19 Preview

On Smackdown this week, the confusion behind Roman Reigns’ attacker continues, as does the returning King of the Ring tournament and other events. Live from the Raising Cane’s River Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, let’s preview tonight’s episode of Smackdown Live. The official preview for the show can be found on WWE.com.

The final two first-round King of the Ring tournament matches will take place tonight. In two matchups – those being Ali versus Buddy Murphy and Chad Gable versus Shelton Benjamin will give the wrestler’s the final spots in the round of eight, which also includes Elias and Andrade on the Smackdown side. The RAW side of the bracket is completed, with Samoa Joe versus Richochet and Cedric Alexander versus Baron Corbin set for the round.

Smackdown ended last week with another plot twist in the Roman Reigns conflict. For weeks now, Reigns has been searching for a mysterious attacker who tried to throw a backstage set on him and hit him with a car. Daniel Bryan and Rowan revealed the attacked last week, with the supposed perpetrator being a Rowan lookalike. This week we will hopefully get some answers to the questions which were made as the show went off air last week.

Last week, Bayley crashed Charlotte Flair’s guest appearance on “A Moment of Bliss,” hosted by Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. The segment ended with Bayley pushing Flair out of her chair. Flair’s reaction to the situation has yet to be seen, but the preview hints at the storyline continuing on this show.

In the men’s title picture, WWE Champion Kofi Kingston attacked Randy Orton last week, giving him a Trouble in Paradise out of nowhere. The next step in the rivalry will likely be seen on TV tonight. Practical logic says they will face each other at Clash of the Champions.

Also promoted for the show is Drew McIntyre, Samoa Joe, Xavier Woods and Big E.

WWE RAW 8/26/19 Preview

On this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW, we will see the in-ring return of Sasha Banks, the continuation of The King of the Ring tournament and much more. Set to take place at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, let’s preview RAW for this week. The official preview written by WWE.com can be found here.

Last week, Samoa Joe and Cedric Alexander moved on to the second round of the King of the Ring tournament. Completing the first round of the RAW side on the bracket, this week we’ll have Ricochet versus Drew McIntyre and The Miz versus Baron Corbin. On the Smackdown side of the bracket, Andrade and Elias have already moved on, with the final two first-round matches taking place tomorrow. In a preview matchup last week, Ricochet and The Miz prevailed over their opponents this week.

We have seen Sasha Banks on TV twice since her return, both times targeting Natalya. Tonight, Banks will make her in-ring return by facing Natalya. The news of the match was originally broken on Monday morning by Tony Maglio at The Wrap. Worth noting that Banks also brawled with Becky Lynch in her return appearance.

Last week on Smackdown, Bayley interrupted “A Moment of Bliss,” pushing Charlotte Flair off of her chair during the segment. This week, the tag partner of Bliss, Nikki Cross will face Bayley one on one.

In the main event of RAW last week, Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman were crowned the new RAW Tag Team Champions, dethroning Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. While nothing, in particular, is announced for them, they are booked for the show. Also scheduled to appear is AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt.

Smackdown Live 8/20/19 Preview

Smackdown Live heads to the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for this week’s episode. Along with some first-round matches in the King of the Ring tournament, a big reveal will come on the show when Daniel Bryan and Rowan will supposedly reveal the mystery attacker of Roman Reigns. Let’s look at what’s planned for this week’s episode of Smackdown.

As already mentioned, Daniel Bryan and Rowan will have a big reveal on the episode tonight. In recent episodes, Roman Reigns was attacked. In the first encounter, he was nearly squished by backstage equipment. In the second situation, Reigns was hit by a car in the parking lot of a venue. Upon interrogating Buddy Murphy, he was told that Rowan was the mystery attacker. Last week we found out that Murphy lied, and Rowan is actually innocent. The show ended on a cliffhanger last week, with Bryan and Rowan saying they did an investigation and said they will reveal who did it on this week’s episode.

The King of the Ring tournament will have it’s next series of matches tonight, with the first two of four Smackdown matches happening. On Monday, Cedric Alexander defeated Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe beat Cesaro to advance in the second round of the bracket. On this episode of Smackdown, it will be Kevin Owens versus Elias and Apollo Crews versus Andrade in first-round matches. Next week, Ali will face Buddy Murphy and Chad Gable will fight former tag team partner Shelton Benjamin on the Smackdown side of the bracket. Ricochet versus Drew McIntyre and The Miz versus Baron Corbin will also take place on RAW next week.

A faction started to form last night, with The Revival and Randy Orton beating up The New Day. Kingston and company are billed for the show, as well is Orton. This isn’t the first time that Orton has formed a trio with henchmen, as faction “Legacy” with Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. forming in 2008. We’ll have to wait and see what happens on this episode as two trios are expected to continue their feud.

Also billed for the show is Bayley, Drew McIntyre and Samoa Joe. Their appearances aren’t guaranteed to be on TV. Also, as usual, 205 Live will be airing right after Smackdown on the WWE Network.

WWE NXT To Air on USA Network Weekly, Starting September 18

It was announced on Tuesday morning that WWE NXT would move to the USA Network with a two hour weekly program starting on September 18th.

The show is set to be two hours, taking place on Wednesdays at 8-10 Eastern Time. The timeslot is the same that All Elite Wrestling’s TV show will share starting October 2nd. Per the announcement, the shows will continue to take place on the Full Sail University Campus, which have hosted NXT for the longest time.

The story was reported on Monday afternoon by Dave Meltzer before it was announced by WWE this evening. It was rumoured for quite some time before that WWE wanted to air the show in that timeslot, with FS1 being another option they looked at.

WWE RAW 8/19/19 Preview

Tonight on RAW, the beginning of the King of the Ring tournament will make it’s return. Along with the tournament’s kick-off will be a championship match, the first official return of Sasha Banks and more. Taking place from the XCEL Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, let’s preview this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW.

The King of the Ring tournament will start on Monday with two matches. The tournament has usually operated in the past as a one-night event, but this year will take place over a longer amount of time. The tournament matches which will happen on Monday are Cedric Alexander versus Sami Zayn and Cesaro versus Samoa Joe. The 16-man tournament consists of eight RAW brand and eight Smackdown brand fighters, with the finals being RAW versus Smackdown. The two other RAW brand matches are Ricochet versus Drew McIntyre and The Miz versus Baron Corbin. On the Smackdown side is Kevin Owens versus Elias, Ali versus Buddy Murphy, Chad Gable versus Shelton Benjamin and Apollo Crews vs. Andrade.

While WWE searches for a new King, an old King in Jerry “The King” Lawler will return to programming. In an episode of “The King’s Court,” Lawler will interview Sasha Banks. Banks made her return to WWE television last week on RAW, attacking Natalya and then Becky Lynch, who came to aid Natalya. The last televised appearance of Banks prior to this was on an April 1st episode of RAW.

In the final segment of RAW last week, a match between AJ Styles and Seth Rollins was interrupted by Braun Strowman. Shortly after the confrontation, Styles challenged Stroman to a United States Championship match on the next episode in a WWE.com interview. The match has since been confirmed to take place on RAW this week.

Also billed for the show is Seth Rollins, Baron Corbin, Becky Lynch, Lacey Evans, Bray Wyatt, Ricochet, Natalya and Alexa Bliss. Some of their appearances may take place off-screen.

WWE Smackdown Live 8/13/19 Preview

This week’s episode of Smackdown Live will feature the fallout from Summerslam on Sunday. WWE.com published a preview for tonight’s show earlier today. Smackdown will take place at 8PM EST, live from the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The event will be the fourth and final appearance from the promotion in Toronto this week.

On Monday afternoon, Buddy Murphy challenged Roman Reigns to a match on Smackdown via Twitter. Later that day, Roman responded and of course accepted the challenge. The match is scheduled to be the in-ring debut for Murphy, who has limited himself to the Cruiserweight brand 205 Live before. Murphy was attacked by Erick Rowan on the Summerslam pre-show on Sunday. This attack happened because Murphy told Reigns that Rowan was the mystery identity who attacked him recently. After his Summerslam match was interrupted, Murphy claims the match tonight will be an opportunity to “show what I can do.”

In the highest profile Smackdown match on Sunday, Kofi Kingston and Randy Orton ended their WWE Championship bout with a double count-out. What happened after the bell became the most discussed, as Kingston teed off on Orton with a kendo stick after Orton stared down his family, who were sitting at ringside.

Kevin Owens got on Sunday in a grudge match against Shane McMahon, defeating him with the help of a low-blow when the ref was distracted and a stunner. It may be seen on TV this week whether Owens will continue to feud with Shane or if he will move onto another conflict.

Ember Moon will face Charlotte Flair on the show, which is ironic since Flair was a winner on Sunday while Moon wasn’t. Moon took a loss to Bayley in the Smackdown Women’s Championship at Summerslam, while Flair defeated WWE alumni Trish Stratus. Bayley is also expected to show up at the event.

Also promoted for the show is Daniel Bryan, Samoa Joe, Drew McIntyre, Xavier Woods, Big E and Rowan. Whether the appearances will occur on or off TV is not known.

King of the Ring To Return Next Week On RAW

During this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW it was announced that the King of the Ring tournament would return on next week’s episode of the show. The tournament, which has run in 20 previous iterations will see it’s return after it last happened in 2015, with Sheamus winning.

Next week’s episode of Monday Night RAW will take place at the Xcel Energy Center in St Paul, Minnesota. WWE.com’s current listed lineup for the show promotes Seth Rollins, Baron Corbin, Becky Lynch, Lacey Evans, Braun Stroman, Bray Wyatt, AJ Styles, Ricochet, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Natalya and Alexa Bliss.

Many Matches Announced For AEW’s “Fyter Fest”

A few matches have been announced for All Elite Wrestling’s collaborative event with gaming tournament CEO, which takes place in late June. “Fyter Fest,” an event parodying the infamous “Fyre Festival” will happen on June 29th, with tickets going on-sale through Ticketmaster tomorrow at Noon Eastern Time.

The most recently announced match is between the recently debuted Jon Moxley and Joey Janela. Moxley has made headlines throughout the week, debuting at AEW on Saturday, and announcing dates at Northeast Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling in the following days. Formerly known as Dean Ambrose, Moxley had his farewell match in WWE back in late April, and stayed out of the public eye until recently.

One of the head figures of AEW, Cody, will also be in action as he is set to face Darby Allin in a singles match. Other household names of the promotion, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks, also known as The Elite, will face the team of Neville and The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix).

The event is built within the CEO gaming tournament, a three-day event where people compete against each other in numerous fighting video games. The tournament launched in 2010 and has run annually since then. In 2018, the event partnered with New Japan Pro Wrestling to hold a similar wrestling event held within the venue.

Promoter of CEO Alex Jebailey will also be involved in a pro wrestling match against Michael Nakazawa, a frequent Dramatic Dream Team wrestler. Nakazawa walso made an appearance in AEW’s pre-show battle royale on Saturday.

NJPW Fantastica Mania 2019 Tour Preview

Coming off New Japan Pro Wrestling’s biggest annual show of the year, Wrestle Kingdom, is the Fantastica Mania tour. The tour occupies most of NJPW’s January schedule and follows the theme of NJPW collaborating with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, also known as CMLL. The Mexican Lucha promotion sends over some of their wrestlers for crossover matches with New Japan.

When it started back in 2011, the tour only ran two shows. Now this year it will run eight shows, making it only the second time they have done this. Five of the shows are shown on New Japan World, with the final two offering English commentary. Let’s look at the tour date by date.

Night 1 – 1/11/19 – Osaka, Osaka Prefectural Gym #2 (Edion Arena Osaka)

The first night of the tour is in Osaka, with the main event being an eight-man tag match. SHO and YOH from RPG3K will go under the temporary names of Fujin and Raijin when they team up with Toa Henare and Satoshi Kojima to face Shingo Takagi, BUSHI, Tetsuya Naito and El Terrible. Before that, the soon to depart KUSHIDA tags with Soberano Jr. and Mistico to face Barbaro Cavernario, Namahage A.K.A El Desperado and Caristico. Also on the show is the debut of Atlantis Jr., as he tags with Atlantis to face Sanson and Okumura. The announcement of his debut was broken in late October and early November in Mexican media. Jushin Thunder Liger also competes on this show after not having any involvement in Wrestle Kingdom or New Year Dash.

Untelevised Nights

There are three shows in-between the first and second televised events. The first two of those share the same main event as night one. After the tour goes through Ehime and Kyoto they go to Gifu for the final house show. On that show RPG3k face the same main event opponents, but they team up with Volador Jr. and Mistico.

Night 5 – 1/16/19 – Chiba, Makuhari Messe

Cameras are back on the talent on Wednesday in Chiba. This show kicks off a tournament that will take place over the course of the tournament. The “CMLL Family Tag Tournament” will hold it’s semi-final matches on this show. The first match is the newly debuted Atlantis Jr. and Atlantis versus Cuatrero and Sanson. The main event of the evening will be Dragon Lee and Mistico versus Flyer and Volador Jr.

Night 6 – 1/18/19 – Tokyo, Korakuen Hall

From night 6 until the end, the rest of the shows are held at Korakuen Hall. So far only three matches have been announced for this show. The two winning teams from the first round of the Family tournament will face off in the finals. In a special singles match, Soberano Jr. and Barbaro Cavernario will fight. In a memorial match for Black Cat, the same eight-man match from night one will be done.

Night 7 – 1/20/19 – Tokyo, Korakuen Hall

On night seven Satoshi Kojima will get his first singles match since September, as he faces El Terrible. The winners of the family tag team tournament will get one last challenge as they get to face Gran Guerrero and Ultimo Guerrero, the winners of the brothers tag tournament.

Night 8 – 1/21/19 – Tokyo, Korakuen Hall

The final night of the tour is the only one to include a championship match. The Mexican National Trios Championship will be defended by Forestero, Cuatrero and Sanso. The trio challenging them will be Angel de oro, Titan and Atlantis. To promote the Japanese movie “My Dad Is A Heel Wrestler,” wrestlers Kazuchika Okada and Togi Makabe will operate under different names for one match. Okada will be known as Dragon George, and Makabe will be SweetGorilla Maruyama. They will face Ginbae Mask and Gokiburi Mask.

At the end of the month New Japan will split into two tours at the same time. The first is will be their “Road to The New Beginning” tour in Japan, with the other one being “The New Beginning USA,” which goes through California, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Becky Lynch Reportedly Injured After RAW, Off Survivor Series

Becky Lynch suffered a concussion Monday night during the taping of Monday Night RAW, days before her Survivor Series match against Ronda Rousey. Fightful broke the news Monday afternoon that Lynch suffered a concussion and possible broken nose after shooting a segment on TV where the Smackdown women’s roster invaded the RAW brand’s territory. They also said in the report that Lynch will not be competing on Sunday. While WWE has yet to provide a statement on the situation Dave Meltzer from F4WOnline has confirmed that Lynch is off of the Survivor Series PPV.

On Monday the finale of the episode of RAW included an invasion from the Smackdown Live brand. Lynch came to the ring after attacking Ronda Rousey backstage, with the rest of the Smackdown women’s roster joining her in a huge brawl. Fightful said in their report that it was Nia Jax who caused the injury to Lynch. This Sunday Lynch was scheduled to fight Rousey in a champion versus champion match, following the theme of RAW versus Smackdown that occurs throughout the card.

8:09PM EST UPDATE: WWE has confirmed on their broadcast of Smackdown Live that Becky Lynch was injured and will not compete at Survivor Series.