Welcome to this edition of “Everything WWE”. This past Monday, December 26th, WWE presented a RAW at Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois. The big story that really stood out on this show was the continuing push of Braun Strowman. The show started with United States Champion, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in the ring upset about the thrashing they recieved from The Gift of Destruction last week. This led to Stephanie McMahon announcing Rollins versus Strowman for later on the show. The Monster Among Men wanted to get his hands on The Architect badly enough to interrupt a tag team match which saw Darren Young & Bo Dallas facing off against The Shining Stars where he attacked all four men with a Christmas tree. The Abominable Stowman’s power was impressive as he started the match by forcing Rollins into the corner and then hitting him with a bale, tossing him all rrhe way across the ring. A suicide dive by Rollins couldn’t knock him down and he followed it up by chasing Rollins back into the ring and turning him inside out with a shoulder block. Later, Rollins tried jumping off the top turnbuckle at Stowman just to be easily caught and driven hard into the turnbuckles. The match ended in a no contest when “The Underdog of the Underground”, Sami Zayn performed a hit and run attack Strowman. In response to the atrack Strowman confronted Stephanie McMahon and demanded a Last Man Standing Match against Zayn next week. In a WWE.COM Exclusive, Zayn stated his motivation for attacking Strowman was because he knows he can beat him and wants to prove it to everyone including General Manager Mick Foley. In another website exclusive we saw how dangerous Strowman is as paramedics drained fluid from Zayn’s eye after what Strowman did to him during their confrontation. Strowman appears to be an unstoppable monster, but could Zayn pull off a victory next week possibly with help from Rollins and Reigns who both still have unresolved issues with the former Wyatt family member?
Rumors are flying about another push for Roman Reigns as many websites are reporting he is expected to win the Universal Championship at Survivor Series. This doesn’t sit well with many in the internet wrestling community, many of who feel he has been shoved down fans’ throats. This always shocks me as he has a good look, puts on good matches consistently and has had a very good run with the United States Championship.
WWE.com had an exclusive video of RAW GM, Daniel Bryan massaging his dog and talking cute to his significant other, Brie Bella. I have to ask why am I submitted to such weak crap? Well, it’s because Brie stars on Total Divas, the WWE Diva reality show that airs on E! every Wednesday at 9 Eastern.
On Tuesday, December 27th WWE Smackdown Live’s Wild Card Finals came to us from Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois where 13,145 fans were in attendance. The show started out with the return of John Cena. He declared that this isn’t the New Era of WWE, it’s the “My Time Now Era” and that he was challenging the winner of the main event triple threat match between AJ Styles, Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler to a match for the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble. The main event saw the The Lone Wolf look very impressive in the ring with two world champions, forcing Styles and Ziggler to work together more than once to overcome his power. The Showoff continues to impress, making whoever he is in the ring with look good. If he was anywhere but WWE he’d have a world title right now. This match got out of hand at times, such as when Styles and Ziggler worked together to put Corbin through the announcer’s table. In the end The Phenomenal One watched Corbin hit End of Days on Ziggler before hitting the Phenomenal forearn on the big man and picking up the pinball on the prone Ziggler. As Styles celebrated his win Cena entered the ring and offered a handshake. The champ was sceptical at first, but accepted the show of respect. Will the mutual respect last until they meet at Royal Rumble?
Also, on the show we saw Alexis Bliss retain the Smackdown Women’s Championship against Becky Lynch when La Luchadora distracted Lynch while Bliss took advantage of being double jointed to convince the ref she had dislocated her elbow. She hadn’t and took advantage of the distraction to pick up the win. In a WWE.com exclusive Bliss celebrated her reign by having the side plates on the belt customized.
In a final piece of Smackdown news, American Alpha won a four corners match, taking the Smackdown Tag Team Championship from the Wyatt family. Both Chad Gable and Jason Jordan had family ringside to see them win the titles. Rumor has it they were groomed to be the centerpiece of the tag division on Team Blue. Executive Vice President of Takent, Live Events and Creative for WWE, Triple H, even offered congratulations to them on Twitter.
Some bad news out of the tag title match is that Heath Slater hurt himself, assembly jumping from the top turnbuckle. Turns out its not as bad as it originally appeared and he shouldn’t miss any time in the ring.
And now some good news. Showbuzzdaily.com reported that Smackdown averaged 2.885 million viewers this week up from 2.637 million last week.
So as it stands right now, on January 29 in San Antonio, Texas the Royal Rumble has three announced matches. Cena versus Styles for the WWE Championship, United States Champion, Reigns challenging Universal Champion, Kevin Owens, and the Rumble itself featuring Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar.
In my opinion, the best thing going on in a WWE ring occurred on WWE Network’s nxt when Samoa Joe defended the nXt title against Shinsuke Nakamura in Japan. Both guys wrestle a strong style with heavy hits which is what the Japanese fans love. Nakamura regained the championship, tying Joe for most title reigns at 2.
WWE stock finished the week at $18.40. That’s down 15 cents from what it opened Friday at.
And, finally, it appears Universal Champion, Kevin Owens made Roman Reigns laugh at a house show when Owens verbally assaulted a fan. Reigns took to Twitter trying to cover by saying he was laughing at Owens’ merchandise sales. This resulted in John Cena getting involved on Twitter a roasting Reigns by comparing their merchandise sales numbers.
That’s it for this week’s “Everything WWE”. Make sure to check out my latest article on http://www.ringside.nwaondemand.com for the latest news from the National Wrestling Alliance. And, if you would, visit http://goo.gl/slrkvQ. It’s a memorial fund for my son’s mother. Click the link and donate $5. 100% of your donation goes to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and there efforts to prevent suicide. It means a lot to me. Thank you! That’s it for this edition of “Everything WWE”. See you next time!
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