Andrade asked for his WWE release earlier this week, but was denied.
Wrestling Inc. was first to report that he asked for his release at the Raw tapings this past Monday with Dave Meltzer confirming both the request and denial.
The 31-year-old has not been on WWE TV in over five months, last seen losing to Angel Garza in a match back in October. Afterward, he was taken out by The Fiend.
When it came time for the WWE Draft, he was one of the top names not drafted to either brand and hasn’t wrestled for the company since.
Signing with WWE in 2015, Andrade reached main event level status in NXT, pairing himself with Zelina Vega and winning the NXT Championship. He was called up to the main roster in 2018, winning the U.S. title once the following year. Prior to disappearing off TV, he teamed regularly with Garza before their team split up.
A Tag Team title match is the latest addition to the card for Clash of Champions.
Andrade & Angel Garza will challenge for The Street Profits’ Raw Tag Team titles at Sunday’s Clash of Champions pay-per-view. That was confirmed when Andrade & Garza defeated Seth Rollins & Murphy and Dominik Mysterio & Humberto Carrillo in a triple threat number one contender’s match on Raw tonight.
Andrade & Garza won tonight’s match after Rollins walked out on Murphy. Andrade hit a back elbow on Murphy and then Garza gave Murphy the Wing Clipper to get the win.
Zelina Vega wasn’t with Andrade & Garza on tonight’s Raw after seemingly splitting up with them last week. After weeks of dissension between Andrade & Garza, there was a backstage segment last Monday where Vega yelled at Garza for flirting with Lana. Garza blamed Andrade for losing their non-title match against The Street Profits the previous week. When Garza and Andrade argued, Vega told them she can’t do this anymore and walked out on them. Andrade & Garza then brawled but were back teaming together tonight.
Vega is facing Mickie James on Raw tonight. The winner will challenge for Asuka’s Raw Women’s Championship at Clash of Champions.
Here’s the updated card for Sunday’s PPV:
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre defends against Randy Orton in an ambulance match
Universal Champion Roman Reigns defends against Jey Uso
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley defends against Nikki Cross
Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy defends against AJ Styles and Sami Zayn in a triple threat ladder match
Women’s Tag Team Champions Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax defend against Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan
SmackDown Tag Team Champions Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro defend against The Lucha House Party
Raw Tag Team Champions The Street Profits defend against Andrade & Angel Garza
The team of Andrade and Angel Garza will be facing Raw Tag Team champions The Street Profits at SummerSlam.
The duo defeated Cedric Alexander & Ricochet and The Viking Raiders in a triple threat tag team match where the winners would become number one contenders for the titles. The finish came when Ivar did a dive that took out most of the competitors in the match. Garza, however, avoided the dive and pinned Alexander with the wing clipper.
After the match, Andrade & Garza confronted The Street Profits, who were at ringside doing commentary. After some back and forth, the two jumped Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford, bolting before either could retaliate.
This is not the first time the two teams have faced one another. They had a match on the July 20 edition of Raw. where The Street Profits defeated Andrade and Garza.
SummerSlam is scheduled to take place on August 23. A location has not been announced.
The build to the WWE Championship match at SummerSlam may begin on Monday’s episode of Raw.
WWE announced tonight that Randy Orton will kick off Monday’s Raw by “announcing his next target.” Orton defeated Big Show in an unsanctioned match in the main event of Raw this past Monday.
Dave Meltzer has reported that Drew McIntyre defending his WWE Championship against Orton is scheduled for SummerSlam. The pay-per-view is taking place on Sunday, August 23.
In a rematch from Extreme Rules, McIntyre is facing Dolph Ziggler in a non-title match on Monday’s Raw. McIntyre will pick the stipulation for the match this time.
WWE has also announced that Ricochet & Cedric Alexander, The Viking Raiders, and Andrade & Angel Garza will face off in a number one contender’s triple threat tag match on Monday’s Raw. The winning team will challenge The Street Profits for the Raw Tag Team titles at SummerSlam.
The Street Profits defeated Andrade & Garza in a non-title match on Raw this week. Later in the episode, Andrade & Garza attacked Big Show during his unsanctioned match against Orton. The Viking Raiders then came out to make the save and brawled with Andrade & Garza.
Ricochet & Alexander teamed with the returning Mustafa Ali to defeat MVP, Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin in a six-man tag match on this week’s Raw.
Also set for Monday’s Raw is Asuka vs. Sasha Banks for the Raw Women’s Championship. The title can change hands via pinfall, submission, countout, disqualification, or if anyone interferes.
WWE is promoting that Monday’s Raw will feature a “night of grudge matches.”
That was hyped during a commercial that aired during tonight’s episode of SmackDown. In addition to the already announced Women’s Tag Team title match with Sasha Banks & Bayley defending against Asuka & Kairi Sane, Monday’s Raw will feature Randy Orton vs. R-Truth, Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens, and The Viking Raiders vs. Andrade & Angel Garza in an elimination tag team match.
Orton, Andrade & Garza defeated Big Show & The Viking Raiders on Raw this past Monday. There was also a backstage segment on Monday’s show where 24/7 Champion R-Truth ran into Orton as he was trying to avoid Akira Tozawa. Truth questioned if Flair was Tozawa in disguise. Truth ran off as Tozawa and his ninjas approached. Orton asked if they were looking for Truth and then pointed them in the wrong direction.
There’s recently been dissension between Andrade & Garza. Their feud with The Viking Raiders began when The Viking Raiders saved The Street Profits from an attack by Andrade & Garza last month.
Rollins vs. Owens is a rematch from WrestleMania 36. Owens defeated Rollins in that match. On this week’s Raw, Owens teamed up with Rey Mysterio and defeated Rollins & Murphy. The match decided whether Mysterio or Rollins would pick the stipulation for their match at Extreme Rules. Mysterio pinned Murphy and then revealed that he’ll face Rollins in an eye for an eye match at the pay-per-view.
Monday’s Raw is the brand’s go-home show for Extreme Rules.
This will be the first time Mysterio has wrestled since the angle where his eye was attacked by Rollins in May.
Dave Meltzer has reported that — after his deal expired — Mysterio is currently working without a WWE contract. Meltzer noted that there was a plan for Mysterio to face Rollins in an “eye for an eye” match at Extreme Rules, though that has yet to be announced.
WWE has announced three matches and a segment that will be airing on tonight’s episode of Raw.
United States Champion Apollo Crews vs. MVP in a non-title match, The Viking Raiders vs. Andrade & Angel Garza, and Akira Tozawa defending the 24/7 Championship against R-Truth are set for the episode.
WWE has also announced that Big Show and Ric Flair will appear on tonight’s Raw. Big Show confronted Randy Orton and Flair last week during the segment where Flair was anointing Orton as the greatest wrestler ever.
Crews defeated Shelton Benjamin in non-title matches on Raw each of the past two weeks. MVP has been trying to recruit Crews and there was a VIP Lounge segment with the two of them last week. MVP mentioned his previous 343-day reign as United States Champion and said that — whether Crews likes it or not — the US title is coming back home to him where it belongs.
A distraction by MVP allowed Benjamin to attack Crews before their match last week. After the match, Bobby Lashley put Crews in a full nelson.
Tozawa won the 24/7 title from R-Truth last week after MVP and Lashley took out Tozawa’s ninjas and Lashley put Truth in the full nelson.
The Street Profits retained their Raw Tag Team titles against The Viking Raiders on last Monday’s show. Andrade & Garza attacked The Street Profits after until The Viking Raiders made the save.
Tonight’s Raw was supposed to be taped last Friday, but the tapings for the show were pushed back to Saturday. It was confirmed last week that multiple people in WWE have tested positive for COVID-19.
Tonight’s show will feature a double contract signing for Drew McIntyre vs. Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Championship and Asuka vs. Sasha Banks for the Raw Women’s Championship at Extreme Rules. The contract signing will be hosted by Samoa Joe and will feature all of the participants in the ring at the same time. The feud between Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio will also continue tonight.
Andrade made his Main Event debut, beating Ricochet in a very technical match and despite defeat, Shane Thorne continued to impress in a match against Humberto Carrillo.
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Humberto Carrillo defeated Shane Thorne (5:20)
You would have to go back to April to find Carrillo performing on Main Event as in the months since then, he has found himself booked regularly on Raw against the likes of AJ Styles and Bobby Lashley. Conversely, Thorne has been a show regular and just as impressive on this edition.
Carrillo was the perfect foil for Thorne as he is a hugely talented babyface while Thorne is such a natural heel. It’s strange to think there is ten year age gap between these two, probably because Thorne looks younger than his years and Carrillo older and more experienced than he actually is.
This was action packed from start to finish as they both worked really hard. Carrillo oversells things a little for my taste, but the finish was impressive as he launched himself off the top rope with a missile dropkick and followed it up with a top rope moonsault for the win.
Andrade (w/ Zelina Vega) defeated Ricochet (7:28)
Ricochet has become a mainstay on Main Event over the last few months, but this was Andrade’s show debut. Any bit of logic would tell you this is a pay-per-view quality pairing in any other world.
It certainly delivered, but was not the kind of match I expected. The story was that Ricochet came off the top rope early and landed awkwardly on his left leg. He went outside and was clutching his left knee, so Andrade went after it relentlessly.
Andrade, who carries himself like such a star, put on a clinic in how to be a heartless heel while Zelina, who was also fantastic here, looked on and laughed at every new way he found to work over the injured knee.
There was a sense that this slow, methodical approach was all going to backfire for Andrade when Ricochet finally got some hope just before the finish. He hit a hurricanrana off the second turnbuckle and a standing moonsault for a near fall, but Andrade quickly retained control.
Andrade went back to the leg. finally planting him with the hammerlock DDT for the win.
Final Thoughts:
These were two perfectly good matches again this week. Andrade debuting might be a bit of a worry as the creative lead changed for Raw, but he and Vega are such a class act, it would be a huge waste to leave them in a spot like this.
WWE has announced which match will be part of tonight’s Backlash pre-show.
It was revealed ahead of tonight’s pay-per-view that Apollo Crews vs. Andrade for the United States Championship will take place on the pre-show. Andrade became the number one contender to Crews’ title by defeating Kevin Owens and Angel Garza in a triple threat match on Raw last Monday.
Stablemates Andrade and Garza worked together against Owens in that number one contender’s match until Andrade went for a pin after they hit a double-team move. After Owens hit a stunner on Garza near the end of the match, Andrade hit a dropkick to break up the cover. Andrade then pinned Garza to get the win.
Zelina Vega accidentally got knocked down while she tried to break up Andrade and Garza fighting outside of the ring during the number one contender’s match. Andrade and Garza argued backstage after the match until an angry Vega came up to them and gestured for them to walk with her.
Crews won the US title from Andrade on the May 25 episode of Raw.
The Backlash pre-show will begin at 6 p.m. Eastern time tonight, with the main card starting an hour later. Here’s the updated lineup for the show:
Edge vs. Randy Orton
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre defending against Bobby Lashley
Raw Women’s Champion Asuka defending against Nia Jax
Universal Champion Braun Strowman defending against The Miz & John Morrison in a handicap match
Women’s Tag Team Champions Bayley & Sasha Banks defending against Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross and The IIconics in a triple threat match
Raw Tag Team Champions The Street Profits defending against The Viking Raiders
Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus
United States Champion Apollo Crews defending against Andrade (pre-show)
Former United States Champion Andrade is getting another shot at the title.
United States Champion Apollo Crews will defend his title against Andrade at Sunday’s Backlash pay-per-view. Andrade became the number one contender to Crews’ title by defeating Angel Garza and Kevin Owens in a triple threat number one contender’s match on Raw tonight.
Andrade pinned his stablemate Garza to win the number one contender’s match. It began with Owens attacking Andrade and Garza as they were making their entrance. Andrade and Garza then teamed up until hitting a double suplex on Owens. Andrade went for a cover, but Garza broke it up. Andrade and Garza argued and shoved each other, then Zelina Vega accidentally got knocked down as she tried to break up them fighting outside the ring.
Owens hit a stunner on Garza at the end of the match, but Andrade flew in with a dropkick and broke up the pin. Andrade then pinned Garza himself to get the win.
Andrade and Garza argued backstage after the match until an angry Vega came up to them and gestured for them to walk with her.
Crews won the United States title from Andrade on Raw two weeks ago. It’s the first championship that Crews has held in WWE.
WWE announced that Crews would defend the US title against an opponent of his choosing on Raw last week. Crews picked Owens, but that turned into Crews & Owens defeating Andrade & Garza in a tag match after Andrade and Garza interrupted their title match.
Here’s the updated card for Backlash:
Edge vs. Randy Orton
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre defending against Bobby Lashley
Raw Women’s Champion Asuka defending against Nia Jax
Universal Champion Braun Strowman defending against The Miz & John Morrison in a handicap match
Women’s Tag Team Champions Bayley & Sasha Banks defending against Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross and The IIconics in a triple threat match
United States Champion Apollo Crews defending against Andrade
Apollo Crews has won his first championship in WWE.
Crews defeated Andrade on Raw tonight to win the United States Championship. Crews got the win after hitting a press slam, a standing moonsault, and a standing Shooting Star Press at the end of the match.
After the match, Crews was interviewed in the ring about his title win. He said that when he started on his journey to become a WWE wrestler, people laughed in his face and told him he couldn’t do it. Crews said he never gave up, and after 11 years of sacrifice, hard work, dedication, and discipline during his career he’s finally won his first title in WWE.
Andrade was shown angrily throwing equipment around backstage after losing the title.
Crews previously challenged Andrade for the US title on the April 27 episode of Raw. The finish of that match was the referee stopping it due to Crews suffering a storyline knee injury. That storyline injury was also the explanation for Crews being removed from this year’s men’s Money in the Bank ladder match.
Andrade had been US Champion since winning the title from Rey Mysterio at a Madison Square Garden house show in December.
A contract signing for Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins’ WWE Championship match at Money in the Bank headlined last night’s episode of Raw.
Rollins said he started things with McIntyre, but he did it to get the WWE Championship to where it needs to be. It isn’t about Rollins, it isn’t about McIntyre — it’s bigger than both of them. Rollins said McIntyre is going to be a great champion some day, but he isn’t a leader. Rollins called himself a leader and said the WWE universe needs someone to guide them more than ever right now. Rollins said he can be the light in the darkness.
Rollins said he suffered for the WWE Championship, but McIntyre doesn’t have to. He said McIntyre is a smart man, this will make sense to him in time, and Rollins will lead him too when that time comes. McIntyre responded by saying that things are clearer to him now — it’s clear that Rollins is completely full of sh*t. McIntyre vowed that he wouldn’t let Rollins win the WWE title.
McIntyre slammed Rollins’ head against the desk as things turned physical. He was setting up for a Claymore, but Murphy appeared and attacked McIntyre. Rollins hugged Murphy, then McIntyre flew in with a Claymore and ended up laying out Murphy. Rollins bailed to close the show, with McIntyre asking if Murphy was his sacrificial lamb.
Apollo Crews pinned Andrade in a six-man tag match last night, setting up Crews getting a United States Championship shot later in the show. Their title match ended when the referee stopped it due to Crews having a storyline knee injury. WWE later announced that Crews is out of this year’s men’s Money in the Bank ladder match due to the injury.
Andrade’s replacement for WrestleMania 36 was officially confirmed on tonight’s Raw.
It was announced on Raw that a six-man tag match with Andrade, Angel Garza & Seth Rollins facing The Street Profits & Kevin Owens would be taking place later in the show, but Austin Theory replaced Andrade in the match. It was later made official that Theory is also replacing Andrade at WrestleMania, with Garza & Theory challenging The Street Profits for the Raw Tag Team titles.
Owens pinned Garza to win tonight’s match but was immediately given a stomp by Rollins after.
When Garza made his entrance for the six-man tag, Zelina Vega announced that Andrade wasn’t cleared to compete due to a rib injury. Vega said she has access to the hottest young talent in WWE, then introduced Theory. She called him a 22-year-old sensation and said he’s the hottest free agent no more.
Theory signing with WWE was announced in August 2019. He’s a former EVOLVE Champion.
Theory was in action on NXT last week and lost to Tyler Breeze.
WrestleMania 36 is airing on the WWE Network on Saturday (April 4) and Sunday (April 5). The two-night event was taped last week.
The following contains spoilers for WWE WrestleMania.
Due to an injury, Andrade won’t be part of the Raw Tag Team title match at WrestleMania 36.
PWinsider reported Friday that Andrade wasn’t cleared to wrestle at WWE’s WrestleMania tapings due to what is believed to be a rib injury. Andrade & Angel Garza had been scheduled to challenge The Street Profits for the tag titles at the show.
PWInsider’s report stated that the title match instead took place with The Street Profits facing Angel Garza and a partner from NXT. Post Wrestling reported that Austin Theory was the wrestler who replaced Andrade in the match and an angle to introduce him as Andrade’s replacement is expected to air on Monday’s Raw.
Dave Meltzer also confirmed the injury and replacement.
Post Wrestling also wrote that the injury Andrade suffered was described to them as “very minor.”
Andrade is also WWE’s current United States Champion. It appeared that WWE had been building up a title match between him and Rey Mysterio for WrestleMania, but Meltzer reported that Mysterio “had symptoms and stayed in California and quarantined himself.” Meltzer added that there’s no indication that Mysterio has the coronavirus and it was just a matter of being cautious.
Mysterio defeated Andrade in a non-title match on the March 16 episode of Raw while on this past Monday’s Raw, Andrade & Garza defeated Ricochet & Cedric Alexander.
Two new matches have been made official for WrestleMania 36.
WWE announced today that The Street Profits will defend their Raw Tag Team titles against Andrade & Angel Garza at WrestleMania. Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley has also been confirmed for the show.
The Street Profits have been Raw Tag Team Champions since winning the titles from Seth Rollins & Murphy on the March 2 episode of Raw. They also retained against Rollins & Murphy in a rematch at Elimination Chamber.
In addition to challenging for the Raw Tag Team titles at WrestleMania, Andrade is the current United States Champion. He lost a non-title match to Rey Mysterio on Raw last week.
WrestleMania 36 is airing on the WWE Network across two nights on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5 and will be hosted by Rob Gronkowski. The show is expected to be taped this week. It will “not only take place at WWE’s training facility but will include multiple locations over two nights.”
