Sam Roberts is getting his own weekly series on the WWE Network.
Roberts announced today that “Notsam Wrestling” will premiere on the WWE Network at 10 a.m. Eastern time next Thursday (October 22). The show will air weekly on Thursdays and will be available on both the paid and free versions of the WWE Network. Roberts said he’ll be producing and creating the series himself from his studio.
Roberts said Notsam Wrestling on the WWE Network won’t just be a video version of his wrestling podcast or any other content that’s previously been available. He said it’s a brand new show and his podcast and Patreon will remain the same.
“Every Thursday at 10 a.m. Eastern on the free version of the WWE Network I will be there to spill my wrestling brain into your lap,” Roberts said. “Can’t wait to share this with you guys. I hope you’re as excited as I am.”
Roberts, who co-hosts the Jim Norton & Sam Roberts Show on SiriusXM, made his debut as a panelist on WWE’s pre-show in 2016. Roberts has hosted his wrestling podcast since 2014.
Ahead of a loaded up card, WWE will be airing an NXT pre-show next Wednesday (October 2).
It was announced today that Charly Caruso, Sam Roberts, and Pat McAfee will host a 30-minute pre-show prior to Wednesday’s NXT episode. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time and will air on the WWE Network, WWE.com, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
NXT will begin airing live on USA Network for its full two hours starting on Wednesday. It’s also the start of NXT going head-to-head with AEW Dynamite, with both shows airing from 8-10 p.m. Eastern.
Three title matches have been announced for Wednesday’s NXT episode. Adam Cole will defend his NXT Championship against Matt Riddle, Candice LeRae will challenge for Shayna Baszler’s NXT Women’s Championship, and The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) will get their rematch for Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish’s NXT Tag Team titles.
Johnny Gargano will also face Shane Thorne on Wednesday’s NXT. The episode will have “limited commercial interruption.”
The Big Takeaway: Sam Roberts joined the announce team as a heel and then there were two wins for the babyfaces: Dana Brooke grabbed a rare victory by defeating Tamina and Heavy Machinery defeated The B-Team.
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Sam Roberts joined the announce team this week, replacing Corey Graves. From the way that he was introduced, it felt like the change could become permanent. He played the heel color commentator and the announce booth was Byron Saxton, Renee Young, and Sam Roberts, which I think speaks for itself.
Dana Brooke defeated Tamina (6:00)
Not only did this go on for far too long, but they did exactly what you would think they would do when you look at the result: Tamina beat up Brooke forever, including some rest holds, then Brooke got some brief hope and stole the win with a rana.
As much as both of these performers have a good look, some charisma, and have clocked up some hours in the ring now, neither have really gotten any better as wrestlers. Tamina has to rely on her opponent flying around for her and Brooke is fairly clumsy.
They essentially did the match that you would expect until the last minute or so. Tamina got frustrated at not being able to score the fall and started throwing Brooke around. She went for the Samoan drop, but Brooke wriggled out and snatched the win.
On Twitter, Brooke responded to Roberts’ heel commentator character: “Sam – always thought we were cool, but Damn, wondering why @WWE doesn’t have u on a lot, you burry people!! what have u accomplished.. prob gave up at it, unlike me I push through never giving up!Maybe @ReneeYoungWWE Will be right when I block you & 1 day make U eat your words!”
Heavy Machinery defeated The B-Team (6:02)
The B-Team got quite a good reaction as they came out. They basically did a babyface vs. babyface tag match here until a minute in when Curtis Axel went to shake Otis’ hand and just kicked him in the stomach and beat him up.
It’s pretty evident when you watch Axel and Dallas that they clearly have a lot of fun traveling and tagging together. They’re quite infectious and crowds enjoy them in this kind of pre-Raw context.
It occurred to me when watching this that Heavy Machinery are actually a pretty solid opening act. They have a kind of Dudley Boyz-esque finishing routine that is still over (and likely still will be when they reunite in WWE in 10 years’ time after a stint in the indies) and subsequently leaves everyone happy when they win.
This was timed out pretty well. B-Team cut the ring in half and beat up Otis until Tucker eventually tagged in and cleared house. Heavy Machinery did their normal routine and got the win with The Compactor on Axel.
This was fine. It was quite fun, completely harmless, and thus was your standard Main Event stuff. You have to wonder why WWE doesn’t try to have a little more ambition for this show.
