Tag: Speed

Candice LeRae crowned first WWE Speed Women’s Champion

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Candice LeRae is the first wrestler to hold the WWE Speed Women’s Championship.

Five days after the match was taped, LeRae vs. IYO SKY in the WWE Speed Women’s Championship tournament finals premiered this afternoon. SKY had the advantage until LeRae was able to get her feet up when SKY went for the Over the Moonsault. LeRae then hit a Lionsault from the second rope to win the match.

Title matches on Speed have a five-minute time limit, an increase from the three-minute limit for non-title bouts. LeRae defeated Sky with 1:12 left on the clock. After the win, LeRae celebrated with her tag team partner Indi Hartwell.

Paul “Triple H” Levesque posted a tweet congratulating LeRae:

This is LeRae’s first singles title reign in WWE and the first time she’s ever defeated SKY in a singles match.

LeRae defeated Piper Niven, Kairi Sane, and SKY during the title tournament.

Starting next week, WWE will begin a new tournament to determine a number one contender for men’s WWE Speed Champion Andrade. Sheamus vs. Giovanni Vinci, Bron Breakker vs. Cruz Del Toro, Dragon Lee vs. Tavion Heights, and Akira Tozawa vs. Riley Osborne are the first-round matches.

Sheamus vs. Vinci will air on X/Twitter at noon Eastern time next Wednesday (October 16).

Ilja Dragunov & Carmelo Hayes both eliminated in first-ever WWE Speed draw

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Former NXT Champions Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes renewed their rivalry on this week’s episode of WWE Speed.

In the first-ever time limit draw to take place on the show, Dragunov and Hayes wrestled for the full three minutes without a winner being decided. Per the rules, Dragunov and Hayes are both eliminated from the WWE Speed Championship number one contender’s tournament. Baron Corbin earns a bye and will challenge Andrade for the WWE Speed title on the episode that airs on X/Twitter next Wednesday (July 24).

Dragunov vs. Hayes was taped in Worcester, Massachusetts before WWE SmackDown last Friday. Dragunov had the advantage when the three-minute time limit expired. After the match, Hayes kicked him and they needed to be kept apart by officials.

WWE uploaded a post-match promo where Dragunov said he wasn’t all that surprised by the draw, because he knows Hayes is someone who can push him to the limit. The two feuded over the NXT Championship last year in a series of matches against each other.

Hayes also cut a promo saying he knows this won’t be the last time he and Dragunov wrestle.

In the 2024 WWE Draft, Dragunov and Hayes were both called up to the main roster. Dragunov is involved in a program with Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn and Bron Breakker on Raw. Hayes is on SmackDown and recently took part in the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match.

Tyler Bate challenging Ricochet for WWE Speed Championship

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Tyler Bate is getting the first shot at Ricochet’s WWE Speed Championship.

Since Ricochet was crowned the inaugural champion, a tournament has taken place on WWE Speed to decide his first challenger. Bate earned the title shot by defeating Apollo Crews on the Speed episode that premiered today. There will be another new episode at noon Eastern time this Friday (May 24) featuring the Ricochet vs. Bate title match.

Crews wasn’t originally supposed to be Bate’s opponent for today’s match. Ivar, who defeated Crews in the first round of the four-man tournament, is out of action due to a serious injury. Because of that, he wasn’t able to compete against Bate. Crews got a second chance as Ivar’s replacement.

During the finishing sequence, Crews hit a press slam and a standing moonsault. But when Crews went for the cover, Bate reversed it into a pin of his own for the victory. Bate won with 56 seconds of the three-minute time limit remaining.

Bate defeated Berto (Humberto Carrillo) in the first round of the tournament.

In the 2024 WWE Draft, Bate and his tag team partner Pete Dunne moved to the Raw roster. Ricochet is also on Raw.

WWE Speed airs exclusively on X/Twitter as part of a two-year deal between WWE and the social media platform.

WWE Speed concept debuts at SmackDown taping

Posted on by Ethan Renner

WWE debuted a new concept at Friday’s SmackDown taping, WWE Speed. 

On WWE Speed, matches have five-minute time limits. The winner of the match receives one point, the loser of the bout is docked one point, and if the bout goes to a time limit draw, no points are awarded or deducted. A five-minute countdown clock appears on the video wall during the contest.

The Speed concept appears to be a TV show pilot or perhaps for a digital media property, as commentators Corey Graves & Kevin Patrick were calling the matches as if the show was being produced for broadcast. A WWE Speed logo was displayed on the video wall as well as the ring apron and ring posts during the taping. 

Axiom from NXT faced SmackDown’s Cedric Alexander in the concept debut at Friday’s taping in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Raw’s Bronson Reed vs. NXT’s Nathan Frazer was the other Speed match taped.