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The following article is part of our Weekly Overview Series to 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
- The Cruiserweight Championship has been renamed the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. In related news, last week 205 Live did not air after Smackdown, but 205 Live did air on the WWE Network immediately after Smackdown this Friday. The future of the show is still up in the air at this point given the championship being renamed and WWE deciding to skip last week’s show.
- Four title changes occurred this week, but only three titles were involved. At Hell in a Cell The Kabuki Warriors won the Women’s Tag Team Championships and Charlotte won the Smackdown Women’s Championship. Lio Rush won the NXT Cruiserweight Championship from Drew Gulak on NXT this week and, on Smackdown this week, Bayley recaptured the Smackdown Women’s Championship in a rematch with Charlotte.
- The first night of the WWE Draft was on Friday night. Here are the wrestlers that were drafted to each brand:
- Raw: Becky Lynch, The O.C. (A.J. Styles, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson), Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton, Ricochet, Bobby Lashley, Alexa Bliss, Kevin Owens, Natalya, Viking Raiders, Nikki Cross, Street Profits
- Smackdown: Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Sasha Banks, Braun Strowman, Alexa Bliss, Lacey Evans, The Revival, Lucha House Party, Heavy Machinery
•WWE Weekly Event Results
WWE Live Event – Supershow (San Diego, Calif.) 10/5/19
(1) Ricochet defeated Cesaro
(2) Shinsuke Nakamura (c) (w/ Sami Zayn) beat The Miz & Andrade to retain the Intercontinental Championship
(3) Braun Strowman defeated A.J. Styles (c) by disqualification when The OC attacked Strowman. Styles retained the United States Championship
(4) Braun Strowman & The Viking Raiders beat The OC
(5) The New Day defeated Randy Orton & The Revival
(6) Bayley (c) beat Charlotte to retain the Smackdown Women’s Championship
(7) Roman Reigns & Daniel Bryan defeated Erick Rowan & Luke Harper
If you attend a live event, please send results to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!
•WWE TV Match Results
Hell in a Cell Results (aired on WWE Network) 10/6/19
Kickoff Show
(1) Natayla beat Lacey Evans
Main Card
(1) Becky Lynch (c) beat Sasha Banks in a Hell in a Cell match to retain the Raw Women’s Championship
(2) Roman Reigns & Daniel Bryan defeated Erick Rowan & Luke Harper in a Tornado Tag match
(3) Randy Orton beat Mustafa Ali
(4) The Kabuki Warriors beat Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross to win the Women’s Tag Team Championships
(5) Braun Strowman & The Viking Raiders beat The OC via Disqualification
(6) Chad Gable defeated Baron Corbin
(7) Charlotte beat Bayley to win the Smackdown Women’s Championship
(8) Bray Wyatt beat Seth Rollins via Disqualification in a Hell in a Cell match. Rollins retains the Universal Championship
Monday Night Raw TV Results 10/7/19
(1) Natalya beat Lacey Evans in a Last Woman Standing match
(2) The Viking Raiders defeated Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode
(3) Aleister Black beat The Singh Brothers in a Handicap match
(4) The OC beat Lucha House Party
(5) The Kabuki Warriors beat Becky Lynch & Charlotte
(6) Ricochet defeated Apollo Crews
WWE NXT UK (Aired on WWE Network) 10/9/19
(1) The Hunt beat Pretty Deadly
(2) Jordan Devlin defeated Jack Starz
(3) Dave Mastiff beat Kenny Williams
(4) Piper Niven defeated Jazzy Gabert
WWE NXT 10/9/19
(1) Lio Rush beat Drew Gulak to win the NXT Cruiserweight Championship
(2) Rhea Ripley defeated Aliyah (w/ Vanessa Borne)
(3) The Forgotten Sons beat Breezango
(4) Cameron Grimes beat Boa
(5) Roderick Strong defeated Isaiah “Swerve” Scott
(6) Bianca Belair beat Dakota Kai
(7) Walter defeated Kushida
WWE Main Event (Aired on Hulu and WWE Network) 10/10/19
(1) Cedric Alexander beat Cesaro
(2) The Revival defeated Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins
Smackdown Live TV Results 10/11/19
(1) Seth Rollins beat Roman Reigns via Disqualification when The Fiend Bray Wyatt attacked Rollins from under the ring
(2) King Corbin beat Short Gable
(3) The New Day beat The OC
(4) Bayley defeated Charlotte to regain the Smackdown Women’s Championship
205 Live Results (Aired on WWE Network) 10/11/19
(1) Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch beat Tony Nese & Drew Gulak
(2) Ariya Daivari defeated Chris Bey
(3) Brian Kendrick beat Akira Tozawa in a No Disqualification match after Mike Kanellis ran down and attacked Tozawa before dragging an unconscious Kendrick over Tozawa for the pinfall
•Upcoming Lineups for Stadium/PPV Events
WWE Crown Jewel on October 31 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Team Hulk Hogan (Seth Rollins, Rusev, TBD, TBD, & TBD) vs. Team Ric Flair (Randy Orton, Baron Corbin, TBD, TBD, & TBD)
- Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Cain Velasquez for the WWE Championship
- Braun Strowman vs. Tyson Fury
•Upcoming Events
Sat. 10/12/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, N.Y.
Sat. 10/12/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Ector County Coliseum, Odessa, Texas
Sun. 10/13/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Istbank Center, Broomfield, Colo.
Sun. 10/13/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Amarillo Civic Center, Amarillo, Texas
Mon. 10/14/19 WWE Raw, Pepsi Center, Denver, Colo.
– WWE Draft Night 2
Wed. 10/16/19 WWE NXT, Full Sail University, Winter Park, Fla.
Thu. 10/17/19 WWE NXT Live Event, Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Ore.
Fri. 10/18/19 WWE Smackdown, Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Ind.
Fri. 10/18/19 WWE NXT Live Event, The Paramount Theatre, Seattle, Wash.
Sat. 10/19/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Cure Insurance Arena, Trenton, N.J.
Sat. 10/19/19 WWE NXT Live Event, PNE Argodome, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Sun. 10/20/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, N.Y.
Sun. 10/20/19 WWE NXT Live Event, Prospera Place, Kelowna, B.C., Canada
Mon. 10/21/19 WWE Raw, Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, Cleveland, Ohio
Mon. 10/21/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, Australia
Tue. 10/22/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Australia
Wed. 10/23/19 WWE NXT, Full Sail University, Winter Park, Fla.
Wed. 10/23/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia
Fri. 10/25/19 WWE Smackdown, Sprint Center, Kansas City, Mo.
Sat. 10/26/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Coliseo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Mon. 10/28/19 WWE Raw, Enterprise Center, St. Louis, Mo.
Thu. 10/31/19 WWE Crown Jewel, King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Fri. 11/1/19 WWE Smackdown, Keybank Center, Buffalo, N.Y.
Mon. 11/4/19 WWE Raw, Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, N.Y.
Wed. 11/6/19 WWE NXT, Full Sail University, Winter Park, Fla.
Thu. 11/7/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Brighton Centre, Brighton, England
Fri. 11/8/19 WWE Smackdown & Raw (Taping Both), Manchester Arena, Manchester, England
Sat. 11/9/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, First Direct Arena, Leeds, England
Sat. 11/9/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Butlins Arena, Minehead, England
Sun. 11/10/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, TECA, Aberdeen, Scotland
Sun. 11/10/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, 3Arena, Dublin, Ireland
Mon. 11/11/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, The SSE Hydro, Glasgow, Scotland
Mon. 11/11/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria
Tue. 11/12/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tue. 11/12/19 WWE Live Event – Zenith Arena De Lille, Lille, France
Wed. 11/13/19 WWE NXT, Full Sail University, Winter Park, Fla.
Wed. 11/13/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Hallenstadion, Zurich, Switzerland
Thu. 11/14/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, SAP Arena, Manheim, Germany
Fri. 11/15/19 WWE Smackdown, Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pa.
Fri. 11/15/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Donau Arena, Regensburg, Germany
Sat. 11/16/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, ISS Dome, Dusseldorf, Germany
Sat. 11/16/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
Mon. 11/18/19 WWE Raw, TD Garden, Boston, Mass.
Wed. 11/20/19 WWE NXT, Full Sail University, Winter Park, Fla.
Thu. 11/21/19 WWE Live Event – NXT Roster, Turner Hall Ballroom, Milwaukee, Wis.
Fri. 11/22/19 WWE Smackdown, Allstate Arena, Chicago, Ill.
Fri. 11/22/19 WWE Live Event – NXT Roster, Egyptian Room at National Centre, Indianapolis, Ind.
•Latest TV Highlights
Monday Night Raw
- Monday Night Raw opened with Randy Orton and King Corbin already attacking Rusev in the ring. The announcers were welcoming viewers in a panicked state at the beat down. Rusev made a comeback and Orton and Corbin slipped out of the ring. Bobby Lashley appeared on the big screen with a big smile on his face. Lashley said it doesn’t look like Rusev is having a good time. The camera then zoomed out to show Lashley wearing a white robe, he spun around to reveal it was Rusev’s robe with Rusev written on the back. Lashley then took off the robe to reveal he was wearing some shorts and Lashley crawled into Rusev’s bed. The camera panned left to reveal a smiling Lana. Lana got into bed with Lashley and she told Rusev that everything they own is now in her name and all of Rusev’s money is now hers too because she’s removed him from the bank account. Lana then moved the shoulder strap of her bra down and cuddled up with Lashley as the camera cut off. Rusev was shown in the ring wiping a tear from his eye. Orton and Corbin were laughing at Rusev together. Rusev noticed and tackled Corbin at ringside, then Orton. He threw them into the ringside steps and ring post before giving Corbin a Machka kick, then Orton to end the segment.
- Tyson Fury was on Raw to demand an apology from Braun Strowman following their interaction at Smackdown last Friday. Jerry Lawler interviewed Fury and asked him for his opinion on what happened at Smackdown. Fury said he was there to demand an apology and Strowman’s music interrupted him. Strowman said he was trying to have some fun, but Fury looked at him wrong. Fury responded by asking Strowman how many heavyweight championships he’d won and shoving Braun. Braun came back and lifted Fury into the corner of the ring. Security separated them, but Fury escaped and attacked Strowman. They were split again and Strowman broke free this time attacking Fury. Eventually the locker room of wrestlers came out to help keep them apart and Raw went off the air after security and the locker room managed to get Strowman to head back up the ramp towards backstage.
Smackdown Live
- Smackdown featured the first night of the draft. WWE split the roster into two pools of eligible wrestlers. One pool would be picked from tonight, while the other will be picked from on Monday. Wrestlers who weren’t in either pool, or go undrafted will be declared free agents and able to sign with either brand. For every two picks Smackdown got, Raw would get three due to being three hours long, while Smackdown is only two. Here is the list of wrestlers drafted to each show by round:
- Round One:
Becky Lynch – Raw
Roman Reigns – Smackdown
The OC (A.J. Styles, Karl Anderson, & Luke Gallows) – Raw
Bray Wyatt – Smackdown
Drew McIntyre – Raw - Round Two:
Randy Orton – Raw
Sasha Banks – Smackdown
Ricochet – Raw
Braun Strowman – Smackdown
Bobby Lashley – Raw - Round Three:
Alexa Bliss – Raw
Lacey Evans – Smackdown
Kevin Owens – Raw
The Revival – Smackdown
Natalya – Raw - Round Four:
The Viking Raiders – Raw
Lucha House Party – Smackdown
Nikki Cross – Raw
Heavy Machinery – Smackdown
The Street Profits – Raw
- Round One:
- Bayley debuted a new look on Smackdown this week. After losing the Smackdown Women’s Championship, Bayley got a rematch on Smackdown. Bayley came out to her usual music and had her Bayley Buddies inflated. She was wearing a hooded jacket, and slowly took it off as her music suddenly stopped. Bayley revealed a new hairstyle as her hair is now shoulder length and no longer in her usual ponytail. Bayley then pulled out what appeared to be an axe handle with some blades on it and she cut down her Bayley Buddy inflatables before walking to the ring without her music. Charlotte had a look of intrigue on her face as she watched all of this. Bayley would win the title back, but not without some heel tactics. She put her feet on the ropes at one point, but Charlotte managed to kick out. The end came after Charlotte went for a Natural Selection and Bayley countered it into a small package, but the announcers indicated that Bayley may have grabbed Charlotte by the hair to get her in the pinning predicament. Bayley then slid out of the ring, grabbed the title, and went for a victory lap around the ring. Charlotte exited and Bayley got back in the ring with a mic and said “Hey bitches, screw all of you.” Bayley dropped the mic and Smackdown went off the air.
•Listen to the latest Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-Show – Smackdown Post-Show
PWTorch editor Wade Keller is joined by Jonny Fairplay to review WWE Smackdown with live callers and answer mailbag questions including a lot of venting about the stupidity and insulting nature of how WWE presented the draft. Also, Bayley’s big win, the presentation of Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns, “Shorty” becoming Gable’s official name apparently, Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman address Cain Velasquez, and more. They also talk to an on-site correspondent from Las Vegas who details what it…
-On Tune In Radio HERE
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-Or search “Wade Keller” on your podcast app of choice
•Closing Commentary
– What an absolutely atrocious week for WWE. There was good stuff, sure, but the bad stuff was so bad, the okay/good things won’t be remembered. I don’t want to focus on it, but it all started with Smackdown last Friday. People were very upset at the finish to Kofi Kingston and Brock Lesnar, including me. Having Brock win is fine; I just didn’t like having your champion of six months be put down that fast. I feel it undermines his entire run.
Hell in a Cell was an absolute disaster. WWE announced three matches on television heading into the show. They announced Bayley vs. Charlotte on Twitter just after Smackdown last week, then didn’t bother announcing anything else until the day of the show. It’s hard to ask your viewers to care, when you can’t bother yourself. I know last week was a big week for WWE, but if you can’t focus on your PPV, maybe you should move it because Hell in a Cell didn’t get the attention it deserves. It’s already ridiculous to have a match themed PPV like that. “Oh it’s October, let’s put two matches in Hell in a Cell.” I hate it. There was some good wrestling on this show too, but again, most of the card wasn’t promoted, the show was unnecessarily long, and then the main event happened. Oh what an absolute catastrophe. You cannot end a no disqualification match in a disqualification, I’m just baffled by it. Almost a week later and I’m still amazed that even WWE would do something that idiotic. If you didn’t want to have Seth lose, or have Bray Wyatt lose you have infinite other options. Here are some alternative ideas that aren’t as ridiculous as a DQ in a No DQ match: don’t book the match to begin with, don’t put the match in Hell in a Cell since it’s their first match of a feud, have someone interfere to cost one of them the match, have someone win clean, or have someone cheat to win. All of these ideas aren’t good, but I think they’re better than what we got.
So up next was Monday Night Raw and boy did we have an extremely uneventful show on Monday. I completely understand why, with a draft starting on Friday and the PPV happening the night before, you don’t want to start anything new, but wow. I’ll be perfectly honest, I didn’t watch Raw live. I have to be up early for work, so I viewed Monday as a night to get some extra sleep. On Monday, we had this absolutely awful Lana/Lashley/Rusev angle continue and people were not happy. On top of it being a stupid storyline including Lana having the magical powers to have Rusev removed from all of their belongings without him is ridiculous enough, having Rusev stand there like a chump is just ridiculous. I don’t know what Paul Heyman likes about these weird cheating spouse angles, but please let it be over. I also saw a ton of people mad that WWE put this in the first hour of Raw because they had children watching and I completely understand why they would be upset. Raw is rated PG, so starting the show with a storyline featuring cheating spouses, a woman teasing getting undressed, and a camera shutting off just before she’s seemingly about to have sex with her lover, is pushing PG to say the least.
I may be in the minority, though I doubt it, but I really did not enjoy Smackdown either. First issue I had was Shorty Gable. I find this downright disrespectful and horrible to say the least. Chad Gable is a former Olympian and Vince McMahon is making fun of his height? What a complete clown and I’m not talking about Gable. Kofi Kingston further embarrassed himself this week too. Literally right after a segment featuring Brock Lesnar, they cut backstage to Kofi smiling and giggling with Xavier and Big E as Big E did the New Day entrance. YOU LOST THE WWE CHAMPIONSHIP THAT YOU TOLD US YOU’D BEEN WORKING FOR 12 YEARS TO GET IN 9 SECONDS JUST LAST WEEK. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? As if people didn’t think less of Kofi already, this had to make an impact. My Twitter timeline blew up with people mad at how Kofi was portrayed on Smackdown. So, another thing that was frustrating was the lack of explanation about the two draft pools. WWE explained it online, but didn’t bother doing so on television. I can’t imagine people who didn’t know about the two pools with wrestlers to be drafted on the Smackdown half of the draft or the Raw half of the draft. They had to be screaming at their television trying to figure out why Lucha House Party was drafted, but Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar hadn’t been. These things need explained, WWE actually established rules and explained them on television! Explain all of them! You don’t have to give the list of wrestlers from each pool, but you could just say that the wrestlers have been divided into two draft pools. I think Michael Cole eventually did, but the show was almost over by the time I think I heard that mentioned. Speaking of lists, people were not pleased when they realized that WWE essentially published the exact draft order yesterday when they unveiled the wrestler pools. The first ten picks were exactly in the order WWE listed them in the announcement. By the end of the show in the later rounds, they did finally mix it up a little.
This was just a bad week. I’ll be fascinated to see the rating for Smackdown this week. Without The Rock or other hall of famers on the show, it’s likely to take a hit, but the intrigue of a draft may soften the blow. WWE needs to get it together and quickly. There is some good going on, but it’s so overshadowed by the bad right now a large portion of people are focusing on the negative. If WWE’s momentum with fans were to be charted there would be these quick periods of stability, maybe slight increases, followed by massive drop offs.
WWE needs to start gaining back momentum slowly, stop swinging for the fences, stop hot shotting the hot act into the title picture if you’re not ready to put the title on him. Do the little things right and change the perception. It’s getting very old watching this level of incompetence week after week because they’re constantly trying to find the next quick fix. Eventually you’re going to run out of excuses. At some point, it’s going to be easier to change your processes and try to earn back fans, than it will be to try and think of another excuse as to why the drop off in viewership isn’t your fault.
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AMEN! To that last paragraph especially