/15/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Oracle Arena, Oakland, Calif.
Sun. 12/16/18 WWE T.L.C. SAP Center, San Jose, Calif.
Mon. 12/17/18 WWE Raw, Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, Calif.
Mon. 12/17/18 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Stockton Arena, Stockton Calif.
Tue. 12/18/18 WWE Smackdown – Save Smart Center, Fresno, Calif.
· Latest TV Highlights
Monday Night Raw
– Roman Reigns announced his leukemia has returned and he is taking time away from wrestling to focus on treatment. He relinquished the Universal Championship. The Crown Jewel match for the Universal Championship has been made a one on one match between Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar
– Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose win the Raw Tag Team Championships after Braun Strowman runs down to attack Drew McIntyre for attacking him earlier in the night. Immediately after winning the championships, Dean hit Seth with Dirty Deeds. Dean continued to beat up Seth, throwing him into the time keeper’s area, throwing both Tag Team Championships at him, and finally hitting him with a DDT to the concrete floor surrounding the ring after pulling up the mat at ringside.
– It seems that there were two more turns this week. Braun Strowman, who showed signs of turning face last week, appears to be baby face once again after cutting a very baby face promo when talking about beating Brock and that Roman will get a title shot as soon as he’s back. Braun was also attacked from behind by Drew McIntyre at the end of that promo. Elias appears to have turned baby face as well. After being forced off the stage and belittled by Baron Corbin, Elias smashed a guitar across the back of the heel general manager.
Smackdown Live
– The full video of Becky’s attack on Charlotte that was teased by the NXT Twitter account late last week was shown on Smackdown. Charlotte was talking to some WWE women at the Performance Center and in the middle of her Q & A session Becky appears and is upset that Charlotte was asked to speak to them instead of her when she is the champion. They brawled as people tried to pull them apart.
– AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan were put in a tag team rematch against The Usos this week. Last week Daniel Bryan accidentally hit AJ and was pinned immediately after. This week AJ Styles accidentally hit Bryan with a Pelé kick and was pinned quickly after. In a backstage segment, Daniel Bryan didn’t seem confident AJ did it accidentally.
– Shane McMahon was back on Smackdown this week and was mentioned twice in interesting fashion. Early in the night Shane was mentioned as having booked a Smackdown Tag Team rematch instead of Paige for Crown Jewel. This could mean nothing, but it was noticeable. Later in the night Shane came out before the main event and mentioned Evolution on Sunday then hyped the World Cup Tournament at Crown Jewel next week.
For a more detailed rundown of all the major happenings in WWE, you can read the PWTorch WWE TV reports HERE.
· WWE in the Media
Alexa Bliss was on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia this week. Alexa talked about growing up without any siblings and said that she feels that she sacrificed her childhood, spending school breaks in the gym working with trainers and cheering, so while she didn’t go through indie wrestling, she said she absolutely has made sacrifices to get to WWE. Alexa also discussed her previous eating disorder and how it still impacts her mentally today, saying she wrestles most of the time with a shirt on because she doesn’t like her stomach and how she looks in her gear, but that wrestling in a shirt is a healthy way for her to react to not feeling positive about her body on a given day rather than an unhealthy alternative. Alexa talked about being uncomfortable during the Nia Jax body shaming storyline leading up to Wrestlemania this year due to her past and said Nia provided a lot of different things Alexa could say negatively about her for their storyline, but Alexa wasn’t comfortable doing so, so they went with something else. Alexa also talked about her relationship with Buddy Murphy, noting that they are still together, and also told stories about her pet pig Larry Steve. You can listen to the full interview HERE.
· WWE Social Media Highlights
Roman responded to everyone sending him well wishes Tuesday morning following his shocking announcement Monday that he was taking time away from wrestling to focus on his health following a recurrence of leukemia.
Thank you to everyone who’s reached out…I can’t put into words what it means to me.
Your energy and positivity motivate me to get better quickly to get back in the ring, but for now I’m going to spend time with my family and focus on health.
Thank you – Joe/Roman
— Roman Reigns (@WWERomanReigns) October 23, 2018
Most of the wrestling world reacted to Roman’s announcement including WWE main roster and NXT wrestlers, the official New Japan Pro Wrestling account also sent well wishes to Roman following his announcement, below are just a couple of those who shared their well wishes.
We been here for u, and will stay here for u. Day one uce. We love you. @WWERomanReigns #ThankYouRoman pic.twitter.com/eszthQWPAC
— The Usos (@WWEUsos) October 23, 2018
I’ve never seen the air sucked out of a locker room like it was tonight. Our thoughts and prayers are with Roman and his family. #ThankYouRoman
— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) October 23, 2018
…. He will fight, he will win, he will return stronger, and I will be waiting….
— Samoa Joe (@SamoaJoe) October 23, 2018
A champion transcends any company. @WWERomanReigns, on behalf of NJPW we all wish you a speedy recovery.
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) October 23, 2018
Ronda Rousey and Nikki Bella took to social media to continue to hype their match this Sunday at Evolution. There are three posts listed in order because each post is related to the one before it.
https://twitter.com/RondaRousey/status/1054100979942129665
https://twitter.com/BellaTwins/status/1054109932272914432
· Closing Commentary
-Roman’s speech on Monday was both shocking and devastating to listen to. As with countless others who have wished him well, I would like to do the same thing and pray that he can beat leukemia again. This is much bigger than wrestling and, if he is able to return in the future, it would be an incredible comeback story, but that is secondary at this point.
-Another big story this week was the lackluster final hype for Evolution. While watching the shows, it didn’t feel like a “go home show” on Monday or Tuesday for Evolution on Sunday. The contract signing on Monday with Ronda Rousey and Nikki Bella was good and so was the video package for Becky Lynch and Charlotte, but it just didn’t seem like the WWE was making a big deal about the show. The Charlotte and Becky video seemed like it came a week late and while it was really good, it just didn’t feel like the right note to end on when trying to sell people on watching Evolution over anything else on a Sunday night.
Apart from that video package on Tuesday, the only other hype was a random brawl of all the Battle Royal contestants from Smackdown and Shane mentioning it briefly before moving on to Crown Jewel hype. On Monday, apart from the Ronda and Nikki contract signing, we had Sasha fight Ruby Riott as a teaser for their six-woman tag match, a two minutes Fatal Four-way match that was a buffer to the main event, and a backstage interview that turned into a fight between Trish & Lita and Mickie James & Alicia Fox. When thinking back to when the initial announcement was made by Stephanie McMahon and how much the WWE promoted this event right out of the gate, this final push to the show just seemed very disappointing.
Speaking of that initial announcement by Stephanie, we were told that Evolution would feature over 50 women. On July 23 WWE.com posted an article announcing the event, they included a quote from Stephanie who said “On October 28, over 50 women, then, now and forever, will participate in an event called Evolution…” So did they reach that number?
Currently there are 39 women listed including 21 in the Battle Royal, but if we count the announcers, interviewers, and ring announcers that were announced in a WWE.com article this week, we are up to 49 women. If Brie Bella accompanies Nikki for her match against Ronda, then we’ve hit the magical number 50. While they managed to get to 50 women, I think most people are disappointed in how they got to that number. I know I certainly am. Twenty-one women of the past and current roster are being thrown into a battle royal including names like Asuka, Ember Moon, and Nia Jax who deserve bigger spots on this card.
With the promise of 50 women on the show, it was pretty obvious from the start that there was going to have to be a battle royal of some kind to reach that number, so the match itself makes sense with that goal in mind, but maybe they shouldn’t have announced a number at all. On a positive note, I really appreciate there being stakes put on the match, with the winner receiving a future championship match.
There are two key problems with the battle royal in my opinion. First, I’m disappointed that some big stars and great wrestlers of today are thrown in the battle royal. The two that really stand out to me are Asuka and Ember Moon. I would rather they just have a friendly one on one match against one another just to show off their talent than be tossed into this battle royal.
The second issue to me is that NXT isn’t as represented as I was hoping for. With only an NXT Women’s Championship match on the card, only Shayna Baszler and Kairi Sane will be representing NXT. If you really want to get picky we can also count Io Shirai and Toni Storm in the finals of the Mae Young Classic as well since they are both under contract now with WWE. Io Shirai is listed as a member of the NXT Roster while Toni Storm is a member of NXT UK. We also had the late addition of Rhea Ripley and Isla Dawn representing NXT UK. Even if you threw a few NXT women into the battle royal, how exciting would it be for people to see the next generation of women’s wrestlers?
I just think there could be some interesting spots between the main roster and NXT talent and WWE is missing the opportunity to do so. Even if half the fans who watch Evolution don’t know who they are, they will when they move to the main roster, so this is a good opportunity to introduce someone like Dakota Kai or Bianca Belair to more fans. It may also help drive those fans to watch NXT. It seems like a win-win that they aren’t taking advantage of.
NOW CHECK OUT OTHER WEEKLY OVERVIEWS HERE.
OR JUMP TO LAST WEEK’S WWE OVERVIEW: WEEKLY OVERVIEW – WWE (thru 10/17): Latest news, injuries, live event results, schedule of live events, next big show line-ups, noteworthy social media and YouTube posts, closing commentary on World Cup
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.
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